Long after, Gu Mingyue was unwilling to think back on what happened that day.
Because that howl Baohua let out really startled all the neighbors nearby. Huang Pingping, who had just come over to pick up the skirt, rushed in and, seeing Gu Yijia lying weakly in Gu Mingyue’s arms with a pale face, was shocked.
She did not care about anything else, quickly picked Gu Yijia up, carried her back to the bed, pressed under her nose, fed her water, and patted her heart, and only then did she finally make Gu Yijia open her eyes.
But after opening her eyes, Gu Yijia weakly lay on the bed, looking completely listless.
Huang Pingping was immediately furious. She softly told Gu Yijia to rest well, and Gu Yijia did not know whether she heard her or not. Perhaps she was still dizzy and had not reacted at all.
Huang Pingping kept a stern face and pulled Gu Mingyue, who had stayed behind out of worry, outside. Then, once they reached the gate, she harshly questioned her.
“What exactly did you say to Jiajia just now that made her faint from anger? Gu Mingyue, are you trying to anger Jiajia to death? I originally thought you were different from your mom, but I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person too!”
Gu Mingyue looked full of grievance. “I really didn’t…”
Huang Pingping did not believe her. “Didn’t? Then why would Jiajia faint for no reason?”
As someone who, whenever there were tasks or documents sent down from above, could always be chosen by the village to go to the county town for study or meetings, Huang Pingping was not some naive sweet fool at all. On the contrary, she was smart and capable.
How could she not see that Gu Mingyue and Gu Yijia usually seemed to have a deep sisterly bond, but how much sincerity there really was between them was still open to question. It was just that they were sisters, so she did not feel it was appropriate to say anything.
At this moment, Baohua poked her head out from the doorway and said, “It was just Big Aunt who angered Little Aunt to faint. Otherwise, how could Little Aunt suddenly pass out?”
She was very angry, feeling that if Gu Mingyue had not come today, then Little Aunt would not have fainted.
Big Aunt must have said something that made Little Aunt so angry she fainted.
Gu Mingyue was furious. She had not expected this child to actually lie, and she angrily said, “Baohua, don’t talk nonsense. How could I possibly anger Jiajia? Jiajia’s body is not good, she fainted on her own…”
“Nonsense, everyone says Little Aunt’s health has gotten much better recently.” Baohua still insisted. “It was just Big Aunt you who angered Little Aunt to faint!”
The neighbors who had been busy in their own homes nearby had long been startled by Baohua’s shout just now and had all come out to see what was going on.
At this moment, hearing Baohua’s words, they could not help but nod.
Recently, they would occasionally see Gu Yijia going out. Although it was only to pick vegetables from the nearby patch or to hold an umbrella and walk around nearby, saying it was for exercise, it really could be seen that her spirits had improved a lot.
Compared with Gu Mingyue, Huang Pingping still believed Baohua more.
She asked seriously, “What did you say to Jiajia just now?”
Gu Mingyue was at a loss for words. How could she say those kinds of words out loud in front of outsiders?
If people knew that in the future, if she had the chance to marry Jiang Jinwang, would that not make people look down on her? On one side, persuading her younger sister to marry Jiang Jinwang, while behind the scenes she herself also wanted to marry him, how would the world view her? She still cared about face…
Seeing that she could not say anything, how could Huang Pingping not understand.
She gave a cold laugh. “If anything happens to Jiajia, I definitely won’t let you off!”
Because the two families had good relations, Huang Pingping also treated Gu Yijia as if she were her own younger sister, and she felt very sorry for Gu Yijia’s frail health and many illnesses. She did not like the troublemaking Yu Xiaolan, and because of that she also did not much like Gu Mingyue, even though Gu Mingyue looked more reasonable than Yu Xiaolan.
Gu Mingyue experienced for the first time in her life what it was like to have no way to defend herself no matter what she said, and no matter what she said, Huang Pingping and Baohua did not believe her.
Added to that the neighbors around her pointing and discussing her, Gu Mingyue finally burst into tears of grievance and ran off while covering her face.
Huang Pingping spat in the direction of her back and led Baohua inside.
Pulling Gu Mingyue out earlier had been because she was afraid that scolding her in the courtyard would disturb Gu Yijia, who was resting inside.
She went back in to check on Gu Yijia. Seeing that she was still lying on the bed, with even the strength to get up gone, her heart felt sour. She poured her a cup of warm water, fed it to her carefully, and asked, “Jiajia, what happened just now? What did Gu Mingyue say to you?”
After drinking the water, Gu Yijia felt her whole body soft and limp, like the symptoms after exhausting herself. She was still a little dizzy.
Every time she sat for too long, if she got up too quickly, she would get ringing in her ears and dizziness, and it would take a good while to recover.
This body was truly fragile, weak enough that with just a slight mishap, she would directly faint and collapse. It was so weak that Gu Yijia sometimes could not even believe it.
Dragging around such a frail body in this place with backward medical care, how had the original owner even lived until now?
From this, one could see how much thought her older brother Gu Mingcheng had put in just to keep her alive.
Gu Yijia did not cover for Gu Mingyue at all and told her the reason she had come.
Huang Pingping was stunned. “She actually wanted to introduce someone to you? The revolutionary committee director Jiang Jinwang from the steel factory? I think I have heard of him…”
“But I don’t like him.” Gu Yijia said, and at the same time told her that she had already rejected Jiang Jinwang.
Huang Pingping furrowed her brows, immediately furious.
Although Jiang Jinwang’s conditions sounded indeed good, that did not mean everyone had to like him, right? If Gu Yijia did not like him and did not want to date him, that was completely fine.
