Li Wazi noticed that. He lowered his voice and said, “Li Chunmei doesn’t seem to be a vicious sort of person. Why would she do that?”
Why would she risk her reputation by doing something like this? Was she not afraid she might not marry well in the future?
“Indeed, Chunmei’s terrible. How could she do such a thing?” Aunt Li shook her head, feeling astonished.
Ye Liu chose this moment to speak, “Regardless of her reasons, if anything happened to Ling because of that, I would never forgive her!”
“Me neither! I would never ever forgive her!” Ye Mo expressed his agreement as he bore a serious look.
Li Wazi’s face was similarly solemn as he regarded the same enemy. “Me too!”
At that moment, other than the sound of work in the house, there was only Little Lian’s gentle voice as she coaxed Little Huzi.
On the other side, Li Chunmei did not directly return home to change her clothes after leaving Liu Duo’s house. Instead, she went for a walk around the paddy fields.
The villagers saw her and began to whisper among themselves.
The clothes on her back were wet all the way to the hips. Even if she had fallen on the slippery ground, she could not possibly have gotten this wet.
It seemed like she had been lying on the ground.
Whether it was intentional or not, Aunt Su happened to be there too?
Upon hearing them talk, Aunt Su retold what she had seen. “Just now when I was selling tomatoes at the Ye brothers’ place, Ye Ling fell right on top of Chunmei. They were practically pressed against each other. The whole scene was just so disgraceful…”
As she spoke, even she felt ill at ease and blushed.
After that, the gossiping got even worse!
“Pressed against each other? Doesn’t that mean Ye Ling has to take responsibility?”
“That’s right, Chunmei hasn’t married, has she? How could she find a good husband like this?”
“…”
One by one, they kept talking. Li Chunmei acted as though she had not heard a thing. She weeded a bit at her family’s paddy field before going home.
After she got home, her mother naturally came hounding at her with questions. Li Chunmei gave some vague replies but did not elaborate.
Unsatisfied, her mother sought clarification from Aunt Su. After getting wind of what happened, she cursed the Ye family. How dare they decline responsibility after taking advantage of her daughter?
They even forbade the villagers who had witnessed everything from disclosing the incident?
Chunmei’s mother came home and gave her a good scolding. “I asked you to sell the tomatoes, and you came back without your reputation! What good have I raised you for?”
“Mother, not many people know about it.” Li Chunmei pretended that she, too, had not expected something like this to happen, feigning ignorance. “Rest assured, the villagers will not talk about it. Furthermore, it wasn’t Ling’s fault. It was purely an accident…”
“Accident? He landed on you! He must bear responsibility!” Chunmei’s mother got aggressive.
Ever since the marriage with Burly Du had been called off, her daughter had yet to find a good family to marry into.
She only wished her daughter could marry into a relatively well-off family. She would not consider generally poor farmers!
Li Chunmei frowned at her mother in disagreement. “Mother, like I said, it was an accident. I don’t need Ling to take up the responsibility!”
“Whatever I say goes! Your opinion doesn’t matter. In fact, you could always leave this house. I don’t need a daughter like you who has tarnished her own reputation!”
She did not want to be the brunt of the gossip.
Li Chunmei pretended to be caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, she did not want to disobey her mother. On the other, she believed Ye Ling need not be held responsible. And so, tears began to flow as she cried.
“There you go, crying! Get cooking now, after lunch we’re going to have a talk with Ye Ling!” Li Chunmei’s mother pushed and shoved her daughter.
She was not about to let this go so easily!
