“Would someone please explain this to me? We only went to stay at your youngest aunt’s house for one month, and how did so many things happen at home?”
“You, Chen Xia. You tell me—why did you get into a fight with Widow He? Brawling in front of the whole village—are you proud of yourself?”
“And you, don’t you laugh. Tian Lao’er, Tian Lao’er. I hear you had a big reckoning with your older brother, is that right? You figured he owes you over fifty yuan. Do you think that makes you something special? Letting the whole village talk about how brothers don’t get along!”
“And who’s laughing there?”
A snort of laughter abruptly interrupted the rapid-fire scolding.
Tian Tian, watching her grandmother standing in the middle of the living room with her hands on her hips, commanding the scene like a general, obediently raised her hand. “Grandma, it was me.”
Grandma Tian shot a glare at her usually well-behaved granddaughter for ruining the moment. The momentum of the scolding was broken, and it wasn’t easy to pick back up. So she simply dragged a chair over and sat down in it with authority.
Grandpa Tian immediately scurried over with a cup of tea. Grandma Tian took it, drank a couple of sips to settle her breath, and continued. “Now then, everyone sit down properly. Each of you is going to tell me clearly what’s been happening. The moment I got back to the village, people were grabbing me and chattering nonstop. And you, Tian Xin, don’t you hide. We need to hear about your business too.”
Seeing this, Tian Tian told everything that had happened over the past month, exactly as it occurred, without adding or exaggerating anything.
She started from when her uncle’s wife came to propose a match, all the way to when the seven young men showed up looking for Tian Xin.
Her uncle’s wife kept trying to interrupt, but each time Grandma Tian glared her back into silence. By the time Tian Tian finished, Grandma Tian had stopped thinking about the fights and arguments. Instead, she stared wide-eyed at Tian Xin, looking like a fire-breathing dragon.
Seeing this, Tian Tian immediately retreated to her mother’s side and covered her ears with both hands.
Sure enough, a second later, a roar erupted.
—
“Tian Xin, what is wrong with you?”
“Tian Xin, are you that desperate for men?”
“Seven men! Is that any way for a person to behave? The whole village knows you’re dating seven men at once. Seven! Are you proud of that? Do you think you’re some kind of legendary hero with seven stars on the bottom of your feet?”
Tian Tian stopped covering her ears and covered her mouth instead. “Seven stars on the bottom of her feet”—what a comparison. There was a Hong Kong TV drama recently about a hero born with seven stars on his soles, majestic and extraordinary. She wondered what effect dating seven men at once would have. Heh heh.
Father Tian wasn’t as subtle as his daughter. He burst out laughing, earning a sharp look from Grandma Tian. But Father Tian wasn’t afraid. He’d received countless such looks growing up and had still turned out just fine.
Mother Tian knew to be a bit more restrained, but she couldn’t suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth either. Seeing Tian Xin get scolded made her happy. She didn’t know how many people had cornered her in the village today, wanting to talk about Tian Xin and her inevitable story with the seven young men.
She had known from her daughter that Tian Xin had many backups. But she never expected all those backups to show up at the village together one day.
Many villagers were pointing fingers at Tian Xin now. But a small minority were saying that since Tian Xin and Tian Tian were cousins, and Tian Xin was so loose, Tian Tian probably wasn’t much better.
Hearing those words had made Mother Tian’s blood boil. But she couldn’t argue with people. The more you explain rumors like that, the more people talk.
“An explanation is a cover-up; a cover-up is a confession.”
So she had no choice but to swallow those ugly words. Now that her mother-in-law was back, she didn’t have to worry anymore.
Listening to her grandmother’s scolding, Tian Xin stiffened her neck and retorted:
“Grandma, those are all rumors. The reason my mom fought with Widow He is because Widow He made up lies about me and those men. Those men are all my friends—they came to visit me together. Widow He saw them and started spreading rumors. Instead of going after Widow He, you’re scolding me, the victim. Grandma, is my dad even your biological son?”
Seeing that Tian Xin refused to admit any fault and was even trying to turn the tables, Grandma Tian got even angrier.
—
Seeing this, Tian Xin’s mother immediately jumped in. “That’s right, Mom. I know you favor the second son’s family, but you can’t talk about Xin Xin like that. She’s your granddaughter too! Whatever Tian Tian says, you believe. When it comes to my Xin Xin, why don’t you believe her?”
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, and she brought up the money argument with the second son’s family from a while back.
“And another thing, when you divided the family property back then, you were unfair. Where did the second son’s family get so much money? It’s because you favored them and let them inherit Grandpa and Grandma’s estate. If we hadn’t gone over the accounts with the second son’s family, I would never have known they got so much money.
“Xin Xin’s father is also Grandpa and Grandma’s biological grandson. They couldn’t have been that biased. You must have given all the inheritance that should have gone to our branch of the family to the second son’s branch…”
Maybe it was because too much had happened today. Tian Xin’s mother, without any restraint, dredged up old grievances again, crying as she spoke, putting on a very aggrieved act.
Unfortunately, Grandma Tian wasn’t buying it.
“Hmph, I haven’t favored anyone. I’ve treated both brothers equally. Didn’t you go over the accounts? Did I favor either one of you? No. As for their grandfather and grandmother favoring the second son—that’s the elders’ business. Chen Xia, if you think that’s unfair, go down there and argue with them yourselves!”
Tian Tian couldn’t help but laugh again at those words. There wasn’t another elder in the whole village as blunt as her grandmother.