After Gu Yijia had clearly rejected Jiang Jinwang, Gu Mingyue still ran over to say those kinds of things. What exactly was she thinking?
Huang Pingping sat with her for a while, confirmed that Gu Yijia was fine, told her to rest well, and left with the new skirt.
After stepping out the door, Huang Pingping ran into nearby neighbors.
The neighbors were still curious about what had happened just now and asked all sorts of detailed questions in a clamor.
Huang Pingping was not a gossipy person, and she also did not want the matter of Jiang Jinwang wanting to date Gu Yijia to become common knowledge. That would not do Gu Yijia any good.
She vaguely brushed past it and only said that Gu Mingyue had said some things earlier that made Jiajia unhappy.
The neighbors suddenly understood, and combined with what had just happened, they reached a conclusion.
Gu Mingyue must have said something unpleasant and angered Gu Yijia to the point of fainting.
The neighbors also sighed repeatedly.
In the past, seeing how well the two sisters, Gu Mingyue and Gu Yijia, got along, they had even thought Gu Mingyue was a good one, that she had not been influenced by her mother Yu Xiaolan and was a good child.
But looking at it today, this Gu Mingyue was not a good one either. Knowing full well that her stepsister was in poor health, she still came to anger her until she fainted.
Very quickly, news that Gu Mingyue had angered Gu Yijia into fainting spread throughout the entire commune.
There was little entertainment in the countryside, so whenever something small happened, it could quickly spread until everyone knew about it.
Yu Xiaolan was still working in the fields when she heard that her daughter had gone to her stepson’s house and angered that sickly stepsister into fainting.
Hearing this, while she was delighted, she also felt somewhat baffled.
Her daughter’s personality was nothing like hers at all, and she did not look clever either, but this was the daughter she had given birth to, so what could she do? Although she did not want her daughter to get mixed up with that sickly Gu Yijia, she also could not stop it.
Now that she heard her daughter had angered Gu Yijia into fainting, she was gloating.
As for the gazes the surrounding production team members cast her way, Yu Xiaolan acted as if she did not see them.
Seeing that it was getting late, Yu Xiaolan went home early to prepare dinner.
Just after arriving home, she heard a burst of muffled crying from her daughter’s room. Yu Xiaolan’s heart tightened, and she hurried to her daughter’s room, only to see her daughter lying on the bed, crying miserably.
“Mingyue, you little wretch, what are you crying for?” Yu Xiaolan was immediately furious and shouted, “Who bullied you?”
Gu Mingyue’s eyes were red and swollen from crying, and she had never felt so wronged in her life.
Just thinking about the looks those production team members gave her made her feel ashamed and furious to the point of wanting to die.
Gu Mingyue bit her lip and briefly explained what had happened today, then said painfully, “They all say I angered Jiajia into fainting, but I really didn’t do it?”
She was truly wronged to death.
Yu Xiaolan’s thoughts were not on that. She suddenly slapped her once and said angrily, “You fool, with such good conditions from Director Jiang, why would you introduce him to Gu Yijia, that sickly girl?”
Last time, after hearing about this from Third Aunt Gu, she had been furious.
Luckily, afterward the commune was calm and peaceful, and she had not heard anyone going to her stepson’s house to broker a match, so she had settled down.
She had not expected that in the blink of an eye, her own daughter would actually go foolishly and introduce such a good match to Gu Yijia.
Gu Mingyue lowered her head and did not make a sound.
Yu Xiaolan poked her forehead with her finger. “With such a good match, you don’t keep him for yourself, and you’re worrying about that sickly girl for what? Only a fool like you would rush over to help, and in the end, what do you get? A good deed repaid with ingratitude! I think, at that time, that sickly girl must have been acting, just to make everyone misunderstand you…”
Gu Mingyue shook her head. “Probably not. Jiajia’s face looked very bad. She wasn’t acting.”
“Who cares whether she was acting or not. Anyway, that sickly girl isn’t any good. From now on, keep your distance from her!” Yu Xiaolan said with a snort. Although her stepson Gu Mingcheng was very capable, no matter how capable he was, neither she nor her children could benefit from it, so what use was he?
Yu Xiaolan advised her daughter again to grab any good match for herself and not be so generous, then asked about that Director Jiang, chattering on and on.
Gu Mingyue was still hurting, and hearing her mother say all this, she finally exploded.
“But Director Jiang has his eye on Jiajia, what can I do?” she shouted with red eyes.
Yu Xiaolan slapped her again. “That’s because you’re stupid! So what if Director Jiang has his eye on that sickly girl? Who knows how long she can live? Compared with that, you’re healthy, and your butt is big, so you can definitely bear children. That’s not something a sickly girl can compare to. Presumably the Jiang family would like a daughter-in-law who is healthy and can bear children more…”
Gu Mingyue’s face turned green and then red. She did not even have a boyfriend yet, and the thing she hated hearing most was talk about having a big butt and being able to bear children.
Yu Xiaolan advised her daughter for a while longer. Only when it was getting late did she hurry off to cook.
A little later, Old Gu came back from the fields.
After entering the house, he put down the farming tools in his hands, looked at his stepdaughter whose eyes were still red and swollen, and asked, “You angered Jiajia into fainting today?”
Gu Mingyue: “I didn’t.”
At this moment, Yu Xiaolan ran out of the kitchen carrying a kitchen knife and cursed loudly, “You old fool, don’t believe everything you hear. Mingyue didn’t do that kind of thing! It was that sickly girl who had poor health and fainted on her own. What does that have to do with Mingyue?”
Old Gu ignored her and looked at Gu Mingyue for a while before turning and leaving.