Chapter 42: One Last Chance

Zhou Guo drove to the airport to collect me.
I stood among the streams of arriving and departing passengers, feeling utterly lost.
Auntie Lan was the first person I saw at home.
“Isn’t it working hours? Why are you… Unless…”
“You guessed it. I had a row with Yan Rong.”
“What are we going to do?”
Miserable, I collapsed onto the sofa.
I’d barely arrived before Ji Feiyang followed me home.
“Will you apologise to Mum?”
“No.”
“Please. For me.”
“No.”
“I know this may be unfair to you. But she’s my mother. I can’t ask her to come and make peace with you. Be the bigger person, just this once.”
“No.”
“How about a deal? Do this for me, and next time I’ll do what you ask.”
He was so earnest that my resolve wavered.
Then I hardened my heart.
“No.”
“What do you suggest, then?”
I sighed inwardly.
I had no idea either.
“In that case, there’s nothing more I can say. I’ll go.”
The disappointment in his retreating figure was more than I could bear.
“She was the one who bullied me. Why should I apologise?”
“She deliberately provoked you, and you walked straight into her trap by falling out with her. Do you realise how foolish that was?”
Foolish?
I wasn’t foolish.
“Even if I apologise, she won’t forgive me.”
“That’s up to her. At least if you apologise, we’ll have done our part.”
He came back to coax me.
“Come on. I’ll be there with you.”
Very reluctantly, I went.
There was no other solution I could think of. And with Ji Feiyang trying so patiently, I couldn’t keep refusing.

In her office, Yan Rong sat above us as usual.
Repeating the words Ji Feiyang had taught me, I said, “I’m sorry, Auntie. I lost my temper and was disrespectful. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to be my daughter-in-law?”
“She said it in anger,” Ji Feiyang replied. “She didn’t mean it.”
“Then what are principles worth? Anything said today can simply be denied tomorrow?”
“Mum, could you let it go? You know she still has a lot to learn.”
Yan Rong had no intention of forgiving me.
“Please, Mum.”
“You didn’t see how disrespectful she was. I detest people with no upbringing. How could you fall for someone like her?”
She spoke as though I weren’t there, leaving me no dignity at all.
“Give her another chance.”
“No.”
The answer was absolute.
Panic rose inside me.
“Chairwoman, please give me another chance. I won’t be disrespectful again.”
“Can I trust anything you say?”
Ji Feiyang took my hand.
“Whatever happens, it won’t stop us being together.”
Her face twisted with anger.
“Fine. One more chance. Just one. There won’t be another.”
His firmness had forced her to yield.
“Feiyang, I’m sorry,” I said afterwards.
“It’s all right.”
But I felt guilty.
I’d caused the argument between him and his mother.
Seeing him unhappy, I silently resolved to endure whatever she did from now on. It wouldn’t kill me.
Let other people behave as they pleased.
As long as Ji Feiyang loved me, that was enough.

Yan Rong only became more relentless.
Sometimes she assigned work just before I was due to finish, making it impossible to leave on time. Sometimes she sent me to do heavy work because, she said, they were short-staffed.
Sometimes she humiliated me in front of everyone.
“As hotel staff, we must show initiative. We should anticipate our guests’ needs…”
Suddenly, she turned towards me.
“Unlike certain people who won’t do anything until they’re told. The hotel has no use for someone who needs prodding like an ox before they’ll move.”
Everyone’s eyes followed hers.
A few people snickered.
Why did she have to humiliate me like that?
Initiative?
Taking the initiative around her was asking for trouble.
After the meeting, she said, “There’s a rice delivery coming to the storeroom shortly. As you know, we’re short-staffed…”
“I understand. I’ll help.”
It was only carrying sacks of rice.
I’d already done it once.
An entire lorry arrived.
Yan Rong had assigned only two of us.
She was determined to work me into the ground.
Still, there was no point arguing. I began carrying.
After a few sacks, I was gasping for breath.
My shoulder had been hurt the last time I’d done this, and now it ached fiercely.
I stopped to catch my breath.
“No standing around!”
Her sharp voice rang out.
I wanted to move.
My body wouldn’t cooperate.
Everything hurt.
Was hauling sacks of rice really a job for me?
Yan Rong glared as though I’d committed some terrible offence.
“My shoulder hurts.”
“If you want to be a pampered young lady, go home.”
It was too much.
I’d done everything she asked, yet her attitude hadn’t changed.
Trying to shift my aching body, I felt like Cinderella at the mercy of her wicked stepmother.
Poor Cinderella.
I tugged at another sack.
There was no strength left.
At least two-thirds of the rice was still on the lorry.
By the time we finished, I would be finished too.
No more.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I walked up to Yan Rong.
“I’m not carrying any more.”
“What did you say? This is your last chance.”
“Try carrying a sack yourself. Do you even know how heavy they are?”
She said nothing.
She simply turned and walked away.
Somehow, that silence frightened me more than anything she could have said.