At this moment, Liu Cuizhi was already saying smugly, “What else is there to say now? A man and a woman alone in there—what good could possibly come of it? I told you your second daughter is cheap. She wouldn’t accept a proper, respectable marriage—no, she had to sneak around for secret trysts. Now that we’ve caught her red-handed, what more is there to say!”
I frowned. What kind of plot was this? It sounded like I was the one caught doing something bad?
Zhao Qin looked at my father with gloating all over her face. “Look at the daughter you raised—how shameless can she get!”
My father frowned. “You haven’t even seen Zhenzhen yet. How can you say that?”
“Caught red-handed and still won’t admit it? Little tramp, get out here! Look at what you’ve done—we’re all being disgraced because of you!” Zhao Qin shouted from outside.
Xie Facai sighed at this point. “Well, they’ve been living together. Our family has no choice but to take responsibility now. I say we just have Er Ya come back with us.”
“Fine, I suppose that’s the only option. What a troublesome little tramp!” Zhao Qin waved her hand irritably. “Come on out, hurry up!”
My brother said, “What’s going on here?”
I sneered. “The Xiejia family just wants to frame me. Look how happy your mom is—she’d be thrilled if I were disgraced to death.”
My brother smacked my back. “Isn’t that your mom?”
“Heh.” I smiled without saying anything. She was absolutely not, okay?
The people outside kept yelling for us to come out, but in the only Xie Yanlai came out—and he came out naked, wearing nothing but a pair of blue boxer shorts, with the rest of his clothes clutched in his arms.
When everyone saw him come out like that, they all started shouting. A man coming out of a woman’s room, half-naked no less—you didn’t need to think hard to imagine what had happened.
Blood rushed to my face. Damn it! This vicious scheme was truly ruthless! If I hadn’t happened to go out that night to save someone, and if I hadn’t happened to not be sleeping in that room, I would never have been able to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River!
Everyone was buzzing with discussion, extremely excited—clearly they’d gotten their hands on some juicy gossip!
My father was stunned too, then rushed over in a panic and started hitting him. “What’s wrong with you! How could you do this!”
Xie Yanlai dodged frantically. “It’s nothing, really nothing. Don’t misunderstand—nothing happened between us.”
That was exactly like the classic “burying three hundred taels of silver here” denial.
“You came out of that girl’s room half-naked, and you expect anyone to believe nothing happened?” Zhao Qin’s voice was extremely loud, almost a shriek. “Everyone, come look! Shameless! What a family misfortune—to have raised such an immoral girl!”
Hearing the commotion, the neighbors came running over and joined in the gossip.
“What are you saying!” My father grabbed Zhao Qin’s arm to stop her from talking nonsense, but she shoved him aside.
She spat. “It’s because you spoil her too much that she’s lost all face. She won’t be a proper wife—she has to fool around with a man in her own home! If word gets out, what face will we have left?”
“That’s enough, let’s stop arguing, in-law. Since things have come to this, we don’t hold it against her. Hurry and let Zhenzhen come home with us.” Xie Facai put on an air of being reasonable and understanding.
But Liu Cuizhi sneered. “We may not hold it against her, but the bride price is off the table. You never paid the money for your elder daughter—consider that as hers.”
Zhao Qin hurriedly agreed, shouting toward the window of my room: “You little hussy! Stop playing dumb in there and come out right now! Do you want the whole village to know how shameless you are!?”
I sneered. So worried about losing face, yet her voice was so loud.
Why would Xie Yanlai suddenly come out of my room? Could it be that they had planned this together, to leave me with no way to def myself?
As long as he came out like this, once I went out too, I’d never be able to prove my innocence. For the sake of my reputation, I’d have no choice but to go back with him. Xie Yanlai probably hadn’t gone inside—he must have been hiding in the outer room the whole time. And when we came back last night, there was no one inside, so he must have arrived not long before.
I figured a scheme this vicious was something a pig-brain like Zhao Qin could never come up with on her own.
Besides, she hadn’t met with anyone from Xiejia alone yesterday. Could it be Liu Yaolan?
Thinking of the cunning and cleverness she’d shown in her past life, this was probably her doing.
Liu Yaolan must have looked down on me with utter contempt—her disgust for me was understandable. But I had already broken off the engagement, and for the sake of not returning those seven hundred yuan, she’d do something like this. I had to say, her heart was simply too venomous.
I don’t know what Liu Yaolan said to Xie Yanlai to make him finally let her off the hook and turn around to entangle himself with me instead. And Xie Yanlai actually agreed—was this woman’s charm really that powerful?
More and more people gathered outside. Zhao Qin clamored and cursed me for being shameless, while the Xiejia family put on an extremely reasonable, aggrieved air. My father tried to speak several times, only to be spat back into silence by Zhao Qin.
My brother had been holding back for a long time, and now he was so furious his whole body went rigid, fists clenched: “This is outrageous! I’m going to deal with them!”
“Brother, I’ll go.” With that, I got straight off the kang, put on my shoes, and walked out.
