People in the alley: A woman dressed as a man shouldn't be foolishly filial, Zhuang Chaoying

Chapter 292 Getting burned

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and the roar of the machines in the machine factory was unbearable.

Zhuang Ganmei is in the workshop, operating a lathe to make parts.

He stared at the rotating part, adjusting the dimensions with the tools in his hands.

Just then, the workshop director suddenly walked towards him. "Zhuang Ganmei, the factory leaders want you to come over!"

Upon hearing the sound, Zhuang Ganmei paused for a moment, then quickly took off her cotton gloves and put them in the toolbox.

The factory leaders wanted to see him? His heart skipped a beat. What could it be about?

But he quickly put on a smiling face, looking at Director Zhou of the workshop with a fawning expression, like a puppy wagging its tail eagerly, and said obsequiously.

"Director, have the factory leaders said what it is? Please, could you tell me?"

Director Zhou frowned at his obsequious manner, his eyes filled with disdain, and answered impatiently.

"You'll see when you get there. Hurry up, the factory leaders have a ton of things to do, don't take up their time!"

Zhuang Ganmei nodded and bowed hurriedly. "Yes, yes, I'll be right there."

The distance from the workshop to the office building is less than 500 meters, but Zhuang Ganmei felt that the road was incredibly long.

As he walked, his mind wandered.

What on earth happened? Suddenly, his heart trembled violently, and a terrible thought surged into his mind: Could it be that his shady secrets had been exposed?

That bastard who took the money, he wouldn't really do something inhuman, would he?

The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became, and his steps unconsciously slowed down.

But soon, he tried to comfort himself, saying, "It's okay, it's okay, it's not over yet, I don't know what happened, I can't think the worst. Maybe the boss wants to promote me."

Thinking about it this way, he felt a little better. He took a deep breath and walked quickly toward the factory leader's office.

When he arrived at the office door, his hands trembled slightly as he nervously reached out and knocked.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Come in."

Zhuang Ganmei pushed open the door and went in, where she saw Factory Director Wang sitting at his desk, smoking a cigarette.

Seeing that Director Wang's expression seemed relatively calm, Zhuang Ganmei breathed a slight sigh of relief. It seemed it wasn't anything serious. He smiled broadly, quickly walked to his desk, and bowed slightly. "Director, you wanted to see me?"

Looking at Zhuang Ganmei, Director Wang recalled the scene of inspecting the workshop last time.

He immediately noticed that the guy was smoking, even though smoking was explicitly prohibited in the workshop. Because of this, Zhuang Ganmei had a month's performance bonus deducted.

Factory Director Wang thought to himself, "This Zhuang Ganmei is always busy, always getting herself into trouble."

Factory Director Wang took a deep drag on his cigarette, then shoved the butt hard into the ashtray.

Immediately afterwards, he threw the photo in his hand in front of Zhuang Ganmei. "Take a look for yourself."

Zhuang Ganmei's heart leaped into his throat as he watched the photo suddenly fly in. His legs trembled uncontrollably with nervousness. He slowly picked up the photo, glanced at it, and his face turned deathly pale. His legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

His voice trembled, almost pleading with a sob. "Factory...factory manager, please let me explain."

Factory Director Wang stood up, staring intently at Zhuang Ganmei, his expression very serious. "I'll ask you one question now: Is this you in the photo? Do you know this Widow Wang? Answer these two questions."

Zhuang Ganmei lowered her head, cold sweat beading on her forehead, but she couldn't speak for a moment.

Seeing that Zhuang Ganmei remained silent, Factory Director Wang leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table, his tone icy. "It's fine if you don't talk. I can send someone to investigate. Once the factory finds out, you can expect to be dealt with seriously."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Ganmei dared not hesitate any longer and quickly spoke up. "Director Wang, it's me, it really is me, but there's nothing else between me and her, really, we...we're just ordinary friends."

"Bang!" Factory Director Wang slammed his hand on the table.

"Zhuang Ganmei, oh Zhuang Ganmei, you're always so irresponsible at work, and now your personal life is just as dissolute! They've even come to the factory! I'm only giving you two days. If you can get this woman to give you a certificate proving that you two have no relationship, the factory will consider a lenient treatment. Otherwise, you'd better pack your bags and leave!"

Although employees in state-owned factories have secure jobs and cannot be dismissed arbitrarily, Zhuang Ganmei's situation was so egregious that the factory leadership, after a meeting, unanimously decided to show no leniency.

Zhuang Ganmei's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly nodded. "Thank you, Director Wang. I will definitely bring her here to prove my innocence if you give me this opportunity." Then, she slunk out of the leader's office, carefully closing the door behind her.

As he walked, he cursed inwardly: "That little widow, she's a real piece of work! I've spent a lot of money on you, and even though I can't marry you, you don't have to do this! You even dared to report me! I've raised a thankless wretch!"

Pooh!

The factory manager's meaning was clear: as long as the two could prove their relationship was innocent, they could keep their jobs; otherwise... Zhuang Ganmei dared not think further. Without her job, how could she face her neighbors?

How could he possibly stand tall as a man in front of his wife?

Could it be the same person who cheated me out of a thousand yuan before?

He smacked his head in frustration, wondering why he hadn't thought to check the whistleblower letter earlier.

He remembered the dozen or so Yuan Shikai silver dollars he had. He had asked on the black market before, and they were worth at most twelve or thirteen yuan each, which wouldn't even amount to two hundred yuan in total.

If you go to that girl, she'll definitely ask for an exorbitant price.

I just wanted to have some fun, but who knew it would cause such a big problem, backfire and get me into a mess.

Zhuang Ganmei walked dejectedly to the steps of the office building, plopped down, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with trembling hands, and took a deep drag.

But this did nothing to vent his anger. He reached up and slapped his crotch hard, muttering, "Serves you right for being a slut, serving you right for cheating!"

Then he slapped himself hard across the face, the sound echoing loudly in the empty hallway.

"What the hell have I done to deserve this?!"

He staggered back to the workshop, spending the entire afternoon in a daze, his eyes vacant, ignoring the conversations of his colleagues, and mechanically completing the tasks at hand.

He finally made it to the end of the workday and ran to the bicycle shed. He got on his bike and headed towards the young woman's place, intending to confront her, but he was really unsure of himself.

Damn it, whatever, this has to be resolved, or I'll lose my job.