Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei visited the countryside.

They didn’t even need to drive to Dahe Village. They just parked by the roadside and chatted with the women working in the fields, who eagerly shared all the gossip about Dahe Village. The Xia family had two notable stories – one was about their eldest granddaughter Xia Ziyu getting into university, becoming a phoenix rising from a farming family and serving as a role model for children in the surrounding villages:

“County First High School didn’t have many students get into undergraduate programs this year, and Xia Ziyu was one of them. That girl is beautiful too, with an oval face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and two thick, shiny braids – who wouldn’t want her as a daughter-in-law? But she’s already dating someone, another university student. They’re quite well-matched.”

“The Xia family must have some really good fortune, burning who knows how many incense sticks at their ancestral graves to produce a university student!”

“They’ve used up all of Dahe Village’s scholarly fortune.”

“That’s why their other granddaughters aren’t as outstanding.”

“Well, isn’t Xia Xiaolan outstanding in her way?”

When it came to Xia Xiaolan, these women’s laughter turned malicious. Their eyes sized up Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei – two young men asking about Xia Xiaolan, was that loose woman causing trouble again?

Without Kang Wei having to probe, these people eagerly spilled everything about Xia Xiaolan’s past.

The Xia family lived together, with three sons sharing one large courtyard. The three brothers had six children between them – three girls and three boys. Xia Xiaolan was the second oldest, and her cousin Xia Ziyu who got into university was the eldest. The three Xia brothers were Xia Xiaolan’s uncle Xia Changzheng, her father Xia Dajun, and her younger uncle Xia Hongbing.

Xia Changzheng had one son and one daughter – the most accomplished Xia Ziyu was from the eldest brother’s family.

Xia Dajun and his wife Liu Fen had only one daughter over the years – the loose woman Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Hongbing had one daughter and two sons.

After clarifying the Xia family members, they went on about Xia Xiaolan:

“She’s just a troublemaker, too delicate to work – we country folk aren’t raising young ladies here. Unlike her cousin who was good at studying, she barely finished middle school and dropped out. She wouldn’t work hard herself but was quite skilled at stealing others’ fruits. A few years ago, the last batch of educated youth came to the county, and Dahe Village got one. That young man was very proper and ambitious – they say he kept up with his studies while working these past few years. Educated people naturally get along well, so he and Xia Ziyu became a couple. This year they both got into university and made their relationship official to their parents, but that stirred up trouble – Xia Xiaolan, envious of her cousin getting into university and finding a good man, tried to steal him away. While her cousin was away, she stripped naked in broad daylight to seduce her future brother-in-law!”

“The future brother-in-law was an honest man, actually escorted the naked sister-in-law home.”

“Pah, when the future brother-in-law wouldn’t take the bait, didn’t she end up rolling around with Zhang Erlai from the neighboring village?”

“After failing to seduce her cousin’s man, and even though her cousin hadn’t blamed her, rumors spread everywhere. When the family elders scolded her, she tried banging her head against walls and jumping in the river!”

“It was all an act – she didn’t die, and the Xia family drove her out.”

“Even her mother was affected – mother and daughter both went back to their maternal family… the Liu family has such bad luck.”

These people didn’t just share gossip – they vividly described the details. As the women talked, the men working in the fields laughed too. Xia Xiaolan’s shameful deeds had become good entertainment to relieve their fatigue.

Kang Wei couldn’t bear to listen anymore. He couldn’t imagine that the young woman who had so impressed him at the noodle stand during their first meeting had such a wild past. She rivaled those street-smart girls from Beijing – truly impressive. Even female troublemakers knew how to protect their reputations, but Xia Xiaolan was foolish enough to have her messy relationships known by everyone.

Couldn’t she have been more discreet?

Take the incident of stripping to seduce her cousin’s man – did she have to do it in broad daylight, couldn’t she wait until dark?

Kang Wei didn’t dare look at Zhou Cheng’s expression.

