Following the intense back-and-forth of the argument, everyone present had concluded that Wang Qiuxia was the one spreading groundless rumors and splashing dirty water all over Sheng Xia.
Otherwise, why would Wang Qiuxia keep shifting her story from Jiang Han to Zhou Zexi?
Most importantly, if Wang Qiuxia’s accusations were true, why didn’t she dare go see the village chief and the public security bureau to prove she wasn’t lying?
It was a blatant sign of a guilty conscience!
As they looked at Wang Qiuxia now, they felt as though she were a ticking time bomb.
One by one, those who had intended to intercede for her quietly extinguished the thought.
If anything, they couldn’t wait to put as much distance between themselves and Wang Qiuxia as possible.
“Comrade Sheng Xia, you’re the victim here. Tell us, how should this matter be handled?”
At that moment, an older male educated youth stepped forward.
Sheng Xia wiped away some non-existent tears and raised her head to look at him.
The man standing before her had a dark, square-jawed face and a tall, sturdy build.
He was one of the earliest veterans of the educated youth.
Because of his hardworking nature and seniority, he was practically the de facto leader among the educated youths.
Though usually taciturn and rarely one to meddle in affairs, he always stepped up to play a decisive role when it truly mattered.
Zhao Jianguo.
The name surfaced in Sheng Xia’s mind.
Feigning deep contemplation for a moment, she said, “Since Comrade Zhao has spoken up, I’ll give you face and settle this privately! Fortunately, everyone present is an educated youth—our own people—so we don’t need to make a laughingstock of ourselves in front of the village, and we can skip going to see the village chief and the police.”
Zhao Jianguo gave a nod of approval.
Sheng Xia smiled. “Wang Qiuxia embezzled two yuan, ruined my reputation, and caused severe mental and emotional distress. I want her to compensate me.”
“My ass! I never took your money, I—”
“Shut your mouth!” Zhao Jianguo said with a cold expression. “Do you really want to go see the village chief and the police?”
Wang Qiuxia was instantly cut off like a duck grabbed by the neck, her voice dying in her throat.
“Anything else?” Zhao Jianguo asked.
“I want Wang Qiuxia to apologize to me in front of everyone and guarantee she won’t dare pull this stunt again. Of course, I’m not just doing this for myself, but for all of us. If she makes a mistake, she needs to learn her lesson, otherwise what happens if she tries the same trick again and frames another female comrade next time?”
Who doesn’t know how to spout high-sounding rhetoric?
Zhao Jianguo nodded. “That’s only right.”
In the end, with Zhao Jianguo stepping in to take charge, the farce concluded with Wang Qiuxia being forced to pay Sheng Xia twenty yuan in compensation and issue a public apology in front of everyone.
Wang Qiuxia was naturally unwilling; she shrieked on the spot, throwing a screaming, rolling tantrum.
That was twenty yuan!
Not two yuan, twenty cents, or two measly pennies!
How was this any different from demanding her life?
Yet the other educated youths were all bearing down on her, and when she caught the expressionless, cold gaze of Song Zhiqiux, Wang Qiuxia thought of her parents back in the city and was so terrified that she had no choice but to swallow her broken teeth along with her blood, gulping down this bitter resentment.
“Oh, and one more thing!”
Just as the crowd was beginning to disperse, Sheng Xia remembered something and spoke in a languid tone.
Meeting Sheng Xia’s smiling, sparkling eyes, Wang Qiuxia’s heart gave a violent wrench.
Instinctively, she shouted, “What do you want now?!”
“You were the one who started this whole mess today. If I hear any rumors unfavorable to me circulating in the village from now on, I am going to pin the blame entirely on you.”
Wang Qiuxia stared at her as if she had seen a ghost. “Sheng Xia, have you lost your mind? People’s mouths belong to them; what other people choose to say has nothing to do with me! Why should you blame me?!”
Sheng Xia spread her hands. “Because today’s events are only known to the educated youth, and I trust everyone here isn’t one to gossip. But what about you? After all, you hate me so much that even apologizing felt like pulling teeth. What if you harbor a grudge and start orchestrating gossip behind my back again? I don’t want to be like this either, but I’ve been driven to no other choice! Or… would you much rather go see the public security bureau instead?”
A demon!
This was an absolute demon!
Overwhelmed by blinding fury and panic, Wang Qiuxia felt the world go dark before her eyes and collapsed straight onto the ground, fainting dead away.
The others panicked, scrambling in all directions to lift her up and carry her back inside the room.
Sheng Xia remained standing right where she was, wearing an expression of utter innocence.
Was her combat effectiveness really this weak?
Not far away, Song Zhiqiux watched Sheng Xia, her eyes brimming with an uncontainable mixture of jealousy and vexation.
Why?
