Song Shiyu had just settled herself beside the donkey cart.
Suddenly, a sharp and piercing female voice rang out beside her.
And it was clearly directed at her!
Before she could even react, the voice rose again in an exaggerated tone.
“Third Brother! How… how are you going out with her?”
The woman clearly found it hard to believe, gritting her teeth as she spoke resentfully.
Song Shiyu followed the direction of the voice and saw a woman with thick brows and delicate features.
She was quite pretty, though years of farm work had left her skin dark and rough.
Even so, she still looked lively, energetic, and full of youthful charm.
Oh!
She remembered now—this was Xu Xiangke, a fairly well-known unmarried woman in the village.
She had reached marriageable age, and many families had come to propose, yet none had pleased her.
It was said that Xu Xiangke already had someone she liked.
The original Song Shiyu had met Xu Xiangke several times before. They seemed to get along well, and she had even invited Xu Xiangke to the Pei family home once.
Song Shiyu: “…”
Could it be that the original owner really didn’t notice that Xu Xiangke’s beloved was none other than Pei Qinhuai?
Just looking at the way her eyes stared straight at Pei Qinhuai—so direct and undisguised—Song Shiyu could tell at a glance!
However, these were the women surrounding the male protagonist, and she had no intention of interfering.
After all, she had transmigrated into a male-oriented novel.
As the male lead, Pei Qinhuai would, according to the usual tropes, likely attract women everywhere and gather a whole harem. As a reader of female-oriented novels, she dared not mess with a domineering male protagonist.
Better to pretend she saw nothing!
So Song Shiyu simply lowered her head and ignored everything.
Her reaction only made Xu Xiangke, who had hurried over, feel extremely awkward.
This stupid Song girl!
They used to chat quite well before. Why was she acting like a fool now, not knowing what to do?
If she didn’t respond, how could Xu Xiangke naturally display their close relationship and get closer to Pei Third Brother?
Pei Third Brother was always reclusive. For Xu Xiangke, encountering him even once was something to thank heaven for.
“Shishi! Why do you look unhappy today?”
“Did someone bully you?”
Xu Xiangke rolled her eyes and quickly found a new way to handle the situation, immediately pretending to show concern for Song Shiyu.
“Ah? Me? I’m not unhappy,” Song Shiyu replied.
Xu Xiangke obviously wouldn’t let it go. She quickly stepped forward, grabbed Song Shiyu’s arm, and pinched it hard.
Song Shiyu’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
Damn! That left such a huge red mark!
Why was Miss Xu so strong? When she lowered her head to look, her fair arm was already bright red.
Yet Xu Xiangke, seeing Song Shiyu’s watery eyes, suddenly shouted dramatically, “And you say you’re not unhappy?”
“Look at those tears! You must have suffered a great injustice!”
Song Shiyu: No! I didn’t! Stop making things up!
Normally, Song Shiyu was quick-tongued, but Xu Xiangke had clearly come with a purpose. Her rapid speech left Song Shiyu no chance to interrupt or deny anything.
Xu Xiangke snorted again and glared fiercely at the Pei siblings sitting nearby.
“No need to say more! It must be these two brats bullying you again!”
Pei Jin’an shrank his head guiltily.
Pei Jinxi, like Song Shiyu, hadn’t even reacted to how Xu Xiangke suddenly targeted them.
So when she accused them, they didn’t reply either.
Seeing this, Xu Xiangke became even more smug.
“See! I told you! That’s exactly what happened! You two have always bullied Second Miss Song. No one disciplined you before, so you dared to treat her like this!”
“Our Second Miss Song has always had a good temper, gentle personality, and is bad with words. After coming to your Pei family, who knows how much hardship she has endured? Sadly, she’s never able to explain herself!”
Song Shiyu: “…”
She opened her mouth.
While Xu Xiangke was ranting, Song Shiyu glanced at Pei Qinhuai.
She saw that his gaze was fixed steadily on her arm, his expression unreadable, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
This made Song Shiyu feel uneasy.
Seeing Xu Xiangke about to continue, Song Shiyu finally seized an opportunity to speak.
“No, that’s not it. Don’t talk nonsense.”
She pulled her arm out of Xu Xiangke’s grasp, her expression calm.
“I’m not wronged.”
“An’an and Xixi treat me very well. If the Pei family treated me badly, I would have left long ago.”
Xu Xiangke became furious and glared at her.
“Cut it out! Do you even have money? Do you have the money to run away from home?”
Song Shiyu: “…”
Xu Xiangke looked quite clever, so why did she speak so recklessly?
The worst part was that what she said strangely made sense.
She had directly exposed Song Shiyu’s thoughts! How troublesome!
Song Shiyu couldn’t let this woman continue. She quickly changed the topic.
“Alright! Stop talking. We’re going to the county town now and are about to leave. If there’s anything, we’ll talk after I come back.”
“The county town? You’re going?” Xu Xiangke’s eyes spun as she immediately said, “I’m going too!”
Song Shiyu rejected her without hesitation. “No. We borrowed a donkey, not a mule. It can’t pull you.”
Xu Xiangke frowned.
“What kind of nonsense is that? One more person wouldn’t make a difference!”
Song Shiyu felt a headache coming on.
Why was Xu Xiangke so oblivious? She spoke so boldly—was she deliberately trying to provoke her?
Just as Song Shiyu was thinking of how to deal with her, Pei Qinhuai spoke from the side.
“I heard Third Uncle Xu is holding a ritual today. Are you sure if you go to the county town, he won’t be looking for you?”
Then he smiled faintly. “Though, Third Uncle Xu treats Miss Xu so well. I’m sure he’d be perfectly at ease letting you go to the county town.”
It would have been better if he hadn’t mentioned it. But once he did…
Xu Xiangke’s expression instantly changed.
“Forget it! I’ll go by myself next time. Shishi, remember to bring me back a pair of earrings—pure silver ones!”
She dropped that sentence and jumped off the cart without waiting for Song Shiyu to refuse, leaving in a hurry.
Xu Xiangke had rushed over, pinched her arm, and then ran off without accomplishing anything.
No one knew what she had been trying to achieve.
“How is your arm?”
Just as Song Shiyu was still thinking about Xu Xiangke, Pei Qinhuai’s voice sounded beside her.
He was still concerned about her arm.