Ning Yuan instantly doused Huang Xuehong, leaving her chilled to the bone and reeking to high heaven.
“Ning Yuan!” Huang Xuehong, Tang Zhenzhen, Qin Xiaoxia, and even Li Yan were all stunned.
The girl they remembered as soft-spoken, good-tempered, and easygoing had just thrown water on someone?!
“How dare you throw dirty water on me! You… I’ll fight you!” Huang Xuehong realized that her stench was making everyone subconsciously pinch their noses.
Furious and resentful, she lowered her head and charged toward Ning Yuan.
Seeing a foul-smelling, stout woman ramming toward her like a black cannonball, Ning Yuan deftly dodged aside, taking the opportunity to pull on Rong Zhaonan, who had been “hiding” behind her like an invisible man.
As a result, Huang Xuehong, unable to stop her momentum, slammed into the wooden cart with a loud “thud” and fell flat on her face.
“Aiyo! Woo woo woo—she threw dirty water on me, she threw it on me!! It stinks so much!!” Huang Xuehong was utterly humiliated.
Dizzy and dazed, she covered her face and sat on the ground, wailing loudly.
Rong Zhaonan glanced at Huang Xuehong with his cold, handsome, narrow eyes, filled with annoyance. So noisy!
Then, his gaze fell upon the small hand gripping his wrist. The little spy was pulling him with quite a bit of force.
“Ning Yuan, how could you fly into a rage from shame and throw dirty water on someone!” Tang Zhenzhen said indignantly as she went to help Huang Xuehong up, then looked at Li Yan.
Li Yan’s gaze, however, was fixed on Ning Yuan’s hand holding Rong Zhaonan’s, his expression complex and dim.
Ning Yuan looked coldly at Tang Zhenzhen and Huang Xuehong. “She asked for it. So Huang Xuehong is allowed to make baseless accusations and sling mud at me—slandering me as a thief—but I’m not allowed to throw dirty water on her?”
She had been wanting to make a move for a while now. These people really thought she was an easy target, pulling one stunt after another!
Tang Zhenzhen watched the way Ning Yuan was staring at her and subconsciously took a step back.
How did this Ning Yuan become so fierce… Has she really decided to throw all caution to the wind?
Tang Zhenzhen was no pushover either. She immediately took out her Wan Nianqing Biscuits tin, her eyes turning red.
“All my things were in this biscuit tin, including a family heirloom, a Jade Chili Pepper, and they’re all gone! And they disappeared this morning while we were out working in the fields. If you didn’t steal it, who did!”
Huang Xuehong and Qin Xiaoxia were both taken aback. Weren’t only Tang Zhenzhen’s biscuits and candy missing?
How was she now missing five yuan?
And where did this Jade Chili Pepper come from?
Upon hearing the words “Jade Chili Pepper,” Ning Yuan’s eyes instantly turned ice-cold as she glared at Tang Zhenzhen. “You’re full of shit!”
This woman surnamed Tang actually dared to covet her Jade Chili Pepper!
Tang Zhenzhen first shot a warning glance at the other two, then looked provocatively at Ning Yuan.
“In my biscuit tin, there was a Jade Chili Pepper, biscuits, candy, and ten yuan. Now, only five yuan are left. I hid it well, so it wasn’t all stolen.”
Last month, while rummaging through Ning Yuan’s luggage, she had accidentally seen Ning Yuan’s beautiful Jade Chili Pepper.
Through a mix of coaxing and threats, that little bitch had reluctantly agreed to give it to her as a New Year’s gift. Since she had agreed, that thing was hers!
Li Yan noticed Ning Yuan’s expression was off and frowned, asking Huang Xuehong and Qin Xiaoxia, “Is that true?”
The chubby Huang Xuehong was a bit dazed. Tang Zhenzhen’s confident assertion left her bewildered. “Ah, well…”
Qin Xiaoxia lowered her eyes. “I think so.”
In the preceding years, all sorts of terrible things had happened. Tang Zhenzhen’s family had risen to a position of some status by denouncing others during that time.
Although things were much better now, Tang Zhenzhen had inherited her family’s methods and held a high status among the Educated Youth.