Why was it that in her past life, smart and capable as she was—not only getting accepted into Tsinghua University, but also helping Gu Wendong reclaim his family fortune and building his corporation into an empire—just as she finally secured her position as Madam Gu, she suffered betrayal and vicious scheming, ultimately dying filled with bitter hatred?!
Meanwhile, Sheng Xia was brain-dead stupid, incapable of doing a single thing right. Yet simply because she possessed a pretty face, she effortlessly hooked Zhou Zexi into marrying her, with Zhou Zexi waiting on her hand and foot and living a life of absolute luxury far better than anyone else!
Thinking of the formidable power and influence of the Zhou family, and remembering Zhou Zexi’s obsessive, unwavering devotion, the reborn Song Zhiqiux had targeted Sheng Xia as her very first obstacle to eliminate.
As long as Sheng Xia was gotten rid of, the person who married Zhou Zexi in this lifetime would be her!
And yet, a meticulously crafted plan had been utterly ruined just like that.
At this moment, Song Zhiqiux hated Sheng Xia to her core.
She hated Wang Qiuxia, too.
Not only had she failed to bring Sheng Xia down, but she had almost bitten her own master in the process.
She was truly someone who ruined more than she accomplished!
However…
Song Zhiqiux cast a scrutinizing gaze back at Sheng Xia.
This idiot had always been all body and no brain; she believed whatever anyone told her, acting just like a mental defective.
How on earth had she suddenly grown so smart today?
Unfortunately, in her previous life, Song Zhiqiux had poured her heart and soul entirely into Gu Wendong, and on top of that, she had always looked down on Sheng Xia as a mere vase, meaning the two of them had virtually zero interaction.
Naturally, she didn’t really understand Sheng Xia at all.
Could it be that Sheng Xia had been faking it all along?
Was she deliberately putting on the persona of an airheaded beauty specifically to seduce an innocent, worldly-inexperienced young master of a prestigious family like Zhou Zexi?
If that really was the case, then everything that happened today suddenly made complete sense.
Sheng Xia, oh Sheng Xia!
I never expected that I still underestimated you, and almost took a fatal tumble.
Song Zhiqiux ground her teeth.
Meeting Song Zhiqiux’s gaze, which was filled with probe-like suspicion and naked hostility, Sheng Xia inwardly knitted her brows.
Having read the novel, she knew that the original supporting character Sheng Xia had been utterly shameless, trailing after Zhou Zexi and making a public spectacle of herself every day, acting like a monkey in a zoo for others to mock.
When Song Zhiqiux, acting the part of the kind heroine, offered well-intentioned advice, Sheng Xia had met her with snide ridicule and sarcasm.
That was what originally provoked Wang Qiuxia, Song Zhiqiux’s devoted lackey.
To suck up to Song Zhiqiux, Wang Qiuxia had orchestrated today’s little drama.
Yet now, having personally lived through the storm and found herself trapped right in the center of the chessboard, Sheng Xia realized the reality was nothing like what was written in the book.
From the very first moment she laid eyes on Song Zhiqiux, she had known Song Zhiqiux was nothing like the kind, benevolent figure portrayed in the text.
On the contrary, Song Zhiqiux hated her.
And as it turned out, Sheng Xia’s probing had genuinely flushed that truth out.
Sheng Xia still couldn’t understand how she—a minor supporting character who should have barely lasted a few chapters—had managed to offend the female lead Song Zhiqiux so deeply that she harbored such intense malice toward her.
Sheng Xia had tumbled blindly into this novel world through transmigration, and she had no idea how long she’d be stuck here.
Since the female lead was practically itching to step on her neck and crush her, was she supposed to just sit back and take it?
Sheng Xia curled the corners of her lips into a bright, amiable smile. “Song Zhiqiux, are you feeling terribly disappointed right now?”
A jolt of shock went through Song Zhiqiux as she snapped her head toward Sheng Xia. “What do you mean by that?”
“You know very well what I mean. I advise you to keep those crooked little thoughts of yours in check, otherwise the number of times you’ll end up disappointed is only going to keep growing!”
With those parting words, Sheng Xia cheerfully shut her door with a click.
The soft, sweet, and seductive laughter of the young woman sounded to Song Zhiqiux like the jeering of a demon straight out of hell.
Especially that gaze of hers, which seemed to pierce right through her very soul, sending a freezing chill straight down Song Zhiqiux’s spine.
It took several seconds for Song Zhiqiux to process the fact that she had just been openly threatened by Sheng Xia.
A wave of intense, burning rage washed over her, suffusing her face with an ugly, mottled flush.
“Sheng… Xia!”
Song Zhiqiux uttered the name syllable by syllable, grinding her teeth in vicious fury.
“You just wait!”
Sooner or later, she would kick Sheng Xia out of the educated youth point and make her vanish completely from Zhou Zexi’s sight!
Zhou Zexi belonged to her, and she was alone!