Xia Heping looked at his wife with some anger: "What are you saying? How could our daughter do anything bad?"

“Oh dear, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that the things Qingqing brought back today are far beyond what she can afford. I haven’t given her that much money in total,” Zhang Hongyan explained to her husband with a frown.

The things Xia Qingqing brought back today are still in their room's closet; they're all nice things they couldn't bear to buy.

Xia Heping had absolute faith in his daughter.

"I think you're just overthinking things. What bad things could a young girl like Qingqing do? She already said the ticket was given to her by a classmate, so the money was probably what she had saved up before. Can't people save up some money themselves?"

“I’m worried that she and that classmate might secretly go to the black market to do business. What if…” Zhang Hongyan’s voice was full of concern for her daughter. What would happen if they got caught?

Hearing this, Xia Heping's expression turned serious, and he said hesitantly, "Our daughter probably doesn't have that much guts. Besides, she hasn't been to the county for ten or fifteen days. What kind of business could she possibly have made?"

"That seems to be true. She even brought Gou Dan along today. If she really had a secret, she definitely wouldn't have brought Gou Dan along," Zhang Hongyan muttered to herself, finally convincing herself.

Having put aside her worries, Zhang Hongyan fell asleep soon after, unaware that she was actually very close to the truth.

Xia Qingqing is indeed running a business, but someone else is doing the errands for her, which is why she doesn't have to go to the county so often.

——

The next day, Xia Qingqing slept soundly until after 10 a.m., a rare occurrence for her.

Zhang Hongyan had actually called her once in the morning, but seeing that she couldn't be woken up, she simply stopped calling her.

The child finally gets a chance to rest, so of course we should let her sleep a little longer.

When Xia Qingqing woke up, no one was home. Xia Heping and Zhang Hongyan had gone to work, and Gou Dan had gone to play with his friends.

After she finished washing up, she went to the main room and saw two boiled sweet potatoes on the dining table. Zhang Hongyan had specially saved them for her breakfast.

After slowly finishing one sweet potato, Xia Qingqing couldn't eat anymore, so she put the remaining sweet potato back on the table.

After lying in her room for a while, Xia Qingqing found the leisurely days rather boring, and she suspected that she might be addicted to working.

Despite inwardly criticizing herself, Xia Qingqing followed her own decision and headed straight for the pigsty.

When she arrived, Liu Caixia was chopping pig feed. When she saw Xia Qingqing coming over, she greeted her warmly and even joked, "Qingqing, you can't bear to leave these pigs, so you came to check on them?"

Xia Qingqing glanced at the squealing pigs and found them strangely adorable after a while.

"Sister-in-law, I was planning to take a couple of days off, but I was bored at home, so I came to chat with you."

Liu Caixia's conversation with Xia Qingqing didn't stop her from chopping pig feed. Her smooth and efficient movements were something Xia Qingqing couldn't match even after a month of hard practice.

"That's great! I haven't properly thanked you yet. If it weren't for you last time, I might have died along with my unborn child," Liu Caixia said, still feeling a bit scared when she recalled the incident.

She never expected to slip and fall, and her stomach started hurting so badly that she couldn't get up.

If Xia Qingqing hadn't discovered her in time, she might have been dead.

Xia Qingqing waved her hand: "Sister-in-law, don't be so polite with me. Anyone would have helped in that situation. Brother Dehong even gave me 20 eggs."

Actually, Zhang Dehong secretly slipped Xia Qingqing 10 yuan later, saying it was to thank her for saving his wife and daughter's lives, but Xia Qingqing refused.

Saving people was just a simple thing to do; we're all from the same village, how could Xia Qingqing possibly accept money from them?

Although Liu Caixia spent a month in postpartum confinement at home, she didn't miss out on any of the gossip she was supposed to hear, including the rumors that Xia Qingqing was being spread by Cai the matchmaker and her accomplices.

The tone was still indignant when he brought it up: "If I hadn't been unable to get out of bed at the time, I would have gone up and slapped them a few times. They don't even realize that their son is a fool, yet they still want to eat swan meat like a toad."

Seeing that she was even angrier than herself, Xia Qingqing said with a smile, "It's okay. I have high standards for finding a partner. What they said isn't entirely wrong. In fact, it helped me a lot."

Since Zhu Zi's mother and Matchmaker Cai spread rumors about Xia Qingqing, although there were some gossips, no one came to Xia Qingqing's door to arrange a marriage anymore, and even Zhang Hongyan stopped mentioning marriage.

Liu Caixia nodded knowingly and agreed, saying, "Yes, Qingqing, you are one of the few high school students in our brigade. Not just any ugly or ugly person is good enough for you. You must find an excellent man."

Xia Qingqing had no reply to this and could only laugh awkwardly twice.

Fortunately, Liu Caixia didn't need Xia Qingqing to respond; she had endless things to say on her own, sharing all the gossip she had heard during her postpartum period.

Many of the stories were ones that Xia Qingqing had never heard of before, yet she listened with great interest.

I never expected that Sister-in-law Caixia would be so well-informed even though she doesn't go out.

Suddenly, Liu Caixia looked at Xia Qingqing with a gossipy expression: "Qingqing, there's something your sister-in-law has been curious about for a long time. Do you prefer someone like Zhang Jianguo or someone like Song Zhiqing?"

Both men had helped Xia Qingqing before, and as someone with experience, Liu Caixia could tell at a glance that both of them were interested in Xia Qingqing.

Xia Qingqing never expected that this trouble would come back to haunt her.

"Sister-in-law, please stop joking. I have no relationship with them whatsoever."

“Hey, just because it doesn’t matter now doesn’t mean it won’t matter in the future. I think both of them are pretty good, they are rare outstanding young people in our brigade,” Liu Caixia began to list the two’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I think Jianguo is better. The brigade leader knows everything about his family. Although Song, the educated youth, is from the city, who knows when he might go back?”

"Qingqing, what do you think? Which one do you prefer?"

"Oh, sister-in-law, you're so funny. This isn't a concubine selection. I can't just pick whoever I like," Xia Qingqing said, covering her mouth and laughing when Liu Caixia asked her so seriously.

Liu Caixia was amused by her analogy: "How can it not count? Don't both of them have feelings for you?"

"Are they all interested in me?" Xia Qingqing was about to ask Liu Caixia where this idea came from when she heard someone calling her name.

Liu Caixia's gossip spirit was instantly ignited, and she pointed at the people behind Xia Qingqing and laughed, "Look, isn't this just like speaking of the devil and he appears?"