Chapter 18: Exposing the Commune

Luo Qiao laughed and said, “So it was my mistake to misunderstand you. Alright then, I won’t go with you to the Zhao family. Since I’m not the Zhao family’s daughter and I don’t want to cause trouble for others, how about you lend me some food?”

Zhao Xiaoxing, straightforward by nature, got irritated when Luo Qiao mentioned borrowing food, “Luo Qiao, what are you daydreaming about? We don’t even have enough to eat, how could we lend you any?”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaocao quickly pulled her older sister aside, silently cursing Zhao Xiaoxing for being so foolish.

Luo Qiao burst into laughter, “I knew it. How could the Zhao family care whether I starve or not? You haven’t mastered the art of lying yet.” With that, she walked away, smiling.

Embarrassed, Zhao Xiaoxing muttered, “You’re just a wild child that no one wants.”

Luo Qiao retorted loudly, “Whether I’m a wild child or not, your mother knows best. You’d better go ask her what she did fifteen years ago.”

Luo Qiao didn’t bother lowering her voice. She was fed up with the Zhao family constantly coming to her house these days, which annoyed her.

Zhao Xiaocao pulled Zhao Xiaoxing away, urging her to stop talking. It was clear she wasn’t a match for Luo Qiao and was just making a spectacle of herself in front of the villagers.

She realized that Luo Qiao had deliberately said those words to let the village know that the Zhao family had been privately visiting her often, trying to persuade her to return with them.

If anything happened to Luo Qiao, wouldn’t this show that the Zhao family was scheming against an orphan?

The Zhao sisters didn’t receive much education. Except for Zhao Xiaocao, who graduated from elementary school, the others only attended one or two years of primary education. Zhao Xiaocao had hoped to continue to junior high school, but Gao Suhua disagreed, so she had to give up.

The eldest in the Zhao family, Zhao Xiaotao, is already twenty-one this year. Because she demanded a high dowry and had high standards, it took until this year for her marriage to be arranged, and she will be marrying next month.

According to villagers, Gao Suhua has been looking at suitors for the second eldest, Zhao Xiaomei, these days. However, due to issues with the dowry, the previous engagement fell through, causing rumors to spread throughout the village.

Recently, there’s been much talk around town about Zhao Xiaomei’s situation. Among the six Zhao sisters, the second eldest is said to be the most favored, and the village believes that Gao Suhua won’t agree unless a substantial dowry is offered.

Zhao Xiaoxing and Zhao Xiaomei are twins. However, when Zhao Xiaoxing was young, she was betrothed to Zhang Changping from the neighboring Zhang Village store in the village. It’s said that Zhao Pulin saved Zhang Changping’s grandfather, and that’s how the engagement was arranged when they were young.

Previously, the high dowry was collected for the sake of the family’s only son, Zhao Guibao. Now that Zhao Guibao has also gone with his biological parents to the city, Gao Suhua’s negotiations with that family still broke down due to the dowry, and everyone hasn’t stopped mocking her behind her back.

Luo Qiao thought to herself that even her own biological daughter was used to collect dowry, let alone herself as an outsider. If the Zhao family hadn’t schemed against her, they wouldn’t have been so eager to persuade her to return. She didn’t want the villagers to know, so they chose times when there was no one around after work to persuade her.

Following behind Luo Qiao, Lu Yichen thought to himself that she wasn’t too stupid. He had overheard the conversation among the Zhao sisters that day and had no favorable impression of the Zhao family at all.

When Luo Qiao arrived at the commune, she first familiarized herself with the terrain and then entered the only Chinese medicine shop in the commune. She asked, “Excuse me, do you buy medicinal herbs here?”

A young man in the shop replied, “Have they been processed?”

“No, I just came to ask if you buy them today,” Luo Qiao said.

Curiously, the young man asked, “What kind of herbs do you have?”