Chapter 179
Zhu Qiaoting met his puzzled gaze and explained, "I saw that she wanted to say something to you, Brother Shen... I realized that you were in a difficult situation, so I said that. If I did anything wrong, Brother Shen, please don't blame me. I won't meddle in other people's business next time."
Shen Kang smiled and said, “You didn’t meddle in other people’s business, and you didn’t do anything wrong. You helped me a lot. Thank you.”
Zhu Qiaoting also smiled and warned, "Brother Shen, you should not be alone in the future. That girl likes you very much. Her family has some connections, and her style of doing things is different from others."
Chen Kang understood Zhu Qiaoting's subtle reminder and thanked her again.
Zhu Qiaoting thought that after this incident, she would have to find a way to get close to Shen Kang and talk to him as much as possible so that Shen Kang would have a better impression of her.
Little did she know that the girl directly brought her and Shen Kang together.
The reason was that the girl felt that Zhu Qiaoting had offended her by calling Chen Kang away that day, so she felt resentful towards Zhu Qiaoting.
Someone in her family happened to be a scorekeeper, so the girl had them oversee the scoring and make things difficult for Zhu Qiaoting. Whenever Zhu Qiaoting stopped working to stretch her legs, the scorekeeper would come over and scold her, accusing her of being lazy. He also found fault with Zhu Qiaoting and always deducted points from her work.
Zhu Qiaoting is not stupid. After so many times, she naturally realized that she was being targeted.
Zhu Qiaoting simply took advantage of this opportunity and deliberately wiped her tears in front of Chen Kang and other young men when she passed by them.
She heard the male educated youths talking:
"What happened to Zhu Zhiqing? Who bullied him?"
"Don't you know? The scorekeepers have been targeting her lately. Whenever they find her taking a break, they say she's lazy and deduct her work points."
"Ah? Did she offend the scorekeeper?"
"Who knows?"
Others didn't know the reason, but Shen Kang, as one of the parties involved, thought about it carefully and guessed what was going on.
He blamed himself deeply. Zhu Qiaoting was targeted by the scorekeeper because of him, but he was unable to speak up for her and told the scorekeeper not to target Zhu Qiaoting and to come to him if anything went wrong.
He could only take some things that his family sent him and give them to Zhu Qiaoting to express his guilt.
Zhu Qiaoting wiped her tears and smiled generously, "I'm fine. I didn't do anything wrong. I can't just sit there and watch you get blackmailed by that girl. I don't regret it. But, Brother Shen, can I ask you for a favor? If people ask, don't tell them about that girl blocking you on the road. I'm afraid if word gets out, she'll deny it. She might not bother you, but she might get even worse at me."
After careful consideration, Shen Kang felt that Zhu Qiaoting's concerns were justified, so he agreed.
Zhu Qiaoting placed the things that Chen Kang had given her in a prominent place at the educated youth camp. Within a few days, everyone saw those things.
Whenever someone asks Zhu Qiaoting: "Is this sent to you by your family?"
Zhu Qiaoting always smiled without saying anything.
Afterwards, Zhu Qiaoting used the excuse that the scorer targeted her for not having enough to eat, and acted pitifully in front of Shen Kang, and asked Shen Kang to give her some things.
She still placed it in the most conspicuous place at the educated youth site, and still smiled and said nothing when someone asked her if it was sent by her family.
After doing this many times, everyone realized that these things were not sent to Zhu Qiaoting by her family, but were given to her by Shen Kang!
Chen Kang gave Zhu Qiaoting so many things from time to time, which inevitably made the people at the educated youth site speculate about their relationship.
A male educated youth who was close to Shen Kang asked him, "Are you and Zhu Zhiqing dating?"
Shen Kang denied it.
The male educated youth asked again: "Those things of Zhu Zhiqing, were given to her by you, right?"
This, Shen Kang couldn't deny, he could only say vaguely: "Zhu Zhiqing helped me a lot."
But no matter how the other party asked, Shen Kang didn't say what kind of help he was doing.
Chen Kang's ambiguous attitude made the male educated youth even more suspicious that Chen Kang was dating Zhu Qiaoting, but he just didn't want to tell them.
The gossip that Chen Kang and Zhu Qiaoting were dating spread throughout the educated youth camp, and soon the villagers also knew about it.
Those female educated youth who had a good impression of Shen Kang became unfriendly towards Zhu Qiaoting.
This was especially true for the girls in the village who had a crush on Shen Kang. They all regarded Zhu Qiaoting as their enemy, rolling their eyes at her was the least they could do, and some even spit at her.
The girl who had wanted to be tough with Shen Kang before, after learning about this, blocked Zhu Qiaoting on the road, slapped Zhu Qiaoting several times, and cursed at her, saying that it was no wonder that her plans would be ruined, because it turned out that she had been eyeing Shen Kang for a long time.
Zhu Qiaoting covered her swollen face and ran back to the educated youth site crying all the way.
While she was crying at the educated youth camp, she kept muttering to herself that she didn't understand why the girl hit her.
Soon, the news that Zhu Qiaoting was beaten spread throughout the educated youth center and naturally reached Shen Kang's ears.
Feeling guilty, Chen Kang took the initiative to find Zhu Qiaoting again.
Seeing Zhu Qiaoting's swollen face, Zhu Qiaoting asked Shen Kang to take her to the health center, and Shen Kang naturally agreed.
On the way, Zhu Qiaoting explained: "She thought we were dating, so she beat me."
Shen Kang was furious: "She's gone too far! I'm going to tell the captain about this."
"Are you saying we're not in a relationship? Then everyone will laugh at me even more. They'll laugh at me for pretending like we are even though we're not." Zhu Qiaoting smiled bitterly.
"How can you pretend?" Shen Kang disagreed.
"In everyone's eyes, I was just pretending. No matter how I explained, everyone would think I was pretending. No matter what I did, everyone would think I was wrong." Zhu Qiaoting said distressedly.
Shen Kang was silent.
Zhu Qiaoting took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to say, "Chen Kang, why don't we be together like everyone wants us to be."
Shen Kang was stunned and remained silent.
Zhu Qiaoting said desperately, "I'm in this state now. I've been ridiculed, eye-rolled, spat on, and even beaten. And all of this stems from the fact that I stopped that girl on the road that day from doing something to you. If you were really my partner, you would have a legitimate reason to protect me. Unlike now, even if you tried to stand up for me, I'd still be the one being laughed at. Everyone would just say I seduced you and that I was playing pitiful in front of you."
Shen Kang hesitated.
He knew that he was the cause of everything and he felt very guilty. He should indeed be responsible for Zhu Qiaoting's current situation and protect her.
But...but...
Zhu Qiaoting looked at Chen Kang with a dark gaze and said miserably, "Chen Kang, do you still want to see me continue to be bullied?"
"I..." Shen Kang wanted to say that he had promised his family that he would not date here. Besides, he didn't want to date now.
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