The next morning at half past five, Qin Yue got up on schedule for the early shift, washed up, and made breakfast. The sizzle and pop of oil in the kitchen ushered in the slow dawn.
Guan Xiangchen, who’d planned to sleep until noon, couldn’t resist the aroma and crawled out early to sit at the table, waiting to be fed.
Half a beat late, she remembered their conversation from the night before. She stood in the kitchen doorway, guilt-stricken. “Yue’er, I’m sorry. You know me. I’ve been too free-wheeling, no sense of boundaries…”
“Xiangchen.”
“Don’t talk. I’m in the middle of apologizing.” Guan Xiangchen accepted the soy milk Qin Yue handed her, head hanging. “If I’d known you were so easy to sway, I’d never have let you see all my mess. Blame me. From now on I’ll work like a horse to make it up to you.”
Qin Yue deftly fried the dough sticks, her voice carrying a smile under the range hood’s noise. “A horse that panics without meat every day might be more than I can feed.”
Guan Xiangchen flailed her arms. “Hey! What’s wrong with you! I’m apologizing seriously and you’re joking with me!”
Qin Yue plated the dough sticks and set them on the table. Solemnly: “Xiangchen, whether I’m into women or not is my own choice. It has nothing to do with you, or anyone else.”
“Really?” Guan Xiangchen looked skeptical. “You really weren’t influenced by me at all?”
Qin Yue said, “No.”
“Good.” Relieved, Guan Xiangchen bit off a huge piece of dough stick. Then she squinted and asked, “So you really fell for that teacher’s looks and turned yourself? I know she has a nice voice, but what does she look like? Pretty?”
Qin Yue said, “Pretty.”
Guan Xiangchen sucked in a breath. “Not even a second of hesitation. Yue’er, you’re done for.”
Qin Yue glanced sideways. “I’m just being honest. How does that make me done for?”
“The bar’s too high, that’s why.” Guan Xiangchen wore the expression of someone who’d been through it all. “She’s a university teacher. Talent, check. Social standing, check. And you just admitted the looks, check. Spend enough time with someone that brilliant and attractive and high-status, and when it eventually ends, where are you going to find another one that measures up?”
“Hey, are you going to finish that corn? I want more.” Guan Xiangchen stared at her with pitiful eyes.
Qin Yue lowered her lashes. Quietly: “I’m done.”
After breakfast, Guan Xiangchen’s conscience kicked in and she volunteered to wash the dishes, along with urging Qin Yue out the door. “Hurry up! Don’t actually be late. Every second is fifty bucks!”
“Almost ready.” Qin Yue checked her keys and phone and walked to the door to change shoes.
“Wait!” Guan Xiangchen darted out of the kitchen, face serious. “You’re going to work like that?”
Qin Yue straightened. “What’s the problem?”
“A huge problem!” Guan Xiangchen raised her hand and scraped a wet finger across her own neck. “Show up to work with that on your neck and within an hour, the whole factory will drown you in spit.”
Qin Yue understood what she meant and rushed to the mirror.
Scratches layered over kiss marks.
The first was from Shen Jianqing losing control the night before. The second…
Shen Jianqing had sucked patiently, wanting to give her pleasure too.
Her neck was sensitive.
And now it had become ground zero for the “evidence.”
Qin Yue tilted her head and stared at that small patch of ambiguous red. The elegant tendon along her neck, blessed by the morning sun, looked so beautiful it felt foreign.
Beautiful or not, it couldn’t be shown in public.
Beautiful or not, the day of “ending” would come.
Qin Yue opened the wardrobe and searched for something that would cover her neck.
In the kitchen doorway, Guan Xiangchen leaned against the frame, perfectly at ease, teasing her. “Yue’er, I’ve been into women for over a decade and I’ve never seen marks this intense. Respect.”
Qin Yue didn’t like putting her private life on display, not even for her best friend. She said nothing and let her bland gaze drift over the pitifully few summer clothes.
Everything folded was round-necked tees. None could cover her neck.
The single hanging item had a collar, but it wasn’t hers.
Qin Yue held the wardrobe door and sniffed quietly.
Guan Xiangchen’s sharp ears caught the slight congestion and she dashed off to find cold medicine, taking the opportunity to rail against Shen Jianqing’s heartlessness.
“I could understand on a normal day, but yesterday in that rain she still made you leave? What’s her problem? Worried you’ll live too long?”
“She’s just an associate professor. Big deal! Dump her and find someone else!”
“With your looks…”
“Xiangchen.” Qin Yue cut her off, reached up, and took the shirt from the hanger. “She doesn’t know my situation.”
Guan Xiangchen froze. “A-Yue, don’t tell me that after all this time, you really only sleep together and haven’t talked about anything else?”
Qin Yue said, “No. Other than names and jobs, she knows nothing about me.” And she’d only learned about the job just yesterday.
Guan Xiangchen was floored. “Damn. No wonder you two have lasted. Clean lines. Sister, I’m taking notes!”
Qin Yue closed the wardrobe and turned. “If I don’t leave now, I really will be late.”
“Ah, right, right! Go change!” Guan Xiangchen grabbed a packet of cold medicine and hurried to the kitchen. “Come take your medicine when you’re dressed.”
Qin Yue said, “Alright.”
