That whole afternoon, Hui Yin scoured her whole neighborhood for a part-time job. But just like last time, she was still unsuccessful.
Although no phone call came in the middle of her interview, it seemed that the hiring owners rejected her as soon as they saw her face.
"Maybe I wore the wrong clothes..." Dejected, Hui Yin decided to return to her apartment. She had to practice for her audition tomorrow...
Sister Su had texted her that the promotional video was about Liu Jun's new song, and that the title was <Captive>. Since generally all of the recent trending songs had been love songs, Hui Yin was almost certain that <Captive> was a love song as well.
Noticing that she was drenched with sweat from walking around, Hui Yin took another shower and dressed in a loose shirt and a pair of drawstring shorts. While drying her hair with a towel, she stared at her reflection on the mirror.
She still couldn't get used to this face, this healthy face with clear, innocent eyes and a youthful air. In her mind, her reflection overlapped with another woman, the older Hui Yin. The Hui Yin with hair whom she cut herself so the edges were ragged, whose skin was coarse and rough. The eyes were still the same, but the innocence was gone, and underneath it were dark shadows from too much lack of sleep.
Hui Yin remembered clearly how Nian Zhen used to take a selfie with her, before posting it on Weibo. Then she would show it to Hui Yin, letting her see the hundreds of hurtful comments that insulted her looks...
During their marriage, Lu Shen hadn't changed at all. He was still the business genius, the wealthy owner of the Lu Corporation where even a small shareholder was worth several billions, and his face just became even more handsome as years passed by. She remembered him making dozens of girls go crazy with his looks everywhere he went, and his frigid personality just managed to attract many crazy online fans. Because of this, the media followed him wherever he went, and persistently investigated his personal life.
Since Lu Shen had not permitted Hui Yin to leave the mansion, most of the netizens didn't even know who his wife was, not even her face. But when Nian Zhen posted her photos on Weibo and labeled it as a picture with the rumored 'Mrs. Lu', the whole Weibo nearly exploded. A whirlwind of discussion and a storm of comments came, all of them like vultures that flayed Hui Yin alive.
For months afterwards, all the popular tabloids, magazines and newspapers had splashed Hui Yin's face on the cover, using the selfie that Nian Zhen had taken. It showed Hui Yin with a straggly bun, not a speck of make-up on her thin face, and cracked dry lips. She was even wearing a matronly dress, with a coffee stain from when she made Lu Shen a cup earlier that morning...