76: The ostrich burying its head in the sand, and the brainstorming storm among the factory's female workers.

Clang! A loud crash echoed!

Having finally gained his freedom, Wang Fugui could no longer hold on; he dropped the mold in his hand directly onto the floor, the resulting crash making the entire workshop tremble three times over.

Then, he tightly pulled the lady's sun-protective shirt around his waist to guard his vital area, pushed through the crowd without looking back, and fled the workshop in a panic.

He was like a crazed wild boar, charging recklessly through everything.

The exclamations behind him, the Boss's Wife's burning gaze, and the stunned looks of his colleagues were all left in his wake.

Shame and panic turned into fuel, driving those long legs of his as he sprinted down the dusty roads of the factory grounds.

He had only one thought.

Run!

Run back to the only place that could give him shelter!

Bang!

He slammed open the door to Dorm Room 301 with his shoulder.

He didn't even have time to close the door before diving headlong onto his hard plank bed, pulling over the thin, sweat-scented quilt and wrapping himself from head to toe like an airtight silkworm cocoon.

He curled up under the quilt, his body trembling from his racing heartbeat.

The darkness and the narrow space gave him a flicker of false security.

"I can never show my face again..."

"Now the whole factory knows..."

"How am I supposed to live..."

He buried his face deep in the pillow, desperate thoughts crashing repeatedly through his mind as his muffled voice drifted out from the gaps in the quilt.

Hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Chen Yun and Lin Xiaocao rushed into the dorm one after the other, both of them out of breath, their chests heaving violently.

At a glance, they saw the massive human-shaped mound on the bed.

The mound was still trembling slightly and rhythmically.

The two of them looked at each other.

Lin Xiaocao's eyes were still red; she was both angry and anxious, but as she looked at the lump on the bed, the corner of her mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Chen Yun took a deep breath, her full chest rising and falling with it. The frost on her face faded, replaced by a helpless expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

She stepped forward and reached out to pull back the quilt.

"Wang Fugui, come out!"

The quilt was pulled even tighter; the person inside was like a stone welded to the bed.

"I'm not coming out! Not even if you kill me!" Wang Fugui's muffled roar came from within.

Chen Yun tried several times, but he wouldn't budge an inch.

She gave up and stood by the bed with her hands on her hips, resuming her posture as a shrewd and capable female supervisor.

"Fine, you're not coming out, right? Are you planning to spend the rest of your life wrapped in that shirt?"

She glanced at the tattered remains of his work pants and then scanned her own sun-protective shirt wrapped around Wang Fugui, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to go buy you a pair of pants."

"I'll go!" Lin Xiaocao immediately blurted out, stepping forward and staring at Chen Yun like a small beast protecting its food. "I'll go buy Brother Fugui's clothes!"

Chen Yun glanced at her, her red lips curving into a meaningful arc.

"You? Do you even know what size he wears?"

Lin Xiaocao's face instantly flushed bright red, and she stammered, unable to speak.

She really didn't know.

Chen Yun extended a finger and tapped her temple.

"I... can estimate it by sight."

She left those words behind and turned to leave, leaving Lin Xiaocao alone in the room. Little Grass stomped her foot, her face so red it looked like it could drip blood.

The dormitory fell silent.

Lin Xiaocao walked to the bedside and sat down carefully.

She looked at the giant "silkworm cocoon," seeing only a bright red ear peeking out from the edge of the quilt, so red it looked like it was on fire.

In the quiet room, her heartbeat sounded like a drum.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

In her mind, the scene from the workshop played over and over uncontrollably.

Her cheeks were burning, and even her breathing became somewhat difficult.

She slowly reached out her hand, her fingertips almost touching that bright red ear.

But at the moment she was about to touch it, she yanked her hand back as if she had received an electric shock.

Inside the quilt, Wang Fugui's body visibly stiffened.

He also heard that increasingly loud heartbeat... Meanwhile, in the Forging Workshop.

The Boss's Wife, Factory Director Zhang, and their group had already left, but the atmosphere in the workshop was even more heated than before.

The roar of the machinery couldn't drown out the explosive discussions of the female workers.

"Oh my god! Did you guys see that? Did you see?"

"Good heavens!"

"I was close! I saw it clearly! That's simply not... that's not something a human should have!"

A Fat Big Sister, who usually loved gossip the most, lowered her voice and made an extremely exaggerated gesture with her hands to the circle of women surrounding her.

"For real? You're not bragging, are you?"

"Why would I lie to you! It was terrifying!"

Another young female worker covered her face, her voice leaking out from between her fingers.

Rumors spread like a virus, rapidly fermenting and mutating.

