Xian Guiying wanted to say something, but Wei Shanyuan stopped her. He walked to the door, took the umbrella from the woman, and said with a smile. "Auntie."
The woman was actually only thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, but she looked like a woman of almost fifty. Wei Shanyuan grinned until his teeth were bared, and when she looked at him in annoyance, he asked, "You didn't even give her a chance to apologize before coming to finish the score? What kind of neighbor is this?"
"Kid, where did you come from? I thought you were just a tourist." The middle-aged woman pursed her lip and turned to Xian Guiying. "Can't you stick to one guy? Aiyo, as I said, you are young and you live here alone with a child. Sooner or later, you're going to get screwed by a man."
"How can you say that?" Wei Shanyuan's face soon darkened.
"Roar! Roar! Roar! Who are you shouting at?" The middle-aged woman immediately exclaimed, "Your umbrella has dirty my shop clothes! I haven't even settled the score! Hurry up and tell me, how would you settle the debt? Everyone says that you killed your own husband and ran here to hide in Wuyuan. Or else, you are definitely dumped by a man and conceived without getting married. Usually, we will not bother with your affair, but since this matter has already come to this, how about this, you pay me two hundred and eighty yuan instead of three hundred! I will consider it on the stand of being your neighbor."
Just as Wei Shanyuan was about to speak, Xian Guiying gave him a look that told him to stop meddling. Then, she glanced at the entrance of her shop in a way that was neither cold nor warm, then walked to the entrance of the neighboring shop, looking at the dress hanging in front of it, which had long been soaked by the rain for not being kept in time. Then, she looked back and faintly smiled at Wei Shanyuan, who wanted to stick his head out for her, and then looked at the shop owner.
When the middle-aged woman saw Xian Guiying's gaze, she immediately became nervous.
The middle-aged woman didn't know how it happened, but a year ago, after Xian Guiying brought a skinny and weak little girl here to open a shop, everything changed.
This street was the busiest in the whole of Wuyuan Village, and this middle-aged woman only managed to get a small store here after saving for decades.
Most people here didn't know if Xian Guiying was married or not when she brought a small child here to rent a house and other things.
They all suspected that she had become someone else's mistress but were abandoned by the man. He gave her a large sum of money, and she ran to Wuyuan to live with her daughter.
After a while, they got used to the presence of this new neighbor. Gradually, they realized that Xian Guiying had a very calm personality and she rarely interacted with these neighbors. Although she did not offend people, she also did not maintain a good relationship with them. Still, her business was the best on the street. Selling hats and scarves was better than anything else. Jealousy could be found in everyone's eyes. After a while, they isolated her.
And this middle-aged woman likes to peek at Xian Guiying's shop and when her own husband also looked into the shop, she became annoyed. It was unknown whether he was looking at the items or the owner.
Almost every day, Xian Guiying would find fault with the middle-aged woman's husband, but she had never quarreled directly with him. She had cleverly brought the dispute back to the middle-aged woman with a few sentences, causing the middle-aged woman to go back to the store and curse her husband every time.
Today, the middle-aged woman finally found an opportunity to cause trouble, but she didn't think there's a handsome guy with her, and he didn't look like someone who lacked money.
The middle-aged woman immediately became jealous and wanted to mock Xian Guiying, but she didn't expect Xian Guiying's expression would contain some ridicule.
The middle-aged woman looked at her and said uneasily, "What kind of expression is that? Did I make you pay me wrongly? That dress was handmade by an old woman from the Naxi tribe, and it is expensive. I already said you just need to pay two hundred and eighty yuan. If it weren't for the fact that you're orphans, widows, and abandoned by a man, I would have charged you three hundred and fifty yuan directly!"
"It's raining so hard that you hang your dress on the door? Our umbrella is also clean, but it just hits your dress that's already wet and dirty. You can't be bothered to take responsibility for the damage you did, so you decided to come to my shop to cheat on me?" Xian Guiying looked at her with a ridiculous smile. "Big Sis Huang, I never offended you, did I? You've drenched the dress by yourself and you can't expect me to pay for it, right?"
"It's clear you're the one who wet our store's new clothes, but you still want to make excuses?" The middle-aged woman immediately opened her eyes wide. "Just tell me if you're going to compensate me or not. Stop bullshitting with me!"
Xian Guiying usually didn't care what people say about her and she acted as if she didn't hear anything. She was thick-skinned. Even if they come looking for a problem, she will usually solve the problem with a smile.
The middle-aged woman quietly frowned as she considered what she should say next to make Xian Guiying pay for the compensation.
"Compensate?" Xian Guiying smiled and walked closer. She took the dress that was hanging on the door and weighed it in her hands.
Just as she was about to speak, Wei Shanyuan impatiently frowned and threw five hundred yuan into the middle-aged woman's hand. "That's enough! We do not have time to play with your childish game. Take this five hundred, we will buy this dress. Stop bothering her again."
Xian Guiying glared at him and was about to take the money back, but the middle-aged woman quickly stuffed the money into her bag as if she was afraid the money would be stolen.
"Sigh, you …" Xian Guiying threw her dress to the side. "Why did you give her money?" She asked unhappily. "This ugly dress is not even worth three hundred!"
"If you were a bit more stubborn in the past, I'm afraid that she wouldn't dare to come here and cause trouble for you now." Wei Shanyuan glanced at her. He took the dress and looked at it. "The color suits you quite well. With your body, wearing this kind of national style dress would definitely make you as beautiful as a fairy …"
"Stop flattering me." Xian Guiying walked inside her shop unhappily and sat on a chair.
However, Wei Shanyuan was right. If her attitude weren't that kind, that woman wouldn't dare to pick a fight so easily.
Actually for Xian Guiying, with her temper, she hated hearing all the gossip from her neighbors, but since Qin Wenqian recuperated in Wuyuan, she had to visit her child every two hours. Because the shop was too small, she did not recruit anyone, so she could only get her neighbors to help her look at the shop from time to time.
Because she needed help from others, she would often swallow her anger.
After a while, she finally managed to calm herself down. In fact, this was just the most common and normal life of ordinary people. A group of women sat together and discussed all sorts of ugly things about other people, such as rumors, hearsay, guesses, and lies.
Seeing that Xian Guiying didn't say anything, Wei Shanyuan knew that she wanted to act tough in front of him, but in the end, who was he? Although the both of them only knew each other for a short time, he knew her very well.
