Jiang Xinyu finished speaking and still had her head bowed. She thought, who wants to mess with you guys?
But she was puzzling in her heart, why do the names Kong Mengjie and Wang Ailing feel particularly familiar?
Suddenly, she bumped into someone. "Jiang Xinyu, are you blind, walking without watching where you're going? Didn't see someone ahead?" Zhou Chunxiang turned back and shouted fiercely.
Jiang Xinyu's mind suddenly went blank. Why does this scene seem so familiar? Isn't this from a novel she read after work?
She apologized for her appearance, didn't have a boyfriend, and didn't want to become a foil for her female colleagues, so after work she would be in her dormitory reading.
This Kong Mengjie was indeed the female protagonist of a period drama novel she had read.
She was particularly familiar with the first half of the novel because she had a bad habit of generally reading novels until the middle, at which point she could broadly guess the upcoming plot, so she'd only pay to read the later parts if there was an attractive title.
Kong Mengjie's dad was the village chief, her mom was the women's director, her two older brothers were soldiers in the army, and she had a younger brother and sister.
She also graduated from junior high, and at the age of eighteen, she had the opportunity to work at the county textile factory.
Because she was educated and pretty, upon arriving at the textile factory, she rose through the ranks step by step on her own merits.
Starting from the dirtiest, most exhausting job as a workshop female worker, she endured until she became a team leader, then a group leader, acted as a secretary for the young factory head, successfully joined the party, and then became workshop director, deputy factory director, and finally factory director.
It only took four years, by the time she was twenty-two, she had become the factory director.
Of course, on her path to success, there were many willing male and female supporters who became stepping stones.
The most tragic was the young factory head, who spent the latter half of his life in prison, but this enabled the triumph of our big female protagonist.
The first half was an introduction to the protagonist's upgrade and domination; the middle part was about her tortured romance with the male protagonist.
The male protagonist was a second-generation official, married early, but after meeting the female protagonist and being attracted to her, he divorced his wife and pursued her wholeheartedly.
The female protagonist was eventually moved by him and chose this divorced male protagonist. During turbulent times, they stood by each other, with a love stronger than gold.
The two endured the most difficult times, eventually leading to the strong union of commerce and politics. One became a regional giant, and the other a nationally ranked female magnate, becoming an envied successful couple.
"Xinyu, what are you thinking about? We're here, but you're still walking forward? If I hadn't called you, you would have walked right into a tree."
"Sis, I'm fine."
This was a pitiable supporting female character, her husband was eventually the male counterpart who helped the female protagonist become a team leader.
This Wang Ailing was also ruthless; after discovering their unclear relationship, she turned her husband in. However, this affectionate male supported took all the blame for the female protagonist, stopping just short of saying he had forced her.
Wang Ailing directly divorced her husband and returned to her rural home with her daughter. How could our female protagonist let off this village sister who almost got her thrown into jail?
When she became factory director, she made a special trip to recruit workers in the village, Wang Ailing, to support her daughter, also joined the factory, and eventually, the protagonist used some tricks to pin a theft charge on her, sending her to jail.
"If you're fine, then hurry up and get to work."
"Okay, sis, I'll go cut some branches first."
"Is that so, give me the machete; with your strength..."
"Thank you, sis." This poor girl, if I had the ability, I'd find a way to prevent her from marrying in the county, marrying the protagonist's deeply affectionate male counterpart.
"No problem, all the branches I cut are yours, my brothers still chop wood at home."
Jiang Xinyu truly felt that this older sister was kind-hearted.
"Great, I'll pick them up. My sister just takes care of me."
"Hmph, only you have a heart." Zhou Lihong glared at Wang Ailing.
Kong Mengjie was also resentful of Wang Ailing; she had come to Jiang Xinyu to make a good impression, but how was it all disrupted by Wang Ailing?
The two didn't pay them any attention, Jiang Xinyu absent-mindedly followed Wang Ailing, multitasking by picking up branches and thinking about the plot.
She was just another character providing work opportunities for the female protagonist -- why was the protagonist coincidentally working at the county's textile factory?
The book had a chapter introducing how the female protagonist gathered wood for a girl who lost her parents and even broke ties with a childhood friend of hers for the girl. The girl volunteered her father's work for the protagonist.
There was another line later on when Wang Ailing returned to the village with her daughter, where she saw a deranged woman and remarked, "Foolish Xinyu, why didn't you listen to me? Otherwise, you wouldn't have become like this."
Oh my, oh my, oh my, I'm the one with the deranged ending, that won't do, not at all, I absolutely cannot have that end, oh heavens, I thought I'd finally gotten rid of the jinx title, got a chance to time travel, but I didn't expect it to be an even more miserable life.
Why does it feel like this is Heaven's malicious intent toward me? Playing with someone isn't the goal; this is meant to play me to death.
"Xinyu, there's plenty of branches beside you, what's wrong with you today?"
"Sis, I'm fine, just a bit dizzy, I'll drink some water, and I'll be okay." After speaking, she didn't take off the water bottle, directly opened the cap on her back, and drank a few sips.
I'll think about it tonight; this environment isn't suited for calmly thinking about the plot.
Next, Jiang Xinyu's movements sped up considerably, but she couldn't ignore the female protagonist Kong Mengjie, who had been watching closely.
Jiang Xinyu felt as if a beautiful serpent was watching her, causing chills to run down her spine.
This female protagonist hadn't paid any attention to this young girl before. Now staring like this truly made one uncomfortable.
This honest person had a temper too, "Kong Mengjie, why are you always staring at me?"
Kong Mengjie paused, "I'm just worried about you; you seem absent-minded."
"Oh. Then thank you, I'm fine, but you staring at me makes me feel scared, like when something stares at something."
Nearby, Wang Ailing was cutting branches when she heard Jiang Xinyu's words and couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Jiang Xinyu, what do you mean?" Zhou Chunxiang immediately wasn't having it and quickly jumped to defend Kong Mengjie.
"Nothing, I just feel like I'm a piece of meat being watched by Kong Mengjie."
Everyone present knew that wasn't the implication, but couldn't articulate it.
In anger, Zhou Chunxiang wanted to rush over. But the heroine stopped her, "Chunxiang, don't be angry, I don't mind. Let's hurry and pick up sticks."