Sheng Xia was amused—the female lead was actually quite skilled at mind-manipulating!
She chuckled and said, “You’re so concerned about your own best friend, yet you didn’t even notice what was on her mind? Or could it be that you never really considered Wang Qiuxia a friend at all, and only spoke sweet words on the surface while actually just using her?”
Song Zhiqiux’s gaze turned cold, carrying a warning edge: “Sheng Xia, please watch your language. You’re trying to sow discord and stir up internal conflicts among the laboring masses—what on earth is your real motive?”
Ah!
As expected of the female lead.
She’d learned how to slap political labels on people in no time at all.
“Zhaodi!”
Sheng Xia suddenly turned to Li Zhaodi, speaking in a deeply meaningful tone.
“Have you ever heard a saying?”
“What are you saying?”
“As long as our friendship is solid and secure enough, no amount of idle gossip can ever break it apart—unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless that bond was just a paper tiger to begin with. Someone says a couple of casual words, and that fake, fragile relationship shatters with a ‘bang’ into a million tiny pieces that you can’t even pick up.”
Li Zhaodi held back a laugh, nodding repeatedly in agreement: “Right, right, exactly! Look at these past two months—no matter what anyone else said about you, I always believed you weren’t that kind of person.”
Sheng Xia smiled sweetly at Wang Qiuxia. “Did you hear that, Wang Qiuxia? Now that is what you call a real friendship!”
Song Zhiqiux narrowed her eyes, completely caught off guard by how craftily cunning Sheng Xia had become.
She had actually let herself get bitten back.
Fortunately, Wang Qiuxia was currently panicking so badly on her own that she was terrified Song Zhiqiux might spot her little hidden crush.
She didn’t have the mental capacity to overanalyze Sheng Xia’s words.
She could only stammer out desperate explanations.
“Xiao Qiu, you mustn’t listen to her spouting nonsense! How could I possibly like… Besides, throughout the entire educated youth dorm, nobody else is worthy of Zhou Zexi except you. The two of you are a match made in heaven, a talented scholar and a beautiful lady—nobody could ever tear you apart.”
Wang Qiuxia would have been better off not explaining; the moment she did, the surrounding people all turned their heads to look in their direction.
Auntie Zhang, standing off to the side, couldn’t help letting out a cold snort of derision.
“In my opinion, Sheng Xia is spot on. You two share the exact same mindset, so stop the pot from calling the kettle black. Besides, is Song Zhiqiux some celestial fairy descending to the mortal realm? Look at her looks—she’s not even as pretty as Sheng Xia! Why on earth should Comrade Zhou belong exclusively to her? She’s got one hell of a thick skin, aren’t you afraid your tongue’ll snap off from bragging?”
With that, she shot a vicious side-eye at Song Zhiqiux.
Clearly, she had zero respect for her usual act.
Auntie Zhang had a very specific reason for detesting Song Zhiqiux so much.
The day Song Zhiqiux arrived in the countryside, it had been Auntie Zhang’s son, Zhang Xiaohu, who went to welcome her.
Zhang Xiaohu fell in love with Song Zhiqiux at first sight, and knowing that a young girl would find farm work grueling, he would constantly wander over to lend a hand whenever he had free time.
At the very beginning, Auntie Zhang had liked Song Zhiqiux quite a bit, too.
Although the young girl was a bit cold and aloof, she was thoughtful and attentive, smart, virtuous, and well-read.
If she could manage to have her son marry Song Zhiqiux as a daughter-in-law, it would be an absolute blessing!
And so, every time they went out to work the fields, Auntie Zhang always paired up with Song Zhiqiux to help her get her share done.
The extra work points earned were all credited to Song Zhiqiux’s account.
Whenever she had any nice food at home on ordinary days, she’d always save a portion for Song Zhiqiux.
Cloth was desperately hard to come by in this era, yet during the Lunar New Year, Auntie Zhang had somehow managed to pull strings and secure a fabric ration coupon specifically to sew a brand-new set of clothes for Song Zhiqiux.
Clearly, she had long since regarded Song Zhiqiux as her future daughter-in-law.
Who could have guessed that at the start of spring this year, Song Zhiqiux fell into the water, and after waking up, she was a completely different person.
She was still the same person on the outside.
Yet her actions were drastically different from before, carrying a calculating, scheming edge.
It was obvious her mind was deep and unfathomable.
What kind of woman was Auntie Zhang? She was famously formidable across ten villages and eight townships.
At a single glance, she saw that Song Zhiqiux had set her sights on other prospects, yet stubbornly refused to give her son a clear answer.
While keeping her son dangling on a string and enjoying all the benefits provided by her household, she was simultaneously making fawning advances toward Comrade Zhou.
Wasn’t this plainly treating her son like a complete fool to be toyed with?!
