Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 221 True or False First Love 21_1

Chapter 221: Chapter 221 True or False First Love 21_1

Zhou Lina looked at the time and realized it was almost the end of the workday. She quickly went downstairs and waited at the entrance of the building for Zhou Juan.

Sitting on a stool in the living room, Zhou Juan felt bombarded by the relentless scolding from Old Zhou and Old Madam Zhou—it was giving her a headache.

At this moment, she truly felt like dying. Although Zheng Weijian later admitted that he had mentioned it, Mother Zheng finally let her off the hook.

But her face was swollen from the slapping, and what was most important was that her fingernail had scratched her face.

In such hot weather, she didn’t know whether it would leave a scar. If it did, wouldn’t that be disfiguring?

Internally, Zhou Juan cursed Mother Zheng with every vile insult she could think of. She decided that for now, she’d play by their rules and let them have their way.

But when they grew old and it was time for them to depend on her, as long as she had a hold over Zheng Weijian, would she still worry about keeping that old couple in check?

As for these two old geezers right now, Zhou Juan was full of resentment toward them, yet she could only bear with it.

When she became successful in the future, she definitely wouldn’t care about their wellbeing. After all, they constantly belittled her as a financial loss—since she was deemed a loss, they shouldn’t expect any returns. How else could she prove to be a financial loss?

Zhou Lina was not surprised that Zhou Juan didn’t come downstairs. Anyway, she wasn’t in a hurry since the rush hour hadn’t started yet.

After another ten minutes or so, two people from GWH arrived. Seeing only Zhou Lina there, they couldn’t be bothered to go up.

Standing at the foot of the building, they shouted loudly, "Zhou Juan, Zhou Juan, didn’t you say you wanted to apologize? Why haven’t you come down yet?"

"What’s with the need for constant summoning? Are we holding a banquet?"

When Zhou Juan heard her name being called from downstairs, her heart raced uncontrollably. It was then she remembered that she had committed to apologizing downstairs after work.

What was most important was that she had to offer a sincere apology, which just added to her stress.

She hadn’t sat down to properly think about how to apologize from the time the incident occurred until now.

Old Zhou hadn’t expected those people to actually come, and his face turned pale. "Alright, you go down," he said.

"Make sure you apologize properly and remember to cook dinner," Old Madam Zhou added, remembering that Zhou Juan hadn’t even started preparing the vegetables.

Thinking about it made Old Madam Zhou furious, "What a useless thing."

Zhou Juan had already heard such words countless times today. To say she wasn’t hurt would be a lie, but she had grown used to it.

The factory workers returning home from their shifts saw people from GWH standing at the entrance of the building and their first thought was whether something serious had happened again.

Everyone gathered around to see which family was in trouble. At that moment, some who were aware of the situation explained why it was happening.

Everyone was taken aback, "All this for that reason?"

Aside from calling the police, even people from GWH were involved—the scale of the response seemed massive.

"Exactly, there’s no need to make such a big fuss," someone felt that Zhou Lina’s actions were just stirring up trouble.

While some people thought that way, of course, others stood by Zhou Lina. "How can it not be necessary to make a big fuss?"

"She borrowed more than a hundred yuan from someone and never intended to pay it back. When her private savings were exposed, she tried to escape responsibility by claiming it was stolen by the other party."

"Three people ganging up on one child—if the police and GWH weren’t involved, who would end up being blamed in the end?"

"Exactly, not paying back borrowed money is unlucky enough for the creditor, but to be wrongfully accused of being a thief on top of that, anyone would feel wronged."

Some people had initially felt that Zhou Lina was making too much of a scene, perhaps excessively so.

But after hearing the conversation below, they felt it was justified. Two elders and a cousin, even if not related by blood, could easily suppress that young girl.

"You all don’t know, but Zhou Juan actually schemed against Zhou Lina, the little one, encouraging her to sign up as a ’Sent-Down Youth’."

"Zhou Lina’s step-father encouraged her mother to apply for early retirement, so when the application gets approved, guess who will benefit in the end."

In an era where a formal job was extremely precious, families with multiple children certainly didn’t lack their share of tricks to secure a succession for one of their kids.

As a result, Zhou Juan dared to scheme against others, making everyone gasp, "She, a mere girl, actually had such a ruthless heart."

Looking at Zhou Juan, she really didn’t seem like that kind of person.

"They had a fuss about it yesterday, luckily Zhou Lina wasn’t fooled; otherwise, it would have been disastrous since the GWH next door just issued a recruitment notice today."

"Right, GWH is starting a new project next door and needs to recruit quite a few people."

"The workshop workers are all family members of workers from our factory, and anyone with a junior high school diploma and an urban household registration can sign up."

"Didn’t I see that it’s for high school graduates?" Of course, I would check it out when the factory next door is recruiting massively.

"That’s for the Left Operation Company."

"But this one is open to the public, as long as they are high school graduates, unemployed, and have urban citizenship," the person said regretfully, "my child graduates next year."

Without a graduation diploma, there was absolutely no way to sign up. Missing this opportunity, who knows if there will ever be another one like it—everyone understood there wouldn’t be.

Among the onlookers, those with eligible family members were thrilled, "Really?"

"If you don’t believe it, you can go check at the factory next door."

Although they knew there was no need to lie, they still had to confirm it, knowing that even though the chance of getting selected was slim, it was still an opportunity that absolutely could not be missed.

Some people said that the recruitment had nothing to do with their family, and they’d rather stay here to watch the excitement.

Others calculated in their minds whether this matched their children’s or someone else’s conditions, and if so, they definitely had to inform them.

Whether or not they got in, it was worth a try. After all, landing a permanent job was tempting to anyone.

Zhou Juan heard the faint news of recruitment as she came downstairs, a surge of excitement in her heart, eager to find out where the recruitment was happening.

But her excitement quickly dimmed; no matter where the recruitment was, it was irrelevant to her since she was already designated as a ’Sent-Down Youth’.

Even if she secretly signed up, she wouldn’t make it until the day of the exam.

Especially being on GWH’s watch list like her, she certainly couldn’t afford any small moves.

It really was such a narrow miss—if today she hadn’t called Zhou Lina a thief but had been patient and explained things to Old Madam Zhou.

It wouldn’t be like this. She could have signed up for the recruitment exam. She was confident in herself; as a high school graduate, passing the exam shouldn’t be an issue.

Zhou Juan, filled with various resentments, was naturally as insincere as could be when it came to apologizing.

Zhou Lina knew she had heard the recruitment news and could only guess how awkward and angry Zhou Juan felt.

Knowing she was suffering made Zhou Lina very happy. She genuinely didn’t care whether the apology was sincere.

She might not care, but the GWH people weren’t satisfied, and they shouted, "Is this the attitude of a sincere apology?"

Zhou Dahai was chatting with colleagues, walking home. Hearing this, although he didn’t know the details, he could tell there was some drama to witness.

He rushed over to see what was happening, only to find a GWH Little Red Guard scolding Zhou Lina.

Zhou Dahai felt elated, regardless of the actual facts. He knew he couldn’t let this opportunity to get at her slip by.