Chapter 76: Life Long Forgotten

Over there, after crawling on the ground like a dog for quite some time, the young man finally found Chai Jin's ID card. He handed it over respectfully. “Brother, I was wrong,” he admitted.

Chai Jin took the card, considered for a moment, then tossed it down at his own feet. “Do you know what you’re supposed to do?” he asked.

“Yes, yes!” The young man hurriedly picked it up, carefully wiping the ID with his sleeve. “Please keep it safe.”

Chai Jin nonchalantly slipped the card back into his backpack.

Behind them, the hundreds of people seemed to have an epiphany. Everyone who had already received their ID cards took them out and dropped them at their own feet.

One person said angrily, “However we lost our dignity, that’s how we’ll reclaim it. Make him pick them up for us!”

The girl didn’t overthink it. Her mind was simple—so long as there was no fighting, that was enough. She turned to those beside her and said, “Let’s do as they say. We were the ones who disrespected others first. That was wrong.”

The security guards and others didn’t dare to object. Resentful, they crouched down and started picking up the ID cards one by one, handing each back with a mumbled apology.

Inside, they all cursed the young man. “This was your mess, and now we’re cleaning up after you. Aren’t you just another worker? You’re no leader—why should we be left holding the bag?”

Originally, the girl had intended to punish the young man. But just then, she saw Chai Jin about to leave the factory with his backpack. She rushed out after him.

Her loose white dress fluttered, and her slender legs seemed even fairer under the sunlight—a typical well-bred daughter of a wealthy family. She called after him, “Where are you going?”

Chai Jin stopped and looked back. “I’m going to look for work elsewhere. After what happened here, do you really think your factory still wants me?”

The girl looked at him in surprise. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

“Last year, under the overpass in Zhonghai, do you remember? I tried to give you ten yuan, but you said you weren’t a beggar and refused my money.”

“I just wondered how a grown man could end up sleeping under a bridge. Don’t you think it’s fate that we meet again?”

Suddenly, Chai Jin’s mind cleared. He remembered the kind girl from before.

He gave a bitter smile. “Sorry, it’s been too long. I didn’t recognize you at first.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” the girl replied cheerfully, her dimples deepening as she smiled.

“Anyway, you should stay and work at the factory. I think we’re meant to meet. Today is my first day here. Even though there was a bit of unpleasantness, I don’t think you’re a bad person.”

Chai Jin glanced around, recalling his plan with Su Wenbin. After a moment’s thought, he nodded. “All right, but I can’t stay long. I’m mainly here to find someone. Once I do, I’ll leave.”

“That’s fine, up to you. My name is Chen Ni. What’s yours?”

“Chai Jin.”

They shook hands, smiling.

Before they could talk further, an employee ran over, carrying a mobile phone the size of a brick.

“Miss, Mr. Chen is calling,” the employee announced.

Chen Ni said to Chai Jin, “Go sign up over there and just say I told you to stay. Let them know if you need anything.”

“I’ve got to get to work. See you later.” With that, she took the phone and, dialing as she walked, headed toward the office building.

Watching her go, Chai Jin felt a strange discomfort. Such a beautiful girl carrying a black brick of a phone, so much bigger than her face—it just looked odd.

He made his way to registration. After what had just happened, the staff there treated him like royalty, eager to accommodate every request.

After completing all the paperwork, Chai Jin was assigned to the assembly group, where the main job was to insert various components—capacitors, resistors, and the like—onto motherboards. It was simple, monotonous work.

As for his living arrangements, he was housed in the nearby dormitory building. The dormitory had ten beds, but only two other residents.

One was Liu Shan, from Sichuan Province, whose Mandarin was barely understandable. The other was Old Huang, in his forties, a former state enterprise worker who, after being laid off, was forced to leave home and seek work elsewhere. He carried an erhu with him—clearly, he’d once lived a leisurely life, but had fallen on hard times since losing his job.

The three soon became fast friends in the dormitory.

Little did they know that this seemingly ordinary laborer in their midst actually carried a bankbook worth over a hundred million yuan. The factory’s entire value was only twenty or thirty million.

Chai Jin didn’t give it much thought. Once he found the person he was looking for, recruited the necessary people, and got a handle on the factory’s basic operations, he’d move on.

They enjoyed each other’s company, and that evening went out together for a simple meal.

Early the next morning, Chai Jin took the bulky mobile phone into the restroom to call Liu Qingwen.

On the other end, Liu Qingwen was dumbfounded. “Jin, are you joking with me?”

“You just made a hundred million in Zhonghai, and now you’re working as a laborer in a factory?”

“Not even TV dramas are this wild. What’s going through your head?”

Chai Jin had to explain himself. “I have my reasons.”

“When you have time, call the factory and ask them to mail us all those ID cards we collected.”

“And keep it quiet—wait for my instructions.”

He hung up.

At the office building in Huanggang, after the call ended, Fang Yi asked, “Where’s Jin?”

“He’s working,” Liu Qingwen replied.

“What?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? He even bragged to me on the phone—room and board included, double overtime on weekends, and he can make two hundred yuan a month!”

“What?”

“Enough with the ‘what’—get to work,” Liu Qingwen grumbled. The two began unpacking the office furniture they’d bought the day before.

…

After hanging up, Chai Jin put the phone in his bag and headed out.

As soon as he opened the door, he was met with a bizarre sight. Liu Shan was standing at the entrance, one hand braced against the wall, his face twisted in agony, his legs crossed in desperation, staring wretchedly at Chai Jin.

“What’s wrong?” Chai Jin asked.

“Damn it, why do you take so long in the bathroom? I’m about to burst! Move!” Liu Shan shoved past him and dashed into the restroom.

Immediately, the sounds from inside left no doubt as to what was happening, and the smell made Chai Jin wrinkle his nose as he tossed his bag onto the bed.

Old Huang was up, standing before a hanging mirror, furiously styling his hair with mousse.

Chai Jin smiled. “Morning.”

“Morning,” Old Huang replied.

With greetings exchanged, Chai Jin left the dormitory.

Factory life was monotonous. Remembering his past life working in a factory, Chai Jin found he didn’t mind—it even made him a bit nostalgic.

He bought two steamed buns in the cafeteria, and, joining the flow of people from the dormitory, headed to the workshop.

What he didn’t know was that, in an office building nearby, a young man was glaring at him with venom in his eyes. Beside him stood another man of similar age.

When Chai Jin entered the workshop, the young man spat angrily outside. “Pah!”

“Brother, that’s the guy who was messing around with Miss outside yesterday. He’s also the one who beat me up.”