NABC Chapter 14 She also learned the art of feigning injury.
Chapter 14 She also learned the art of feigning injury.
She never expected that the self-inflicted injury she suffered in the mud would actually be used as leverage to extract 0.25% of the logistics profits.
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The high-speed train from Beijing to Gaoyou rattled along for almost half a day. By the time Zeng Jia helped Aunt Chen squeeze out of the station, it was already getting dark. The fog from the south felt like a tattered rag that had been stuffy all night, damp and stifling against our faces.
The station wasn't far from the cooperative, and it just so happened that a rain had just fallen, making the asphalt road in the countryside as slippery as if it had been coated with lard. The air was filled with a smell of earth and rotten leaves, which seemed to be trying to get into my nose.
The taxi stopped by the roadside, unwilling to drive into the country road, so Zeng Jia could only call Chen Dewei and arrange to wait for him by the roadside.
But after waiting for less than three minutes, Aunt Chen suddenly clutched her stomach and urgently needed to use the restroom. Zeng Jia was worried about letting her run off alone, and besides, she didn't know the way if Aunt Chen ran off, so she could only push the two suitcases by herself, stumbling along the muddy path towards the farmhouse with lights on not far away.
She hadn't planned to go on a long trip today, and she was still wearing those high heels that could be used as weapons. Even the face cream was a travel-sized one she grabbed at a small supermarket in Beijing South Railway Station. Now, walking on the slippery mud road, she was unsteady with every step. Sure enough, after only a few steps, she cried out "Ouch!" as her heel twisted and she fell solidly into a mud puddle by the roadside, doing a perfect split.
Zeng Jia felt a sudden chill from her buttocks to her thighs, making her shiver. This unexpected situation startled Aunt Chen.
"Jiajia, are you alright?" Aunt Chen cried out and rushed forward to help her.
"Please don't help me, it's slippery here!" Zeng Jia quickly called out, afraid that the old lady would also fall in.
"I'll go get help, don't move around!" Aunt Chen said in a panic as she ran towards the farmhouse for help.
Zeng Jia was lying in the cold, sticky mud pit. How ridiculous! Her favorite outfit was now completely ruined.
She was feeling depressed when her phone suddenly vibrated twice. It was a WeChat message from Wang Haowen: "Have you arrived in Gaoyou yet?"
Despite the excruciating pain in her elbow, Zeng Jia braced herself against the muddy ground with her left hand, raised her phone high with her right, and snapped a selfie of herself in her disheveled state and extremely unladylike split pose.
She even deliberately grinned, forcing out a smile that looked worse than crying, feeling like a silly dog that had rolled in a mud puddle.
The moment Wang Haowen opened the photo, his heart nearly jumped out of his throat. He immediately made a video call, his voice urgent and panicked: "My goodness! What's going on? Where did you fall? Are your bones alright? Let me see!"
Looking at his flushed face and contorted features on the screen, Zeng Jia chuckled like a hen that had just laid an egg. She deliberately wiggled her mud-covered body: "See that? Perfect form, right? Like a toad pouncing on its prey! Just a bad landing spot, right into the mud. Oh my god, it smells like poop! You won't mind, will you?"
"What time is it and you're still talking nonsense!" Wang Haowen was both angry and worried. "Get up! The ground is so cold! Did you twist your ankle?"
Zeng Jia slowly sat up straight, stretched her stiff legs, and staggered as she pulled herself out of the mud pit.
She reached out and wiped her face, only to find it covered in smudges, making her look like a cat with a smudged face.
Looking at herself in the video chat window, she wondered when she had ever looked so pathetic. As a child, she used to roll around in the snowdrifts of Northeast China, but she never got dirty. Now, she was covered in a foul smell.
Not... pitiful?
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
"Do you think Chen Dewei might soften his stance and lower the loss rate or logistics subsidies a bit more after seeing how I am?"
Wang Haowen on the other end of the video was completely stunned. She was already in such a state, and she was still thinking about this?
"Zeng Xiaojia, are you risking your life like this?! Are you going to kill yourself just to buy a house? Get to a hospital right now, all that nonsense can wait..."
Wang Haowen started rambling on and on, and I really wanted to use the 5G signal to get through to her and give her a good brainwashing.
Zeng Jia heard the footsteps and voices of Aunt Chen and the villagers in the distance. "They're coming! I have to talk to you now!"
Without a second's hesitation, she quickly hung up the video call.
The owner of the farmhouse was Aunt Chen's eldest cousin's third daughter, and she was incredibly hospitable to Zeng Jia. She found clean clothes for Zeng Jia to change into from head to toe, and even specially prepared a room for her.
