"I... what happened?" she asked, trying to sit up. Her voice was soft and weak.

  "Don't move!" Bai Peiwen gently pressed her shoulder back down. "You should stay lying down a little longer. You passed out for a while."

  She widened her eyes and looked at him in confusion. After a long pause, she finally realized, giving a soft "oh" as she weakly lowered her eyeshes. Her head tilted to one side, her eyes looking at the ground, her fingers instinctively pying with the edge of her clothes. She let out a long, long sigh.

  "I'm really useless," she murmured to herself. "I can't do anything right."

  Her soft self-reproach stirred an odd, compassionate emotion in Bai Peiwen. She y there, so pale, so fragile, so lonely, and so helpless. It stirred within him an uncontrolble desire to comfort her, even to protect her.

  "You’ve been working under the sun for too long," he said quickly. "No one can bear this kind of weather. Don't worry, I can have them move you to the tea-drying room or the machine room."

  She gazed at him quietly, with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. Her brow was still lightly furrowed.

  "Don't trouble yourself for me, Mr. Bai," she said softly, with a touch of guilt and unease. What made her most uneasy was the fact that she was lying here in front of a man.

  From the first day she entered the factory, she had become familiar with Bai Peiwen. She knew that the entire factory respected and trusted this young boss. To the workers, Bai Peiwen was almost a mix of man and god: young, handsome, charismatic, willing to work, eager to improve, and understanding of others. It was only then that she realized why the workers liked him so much—he was so kind and gentle!

  "The work in the tea-drying field isn't the hardest; I should practice," she said. "After all, the work has to be done by someone. If I don't do it, someone else will still have to."

  "Who introduced you?"

  "A female worker from your factory, named Yan Lili. I don’t think you know her; she’s my neighbor." He looked at her deeply. By now, she had sat up and removed the towel from her forehead. Her long hair fell to her shoulders, and her bright teeth and eyes shone. There was a hint of timidity, a trace of delicate shyness, and an overwhelming elegance. He couldn't help but stare in astonishment.

  "This job doesn't seem to suit you," he said instinctively.

  "I hope you don't mean you're going to fire me," she said, looking somewhat startled, with a hint of sadness in her rge eyes, gazing at him with a pleading look.

  "Oh, no, that's not what I mean," he quickly reassured her. "I just think this job is too hard for you. You look so delicate; I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."

  Her eyeshes fell for a moment, and when they lifted again, her eyes appeared even brighter. She rexed the furrow in her brow, and a pitiful little smile appeared at the corners of her lips. That smile moved Bai Peiwen even more than her furrowed brow had. Smiling self-mockingly, she said, "I've done harder work."

  "What kind of work?"

  She fell silent. After a long pause, she looked at him again. Her smile remained, but her face held an inscrutable, intense expression.

  "Please don't ask, Mr. Bai. You must understand, physical hardship isn′t everything. Here, I feel mentally at ease. I could easily find other, much easier jobs, but I don't want to let my life grow dull and faded at such a young age."

  Bai Peiwen was moved inside. Was this the way a female worker spoke? He stared at her intently and asked, "Have you been to school?"

  "High school graduate."

  A high school graduate? He thought for a moment. She was actually a high school graduate, yet she was working as a female worker in the tea drying area! He stared at her in astonishment, feeling completely confused. What kind of girl was this? Could she be simply looking for life experience here? Or had she read too many adventure novels and wanted to experience a different life?

  "Since you've already graduated from high school, you don't seem to need to do this kind of work. You should be able to find a better job!" he said.

  "I′ve tried; I′ve done that, Mr. Bai." She smiled, a smile that was weak and without strength. "I couldn't find a proper job. I don't have connections, no insurance, and no recommendations. A high school diploma isn't as valuable as you might think. I've also worked as a shop assistant, a typist, a female secretary, and in the end, I realized I wasn't selling my bor or my intelligence, but my youth. I've even done worse... In the end, I chose your factory. It's the best pce I've worked."

  He paused for a moment, staring at her delicate face. He understood the difficulties a young woman faced in finding a job in society, especially a beautiful one. There were traps everywhere, waiting for these girls to fall into them. He sighed inwardly, feeling pity for her. Zhang Hanyan—what an elegant name!

