She smiled sweetly, her red lips and white teeth, her bangs loosely clinging to her cheeks. After cutting grass for a while, fine sweat appeared on her nose.

Chen Xu nodded, lowered his eyes, and didn’t look at the smile on her face.

The sky gradually brightened, and villagers carrying farming tools were already passing by on the road. Chen Xu patted the grass clippings off his hands and stood up, saying, “I’ll go back first.”

Wen Nan nodded: “Mm.”

She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. When she had cut a basketful, Zhao Xiaomai ran over with her basket: “Wen Nan—”

She waved to Wen Nan, stopped, rested her hands on her knees to catch her breath, and then grabbed the straps on her shoulders and ran over. Seeing that Wen Nan had cut a large pile of grass, she was surprised: “When did you get here? I went to your house to look for you, Chief Chen said you had already left.”

Wen Nan smiled: “I came before dawn.” Then she skillfully grabbed a large handful of grass and cut it down: “Look, my technique is faster than yesterday.”

Zhao Xiaomai frowned instead, put down her basket and helped Wen Nan cut the grass, then whispered to her: “Wen Nan, did you see anyone on your way here?” After a pause, her voice became even softer: “Like a bad guy?”

Wen Nan: ???

She dropped the grass and asked Zhao Xiaomai: “What’s wrong?”

Besides meeting Lin Meizhen and her brother-in-law on the road, she hadn’t seen anyone else.

But from Xiaomai’s tone, had she encountered something before?

Zhao Xiaomai saw Wen Nan’s reaction and knew she hadn’t encountered anything, so she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She cut a handful of grass and said: “Last month, a woman in Hongxing Commune had an accident.”

She glanced around, seeing no one, she leaned close to Wen Nan and said: “Last month, the militia patrolled Hongxing Commune, and when they passed Lihuacun, they found a naked woman in the waist-high grass by the roadside. They sent the woman to the clinic, and when she woke up, they asked her what happened.”

At this point, Zhao Xiaomai’s face turned pale.

Wen Nan also guessed what happened.

Zhao Xiaomai said: “After the woman woke up, she said she had been assaulted. It was very dark at the time, and she was scared, so she only saw two big eyes staring at her.”

Wen Nan frowned: “Was the person caught?”

Zhao Xiaomai shook her head: “The woman reported the case, and the police came down to investigate. The main problem was that the woman didn’t recognize the bad guy’s face, and anyway, they haven’t caught the person yet. The young women in Lihuacun are now afraid to go out at night, for fear of encountering that bad guy.” She pursed her lips, hesitated for a long time, and then said: “I heard from my mother that the woman committed suicide by jumping into the river.”

Wen Nan’s hand holding the sickle tightened.

In this era, encountering such a thing, let alone whether the woman still had the courage to live, the gossip and pointing fingers from the village alone could kill the woman. Her life was ruined by that scum, and no one would come to propose marriage in the future, and her family would also be gossiped about and unable to hold their heads up. These were all triggers that pushed the woman to death.

Zhao Xiaomai saw Wen Nan lowering her head without speaking, thinking she was scared, and comforted her again: “Wen Nan, you don’t have to be afraid. Xinghuacun is next to the army, bad guys dare not come here. Lihuacun is the farthest village from Hongxing Commune, and it’s not close to our family quarters. Besides, the security department patrols our family quarters every day, and there are militia patrolling Xinghuacun. Even if the bad guys had ten lives, they wouldn’t dare to do bad things here.”

Wen Nan looked up and smiled: “I’m fine.”

Now she understood why Chen Xu insisted on sending her to the grassland, and why he waited until there were people on the road before leaving.

That was the reason.

Zhao Xiaomai helped her cut grass for a while and then left. After a while, Lin Meizhen also came.

There were five people cutting grass in the grassland, six including Wen Nan. There were three girls aged thirteen or fourteen, and one about the same age as Lin Meizhen. The grassland was large, and everyone was scattered, and no one paid attention to anyone else.

Wen Nan lowered her head and blew on the blisters on her hands, then pressed them with her hand. It hurt a little.

Chen Xu didn’t come to send the grass at noon. Wen Nan packed a basket of grass herself. She didn’t pack it tightly, although it was still heavy to carry, but she could walk without any problem. She and Lin Meizhen sent it to the cattle farm one after the other. On the way, they met Xiaomai, who had already sent the pigweed, and came to help Wen Nan send the grass. The two of them went back to the family quarters together.

Grandma Chen had already prepared lunch and was sitting in the small courtyard looking at the gate. Wen Nan came in from outside, sweetly called out “Auntie,” put the basket behind the door, and saw only Grandma Chen at the table, she was stunned: “Has Big Brother not come back yet?”

“No, he probably has something to do in the regiment. Forget about him, let’s eat first.”

Grandma Chen got up to serve the food from the kitchen. Wen Nan squatted by the well to press water. Both of her palms were injured, so she had some difficulty pressing the water. Unexpectedly, as soon as she had pressed half a basin of water, she heard Zhao Xiaomai’s crying voice outside the door.

“Mom, what I said is true, don’t look for Wen Nan, okay.”

Zhao Xiaomai cried and wiped her tears. Half of her face was red, with a five-finger print on it.

