"Satisfied now?" Huang Lina glared viciously at everyone, with Huang Man being the main focus of her confrontational words.
Huang Man didn’t respond at all, her head lowered, concentrating on solving problems, utterly oblivious to the scraps of paper that had fallen to the floor.
Zhao Mei was stunned by Huang Lina’s actions; by the time she realized what happened, the summer homework had already been torn to pieces, "You, you..."
"I’m telling you, I’m not going to attend school."
"I’ll go ask around in the next village. I want to go stay with them." Hmph, why bother with studying? It just gets in the way of making money.
Huang Lina refused to believe that with her good looks, she couldn’t make big money.
Heating Huang Lina’s words, Zhao Mei trembled with rage, "You, you, you little devil, you actually want to infuriate me to death."
"What decent girl would engage in such an industry?"
"Listen to your mother’s advice; that money isn’t easy to earn." Zhao Mei grabbed Huang Lina, incessantly cautioning her about the pitfalls of that line of work.
As for why it was a bad idea, she couldn’t exactly pinpoint the reasons.
Huang Xin, hearing that Huang Lina planned to make money this way, felt overjoyed. Huang Man already paid them no attention, and with the money dwindling, Huang Lina earning more would mean she could send money home.
"Mom, since the little sister wants to earn this money, let her go do it."
"Mom, if you’re worried, you could follow her." Huang Xin hoped that Zhao Mei would go with her; that way, they’d have an idea of how much money Huang Lina was making and could pressure the girl to fork over the cash.
Huang Man truly didn’t know what to say. Not only was one of them willing to go, but they were even suggesting that Zhao Mei should join in.
Was the idea to keep an eye on Huang Lina to exploit her earnings, or did they actually hope Zhao Mei would start earning money in that way?
Huang Man couldn’t be sure. Yet knowing full well that her sister intended to enter that industry, there was no attempt to dissuade her; rather, they were being this considerate.
Zhao Mei looked at Huang Xin in surprise, "Little Xin, what are you talking about?" She didn’t even think to interpret Huang Xin’s intentions in a negative light.
"I know you’re close to Meina, and you’d support whatever she wants to do, but you have to realize that this industry is really not one to enter."
"You don’t know, people who work in this industry often have pus flowing from their lower body, and then their faces break out in red spots."
"That was in the past. Medicine has advanced since then," Huang Xin said impatiently.
Really, since Huang Lina herself decided to join this industry, why bother persuading her? If she ended up in trouble, it would be her own problem.
And when she died, the money she made could be left to the family. Huang Xin didn’t care if Huang Lina fell ill or if it endangered her life.
"Think it over more carefully," Huang Man finally spoke up. After all, having a sister who worked as a prostitute wasn’t something she’d be proud of.
"This..." Huang Lina, a girl who loved looking pretty, was completely shocked upon learning that she could likely contract the disease after entering the industry.
Even Huang Man spoke up, "Sister, are you, you scaring me?"
"Yes, she’s just trying to frighten you," snorted Huang Xin, annoyed. He had been encouraging Huang Lina to agree.
And yet, both Zhao Mei and Huang Man seemed to be putting up all sorts of obstacles, especially the latter. Despite not hating Huang Man, why did she have to say such things?
"You might not believe it, but you must know about AIDS, right? The three main routes of transmission: sexual contact, blood, and mother-to-child. I think you should be aware of the disease," Huang Man said.
Talking about the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases wouldn’t hit home as much as discussing AIDS, a disease that was not widely understood at the time.
Yet the fear surrounding the disease was substantial, and Huang Man knew that bringing it up would serve well to scare Huang Lina straight.
Huang Lina was truly scared, "AIDS ah." She was just a junior high school student, of course she knew about the disease.
"I, I..." Huang Lina wanted to make lots of money, but she didn’t want to endanger herself.
Otherwise, even if she made money, she wouldn’t know who would end up benefiting from it in the end.
"Don’t listen to her nonsense." Seeing Huang Lina seeming to have second thoughts, Huang Xin grew anxious at once.
"If it were so easy to get AIDS, how could there be people working in this field?" Huang Xin said loudly.
"It’s laughable, who would broadcast that they’ve got AIDS with drums and gongs?"
"Of course, Huang Lina, you don’t have to believe what I say, you still want to earn this money, that’s your business, after all, you earn the money, your reputation."
"Including your health status, how long you can survive, it’s all your business, when you’re down on your luck, when you’re dying."
"It’s all for you to face alone, who do you think can help you bear this," Huang Man said plainly.
"I’ll mention this just once," Huang Man yawned, "Well, it’s getting late, I need to rest."
Indeed, she was tired, although she had confidence in Zhao Lei, and it was him taking the exam, but after all, it involved money, how could she not be tense.
Fortunately, the outcome was good, and Huang Man now could finally breathe a sigh of relief; being able to hold on till this moment was no small feat.
Huang Xin dragged Huang Lina out in a hurry, as he was busy trying to talk to the girls.
He had to work hard to brainwash her, to get Huang Lina to go out and work.
Huang Man watched Huang Xin’s anxious behavior and smiled without holding them back. If Huang Xin was not so anxious, letting Huang Lina think it over, maybe she, with dreams of getting rich, would still go out to work.
With Huang Xin being so overtly anxious, Huang Lina was eager to make money, but she was really not a fool; she could see through Huang Xin’s intentions.
Huang Xin was very anxious now, just hoping Huang Lina would go out to work, promising the moon and stars, painting grand pictures.
Huang Lina looked at Huang Xin in front of her, feeling that she couldn’t see through him anymore; no, it was more like he never really saw her as a sister.
Previously, with Huang Man taking the brunt, Huang Xin just thought about how to exploit her in every way. Now that she was no longer naive, he just thought about exploiting someone else.
Like choosing her now, Huang Lina felt that Huang Man’s words were very true. Those in this line of work, if they got any disease, whether it be an STD or AIDS, would definitely not spread the word.
Even if they didn’t have a disease, it did not mean she would remain healthy; she might still get sick.
No, she did want to make money, but she had to be alive to spend it; otherwise, it really would be for nothing.
Huang Lina made up her mind, and looking at the man still mumbling in front of her, she pushed him aside without any courtesy, "I’m tired, I need to go back and rest."
Go back and rest? Huang Xin wanted to get the results he desired earlier and grabbed her, not letting her return to her room.
Huang Lina looked at Huang Xin’s unassured motions, "Do you realize, your behavior right now is truly ugly."
"Really unsightly, I’m increasingly feeling that you just want to drive me to death."
"Also, Dad was so kind to you, whatever you wanted, Dad would get it for you, and in the end when he lay on the sickbed, you knew that his death would bring you more compensation."
"You knew about the agreement Mom made with the other party, yet you, you just pretended not to know and let Dad pass away like that."
"If that’s how you treated Dad, you couldn’t possibly treat me any better." Huang Lina felt she couldn’t get close to Huang Xin, this person only had eyes for money.