“Good heavens, Song Wanning has no shame at all! It was bad enough when she was flirting with the educated youths before, but now she’s seducing Wang Zhuzi too. After doing something so disgraceful, she should’ve quietly married him instead of making such a fuss. Everyone would’ve stopped talking sooner or later. Yet she still had the nerve to run to the village chief and cry! Hmph! If I were her, I’d find a wall and smash my head against it!”
“Exactly! I don’t know what goes through her head. She did something so shameless and even dragged the village chief into it. Bah! Shameless little slut. With that seductive face of hers, she’s always flirting with men. Village Chief, if you ask me, you shouldn’t interfere in this matter at all. Just make her marry Wang Zhuzi!”
The two women speaking were Chen Ailian, one of the educated youths in the village, and Li Guihua, who had married into the Wu family.
The reason both of them disliked Song Wanning so much was simple—
She was beautiful.
Although Chen Ailian had come from the city, after working in the fields every day, her skin had tanned considerably.
Song Wanning, on the other hand, remained fair-skinned as if the sun could never darken her complexion.
It was enough to make countless women jealous.
As for Li Guihua, her husband, Wu Dagui, secretly glanced at Song Wanning every time they got off work.
The couple had argued over it more than once.
Now that she thought she’d finally caught Song Wanning’s “weakness,” she naturally wanted to add fuel to the fire.
Seeing Song Wanning embarrassed made her happy.
Besides, Wang Zhuzi was the village’s most notorious lazy bachelor.
He was ugly, dark-skinned, and useless.
Marrying Song Wanning to him suited Li Guihua just fine.
“Have you two got nothing better to do?”
“The Song girl hasn’t even spoken for herself yet, and you’re already rushing to pin everything on her.”
Aunt Li shot Chen Ailian and Li Guihua a cold glance.
“They hear one rumor and immediately believe it.”
“They don’t even bother thinking for themselves.”
Turning back to Song Wanning, she said gently,
“Wanning, tell everyone what really happened.”
Aunt Li still believed Song Wanning.
After all, Song Wanning had already told her that the one who had slept with Wang Zhuzi was Song Miaomiao.
Song Wanning looked at Liu Cuihua, her eyes reddening.
“Mom…”
“I’m your daughter too.”
“Why have you always favored Song Miaomiao?”
“The one who slept with Wang Zhuzi was clearly her.”
“But you’ve insisted all along that it was me.”
“Ever since I was little…”
“You’ve never liked me.”
“What did I ever do wrong?”
“What have I done to deserve your hatred?”
“And now you’re trying to pin everything on me.”
“Is Song Miaomiao your daughter…”
“And I’m not?”
Covering her chest, Song Wanning looked utterly heartbroken.
This was the question she had wanted to ask Liu Cuihua throughout her previous life.
Now…
She finally knew the answer.
She wasn’t Liu Cuihua’s biological daughter.
How could Liu Cuihua ever have truly loved her?
“Sister, what nonsense are you talking about?”
Song Miaomiao looked utterly stunned, as though she had suffered a tremendous injustice.
“Even if you don’t want to marry Wang Zhuzi, you can’t make things up.”
“Mom and I both saw you sleeping in the same bed as Wang Zhuzi.”
“How can you suddenly say it was me?”
Just then, her gaze landed on Wang Zhuzi, who had been standing among the crowd watching the commotion.
Pointing at him, she shouted,
“Wang Zhuzi!”
“You came at the perfect time.”
“Tell everyone yourself.”
“Who was the one sleeping with you?”
Wang Zhuzi had only come over after hearing there was excitement to watch.
At first, he had no idea the matter involved him.
He stepped out of the crowd.
Looking first at Song Miaomiao, then at Song Wanning, he finally turned toward the village chief.
“Village Chief.”
“The person who slept with me…”
“Was Song Wanning.”
The entire courtyard instantly fell silent.
“Village Chief, see?”
“I told you this girl was lying!”
“Even Wang Zhuzi admitted it himself!”
“Surely he couldn’t mistake the woman he slept with!”
With Wang Zhuzi backing her up, Liu Cuihua immediately regained her confidence.
Pointing at Song Wanning’s nose, she continued cursing.
“Song Wanning!”