Zhou Cheng silently squatted by the roadside listening, their legs growing numb before the stories about the Xia family finished. After quietly listening to everything, Zhou Cheng silently gestured for Kang Wei to get in the car, still not speaking. Kang Wei thought that Brother Cheng had finally wanted to date someone, but his judgment wasn’t great, picking Xia Xiaolan – he must be feeling terrible now.

Being understanding, he decided to never mention this name or incident again.

Besides, Brother Cheng wouldn’t be in this business anymore, rarely passing through Anqing County – he’d slowly forget this embarrassing incident.

Back at the guesthouse, Kang Wei started packing to check out, but Zhou Cheng stopped him:

“What are you doing?”

Kang Wei carefully explained: “Aren’t we rushing back to Beijing? Or we could leave tomorrow morning – there’s nothing worth staying for in this place.”

Zhou Cheng lit a cigarette, the smoke veiling his handsome face like a thin gauze – Kang Wei couldn’t read his expression:

“Who said we’re leaving? Put your things down.”

Kang Wei couldn’t believe it – still not leaving after all this?

“Brother Cheng, you’re not thinking of confronting her, are you? Let me advise you against it – women are so good at lying!”

Xia Xiaolan would deny everything!

Who would admit to doing such things? People tend to beautify their actions. Zhou Cheng had never dated before, and the first time he fell for someone, it had to be a vixen – their abilities were too mismatched, and he was completely enchanted. As for what Xia Xiaolan said at the restaurant earlier, that was just playing hard to get, rejecting him righteously to make Zhou Cheng even more invested.

Despite Kang Wei’s emotional and rational arguments, he couldn’t convince Zhou Cheng.

Zhou Cheng had always been someone with strong convictions since childhood, with natural leadership qualities – all the young people in their group listened to him. Zhou Cheng was so popular, and now he was about to fall for a country girl – Kang Wei was beside himself with worry.

“Brother, please think this through.”

“Little Wei, do you know why you have to call me brother?”

Zhou Cheng’s response seemed completely unrelated, and Kang Wei looked at him.

Zhou Cheng was sparing with his words: “Because you’re foolish.”

Kang Wei thought, that no matter how foolish he was, he wasn’t as foolish as Zhou Cheng – completely bewitched by a vixen.

“Tomorrow, go find this Zhang Erlai person for me. He’s from Shipozi Village, has a name and everything – I trust you can find him without much difficulty.”

Was he going to confront Xia Xiaolan’s lover?

Well, if that’s what he wanted – seems Brother Cheng still couldn’t let go.

“Brother, aren’t you coming with me?”

Zhou Cheng shook his head, “Your sister-in-law is coming to sell eggs in the county town tomorrow, I’m worried she’ll be too tired by herself!”

Kang Wei’s jaw dropped.

He thought Brother Cheng wanted to confront Xia Xiaolan. Turns out he was just worried about her being tired. But hadn’t she been selling eggs by herself before? Kang Wei didn’t want to argue with someone who seemed bewitched – finding Zhang Erlai from Shipozi Village would do. After one more day’s delay in Anqing County, surely Brother Cheng would give up?

Early the next morning, Kang Wei drove to Shipozi Village.

Shipozi Village was in the same direction as Dahe Village, named after a stone-paved dock on the riverbank. He wasn’t worried about running into Xia Xiaolan while driving. Zhou Cheng still waited at the previous intersection. Before seven o’clock, Xia Xiaolan arrived on her bicycle.

“Brother Zhou!”

Xia Xiaolan applied the brakes, surprised to see him waiting here again – her reputation hadn’t scared him away. There were two situations where men didn’t care about a woman’s reputation: one was when they were desperately in love with the woman, caring only about her as a person, not about conditions, reputation, family background, or other external factors; the other was when men just wanted to play around, with no intention of marrying, so who cared about reputation?

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know which type Zhou Cheng was, but since he had shown respect so far, she decided to maintain a normal friendship with him.

“You’re early again today.”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “I’m not selling eggs in Anqing County today. I deliberately left early because I want to visit the provincial capital.”