  "Is working necessary for you?"

  "Yes."

  "Why?"

  "To pay off debts."

  "Debts? Do you owe money? What about your parents?"

  "I have no parents." She sank into a slump, sitting there with her hand propping up her chin. Her eyes grew darker and deeper. "My parents died when I was young. I don't even remember what they looked like. I was brought to Taiwan by a distant retive. The couple only had an idiot son. They raised me and educated me until I graduated from high school. Then, suddenly, they told me I was to marry that idiot..." She let out a light ugh and looked at Bai Peiwen. "That's the story. I refused, so all the kindness they showed me vanished. I moved out, I worked, and I earned money to pay back the debt I owed them for over ten years."

  "That's unreasonable!" Bai Peiwen said, a bit indignantly. "How much do you need to repay them?"

  "Two hundred thousand."

  "How much do you earn here in a month?"

  "One thousand yuan."

  My God! How long would she need to work to repay that debt? He looked at Zhang Hanyan, who clearly had already bowed to this fate. She wore an expression of resignation, an attitude of accepting it calmly, which made Bai Peiwen feel deeply sympathetic for her.

  "You don't have to repay this money. They didn't tell you in advance that their condition for raising you was that you marry that idiot! Legally, they have no ground to stand on. You can just ignore them!"

  "Legally, they have no ground, but in terms of human feelings, I owe them too much!" She sighed, and her brows furrowed again. "You don't understand. I ruined their life's hope. In their eyes, I am ungrateful... So, I'm willing to repay this money to lighten the burden on my conscience."

  She raised her shes and quietly stared at him, her slightly arched eyebrows carrying an inquiring look. "Debts in life are difficult to expin, aren't they? You often can't tell who owes whom."

  Bai Peiwen gazed at Zhang Hanyan, admiring her! Every thought and feeling of his was filled with admiration for her! And gradually, a strong and joyful emotion surged within him. He never expected to encounter such a person among his female workers! It was like discovering a pearl in a pile of sand. He couldn't hide his ecstatic and excited emotions. Standing up, he suddenly said with determination:

  "You must stop this job immediately!"

  "Oh? Sir?" She was surprised, and her mouth, which had just returned to its natural color, turned pale again. "I apologize for fainting. I promise..."

  "You can't promise anything," he interrupted with a smile, his gaze gentle as it rested on her face. "If you stay under the sun for another two hours, you'll faint again! You can't do this job."

  "Oh? Sir?" She looked up at him, her expression passive and helpless, her trembling lips making her look even more pitiful.

  "So, starting tomorrow, you'll work in my office. I need someone to help me with desk work—organizing contracts, drafting contracts, issuing receipts, and such. I'll have Lao Zhang bring in a desk for you, and you'll start tomorrow..."

  She jumped up from the sofa. To Bai Peiwen's surprise, there was no joy on her face.

  On the contrary, she seemed frightened, shrinking back, as if she had been hurt.

  "Oh, no, no, sir." She said anxiously. "I don't want to accept this job."

  "Why?" He stared at her, shocked.

  She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and when she lifted it again, her eyes were filled with tears. The tears shimmered, making her eyes appear so dark, so bright, so sorrowful. In a trembling voice, she said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Bai. You can say I'm ungrateful. I can't accept it; I don't want to accept it, because... because..." She took a deep breath, and tears slid down her cheek, flowing all the way to her quivering lips.

  "Although I'm small, lonely, and without support... I don't want pity; I don't want sympathy. I want to rely on myself. I appreciate your kindness, Mr. Bai, but please understand... I have nothing left but my self-respect."

  After speaking, she no longer looked at Bai Peiwen and ran toward the door. Before Bai Peiwen could recover from his surprise, she had opened the door and run out.

  Bai Peiwen rushed to the door, staring at her small figure, quickly disappearing down the hallway. He couldn't help but stand there, stunned. He never expected that his offer would wound her fragile heart. Yet, deep within him, something was shaken—perhaps for the first time in his life, he was deeply, profoundly, and completely shaken.