At that time I didn’t even have the ability to think. I could only nod like a piece of wood and walk into Director Fang’s office.

Perhaps only in his office could I avoid those hundreds of pairs of eyes that were like knives.

Director Fang closed the door and casually threw the photos on the desk, then pulled open his drawer and took out an envelope.

“Tiantian, I’m really sorry about this. My wife has always had this temper.” He said. “I’m personally compensating you with five hundred yuan. You can consider it medical expenses, or what’s it called… mental distress compensation. In any case, I apologize to you. Don’t take it to heart.”

This time he didn’t place the envelope on the desk, but instead grabbed my arm and stuffed it directly into my hand.

I held the money tremblingly and said in a hoarse voice: “Director Fang… why did you take my photo?”

“This?” Director Fang picked up that photo of me on the assembly line nonchalantly and said, “Before, I wanted to evaluate you for Quality Advanced, so I kept a portrait photo of you. But it turned out you didn’t meet the age requirement so it wasn’t used.”

After hearing this, I opened my mouth blankly and discovered in panic that I seemed to have no more questions to ask.

Yes, all my doubts were gone.

But why did I feel so strange?

“Rest well, Tiantian.” Director Fang said. “There’s a saying, how does it go? An upright person isn’t afraid of a crooked shadow. You and I have nothing going on, so what are you afraid of?”

Yes… an upright person isn’t afraid of a crooked shadow… This phrase seemed to pull back my completely collapsed emotions just a little bit.

What exactly was I afraid of? Director Fang and I had nothing.

The only time I spoke to him alone was entering his office to receive two hundred yuan. Could this be wrong too?

“I… I understand…” I nodded and exited his office holding the envelope.

Their gazes were like hooks, deeply hooking into my skin and flesh from all directions.

Seventeen-year-old me only knew that an upright person isn’t afraid of a crooked shadow, but didn’t know that gossip was enough to kill a person.

I wiped my tears and sat in my position.

From that day on, my life thoroughly began heading toward destruction.

Wherever my gaze reached, everyone was chattering endlessly about me.

…

“I saw something was wrong long ago… remember last time?”

“No wonder I said she wouldn’t even look at Mantuan. Turns out she has a rich man, tsk tsk…”

“I heard someone in her family is sick and needs money, but you can’t be a mistress, can you?”

“Being a mistress while still seducing Mantuan, truly shameless.”

…

The assembly line that once had cheerful laughter and jokes everywhere, from that day, from that moment on, the content of all conversations became about me.

Those sarcastic remarks, carrying hostility that had already begun fermenting, circled around me.

They seemed to have long become explosive packages, always waiting for a chance to be ignited.

Three days later, I finally couldn’t bear it. I threw the copper bell onto the assembly line, stood up, and loudly stopped that idle talk:

“Are you finished or not?! Director Fang and I have nothing going on. Director Fang said so himself. Don’t you understand?!”

My emotions finally erupted.

The people saying these things… didn’t they realize they were wronging me?

“Oh?!” A girl stood up from the assembly line with a smile and said, “What’s wrong? Do you need Director Fang to personally admit it? Who would admit to keeping a mistress?”

“But it’s not me!” I roared. “From start to finish it’s not me! The photos aren’t me, the mistress isn’t me either! Stop wronging me!”

The assembly line seemed to quiet down at this moment. Everyone stopped their work to look at me.

I discovered that what I said seemed more credible than what Director Fang said. Even the girl arguing with me had nothing to say.

But after a few seconds, a boy I usually didn’t like talking to suddenly spoke up from a distance: “Then you tell us, if it’s not you, why did they hit you?”

The girl arguing with me grabbed onto this like a lifeline: “Exactly!”

When more “exactly’s” shot over from all directions like darts, I realized they wouldn’t think about this matter at all. They only believed what they wanted to believe.

“They hit the wrong person!” I said.

But my voice drowned in the noise from all directions. I couldn’t defend myself no matter what I said.

Only then did I realize that those harboring hostility toward me weren’t just girls, but also boys.

Because I usually put my focus on work, did I also inadvertently offend many boys who wanted to talk to me?

What should I do?

Right… maybe Mantuan… Mantuan would believe me.

He would definitely be willing to help me explain!

But when I went to find him, I discovered how naive seventeen-year-old me was.

Although Mantuan didn’t show disgust toward me, he also didn’t say anything to help me.

He treated me indifferently, just like I had once brushed him off.

He would only say “mm,” “okay,” “really?”

This might be my just deserts.

Just as I turned to leave, Mantuan spoke up.

But his words undoubtedly pushed me toward the fire pit.

He stared into my eyes and asked me in front of all the boys on the assembly line:

“Is it because of Director Fang that you weren’t willing to talk to me?”

After hearing this sentence, I smiled bitterly.

Why did I think Mantuan would help me explain this matter?

Even he didn’t believe me.

This matter quickly spread from the factory in town back to the village, then from the east end of the village to the west end, reaching Father and Mother’s ears, reaching Liang Wa’s ears.

“Tian Wa…” That day after I returned home, Mother stood in the courtyard looking at me with a face full of horror. “I heard some bad things. What happened to you…?”

“Mother…” After returning from the dormitory, my tears “whoosh” spilled out.

What happened… I also wanted to know what exactly happened to me.

Isn’t it said that good people get good rewards in this world… Now I’ve received bad retribution, so what does that make me? A bad person?

“It doesn’t matter, Tian Wa.” Mother touched my head and said. “An upright person isn’t afraid of a crooked shadow. If you didn’t do it, what are you afraid of?”

An upright person isn’t afraid of a crooked shadow. Everyone was telling me an upright person isn’t afraid of a crooked shadow.

But this crooked shadow was about to pull me down to the ground.

I hadn’t done anything… I worked hard on the assembly line every day, but in the end I ended up with everyone calling for my punishment.

“Sis…”

This time I didn’t hug Liang Wa, but rather he hugged me.

“It’s okay… Liang Wa…” I tried to control my choking emotions and said. “Sis was wrongly accused… They’ll soon know they wronged me.”

The following days were no different from hell for me. Everyone in the entire workshop knew this non-existent news. They spread stories about how Director Fang maintained his mistress in vivid detail, as if except for me, they had all been present to observe.

I made countless explanations. I even posted announcements on the workshop walls to explain, but no matter what I did, it had no effect.

I thought the gossip would gradually dissipate with the passage of time, but I was naive once again.

This matter seemed to be one of the few topics within the workshop that everyone could resonate with. As long as there were still people alive, this topic would continue, until the entire workshop was empty, until I died.