Zhao Mingyue and Zhao Minghui pulled Zhao Minglang back, and the onlookers shook their heads and dispersed. Yu Youqing's father, Old Yu, who had witnessed the whole incident, naturally understood why Zhao Mingyue had been publicly humiliated by Zhao Jinyun. With tears in his eyes, he lowered his head, sighed, and went back.
Zhao Mingyue was deeply moved. When she was bullied, her eldest and third brothers stood up for her, and her second brother kept comforting her, reminding her that they were still family.
Zhao Mingyue wiped away her tears and said to her father and brothers, "I'm fine. Let him talk. The innocent will clear themselves. He just wants to find an opportunity to humiliate me."
The second brother, Zhao Minghui, was always rather taciturn and had the most composed personality. He asked, "Mingyue, did you offend Zhao Jinyun somehow? Or did you offend someone else? Why are they reporting you for no reason?"
Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "I don't know either." In her heart, she actually thought of a possibility: the person who wrote the letter was Wang Qiulan, otherwise who would have such a great hatred for her?
Zhao Shunsheng remained silent until they got home and entered the house, at which point he spoke: "Mingyue, now that this has happened, what are you going to do?"
Zhao Mingyue lowered her eyes and said, "There's nothing we can do. Let them talk. The rumors will fall apart on their own."
The eldest brother, Zhao Mingliang, said, "This is purely to ruin your reputation and make it difficult for you to find someone."
When Hu Nianchun heard his wife and sons recount what had happened, he was terrified and tears streamed down his face: "Mingyue, Mingyue, what are we going to do? What will we do now?"
Seeing her mother so anxious, Zhao Mingyue felt bad too. But she knew she couldn't keep it a secret forever. Rather than hearing it from others, she decided it was better for them to tell her themselves: "Mom, it's okay. I'll definitely find a good family for you. Don't worry."
Hu Nianchun wiped away his tears: "Who is this? He's so wicked. He can't stand seeing others do well. Our Mingyue is such a good girl, honest and capable. How did she offend him?"
Apart from Zhao Mingyue herself, everyone in the family was in a state of turmoil. They didn't know what the future held, and this whole affair would definitely damage Zhao Mingyue's reputation. What decent family would be willing to propose marriage then? They would have to find a family far away who had never even heard of such a thing, but the thought of marrying their only daughter so far away was heartbreaking for her parents.
Zhao Mingyue said, "Big brother, second brother, you should all go back. It's nothing, I'm fine. If you're upright, you have nothing to fear. There will always be reasonable people out there. If that person can't even trust my character, I really don't think there's anyone worth marrying. Why suffer like this?"
Zhao Mingliang and Zhao Minghui shook their heads and went home.
Her parents were still sighing and wailing under the lamp. Zhao Mingyue comforted them for a while, then went back to her room.
Zhao Minglang called out to her, "Mingyue, tell me the truth, what exactly happened? How did you offend Zhao Jinyun?"
How could Zhao Mingyue dare to tell him about this? First, his girlfriend was almost taken by Zhao Jinyun, and now his sister was humiliated by Zhao Jinyun. With these old grudges and new hatreds, given Zhao Minglang's fiery temper, he would probably kill Zhao Jinyun. So she said, "I really don't know, Third Brother. I think we'll have a chance to get revenge later, but not now. So please don't be impulsive and just bear with it, okay?"
Zhao Minglang looked at his sister, wondering how she could be so calm, and said angrily, "What kind of mess is this? A bunch of demons and monsters are acting like tyrants."
Zhao Mingyue said, "Don't overthink it. This is my own business. I'm not in a hurry. Why are you all so anxious? Go to sleep."
After Zhao Mingyue returned, the meeting was still not over. Zhao Jinyun, supporting his waist, cried out, "That bastard Zhao Minglang, this is intentional assault, I'm going to sue him."
Shen Xuyue said coldly, "Director Zhao, let's just let this go. He's just a hot-blooded young man, don't take it to heart. Besides, it was indeed your fault for handling the situation poorly. His sister is a young woman, and after what you said, it will be difficult for her to get married in the future."
When Zhao Jinyun heard Shen Xuyue say that Zhao Mingyue would have a hard time getting married in the future, he felt relieved. He held his back and waved his hand, saying, "Then I'll be magnanimous and not hold it against him. I'm going back."
Shen Xuyue looked at Zhao Jinyun and cursed inwardly: What a scoundrel! He had originally wanted Zhao Jinyun to apologize to Zhao Mingyue, but now it seemed that as long as this old rogue and scoundrel didn't bite back, that would be good enough. An apology? No way.
Zhao Mingyue didn't take it seriously. Did they really think they could bring her down with just a few baseless rumors? Their methods were far too clumsy; no one with a brain would believe that.
But she didn't take it seriously, while many others did. The next morning, Zhao Mingyue went to water the plants and found Yu Youqing already carrying water to water the fields. When he saw her coming, he looked at her from a distance without saying a word, his eyes full of apology.
Zhao Mingyue sighed and said, "Youqing, I'm fine, don't worry about it. It's just that some people don't like me and are trying to smear me. I'm not afraid."
