Wang Jianhua naturally wouldn’t hit a woman, especially not Xia Xiaolan. He just felt foolish for thinking Xia Xiaolan had changed when she was still as aggressive and dramatic as ever, completely incapable of understanding others’ mistakes.

“Unkind” – this word burst into Wang Jianhua’s mind. The more he thought about it, the more fitting it seemed. Chairman Mao said women could hold up half the sky. Since his relationship with Xia Xiaolan was in the past, and he couldn’t possibly separate from Ziyu, why couldn’t Xia Xiaolan be more open-minded and wish them well? Even if she couldn’t be magnanimous enough to maintain normal contact, couldn’t they just avoid each other and keep a superficial peace?

Xia Xiaolan could guess most of Wang Jianhua’s thoughts just by his expression. While General Manager Xia wasn’t skilled at handling relationships, if she treated Wang Jianhua like a male chauvinist colleague, his thinking became clear:

“Wang Jianhua, I’m not refusing to forgive her because I can’t let go of you – I haven’t even planned to forgive you. Honestly, you two are a match made in heaven, you both make me sick. Now that you’ve gotten into university, you’re no longer that frustrated educated youth stuck in the village. Are you feeling especially proud? Have you forgotten how I encouraged you, helped you, how I swallowed my pride to borrow study materials from my cousin to help you prepare for university? Oh right, when you went to Anqing County for the exam, I paid for your food and lodging, didn’t I? After the exam, you announced you were dating my cousin – shouldn’t you at least pay me back for those expenses?”

Xia Xiaolan held out her hand: “I heard university students get living allowances, so pay me back – thirty-five yuan in total.”

An immense shame enveloped Wang Jianhua. After his family’s fall from grace, he had experienced all kinds of cold shoulders and betrayals, but no one had ever demanded money from him like this!

His mind had been completely occupied with his studies and clearing his family’s name. When Xia Xiaolan sent him to take the exam in Anqing County, she had indeed stuffed the money in his pocket. Without that money, how could he have afforded a private room at the county guesthouse to study quietly? How could he have bought wine to celebrate after feeling good about his performance?

That night, when he and Xia Ziyu discussed everything from exam answers to life ambitions, drinking tea and wine until they were both drunk and lost control – they had spent Xia Xiaolan’s money.

Wang Jianhua was devastated by this humiliation. Of course, he wanted to take out the money immediately to end this farce, but he truly didn’t even have thirty-five yuan in his pocket!

His saved living allowance had already been spent on train tickets from Beijing to Shangdu and on gifts for Xia Ziyu’s family. Where would he find extra money?

At this moment, Wang Jianhua deeply regretted accompanying Xia Ziyu back to Anqing and regretted coming to the temple fair on New Year’s Day, or perhaps he should have simply not told Xia Ziyu when he saw Xia Xiaolan, then this humiliation could have been avoided…

“Here! If humiliating us like this makes you feel better, I’ll pay for Jianhua!”

Tears appeared in the corners of Xia Ziyu’s eyes. Her previous distress had been fake, but now it was seventy percent genuine.

What right did Xia Xiaolan have to humiliate Wang Jianhua like this? Yes, Wang Jianhua had no money now – his family’s downfall had transformed him from a proud cadre’s son into an educated youth sent down to the countryside. Even after getting into university, he was still just a poor student. Xia Ziyu had never looked down on Wang Jianhua for being poor; she knew the difficulties were temporary. When she helped support Wang Jianhua, she was always extremely careful not to wound his male pride.

How dare Xia Xiaolan treat Wang Jianhua this way!

Xia Ziyu’s hands trembled as she held out the money she had brought with her.

Xia Xiaolan counted out exactly thirty-five yuan from the pile of bills she grabbed.

“How generous of you. Well then… enjoy supporting your man?”

Someone in the crowd of worshippers started laughing first, and soon many others couldn’t hold back their laughter either.

Wang Jianhua’s public humiliation of being “dunned for payment” by Xia Xiaolan, and Xia Ziyu paying for him, didn’t help him save face – instead, it confirmed the fact that he was living off women.

Unable to stay any longer, Wang Jianhua pushed through the crowd and strode away.

Xia Ziyu shot Xia Xiaolan a fierce glare before chasing after Wang Jianhua.

Xia Xiaolan secretly laughed – this was more like it. She didn’t like playing the role of a gentle, intellectual, saintly white lotus. Even though she had the natural qualities for it, she’d never gone down that path. Who could endure being beaten and scolded without fighting back? Xia Ziyu’s venomous glare before leaving finally made Xia Xiaolan feel it was real.

She didn’t fear Xia Ziyu’s hatred, nor did she care about Wang Jianhua’s feelings.

As long as these two were unhappy, Xia Xiaolan was happy.

Having single-handedly taken on two people and emerged victorious, Xia Xiaolan was in an especially good mood. She waved the money in her hand:

“Aunt, now we have money to buy fish! Money that originally wasn’t going to be repaid – getting it back is like finding it on the ground. We must spend it happily!”

Who still remembered whether Liu Fen was getting divorced or not?

The drama just now had been explosive, with all attention focused on the three young people. Looking at the triumphant Xia Xiaolan, Li Feimei was speechless.

So it was possible to make enemies flee in disgrace without cursing or fighting?

The three elders hadn’t even had a chance to help before Xia Xiaolan had said everything there was to say, both good and bad. They looked at each other in bewilderment – was Xiaolan being too sharp-tongued? Could such a fierce young woman find a husband?

Oh right, she already had.

Liu Yong thought of Zhou Cheng.

He had always worried that Zhou Cheng would hurt his niece, but after today’s scene, Liu Yong’s jaw ached in sympathy as a fellow man.

From now on, he might need to worry about Zhou Cheng instead.

The fish seller at the temple fair was ecstatic.

Both large black carp had been particularly choosy about their buyers. Unexpectedly, after Xia Xiaolan had bought one weighing seventeen jin, she returned from White Stream Temple and bought another weighing fifteen jin. The two fish cost 37.2 yuan in total, and the vendor himself waived the extra two jiao.

Xia Xiaolan had him kill both fish and handed the seventeen-jin one to Chen’s eldest sister-in-law:

“Sister Chen, take this fish back for Grandfather Chen to eat.”

Given how large a house plot Chen Wangda had allocated to Xia Xiaolan and her mother, what was one black carp? The old man lived with his eldest son, so naturally, the fish would be cooked by Chen’s eldest daughter-in-law, so Xia Xiaolan gave it directly to her.

Chen’s eldest sister-in-law was stunned by Xia Xiaolan’s casual gift:

“Xiaolan, this is too expensive, I can’t accept it. If I bring this fish back, Chen Qing’s grandfather will scold me.”

Xia Xiaolan smiled and persuaded her: “It’s no problem, I just found some money outside White Stream Temple, so this is like found money.”

Found money?

Chen’s eldest sister-in-law was distracted from the fish by her curiosity about what had happened earlier. Chen Qing, however, secretly observed Xia Xiaolan’s expression, only relaxing when he confirmed she wasn’t the least bit upset.

It wasn’t until he reached the sugar-figure vendor that he realized – that the young woman from earlier was Xiaolan’s cousin, and the other must have been the “future brother-in-law” from the rumors, the one Xiaolan was accused of seducing. Chen Qing believed Xia Xiaolan could never be that kind of person, but he had worried she might be at a disadvantage facing those two.

Later, that “future brother-in-law” stormed away from the temple fair with the cousin chasing after him, like in a scene from an opera. They must not have gotten the better of her.

What’s so special about being a university student anyway?

After this year’s college entrance exam, his hard work will surely yield good results too!