The moment the gate opened, I heard Xie Yanlai telling everyone: “I really didn’t do anything with her. The two of us were just sitting on the kang chatting…”
“Bullshit!” Furious, I kicked the door open and rushed at him: “Fuck you, Xie Yanlai! What grudge do you have against me that you’d screw me over like this!”
Everyone had been murmuring among themselves, but at my words, they all turned to look. I grabbed the sweeping broom and brought it down on Xie Yanlai’s forehead several times. He scrambled to dodge, and the broom bristles left several red welts across his face and neck.
“I’ll beat you to death! You dare throw filthy mud on me—when did I ever chat with you at night? Last night my roof was leaking, and I went to my brother’s room to get out of the rain! Try to frame me, will you? I’ll kill you!”
Liu Cuizhi and Xie Facai rushed over to protect their son, but my brother blocked them.
The broom swept across Xie Yanlai’s eyes, and he let out a miserable scream.
Liu Cuizhi, heartbroken, jumped three feet high, shoved my brother aside, and pointed at me: “The two of you were fooling around together! Last night my son came out of your room—I saw him come out of it myself! You think just because you ran out of some other room, you’re innocent?”
I said nothing, just kept hitting Xie Yanlai with all my strength, until his father and Zhao Qin together wrestled the broom from my hands. Hating him beyond words, I kicked him in the back, leaving a footprint on his snow-white back.
Zhao Qin roared: “Look at her! Where’s even a shred of a proper girl’s upbringing!?”
“Whoever treats me a certain way, I’ll treat them the same way! I will never let anyone bully me for the sake of so-called face, no matter who they are.” I looked at her coldly.
Zhao Qin’s whole expression went wrong, somewhat stunned, but it quickly turned into vicious hatred.
Xie Yanlai rubbed his head and suddenly said gently: “It’s already come to this. Even your brother covering for you won’t work. Zhenzhen, let’s just go back and live our lives together.”
Zhao Qin said: “That’s right, after doing something like this, what more is there to say? Hurry up and go back with him, or else leave with your uncle. Our family can’t hold you anymore, and don’t you dare drag your brother down with you!”
My dad was just about to speak when Zhao Qin pushed him aside: “She’s already lost all face. Junchuan can’t get mixed up with her, or else who would ever marry him and be his wife?”
I completely ignored Zhao Qin, pulled back my brother who was about to speak, and looked at Xie Yanlai: “When did you come out?”
“Why do you want to know that? If you’re told to go back, then go back!” Zhao Qin said. “How much more of a scene do you want to make?”
I said: “I have a witness who can prove I was never with Xie Yanlai at all.”
Liu Cuizhi sneered: “In that heavy rain, who could vouch for you! My son left at three in the morning, saying you called him over. In such a downpour, who knows what you were up to?”
I nodded. “Three o’clock, right? At that time, my brother and I were on the river embankment rescuing someone. We got back at five, and my brother and I went to his room together, because that room’s roof was leaking—I didn’t go look.”
Everyone cried out in surprise, and Xie Yanlai was stunned too, never expecting me to say that.
“Who would believe that? Staying up in the middle of the night to rescue someone? If you’re going to make up an excuse, at least make up a better one,” Liu Cuizhi sneered.
I said: “I have a clear conscience. It’s you all who have been scheming to smear me—I don’t know what you’re really after!”
“If you’ve got the nerve, then say who you rescued!”
My brother frowned and said: “We rescued Song Chuan of the Song family, and your family’s Zhao Yunzhu. If you don’t believe it, go ask the two of them yourselves.”
The three of the Xiejia all froze, looking at us in panic. Zhao Qin’s face fell instantly.
“Last night, Zhao Yunzhu was on her way to her grandmother’s house and fell into the river. We pulled her out. We were the ones who told her to keep it secret, because our two families are divorced now, and I don’t want any more dealings with you either. Who would have thought you still wouldn’t let my sister go,” my brother continued calmly. But his voice was full of coldness.
I laughed from the side: “We worked so hard to rescue someone from your family, and you turn around and harm us—isn’t that going a bit too far?”
“You really went?” Zhao Qin grabbed her son’s wrist. “You can’t just talk nonsense to protect her!”
“Mom! Are you even Zhenzhen’s mother? After everything I went through with her, would I lie to you? Just look at our clothes!” My brother went back and hurled the raincoats, rain boots, and soaked clothes onto the ground. They were covered in mud, and completely drenched.
Everyone suddenly understood, and together they praised us for doing a good deed and the like.
I said: “I only heard Song Chuan mention he was going to catch fish, and I went to check because I was worried something might happen to him.”
Zhao Qin’s face flushed red with anger, and she suddenly muttered, “Song Chuan is so young, and you’re already trying to seduce him? Have you no shame at all?”
My brother frowned and said, “Mom, Zhenzhen is your daughter. How can you bring yourself to throw dirt on her like everyone else does?”
“Men and women should keep their distance…”
I said, “Just because men and women should keep their distance, does that mean we should just ignore a life that needs saving? Besides, it was my brother who went into the water to save her, not me! Zhao Yunzhu was saved by my brother—do you think he brought shame on our family too?”