“Say, this girl is young but she actually did such an immoral thing. How shameless.”
“That’s right. How can you be so jealous of another person?”
“Seriously, we’ve wronged this girl.”
When a pretty girl cried, she looked especially pitiful. With Xia He’s help, Qiao Mei slowly stood up and said to everyone, “She has been following me ever since I came! Now, she’s even openly slandering me. I really… I really don’t know what to do…”
Qian’e tried her best to explain herself to the people around her, but no one believed her anymore. Qiao Mei and Xia He took advantage of the situation and walked away from the crowd while everyone was criticizing Qian’e.
“Qiao Mei, I’ll remember this! I won’t let you off!” Qian’e shouted in the direction that Qiao Mei left in.
These words made everyone realize that it was Qian’e who was wishfully trying to frame someone else.
Xia He turned around and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that they had gone very far away from the crowd.
“You’re a smart little girl. Do you think you might catch a cold from sitting on the ground just now?” Xia He looked at Qiao Mei worriedly.
“I won’t, elder sister. It’s useless to reason with such a person. People always only care about what they see. As for the truth, only officials care about it. The common people just want to watch the fun,” Qiao Mei said.
Old Madam Kong was no different from Qian’e today. She openly said groundless things and slandered others. People only wanted to watch the fun and did not care about who was right and who was wrong. They just wanted to watch the commotion.
“You’re right. I never expected you to know so much at such a young age,” Xia He said emotionally.
“Elder sister, haven’t you heard of that saying? Give someone a taste of their own medicine. Although it’s not something a nice person would do, I’m just treating her in the same way that she treats me. Elder sister, you’re too soft-hearted. Many people in our village are unreasonable. Some people behave worse than Qian’e,” Qiao Mei said.
“Yes, I’ll remember that. But I really never expected Qian’e to become like this. I also don’t expect Kong Lu to run away the moment something happens,” Xia He said sadly.
Qiao Mei also did not expect Kong Lu to be so irresponsible. It seemed that not all men were as responsible as the men of the Xia family.
“Elder sister, are you going to drag this on? I don’t think brother-in-law will be able to return the money anytime soon,” Qiao Mei said with a sigh.
Xia He smiled and said, “As if I can make Aunt wait forever. I’ll buy the television for Aunt first and she can pass me the money when he pays up. I’ll just give Aunt a heads-up later.”
The park was close to their place. Qiao Mei and Xia He slowly walked home and ran into the runaway Kong Lu at the entrance of the alley.
“How interesting. I thought he was scared out of his wits and had long disappeared,” Xia He said as she rolled her eyes.
Qiao Mei understood what Xia He meant and asked with a smile, “Oh, brother-in-law, what are you waiting for? The post office managed to rush the delivery of the money for you? Or your mother agreed to give you the money for your treatment, or… is brother-in-law too tired from running away just now and is stopping here to take a rest?”
Kong Lu was so embarrassed that he wished he could find a hole to hide in. He braced himself and said to Xia He, “Xiao He, I didn’t do it on purpose just now. I… I suddenly remembered that I had something on. Erm… I want to talk to you, is that alright?”
Xia He said mockingly, “You’re looking for me? I know what you want to say, so you better shut up. About this matter, we have nothing to talk about. I would also advise you not to look for my aunt. I’ve already told her that she doesn’t have to interfere in this matter.”
There were still three days before the deadline. Kong Lu only had 300 dollars now, including the 100 dollars from Kong Li.
“Mei Mei, let’s go.” Xia He pulled Qiao Mei home.
Qiao Mei looked at Kong Lu’s back and asked, “Will he look for mother? Or father?”
Xia He said confidently, “He wouldn’t dare. He cares so much about his reputation, so how can he let my parents know? Even if he goes to look for Second Aunt-in-law, she won’t give him any money.”
“Why? I feel that Second Aunt-in-law likes him the most,” Qiao Mei asked curiously.
Every time Kong Lu came, Second Aunt-in-law would treat him to good food and drinks, and just short of giving him the most precious things in the house.
