Wu Xiaoxia stood nervously at the doorway, waiting for the person inside to come out.
Earlier, during the shift change after work, she had already heard about Shen Yingying’s incident.
People said Shen Yingying had run away with another man, only to be caught by Xie Fangzhu.
Originally, everyone thought Xie Fangzhu would beat Shen Yingying badly.
But unexpectedly, Shen Yingying’s methods were astonishingly effective. Xie Fangzhu couldn’t handle her at all, and in the end, he hadn’t even laid a finger on her.
When Wu Xiaoxia first heard this, she almost thought something was wrong with her ears.
What Shen Yingying had done was basically slapping a green hat right onto Brother Xie’s head in front of the entire mining district.
Although Brother Xie had a good temper, he was still a hot-blooded man.
How could he possibly tolerate something like that?
She refused to believe the gossip from the shift workers, so the moment she got off work, she hurried straight to Shen Yingying’s house just to see the truth with her own eyes.
That was why, when Shen Yingying finally came out, Wu Xiaoxia stared at her without blinking.
From head to toe, she carefully examined every inch.
When she saw that Shen Yingying’s face was still as fair and clean as usual, and that not even a bruise could be found on the exposed skin—
She could hardly believe her eyes.
Could the rumors actually be true?
She refused to accept it.
Her chest felt painfully tight, but she still forced herself to smile and put on a caring expression.
“Yingying, are you alright today? I heard Brother Xie carried you back home. I was terrified something happened to you. I rushed over right after work without even eating dinner.”
Shen Yingying raised an eyebrow, pretending not to understand the implication behind her words.
“I’m perfectly fine. Why would you think something happened to me?”
Wu Xiaoxia was speechless from the question.
Any normal person would assume Xie Fangzhu wouldn’t let her off easily!
“Well… I heard people say you ran away with someone… I was afraid Brother Xie might hit you, so I…”
“Oh, that.”
Shen Yingying interrupted her, her face showing sudden realization.
“So you misunderstood too. Don’t worry, I already explained everything to him clearly.”
Wu Xiaoxia froze.
“A misunderstanding?”
Everyone in the mining district believed Shen Yingying had eloped. How could something so certain possibly be a misunderstanding?
“Yep.”
Shen Yingying looked completely serious, without the slightest trace of guilt.
“I went with that man to buy a job opportunity, but Xie Fangzhu misunderstood and thought I was running away with him. He was furious. Luckily, I managed to coax him, otherwise today would’ve been really troublesome.”
“Buy a job?!”
Wu Xiaoxia almost lost control of her expression.
She couldn’t understand how Shen Yingying could shamelessly say those words aloud.
She had personally seen Shen Yingying sneaking into the woods with men several times already. At that point, how could it possibly just be about finding work?
She could hardly believe it.
“Brother Xie… believed you?”
Shen Yingying glanced at her and asked back:
“Otherwise?”
A trace of smugness appeared in her beautiful eyes.
“You know his personality. Even if I wanted the moon from the sky, he’d climb up and pick it for me. Besides, I wasn’t lying to him in the first place. Why wouldn’t he believe me?”
Then she frowned slightly and suddenly leaned closer to Wu Xiaoxia.
“Don’t tell me you don’t believe me?”
How could Wu Xiaoxia possibly believe such nonsense?
But staring into those jewel-like beautiful eyes at such close distance, she somehow felt an invisible pressure descend on her, making her instinctively look away.
Today’s Shen Yingying was clearly gentler than usual, without the irritating bitterness she normally carried between her brows.
Yet somehow, Wu Xiaoxia felt even more uncomfortable.
“Y-you’re my best friend. Of course I believe you too…”
Wu Xiaoxia stammered.
“I-I just think you seem a little strange today…”
Shen Yingying interrupted her again.
“Speaking of which, I only met that ‘Director Wu’ because of you. If it weren’t for you, I never would’ve trusted that he could arrange a job for me.”
