Chapter 2: I’m Afraid You Won’t Be Able to Bear It

Taohua looked up at the man pitifully again and said, “Could you help me up? I can’t stand.”

The man was putting on his outer coat. He understood the girl’s hesitation and immediately stepped forward.

But just as he bent down to pull Taohua up, his movements suddenly froze.

Taohua didn’t know what was going on with him but noticed his gaze seemed strange.

Without thinking, she followed the man’s eyes and looked down at herself, and her face immediately turned red up to her neck!

She—she had taken off her cotton coat and jacket when she jumped into the water, leaving only an inner garment.

Now, her clothes were wet and clinging to her body, and everything was visible!

Instinctively, she raised her hands to cover her chest, lowered her head, and didn’t dare to look at the man. She said:

“Y-You should go, my clothes are over by that rock. Could you throw them to me? I won’t tell anyone about what happened today. Please don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Okay.” As soon as Taohua finished speaking, the man responded.

Immediately, her coat was placed beside her.

She watched as the man strode into the woods, and only then did she hurriedly start putting on her clothes.

But her movements were too slow. Wang Daniu, who was hurrying over to grab a good spot, saw her.

“Isn’t that Taohua? What are you doing here so early? I thought I saw a man heading into the woods. What’s going on here?!”

“My goodness, are you two doing that kind of thing? This looks like a man’s belt!”

Wang Daniu said, bending down to pick up a black belt from the ground.

Taohua focused her eyes and immediately realized something was wrong. This must have been left behind by the man who saved her earlier.

When he rescued her, he took off his outer coat, and it seemed he had forgotten to put his belt back on when he hurried to get dressed.

What should she do now? Taohua panicked.

Seeing Taohua’s expression, Wang Daniu became even more excited, as if she had caught something scandalous:

“Taohua, Taohua! How could you, a young unmarried girl, learn to steal a man? How could you be so shameless?”

Soon, the news of Taohua having an affair with the man by the river spread quickly.

Her stepfather, Chen Dashan, constantly pressured her to reveal the man’s name.

Taohua refused to speak. She didn’t even know who the man was.

She endured her stepfather’s beatings and scoldings without saying a word.

Because she didn’t want to harm the person who saved her life.