“And you still dare ask why I don’t dote on you?”
“Just look at the shameless things you’ve done!”
“You’ve lied ever since you were little.”
“And now you’re accusing me of favoritism?”
“What face do you still have left?”
“Just marry Wang Zhuzi already!”
“You even dragged the village chief and the entire village into this!”
“You don’t care about your reputation, but the Song family still does!”
Turning toward the village chief, Liu Cuihua forced a smile.
“Village Chief, this is just our family’s private matter.”
“You should head back.”
At that moment, all she wanted was to beat Song Wanning to vent her anger.
Unfortunately, with the village chief present, she couldn’t lay a hand on her.
“Wait.”
Song Wanning interrupted calmly.
“Mom.”
“Wang Zhuzi.”
“You both insist that the woman was me.”
“Do you have any evidence?”
“Evidence?”
Liu Cuihua froze.
“What evidence do we need?”
“We saw it with our own eyes!”
“So…”
“You have no evidence.”
Song Wanning shifted her gaze toward Song Miaomiao and Wang Zhuzi.
“What about the two of you?”
“Do you have any evidence?”
Neither of them could answer.
The corners of Song Wanning’s lips curled upward ever so slightly.
Then she suddenly turned to Liu Cuihua.
“Mom.”
“I also saw you fooling around with Wang Dazhu in the back hills.”
Liu Cuihua’s eyes widened instantly.
She subconsciously looked toward Song Dashan, whose face had already darkened.
Frantically waving both hands, she hurriedly explained,
“Dashan!”
“I didn’t!”
“Don’t listen to this little bitch!”
“How could I possibly—”
Before she could finish, Song Dashan slapped her hard across the face.
“How could you be so shameless?!”
The blow left Liu Cuihua completely stunned.
Song Miaomiao was equally dumbfounded.
Then she happened to catch the faint smile on Song Wanning’s face.
Realizing something, she hurriedly ran in front of Liu Cuihua.
“Dad!”
“She’s lying!”
“Why did you believe her so easily?”
“I just saw her smile!”
“She deliberately said that to trick you!”
“That’s right!”
Wang Zhuzi also hurriedly waved his hands.
“I’ve never touched Aunt Liu!”
He might have been lazy, but he wasn’t blind.
There was no way he’d be interested in an old woman like Liu Cuihua.
Song Dashan also began to realize he had been fooled.
He immediately glared at Song Wanning.
“Were you telling the truth just now?”
Song Wanning spread her hands innocently.
“I was lying.”
“Hmph.”
“You all saw that.”
“You believed me the moment I lied.”
“So how do you know they’re really telling the truth just because they claim they saw something?”
“Whether they actually saw it or not is another matter.”
“But…”
“I have evidence.”
She slowly looked at Song Miaomiao.
“Song Miaomiao.”
“I personally saw you hide one of Wang Zhuzi’s belongings that day.”
“It’s still in your room.”
“Impossible!”
Song Miaomiao blurted out instinctively.
“You’re lying!”
“How could there possibly be Wang Zhuzi’s things in my room?”
“Sister.”
“Even if you don’t want to marry him, you shouldn’t slander me like this.”
“You’ve already falsely accused me once.”
“And now you’re doing it again?”
“Slander?”
Song Wanning smiled faintly.
“Whether it’s true or not…”
“Let’s just search your room.”
“We’ll know soon enough.”
Seeing how certain Song Wanning sounded, Song Miaomiao’s confidence began to waver.
Did she really see something?
Impossible…
She always locked her room whenever she left.
No one could have entered.
Besides, she had carefully checked afterward.
Wang Zhuzi hadn’t left anything behind.
Lifting her chin proudly, she looked straight at Song Wanning.
“For the sake of proving my innocence…”
“I’ll let everyone see for themselves.”
“I have absolutely nothing to do with Wang Zhuzi.”
“There can’t possibly be any of his belongings in my room.”
Behind them, the villagers who had come to watch the spectacle eagerly crowded into the courtyard.
Stretching their necks, they all wanted to witness the outcome with their own eyes.
Aunt Li and Wang Jianguo also stepped forward.
Neither of them wanted to wrong an innocent person.
They intended to see for themselves whether Song Wanning’s words were true.