The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 510 - 509: Liang Xiling’s Satisfactory Calculations

Chapter 510: Chapter 509: Liang Xiling’s Satisfactory Calculations

Hearing Liang Xiling say that, Liang Kean also subconsciously looked back at Shen Hongmei, but she had already walked far away.

"Humph, her longing is in vain, who told her not to keep herself clean, sleeping with a man at such a young age, and even getting pregnant and having an abortion. No wonder she had to come to the city to find men. In the countryside, such a ’worn-out shoe’ would likely not even find someone to marry her,"

Liang Kean did not like his sister speaking such unpleasant words, but it was an unchangeable fact.

He still supported Shen Hongmei, though she was from the countryside, rural women had their merits: they were diligent and pragmatic, good at cooking, washing clothes, and would take care of his parents.

Moreover, Shen Hongmei could earn money. In the future, she would help with the household expenses, which could lessen his burden. Perhaps he would have the chance to improve his qualifications, and his future would certainly be boundless.

Unfortunately...

Shen Hongmei’s body was no longer clean, and he couldn’t accept that.

With his conditions, he could completely find a woman who was clean both in body and mind, gentle and pure.

...

Liang Kean was accompanying Liang Xiling to the labor market to look for a job.

With a high school diploma, Liang Xiling had failed the college entrance exam that year. She wanted to retake it, but her family was reluctant to spend too much money on a girl like her, so she had to go out and look for a job, planning to study for a university diploma through self-taught courses, just like Shen Hongmei.

She felt that if Shen Hongmei, a junior high school graduate, could pass, it would be easy for her, a high school graduate, to breeze through the self-study exams.

But she was stumped at the first step.

Finding a satisfactory job was too difficult.

The salary was either too low, or the work was too strenuous.

Liang Kean led Liang Xiling around the labor market, and while there were many recruiting units, not a single one satisfied Liang Xiling.

She wanted to enter a foreign-owned or large enterprise to do clerical work, which was both relaxed and respectable. She could use the evenings and weekends to study for her diploma.

But such good jobs were usually taken internally by the companies themselves and never reached girls like her with no connections and no higher education.

After leaving the labor market, Liang Kean comforted Liang Xiling, "Why don’t you come to our factory? I asked the chief, and the warehouse is short of someone to do odd jobs."

Liang Xiling pouted her lips enough to hang an oil bottle, "I don’t want to do odd jobs. Moreover, it’s only temporary work, just forty yuan a month, what good is that? Now, the salary of a waiter in a big restaurant has risen to a hundred!"

Liang Kean, feeling helpless, "Then go be a waitress."

Liang Xiling hummed softly, her face exuding a sense of superiority of a city dweller, "Serving people is something I cannot do."

"So what do you want to do? You can’t just keep drifting aimlessly."

Liang Xiling bit her lip, gazing at Liang Kean hopefully.

"Brother, why not ask your matchmaking partner to arrange a job for me, huh?"

Liang Kean was slightly stunned, "You mean Hongmei?"

Liang Xiling nodded, "Isn’t she a human resources manager? It should be easy for her to arrange a job for me. If she can set me up with something relaxed, with a good salary, I can just get by for now. Once I have a university diploma, I can find a good unit. Won’t that be the best of both worlds?"

Liang Kean thought his sister’s idea was good, but he had already broken up with Shen Hongmei, and it would be awkward to ask this of her now.

Seeing his reluctance, Liang Xiling confidently patted her chest, "Brother, you don’t need to get involved; I can handle this by myself."

"Forget it, don’t bother her. I’d rather not have any further involvement with her," he said.

Liang Xiling dismissed the concern, "How can this be considered a bother? I’m giving her an opportunity, she should be thanking me."

The education he had received made Liang Kean feel that taking advantage of a woman in such a way was not very nice, but compared to a faint sense of guilt, his sister’s future was clearly more important.

Well, if Shen Hongmei was willing to help, he would consider himself indebted to her.

Thinking this way, Liang Kean tacitly approved Liang Xiling’s suggestion to seek help from Shen Hongmei.

...

The next day, while Shen Hongmei was busy, there was a call from the gatehouse saying a Miss Liang was looking for her.

Without thinking much about it, Shen Hongmei asked the gatehouse to bring the person to her office.

"Do you need something from me?"

Shen Hongmei immediately recognized that this was the girl who had been with Liang Kean the day before and couldn’t help but speculate in her mind.

Liang Xiling self-assuredly surveyed the office, feeling barely satisfied with the future workplace.

Though the place was a bit small, it was quite tidy.

Moreover, since it was a food factory, if she worked here, wouldn’t she be able to eat snacks to her heart’s content every day?

Liang Xiling indulged in her pleasant thoughts, yet she maintained an air of arrogance, lifting her chin as she said to Shen Hongmei, "Let’s talk somewhere else."

After all, she had come to use her connections. It was best to avoid outsiders to prevent being ostracized later.

Shen Hongmei was not aware of Liang Xiling’s true intentions, mistaking it as a concern for Liang Kean, and thus led her to the reception room.

"Just tell me what you want."

"You might not know who I am, but I am Liang Kean’s sister, his real sister."

So she was the sister.

Shen Hongmei mocked inwardly without uttering a word, intending to listen to what the other party wanted first.

Liang Xiling carefully observed her expression and, seeing nothing, couldn’t help but think to herself: She’s quite good at pretending.

"You still fancy my older brother, don’t you? I can help you win him over."

She came all this way for that?

What a joke.

"No need, I know my place and that I’m not good enough for your brother. Please leave."

Having said that, Shen Hongmei stood up to show her out.

But Liang Xiling failed to grasp Shen Hongmei’s sarcasm and feigned consolation, "Don’t be so down on yourself. Even though you are from the countryside and, well, you know, you still have your merits. Just try a bit harder, and perhaps my brother might change his mind."

Who cares about whether your brother changes his mind or not.

Shen Hongmei sneered internally and directly made her intention to end the meeting clear, "Sorry, I have a meeting to attend to soon. Please leave."

Seeing that Shen Hongmei was not taking the bait, Liang Xiling grew a little anxious, "I’ve come to you for something else as well."

"Then say it."

"Arrange a job for me, will you? Don’t get me wrong—I’m not incapable of finding a job by myself. It’s just that I can’t be bothered to look."

Taking her professional dedication to her work seriously, Shen Hongmei briefly inquired about Liang Xiling’s education and personal circumstances, then brought out a job application form for Liang Xiling to fill out.

Liang Xiling filled out the form quickly, after all, she had filled out untold numbers of them in the past two months.

"Done."

"What position are you going to arrange for me?"

"How much is the monthly salary?"

"When do I start working?"

Facing Liang Xiling’s barrage of questions, Shen Hongmei replied with an official tone, "We will contact you if there’s a suitable position. Please wait for our notification."

"I want an office job with clerical work, and the salary can’t be too low either."

Liang Xiling stated her demands as she got up to leave.

Shen Hongmei inwardly scoffed: What wishful thinking.

When Shen Hongmei returned to her office, she casually inserted Liang Xiling’s application form among the others.

The notice board at the entrance of the food factory always had job postings, attracting job seekers every day.

Shen Hongmei would conduct a preliminary verbal screening to judge the applicants’ work capabilities before letting them fill out an application form.

All the application forms would be directly handed over to Shen Mingzhu.

She had asked Liang Xiling to fill out an application form out of professional instinct, not to give face to Liang Kean.

Liang Kean had no face to speak of in her presence.

She might be poor, but she was not without pride; if others looked down on her, she wouldn’t grovel. She was not that contemptible.

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