Chapter 341 — Tang Zhi's Grievance

Xiaowei and Xiaodan both came from a small county town near Songshan City. They had been neighbors since childhood—practically childhood sweethearts. They had grown up liking each other, and both families had tacitly accepted the fact that the two would end up together.

But then something happened to change all that!

Both households were poor—the kind registered as living below the poverty line. Never mind paying tuition; even daily life was a matter of pinching every penny. When Xiaowei and Xiaodan were in elementary school, several big bosses came to the village and offered to sponsor poor children's schooling.

When the families heard the news, they all flocked to seize the chance, overjoyed. Under the sponsorship of the same boss, Xiaowei and Xiaodan made it smoothly through elementary school, middle school, vocational high school...

Graduation was almost upon them. According to the agreement made with that boss back then, once they turned eighteen they would go work at his company for a period, free of charge, as repayment for the sponsorship over the years.

Originally, that agreement had been purely symbolic. Many students in the village had gone to see the bosses who had sponsored them, done a token stint for a while, and that was considered repayment of the favor.

Xiaowei and Xiaodan had assumed the same would happen to them. They never expected that once they reached the big boss's company, he took one look at Xiaodan and made her his secretary, while Xiaowei was assigned to work as a security guard. Both were paid at normal employee rates.

These days finding a job was no easy thing. That Xiaowei and Xiaodan had landed formal jobs before even graduating naturally delighted them. Grateful to the big boss, they resolved to work hard to repay his kindness.

But what they never expected was that the nightmare was just beginning! The big boss had made Xiaodan his secretary with anything but good intentions. From the very first glance, he had begun lusting after her looks and her body.

In truth, Xiaodan was not especially beautiful, but she made up for it in youth and freshness—lovely skin, a fine figure. The big boss was smitten at once and set his mind on making her his own.

At first the big boss only expressed his intentions obliquely. Once Xiaodan roundly rejected him, he began to show his vicious true face, growing more and more brazen with his wandering hands.

After suffering this humiliation, Xiaodan naturally told her boyfriend Xiaowei. In a fury, Xiaowei brought her to confront the big boss. He told him they wanted to resign—if they couldn't afford to offend him, surely they could afford to avoid him? They would just quit, wouldn't they?

Xiaowei was no fool. He knew they could not afford to cross this big boss—word was the man had his fingers in both the legal and illegal pies of Songshan City, a figure with connections everywhere—so he could only tactfully express his dissatisfaction and his request to resign.

The big boss turned hostile on the spot, throwing out his answer: resign? Impossible. According to the contract signed back then, Xiaowei and Xiaodan must work for the company three years after turning eighteen before they could leave. Otherwise it was a breach of contract, and they would have to repay all the sponsorship money over the years, plus interest.

Of course, that contract had been purely symbolic at the time. Many other students sponsored by bosses had never gone to work for them at all; it was treated simply as charity.

But where Xiaodan and Xiaowei were concerned, the big boss meant to hold them to the letter, and they had no recourse whatsoever! When the two of them looked at the contract, they were stunned. They had no idea what to do.

Since the big boss had already torn off his mask, he grew even more brazen. He told Xiaodan that she could either become his mistress—then she wouldn't have to repay the money, and she would even get a raise—and as for Xiaowei, he could just quietly keep working as a security guard, no need to resign, salary as usual.

If she refused, then within three days they were to return every cent of the sponsorship money from all those years!

Xiaowei and Xiaodan were stunned. Three days—where in the world were they going to get that kind of money? Over the years, the sponsorship this big boss had given their two families totaled at least a hundred and fifty thousand. How could they ever repay such a huge sum?

At his wit's end, Xiaowei contacted an organ-selling ring, planning to sell a kidney to pay off the debt. He did not want Xiaodan to suffer humiliation either—letting his girlfriend become another man's mistress was something he could not tolerate no matter what.

Tang Zhi's family knew about the sponsorship. Back then they had thought Xiaowei and the others were lucky to be helped by a wealthy boss. Now it looked like a misfortune.

"Auntie, please think of something—Xiaowei can't sell his kidney! I hear that once you sell a kidney, your health goes completely downhill, and you can't do anything anymore afterward..." Xiaodan was on the verge of tears, looking pitifully at Mother Tang. She had tried to talk him out of it, but Xiaowei simply would not listen.

"Xiaowei, don't you dare do anything foolish. Here—over the years, Auntie has saved up more than twenty thousand yuan. Take it and use it for now, and I'll think of something else for you!" As she spoke, Mother Tang started to go look for her passbook...

"Auntie, no. Twenty thousand yuan won't do anything at all, and that's the money you saved up for Uncle's surgery. How could I touch that?" Xiaowei hurried to stop her. "Auntie, you know how Xiaodan and I feel about each other. I could never push her into the fire!"

Still, what Xiaowei said was the truth. He could not push Xiaodan into the fire, and he needed a hundred and fifty thousand—something no one else could help with. If Mother Tang had a hundred and fifty thousand, she would have long since gotten her husband's surgery done instead of putting it off until now.

"Yun'er, could you give Wei Zhao a call? Ask him to lend us some money?" Tang's mother hesitated a moment, then looked at her daughter. Little Wei was the only male in her maiden family, the one they were counting on to carry on the line. If he sold a kidney, whether he could even take care of himself afterward would be a question...

"What?" Tang Zhi was stunned. She had not expected her mother to ask her to borrow money from Wei Zhao. This was not three or five thousand, but a hundred and fifty thousand—how could she bring herself to ask? And even if she did borrow it, what would they pay it back with? A sum that large was probably beyond repaying at all.

"Auntie, who's Wei Zhao?" Xiaodan had never heard the name. She blinked, wondering who on earth could hand over a hundred and fifty thousand at the drop of a hat.

"He's your cousin Tang Zhi's boyfriend. His family's quite well off," Tang's mother explained.

"Mom! Wei Zhao is not my boyfriend. There's nothing between us!" Tang Zhi's face went red. She gave her mother a reproachful look. How could she say such a thing so carelessly?

"He gave you a phone, didn't he? How is he not your boyfriend?" Tang's mother grew anxious and looked at her daughter. "Yun'er, you're his elder sister—you won't just wash your hands of your brother, will you? Are you going to stand by and watch him sell a kidney?"

"I..." Tang Zhi was struck speechless by her mother. She did not know what to say. Her heart ached, and she felt deeply wronged. "How could I wash my hands of him? But there is plainly nothing between Wei Zhao and me—how am I supposed to ask him for money? And once I borrow it, how do you expect me to pay it back?"