Chapter 33

“Don’t talk nonsense. My daughter didn’t do such a thing. She must have signed up herself. She might have been impulsive and wanted to go to the countryside to build the village, but then she regretted it. She didn’t want to have a bad reputation, so she blamed my daughter.” Fu Xiujun said quickly.

Originally, she wanted to maintain superficial harmony with Bai Ruanruan’s family, but now that she sees that everyone has believed Bai Ruanruan, she wants to break off relations with them completely. She only has this one daughter, and her reputation cannot be ruined like this.

“Sister, what are you talking about? Our Ruanruan has always been very well behaved, and because of her poor health, she has always had this figure. You said that my daughter wanted to sign up to go to the countryside, but later regretted it. Could it be that the comrades in the Youth League Office were bribed by my daughter and deliberately framed your daughter?” Fu Shiting said dissatisfiedly.

Bai Gaohan nodded, “That’s right. Although my daughter stays at home most of the time, she also goes out to buy groceries. Everyone who knows her knows this. If you don’t believe my daughter, you can take you to the place where she usually buys groceries and ask those people if she has ever been fat or thin. Anyway, the people who registered her at the Youth League Office are fatter than my daughter, so she can only be Gu Zhenxi.”

The public security comrade who was standing by and listening to the whole process had already made up his mind. He looked at Gu Zhenxi who was standing by and said, “Comrade Gu, although half of the rumors circulating in your compound are not true, the other half of the rumors were not spread by the comrade from the Youth Office and Comrade Xiaobai. They only said that you signed up Comrade Xiaobai to go to the countryside, and they were telling the truth, which does not fall into the category of rumor-mongering.”

“So, the two of them are not responsible. As for who spread the rumors in the compound, we will continue to investigate. However, it is wrong for you to sign up Comrade Xiaobai to go to the countryside.”

“Comrade Xiaobai is the only daughter in the family. She doesn’t need to go to the countryside. In addition, she is weak. Although going to the countryside is a good thing for building the country and the countryside, it will put a burden on Comrade Xiaobai’s body. You are harming her life by doing this.”

As soon as the public security comrade said this, the people who followed behind to watch the show all nodded, and Gu Zhenxi turned pale immediately.

“No, I didn’t, comrade Public Security, please believe me, I really didn’t do that.” Gu Zhenxi quickly shook her head. She couldn’t admit it. If she admitted it, she would be labeled with a vicious reputation in the future.

If it is just something ambiguous and there is no evidence, she can still say with confidence that she did not do it. If anyone in the compound says behind her back that she did it, she will report it to the public security bureau, and in the end no one will say that about her.

But if the public security comrades also determine that she did it, then in the future, people in the compound will be even more unscrupulous when talking about this matter.

She was spared the rumor that she cheated on Lu Zisheng, but with such a vicious reputation, Lu Zisheng would definitely not marry her.

“Yes, comrade from Public Security, you can’t talk nonsense. There is no clear evidence in this matter. All of this is just nonsense made up by Bai Ruanruan and the comrade from the Youth League Office. Maybe they just want to shirk responsibility.” Fu Xiujun also nodded quickly.

“You are the one who wants to shirk responsibility. To be honest, your house was visited by a thief before, and all the things in the house were stolen. He even came to our house to borrow five dollars! I told you at that time that this was my daughter’s dowry and it must be returned. My daughter’s wedding is about to start. When will you pay back the money?” Fu Shiting suddenly said.

Gu Zhenxi and Fu Xiuyun were immediately panicked. How did they get to the point of paying back the money?

Although Gu Zhiguo had already received his salary, after all, too many things were stolen from the house. The salary, plus the original savings and borrowed money, was still not enough to buy back the furniture at home. During this period, their family lived a very tight life. They could only eat vegetarian food and could not even eat a bite of meat. How could they have the money to pay back?

“Speaking of which, when the Gu family was robbed before, we were discussing whether they had done something wrong. Now it seems that it was true.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t know, it was very strange that their house was robbed. Most thieves can only steal small valuables and money, but their house was completely emptied of furniture. The three of them slept like dead pigs and were not woken up by the thieves. When they woke up the next day, the whole family was gone, leaving only the bed. Don’t you think this is strange? I don’t believe it’s not retribution.”

“Really? Oh, no, the public security comrades are here. We can’t talk about these feudal superstitions. Let’s talk about it when we get back.”

People who came to watch the fun started discussing it and felt that this matter was most likely true.

Although feudal superstition is being cracked down everywhere now, people only don’t believe it on the surface, but in fact there are still quite a few people who believe it.

The fact that the Gu family’s house was robbed was a very mysterious thing in itself. How could a thief be so capable as to empty out all the furniture in their house without waking up anyone in the Gu family?

This must be the Gu family’s own fault. Look at what their daughter has done. They actually have to force a sickly little girl to work in the countryside. God is punishing them!

Listening to the discussions of the group of people behind her, Fu Xiujun was very angry. She changed her mind and realized that when the mother and daughter came to the Bai family to borrow money, no one saw them and no IOU was written. Doesn’t this mean that they can default on the debt?

After all, the Bai family has no evidence!