The moment “Director Wu” was mentioned, Wu Xiaoxia abruptly raised her head and looked at Shen Yingying again.
There was probing intent in Shen Yingying’s gaze now, as if she had already seen straight through all her thoughts.
“Xiaoxia… were you doing it on purpose?”
“Actually, you like Xie Fangzhu, don’t you? So you deliberately set me up and made everyone think I was eloping, just to sabotage our marriage.”
“I also heard you rejected the match your mother arranged for you two days ago. And then today this incident happened…”
“I really can’t help suspecting you want to replace me.”
Shen Yingying’s voice was light and gentle.
Yet it felt like icy wind cutting into bone.
Wu Xiaoxia was both horrified and terrified.
Every hair on her body stood upright.
Although she truly did like Xie Fangzhu very much, she absolutely could not accept this accusation!
If such rumors spread, how could an unmarried woman like her continue living with dignity?
“How could that be?! Yingying, don’t you know what kind of person I am?”
Her breathing became hurried.
“If you keep talking like this, I’ll really get angry!”
“Aiya, Xiaoxia, why are you so worked up?”
Shen Yingying still wore a smiling, carefree expression.
“I was only joking. How could you possibly be that kind of person?”
Wu Xiaoxia looked at her repeatedly, full of alarm and suspicion.
Seeing Shen Yingying smiling foolishly and innocently, as though she truly had only been joking, Wu Xiaoxia finally relaxed slightly.
“Yingying, don’t make jokes like that again. You really scared me.”
“You seriously can’t take a joke at all.”
Shen Yingying casually reached out and touched the side of Wu Xiaoxia’s neck.
Her fingers came away damp with cold sweat.
Lowering her eyes to glance at it, the corner of her lips curled lazily.
“You’re sweating so much. Look how nervous you got.”
Wu Xiaoxia still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
For some reason, those words sounded strangely loaded.
But when she looked at Shen Yingying again, she couldn’t spot anything unusual.
Her dark eyes looked freshly washed—clean, pure, seemingly incapable of scheming.
Only then did Wu Xiaoxia finally relax a little.
She lowered her eyes and thought she must have been overthinking things.
With Shen Yingying being that foolish, how could she possibly figure anything out?
But the relief had barely settled for even a moment before Shen Yingying spoke again in a lazy tone:
“But even if you do like him, it’s useless anyway.”
Wu Xiaoxia’s eyes snapped wide open.
She looked up again immediately.
Shen Yingying’s expression remained lazy and casual, but the purity in her eyes had already vanished.
Instead, they now carried lofty superiority.
The way she looked at Wu Xiaoxia was like looking at an ant.
And her words were vicious as venom:
“His standards are extremely high. He’d never look at someone like you.”
“Look at yourself. You come over here all dressed up like a peacock every day, practically spreading your feathers in front of him begging for attention. But has he ever spared you even one extra glance?”
“You think he’s just shy? Or uninterested in women? Don’t flatter yourself. It’s simply because you’re not pretty enough for him to care.”
Wu Xiaoxia had never expected Shen Yingying to suddenly lash out so cruelly.
Nor had she ever seen this side of Shen Yingying before.
For a moment, she was completely stunned.
Every word from Shen Yingying’s mouth was like a blade carving into her chest.
The pain was so sharp Wu Xiaoxia nearly coughed blood.
Truthfully, Wu Xiaoxia had fallen for Xie Fangzhu long before he got married.
Because of that, she had deliberately found endless excuses to interact with him.
She approached him so frequently that anyone could tell her intentions at a glance.
If it had been any other young man, he would have started pursuing her long ago.
But Xie Fangzhu seemed utterly oblivious.
Although he never refused when she asked for help, he also never said a single unnecessary word to her, as though he had absolutely no interest in her.
She always told herself he was simply reserved, simply shy—
But deep down, she couldn’t stop herself from doubting.