Chapter 10

“It’d be best if you hurry back. Otherwise, once Gu Weimin splits up the household, your Gu Dahai and son might not even have a place to live.”

Zhou Shanshan: “…”

She was stunned for a moment before replying, “Wanyue, I never thought you’d become so heartless. I only suspected it was your fault, that’s all. You’re the only one who stayed in the dorm, so of course you’re the most suspicious. Isn’t it normal for me to doubt you?”

Song Wanyue explained, “But I already told you—I’m just a weak girl. How could I have carried you all to the dorm? Wouldn’t you have struggled? I changed my clothes and went straight to work. The Zhang family can vouch for me.”

To stop another quarrel from breaking out, Wang Dabing stepped in, “Comrade Zhou, everyone disagrees with you staying here. You’d better leave. If even the Gu family won’t take you in, go ask the Party Secretary. The cowshed or pigsty can house people too… just a bit smelly.”

As the head of the dorm, Wang Dabing usually handled trivial matters.

Zhou Shanshan knew there was no point in staying. Hugging her luggage, she left—though she did take Yang Liu’s bedsheet with her.

No one welcomed her. Just you wait.

Wang Dabing scratched his head. “Girls, check if anything of yours has gone missing. Ahem… if not, let’s just get ready for dinner.”

He stared at Zhou Shanshan’s retreating back in a daze. Ah, the pure beauty in his heart was ruined.

Today was truly bizarre.

Once they sat down, everyone devoured the food ravenously.

After the show, it was already late, so they had just boiled some sweet potato porridge for lunch.

When they finished, Song Wanyue wiped her mouth and was about to leave.

Yang Liu stopped her: “Wanyue, you were really brave today. Tell me, do you think Zhou Shanshan and those two were sneaking around in the dorm?”

Li Jiaojiao propped her chin on her hand. “There are only two explanations. First, they came to the dorm for the thrill, with drugs in hand. Zhou Shanshan might’ve found out about the affair between Gu Dahai and his mother, couldn’t take it, and since she knew she could return to the city after passing the exam, she decided on divorce.”

“Maybe Gu Dahai couldn’t let her go and wanted to reconcile. Aunt Zhang must have stolen the aphrodisiacs from the village clinic for him. He probably planned to use it to win Zhou Shanshan back. But Aunt Zhang found out, saw them fooling around, and in a jealous rage, took some herself and gave some to the both of them. That’s when the village kids discovered them.”

When the village children came running, Gu Hongmei panicked and ran away as soon as she saw people entering the dorm.

Yang Liu nodded. “That makes sense. Aunt Zhang is strong— even I can’t beat her, and she earns ten work points a day. That’s rare in the village.”

Song Wanyue agreed silently. This girl was good at imagining things.

If this were turned into a drama, it would definitely be a hit.

Li Jiaojiao continued thoughtfully, “The second explanation is that Gu Dahai and Zhou Shanshan were scheming against someone. But since Aunt Zhang was also on the bed, it couldn’t have been done by just one person. At least two men would’ve been needed to move all three of them. And remember, the drug only lasts twenty minutes at most.”

“Clearly, they wanted to set up Wanyue. Zhou Shanshan wanted to leave the Gu family, but she also needed to prepare the next household to fall back on. Otherwise, with Aunt Zhang’s dislike for raising children, do you think she’d agree to take them in?”

“The Gu children are basically raised by their own parents. Zhang Shufen hardly bothers with them. Wanyue, was it really you?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Song Wanyue.

She smiled sweetly and shook her head. “Not me. I didn’t have time.”

Of course she wouldn’t confess. Even if they guessed right, she’d never admit it.

Li Jiaojiao, who prided herself as the cleverest in the dorm, stared at her intently. “Wanyue, did you turn the tables on them? If so, well done. From the moment Zhou Shanshan returned to the dorm, my eyelid kept twitching—I knew she was up to no good.”

After living together for over a year, they knew each other fairly well.

Zhou Shanshan never lifted a finger unless there was profit to be had.

Usually quiet and reserved, Zhou Jing now spoke up: “You all should be careful. If Zhou Shanshan can plot against Wanyue, she can plot against us single girls too. The reason she targeted Wanyue was because she comes from a good family, is gentle, and easy to talk to. Now that her first plan failed, she might try another.”

Yang Liu patted her chest dramatically. “Sister Jing, you’re scaring me! Is Zhou Shanshan really that harmful? If she passed the exam and took Gu Dahai and the kid back to the city, wouldn’t that be enough? Why force us to be stepmothers to her child?”

In these times, being a stepmother was no easy role.

Song Wanyue chimed in, “I swear it wasn’t me. I couldn’t have moved them anyway, and the Zhang family can vouch that I wasn’t free to commit anything. But I agree with Jiaojiao’s two possibilities. And who says they were scheming against me alone? Couldn’t they have been targeting us and the village’s single women?”

“Think about it. In the village, I’m not the only girl with good prospects. You all have decent family backgrounds too—your parents are city folks with jobs, and you have good grades.”

Might as well amplify the fear.

She couldn’t be the only one on guard against Zhou Shanshan and Gu Dahai.

Zhou Jing frowned, her voice tinged with worry. “Wanyue has a point. We’ve been here long enough that our work plots are assigned alongside the villagers’. Maybe Zhou Shanshan and Gu Dahai were actually looking for a wife for him—someone with good family conditions. But their plan backfired, and they got played instead. More likely, it was done by villagers.”

Wang Dabing considered this. “Now that you put it that way, it makes sense. The second possibility sounds even more likely. If Zhou Shanshan was scheming with villagers, with all the strong men in a family, carrying three people to the dorm would be nothing.”

Yang Liu slapped the table. “That’s despicable! Their conscience must be rotten through. Zhou Shanshan wants to shake off Gu Dahai like a piece of sticky taffy, and she’d stoop to such a shameless move?”

Song Wanyue was pleased the conversation had shifted away.

The murkier the water, the worse Zhou Shanshan looked.

She complained aloud, “To be honest, Gu Hongmei already asked me once if I wanted to marry Gu Dahai. I refused. I’m a promising young person with the college exam ahead—why should I become someone’s stepmother?”

“Even Zhou Shanshan admitted Dahai was good, but since she wanted a city life, she thought she could just dump her husband and child on me. After hearing that, I started keeping my distance from her.”

Yang Tao regarded her thoughtfully. “Wanyue, going head-to-head with the Gu family isn’t easy.”

In the past, Song Wanyue had always been wary of the Gu father’s status.

Song Wanyue said, “They’ve already smeared me with filth. Naturally, I have to fight back.”

She still had harsher tricks up her sleeve, but in the village, she’d tread carefully.

Chen Jiefang, who had once courted Zhou Shanshan, had been silent all this time.

Yang Tao reminded him, “Alright, girls, just be careful these days. Stay focused—the exam is in December. Jiefang, stop thinking about Zhou Shanshan. She’s nothing but trouble. She might’ve even been in on Gu Dahai’s schemes.”

“I know. I just… feel a bit sad. Zhou Shanshan is so ruthless, tossing away her husband and child as if they were nothing,” Chen Jiefang muttered, his head resting on the table.

Li Jiaojiao chuckled softly. “So, what do you all think—how deep are Zhou Shanshan and Gu Dahai’s feelings, really?”