To make matters worse, Auntie Zhang’s own daughter had also taken a fancy to Comrade Zhou.
One day, when Zhang Xiaohua went to deliver a bowl of chicken pieces to Zhou Zexi from home, she happened to run right into Song Zhiqiux—who was holding a bowl containing the exact same chicken pieces her older brother Zhang Xiaohu had given to Song Zhiqiux.
Oh, hell no!
She actually had the nerve to take her brother’s things to steal her man?!
Zhang Xiaohua instantly blew her top.
Like a lit firecracker, she charged right up and got into a physical brawl with Song Zhiqiux.
Zhang Xiaohua had inherited her mother’s sharp, fiery temper, but the reborn Song Zhiqiux was no pushover either.
The educated youth courtyard instantly descended into complete chaos.
In the end, the villagers had to fetch the village chief and Auntie Zhang to finally put an end to the farce.
Even though Song Zhiqiux repeatedly insisted it was all a misunderstanding on Zhang Xiaohua’s part, Auntie Zhang refused to believe a single word!
A wet-behind-the-ears little yellow-haired brat trying to play mind games with her?
A misunderstanding?
My foot!
You black-hearted, rotten little wretch!
Ever since that day, Auntie Zhang had harbored a bitter grudge against Song Zhiqiux.
Yet Song Zhiqiux was full of petty tricks, possessed a silver tongue, and excelled at putting on an act—somehow managing to hoodwink almost the entire village.
Instead, the villagers viewed Auntie Zhang as unreasonable, accusing her of picking a fight with a poor little girl.
After all, Auntie Zhang’s fierce and formidable reputation was legendary.
Meanwhile, Song Zhiqiux always appeared weak, fragile, agreeable, and entirely at the mercy of others.
This drove Auntie Zhang half-mad with rage.
From that moment on, the enmity between the two of them was set in stone.
Ever since then, whenever Auntie Zhang laid eyes on Song Zhiqiux, she wished she could wring the stinky brat’s neck.
Seeing this scene unfold before her eyes, how could Auntie Zhang fail to grasp what was really going on?
With a single sentence, she pierced straight through the hidden agendas of both Wang Qiuxia and Song Zhiqiux.
After dropping those words, Auntie Zhang turned around and told Sheng Xia and Li Zhaodi: “Since you just arrived, you don’t know the truth—neither of these two are any good. One is selfish, greedy, and loves taking advantage of others; the other is a hypocritical, calculating, black-hearted fraud. You girls better stay as far away from them as possible in the future, or you’ll end up getting sold and still helping them count their money!”
At this, not just Wang Qiuxia, but even Song Zhiqiux saw her face turn ghastly.
“Auntie Zhang, what do you mean by that?”
“You know very well what I mean in your heart. Did I say something wrong? I don’t know who it was—knowing full well my son had set his sights on her, she neither liked him nor made her stance clear. On one hand, she kept my son hanging while taking all the handouts my family gave her, treating my son like a monkey on a string, while on the other hand, she fawned over other men. In all my years living on this earth, I’ve never laid eyes on someone so utterly shameless! A wolf with a white-eyed conscience that bites the hand that feeds it after taking our family’s favors—bah!”
Even with the benefit of having lived an extra lifetime, Song Zhiqiux was still riled up with furious anger upon hearing this.
Her face turned livid, her eyes masking an uncontainable wave of fury and bitter resentment.
Back when she first arrived in the countryside, Song Zhiqiux truly couldn’t handle farm work.
It was Auntie Zhang who had volunteered to help her.
It wasn’t like she had gone begging Auntie Zhang to do it!
As for Zhang Xiaohu, she had already made it clear to him that the two of them weren’t a good match, but that idiot Zhang Xiaohu refused to listen—what was she supposed to do about it?
In her past life, Auntie Zhang had exploited this exact incident to almost force her into marrying Zhang Xiaohu.
If Gu Wendong hadn’t shown up in the nick of time to chase Auntie Zhang off, she probably would have been dragged away by the Zhang family to become their daughter-in-law.
It was precisely because of this melodramatic rescue that Song Zhiqiux developed a deep sense of admiration and romantic attraction toward Gu Wendong.
Completely blinded by Gu Wendong’s honeyed words, she ultimately met a tragic end characterized by betrayal and death filled with bitter hatred.
Therefore, upon her rebirth, Song Zhiqiux had taken the initiative, launching her own pursuit of Zhou Zexi.
As for Zhang Xiaohu…
Hah! If they dared to scheme against her in this lifetime, they would just have to bear the corresponding consequences.
She was merely collecting a bit of interest back from the Zhang family.
They actually thought they could still dream of marrying her as a daughter-in-law?
Why didn’t they take a piss and look at their reflections in it to see if they were even worthy!