Ding Jiajia came out of the kitchen with five other women, including Li Dani. She sat quietly and obediently among them, not attracting much attention.

She used to spend most of her time at home processing medicinal herbs in the village and rarely went out. She was not familiar with most of the women in the village, and her fair face turned red when she was suddenly stared at by everyone.

Aunt Zhang thought she had been right, and looked at Ding Jiajia with contempt, as if she were immoral.

Upon hearing that Jiajia was being mentioned, Qin Yilin reacted like a ruffled hen, sarcastically saying, "What kind of talk is that? Does your Chunhua stay at home all day without ever stepping out of the house? Oh, I misspoke, your house doesn't even have a second door."

She only truly understood the meaning of the saying "Etiquette does not extend to commoners" after arriving in Shanshui Village.

Farmers are busy with work. During the busy farming season and harvest time, all the men and women, young and old, are mobilized. If it were according to the etiquette of wealthy families, at least half of the labor force would be missing!

Putting everything else aside, the "showing one's face in public" requirement is unacceptable.

The Zhang family took their daughter to visit everyone, and even dared to suggest that Jiajia should avoid suspicion.

So only other people's daughters need to avoid suspicion, but hers doesn't?

In the past, Shuiqing would find a way to resolve the issue once and for all, such as recognizing Ding Jiajia as her sworn sister, or having her parents recognize Jiajia as their goddaughter, so that the two families could remain relatives for a long time.

But realizing that Jiajia was Wenhua's sweetheart, and that Jiajia probably didn't dislike Wenhua that much, she couldn't do that no matter what, otherwise Wenhua would blame her for being a useless and troublesome older sister.

She should be an wingman, not a liability!

“Even if Wenhua goes to help, Jiajia will still be with her parents. If we need to avoid suspicion even in that case, then the girls in our village might not be able to leave home to work in the future?”

Aunt Li thought this wouldn't do.

Although Tiantian doesn't need to work in the fields, she still has to bring them food and water during the busy farming season. On ordinary days, she goes to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables and go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. If she were to follow the Zhang family's standards, she would also be without a reputation!

"Zhang Er's wife, don't spout nonsense! We women already have so many restrictions, and you're raising them even higher. Are you trying to make life difficult for the girls in our village?"

Aunt Zhang followed closely behind: "Are you so strict with Chunhua? Then why do you often come to my house to loiter?"

I noticed that Chunhua and Jiajia are about the same age. Since they want to avoid suspicion, they should stay indoors instead of hanging around outside.

"Oh, does this mean that married women like us can no longer easily show our faces in public?"

Aunt Zhang didn't expect that her words directed at Ding Jiajia would cause everyone to talk about her instead of Ding Jiajia!

Zhang Chunhua bit her lip, inwardly blaming her mother for not knowing how to speak properly and offending everyone in the room.

However, the Hu family's protection of the Ding family made her feel a little unhappy.

Then she looked at Ding Jiajia, whose cheeks were flushed, in the opposite corner.

Did she have any contact with Hu Wenhua?

She has to ask!

“That’s not what my mother meant. It’s just that we arrived early. Aunt Ding and Sister Jiajia were already here. Besides, Sister Shuiqing’s family’s lunch was made by Sister Jiajia.”

My mother was probably curious, wondering when the two families had become so close. Besides, although Sister-in-law Shuiqing's own son was young, she had several other children... In any case, my mother meant well.

After Zhang Chunhua finished speaking, she looked at Ling Ran and Bai Ziqian on the other side.

Bai Ziqian is a bit young, while Ling Ran is about the same age as Jiajia. With her words like that, the women in the village will definitely speculate in that direction.

This is the best approach, as it avoids affecting Hu Wenhua while also damaging Ding Jiajia's reputation.

However, I must say, Ling Ran is really good-looking!

He was tall and imposing, with a cold aura, but unfortunately he was just a beggar taken in by Shui Qing's family. No matter how handsome he was, he couldn't compare to Hu Wenhua, who was half of his master.

Shuiqing realized that she had been wrong in the past.

She always thought that "white lotus" and "green tea" were negative adjectives, but now she feels that using these two terms to describe Zhang Chunhua is actually a compliment!