The moment Shen Li defended Jiang Qingli, Su Keqing immediately grew anxious.
“Brother Shen, I’m not lying! Jiang Qingli has been leaving early and coming back late every day just to run to Qingshui Tofu Shop.”
She deliberately paused before lowering her voice meaningfully.
“You know Wang Dagou lost his wife. A lonely man and a lonely woman alone together… who knows what they’ve been doing inside?”
Su Keqing spoke with complete confidence.
Setting the matter of the shirt aside, she had personally seen Jiang Qingli going to the tofu shop.
Everyone knew Jiang Qingli was lazy to the core. There were no gold nuggets hidden in the tofu shop, so if she wasn’t trying to seduce Wang Dagou, what other reason could there be?
With that thought, Su Keqing shot Liu Yanshuang a meaningful look.
Immediately understanding her cue, Liu Yanshuang jumped in and added fuel to the fire. Her triangular eyes gleamed with calculation as she said, “That’s right, Shen Li. You’re away from home all the time. You’d better keep a closer eye on your wife…”
At those words, Shen Li’s expression visibly darkened.
He had never had the slightest favorable impression of this lazy, gluttonous woman. If Jiang Changjiang had not saved his father’s life years ago, he never would have married her.
But today’s accusations were clearly nothing more than baseless rumors.
What Shen Li hated most was people spreading hearsay as though it were fact.
Thinking of that, his expression became even colder.
Seeing Shen Li’s anger, Su Keqing mistakenly assumed her plan was working.
She hurried forward and leaned closer to him.
“Brother Shen, if you don’t believe me, go inside and look for yourself. While you’ve been away, this woman has practically emptied the house…”
Jiang Qingli: ?
She had merely lent Wang Dagou two pickling jars.
How had that turned into “emptying the house”?
Truly, rumors fell from the sky even when she was sitting quietly at home.
She was living on little more than clear soup and plain water, yet somehow the gossip made her sound as though she were leading a colorful and scandalous life.
Enough was enough.
Did they really think she was easy to bully?
With that thought, Jiang Qingli stepped forward.
Her plump figure barreled ahead, physically forcing Su Keqing back half a meter.
“You keep calling him ‘Brother, Brother, Brother’ all day long. What, are you trying to lay eggs? If you’re going to lay eggs, at least pick the right nest!”
“Pfft!”
The instant those words came out, Zhu Huaiguang, one of the militia members standing behind Shen Li, completely lost control and burst out laughing.
He immediately covered his mouth, his dark face turning bright red from holding it in.
The four of them had originally needed two weeks to complete a procurement trip to the province.
Halfway through, however, Minister He had sent an urgent telegram informing them that Shen Li’s younger sister had been injured.
As a result, the group had somehow crammed a week’s worth of work into just three days, practically wearing through the soles of their shoes to rush back.
Yet the moment they arrived at the military family compound, they were greeted with this spectacular scene.
The captain’s wife was truly fierce.
Although Shen Li currently served as an assistant officer, his previous military rank had been retained. Within the military, everyone still affectionately called him Captain Shen, though only insiders knew that detail.
Wasn’t she supposed to be lazy and timid?
How was it that her tongue was even sharper than their political commissar’s?
Thinking of that, Zhu Huaiguang glanced sideways at Xu Shaoping.
Sure enough, the man was also desperately suppressing laughter, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
Zhu Huaiguang couldn’t help letting out another strangled snort.
He was finished. Captain Shen was definitely going to discipline him later.
But it was just too funny.
Meanwhile, Jiang Qingli noticed the twitch at the corner of Shen Li’s mouth and immediately grew nervous.
Had this man been driven mad by anger?
She had heard that soldiers were incredibly strong.
Surely he wasn’t about to slap her straight into a wall?
Then again, if he was going to do that, he could at least wait until they got inside.
She still had serious matters to deal with.
With that thought, Jiang Qingli turned toward Su Keqing and spoke clearly.
