Chapter 5 – Is This a Dream Visitation?

The people at the factory naturally noticed that something was wrong with Xu Jinliang. She brushed them off by saying that an allergic reaction had caused the redness around her neck, but it was obviously more than that. Her every movement and the smallest details of her behavior were scrutinized and magnified. Rumors of every kind circulated for a while, but she no longer cared.

She was only continuing out of sheer stubbornness. Otherwise, she would have resigned and fled long ago.

Recently, those people had become much quieter and had no time to provoke her.

Problems had arisen at the group’s headquarters, affecting the factory’s operations as well. As chairman, Chao was under the greatest pressure. The problem began with a minor product developed in collaboration with a foreign company. They had worked together for some time, but a small controversy arose over the foreign company’s design—something that could easily escalate into a political or nationalist issue locally.

Their greatest fear was that someone would expose which subsidiary had produced the product, which group owned that subsidiary, and exactly how many times they had collaborated with the foreign company. The consequences would be enormous.

Chairman Chao finally lost his patience and demanded, “Who negotiated this insignificant little project in the first place? The project was small, but the hidden risks were enormous! Did no one assess them beforehand?!”

None of his subordinates dared speak.

Chairman Chao suddenly understood. Seething with rage, he spat out a name.

“Xu Jinliang!!”

After being provoked, Xu Jinliang had casually detonated one of the mines she had planted long ago as a small act of retaliation. Combined with the trump card she had mentioned to Director Zhang but had yet to reveal, it was enough to keep those people obedient for a while.

Xu Jinliang needed time to breathe, but not because she was planning some major operation. She had no interest in continuing to maneuver against them and instead turned her attention elsewhere.

Xu Jinliang returned to a method she had used many years ago. Presenting herself as approachable, she began actively interacting with lower-level employees, [read the original at bailiantales.com]both during and after working hours. The results, however, were not particularly good. Even someone as emotionally insensitive as she was could clearly sense the barrier separating her from everyone else.

Since no suitable person existed, she would simply create one.

Taking advantage of opportunities to assign work, she secretly introduced unfair competition. The previously harmonious factory gradually became divided. Everyone’s colleagues became potential rivals, undoubtedly increasing the psychological pressure they endured.

The frightening part was that while the employees below suffered bitterly, President Wei praised their new work ethic whenever he visited. During general meetings, he thanked Factory Director Xu more than once for her contributions.

Many people struggled to adapt to the changes. Feng Yan was a particularly obvious example.

Xu Jinliang remembered her. She had always gotten along exceptionally well with the younger employees and workers. But these recent changes had made her less popular among them. Although everyone at the factory still spoke warmly to her, Xu Jinliang noticed that no one invited her out after work or during holidays anymore.

Xu Jinliang was delighted to see this development. Every day, she secretly observed Feng Yan, watching her struggle to deal with her superiors and manage her subordinates until even her hair began thinning.

Feng Yan allowed Xu Jinliang to breathe again. Tiny traces of pleasure seeped into her, renewing the nourishment she needed.

Recently, Feng Yan had constantly felt someone watching her after work. The sensation would not disappear until she entered her apartment building. Because she had played many immersive role-playing games before, she possessed an overactive imagination and began to suspect that someone was following her.

She opened the group chat that had been silent for a long time, intending to tell them about her recent experiences. But when she saw that the last message had been sent an entire week ago, her enthusiasm faded, and she gave up. She decided it was merely a hallucination brought on by exhaustion.

Seeing that Feng Yan had once again gone directly home after work without anything unusual happening, Xu Jinliang started her car and returned home as well.

That tiny spark of interest was nowhere near enough to save Xu Jinliang. She mechanically chewed her tasteless dinner.

She could only hope that Feng Yan would give her a pleasant surprise.

Otherwise…

She raised her eyes and glanced around the house. She had already restored everything to its proper place, leaving every corner immaculate.

That door had also been locked again.

Otherwise, she might not be able to stop herself from entering that room again and waiting for the final end.

After tidying everything, Xu Jinliang lay down at her usual time and reached over to switch off the bedside lamp. She arranged herself neatly in preparation for sleep.

To her, eating and sleeping were merely necessary for keeping her body alive. They could hardly be considered pleasurable. That was why she could never understand why some people enjoyed sleeping late.

Something was strange tonight.

