Zhao Yumei’s eyes were filled with tears, and she looked pitiful, as though she cared deeply about her.
Lu Zhangran said: “That’s right, Yaoyao, how can you say that about Yumei? When she saw Gu Chuan drag you into the room, she came to look for us for help without even eating dinner. Do you know how much your words hurt her?”
The corners of Fang Xinyao’s lips curled into a trace of mockery. “Lu Zhangran, Zhao Yumei, why do I feel that you two are actually hoping something will happen to me? If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t have brought so many people here without even finding out what happened first!”
Zhao Yumei was momentarily at a loss for words. “Yaoyao, I…”
Lu Zhangran’s expression also changed slightly.
“Educated Youth Fang, what exactly happened?” Brigade Leader Gu Guoxi stepped forward and asked with a solemn expression.
Party Secretary Zhou Zhonghua also wore a grave expression. If something like that had really happened in the brigade, not only would the entire brigade be humiliated, but they would also lose their title as an advanced brigade. As the Party Secretary, he would also be punished!
The people following behind them were discussing it noisily among themselves.
Fang Xinyao said calmly: “Brigade Leader, Secretary Zhou, I’m sorry for causing you to misunderstand. When I was coming down the mountain, I twisted my ankle, so I wanted Comrade Gu Chuan to take a look at it for me. I didn’t expect it to cause such a huge misunderstanding. Besides, look at me. I’m standing here perfectly fine. Do I look like something happened to me?”
Gu Guoxi and Zhou Zhonghua’s gazes fell on Fang Xinyao. Seeing that she was neatly dressed and behaved with composure and grace, without the slightest trace of panic, she looked nothing like what Zhao Yumei and Lu Zhangran had described.
Zhao Yumei refused to give up. “Even if you twisted your ankle, there was no need for you to come into his room, right? Yaoyao, did he threaten you? Don’t be afraid of him. Tell us everything. Brigade Leader will stand up for you!”
Fang Xinyao immediately became furious. “Zhao Yumei, are you sick? I really don’t understand how your heart can be so vicious. Do you really want to pin a charge on me and Comrade Gu Chuan that badly?”
Lu Zhangran pushed up the glasses on his nose and said gently: “Yaoyao, don’t get worked up. Yumei is also doing this for your own good. But there is one thing she said that is right. You twisted your ankle, so why did you come into his room?”
Gu Chuan stepped forward, his expression slightly darkening as he began to speak. “I…”
But before he could finish, Fang Xinyao interrupted him. She reached out and firmly grasped Gu Chuan’s hand, slipping her fingers between his and interlocking their fingers tightly.
“Brigade Leader, actually, Gu Chuan and I are in a relationship! We are discussing getting married!”
“Getting married?”
Brigade Leader Gu Guoxi was startled.
The people following behind him who had come to watch the spectacle were also stunned.
Gu Chuan was a cripple!
Even Gu Chuan himself was completely stunned. He looked at the girl beside him in disbelief. She had said that she would take responsibility for him. She had said that she would take care of the rest of his life…
This was real!
He was not dreaming!
“That’s right!”
Fang Xinyao nodded firmly. A blush appeared on her fair and pretty face. “Three days ago, I fell into the water, and Gu Chuan saved me. Such a life-saving favor is impossible to repay. So I decided to marry him. But Gu Chuan was afraid of holding me back, so he didn’t dare agree.”
As she spoke, she turned to look at Gu Chuan and said pitifully: “Gu Chuan, I ruined my reputation by falling into the water. If you don’t marry me, then I…”
A trace of determination appeared in Gu Chuan’s eyes. “I’ll marry you!”
Zhao Yumei was stunned when she heard this, and then a burst of secret delight rose within her. However, she still maintained an extremely shocked expression on her face. “Yaoyao, are you crazy? Gu Chuan is a cripple! He’s also a country bumpkin. How could he possibly be worthy of you!”
“Yaoyao, tell me honestly. Did he force you to do something? Don’t be afraid. With us here, he can’t bully you!”
