"Smartie Wen, the guys are all interested now, you have to play along with us for a while, right?" "You... You have no shame!" "We have no shame? And what about you, this worthless scum trying to ruin young girls’ reputations?" "I... Don’t come near me!" Lin Xiang squatted by the roadside, listening to Wen Siyuan’s escalating cries, and felt immensely satisfied. No matter the time, those who ruin others’ reputations for their own gain deserve no good end! She had agreed with Huang Laizi that these guys would just scare Wen Siyuan, not actually do anything to him. But Wen Siyuan didn’t know that, seeing the sinister smiles of these thugs, he embarrassingly wet his pants. "Lin Xiang! I know you haven’t gone far, come save me!" "I promise you, as long as you save me today, I will definitely be grateful and obedient to you in the future, I’ll go east if you say east, I’ll never do anything to you again! Lin Xiang, save me!" Lin Xiang dug her ear, "I haven’t cleaned my ears in a while, I’m starting to hear things." Just after digging her ear, she heard someone loudly calling her name. Sounded a bit like Lin Yun’s voice. Lin Xiang stood up, just so Lin Yun could spot her. Lin Yun seemed to sprint over in the blink of an eye, inspecting Lin Xiang thoroughly from top to bottom, back and forth. Lin Yun’s voice still held a slight tremble. Lin Xiang shook her head, "Bro, why are you here?" "I just got home with mom, Smartie Liu came to find me, said she noticed Wen Siyuan being sneaky today and hanging out with some village thugs, worried he’d threaten you, so she told me to hurry and find you." After hearing this, Lin Yun wasted no time coming to fetch Lin Xiang, watching as dusk approached but still no sign of her, add the sounds of yelling from the sorghum field, afraid something happened to Lin Xiang, he panicked. Lin Xiang quickly explained: "Bro, I’m fine, the one in trouble is Wen Siyuan." Only then did Lin Yun realize the yelling was indeed from Wen Siyuan. "What’s with him...?" "Dunno, maybe the harm was turned on him. This is a place full of trouble, we better head home fast before Wen Siyuan blames us." She had purposely refused the Township Party Secretary’s offer to have Secretary Wang send her, so today’s drama could proceed smoothly. Lin Yun, without suspecting anything, walked home with Lin Xiang. They had just reached the village entrance when they saw Yang Lihua with several village girls, sitting under the big banyan tree making hair flowers. The hair flower fabric was "generously provided" by Lin Xiang. And the young girls making hair flowers with Yang Lihua were mostly those deceived by Wen Siyuan. These past days, Yang Lihua followed Lin Xiang’s plan to build rapport with them. "Lihua, making hair flowers?" Lin Xiang moved closer and took one from the basket, "Not bad, quite pretty." The source of thɪs content is 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝓷𝓮𝓽 "I made it following the pattern in your hair. Don’t say, using these bright fabrics makes really pretty hair flowers. Sis, later can you get me some goose-yellow fabric? In summer, making a dress with goose-yellow is the best looking." "No problem, when Director Chen gives me a reward, I’ll ask him for a roll of goose-yellow fabric for you." The others hearing this were quite envious of Yang Lihua. "Sis, didn’t you and Lihua dislike each other before? How come you’re so close now?" Yang Lihua and Lin Xiang exchanged glances and laughed together. "Oh, Lihua, you don’t know how thrilling it was on my way back just now! Walking by the sorghum field, the noises inside were so terrifying. Luckily my brother came to get me, otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to get home!" Places like sorghum and corn fields often had scandalous incidents, plenty of gossip emerged from them. Though Lin Xiang, Yang Lihua, and the others were innocent young women, they understood somewhat, and discussed the matter without any intense debate. Lin Yun couldn’t bear it, entered the crowd, grabbed Lin Xiang’s arm and headed home. "Bro, what are you doing!" "You’re not married, just a young girl, talking about such matters is inappropriate!" "I know, I know, I won’t say it next time!" She’s not really a gossip, just wanted to share the news with Yang Lihua and the others. "Here, this is for you." Lin Xiang pulled out a handful of White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket, stuffed them into Lin Yun’s pocket, unwrapped one and held it to Lin Yun’s mouth. Otherwise, she worried Lin Yun wouldn’t bear to eat it. The sweet milky scent filled his nose, looking at Lin Xiang’s bright eyes, Lin Yun still lowered his head and took the candy. "I went to the food factory today, knowing you love milk candies, I specially got some for you. Eat these first, after you finish, I’ll get more for you." "Mm." Lin Yun’s eyes smiled, "Very sweet." "Of course! The food factory’s candies are made with real ingredients, five candies can turn into a glass of milk. Later, let’s try it and see if it’s really as magical as they say." Not far away, Liu Pei saw Lin Xiang feeding Lin Yun milk candies and couldn’t help calling out. Lin Xiang saw Liu Pei and immediately thanked her, "Smartie Liu, thank you for today." Liu Pei’s expression was complex, "As long as you’re fine." Lin Xiang looked at Lin Yun, then at Liu Pei. Logically, she should now leave voluntarily, leaving space for Liu Pei and Lin Yun. But she knew Lin Yun didn’t like Liu Pei and kept distancing himself; leaving space now wasn’t being considerate but adding burden. "Smartie Liu, wait a moment, I’ll be right back." Lin Xiang went into the yard, Lin Yun nodded to Liu Pei and followed her in. He didn’t idle, rolling up his sleeves and starting to work. The pull cart had just returned; nothing on the cart was unloaded yet, and he had to clean the aluminum buckets. Liu Pei stood at the Lin Family’s door, watching Lin Yun’s busy figure, not knowing what she was thinking. Soon, Lin Xiang came out, clutching some fabric under her arm. "Smartie Liu, these are all for you, three patterns in total, each six meters, enough for making clothes." Liu Pei didn’t reach out to take them, just asked Lin Xiang, "What’s this fabric for?" "As thanks. Before, when my family wasn’t doing well, you often brought things, the three of us barely managed to get by. Last time when my brother got sick, you even got the hard-to-find anti-inflammatory medicine. I couldn’t return the favor before, but now we can acknowledge your kindness."