After everything was packed, she picked up her enamel lunch box and prepared to go to the educated youth canteen to get breakfast.

As soon as I walked into the corridor leading to the lobby of the educated youth center, a female voice with obvious anger came through the thin wall.

"Liu Liwen! Wang Hongxia! Zhang Cuicui! Are you guys done yet? You're still gossiping here so early in the morning. Are your mouths like toilets? They stink!"

It’s Zhou Mei.

"Liu Liwen, I'm warning you. If you keep talking nonsense like that, be careful Lin Jianxue might hear you and come over to smack you again! The marks on your face from that slap last time were only a few days old, right? So, you only remember the food and not the beating. Are you itching again? I've got to get you treated again!"

Lin Jianxue paused slightly and raised the corner of his eyebrow slightly.

Zhou Mei looks thin and small, but I didn't expect her to be so eloquent and aggressive.

"Li Mei! You're talking nonsense!" Liu Liwen's harsh voice immediately hit back, "Are you the dog that Lin Jianxue raised? Why are you so protective of her? What good has she done for you? Am I wrong? Last night! How long had the lights been out at the educated youth center? She sneaked back in! Who did she come back with? Don't you all know? Wang Hongxia! Zhang Cuicui! You all saw it!"

Another slightly shrill female voice quickly chimed in, "Yes! I saw it! It was right outside our dormitory, on that dark dirt road! Lin Jianxue was arm in arm with a man, looking so affectionate! It was so late, a man and a woman alone, who knows what shameful things they were doing! Tsk tsk, people from the city are just different, they have no sense of shame at all!"

Lin Jianxue heard it.

The voice was Wang Hongxia.

She was a female educated youth that Liu Liwen was close to.

Lin Jianxue understood.

Although she had only been in the countryside for about a week, this group of young educated youth from all over the country had quickly formed cliques and small groups.

She lived in a single room and, apart from necessary physical activities, didn't interact much with the other female educated youth. Some of them had probably long disliked her, thinking she was aloof and unsociable, and now, having seen the opportunity, they naturally wanted to stir up trouble and throw a pot of dirty water on her.

"Wang Hongxia, you're talking nonsense! Which eye did you see that?!" Zhou Mei was so angry that her voice was shaking. "You're deliberately ruining her reputation! I'm going to tell Captain Liang! Let him judge the matter!"

"Oh! Complain?" Liu Liwen sneered, her voice full of provocation. "Go ahead! If you're brave enough, bring Lin Jianxue out right now! Make her tell it in front of everyone! Was she out fooling around with some random guy last night and didn't come back until late at night? Let's see if she dares to admit it!"

"You! You are simply unreasonable!" Zhou Mei was obviously very angry.

In the lobby, several other educated youth who had risen early also gathered around. Some were talking in low voices, while others were just watching the fun without any hesitation.

Lin Jianxue took a deep breath and didn't stop.

She carried the lunch box, walked out, and appeared at the lobby door.

The morning light shone in from behind her, outlining her slender and upright figure. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes were calm as she glanced at the people quarreling in the middle.

The noisy lobby of the hotel became eerily quiet for a few seconds the moment she appeared.

Wang Hongxia and Zhang Cuicui subconsciously shrank back, avoiding her gaze and not daring to look her in the face.

Only Liu Liwen, like a cat whose tail was stepped on, with all her fur standing on end, her neck stiffened, and she glared at her fiercely.

Lin Jianxue's gaze finally fell on Liu Liwen, and a very faint arc appeared at the corner of her lips, as if she was smiling.

——"I heard you were looking for me?"

The air seemed to be stagnant.

Liu Liwen felt inexplicably uneasy when she saw her calm eyes, but thinking about the "facts" she saw last night and the support of others around her, she became braver again.

She took a step forward, almost pointing at Lin Jianxue's nose, and shouted:

"Lin Jianxue! Stop pretending! You've come just in time! Tell everyone yourself! After lights out last night, were you hanging out with some random guy outside, hanging out until late at night?!"

"You're a newly divorced woman, and you're so eager to hook up with a man! And you even brought him to the vicinity of our educated youth camp! You're totally shameless!"