Chapter 14: Realizing the Crisis

Chen Lijuan snorted coldly. "No wonder they say women like you from the countryside are narrow-minded—long hair, short sight. Xu Jinyan is about to enter university. Once he graduates and the state assigns him a job in a government office, imagine how prestigious that will be."

"You, a rustic woman destined to toil endlessly in the fields, are crude and unreasonable, ignorant yet arrogant."

Xia Xiaoyu smiled with eyes curved like crescent moons and asked, "So, between the two of you, who is the woman Xu Jinyan truly loves now?"

Chen Lijuan and Xu Chunhua exchanged glances, then both rolled their eyes.

Xu Chunhua said, "We only share pure revolutionary friendship. Xia Xiaoyu, don't spew nonsense and slander."

Xia Xiaoyu nodded. "Whether I'm speaking nonsense or not, the villagers here can see the truth more clearly than I can."

She fell silent, fixing them with a mocking gaze.

Chen Lijuan, having come alone to the village, showed commendable courage. She hadn’t expected Xu Jinyan to be hospitalized.

At this moment, she just wanted to leave.

"Crude women, I won’t speak with you."

With that, she turned and walked away.

From behind her, Xia Xiaoyu called out loudly, "Miss Chen, feel free to come back to the village anytime to perform your ‘innocent little tea maiden’ act."

What did that mean?

Chen Lijuan’s face darkened, but she didn’t dare to dwell on it. She knew it wasn’t a compliment, but worrying further would only harm her, so she slunk off.

Xu Chunhua hadn’t expected the woman she’d painstakingly brought here to be so useless, driven away by a few words from Xia Xiaoyu.

She glared angrily at Xia Xiaoyu. "Xia Xiaoyu, you’re disgusting. You’re already divorced and still targeting Jinyan’s friends. What are you really after?"

Xia Xiaoyu’s cold eyes locked onto her. "You knew I divorced Xu Jinyan and still brought someone here. Now I ask you: what exactly is your intention?"

Xu Chunhua faltered before quickly denying, "That’s nonsense. She came on her own; I didn’t bring her here."

"Are you willing to take responsibility for your actions?" Xia Xiaoyu challenged, narrowing her eyes.

"What do I have to own up to? It’s none of my business. Why should I admit it?"

Xia Xiaoyu sneered. "Xu Chunhua, don’t be so hypocritical. You’re so deceitful that people might think you don’t care for Xu Jinyan, so you introduce his university classmates to him. Think about it—when he goes to university, he’ll be surrounded by those classmates."

"Add to that how that woman just defended Xu Jinyan. Eventually, they’ll develop a relationship."

Xu Chunhua’s face turned ugly.

Xia Xiaoyu wasn’t done stirring the pot. "I don’t care anymore, but Xu Chunhua, I worry about you. You’ve been waiting for Xu Jinyan all this time. If he ends up with a better girl, won’t all your efforts be for nothing?"

Xu Chunhua’s heart trembled.

With Chen Lijuan’s arrival, she sensed danger. Now, with Xia Xiaoyu’s reminder, all her unease surged to the surface.

"Nonsense. Jinyan isn’t that kind of person."

"Then keep waiting."

Xia Xiaoyu, tired of the topic, looked at the broken items and asked, "Who damaged these? Double compensation, or else..."

Xu Chunhua wanted to run.

Xia Xiaoyu blocked her. "Xu Chunhua, you brought her here. If you don’t explain this to me, I won’t be polite."

Xu Chunhua retorted, "Why should I be polite? This place is public property of the village. You’re occupying it, yet you want to lecture me?"

Xia Xiaoyu laughed coldly. "You’re right. It is village property. But you deliberately damaged it. How will you answer the village for that?"

Xu Chunhua shuddered. She hadn’t expected a simple remark to escalate into conflict with the villagers.

She’d just shot herself in the foot. Why did she say that?

"I struggled to reinstall that door."

Xia Xiaoyu pointed to the door panel. "Yet you, Xu Chunhua, intentionally damaged public property. If you don’t explain yourself, I’ll take this to the village committee and make sure everyone knows you destroyed the former wife’s house of a divorced man, Xu Jinyan."

"And this house was lent to me by the village to live in."

"Xu Chunhua, once this spreads, not only Xu Jinyan but the entire surrounding villages will know what you did. Don’t forget to thank me when you become infamous."

Xu Chunhua’s face instantly went pale.

She dared not imagine the consequences.

She stared at Xia Xiaoyu, trembling inside.

"You’re lying. I didn’t do such a thing."

"Whether you did or not, everyone can clearly see. Do you want to falsely accuse the other villagers here? Did they break it?"

No one wanted responsibility. Those who once stood forward now stepped back.

Xu Chunhua, furious, said, "Xia Xiaoyu, you’re slandering me out of jealousy. You’ll get what’s coming to you."

Xia Xiaoyu sneered. "Xu Chunhua, your words are baseless and ridiculous. I’ve already let you off multiple times. Not this time."

Xu Chunhua trembled inwardly, wishing she could bite off her own tongue.

"I only showed her the way. I didn’t tell her to break your things. Whoever did that, you should look for them."

"If you hadn’t shown her the way, she wouldn’t have damaged my things. I spent 12 yuan on those items. Double compensation means 24 yuan. Pay up or I’ll report this to the police."

"Disturbing the peace is a serious offense. It won’t just be a simple warning. The officers will have a long talk with you and might detain you for a few days. That’ll make you famous."

Xu Chunhua’s hand trembled. She didn’t want that.

Xia Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow. "Well? Will you pay quietly or should I have you locked up and ruin your reputation?"

She looked Xiaoyu over and added, "You’re not particularly attractive. Compared to the girl just now, who even looks better than you, and, what’s more, she’s Xu Jinyan’s classmate."

"They share a bond of schoolmates. What do you have with Xu Jinyan? Are you engaged? Dating? If your bad reputation spreads now, it might affect Xu Jinyan’s future. Do you think he, a prospective university student, would want a wife with a bad name and risk his future?"

Xu Chunhua’s heart shook violently.

No.

Absolutely not.

She could not allow such a thing to happen.

"I’ll pay, but not all by myself. You have to make that woman pay half too," she said.

"I don’t care if you want to collect half from her or not. Right now, you owe me 24 yuan. Pay up or I’ll make this public. Let’s see whether it’s my reputation as a divorced woman that’s bad or your reputation as an unmarried virgin that’s worse."

Xu Chunhua was truly scared. How had Xia Xiaoyu become so formidable?