Yu Youqing's mouth moved, but in the end he didn't say anything, picked up the water, and turned to leave.
When she went to work, everyone stared at her intently. At the meeting last night, very few women attended, but every household had a man. If word got out, the whole village would know. Most people looked at Zhao Mingyue with some sympathy, only a very few were gloating, including Wang Qiulan.
Zhao Mingyue sat down next to Yu Youfen, whose face was full of guilt. She said softly, "I'm sorry, Mingyue, I've made you suffer."
Zhao Mingyue waved her hand: "It's nothing. I have nothing to fear, I'm upright and have nothing to fear."
Yu Youfen's eyes were red. Zhao Mingyue had saved her, and now Zhao Jinyun was taking revenge on her. It would be difficult for her to find a husband in the future. She felt she deserved to die.
After finishing work, Chengmei came to Zhao Mingyue's side: "Mingyue, what exactly happened? Who was so immoral as to write that letter of denunciation? They must have nothing better to do. Even if you did something, it's none of their business. And that Zhao Jinyun, really, shouldn't he have said this in private? Why did he say it in front of everyone? Did you offend him?"
Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "I don't know, maybe I accidentally stepped on someone's sore spot."
"Then what will you do in the future?" Cheng Meilai was a straightforward woman with a kind heart; she wasn't a bad person.
Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "It's alright, everyone knows it's just nonsense anyway."
"That's right, everyone knows what's going on. Don't take it to heart, we won't spread rumors," Chengmei comforted her.
Zhao Mingyue nodded: "Thank you, Sister-in-law Meilai."
Cheng Mei sighed: "If you had agreed to Yonggang's marriage back then, none of this would have happened?"
Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "Someone wants to smear me. Even if I agree, it might still happen."
Cheng Mei thought about it and said, "That makes sense. Hey, who do you think wrote this letter?"
"How would I know? If I knew, I would have torn her apart." Zhao Mingyue sneered.
"That mouth should be torn apart. People who spread rumors like that really need to be taught a lesson," Cheng Meilai said angrily.
When Zhao Mingyue got home, she found that her two sisters-in-law were home, as were her nephews and nieces. What day was it? It wasn't a holiday or festival.
When everyone saw her return, they all greeted her. Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, you're all here!"
Second Sister-in-law smiled and said, "Mingyue is back. I was just talking about you with Mom." Zhao Mingyue's second sister-in-law was a very sociable person with a cheerful personality, which complemented her quiet second brother quite well.
"What did she say about me?" Zhao Mingyue asked while scooping water to wash her hands, guessing that it was probably because of what happened last night.
Hu Nianchun said, "I just talked to your sisters-in-law about your situation. They're all discussing finding you a suitable family as soon as possible so that people won't gossip about you anymore."
Zhao Mingyue hadn't expected Zhao Jinyun's outburst last night to cause such a big reaction. She frowned slightly: "Was that really necessary?"
The sister-in-law said, "I have a cousin on my mother's side. He's the same age as you and also went to junior high school. He's currently learning tailoring from his father at home, so he'll have a skill in the future. My cousin's family isn't well-off, but he's a good person. Why don't you two get to know each other?"
Zhao Mingyue felt a little amused and exasperated: "Sister-in-law, thank you for worrying about me. I'm only seventeen, and I'm still three years away from the legal marriage age. What's the rush?"
My second sister-in-law said, "If this were before, I wouldn't be in such a hurry, but things are different now. To avoid any unforeseen problems, we need to settle things as soon as possible so that our parents can be at ease."
Hu Nianchun also said, "Yes, Mingyue, let's make a decision as soon as possible."
Zhao Mingyue felt that everyone was grasping at straws in desperation: "Have you thought about it? Even if I can settle down now, I can't get married for the next few years. Do you think people won't hear about this during those years? This is just trying to cover it up."
When Zhao Mingyue said that, everyone agreed that if they made a decision so early, the relationship would most likely fall through if things were exposed later.
Hu Nianchun said, "Then what should we do?"
Zhao Mingyue said, "Let's leave it for now and let it go. In two years, no one will remember this."
The mother and her sisters-in-law looked at each other, bewildered: "Are we just going to ignore it?"
Zhao Mingyue laughed and said, "Never mind. I'm not worried at all, so why are you all worried?"
Looking at his smiling daughter, Hu Nianchun felt distressed. What should he do?
Zhao Mingyue continued with her work and studies as usual, but there was one inconvenience: when she encountered something she didn't understand, she couldn't go directly to Shen Xuyue; she had to ask Zhao Minglang instead. She herself didn't think it was a big deal, but her parents and brothers wouldn't allow her to go, saying that she was already attracting gossip, and if she wasn't careful, people would really find out about it, and how would she ever get married?
If they don't want me to go, then I won't go. Anyway, I have Zhao Minglang as a bridge. In order to answer his sister's questions smoothly, Zhao Minglang also corrected his attitude towards studying and kept their study progress in sync.
Zhao Mingyue lived a fulfilling life every day, showing no signs of being decadent. This puzzled those who were prepared to watch her make a fool of herself. How could she still eat and sleep?
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