As for the subject of the remark, Tian Xin’s mother, she was so angry at being told to “go down there” that her face turned purple. Wasn’t she telling her to go to the underworld? Who could just go down to the underworld? She was telling her to go die!
What a vicious mother-in-law!
Tian Xin’s mother wailed and sobbed as if her heart would break. Tian Xin’s father, who had been keeping a stern face the whole time, went over to comfort her, but it was no use. She slapped his outstretched hand away.
“Tian Baoguo, why did I marry a useless man like you? Your mother told me to go die, and you don’t say a word!”
“Chen Xia, what are you yelling at the eldest for? What does he have to do with any of this? You say the division of the family property was unfair, but the accounts are perfectly clear. There’s no unfairness at all. As for their grandfather and grandmother favoring the second son—I can’t control that. Besides, we’re talking about Tian Xin dating seven men at once. Don’t change the subject.”
Seeing the topic steered back on track, Tian Tian immediately nodded in agreement.
Tian Xin, watching from the side, shot a resentful glare her way.
While dealing with the seven men, Tian Xin had already realized that someone had sent them letters. And not just them—several of her other backups in the county had received the same letters. They just hadn’t come looking for her at the village because their relationship with her wasn’t as deep.
Even so, it had taken Tian Xin most of the day to smooth things over with these men. But the results weren’t good. Most had said they wanted nothing more to do with her. Only a pitiful few remained infatuated, still hoping to win her affections.
Tian Xin found this unbearable.
Maintaining over a dozen backups wasn’t easy. She had put in so much effort. Now it was all down the drain. The culprit had to be Tian Tian. No one else would do something like this.
Her intuition told her so.
Tian Tian saw Tian Xin’s eyes darting around and knew she was up to no good again.
So she spoke to Grandma Tian: “Grandma, it’s not my place to interfere in Tian Xin’s business. But she can’t go on like this. Today people in the village are saying she found seven husbands. Tomorrow, the neighboring villages will have heard. Why don’t we let Tian Xin lay low for a while? Then we can explain to the villagers that Tian Xin didn’t actually find seven husbands.”
Tian Xin, hearing Tian Tian say “seven husbands” left and right, snapped back: “I do not have seven husbands. I am pure and innocent. They are all my friends. Friends!”
Tian Tian replied, “Yes, yes, of course. Of course they’re your friends.”
She turned to her grandmother and spread her hands in a helpless gesture.
Grandma Tian waved her hand decisively. “Alright, second son, take your family home. I’ll handle Tian Xin’s situation.”
She turned to the eldest son. “Eldest, keep Tian Xin at home. Don’t let her go out for the time being. As for you, Chen Xia—stop crying. Wash your face and come with me to explain things to each family, door to door. Don’t let those rumors spread any further.”
Grandma Tian wasn’t foolish. She knew that what people were saying about Tian Xin was likely true. But as her grandmother, she couldn’t just stand by and watch her granddaughter’s reputation be completely destroyed.
Ah, Tian Xin really didn’t know how to behave.
She glanced at Tian Tian, who was about to leave, and thought to herself—at least she still had one good granddaughter.
Seeing this, Tian Xin’s eyes turned red with jealousy. Why was it always like this? Tian Tian was the good one, and she, Tian Xin, was the bad one. She wouldn’t accept it. She was impressive too. Who else could find so many backups? Who else could get so many things from them? The paltry amount of money Tian Tian had earned working at the cooperative for over a year—Tian Xin could get that from her backups with a flick of her wrist!
She didn’t want to be locked at home. She still had remaining backups to maintain. If she were locked up, those backups would be gone after the New Year.
But no one cared about Tian Xin’s thoughts.
Following Grandma Tian’s instructions, everyone busied themselves with their tasks.
——
Over the next few days, the village was filled with the sounds of Grandma Tian and Tian Xin’s mother going door to door, apologizing, explaining, and pleading.
As for Tian Tian’s family, they stayed quietly at home, preparing for the New Year.
Every now and then, Niu Zai would drop by with updates about the cooperative. Then, on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the cooperative case finally reached its conclusion.
Niu Zai brought the news.
A total of twelve people had been arrested from the cooperative. In addition to Section Head Xu, Section Head Lu, and Supervisor Liu, there were several warehouse workers and a few employees from the finance and purchasing departments. Xu Lifen was among them.
Additionally, although the cooperative’s director hadn’t participated in the theft and reselling of goods, he had known about it. After taking money from Section Head Xu, he had turned a blind eye and done nothing.
Now that it had come to light, the director was also dismissed.
But before his dismissal, the director had already fled with his entire family. It was said he had gone to Hong Kong.
Listening to this news, Tian Tian found it all rather surreal.
“This cooperative mess has gotten huge. You’ll probably have a lot of people coming to you for information later.” Niu Zai squatted on the doorstep, eating the scallion pancakes Mother Tian had given him, and reminded Tian Tian to be careful.
“And the fact that you sold your job at the cooperative? The village will probably know soon enough. They’ll all think you’re crazy, giving up such a good job.”
Tian Tian shrugged at this. Let them know. That job was too much of a dead end anyway. And besides, the village’s current star was still Tian Xin. Her little situation was nothing. After the New Year, she would pack her bags and head to Shenzhen. Then she really wouldn’t have to worry about what people said.
But before the villagers could come to her for information, an unexpected guest showed up at her door.
“Chen Jiahao, what are you doing at my house?”
Tian Tian looked at this man—the one who had made her famous throughout the county in her previous life—and her expression was complicated.
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