Chapter 24: Make Her Carry Manure  

Ye Huan was a little annoyed by these little brats.  

They were chirping noisily—so loud, so irritating.  

“You shut up! Didn’t your mother teach you that children shouldn’t interrupt when adults are speaking? You really are a country bumpkin with no manners at all. No wonder you’re destined to spend your whole life digging in the dirt.”  

Xu Meili was furious at that moment.  

She had inherited Liu Xiaolan’s temper—she wouldn’t let outsiders bully her.  

Just as she was about to snap back, Shen Jiaojiao pulled her behind her.  

This was a matter between the adults. She didn’t want to drag a child into it.  

Shen Jiaojiao looked at Ye Huan. “And you think you have manners? I cut ties with you long ago, yet you still shamelessly hang around me, even asking me for candy? Ye Huan, when are you going to change your habit of taking advantage of others? It’s really disgusting.”  

“And what’s wrong with being a country bumpkin? Right now, we advocate that labor is the most honorable thing. If you’re still alive and have the energy to argue with people, isn’t it because you’ve been eating the rice grown by farmers? If you really had any backbone, then don’t eat at all! You actually look down on farmers? Who gave you the audacity to say something like that?”  

Shen Jiaojiao’s voice was loud, instantly attracting the attention of the people working nearby.  

People in the countryside were experts at scolding others.  

And their main force? The aunts.  

Once someone provoked them, they could curse for three days and nights without repeating a single word.  

Of course, this also depended on who the target was.  

If it was a weak and easily bullied young girl, that played right into the aunts’ hands.  

But if it was a seasoned, sharp-tongued woman like Liu Xiaolan, then it was a matter of “when rivals meet, the boldest wins.”  

So today was the perfect time for the aunts to demonstrate their full potential.  

“Well, well! This little wench actually looks down on us farmers! The food you eat, the clothes you wear—every single thing comes from us farmers.” one of the aunts shouted as she rushed toward Ye Huan, reaching out to tug at her clothes.  

“If you look down on it so much, then let’s strip you bare!”  

At that moment, more and more people surrounded Ye Huan, pulling at her clothes, pinching her backside.  

Ye Huan was so terrified she lost all composure, clutching her collar tightly with both hands.  

“This little wench has quite the backside, and plenty of flesh on her, too. Looks like she’s been eating well. Always pretending to be weak and sickly, either dizzy or suffering from heatstroke—I bet she’s just faking it. She’s nothing but lazy and greedy, always living off others!”  

“I say we make someone like her, who doesn’t respect our labor, carry manure. Let her experience firsthand just how hard we farmers work!”  

“Go, take her to the Captain and make her carry manure!”  

The aunts were especially riled up, lifting Ye Huan and marching off with her.  

Ye Huan never imagined that just because she had spoken without thinking—carelessly voicing her disdain for farmers—she would end up being attacked by the whole crowd.  

“Let me go! I’m not going! Let go of me!”  

Ye Huan struggled and screamed.  

But at this moment, she was completely isolated, with no one willing to help her.  

Even Huang Honghong, fearing trouble, stayed hidden under a big tree, cooling herself in the shade, having no intention of getting involved with this fool.  

In desperation, Ye Huan cast her pleading eyes toward Shen Jiaojiao.  

“Jiaojiao, help me! We used to be so close. You can’t just stand by and watch me suffer! Jiaojiao…!”  

Ye Huan’s cries grew fainter and fainter as she was dragged away.  

Shen Jiaojiao, however, didn’t even glance in her direction. She simply kept her head down, quietly picking up fallen wheat stalks.  

The sun was scorching.  

Out in the fields, everyone was drenched in sweat, their bodies wilting under the relentless heat like sun-scorched eggplants.  

After long hours under the blazing sun, their skin had taken on a reddish hue.  

But Shen Jiaojiao was entirely different from the rest.  

Not a single drop of sweat glistened on her skin, which remained dazzlingly fair—so much so that she looked less like a laborer and more like someone merely here for an immersive “experience” of rural hardship.  

“Look at Shen Jiaojiao—does she look like she’s actually working? I’ve been watching her for days. Every day, she only collects a single sack of fallen rice stalks. At best, she earns two work points a day. At this rate, her annual work points won’t even be enough to feed herself. Tsk! Liu Xiaolan is so unlucky. Once Shen Jiaojiao marries into the Xu family, Liu Xiaolan will have to support another freeloader.”  

“Exactly! The Xu family is already poor. Now they have to take in someone who doesn’t do any work. Will they even have enough food to put on the table in the future?”  

Whenever there was a misfortune in someone else’s household, there were always plenty of onlookers eager to engage in lengthy discussions.  

They spoke with great passion, their voices full of dramatic emotion.  

Outwardly, they expressed sympathy and pity.  

But inside, they were delighted.  

Seeing others suffer always seemed to bring them some twisted sense of satisfaction.  

Finally, someone spoke what was truly on their mind.  

“Don’t forget, Shen Jiaojiao is a city girl—a real golden treasure. Once she marries into the Xu family, who’s to say her family won’t feel sorry for her and send her off with a hefty dowry? Maybe the Xu family will even get rich because of her!”  

The chatty aunts suddenly fell silent.  

They exchanged glances, each seeming to weigh the possibility of this scenario.  

And the thought of the Xu family suddenly striking it rich…  

Why did that make them feel so upset and uneasy?  

“I don’t think that’s possible. Shen Jiaojiao only got married because her reputation was ruined, and she ended up marrying a man who digs in the dirt for a living. Think about it—what kind of family, after knowing their daughter’s reputation was tainted, would still support her? It’d be a miracle if they didn’t cut ties with her completely.”  

Everyone found this reasoning quite convincing.  

And so, the gossiping resumed with even more enthusiasm.  

Still, there was a lingering sense of unease.  

Would Shen Jiaojiao’s family really be foolish enough to financially support Xu Mo and his bunch of paupers?  

That would be utterly ridiculous.  

But if Xu Mo truly managed to get rich off his mother-in-law, there would be no shortage of people whispering behind his back.  

They’d call him a kept man, say he was spineless.  

Good words, bad words—these gossips would say them all.  

Shen Jiaojiao, however, paid no attention to them.  

She just thought these people had way too much free time on their hands.  

Besides, they only dared to talk behind Liu Xiaolan’s back.  

If Liu Xiaolan ever heard these words herself, she’d probably reward each of them with a solid slap across the face.  

Shen Jiaojiao glanced at the sack full of fallen rice stalks.  

Hmm.  

Thanks to the little kids’ help today, she had filled the sack quickly.  

One sack earned her two work points. With that, she could clock out early.  

She had no intention of picking even a single extra stalk.  

To thank the children for their help, she handed each of them a handful of soft candy.  

The little ones, embracing the revolutionary spirit of hard work, eagerly declared that they would come help Shen Jiaojiao again in the future.  

After sending them off, Shen Jiaojiao scanned the fields, searching for Xu Mo.  

Finally, she spotted him in a small plot of land.  

She looked around. Everyone else was focused on their work.  

Slowly, she made her way toward Xu Mo.  

Xu Mo was harvesting rice, a sickle gripped in his right hand.  

His movements were swift and precise.  

So fast that Shen Jiaojiao could even see the afterimages of the sickle as it moved back and forth.  

She stroked her chin and observed for a while.  

Hmm.  

This man… was fast.