Ye Caiping and the others didn't delay and hurriedly went out.
When they arrived at Zhao Laizi's house, they found a crowd already gathered in front of the door.
"Caiping, you've finally arrived!" Tie Niu's wife saw Ye Caiping and quickly went over to her.
"What happened?" Du asked.
“I do know that,” Zhu Zi’s wife said, leaning closer.
Zhu Zi's wife lived not far from Zhao Lai Zi's house, and she knew everything that was going on there.
"I was cooking when this old woman suddenly ran out shouting that Zhao Laizi had hanged himself!"
"Old Lady Lai was crying and begging us for help."
"We had no choice but to go inside to rescue him. We found Zhao Laizi hanging from the roof beam with his tongue sticking out. It was quite a struggle to get him down."
"Is he dead or not?" Madam Du sneered.
"It's better that he's dead!" Zhu Zi's wife said in a low voice, her face full of disgust and revulsion. "He woke up after we got him down, complaining of dizziness and nausea, so we had to take him outside to let him get some fresh air. He's right there!"
At this moment, Granny Lai was holding Zhao Laizi and weeping bitterly: "My son, why couldn't you think straight! It's not worth it for a heartless woman like Ye Caiping."
"Who are you grabbing?" Du roared.
"It's all because of your Caiping!" Granny Lai burst into tears. "My Laizi has been devoted to Caiping all these years. He has remained chaste for her and has refused to marry another woman because of her."
“My son waited for her for so many years, but she still refused to marry him! My son couldn’t think straight and had no choice but to hang himself.”
Zhao Laizi listened to Granny Lai's words without refuting them, but instead lowered his head and began to sob.
The villagers who were watching were all dumbfounded. What kind of thing was this?
At first glance, it makes it sound like Ye Caiping and Zhao Laizi are a couple. And the way they talk makes Ye Caiping sound like a heartless woman who hurt Zhao Laizi.
"Pah!" Tie Niu's wife sneered. "Lai Zi is indeed a rascal. Do you think everyone doesn't know what kind of person you are? You shirk everything! Now that Cai Ping is making money from building a house, you want to cling to her. Shameless."
"Exactly! Not only are they petty thieves, but they also want to ruin people's reputations!"
"When his marriage proposal failed, he resorted to this foolish trick, trying to act like a woman—crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide. He's a disgrace to us men!"
"He thought that just because he made a few random remarks, Cai Ping would suddenly become involved with him!"
"If I go to the magistrate's house and make a scene, will the magistrate's daughter then become involved with me?"
"Hahaha!"
Ye Caiping was surprised by how supportive the villagers were. Before she could even clarify, they had already given Zhao Laizi a thorough dressing-down, and surprisingly, no one believed him.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Laizi remained unaffected, instead gazing at Ye Caiping with deep affection:
“Cai Ping… I truly love you. I would die for you…”
Ye Caiping felt disgusted, like a toad crawling on her foot, not biting but still making her feel nauseous.
A smug glint flashed in Zhao Laizi's eyes, as if to say, "So what if you laugh at me? I'm a man, what can you do about it?"
He didn't care what these people said.
They don't believe it, so be it; he'll just cling to her until the end.
If Ye Caiping ever tries to find a husband, he'll arrange it with her so she'll never get married.
Whenever someone mentions Ye Caiping, they know that a man hanged himself for her, remained chaste for her for over a decade, and never married for her sake.
Anyway, it's a fact that he's not married. If the rumors go on for a long time, they'll become true. Then Ye Caiping will be tied to him and won't be able to shake him off.
His reputation as a scoundrel didn't come from nowhere!
"For over ten years, I haven't married because of you, and I haven't even touched a woman's hand," Zhao Laizi said, looking at Ye Caiping with a mixture of pride and deep affection. "I've been protecting you all this time, and yet you treat me like this..."
"What are you guarding!" At this moment, Ye Bajin walked over, followed by Ye Lizheng.
"Don't think I don't know!" Ye Bajin sneered. "You haven't been in the village for seven or eight years, and you've been guarding it all this time?"
"My son went to the county to do business!" Granny Lai said anxiously.
"Come on, you!" Ye Bajin said irritably. "What kind of business, pimping?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Laizi and his companion's expressions changed: "Ye Bajin, don't talk nonsense."
"Am I talking nonsense? I've encountered this several times before when I brought people to the county."
"You were living with a prostitute in Willow Lane. She was a brothel owner, and you were there to solicit customers for her."
"I also saw you walking down the street with that prostitute, pinching her fat buttocks every few steps."
"Hahahaha!" The villagers all burst out laughing at Ye Bajin's vivid description, and looked at Zhao Laizi with even more contempt.
"What's wrong? Did that prostitute run off with some sugar daddy and you have nowhere to go, so you came back to the village?"
Zhao Laizi's face turned pale and then red, and he jumped up to hit someone: "You're talking nonsense."
Before he could finish speaking, Ye Daquan punched him to the ground.
"A pimp like you trying to take advantage of my little sister? You're asking for it!"
Then, several more blows were delivered, and Zhao Laizi was beaten until he cried out for his parents. Only when the villagers came to stop him did Zhao Laizi manage to escape.
Ye Caiping stared coldly at Zhao Laizi: "You didn't get married because of me? You haven't even touched a woman's hand because of me?"
Zhao Laizi gritted his teeth; now he couldn't deny it anymore.
He believed the matter could be accomplished because he hadn't done anything seriously wrong. Although Lai Zi's reputation was bad, it was a minor matter.
But after his pimping was exposed, his attempt to hook up with Ye Caiping was no longer justifiable.
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