Chapter 23: The Orphan, a Big Fat Sheep, Too Eye-Catching

Iron Orchid’s words stirred the pot, and everyone started to believe it. The crowd’s gaze became tinged with disdain.

Aunt Ma panicked, her eyes red with anger, she roared: “Who is it! Who is spreading rumors, dare to do it but not dare to admit it, come out!”

Seeing her frantic look, Iron Orchid, hiding in the shadows, felt a surge of satisfaction. Humph, your grandma won’t come out, what are you going to do?

The old bachelor shook his head and sighed, looking dejected: “Sister Ma, no matter what, you can’t deny what happened between us, how can you make me look like this, I’m so embarrassed.”

The onlookers: …

With your pockmarked face, what face do you have left?

Someone in the crowd couldn’t help but burst out laughing: “Aunt Ma and the old bachelor are over a hundred years old combined, they’re still having an affair, don’t you think it’s funny?”

Aunt Ma was immediately provoked by these words.

“You rotten person, you rotten thing, what are you babbling about, I’ll tear your mouth apart!”

Aunt Ma lunged at the woman who had laughed, grabbing her face. The woman wasn’t one to be bullied, she grabbed Aunt Ma’s hair in return, spitting at her head as she grabbed.

“Spit! You old slut, you did something shameful and you don’t want people to talk about it, you’re shameless!”

Others tried to stop the fight and joined in the commotion, the scene was chaotic.

“Aunt Ma, you’re not good at fighting, grab her eyes! And Aunt Wang, spitting is useless, pull her hair hard!”

A fat woman next to them was cracking sunflower seeds and giving random instructions, her saliva flying everywhere. Judging by her tone, she probably had a grudge against both women fighting.

Iron Orchid’s eyes lit up, she smiled and approached: “Auntie, you’re amazing, look how fiercely they’re fighting, their faces are all scratched.”

The woman was flattered and beamed, grabbing a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket and giving them to her: “Little girl, you have good taste, here, have some sunflower seeds!”

Iron Orchid looked at the sunflower seeds in her hand and smiled.

Sunflower seeds!

Watching the show with sunflower seeds, that’s the real deal. I’ll go to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow and buy some melon seeds and stuff to put in the space, so I can have snacks whenever I want!

Just as Chen Jian arrived with the police, the scene calmed down. Seeing her son return, Aunt Ma found her anchor and rushed over to cry to him.

After learning the whole story, Chen Jian was furious:

“You old beggar, don’t talk nonsense, my mom has nothing to do with you!”

The old bachelor took out the underwear again, shamelessly shaking it in his hand:

“Everyone, come and see, my step-mother’s son doesn’t acknowledge me as his step-father, he even wants to beat me up, judge for yourselves!”

Aunt Ma immediately burst into tears.

Chen Jian, red with anger, raised his fist to punch the old bachelor.

The old bachelor dodged like an eel.

The scene became chaotic again.

The police officers’ faces turned black.

They came to handle a theft case, not to watch this bizarre scene.

“Stop it all, it’s indecent, what are you doing!”

Logically, two lonely old people were both single, it wasn’t a big deal if they liked each other. But this was clearly not consensual, there must be some reason behind it.

No matter how Aunt Ma explained, the old bachelor insisted that he had a relationship with her. He was old and poor, living in a leaky house, with no food to eat. Now he had finally found a breakthrough, he was definitely going to cling to her and suck her blood.

In the end, Aunt Ma agreed to give the old bachelor 50 yuan, and only then did he agree to change his story.

“I found this underwear, I don’t know who threw it away. Police officers, I was just confused for a moment and talked nonsense, you won’t arrest me, will you?”

Police officers: “No one has reported you, so we won’t.”

These were both old people in their sixties and seventies, they wouldn’t arrest them for anything that wasn’t a serious crime, it would be a waste of food if they went to jail.

Aunt Ma naturally wouldn’t pursue the matter, she was eager to get rid of this trouble. But her house had been robbed, where did the 50 yuan come from? Aunt Ma had a habit of hiding some money in the soles of her shoes, just in case.

Iron Orchid: …

Miscalculation, I didn’t search her body, I’ll remember that next time!

Although the old bachelor was sent away with money, his commotion at Aunt Ma’s house became known to everyone. It became a joke in the neighborhood, and every time it was mentioned, everyone couldn’t help but laugh. Aunt Ma was too embarrassed to go out.

Chen Jian was also too distracted to work, and he almost got fired. The two of them were in a mess, and they naturally didn’t have the heart to deal with Iron Orchid anymore.

Iron Orchid was relieved.

However, she hadn’t been relaxed for two days when trouble came knocking again.

“Lanyan, I have a great nephew, he’s tall and strong, he’s in the army, he’s a good match for you, do you want to get to know him?”

The speaker was Aunt Wang, who had fought with Aunt Ma before. Aunt Wang had always wanted to introduce her nephew to Iron Orchid. She was resentful because Aunt Ma’s family had gotten there first, so she couldn’t help but rant the other day. Now that Aunt Ma’s family had backed out, she came to her door without delay to talk about this.

“I’m still young, I’m not considering marriage for now.”

Iron Orchid refused coldly. These people were really shameless, her parents had only been gone for a short time, and they were already so eager.

Aunt Wang: “It’s okay, you can talk first, you can get married in a year.”

“No need, I don’t plan to get married, even if I do, I’ll be marrying into a family, I won’t marry out.”

Iron Orchid didn’t expect that the reason she casually used to put her off would be taken seriously. The next day, a swaggering young man came to her door.

“Sister Lanyan, as long as you don’t restrict my freedom, and give me some allowance every day, I’ll agree to marry into your family.”

Iron Orchid: …

No, it’s never-ending, is it? They’re treating her like a fool?!

Iron Orchid couldn’t take it anymore, she directly took out her ancestral iron pot and beat him up.

“Get lost! With your skinny chicken body, I wouldn’t be interested!”

The young man was beaten up and screamed, he ran away as fast as he could.

Iron Orchid stood at her door with the iron pot, her face dark, she shouted:

“Everyone listen up, if anyone dares to have ideas about me, Iron Orchid, don’t blame me for fighting back! I’m just an orphan, I have nothing, only my life! I’m not afraid of death, if I die, I’ll go down and join my parents!”

As soon as she said this, everything around her fell silent. Even the little kid next door who was crying because he was beaten by his grandma for stealing candy stopped crying.

Iron Orchid stood there for a moment, no one dared to respond.

Good, it seems the intimidation worked, no one would bother her for a while.

But this was only temporary. Maybe someone else would do something similar later. After all, she, the orphan, was a big fat sheep, too eye-catching.

Iron Orchid wasn’t afraid.

But you can’t be too careful, there’s always a chance of a slip-up. If she was caught, it would be a lot of trouble to deal with.

It would be great if she could go to a place where no one knew her. That way, no one would know her background, and she could be herself, without any restrictions.

But travel was difficult in this era, going on a long trip required an introduction letter, and you couldn’t stay for too long.

Iron Orchid thought long and hard, there was only one possibility.

Maybe… I should go to the countryside?

Anyway, it would only be two years, and then I could take the exam and come back, no one would be watching me then.