At that moment, Fu Xiujun said, “Sister, what are you talking about? When did we ever borrow money from you? After our house was robbed, we borrowed money from the Lu family. We never borrowed money from your family!”

Fu Shiting was shocked. They were so shameless that they even denied five dollars?

Bai Ruanruan said quickly, “Aunt, you are going too far. When your house was robbed, you came to our house to borrow money, but my mother said she could only lend you five yuan. When you left, you complained that my mother didn’t lend you enough money! Now that I’ve exposed that my cousin signed me up to go to the countryside, you’ve turned your face and refused to admit it. You don’t even want to pay back the money you borrowed!”

Bai Ruanruan actually didn’t hear them complain about the small amount of money after borrowing it, but it didn’t stop her from thinking so.

She just said it casually, but Gu Zhenxi and Fu Xiujun were very shocked. Bai Ruanruan was still sleeping in the room at that time and did not come out. The mother and daughter disliked the small amount of money, so they said it after they left the Bai family and walked some distance. It was even more impossible for Bai Ruanruan to hear it, so how could she know about this?

Seeing the shocked expressions on Gu Zhenxi and Fu Xiujun’s faces, the neighbors who came to watch the show understood what was going on. What the Bai family said must be true. They must have owed money and refused to pay it back!

“Who are these people? Living in our compound brings shame to our compound.”

“That’s right. They borrowed money but didn’t pay it back. Look, they still confidently said they didn’t borrow any money at all.”

“This is five dollars. It can feed a family of three for many days, right?”

“It’s someone else’s daughter’s dowry. How shameless!”

“Why do people like this live in our compound? Can we kick them out?”

Fu Xiujun immediately panicked, especially when she heard the people around her saying that they should be kicked out.

The house they live in now was allocated by the factory where Gu Zhiguo works. People living in the same compound are either family members of people who work in the same factory as Gu Zhiguo, or the houses are allocated by factory leaders to relatives.

If they really didn’t want their family to live in the compound, they could just go to the factory and report their family’s conduct problems. Although it was Gu Zhenxi who signed up Bai Ruanruan to go to the countryside, and it was the mother and daughter who came to cause trouble, and the whole thing had nothing to do with Gu Zhiguo, Gu Zhiguo would still be implicated.

It’s hard to say how the work will turn out, but if everyone in the compound starts making trouble, their family will definitely not be able to live in the house that was allocated to them.

After their house was robbed, how could they have the money to buy a house?

If you are driven out of the compound, you will have no house to live in!

At that moment, Fu Xiujun quickly took out five dollars from her pocket, walked up to her, and handed it to Fu Shiting, “Sister, look at my memory. I forgot about it before, but now that you mentioned it, I remember it now. Here’s the five dollars back.”

Then Fu Xiujun looked at Gu Zhenxi and said, “Kid, what do I usually say to you? Ruanruan and Lu Zisheng had nothing to do with each other, but you signed her up to go to the countryside for such a small matter. Fortunately, nothing happened to her, otherwise how would I have the face to see your aunt in the future?”

Gu Zhenxi was confused. What was her mother saying? Was she directly admitting that she had signed Bai Ruanruan up to go to the countryside? Although everyone behind her already knew the truth, she felt there was still a glimmer of hope as long as she refused to admit it.

But now, her mother has directly acknowledged it, does she still want to have a reputation?

“Mom, I didn’t do this!” Gu Zhenxi winked at Fu Xiuyun frantically.

“You kid, you still refuse to admit it? Apologize to your sister now, you two are cousins!” Fu Xiujun pulled him and brought her in front of Bai Ruanruan, “Apologize now!”

In her opinion, how could her daughter’s reputation be as important as her husband’s job?

Although she has always complained that her husband does not make much money and his monthly salary is only 40 yuan, her husband is the head of the family after all. She herself does not have a job, and her daughter does not have a job now. The whole family relies on her husband’s salary to make a living, and occasionally they have to come to the Bai family to complain and ask for something. If there is a problem with her husband’s job, what can it do no matter how good her daughter’s reputation is?

To put it bluntly, a daughter will eventually get married. After marriage, she becomes someone else’s wife, and it is impossible for her to continue to subsidize her parents’ home, otherwise she will be gossiped about by her husband’s family.

After Gu Zhenxi gets married in two years, she will no longer be considered her family’s daughter. By then, there will be little help she can provide to their family. When she is old, she will still have to live with her husband, and her husband’s work must not go wrong.

The Bai family looked at them in a speechless manner, but Bai Ruanruan said sarcastically, “Forget it, Auntie, I won’t ask my cousin to apologize. I’m also afraid that even if my cousin apologizes publicly, she will still be dissatisfied in her heart and do something to me in the future. We should stop interacting with each other in the future.”

“Ruanruan, how can you say that? Your mother and I are sisters. We are the closest relatives. How can there be any overnight hatred? Don’t worry, your aunt will definitely teach your cousin a lesson. Your cousin will definitely not do this again in the future.”

“But I get scared when I see my cousin.” Bai Ruanruan’s eyes turned red as she hid behind Fu Shiting. “When I see my cousin now, I think of how she and I are good sisters on the surface, but she is secretly signing me up to go to the countryside and die. I’m so scared…”