"What? The engagement was called off?"
The group looked surprised and were about to ask for more information when two customers waved to Ji Xia: "Comrade, I want half a pound of red dates and a pound of rice cakes."
Ji Xia quickly responded and walked over.
The commune's supply and marketing cooperative was only a few hundred square meters, but it offered a wide variety of goods, though in small quantities.
Ji Xia was in charge of food, which had a wide variety but small quantities, and was often out of stock. After being reborn, she couldn't quite remember where the various food items were placed.
After searching for a while, I found red dates and rice cakes for the customers, and packed milk powder and fruit candies for the other customers. Half an hour later, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the service was very poor back then, and the sales staff were indifferent to customers.
Although Ji Xia was slow in finding things, she was kind and spoke softly, explaining as she searched. The women thought she was quite nice.
After receiving the money and various receipts, and issuing the slips, Liu Hongju came over with a gossipy look on her face.
"Xia, your fiancé is the only college student in the commune. Are you really willing to break off the engagement?"
Before Ji Xia could answer, a well-informed customer exclaimed, "What? That college student is your fiancé? I heard that the female educated youth who was caught in the woods is your fiancé, is that right?"
"Oh my god, he's having an affair with another woman, what are you going to do?"
The news that Chen Jing deliberately spread in the brigade had already reached the commune and other brigades in just half a day.
I heard that Ji Xia is the former fiancée of the person with the scandal, and customers who have finished buying their goods are reluctant to leave.
Ji Xia gave a melancholy smile: "They've become husband and wife, what else can I do but break off the engagement?"
Liu Hongju shook her head, looking puzzled: "Wouldn't that be a huge loss? How much money have you spent on him and his mother since you got engaged? You sent them all sorts of nutritional supplements every month, and then you broke off the engagement as soon as he got into university?"
Liu Hongju is a gossip and a chatterbox, which usually annoys Ji Xia, but today every word she says makes Ji Xia happy.
What a perfect comedic duo! Every line gave her endless room to improvise.
With red eyes, Ji Xia gave everyone a sad smile: "If I don't break off the engagement and give way, he will be guilty of hooliganism and won't be able to go to university."
"Moreover, Liu Zhiqing would be cursed to death by people's spittle and would never be able to get married."
"You're too kind-hearted. People are bullying you, and you're still worried that he won't be able to go to college or get married."
"Exactly, these ungrateful men and sluts shouldn't be allowed to go to university or get married."
Several customers and Liu Hongju stood up for her.
Ji Xia just smiled sadly and turned to greet the guests.
Liu Hongju was allowed to embellish her reputation to a group of customers and criticize Lin Haodong for being an ingrate.
Customers came in and left in waves.
In less than half a day, Lin Haodong and Liu Pianran's names spread throughout the commune and radiated to the surrounding villages, ruining their reputations.
Lin Haodong was unaware of the seriousness of the consequences. He and Liu Pianran hurriedly took Lin's mother to the hospital. After she received injections and medication to relieve her symptoms, he remembered Chen Jing's words.
He couldn't swallow the fact that his affair with Liu Pianran was actually Chen Jing's scheme.
Moreover, he was unwilling to give up so easily and wanted to try again.
Once his mother's condition stabilized, he instructed Liu Pianran to take care of Lin's mother, and then, under the pretext of buying some food, hurriedly went to the supply and marketing cooperative.
In the supply and marketing cooperative, the customers who used to gossip about Liu Hongju were all new faces.
Liu Hongju recounted Lin Haodong's story over and over again until her voice became hoarse, but she still looked excited, as if she was having endless fun.
In the past, Ji Xia might have minded, but this time, she didn't mind at all and let Liu Hongju share with great interest.
Taking advantage of the quiet time when there weren't many shoppers, she carefully organized the food counter she was in charge of, categorizing and arranging the goods, and keeping track of the inventory so that she could have a clear understanding of all the products.
After a long day of work, she finally sorted and arranged all the food items. Just as she took out a high school math book to read in her spare time, Lin Haodong rushed into the supply and marketing cooperative.
"Ah Xia, I know now, Chen Jing framed me—"
When Lin Haodong appeared, the bustling supply and marketing cooperative immediately fell silent. The village women, who had been chatting excitedly, stared at Ji Xia and Lin Haodong with wide-eyed curiosity, like a dozen 1,000-watt searchlights.
Ji Xia dodged Lin Haodong's clutches and said coldly, "Go away, don't come near me."
Lin Haodong stood a meter away with a wronged expression: "A-Xia, it was Chen Jing, Chen Jing harmed me."
"He harmed you? How did he harm you?" Ji Xia smiled sarcastically.
Lin Haodong explained angrily, "Chen Jing did it on purpose. He deliberately brought in the militia. If he hadn't informed on us, this situation would never have happened."
"Chen Jing informed the militia, which is why the militia caught them on the spot?"
Ji Xia looked somewhat surprised and thoughtful. She recalled how Chen Jing had approached her afterward in her previous life, earnestly urging her to consider the matter carefully to avoid future regrets.
She had forgotten how she responded to Chen Jing in her past life, but she remembered the disappointed and heartbroken look in Chen Jing's eyes. He tried to stop her several times and even went to her second brother, Ji Xiangjun, to persuade her, but in the end, he was defeated by her love-struck mind.
Therefore, in her past life, she betrayed Chen Jing's good intentions and ruined her own life.
Lin Haodong grabbed Ji Xia's hand and said angrily in a low voice, "That's right, if he hadn't betrayed me, I wouldn't have needed to marry Liu Pianran at all."
"Did he help you take off your pants? Did he force you fairies to fight?"
Ji Xia forcefully broke free from his hand and questioned him expressionlessly, causing the listeners nearby to chuckle.
Lin Haodong's expression froze, and he quickly apologized, "Xia, I know I was wrong. Liu Pianran seduced me, and I didn't handle it well."
"You'd sleep with any woman who seduces you? Would you sleep with a cow?"
"I didn't mean to, you have no idea how seductive she is—"
"You once told me that during the process of evolution, apes learned to control themselves with reason and thus became humans, while beasts only have animal instincts, so they can't control themselves when seduced by women. Are you an incomplete dinosaur, or have you not evolved at all?"
Suddenly, someone next to me replied calmly, "The books I've read say that even birds and animals can be monogamous, like red-crowned cranes, antelopes, geese, and wolves. They only have one mate for their entire lives."
Ji Xia glanced back and saw another relatively quiet female colleague, He Qiuying. She was surprised to find that He Qiuying was so knowledgeable.
Upon hearing this, Liu Hongju burst into laughter: "Is this what you call worse than an animal?"
Lin Haodong's face darkened, while Ji Xia glanced at Lin Haodong with a serious expression: "I am very grateful to Chen Jing. It was his meddling that made me see your true nature and understand that you are worse than a beast."
Lin Haodong clutched his head in anguish: "Xia, were all the good things you did for me in the past just a lie? I made a small mistake that every man in the world would make, is it really that unforgivable?"
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