Chapter 90
Zhang Lin walked through the dense shelves with a cart, which was loaded with newly arrived desserts. She needed to replace the expired products on the shelves and then restock them.
She had just replaced all the cakes that her colleague had just put out, mistaking them for expired ones and almost throwing them away. Fortunately, the manager discovered it in time, and no serious damage was done.
Since she had put on her work uniform this morning, Zhang Lin had been in a state of unease. She wore thick eye makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes, a trace of a restless night.
She had always disliked girls who acted like good girls, always pretending to be pitiful and innocent to gain others’ sympathy, which made her feel disgusted. But since the girl named Xia Qian Ge had come to the store, her dislike had escalated to hatred.
The girl’s face was youthful and beautiful even without makeup. After Xia Qian Ge came, she had replaced Zhang Lin’s job at the cashier. The manager had even given the absurd reason that Xia Qian Ge, as a top student at Qingchuan University, would be better at handling payments.
Her two male colleagues would secretly say a few bad things about the girl in private because of her, but they would also often cast their gazes on Xia Qian Ge, who was working at the cashier, during their work breaks.
Just because she had a pretty face, why should she get such special treatment? Who knew what kind of ugly soul was hidden beneath that face? Zhang Lin thought viciously, not only to vent her anger, but also to find a better reason for herself.
But jealousy was just a trigger. What Zhang Lin couldn’t accept was the girl’s submissive attitude. The girl would never directly refute her sarcasm, just glance at her and then bury her head in her own work, as if her tricks were just a child’s pathetic play. That dismissive attitude almost drove Zhang Lin mad with anger.
Facing the bullying and insults from the old employee, her united front had failed because of Xia Qian Ge’s refusal to cooperate. This made Zhang Lin completely resent the girl she found so disgusting.
Silent bullying was a trick Zhang Lin had been familiar with since she was a child. She had originally planned to implement such a plan with her two male colleagues, but they had left the convenience store with various excuses, unwilling to agree with her actions.
They had even advised Zhang Lin to give up such an idea when they left, saying that the other party was just a student from a poor family who was working part-time during the holidays, and there was no need to be so hard on her.
Such persuasion only deepened her obsession. Seeing her friends, who had done many despicable things to other girls in school, now pretending to be noble and leaving, all because of that sickly but beautiful face… it was like the pitiful bitches in the red-light district, who were actually just trying to attract people to open their legs.
The more the girl ignored her, the crazier she became. The resentment in her heart was almost brewing into a terrifying storm. Zhang Lin wanted to grab the girl’s hair and slam her head against the wall.
Zhang Lin didn’t believe that such a girl would really be as well-behaved as she appeared on the surface. Tearing off the girl’s sweet and lovely mask became her dream.
But even though she was left alone in the convenience store, and she continued to bully her more and more, such as hiding the girl’s bag in other places, dirtying the floor the girl had just cleaned, replacing the products the girl had checked with expired ones…
The vulgar revenge brought her a different kind of pleasure, but after the girl silently glanced at her and continued to work with her head down, the pleasure disappeared, replaced by a lingering aura of hostility in her chest.
The manager and some other employees would often pull her aside and give her some subtle persuasion, their words all carrying the same subtext: everyone works together, don’t deliberately make things difficult for your colleagues.
This made the hatred in Zhang Lin’s heart rise to a new level. She even stubbornly believed that it was the girl who had caused her to become so ugly, to become unlike herself. If the other party didn’t exist, she wouldn’t have left the easy job at the cashier, wouldn’t have resented someone because of it, and wouldn’t have had such feelings and thoughts.
She blamed the other party for everything, believing that the girl was the root of all her sins.
Gradually, Zhang Lin felt that simple punches and kicks were no longer enough to quell her anger. She wanted to scratch the girl’s face, to destroy her pure demeanor, to make the girl pay for angering her.
This was not only a punishment for the girl for trampling on her self-esteem, but also a revenge for the girl for making her unlike herself.
Zhang Lin later found a few male friends she had known before. In the end, they were just a group of unemployed idlers. She chose the strongest one and offered him a good price. The other party readily accepted the deal.
In their chat, she told him the effect she wanted to achieve and promised that if he could achieve the effect of disfigurement, defilement, or disability… she would even add more money.
When Zhang Lin watched the man and Xia Qian Ge walk into the night yesterday, her heart inexplicably tightened. But she was also worried that if she followed them rashly, she would leave traces and be found out later. So she had to endure the feeling and go back in the night.