Zhao Yumei’s words made Gu Guoxi and the others behind her extremely displeased.
In the entire brigade, apart from these Educated Youths who had come down to the countryside, who among them was not a country bumpkin?
Wasn’t she looking down on all of them?
Zhao Yumei had shouted those words in her anxiety, clearly never expecting that her words would offend so many people at once.
Lu Zhangran’s brows furrowed tightly. “Yaoyao, you can’t say things carelessly. Don’t you want to return to the city anymore? Could it be that you want to stay here for the rest of your life?”
His voice was filled with deep concern.
Then he sighed as though he had resigned himself to his fate, his tone earnest and affectionate. “Yaoyao, no matter what happens to you, I will never despise you!”
Fang Xinyao could not help but laugh coldly. He was trying to manipulate her!
He would strike her first and then give her a piece of candy.
Wasn’t that exactly how the Original Owner had been manipulated by him?
The Original Owner was from Jingshi. She had two older brothers. Her Big Brother had joined the military, while her Second Brother had gone to Northwest China to participate in construction. Her father held a position in the military, and her mother had no job and stayed at home. Given the Original Owner’s family background, she had fundamentally never needed to go down to the countryside.
Unfortunately, the Original Owner had been blinded by love. For Lu Zhangran, she had fallen out with her family and insisted on signing up to go to the countryside. In order to help the man she loved gather five hundred yuan in capital for his business on the black market, she had set her sights on Gu Chuan.
Gu Chuan had originally been a soldier. Because of a leg injury, he had returned to recuperate, and he had a five-hundred-yuan compensation payment on him.
Thus, the Original Owner cooperated with Lu Zhangran and secretly drugged Gu Chuan’s water. Then the Original Owner came to seduce Gu Chuan, while Zhao Yumei and Lu Zhangran brought people over to catch them in the act, intending to extort the five hundred yuan from Gu Chuan.
Fang Xinyao said indifferently: “Educated Youth Lu, please don’t call me Xiaoming. I already have a fiancé now. If you call me Xiaoming again, Gu Chuan might misunderstand, and that wouldn’t be good.”
While Fang Xinyao was speaking, Gu Chuan had been looking at her the entire time. His burning gaze seemed as though it could see straight through her.
“Yaoyao, what exactly has happened to you? Tell me the truth. Did Gu Chuan do something to you?” Lu Zhangran asked in disbelief.
Before coming in the evening, they had clearly agreed on everything! Why was every single thing Fang Xinyao was saying now different from what they had rehearsed beforehand?
“That’s right, Yaoyao, how can you speak to Zhangran like that? Do you know how worried Zhangran is about you?” As she spoke, Zhao Yumei reached out and tried to pull at Fang Xinyao’s clothes.
Just as Fang Xinyao was about to make a move, the person beside her acted a step faster.
Gu Chuan grabbed Zhao Yumei’s hand, yanked it, and shoved her.
Caught completely off guard, Zhao Yumei fell hard onto her backside, looking utterly ridiculous.
Zhao Yumei angrily got to her feet, pointed at Gu Chuan, and cursed: “Gu Chuan, you’re a grown man, yet you actually hit a woman! I think you must be trying to cover something up!”
Gu Chuan looked coldly at Zhao Yumei and said: “You actually pulled at my partner’s clothes in front of so many people. What exactly are you trying to do! My partner is an innocent girl. It would already be bad enough for you to falsely accuse her, but you actually went so far as to pull at her clothes! There are so many men here. Are you trying to make her embarrass herself?”
As he spoke, his gaze swept around them.
Gu Guoxi and Zhou Zhonghua both frowned.
This Zhao Yumei was really going too far. If she wanted to talk, then she should simply talk. Why had she gone and pulled at someone’s clothes?
Fang Xinyao cast an approving look at Gu Chuan. Not bad, he had learned how to fight back.
Zhao Yumei turned her gaze toward Fang Xinyao and said anxiously: “Yaoyao, hurry up and tell them. Did Gu Chuan force himself on you and threaten you?”