Lin Jianfeng didn't know that he had been talked about by everyone. He took Xia Qiu to the small hill behind the school and sat down.
"Brother Jianfeng, I brought you some mung bean soup to relieve the summer heat. Please drink some." Xia Qiu opened the lid.
"Thank you so much for your help, Xiaoqiu." Lin Jianfeng looked touched.
"It's not a problem, Brother Jianfeng. I'm willing to do it for you." Xia Qiu smiled shyly.
Looking at the soft mung beans in the porcelain bowl, Lin Jianfeng's eyes flashed. They were just some mung beans, but he thought they were something good. This Xia Qiu was really not as good as Su Qingyun.
Thinking of Su Qingyun, Lin Jianfeng felt a little regretful. If her family members were not so difficult to deal with, and the old woman was notoriously difficult and unreasonable in the village, he would not have given up.
"Brother Jianfeng, Brother Jianfeng?"
"Huh? What's wrong?" Lin Jianfeng came back to his senses.
Xia Qiu pouted and said dissatisfiedly: "Are you listening to me?"
"Sorry, Xiaoqiu, I was just thinking about work. What's wrong?" Lin Jianfeng smiled apologetically.
"I mean, Brother Jianfeng, have you seen Su Qingyun recently?" Xia Qiu wanted to know if he knew that Su Qingyun jumped into the river for him.
"Of course not." Lin Jianfeng didn't think much of it, thinking she was just testing the waters out of jealousy between little girls. "Didn't I tell you? I only treated her as a younger sister at first. I didn't expect her to have those thoughts. Naturally, I had to keep my distance from her."
Lin Jianfeng enjoyed the jealousy between the two girls very much, and his vanity and sense of accomplishment as a man were overflowing.
"What about me?" Xia Qiu asked quickly, "Why doesn't Brother Jianfeng keep his distance from me?"
Lin Jianfeng looked at her steadily, his eyes filled with endless affection, until she blushed and turned away.
His tone was so soft that it could drip water. "Xiao Qiu, I thought you understood my feelings for you. Do you still want to ask me this kind of question?"
The seemingly sincere answer was actually ambiguous. He had feelings for her, but he didn't say what kind of feelings they were.
Xia Qiu only thought she had received a true confession from the person she liked. After all, she was just a teenage girl. No matter how bold she was, she was embarrassed and at a loss when she heard such straightforward words. Looking at his eyes that seemed to be hurt, she hurriedly said, "I understand, I understand everything, Brother Jianfeng."
She was so immersed in the sweetness that she didn't even notice the flash of sarcasm in Lin Jianfeng's eyes.
The two of them stayed together for a long time before Lin Jianfeng returned to school.
He was about to continue working when he suddenly noticed that everyone was looking at him strangely and whispering to each other from time to time. Lin Jianfeng frowned. What was going on?
He looked at his fellow villager who was familiar with him and said, "Jiacheng, what happened just now?" He had an inexplicable ominous premonition in his heart.
Xu Jiacheng looked strange, looked around, and then came close to him and whispered, "Did you know that the girl from the Su family jumped into the river a few days ago?"
What? Lin Jianfeng was shocked. Su Qingyun jumped into the river? How could it be possible? It couldn't be because...
"Then she..." he said tremblingly.
"She's fine," Xu Jiacheng hesitated. "But... everyone's saying you're responsible for her jumping into the river."
"What do you mean it's related to me?" Lin Jianfeng's face changed, and the slight sense of guilt that had just appeared in his heart disappeared in an instant. "This is simply nonsense! Who is spreading rumors? I will never let him go!"
"Zhang Qi just heard about it when he went to Aunt Wang's house to get food. Everyone knows about it."
Many of these educated young people had never done any housework before coming here to work in the countryside. They knew nothing about making a fire or cooking. Many of them could only use their meal tickets and some money to find someone in the village to share a meal with. The villagers were also happy to have an extra income, so it was the best of both worlds.
Aunt Wang, the wife Zhang Qi lived with, was a famous gossip in Luoshui Village. She always liked to gossip about the neighbors and the Li family. She could turn white into black when she said it, not to mention that Lin Jianfeng was not innocent in this matter.
Lin Jianfeng's face turned pale and blue, and he didn't know what he was thinking. He was restless while working afterwards.
The news that the young girl from the Su family jumped into the river because of an educated young man spread quickly throughout the Luoshui Village like wings.
When they got home from work in the evening, everyone in the Su family looked unhappy.
Wu Guixiang brought the food to the table and asked curiously, "What's wrong? Everyone looks like that?"
Su Aiguo, who was always steady, looked extremely ugly. "Mom, everyone in the village is talking about Yunyun and Lin Jianfeng. They say that Yunyun is so young and yet she is so depressed because of a boy. She has no... no shame." He couldn't even say the last sentence.
Su Aiguo's wife, Li Xiulian, frowned, "How can you say such harsh words?"
"What did you say?" Wu Guixiang's face darkened. "Didn't I tell you that no one is allowed to mention Yunyun falling into the water? Who said that?"
After Su Qingyun was rescued, for the sake of her reputation, Wu Guixiang repeatedly told her family not to disclose the news.
Zhang Xinlan: "Who else needs to tell this? When Yunyun was rescued, someone saw it, and the story spread around. Somehow it got to Wang Dahong's ears. Once she heard about it, wouldn't the whole village know about it?"
Today, when Aunt Li from next door pulled her aside to ask her about it, she felt so embarrassed.
Su Aimin and Qin Ying were furious.
Su Aimin's face was as gloomy as water, and he cursed loudly, "Our family affairs have nothing to do with them. They are all nagging old women. They have nothing else to do except gossip all day long, right?"
Qin Ying was also trembling with anger. She was well-educated and could not say anything unpleasant, but in her heart she wanted to seal those people's mouths with tape. In the countryside, if an unmarried girl had a bad reputation, her life would almost be over.
Wu Guixiang glanced at the couple and asked, "Where's Yunyun?"
"Yunyun said she couldn't eat and is in her room."
The person involved, Su Qingyun, was flipping through textbooks of this era in his room, completely unaware of the changes happening outside.
"No, we can't just keep putting this off like this, otherwise people will really think Yunyun is having an affair with that pretty boy. How will the villagers look upon her and our family in the future?" The more Su Aimin thought about it, the more restless he became. He stood up and wanted to go out.
"Stop! Come back and sit down!" Wu Guixiang put down her chopsticks, stood up, and said through gritted teeth, "I'm going. You all just wait at home. I'll tear that old woman Wang's mouth apart!"
She stormed out of the door, leaving no one time to react.
"Dad?" Su Aimin looked at his father.
Su Dalin took a puff of his pipe and said, "Let your mother go. It's not convenient for you to show up."
As Yunyun's parents, if Su Aimin and Qin Ying really showed up at the house with a big scene, outsiders would think they were guilty, which would further confirm the matter. So they had to let Wu Guixiang go. After all, she had a bad reputation and was not afraid of what the villagers would say.
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