But before she left, she repeatedly sent several messages, indicating that what she had said before was just a joke, and that the man should not go too far. But she didn’t get a reply from the man all night, until the morning when she had to go back to work.
Zhang Lin looked up at the clock in the store. It was ten minutes before Xia Qian Ge’s shift started. The girl was never late or early, almost always on time.
She had tossed and turned in bed last night, repeatedly reading her chat history with the man. Looking at the messages she had sent, which were filled with her hatred, her words vicious and fierce, she suddenly realized that she had been blinded by hatred. A few minor conflicts that were not unavoidable had actually made her want to completely destroy the girl.
This realization made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave. She didn’t understand why she had suddenly become so ferocious and hideous. Compared to her bullying the girl, it was more like the girl was repeatedly pushing her bottom line, constantly challenging her tolerance, and pushing her to the brink of madness.
Zhang Lin suddenly realized some details that she had missed because she had been blinded by hatred. She suddenly remembered that every time she flew into a rage and even had the urge to kill the other party, it was after a brief verbal contact with the girl.
The other party seemed to be intermittently adding fuel to the fire when her anger was gradually subsiding, with a few words or eye contact, making the fire burn again, even more fiercely.
She could hardly believe that she had come to such a terrible conclusion. Could it be that Xia Qian Ge had been deliberately provoking her to get angry and go crazy, so that she could retaliate with a fatal blow after she had done something out of line?
No, no, no… it couldn’t be like that.
Zhang Lin frantically shook her head to deny this idea, so much so that a few customers not far away cast a strange look at her.
The man might not have replied to her message because he had taken the money and was temporarily hiding to avoid trouble. Maybe the girl had already received her due punishment and wouldn’t come to work today. Since the man hadn’t asked her for more money, it also meant that he hadn’t caused the girl the cruel injuries mentioned in the chat history.
This explanation gradually calmed Zhang Lin down. She really couldn’t accept the idea that all of this had been deliberately orchestrated by the girl. If that were the case, wouldn’t she be a doll being played with at will? This ending was even more unacceptable than all the previous humiliations combined.
Suddenly, Zhang Lin felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Although it was working hours and she was not supposed to use her phone, she eagerly hid under the shelf to check the message. The sender’s name was clearly written as “bitch,” which made Zhang Lin’s heart beat faster.
She nervously licked her dry and chapped lips and opened her phone to check the message. The first thing she saw was the message she had sent to Xia Qian Ge yesterday, probably asking if she had arrived home safely. Like the man, she hadn’t received any reply. But now the other party had replied to her.
“Thank you, I got home safely. What about you, did you have a good sleep?”
Zhang Lin was stunned the moment she saw this message from a minute ago. Her tired pupils were filled with streaks of blood. She was so shocked by this unusual and extraordinary emotion that her brain shut down, and for a moment, she forgot to react.
The strawberry cup cake she was holding in her hand, which she was about to replace on the shelf, accidentally fell to the ground with a thud. The cake fell apart, and the bright red strawberry jam stained the transparent plastic packaging a large patch of blood. Fortunately, the packaging protected it, so it didn’t dirty the white floor. Otherwise, it would have taken a lot of cleaning.
The small sound of the cake falling attracted Zhang Lin’s attention. She looked down, and a fair and slender hand appeared in her field of vision. She watched as the hand picked up the strawberry cake that had fallen on the ground and then slowly lifted it.
Zhang Lin stared blankly at the girl standing in front of her. Her soul was trembling violently, but the scream was stuck in her throat, and she could only whimper with a hoarse sound.
The girl’s face was still beautiful and moving. She couldn’t find any proof of injury on the girl. The exposed skin was fair and smooth, without any bruises or wounds.
She stared blankly at the sweet smile on the girl’s lips, but it made her feel that even a demon who loved to play with people’s hearts would not be so cruel.
Suddenly, all the negative emotions that had been buried in her heart—resentment, jealousy, fear, terror—finally found an outlet, like a traveler who was about to die in a maze and suddenly found the right exit.
They all rushed out of their cages, heading for the only exit. The strong stimulation even made her unable to react. She even forgot the thing she was most concerned about. She looked at the girl smiling at her, and her reason instantly collapsed.
“Good morning. You should be focused at work.”
The girl had rarely worn makeup, but today she had put on a simple one. The bright red pigment on her alluring lips was smeared. She smiled, her smile as sweet as the strawberry jam on the cup cake.
