Shen Yijia chatted with An Xiu’er until Madam Li returned.
She returned earlier than Shen Yijia had expected.
Seeing that Madam Li’s basket was empty, Shen Yijia was quite curious. Because the vegetables at home had just been planted, Madam Li would bring Brother Hao and Sister Huan up the mountain every day to dig up some wild vegetables for some variety in their meals. This was the first time she had returned empty-handed.
“Xiu’er is here?” Seeing that there were guests at home, Madam Li paused.
Only then did Shen Yijia realize that Brother Hao and Sister Huan were both angry.
“My mother asked me to send over the embroidery thread that Madam Li wanted.” Perhaps realizing that the atmosphere was off, An Xiu’er didn’t stay any longer. After explaining the embroidery patterns to Madam Li, she bade farewell and left.
“Sister-in-law…” As soon as An Xiu’er left, Sister Huan threw herself into Shen Yijia’s arms and sobbed pitifully.
“What’s going on?” She’d been fine when she left the house.
“It’s nothing. She’s just throwing a tantrum like a child.” Madam Li put away the embroidery thread and said listlessly.
Shen Yijia did not believe her and looked at Brother Hao.
Seeing Shen Yijia’s gaze, Brother Hao clenched his fists and said angrily, “It’s all because of those people. They said that Sister-in-law is indecent. They said you were flirting with other men so that you could get meat to feed us. They said that we were basically eating the meat that you sold your body for.”
Although he didn’t quite understand what he was saying, Brother Hao still repeated what he had heard. Afraid that Shen Yijia would be unhappy, he continued, “Sister-in-law isn’t that kind of person. You’re the best sister-in-law!”
Shen Yijia was stunned. “Who was I fooling around with? What’s this nonsense about selling my body, were they talking about me?” she thought.
“Sister Jia, don’t worry about what the others say. Our family will live our own lives behind closed doors.” Madam Li also comforted her.
Although she said that, Madam Li was still worried. She was not worried about anything else, but she was afraid that Shen Yijia would feel awful. She knew very well how important a woman’s reputation was.
Many women in wealthy families had unhappy endings because of their bad reputation.
Not to mention that no one was stepped up to quell the rumors in this rural area. The rumors became more and more ridiculous.
“Mother, are they talking about me and An Dong?” Shen Yijia finally understood what was going on. She had been here for so long, but she had only seen An Dong a few times and barely spoke to him. The only other man she’d spoken to was the village chief.
Thinking of the village chief’s wrinkled face, Shen Yijia shivered and quickly shook her head to chase away this terrifying thought.
Without waiting for Madam Li to answer, Shen Yijia said in disbelief, “How blind do they think I am? He’s not as good-looking as my husband. Why would I leave the delicacies at home and eat the lackluster side dishes outside? Besides, if my family wants to eat meat, I can hunt it myself.”
As soon as Shen Yijia finished speaking, there was a dry cough at the door. The few of them looked out of the house.
An Dong and Song Jingchen were both at the doorway.
It turned out that An Dong had also heard the rumors when he came down from the mountain today. Afraid that the Song family would misunderstand Shen Yijia, he specially came to explain.
Unfortunately, he heard Shen Yijia’s words.
Even though An Dong had stopped thinking about Shen Yijia, he was still a little hurt when he heard this. He glanced at Song Jingchen’s face and felt doubly hurt.
Shen Yijia had always been magnanimous towards people. Moreover, she felt that she didn’t say anything wrong, so she didn’t feel awkward.
As soon as she saw An Dong, she remembered what Brother Hao had said. “Why are you here?” she blurted out.
Song Jingchen hid the smile on his face and said indifferently, “He’s here to borrow a book.”
As long as you aren’t embarrassed, only the other party would feel embarrassed.
An Dong felt so embarrassed that he wished he had never been here. It seemed that he didn’t need to explain anything. He could only take the book that Song Jingchen handed him and say with a flushed face, “Yes, I’m here to borrow a book.”
The An family had a good life before Father An’s accident. He did go to school for a few years, so the idea of him borrowing a book was quite believable, although it had been a while since he touched a book.
Shen Yijia didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she realized that Song Jingchen’s was suddenly in a good mood.
Even when she said she didn’t want to practice writing, he gave her a day off, even though he doubled the amount of words she needed to write the next day.
“I guess I was mistaken,” she grumbled to herself when she got her assignment the next day.