Her body did not fall asleep at its usual time. She had already been lying there for a long while.

She sat up and switched the bedside lamp on again. A possibility occurred to her, and she scratched her hair.

She removed all her clothes, sat on the bed, and began browsing videos. Her fingers rapidly flicked past the explicit thumbnails. After watching for a while, she looked down at herself and ultimately decided to put her pajama top back on, leaving only her lower body naked.

She sat there and watched several videos. In some of them, men and women kissed. She dragged the progress bar forward and skipped those scenes.

She did not feel particularly uncomfortable [read the original at bailiantales.com]with kissing itself. She simply found the idea of two people’s saliva mixing together disgusting.

Likewise, she skipped every scene involving people kissing or licking each other’s genitals.

She continued browsing as time ticked past, losing track of how long she had been watching. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock, discovering that it was already extremely late. She reached between her thighs and found, as expected, that she was still dry.

Irritation rose within her. She lay back and began rubbing her clitoris directly. Her other hand continued holding her phone, and she frowned as though reading some important news while scrolling through videos featuring all sorts of different content.

She watched almost every conceivable category: men with women, women with women, men with men, nonhuman creatures, animation, machines, transgender performers…

She tossed her phone aside. The fingers touching her genitals moved lower, but she had only become slightly wet from stimulating her clitoris.

She was not aroused.

There was nothing physically wrong with her body. Stimulation and caressing could produce certain sensations. The problem was that she received no additional pleasure psychologically. Rubbing that spot felt somewhat pleasant, but the pleasure was extremely limited—comparable to the relief of scratching an itch and nowhere near enough to bring her release.

Ever since reaching adulthood, whenever she remembered to do so, she would help herself reach orgasm once. She approached it as though completing a task. She had heard that it was beneficial for the endocrine system and skin and could improve one’s mood, although she had yet to experience that last benefit.

Unfortunately, she had no sexual fantasies and could not develop any interest in videos, so it was always difficult and rarely went smoothly.

A sexual fantasy…

Xu Jinliang lay back properly and closed her eyes without stopping the rubbing motion of her fingers. Her mind was empty, so she simply concentrated on the physical sensations.

Her nimble fingers rubbed back her clitoral hood, exposing the tender pink flesh beneath. When she pressed a finger against it, the dryness made it somewhat painful. She lifted her finger, pushed the hood back down, and gently stroked it instead.

Gradually, the sensation improved.

Unconsciously, she began panting, one breath after another.

She suddenly felt like laughing because, at some point, an image had appeared in her mind.

That patch of white beside the water.

Those full, soft arms and legs looked so tender with water clinging to them. They stretched outward like flower petals.

Vitality blossomed within them, thriving amid the water and sunlight.

That flower bent at the waist. The slender waist that could be encircled with one hand was unimaginably soft yet remarkably resilient, filled with strength whenever it sprang upright again.

“Mmm… Mm-hmm…”

Xu Jinliang panted, the tip of her tongue sweeping across her lips and leaving them moist.

She felt moisture beneath her fingers as well.

This time went more smoothly than ever before. She became extremely wet and felt exceptionally good. Her orgasm arrived quickly.

She had not expected it to be so intense. She fell asleep without even having time to clean herself, while the clock continued ticking and midnight soon passed.

As Xu Jinliang slept peacefully, a single tear slid down her face. Whether it had been caused by the sexual stimulation or something else entirely was impossible to tell.

She dreamed again.

Once more, she saw a patch of white.

This time, she finally saw the woman’s face up close.

The woman was very young, with a trace of baby fat that made her look adorable. Her eyes were large, and her pupils were extremely dark, giving her an innocent appearance. She had a small but upturned nose, and that little mouth of hers…

It was speaking to Xu Jinliang.

“Hey, are you all right?”

The woman patted Xu Jinliang’s face and urged, “Wake up. Who are you?”

Xu Jinliang coughed and tried to reach out and embrace her.

She did not know why she wanted to hold the woman.

Whatever. It was only a dream.

That white flower was completely drenched. Her hair was dripping wet, and her body was ice-cold.

After Xu Jinliang awakened, she repeatedly thought back to her previous dream.

In that dream, she had ignored the young woman who remained submerged in the river.

Had she drowned?

Could this second dream be her ghost visiting Xu Jinliang?