The one who opened the door was indeed that face that had kept appearing in my nightmares. Today she didn’t have disheveled hair, it was just casually tied up, making her look slightly more amiable than last time.

I had prepared countless arguments in advance to persuade that woman, but the first sentence she spoke left me stunned.

“Who are you?” she asked.

I admit I truly hadn’t considered that when meeting her again, I would need to introduce myself.

But how should I introduce myself?

We were indeed strangers. Should I say… I’m that “fake mistress”?

Seeing that I didn’t speak, she lowered her head to look at the workshop uniform I was wearing, as if gradually remembering something, and her expression quickly changed.

I saw her cautiously take a step back, then poke her head out to look around at my left and right to see if there were other people, and finally asked tentatively:

“It’s you. What are you doing here?”

“I… I want…”

Before I could finish speaking, the woman immediately stopped me: “Wait, come inside and talk.”

She reached out, grabbed my arm and brought me into the house, then sat down on the sofa as if nothing had happened, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, and asked me softly:

“What do you want to do? How did you know about this place? Are you here for revenge?”

*Crack.*

After she finished speaking, she cracked a sunflower seed.

“No…” I shook my head, then took a deep breath and began to speak. “Sis, I don’t want revenge on anyone. I just have an idea…”

*Crack.*

“After you went to the workshop last time… it caused me very serious problems…”

*Crack.*

“My reputation is ruined, and I’m about to lose my job.”

*Crack.*

“But you should know… I’m not any mistress at all. I’m only seventeen this year. My family are all farmers. I’m just here working to earn money. I haven’t even spoken more than a few sentences with Director Fang.”

*Crack.*

“I really need this job, so I want to ask you to help me by going to the workshop and telling everyone that you recognized the wrong person… that person wasn’t me. That’s all.”

*Crack.*

“This way Director Fang won’t drive me away, and my colleagues won’t make things difficult for me anymore…”

*Ptui!*

After hearing what I said, the woman made a loud sound. She spat the sunflower seed shells from her mouth onto the table, even accompanied by some saliva droplets.

“What are you talking about…” She threw the remaining sunflower seeds in her hand back into the plate, while brushing the sunflower seed fragments off her legs and saying indifferently, “I thought it was something important…”

“Yes… act-actually it’s nothing major…” I smiled bitterly. “Just a few sentences would do… This would help me tremendously…”

“Come sit.” The woman waved her hand casually, but there was nowhere else to sit in the room besides next to her.

“I won’t sit…” I said.

“How should I put it…” She said to herself, “Girl, why do you think I should help you?”

After hearing this, I paused, but still tried hard to squeeze out a smile and said: “Sis… To be honest, this matter has nothing to do with me… It was you…”

“I can privately compensate you one thousand yuan as an apology. Don’t think about anything else.”

“What…?”

I was stunned, because this solution was completely different from what I was asking for.

“To be honest, I’m not even sure whether I hit the wrong person or not.” The woman lowered her head to look at her bright red fingernails and gently picked at them. “With your looks, you’d count as a pretty girl in your workshop, right? Either way, you don’t look like a proper person. How can you expect me to completely trust you?”

This was almost the first time in my seventeen years of life that I’d heard someone praise my appearance, yet I couldn’t feel even a trace of happiness.

“But I understand the law, girl. Hitting people is indeed wrong, so I’ll compensate you with money and apologize. Let’s leave it at that.”

“No… no…” I stammered somewhat. “What do you mean ‘not sure whether you hit the wrong person’…? And my purpose in coming here isn’t to get money… I just want you to clarify this matter… Even if you give me money… I’ll still lose my job…”

“Then go report it to the police.” The woman immediately changed her tune. “Even if you report it to the police, they’ll just have me compensate you with money and apologize. I’ll cooperate with everything.”

“…?”

“Anyway, you choose. Either I give you the money and you leave, or you go report it to the police.” The woman said. “There’s no difference anyway… Oh right, you can also choose not to take the money and not report to the police. Whatever you want.”

Did she even know what she was saying?

I felt my heart beating very fast, even trembling with anger in both hands, but what could I do?

Fight her to the death here?

“Did you… know all along that person wasn’t me…?” I asked in a low voice.

“I told you, I’m not certain.” She shook her head. “Regardless… there definitely is a ‘mistress’ in the workshop, right?”

“You…”

“After I beat you up in front of everyone, my Old Fang did settle down quite a bit.” The woman said while staring at her fingers. “That mistress doesn’t dare make any more moves either. Haven’t I achieved my goal?”

What kind of logic was this… This was her scheme…?

No… that’s not right… I seemed to have been caught up in her reasoning…

“Then what am I…?” I asked trembling. “You wrongly accused me…! You made me be gossiped about by hundreds of people every day… You made everyone around me distance themselves from me… You made me lose my job… What does this count as…?”

“It counts as me recognizing the wrong person, so I’m apologizing to you.” The woman raised her head and looked at me carelessly. “Listen carefully… ‘I’m sorry.’ How much money do you want?”

Looking at her eyes, I realized this was the first time she had looked at me directly since I entered the house.

In my seventeen years of life, I had never imagined that something could be so difficult to accomplish.

Even with Liang Wa’s congenital disease, I felt there was always a solution.

But now?

It seemed like an invisible wall stood between her and me.

She couldn’t empathize with me, and I couldn’t understand her.

Why did everyone think this matter could be settled by giving me money…?

I did need money, but if I took this money… then what would my identity be?

Would the day ever come when this hat placed on my head could be removed?

She stood up, walked into the room, pulled out one thousand yuan from a drawer, and then threw it onto the table in front of me.

“Think it over carefully.” The woman sat down again and said, “Once you walk out that door, I’ll assume you don’t want this money, and it won’t be any use finding anyone then.”

Although she kept her head lowered the whole time, I felt her attitude was extremely arrogant.

“Aren’t you just bullying people…” I said with a trembling voice. “I’m just working to earn money… Why are you making things difficult for me?”

“Bullying people?” The woman gently shook her head. “Didn’t I say? I apologized and compensated you with money. Does this still count as bullying?”

Yes, from her perspective she wasn’t bullying anyone, but if I took this one thousand, I would lose my job and my reputation.