Hua Fengzhen scolded and pulled her arm towards Chief Chen’s house: “Don’t talk nonsense to me, Lin Saozi is so old, can she still lie? Our two families have been neighbors for so many years, if this didn’t happen, would she make it up? Zhao Xiaomai, I tell you, I’ll settle the score with Wen Nan first, then I’ll settle it with you! Look how capable you are, even earning work points for others, have we raised you for so many years to work for others?!”

By the time she spoke, she had already reached the door of Chief Chen’s house. Hua Fengzhen angrily pushed open the door and pulled Zhao Xiaomai inside. She saw Wen Nan squatting by the well washing her hands. Grandma Chen came out of the kitchen with two bowls of noodles. Seeing Hua Fengzhen rushing in angrily, and then seeing the slap mark on Zhao Xiaomai’s face, she frowned: “Hua Fengzhen, what are you doing?”

“Wen Nan, I’m sorry…”

Zhao Xiaomai cried, apologizing to Wen Nan. Hua Fengzhen twisted her arm hard, and Zhao Xiaomai cried out in pain, covering her arm and biting her lip to hold back her tears.

Hua Fengzhen scolded: “You little bitch, what are you apologizing for!”

Then she glared at Wen Nan and said to Grandma Chen: “Auntie Hou, you have to judge this for us.” She pointed at Wen Nan: “Your niece made my Xiaomai pull weeds for her, doesn’t my Xiaomai have her own work to do? She ran over to earn work points for your family, she worked for a day and a half, my Xiaomai helped her for a day and a half. If you don’t give me an explanation today, I’ll go to the regiment leadership to report Chief Chen’s cousin for exploiting my Xiaomai, and let the regiment leadership give me an explanation!”

“Mom, Wen Nan didn’t ask me to help her, it was me… ah!”

Zhao Xiaomai was twisted hard on her arm again by Hua Fengzhen, her face contorted in pain, and she couldn’t even speak.

Wen Nan frowned, unwilling to see Zhao Xiaomai being abused by her mother, she said coldly: “Aunt Hua, who told you that I asked Xiaomai to help me with my work?”

Grandma Chen put two bowls of noodles heavily on the table, half because they were hot, and half because she was angry.

She looked at Zhao Xiaomai and said to Hua Fengzhen angrily: “Don’t pinch the child, talk properly. You said that Nan Nan asked Xiaomai to help her with her work, you need evidence to say that, why should we believe whatever you say? Didn’t you hear Xiaomai say just now that it wasn’t Nan Nan who asked her to help with her work?”

“What if Wen Nan threatened or intimidated Xiaomai, forcing her to say that?”

Hua Fengzhen glared at Wen Nan. She looked delicate and tender, not someone who would do manual labor. Compared to her Xiaomai, she was far behind. She continued: “Lin Meizhen told me, she and Wen Nan were both cutting grass for the cattle farm. If this didn’t happen, would she lie?”

Grandma Chen frowned and looked at Wen Nan.

Although she had only spent a few days with this girl, she wouldn’t misjudge people. This girl wasn’t the kind of person who would cheat and exploit others. There must be some misunderstanding.

“Nan Nan, what exactly happened, tell me, Auntie believes you’re not that kind of person.”

“What happened?”

Zhang Xiaoe’s voice suddenly came from the wall. Grandma Chen and Hua Fengzhen turned their heads and saw Zhang Xiaoe lying on the wall, showing her head, her eyes rolling around, obviously coming to listen to other people’s business again. Everyone knew she was a loudmouth, and if she knew about someone’s business, the whole family quarters would know the next day.

As soon as Hua Fengzhen saw Zhang Xiaoe, she told her about Wen Nan forcing Xiaomai to work, wanting her to spread the word that Wen Nan was exploitative. Didn’t she come here to find a partner after running to Chief Chen?

Humph! She wouldn’t let her!

A woman with such a problematic character, what’s the use of being beautiful, who would dare to marry her?

Zhang Xiaoe, lying on the wall, rolled her eyes and looked at Wen Nan, just about to speak, when she heard Wen Nan say: “Aunt Hua, it’s not like Lin Meizhen said.”

Hua Fengzhen thought she was trying to deny it, and wanted to taunt her, but Wen Nan directly blocked her mouth, saying in front of Zhang Xiaoe and Grandma Chen: “I’m slow at work, but I won’t exploit people. Xiaomai came to help me because she finished cutting the pigweed early, and I also promised Xiaomai that no matter how many work points I earn in a day, I’ll share half with her. I said this in front of Lin Meizhen, and everyone who cut grass with me knows about it. Aunt Hua, you can confront others if you don’t believe me.”

Wen Nan looked at Hua Fengzhen’s stunned face and continued: “Aunt Hua, what does Lin Meizhen mean by telling you half the story?”

“What else could it mean? She just wants to see Hua Fengzhen make trouble for you, right?” Zhang Xiaoe, who didn’t want to miss the fun, lay on the wall and continued to incite: “She must be jealous that Xiaomai earned more work points than her, and resentful that you didn’t share work points with her, so she’s unhappy.”

Her voice was loud, and the military wives who passed by heard the noise and came to watch the fun.

Grandma Chen didn’t expect this to be the reason, and glared at Hua Fengzhen angrily: “In this case, Xiaomai earns a few more work points to subsidize the family every day. If you don’t feel sorry for her, you beat and scold her. You believe whatever Lin Meizhen says, and you’re led by the nose, and you come to find trouble with Nan Nan. You’re such a grown-up, can’t you think things through?”