AWDC Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Mu Chuang Asks Lin Xi to Be a General Laborer

Mu Chuang was silent. In his memory, Lin Xi had never spoken to him in such a tone, nor had he ever been so fierce with anyone. Today’s reaction was probably because he was truly feeling very wronged.

For some reason, seeing this beautiful face of his displaying a fierce expression, he felt a sudden flutter in his heart. That inexplicable feeling from before resurfaced. This was the first time he had seen him since that night without feeling repulsion, even feeling a slight urge to get closer.

But he knew that this feeling was wrong, should not exist, was not allowed to exist, and was something he loathed.

“Instead of saying that I’m making things difficult for you, it’s more like you’re making things difficult for me,” he suppressed this feeling and spoke his true inner concerns. “When I left, I promised your father that no matter what happened outside, I would bring you back safe and sound. So, I absolutely will not allow you to leave alone. Even if you want to leave, then wait until next month when I send you back.”

Considering Lin Xi’s feelings for him, he concealed the true purpose of going back next month. Even if he found out by then, he would still send him back. What happened after that was no longer his responsibility.

Lin Xi was silent for a moment upon hearing this, and then he laughed, a sarcastic laugh directed at himself and at this man.

“I thought you were really being kind, but it turns out you’re just afraid that something will happen to me, afraid that you can’t bear the responsibility.” He scoffed, “Alright, in order not to make things difficult for you, I’ll endure it a bit longer.”

“But,” he continued, “you have to move me to a different floor. I don’t want to work under your nose, and I don’t want to be blinded by certain people.”

He spoke obscurely, but Mu Chuang knew exactly what he meant. He and Fu Xiaoling were getting close, and he would often go to help her clear up her work during work hours, and since Lin Xi had those feelings for him, he found it irritating.

“Whatever,” as long as he wasn’t in a hurry to go back, it didn’t matter to him where he worked. “The first floor is short of general laborers. As long as you’re not afraid of getting tired, I can transfer you down there anytime.”

Lin Xi was stunned by these words. He had originally thought of going to the first floor to work on the assembly line, which would be easier than being a general laborer, but he didn’t expect Mu Chuang to ask him to do that as soon as he opened his mouth. He immediately felt conflicted.

“What’s wrong, scared?” Mu Chuang revealed a sly smile, staring at Lin Xi’s delicate face and his frail physique, assuming he wouldn’t dare to go.

But what he didn’t know was that Lin Xi only looked weak, but was actually very stubborn inside. Faced with his almost mocking expression, he refused to give in.

“I’ll go, so what if it’s tiring?” he gritted his teeth and agreed. “Even if I die of exhaustion, the factory will have to pay compensation, at least guaranteeing my father’s remaining years, and it can be considered repaying his kindness in raising me. There’s nothing to regret.”

Ever since things had reached this point with Mu Chuang, he hadn’t thought about living well. He kept talking about death, as if he was living one day at a time.

Mu Chuang became angry because of his words, feeling that Lin Xi was threatening him again. “Don’t keep talking about death in front of me. Whether you live or die doesn’t have much of an impact on me. Don’t always use these words to threaten me. It’s useless.”

Although he said that, he didn’t actually feel good inside. Even if he didn’t accept the other person’s feelings, he still didn’t want the other person to really die.

But Lin Xi made up his mind completely because of his words, deciding not to work under his nose and deciding to stay away from this man.

The next morning, he was transferred to the first floor. But to his surprise, Mu Chuang simply transferred him to the first floor to work and did not remove his name from the original department. He was still an employee under Mu Chuang’s command.

“How hateful!” Lin Xi complained in his heart. “Does that mean I can’t escape his grasp?”

But complaints aside, once you’re at work, you have to work hard and there’s no extra time to consider things.

Being a general laborer is not an easy job. Every day you’re moving things up and down from trucks, and if your physical strength isn’t good, you simply can’t handle it.

There were more than a dozen people working with him, all of them strong and sturdy, and almost all of them were men with families. They could endure this hardship in order to support their families.

But Lin Xi was different. He was just eighteen years old, tall but not muscular, with thin arms and legs, and delicate skin. How could he do this job?

Fortunately, heaven never seals off all exits. The department supervisor on the first floor was a reasonable person, looking just over twenty years old, about five or six years older than Lin Xi. He didn’t have a girlfriend at the moment.

His name was Zhao Yuming, and he was a man who could rival Mu Chuang in appearance. If you really had to make a comparison, it would only be slightly inferior.

But people’s aesthetics are different, and different people will think that each has its own merits. It’s impossible to say definitively who is better or worse.

He accepted the person Mu Chuang transferred over with a smile, and knew at a glance that he couldn’t do this job.

But for some reason, he didn’t ask Lin Xi to do anything else, and still let him be a general laborer according to Mu Chuang’s wishes.

Lin Xi worked for a morning and felt okay, but by the time he got off work in the evening, he felt sore all over. He didn’t eat supper and went straight to bed.

When he got up the next day, his muscles were so sore that he didn’t dare to touch them, and he felt like his whole body was congested.

Before, he had been going to school all the time and hadn’t done much heavy work. This sudden burst of activity was definitely too much for him to handle. Maybe he would get used to it, or maybe he would never get used to it.

Lin Xi gritted his teeth and persisted for another morning. By the afternoon, he couldn’t bear it any longer, but there were still two hours until he got off work. Just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable.

“Hurry up and work, don’t just pretend to be busy here.” A middle-aged man saw him standing there resting and immediately felt uncomfortable. “We’re shipping goods tonight. Whether you can carry them or not, these things have to be carried up. We’re working ourselves to death, and you’re slacking off here and getting the same salary. No one feels good about that.”

Several others also chimed in. They had also discussed Lin Xi in secret, but they hadn’t had the opportunity to come into contact with him before, and they hadn’t had the opportunity to say it to his face, but now, the opportunity had come.

Taking advantage of Zhao Yuming’s absence and the fact that Lin Xi couldn’t carry things, they began to sneer and jeer, doing something immoral by attacking him as a group.

“Brother was doing so well, but he had to become someone’s lover. Ending up like this is really asking for trouble.”

“That’s right, he’s abandoning perfectly good girls to sleep with you, a man. Unless he’s out of his mind.”

“I don’t even know how he can bring himself to do it. Just thinking about it is disgusting.”

“…” The middle-aged man was about to say something else when he looked up and saw Zhao Yuming standing in front of him. He immediately shut his mouth.

“During working hours, you are not allowed to say anything unrelated to work, otherwise you will be fined.” Zhao Yuming said with a stern face, standing there with a straight posture, very much in a managerial style.

“We only said a few words, we promise not to say it again next time.” The middle-aged man quickly admitted his mistake, afraid that he would lose tens of dollars if he wasn’t careful.