Now that Tang Zhenzhen was determined to ruin Ning Yuan, she didn’t dare to offend her.
Li Yan’s brows knitted together.
Stealing things and money, even if the amount wasn’t large.
But this matter could be either big or small. Even if it wasn’t enough to warrant jail time, once Ning Yuan was accused and it was reported to the Educated Youth office, she would likely be disciplined!
It would also be recorded in her file, which would affect Ning Yuan for the rest of her life.
Li Yan looked at Ning Yuan. He couldn’t believe that the gentle, shy, and somewhat introverted girl was this kind of person.
Ning Yuan met his gaze for a moment before turning her face away, clenching her fists involuntarily.
“Why don’t you look again? Maybe someone else took it by mistake,” Li Yan said, a little disappointed, but still looked at Tang Zhenzhen with a serious expression.
Rong Zhaonan had been standing behind them the whole time, silently observing the scene.
Seeing the interaction between Ning Yuan and Li Yan, the corners of his lips curved into a somewhat mocking smile.
Tang Zhenzhen heard the undertone of defense for Ning Yuan in Li Yan’s words.
Her heart ached terribly. She lifted her eyes, which were filled with tears, and asked, “Li Yan, are you suggesting I’m lying? Why don’t you suspect that Ning Yuan has been corrupted after getting involved with a bad element?”
Ning Yuan was already damaged goods who slept with another man, yet he was still protecting that woman and questioning her?
She would absolutely not let Ning Yuan off! She wanted that bitch to have a permanent record, to be labeled a thief for the rest of her life!
She lowered her eyes and said in a tearful, muffled voice, “Forget it. I know you and Ning Yuan have a good relationship. It’s only right that you defend her.”
With this statement, she was banking on Li Yan’s upright character; he would never tolerate his impartiality being questioned in public.
Sure enough, Li Yan’s brow furrowed. He glanced at the few Red Armbands who had come with him and saw them and the surrounding villagers all looking at him.
Li Yan could only frown. “Educated Youth Tang, you’ve gone too far. As a leader of the Production Brigade, I can’t just listen to your side of the story.”
Tang Zhenzhen bit her lip, looking aggrieved. “That’s why I came for a face-to-face confrontation. Otherwise, why would I have gone to find you?”
The reeking Huang Xuehong stuck out her chubby, dark fist and gestured around indignantly. “That’s right! Ning Yuan steals things, steals money, and bullies me. How can we not report someone like this to the Educated Youth office? As a leader, are you going to let it slide just because someone tried to set you and Ning Yuan up…”
“Huang Xuehong, was that scoop of stinky water not enough to wash your mouth clean? Are you asking for a beating?” Ning Yuan suddenly interrupted her coldly.
Huang Xuehong saw that although Ning Yuan was petite, her hand was already raised high. The flesh on her chubby face trembled. “You… you dare!”
“If you keep spouting nonsense, I dare to hit you. What about it?” Ning Yuan sneered, rolling up her sleeves.
Li Yan immediately stepped in front of her, persuading in a deep voice, “Don’t be like this. Even if you’re in the right, you’ll lose your ground. I will definitely find out the truth. This is a contradiction among the people.”
No matter what, he didn’t want anything to happen to Ning Yuan.
Ning Yuan looked at the man shielding her. He was handsome and proper.
As the youngest Brigade Secretary in the Commune, he was good-looking, enthusiastic, and fair. With his high position, he had always been popular with the village girls.
Furthermore, he had graduated from high school, making him the most educated person in the Commune, cultured and knowledgeable. He was also very popular among the female Educated Youth.
If not for the matter of returning to the city, any woman who could marry him would be the envy of all the villages in the entire Production Brigade.
This was also why, no matter how she tried to please Tang Zhenzhen and the others, she was always openly and secretly ostracized within their small group.
“I…” Just as Ning Yuan was about to say something, her arm was suddenly pulled.
Rong Zhaonan pulled her to his side and gave the glasses on his nose a light push. “Thank you for your hard work, Deputy Secretary Li. My wife is indeed not that kind of person.”
Li Yan froze, clenching his fists as he looked at him coldly. “If it weren’t for being with you, she wouldn’t have encountered this kind of trouble.”