Less than three minutes later, Qin Yue came into the kitchen for the medicine.
Guan Xiangchen eyed the simple, elegant, well-made shirt on her. “When did you buy this?”
Qin Yue held the cup and answered obliquely. “Doesn’t it fit?”
Guan Xiangchen shook her head vigorously. “Not just fits. It’s seriously elite!”
“How much was it? I want one too.” Guan Xiangchen asked, eager.
Qin Yue lowered her head slightly and rubbed her chin unconsciously against the collar. “Don’t know.”
Guan Xiangchen turned away, smiling faintly. “Let’s just end our friendship.”
Qin Yue placed the empty cup by Guan Xiangchen’s hand. “Remember to wash it.”
Guan Xiangchen twisted the rag in both hands, face twisted in a scowl as if wringing someone’s neck. “Hmph! Once the anti-static suit goes on, who isn’t a country bumpkin! Who cares about your fancy shirt!”
Qin Yue laughed. “Right. We’re all bumpkins. I’m off.”
“Move it!” Guan Xiangchen snapped the rag between her teeth. The instant the door closed, she let out a long sigh. Staring at the medicine residue in the cup, she muttered to herself, “Used to think you were just talented. Now you’ve got the clothes and the aura too. Why’d you have to be the one without a degree, without a good family, without connections to a better place, and without even a body that can survive getting rained on in summer?”
Maintenance department.
Qin Yue split her attention, handling her own work while answering Gu Tao’s questions with economical precision.
“Master, why do capacitors with the same rating come in different package sizes?”
“Larger packages can handle higher voltage.”
“Why add a TVS here?”
“Protection against transient breakdown.”
“When you had me test those repaired boards just now, why turn off the desk lamp?”
“To reduce mains-frequency interference.”
“……”
At every workstation, people were hustling, unwilling to spare a single extra word.
They were paid by the piece. Every second wasted meant less money in their pockets come payday. Nobody could afford to waste time.
Except this young master-and-apprentice pair.
One asked earnestly about everything. The other answered freely, holding nothing back.
After finishing a batch of boards, Qin Yue spotted Gu Tao picking up a chip that had fallen to the floor. “Use a new chip.”
Gu Tao said, “This is new. I just took it out.”
Qin Yue said, “This chip has poor shock resistance. After falling from that height, it can’t be trusted.”
Gu Tao’s eyes went wide. “Master, how do you know everything? Master Wu said you only transferred from production to maintenance last year.”
Qin Yue kept her head down, filling out the repair form against the board. “Your questions are all fundamentals.”
Gu Tao looked at her with adoration. “Still think you’re amazing.”
“If you have time to kiss up, solder a few more boards!” Wei Xincheng materialized behind Gu Tao and barked. “Do you know that in the same hours, others have repaired three times the boards you have? If you’re still like this next month, pack your bags and get out!”
Gu Tao’s face went white. “I’m sorry, Dean. I’ll work overtime this afternoon and catch up.”
Wei Xincheng snorted and turned to Qin Yue. “Finish the form and come to my office.”
Qin Yue didn’t look up. “Alright.”
Qin Yue worked with focus. Only when she finished the repair slip and was about to leave did she notice Gu Tao quietly wiping tears. She paused. “Focus on your work. Dean Wei can dock your performance pay, but he can’t fire you.”
Gu Tao’s nose stung and her eyes reddened further. “I know. I just feel so useless. I’ve been learning from you for over three months and I still don’t know anything.”
Qin Yue was direct. “Three months isn’t short. You don’t know anything because you haven’t been attentive enough. Gu Tao, there are no shortcuts from not knowing to knowing. It can only come from your own effort. But you spend more time on makeup and dressing up.”
Gu Tao was young and thin-skinned. Despite the absence of accusation in Qin Yue’s tone, her face burned crimson.
“I’m sorry,” Gu Tao said, voice trembling.
Qin Yue glanced at her without expression and left the edges of her words unsoftened. “You don’t need to apologize to me. I’ll still teach you everything I know without reservation. How much you learn is up to you. Get back to work.”
Qin Yue left as soon as she finished speaking, leaving Gu Tao teary-eyed.
Across the aisle, Master Wu couldn’t help but offer a kind word. “Don’t blame Little Qin for being blunt. At least she’s genuinely teaching you. Try someone else and see.”
“Right. Little Qin didn’t have your luck back then.” Master Cao jumped in from his own station. “When Little Qin first came to the factory, she was even younger than you. Just past nineteen. Knew nothing. Got yelled at practically every day. And that year, business was bad. Everyone was short on money and short on temper. Nobody had the patience to train her.”
“Mostly nobody wanted to give up their own time,” Master Wu admitted.
Master Cao nodded and continued. “I remember Dean Wei was still on the production line back then with time to keep an eye on things. Just imagine Little Qin’s situation. But she never cried when she got scolded. Never complained. Whenever she had a free moment, she’d practice, study, day and night. There were times I saw her shoulders hurting so bad she could barely move, and she’d just grit her teeth, rub them, and push through. Don’t look at how much she knows now. It all came from swallowing broken bones, little by little.”
“Sigh.” Master Wu shook his head, lowering his voice. “Little Qin’s drive is honestly frightening. I’ve seen her push through on medication multiple times. Her health doesn’t seem great.”
