What she said was all true. Because of Luo Yecheng, she and Jiang Xiaowan had gone from arguing and cursing to shoving each other by the river. Finally, she slipped on a rock and fell into the water.
Her voice was weak: "Who's spreading these rumors? You can still see where I fell in; the marks from when I slipped are different from the marks from when I jumped in."
Hearing this, the aunties on the bus gaped.
"I remember when Jiang Xiaowan went to get help, the first one to rush over was Granny Niu, right? She was the one who loudly proclaimed that Song Zhiqing had jumped into the water for Luo Zhiqing, so everyone thought so too."
Liu Guifen: "Bullshit! My mother-in-law never said that."
Granny Niu was the old woman from the original owner's memories who had clashed with her shortly after arriving in the countryside.
Liu Guifen was also her daughter-in-law.
Song Wei sneered inwardly, "It seems Granny Niu still cares about what happened before. Making up stories about me like this, she's trying to ruin my reputation."
Everyone: ...
With the way you chased after Luo Zhiqing before, what reputation do you have left?
Song Wei gave a bitter smile, "I had my reasons for chasing after Luo Zhiqing."
The people on the oxcart immediately perked up their ears.
She pretended to be angry, "Luo Zhiqing and I grew up in the same courtyard. His family was much poorer than mine. When he went to the countryside, he asked me for a lot of tickets, saying he would treat me well in the future.
Later, he even wrote to me about how difficult things were for him in the countryside. I sent him more tickets and money over time. Tell me, I've put in so many tickets for him, if I didn't chase after him, would I ever get them back?"
Everyone's eyes widened; they hadn't expected this twist.
Song Wei feigned sadness, "If he didn't like me, why did he take my tickets and money? There was even a bicycle ticket among them."
"Hiss..."
Tickets were precious these days, bicycle tickets even more so.
In their county, you could count the number of people with bicycle tickets on one hand.
The villagers had never even seen one before.
In their Ping'an brigade, besides the brigade leader's family having a bicycle, nobody else had one, and even that was secondhand.
"How could Luo Zhiqing
do this?" They felt heartbroken too, their hearts aching.
And how could this girl be so naive, giving away the bicycle ticket so easily?
Li Juan's mouth dropped open: "That Luo Zhiqing is too...too much!"
Liu Guifen said sarcastically, "Who knows if what you're saying is true or not? I don't think Luo Zhiqing is that kind of person."
It wasn't that she had much affection for Luo Yecheng, but mainly she couldn't stand seeing Song Wei so comfortable.
Song Wei's lips curled up: "Of course I have evidence. He mentioned it in his letter to me, and he even wrote an IOU for the bicycle ticket he gave Luo Zhiqing."
In her memory, when Luo Yecheng knew the original owner's family had bicycle tickets, he proactively wrote an IOU to coax her into giving them to him.
The aunties in the village were all excellent gossips; what she was saying on the oxcart would soon spread throughout the village.
After Song Wei stopped chasing after Luo Yecheng, she even had a suitable reason to turn against him.
The gossipy aunties, already enjoying this big piece of gossip, immediately started discussing it heatedly.
Their image of Song Wei successfully transformed from a foolish girl who had attempted suicide for love to a pitiful figure.
Of course, she was still foolish; otherwise, no one would have given her so many tickets, including bicycle tickets!
Goodness, they'd never even seen what bicycle tickets looked like.
The journey was a bit long, and since Song Wei was the person involved, they were too embarrassed to talk too much about her gossip, so they quickly changed the subject to other village gossip.
The road was bad, and the oxcart was bumpy; Song Wei felt like her butt was about to split open, but she was still quite satisfied with the village gossip she'd heard the whole way.
She loved this simple, down-to-earth atmosphere, without any scheming or fighting.
She also smoothly blended into the gossip group of these old women, occasionally adding her own humor, further stimulating their desire to chat.
Li Juan stared blankly at Song Wei, who, despite her pale and frail appearance, had been stuffed with pumpkin seeds and was now happily munching away among the aunties.
This… this was different from before!
The oxcart carried them back to the village. The aunties were still somewhat reluctant to leave, and so was Song Wei.
She grabbed Aunt Ma's hand, her eyes sparkling: "Aunties, I just realized how well we click! Remember to call me when you chat in the future!"
Aunt Ma's heart softened at her gaze: "Don't worry, girl. If you suffer or have any difficulties, come to me. Leave those rumors about you and Luo Zhiqing to me; I'll make sure they're cleared up for you."
Song Wei looked at her gratefully.
"Auntie, you're truly my dear auntie!"
Reluctantly watching the aunties leave, Song Wei and Li Juan headed towards the educated youth settlement with a relaxed expression.
Li Juan was still somewhat dazed and couldn't quite process what had happened.
"Song Wei, how did you do that?"
The villagers were somewhat xenophobic; in their eyes, these educated youth sent to the countryside were useless, weaklings who could barely support themselves.
Especially someone like Song Wei, who looked sickly, even though she was pretty, was disliked by the older women and even the uncles and grandfathers in the village.
The other educated youth, being from the city, also looked down on the country folk.
So, it was basically a zero-sum game.
Today, she'd really learned something.
Song Wei raised an eyebrow: "We'll chat about it."
Everyone has a little hobby of gossiping, right?
At this time, most of the educated youth had gone to work, except for one who stayed at the educated youth settlement to cook for everyone.
She was surprised to see them return.
"Oh, Song Wei, you're finally back."
The female educated youth spoke sarcastically, with a gloating look in her eyes; Song Wei didn't believe she was genuinely concerned.
Ignoring her, Song Wei followed her memory back to her quarters.
The houses at the educated youth settlement were all adobe houses, left behind by the old landlord as servants' quarters, a row of houses connected together.
Each room was quite small, about seventeen square meters.
But these houses weren't given away for free by the village.
Educated youths who wanted to live there had to pay rent, ten yuan.
After paying ten yuan, they could stay indefinitely.
Those who didn't want to pay rent slept on a shared bed.
Song Wei had her own small single room, which she was very satisfied with.
However, even if the original owner didn't have a single room, she would have found a way to get the money herself.
Song Wei opened the door, went inside, and went straight to a package on the bedside table to find money.
From a stack of loose change, she took out one yuan and two mao, put it back, and turned to leave the room.
"Thank you, Educated Youth Li. This is to return the money, and the two mao is to thank you for taking care of me before."
Holding the one yuan and two mao, Li Juan was delighted.
"This… it's only right that we educated youths help each other. You should take it back."
Song Wei shook her head: "Nothing is a given."
She wouldn't take it for granted that this was something she was entitled to.