Chapter 109: The Girl Gnawing on a Flatbread

Seeing that Liu Xingyu was intent on breaking free from Gou Biao, even at the risk of mutual destruction, Jiang Fan shared everything he had learned from Zhao Sixi with her.

After listening, Liu Xingyu stared blankly at the sky for a long moment. Then, looking at Jiang Fan with tears welling in her eyes, she said, "Thank you for your trust. Thinking back on what I’ve done, I am truly ashamed to face anyone. Compared to what they have actually done, what Zhao Sixi told you is merely the tip of the iceberg. I have even been an accomplice to their most conscience-less crimes."

Seeing Liu Xingyu falter and stop, Jiang Fan urged her, "What has happened cannot be changed. If you truly feel remorse, making amends now is at least a way to find some peace for your conscience."

After a long silence, Liu Xingyu continued, "The most wicked thing they do is scout among the job seekers for young women who are attractive but lack the money to pay the referral fees, then force them to trade sexual favors for those fees. I was the one who helped them screen for these girls. I didn't want to tell you before because I knew that if this came out, I would have no face left to stay at this factory, and I was still reluctant to lose my job. Now that I’ve said it, it is time for me to leave Dafeng. Whether or not you help me find another job, I will submit my resignation tomorrow."

Hearing her confess to such a depraved scheme, Jiang Fan couldn't help but think of Zhang Xiaoye’s ordeal. Overcome with anger, he lashed out: "Most of the girls who can’t even scrape together a referral fee are those who have come from afar without support, or whose families and friends are helpless to assist them. You can imagine the desperate straits they are already in. You are a woman who has known hardship yourself; how could you bear to rub salt into their wounds and commit such inhuman acts?"

Seeing Jiang Fan’s sudden hostility, Liu Xingyu burst into tears, terrified. Deeply regretful of her past actions, she explained desperately, "Gou Biao forced me to do it. I only did it twice before realizing how inhumane it was and refusing to continue. I even used my position to help those two girls get easier jobs—you can investigate if you don’t believe me."

Hearing this, Jiang Fan felt a slight sense of relief, and he calmed down enough to ask about the origins of this scheme. He learned that the practice had been inspired by a destitute girl who had reached the end of her rope, giving Gou Biao and his cronies the idea for this illicit revenue stream.

It had happened shortly after Liu Xingyu was promoted to personnel manager and had just become entangled with Gou Biao. During her first recruitment drive, Gou Biao had brought two security guards along, ostensibly to show her the ropes, but in reality, to teach her how to extort referral fees. After the recruitment session, Gou Biao returned to the factory, leaving Liu Xingyu, still riding the high of her new promotion, to wander about and observe the desperate crowd of job seekers.

She spotted a girl, not yet twenty, dressed in rags but possessing a striking beauty, hiding by a flowerbed around the corner from the main gate, gnawing on a flatbread. At one yuan each, these flatbreads—larger than a car steering wheel—were cheap, filling, and easy to store; many homeless drifters relied on them for survival, often stretching one bread across two or three meals.

The small piece of bread in the girl’s hand looked like it had been bought days ago. She carefully broke off a tiny fragment; the dry bread crumbled, and she caught the crumbs in her palm, licking them up with her tongue before tucking the rest back into her pocket. As she slowly ate, her parched lips cracked. Without water, the dry bread was difficult to swallow; after two bites, the crumbs caught in her throat. She covered her mouth and coughed, then picked up the saliva-moistened crumbs she had coughed out, unable to bear wasting even those, and put them back into her mouth.

The seemingly legitimate recruitment process was actually just a front for the factory’s upper management; those who had already paid their fees and were pre-selected did not need to attend the recruitment site, as they had already entered the factory to process their employment. Liu Xingyu remembered this girl from the earlier recruitment session; she had stood out because of her beauty and her extreme shyness.

Realizing the girl didn't know she was merely a prop for a fake recruitment, and not yet fully corrupted, Liu Xingyu felt a pang of pity. She took two yuan from her pocket and held it out, saying, "Go buy some water. Eating such dry bread without water is miserable."

The girl, hiding there to preserve her dignity, quickly hid the bread behind her back and politely waved her away. "No, thank you. I’m used to eating like this."

Before Liu Xingyu could press further, Gou Biao’s cousin, a security guard at Dafeng named San Gouzi, walked over and called out, trying to curry favor: "Sister-in-law, my brother wants you to go back to the factory. He needs to see you." By seniority, Liu Xingyu should have called San Gouzi "Uncle," but because Gou Biao was doing so well, his relatives all called her "Sister-in-law Biao" to get into his good graces.

Liu Xingyu pressed the two yuan into the girl’s hand and left, unaware of what the security guard said to the girl after she was gone.

At dinner time, Gou Biao took Liu Xingyu out to eat, and upon arriving at the restaurant, she saw the girl sitting there with Er Gouzi, San Gouzi’s older brother. After the meal, Gou Biao gave her thirty yuan, telling her to take the girl to buy some clothes. At the time, she didn't fully understand Gou Biao and assumed he was acting out of kindness.

After buying the clothes, Gou Biao handed the girl over to Er Gouzi, who hung around the streets. Seeing the girl’s uneasy expression, Liu Xingyu asked where Er Gouzi was taking her. Gou Biao, who had only just manipulated her into this relationship, didn't yet trust her fully and brushed her off, saying, "Er Gouzi is helping her find a place to stay; he’s taking her there now."

That night, Gou Biao didn't return to their rented room until after midnight, humming a tune and appearing to be in high spirits, showing an unusual intensity in his affection for her. When Liu Xingyu jokingly asked if he had struck it rich, Gou Biao replied, "If today’s plan succeeds, it could become another way for us to make a fortune." When she pressed him on what he meant, he fell silent.

The next morning, San Gouzi brought the girl to the personnel department to register. The girl looked utterly despondent, devoid of any joy at finding a job, which finally sparked Liu Xingyu's suspicions. That afternoon, when she questioned Gou Biao about how he managed to get the girl in without a fee and why she looked so miserable, he realized the money was already in hand and decided to enlist her help. He finally revealed the truth: after San Gouzi had seen the girl's beauty, he had concocted a scheme, pretending he could help her get into the factory, but only at a price.