【Just by seeing her eyes move, I already know what she’s scheming.】

【It’s just a pity she doesn’t know that the poor boy now will become the richest man in the future.】

“I clearly saw you touching our family’s Second’s chest just now!” Chen Cuihua raised her voice, looking around. “Everyone saw it, didn’t you?!”

The people around looked at each other in confusion.

“You keep your voice down. Why are you making such a big fuss?” Jiang Tianhua frowned tightly, scolding Chen Cuihua once. Afraid that his daughter’s body would be seen by others, he hurriedly took off his Zhongshan suit jacket and draped it over Jiang Rao, looking at her with concern, “Daughter, are you alright?”

“Mm.” Jiang Rao responded neither warmly nor coldly.

Ever since her biological mother died, Jiang Rao’s attitude toward Jiang Tianhua had become much colder. Jiang Tianhua felt guilty toward Jiang Rao’s mother, and he also felt guilty toward Jiang Rao in his heart. Moreover, since Jiang Tianhua truly had feelings for Jiang Rao’s mother, he cherished Jiang Rao even more. Even after Chen Cuihua and Jiang Yu, the mother and daughter pair, came into the house, Jiang Tianhua’s love for Jiang Rao only increased, not lessened. He gave Jiang Rao three eggs a day, did not allow her to work in the production team to earn work points, and even supported her studies until high school. But Jiang Yu did not have this treatment. She could only have one egg a day and only studied up to elementary school.

“Second has been touched by someone; this matter must have an explanation.” Chen Cuihua glared at Jiang Tianhua. She hated the look in his eyes that only held Jiang Rao the most.

They were both daughters, so why didn’t he care as much about their Xiao Yu? Ever since they were young, Jiang Rao’s life had been better than Xiao Yu’s. When Jiang Rao followed her parents, she ate cornbread, but their Xiao Yu, following her, could only eat wild vegetables dug from the fields. During the New Year, Jiang Rao could eat White Rabbit milk candies, but their Xiao Yu did not even know what candy tasted like.

It had been so hard to endure until that cheap woman Lin Mei died, and she brought Xiao Yu to the Jiang family openly and legitimately, no longer needing to live those hungry days where they worried about every meal. Yet Jiang Tianhua still gave extra favor to that little vixen Jiang Rao.

Chen Cuihua finally found an opportunity and secretly put medicine into the teacup of Jiang Rao’s childhood engagement partner, letting their Xiao Yu snatch away Jiang Rao’s good marriage. In this way, Xiao Yu would marry into town, rise up, and live a good life. As for this eyesore, Jiang Rao, if she married that poor boy, she would have to live a life of hardship for her whole life and would never be able to turn her fate around!

She was determined to make sure their Xiao Yu pressed down on Jiang Rao’s head and completely surpassed her!

“I was saving her…” Lu Shen had just turned twenty years old, and with Chen Cuihua’s loud shout, his face turned red.

He had kindly saved someone, but Chen Cuihua looked at him as if he were a shameless pervert taking advantage of her.

【Hahaha, Lu Shen is really proven to be an honest man.】

【Aside from having those black-hearted parents, Lu Shen doesn’t have any other flaws. He is honest, caring, hardworking, and capable. Jiang Rao is so spoiled, repeatedly cheated, until finally the rough man couldn’t bear it anymore and divorced her.】

【I remember in the plotline, after Lu Shen got married, he was always busy with his career and handed over all his earnings to Jiang Rao every month.】

【I remember that Lu Shen’s current parents aren’t his biological ones; he was kidnapped by human traffickers, and his biological parents’ identity isn’t simple.】

Jiang Rao looked at the floating barrage of comments in front of her.

“I don’t care, you were touching our family’s Second’s chest over and over again, our Second’s purity has been ruined by you!” Chen Cuihua was afraid that others couldn’t hear her, so her voice grew louder and louder, and more and more villagers gathered around to watch.

“Tell me, how you’re going to handle this!” In Chen Cuihua’s triangular eyes, a sharp glint flashed.

“I…” Lu Shen, after all, was a young man fresh into adulthood. He licked his somewhat dry lips, then looked at the girl next to him, whose lips were red and teeth white, facial features delicate and bright, so beautiful she drew every gaze. His rough fingers pinched the corner of his damp clothes, and his Adam’s apple rolled.

