Accompanied by several aunts, Jiang Yan walked all the way back to the educated youth compound.

The other members of the educated youth team were quite surprised to see her soaking wet and accompanied by villagers.

After hearing the accounts of what happened from the aunties, I was speechless.

How could this person catch fish with empty hands? And by sheer coincidence, he fell into the water just as Zhao Honghui was passing by?

Although Bei Xiao is naive and innocent, she is not truly without intelligence. Based on Jiang Yan's past behavior, she quickly figured out her intentions.

She curled her lip, thinking that only the simple-minded villagers would believe her nonsense.

But since she's still my little follower, I won't embarrass her in front of others.

Wu Lihong frowned, looking at Jiang Yan with a complicated expression, hesitant to speak.

After the aunties left, Ren Fei, who already had a crush on Zhao Honghui, shouted angrily, "You clearly deliberately fell into the water to scheme against Comrade Zhao! I'm going to tell him the truth!"

Jiang Yan grabbed her arm, her face darkening. "I haven't offered myself to you, why are you in such a hurry? Do you think everyone throws themselves at you like you do?"

"I'll tear your mouth apart!" Ren Fei lunged at him in a fit of rage.

The two were locked in a fierce struggle, and bystanders couldn't separate them.

***

Xie Yuyao and Yang Shumei were completely unaware of the farce at the educated youth compound. After cutting and handing over the grass, they went straight to town.

From the day she received the income from Huangqi (Astragalus membranaceus), Xie Yuyao put the past behind her and devoted herself to the research and development of braising sauce.

Perhaps it was a case of being unlucky in love but lucky in business, because after wasting a lot of seasonings, she finally managed to make a pot of delicious braising sauce that satisfied her.

This house-building and cooking project will come in handy.

To prevent them from running out of meat if they arrived late, she asked Zhao Jianbin to save two jin of pork belly and two pig trotters for them to pick up at the meat processing plant the next morning.

According to Zhao Jianbin, his aunt Yang Chunhua learned that her eldest son had broken up with his girlfriend and no longer believed that Zhao Honghui could find a wife on his own. She has been pressuring him to go on blind dates every day.

As a result, Zhao Honghui left early and returned late every day, trying to minimize the time he spent at home.

Xie Yuyao understood what Zhao Jianbin meant, but she just smiled and let it go.

The ideas formed from childhood cannot be changed overnight.

After walking all the way to the town, Yang Shumei said, "I want to go to the post office to mail a letter and see if there are any packages. After you mentioned it last time, I wrote a letter asking my mother to send my books over."

Speaking of this, Xie Yuyao suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to send a letter to the original owner's family to let them know she was safe.

She also didn't receive the books that her mother had sent before she left, as if she really was an orphan, all alone.

It doesn't matter whether the books are sent or not; she can find them at bookstores or recycling stations.

But should we send a letter to let them know we're safe?

She put herself in the original owner's shoes and thought about it. After decades of being born and raised, the original owner must have had feelings for her parents. Sending them a message that everything was alright wouldn't take much trouble.

So, when they passed by Xinhua Bookstore, Xie Yuyao went in and bought paper and pen, and casually wrote down a few words to wish them peace.

She didn't mention sending the book at all. Since it wasn't really necessary, she didn't want to trouble others.

At the post office, she bought an envelope and stamps and mailed the letter.

Yang Shumei, who was standing next to her, received a large package and smiled happily, "It must be my dad who sent the books."

"Let's take it back and unpack it; there's too much stuff to carry around."

After leaving the post office, the two bought vegetables such as tofu, kelp, and mushrooms, as well as a whole duck. Xie Yuyao planned to make braised duck necks, duck frames, and duck feet.

Finally, the two went to the meat processing plant to get pork from Zhao Jianbin, and then embarked on their journey home to cook.

When Yang Shumei returned home, her package indeed contained many books and brand-new winter clothes. There was also a thick letter stuffed with a lot of money and tickets.

"We have the money for the renovation!" Yang Shumei put the money aside and started reading the letter.

"You keep an eye on things, I'm going out to wash the vegetables."

For lunch, the two of them made a large plate of stir-fried pork, stir-fried potatoes, eggplant, green peppers, and tomato and egg soup, and steamed two baskets of large steamed buns as their staple food.

"Uncles, lunchtime!"

"Okay!"

Upon hearing Xie Yuyao's call, Zhao Jiefang and the other two put down their work, washed their hands, and went into the main room.

Seeing the sumptuous lunch on the table, Zhao Jiefang said, "Wow! You guys are so honest, why did you cook so much meat?"

"It's not much, it's not much. My cooking skills aren't very good, so please make do with what you have," Yang Shumei said modestly.

"Don't spend so much next time, or we'll eat you out of house and home."

"Hehe, okay."

Xie Yuyao and her friend agreed with a smile, but neither of them had any intention of lowering the quality of the work meal.

During the meal, the other educated youth also returned from work.

Xie Yuyao noticed that the relationship between the female educated youths was subtle, as if they were intentionally or unintentionally isolating Jiang Yan. She wondered what tricks Jiang Yan had up her sleeve this time.

After Zhao Jiefang and the others finished lunch and went home to rest, Xie Yuyao asked, "What happened to you this morning?"

“Ask her!” Ren Fei pointed at Jiang Yan, gritting her teeth.

Jiang Yan glanced at the group with haughty disdain, then walked straight out of the courtyard, seemingly heading off somewhere.

Wu Lihong recounted what happened that morning when Jiang Yan fell into the water, and Ren Fei added angrily from the side, "She did it on purpose!"

"That's it," Ren Fei added, "Yu Yao, why did you two break up? If you were still together, Jiang Yan would never have done something like this."

That's hard to say. Some people don't care whether someone is already taken or not; they'll even rush to become a mistress if the man is married.

Xie Yuyao recalled a movie she had seen before, where the male and female leads had a falling out, and a vicious female supporting character took advantage of the situation, leading to a complicated and torturous love triangle.

Fortunately, she had already broken up with Zhao Honghui, otherwise, she wouldn't want to go through such a melodramatic situation.

Seeing Xie Yuyao's lack of reaction after listening, Wu Lihong swallowed back what she was about to say.

Since Jiang Yan's plan hadn't worked out, she decided not to add fuel to the fire.

"Yuyao, why don't you make up with Zhao Honghui? I'd rather he had you as his other half. That despicable Jiang Yan doesn't deserve him!"

Xie Yuyao stared at the sulking Ren Fei, raising an eyebrow teasingly: "And what about you?"

Ren Fei shook her head and sighed. After their breakup, she hadn't given up hope that an opportunity would come.

However, she rarely saw Zhao Honghui, and even when she did, she was defeated by his aloofness and indifference.

She knew very well that it was impossible for her, but Jiang Yan absolutely could not be!

Xie Yuyao lowered her eyes and pondered. The incident of falling into the water seemed to be over, but based on her understanding of Jiang Yan, she knew that Jiang Yan would definitely not let it go. Next, she would probably use a propaganda war.

Sure enough, starting in the afternoon, what was originally a simple rescue incident quickly went awry.

Some say that if Zhao Honghui had rescued Jiang Yan as a hero, and Jiang Yan had reciprocated with her body, it would have led to a beautiful marriage.

Some people say that Jiang Yan's body has been touched by Zhao Honghui, and that she can never marry anyone else but him in this life.

Some even say that they were already dating and were on a date when they were spotted by passersby, which caused Jiang Yan to panic and fall into the water.

This matter has already spread like wildfire in Qingshantun. Whether it's true or not, Jiang Yan's reputation is ruined.