Zhou wanted to drive Ling away, so he went to Zhou's mother's workplace and planned to ask her to borrow some money from a colleague and return it in a few days.

When he arrived at the large yard of the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhou Xiang went straight to the fertilizer warehouse. Zhou's mother was the warehouse manager who distributed fertilizers.

"Zhou Xiang, Zhou Xiang." A voice called out from behind. Zhou Xiang stopped and looked back.

Zhou Xiang felt annoyed when he saw Zhong Ling running towards him, but he couldn't go too far. It would be bad if others thought he was bullying her.

Zhong Ling was a very good person and had a sweet mouth. In the yard of the supply and marketing cooperative, many people praised her, which earned her mother a lot of face. Her mother gradually became more generous to her and occasionally gave her some pocket money.

She saved up her pocket money, and added the money she saved for stationery, so she had quite a few dollars in savings!

However, Zhou Xiang didn't dare to borrow money from her. Within a minute, everyone in the courtyards of both units would know that he borrowed not just a few cents, but several dollars. A child who dared to borrow so much money from others would be considered a bad kid in the eyes of adults.

"It's you! Zhong Ling, do you want to call me for something?" Zhou Xiang said lightly.

Zhong Ling didn't expect Zhou Xiang's tone to be so indifferent. She thought that the school incident would be over in a few days! After all, it was always like this before. As long as she talked to her first, she would forget about the past.

"No, it's okay. I just wanted to ask if you're doing well at home these days. Are you tired from working every day?"

"Oh, thank you for your concern. I'm not tired. It saves me a lot of time to study every day!"

"Ah? Studying? Aren't you not going to class anymore?" Zhong Ling was surprised. She had helped her publicize the fact that she would no longer go to class.

Zhong Ling's exclamation made two passing family members stop. They heard Zhong Ling's exclamation clearly. It had been spread all over the yard recently that Zhou's mother had withdrawn her child from school in order to let the child do housework at home.

Zhou Xiangjian saw the gossipy expressions on the faces of the two women who stopped, and then thought about Zhong Ling's big mouth. He guessed that everyone in the courtyard knew that he had dropped out of school. He was really impressed by her.

"I'm not going to class anymore, but that doesn't mean I won't study, nor do I mean I've dropped out. I'm just studying at home, understand? Zhong Ling, don't be so nervous next time. Girls should be more polite and steady. Okay, I still have to go find my mom! Bye!"

Then he turned to the two women who were listening to the gossip and said, "Goodbye, aunties!"

The two women were a little embarrassed as they were caught listening to gossip by the person involved. However, it was indeed a piece of news that was not too big or too small. Zhou Xiang did not drop out of school to do housework at home, but was studying at home. Children who can study by themselves are all smart children.

By the time Zhong Ling reacted, the two women had already left, taking the new gossip with them. Zhong Ling suddenly felt bad. Her performance just now, combined with Zhou Xiang's words, had dragged down her usual impression.

This annoying Zhou Xiang used to never refute anything I said, but now she not only refutes me, but also criticizes me for not being like a girl.

In this era, what people care about most is girls being ungentlemanly, and "wild girl" is the most hurtful comment to girls.

Zhong Ling wanted to see what Zhou Xiang wanted to do with her mother, but she thought there were more people at the warehouse. If Zhou Xiang found an excuse to criticize her again, her image would be completely ruined. So she had to go back home.

The two women she met on the road were chatting with others. Zhong Ling didn't know whether they were talking about what had just happened, so she returned home with suspicion.

I met my neighbor Shan Jing at the doorstep. She was the delicate young lady who never did housework. She was just coming back from outside with a bag of melon seeds in her hand. It seemed that she had just bought them from outside.

Zhong Ling's eyes turned red with jealousy. Why was it that Dan Jing, a girl as well, didn't do any housework but still had a lot of pocket money every day?

"Sister Jing, are you buying melon seeds again? Girls should be polite. It's so ugly to keep your mouth on the ground all day long. You look like a woman."

Zhong Ling sprayed out what she had just learned from Zhou Xiang, along with her own anger, at Shan Jing.

Just looking at her quietly, this girl is too ugly, her heart is too ugly.

"Don't you know? Only women like to meddle in other people's affairs. Only women care about what others eat and drink every day!"

Zhong Ling was sprayed back by Dan Jing again, and the two sprays made her lose her mind.

"Yes, you're not a woman, you're a delicate young lady. You sit around cracking melon seeds all day, never doing any housework, and you hold your head high like you're from a big city. Humph! Even now, if it were before, you'd be a landlord, worthy of being locked up in the cowshed."

"You're not a woman, yet you're so nosy and nagging. What's your business if I do what I like? You're not the neighborhood committee lady!"

Although Zhong Ling didn't know what the neighborhood committee auntie meant, she felt that if the terms "auntie" and "woman" were used on a girl, it would be an insult.

In this newly liberalized era, girls still care about their reputation and hate being labeled as "woman-like", as if being called a woman's person makes their body unclean.

However, there is indeed an example of a girl of twelve or thirteen who loves to visit neighbors and gossip, and her physical development is also relatively good.

How does the saying go? Who doesn't talk behind others' backs? Who doesn't get talked about behind their backs?

The little girl loved to gossip, and those who loved to gossip often mentioned her. Gradually, she became the gossip of others. One time, someone casually said, "She is just like us women, gossiping about other people's affairs all day long."

Then the word got around, and all that was left was, "She's like a woman."

Then everyone started looking at her strangely, and later some people even said that her body developed well because she was already a woman.

Then the girl committed suicide, but people still didn't let her off because of her suicide. They still said that she deserved it and committed suicide because she felt guilty.

In this era, any girl who was not innocent was considered a woman, so when the word "woman" was used to refer to an unmarried girl, it became a word that meant the girl was not proper, just like in later generations one cannot call someone "Miss" casually.

Zhong Ling was so angry that she rushed forward to fight with Shan Jing. Shan Jing's mother came back at that moment, stopped Zhong Ling, and took her to find her mother to settle the score.

Zhong Ling finally came to her senses and realized that all her efforts were in vain. Her mother had lost face and would hate her to death.

"No, I don't want to go. You are bullying me!" After saying that, he sat down on the ground.

Seeing her acting like a rural shrew, Shan's mother was speechless and just crossed her arms and watched her performance.

Even though Zhong Ling had no tears, she would wail anyway, which attracted the women and also attracted Zhong's mother.