He wanted to say that if they were willing, he would take responsibility for this girl.

She was born so beautiful, like a little fairy, and he was just a rough man working in the fields, with a family poor to the extreme. How could he be worthy of her, and with what could he possibly take responsibility for her?

These words, he only thought about in his heart, not daring to say them aloud.

Seeing that this poor boy could not get even half a sentence out, Chen Cuihua spat heavily, “Could it be that you don’t want to take responsibility? You touched our family’s Second’s body, even squeezed her chest; our Second’s purity has been ruined by you. You look honest enough, but how can you be so shameless!”

As she spoke, she plopped herself down on the ground, slapping her thighs, pulling her throat to cry out loudly, forcing out nonexistent tears.

Since marrying into the family, Chen Cuihua had always pretended to treat Jiang Rao well on the surface, so that the gossiping women in the village had nothing bad to say. Even when Jiang Yu snatched away Jiang Rao’s marriage, the villagers only assumed it was because the other family disliked Jiang Rao’s temper, thinking she was difficult and spoiled; no one suspected otherwise. At this moment, Chen Cuihua was sitting on the ground, crying to the heavens and shouting to the earth, so the people around them all thought she was genuinely loving toward Jiang Rao and that she was making a fuss only for the sake of Jiang Rao’s purity.

But Jiang Rao knew very well that Chen Cuihua was deliberately making the matter big, blowing up a small issue into a huge one, so that the neighbors and the entire village would all know she had been touched by Lu Shen. The villagers were conservative and old-fashioned; if this matter spread widely, the more it was talked about, the darker it would become. By then, which good family would still be willing to take Jiang Rao?

If Jiang Yu was considered a small white lotus, then Chen Cuihua was an old white lotus.

A wave of disgust rose in Jiang Rao’s heart.

Originally, Jiang Tianhua had wanted to scold Chen Cuihua a few times, but when he thought about how Chen Cuihua seemed to care so much for Jiang Rao, the words reached his lips but were swallowed back down.

The situation became tense for a while.

“Then how do you want me to take responsibility?” Lu Shen was riding a tiger and couldn’t get off. He had simply wanted to save someone, yet he had never thought things would develop to this point.

“Very simple, you ruined our family’s Second’s purity, then just marry our family’s Second,” Chen Cuihua no longer cried out loudly. She wiped away her nonexistent tears at the corner of her eyes and said.

【Jiang Rao can’t endure this humiliation; she must be about to throw a tantrum.】

【Yeah, next Jiang Rao should fight back against her stepmother, but the surrounding villagers will think Chen Cuihua’s good intentions are being treated like a donkey’s liver and lungs, and they’ll believe Jiang Rao is spoiled and unreasonable, making her reputation even worse.】

The barrage of comments kept rolling.

If it were before, Jiang Rao, seeing through Chen Cuihua’s schemes, would have thrown a tantrum and caused a scene, but now she had awakened.

In her view, Lu Shen was a thousand times better than a scumbag like Song Dechao. Moreover, Lu Shen was responsible, reliable, caring, and would become the richest man in the future; marrying him meant a good life was still ahead.

“I…” Lu Shen clenched his fists tightly, looking at Jiang Rao beside him.

Her jet-black hair hung damply over her shoulders, her small face palm-sized, glowing with a translucent radiance under the sunlight. Her black eyes were clear and deep, shimmering with rippling light; the ends of her eyes slightly lifted, carrying a faint moist flush, like little hooks tugging at one’s heartstrings. Her beautiful lips were like flower petals, vivid and glossy. Standing there, she looked like someone who had stepped out of a painting, so beautiful that one couldn’t look away.

This was the most beautiful girl Lu Shen had ever seen in his life.

Sensing that the girl’s gaze met his, Lu Shen’s face suddenly heated, and he quickly turned his eyes away.

With his conditions, how could he possibly deserve such a beautiful little fairy?

He lowered his eyes in shame.

“Hey,” Jiang Rao, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. Her voice was clear and crisp, with a hint of delicate petulance, “Are you willing to marry me?”