"Sheng Ning, I heard you've been in prison before? We are a Five-star Hotel, serving only the elite. We absolutely can't hire someone with a tarnished background," the HR manager, a fashionably dressed woman with exquisite makeup, said. Although she tried hard to put on a virtuous face, the disdain in her eyes revealed her true intentions.
Sheng Ning was a cleaner at this hotel; she worked diligently every day just to survive. Now she knew it was time for her to leave.
Countless times, whenever the boss found out she had been in prison, no matter how well she had performed before, they would mercilessly fire her.
The HR manager said insidiously, "Although we are firing you, because you hid your past, we can't offer you any severance."
Sheng Ning clenched the cloth in her hand. Her hands, covered with countless small cuts from years of labor, hurt badly whenever they touched water.
"Manager, I understand. Thank you for the care all this time," Sheng Ning smiled humbly. Her once straight back had already hunched slightly. She smiled at the HR manager, then turned to leave.
The woman was taken aback by her sudden smile and couldn't help but blurt out, "It's clear that when you were young, you must have been a beauty. No wonder there were those rumors."
Sheng Ning's hand paused on the door handle. Before she could react, the door, not fully closed, swung open.
Outside, many hotel colleagues were gathered.
Seeing the crowd, the woman became even more excited and proudly revealed the information she had found out.
"I heard that when you were young, you were with the General Union Dance Troupe. Because of your looks, you had a questionable lifestyle, got pregnant out of wedlock, and had an abortion. You caused a scandal and were kicked out of the General Union Dance Troupe. You went to prison for ten years for injuring someone. Is that true?"
Sheng Ning's body trembled uncontrollably, and a tear fell from her already clouded eyes.
She wanted to scream that it wasn't true, but who would believe her?
It was true that she had been in prison, which Sheng Ning could not deny. If she could be reborn, she would never have been so foolish.
Hearing her answer, the colleagues around her all changed their expressions. Sheng Ning didn't look at them; she already knew what their eyes would be like.
Leaving the hotel's logistics department, she walked towards the parking lot, carrying her simple belongings and stumbling along. At a turn, she was almost hit by a car, the screeching brakes startling her awake.
It was a special car from the Research Institute. Anyone riding in it must be of high status.
She quickly got up in fear, and the driver's assistant hurriedly got out to check on her.
"Are you okay? You weren't hit, were you?"
Sheng Ning shook her head. It was her own carelessness; she couldn't blame others.
"You look terrible. Do you want to go to the hospital?" the assistant asked with concern.
Sheng Ning shook her head and refused. The car's back window rolled down, revealing a well-maintained face. The elegant woman inside called out to the assistant, "Xiao Cao, since she said she doesn't need help, she really doesn't. We are in a hurry!"
"Yes, Lady. I'm coming," Xiao Cao smiled apologetically at Sheng Ning. "Sorry, our lady is unhappy. I must go now."
Among Xiao Cao's words, Sheng Ning only remembered one, 'Lady'. She watched the woman in the car with blank eyes, filled with boundless hatred.
It was Qin Cuifen, her once best friend. Everything wrong she had done was connected to her.
She had become the wife of a researcher?