From the initial "pants split" to "he was hiding a steel pipe," then to "he carries a blacksmith's hammer with him," it finally evolved into various bizarre prehistoric beast versions.

Wang Fugui's name had completely become a legend.

A walking legend full of deadly danger and temptation.

And at the other end of the workshop, in the men's restroom.

Smoke swirled, and the atmosphere was as oppressive as if it were about to rain.

Over a dozen male workers were squeezed into the cramped space. No one spoke; they just kept puffing fiercely on the low-quality cigarettes in their hands.

One bold worker quietly looked down at his own crotch, then remembered the image he had just seen.

He fell silent.

He crushed his half-smoked cigarette against the stained wall with a faint "hiss."

Then, as if it were contagious.

Hiss.

Hiss.

Hiss.

One cigarette butt after another was extinguished.

The male workers collectively fell into an inferior, humiliated, death-like silence... On the town's commercial street.

Chen Yun walked into a men's clothing store.

"Boss, I need a pair of pants."

"How tall and what's the build of the young man?" the owner asked enthusiastically.

Chen Yun's gaze swept across the shelves, finally landing on the largest sizes of sweatpants.

In her mind, that image surfaced clearly once again.

Her cheeks instantly heated up.

"Um... let me see the largest size."

The owner took down a pair of XL sweatpants and handed them to her.

Chen Yun held them in her hands, sized them up against herself, and then shook her head.

"Do you have anything larger?"

"Larger?" The owner was stunned. "These are enough for a 180-pound man! Just how big is your man?"

Chen Yun's face turned even redder.

She gritted her teeth and pointed at several other styles of pants.

"This one, this one, and that one—give me one of each in XXL and XXXL!"

She practically snatched the pants, threw down the money, and fled the shop under the owner's bewildered gaze as if she were a lunatic.

Clutching the pants, her heart pounded wildly.

She, a twenty-seven-year-old maiden, was actually buying pants for a man.

And it was for that... that incredibly embarrassing reason.

Bang.

Chen Yun pushed open the dormitory door and saw at a glance that Lin Xiaocao was still guarding the bedside like a little daughter-in-law.

Without a word, she threw the bundle of pants directly onto the "silkworm cocoon."

"Put them on!"

Inside the quilt, Wang Fugui felt as if he had been granted a great pardon.

He immediately began the high-difficulty task of changing clothes within the narrow confines of the quilt.

Rustle, rustle... Under the quilt, there were irregular bulges and wriggling.

Sometimes the shape of an elbow would poke out, and sometimes the outline of a knee would bulge.

This eerie movement, combined with the faint sound of fabric rubbing, was like a giant python shedding its skin.

Sitting by the bed, Chen Yun and Lin Xiaocao both felt their mouths go dry.

As if they had been triggered by the same switch, they both picked up the enamel mugs beside them at the same time, turned their backs, and gulped down cold water in an attempt to hide their discomfort.

Finally, the movement under the covers stopped.

A head with messy hair and a bright red face peeked out carefully from under the quilt.

Wang Fugui had changed into a pair of black XXXL sweatpants.

The pant legs were empty and the waist was loose, making him look a bit comical.

But only he knew how reassuring this unprecedented sense of looseness was.

Chen Yun turned around, looked at him in this state, cleared her throat, and issued an order in an unquestionable tone.

"Wang Fugui, listen up."

Wang Fugui immediately sat up straight, like an elementary school student waiting to be scolded.

"From today on, you are forbidden from wearing any tight or slim-fitting clothes or pants! Especially jeans and work pants!"

She paused and added with emphasis.

"This is a new rule the factory has set for you! A factory regulation! Do you understand?"

Wang Fugui looked at her serious face, then at Lin Xiaocao, who was nodding vigorously beside her, and could only nod back submissively and repeatedly.

"I... I understand."

Dinner time.

The three of them sat around the small square table in the dorm, the atmosphere reaching a peak of strangeness.

The food from the Cafeteria was laid out on the table, but no one had much of an appetite.

Wang Fugui kept his head down, focused only on shoveling rice into his mouth, not daring to look at anyone.

Chen Yun and Lin Xiaocao each had their own thoughts as they ate in silence.

Suddenly, Wang Fugui's leg accidentally moved under the table and bumped into a table leg, making a slight sound.

The two women sitting across from him were like startled rabbits.

Almost at the same instant, they both put down their chopsticks, their bodies involuntarily shrinking back, their gazes frantically shifting away from Wang Fugui's lower body.

The air froze instantly.

All three of them stiffened.

That extreme awkwardness and ambiguity of trying to hide the obvious permeated the small dormitory.