“Comrade Su, you’re one of the cultural performers at our factory. Surely you understand the principle that ‘without investigation, there is no right to speak.’”
She deliberately emphasized the words cultural performer.
“It’s true that I’ve been going to Qingshui Tofu Shop these past few days. But I was helping Brother Wang develop a new tofu product.”
Su Keqing froze.
Since when had this fat woman become so familiar with official quotations?
Her nails dug into her palms as she noticed several neighbors nodding in agreement.
Even Cao Xiulan, the wife of Team Leader Ma, was quietly echoing her words.
A rush of frustration surged straight to Su Keqing’s head.
This fat woman had to be bluffing.
She probably couldn’t even tell tofu apart from soybean dregs.
Her voice instantly rose several octaves, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“You? Developing a new tofu product?”
So she was finally panicking.
Jiang Qingli sneered inwardly, though her expression became even more sincere.
“Director Yu Weidong from the Changmin Supply and Marketing Cooperative can personally testify to that. Anyone is welcome to ask him.”
Listening to Jiang Qingli’s confident explanation, the gathered neighbors began whispering among themselves.
“It’s true!”
Aunt Li, who had come outside to replace some coal, suddenly chimed in.
“Yesterday I saw Wang Dagou carrying tofu into the compound. The smell was so good my second boy kept swallowing his saliva.”
Zhang Dazui had never believed Su Keqing’s accusations in the first place.
Hearing this only strengthened his confidence.
“I heard Director Yu is a decorated combat hero who transferred out of military service. He never lies.”
Su Keqing’s face alternated between green and white.
Even the layer of Snow Cream she had carefully applied could not conceal how ugly her expression had become.
When did this dead fat woman manage to establish a connection with Director Yu?
She opened her mouth, only to discover she had no rebuttal.
But Jiang Qingli had no intention of letting either of them off the hook.
Turning sharply toward Liu Yanshuang, her gaze became piercing.
“Aunt Liu, your Old Zheng manages production at the factory. You should understand better than anyone what kind of offense it is to spread rumors about a military family member.”
She deliberately raised her voice.
“Should we go to the police station right now and ask Chief He to give us all a proper lesson on the law?”
The final words, lesson on the law, were emphasized one syllable at a time.
Each word struck Liu Yanshuang’s heart like a hammer.
Her face instantly turned pale.
All the aggressive confidence she had displayed moments earlier vanished without a trace.
She had never expected Shen Li to return so suddenly.
Nor had she expected Jiang Qingli to become so sharp-tongued and difficult to deal with.
The moment she heard the mention of the police station, panic overtook her completely.
No matter how much she looked down on Jiang Qingli, there was one undeniable fact.
She was the wife of a soldier.
Originally, Liu Yanshuang had simply wanted to help Su Keqing marry Shen Li.
After all, Shen Li might only be an assistant officer, but ever since he had arrived at the May Seventh Livestock Farm, the amount of work assigned to Old Zheng had visibly decreased.
In this era, less work meant fewer work points.
But if Shen Li became the Su Family’s son-in-law, surely he would be much easier to control.
Besides, Old Zheng knew nothing about any of this.
If the matter grew serious, not only would she suffer consequences, but her husband might be implicated as well.
Thinking of that, she secretly glanced at Shen Li’s cold profile and then remembered her own husband’s stern expression.
Her legs immediately began trembling.
She never should have listened to that Su girl.
Regret nearly turned her insides green.
Quickly waving both hands, she forced out a smile uglier than crying.
“A misunderstanding! It’s all a misunderstanding!”
She hurried over and attempted to grab Jiang Qingli’s hand affectionately.
“Qingli, child, why didn’t you just say it was your husband’s shirt? Look at the misunderstanding this caused.”
Jiang Qingli coldly pulled her hand away.
As expected, people always picked on those they thought were weak.
Even now, Liu Yanshuang was still trying to shift part of the blame onto her.
Just as Jiang Qingli was about to fire back—
Creak!
The wooden gate of the military compound swung open.