Chapter 318 The Scoundrel Young Master 4 "What are you looking at! What's so interesting! Get lost!"
Seeing the crowd gathered at the door, Shen Yurong felt even more embarrassed and shouted at the door.
Her attitude immediately made some people who had initially felt some sympathy for her frown.
Just then, a slender figure appeared at the alley entrance, carrying a large basket almost half her height on her back, walking with slightly unsteady steps, heading towards the Shen family's house.
Zi Xi had just come down from the nearby mountain, her wisps of hair damp with sweat and clinging to her smooth forehead.
Her face was flushed from exhaustion, but her lips were a little chapped.
The huge basket was filled with freshly picked wild mushrooms of all kinds, still smelling of soil and dew.
A hint of confusion lingered in her clear eyes as she looked at the onlookers, then at the mess in the yard and her sister and adoptive parents who seemed to have gone mad.
"What...what's going on?"
Zi Xi spoke softly.
"Where have you been, you little rascal?! Our house has been robbed of everything... How are we going to live?!"
As Shen's mother, Zhao Xiulan, was wailing and crying, she saw Zixi and, as if finding an outlet, rushed over to her, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Where the hell have you been?! Our house has been robbed so badly, and you're out there picking mushrooms?! I think it's all your bad luck that brought this trouble!"
Shen Yurong was already furious, and seeing Zixi pretending to be innocent again only made her angrier, and she vented all her resentment on her.
She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear: she wanted to shift the blame onto Zixi to avoid being scolded herself.
Zi Xi staggered slightly as her adoptive mother pounced on her.
Turning around, she was immediately berated by her older sister, and instinctively she protected the basket on her back.
She raised her watery eyes blankly, which quickly filled with tears of grievance.
Zi Xi glanced at her furious sister, then at her weeping adoptive mother and her ashen-faced adoptive father, and finally at the neighbors with their varied expressions at the door.
"Father, Mother, Sister... I didn't go out to play."
"I noticed things are tough at home lately; the rice jar is almost empty. I was thinking of going to the back mountain to see if I could pick some mushrooms, so... at least we could have something to eat at home..."
"I...I didn't know a thief would break into my house..."
She lowered her head slightly, her long eyelashes trembling, her voice still trembling with tears, yet she tried her best to speak softly enough for those around her to hear.
After she finished speaking, she carefully took the heavy basket off her back and placed it on the ground.
The room was full of good-looking mushrooms, showing how seriously Zixi took picking them.
The surrounding neighbors' opinions changed instantly.
"Tsk tsk, look at her, Zixi is such a sensible child!"
"Exactly! Even though the family is struggling financially, this little girl still knows to pick mushrooms to help them out. What a wonderful child!"
"The Shen family woman and her eldest daughter are really outrageous. They didn't lock the door properly, so why are they taking their anger out on a sensible child?"
"You call them jinxes? I bet if it weren't for Zi Xi, their family would be starving by now!"
"They're bullying an honest child! It's heartbreaking to see her looking so wronged..."
"After all, he's not their biological child..."
The whispers and murmurs entered the ears of the three members of the Shen family without any politeness.
Shen Jianguo, feeling embarrassed, glared fiercely at Zhao Xiulan and Shen Yurong.
Zhao Xiulan's sobs stopped, and she looked embarrassed.
Shen Yurong was so angry that her chest heaved violently. She pointed at Zixi, wanting to call her a hypocrite.
He dared not utter any more harsh words due to public anger, and his face turned a deep purplish-red.
Zi Xi stood there with her head bowed and eyes downcast, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her clothes.
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