While showering, Zeng Jia grimaced as she checked her body. Apart from a large bruise on her elbow that was throbbing with pain, she had no other serious injuries. Recalling the fleeting thought that had crossed her mind when she fell into the pit, she felt a bit crazy. But wouldn't it be a waste not to take advantage of such a good opportunity?
She didn't take Wang Haowen's nonsense to heart at all. Who would want to torture themselves when they have a good life? Zhang Zhishan deliberately sent her to Gaoyou. If she didn't bring back some benefits, that old fox would definitely give her a good beating, and her position as secretary would be in jeopardy.
She glanced around and spotted an old wooden comb in the room. She picked up the back of the comb, faced the bruise, gritted her teeth, turned her face away, and smacked it hard several times.
The original pale blue color instantly turned into a terrifying purple bruise, a large patch of both blue and purple. Under the light, it looked like it had been brutally beaten, and just glancing at it was chilling.
After Zeng Jia finished her self-torture, she quickly tidied herself up and went out to meet people. Whether she could get anything out of them depended on her acting skills!
Chen Dewei rushed over just then, his forehead still covered in sweat, but as soon as he entered the house, Aunt Chen started scolding him.
Speaking in a thick Gaoyou dialect, her words rattled off like firecrackers. Zeng Jia couldn't understand a single word, but judging from Aunt Chen's manner and actions, she could guess what she was saying. She was probably scolding Chen Dewei for being an unfilial son, for not picking him up at the high-speed rail station, for not showing up at the intersection for ages, and for letting his savior fall like this, for raising him for nothing.
Chen Dewei hung his head, hunched over like a boiled shrimp. The villagers gathered around to watch the spectacle, but no one intervened; clearly, Aunt Chen scolding her son was a daily routine.
Aunt Chen finally got tired of scolding and was panting heavily. Her niece quickly came up to help her back to the house to rest.
The villagers dispersed, leaving only Zeng Jia and Chen Dewei staring at each other.
Zeng Jia "casually" rolled up her sleeves, turned to the side, and displayed the carefully "prepared" bruises to Chen Dewei at the best angle. "Brother Chen, actually I'm really fine. I just fell and looked a bit disheveled, which made Aunt Chen very worried and upset."
Although Zeng Jia was a woman from Northeast China, she could still manage a few words in her soft voice. The bruises looked particularly gruesome under the light, making one gasp in horror just by looking at them.
Upon seeing the injury, Chen Dewei was indeed shocked and hissed. He almost bent over at a ninety-degree angle: "Oh, Secretary Zeng! I'm so sorry! Look at the mess this has made... I really... really feel bad! I'm so sorry!"
Zeng Jia put on a forced smile at the right moment, with a hint of barely perceptible grievance and embarrassment, "Oh, it's okay, really it's okay. Don't mention this to President Zhang, otherwise he'll think I didn't handle things well and can't even walk steadily, and he'll criticize me for being unreliable."
Zeng Jia sighed, and out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of the "Township Rectification Audit Notice" that Chen Dewei had left on the table. Could it be that Chen Dewei was late and had been dragged over for a lecture? Looking at his thick eyebrows and big eyes, he doesn't seem like a reliable person after all.
She suddenly realized that her idea wasn't just a pipe dream; it was something worth discussing. Whenever auditing was involved, it meant dealing with unclear profits...
"Actually, I wanted to ask about the logistics subsidy this time, but I was too embarrassed to bring it up after I made you get scolded, Brother Chen." Zeng Jia looked guilty, and with her injuries all over her body, it seemed like she would be fired by Zhang Zhishan as soon as she got back.
Chen Dewei was taken aback, only then noticing the notification. His Adam's apple bobbed, and it took him a while to speak: "Secretary Zeng, how about this? I carefully reviewed the details of the logistics subsidy today, and we can actually reduce the amount by 0.25% on paper."
Zeng Jia's heart leaped with joy. But she had to maintain a composed expression, as if she'd heard the most incredible news imaginable. Her eyes widened immediately, and her voice was filled with just the right amount of surprise and disbelief: "Really?! Brother Chen? You can still let me?"
She quickly took half a step forward, her voice trembling with urgency and gratitude, "How did you manage to squeeze out this 0.25%? This has really helped me a lot! You have no idea how closely Mr. Zhang has been watching this number these past two days. If I don't make any progress when I get back, his temper will..." She stopped abruptly, leaving Chen Dewei with only a knowing look.
Looking into Zeng Jialiang's bright, grateful, and expectant eyes, and then at her glaring bruise, Chen Dewei felt as if he had finally swallowed a bloody fishbone stuck in his throat. "Alright! Secretary Zeng, you really have it tough, falling like this and still thinking about work. I'll send you the detailed calculations later."