Chapter 19: Rumors

Tang Wan staying at Qin Zheng’s house quickly became known throughout the entire village.

What surprised Tang Wan was that no real rumors spread about it.

She found out when she went back to the youth work point to get some change of clothes and ran into Cuicui and Luo Ying.

Originally, Grandma Bai was supposed to go with Tang Wan to the work point to get things, but Tang Wan refused. She had some things stored in her space, and of course Grandma Bai’s noodles couldn’t be taken out.

Fortunately, her foot injury was mostly healed, and with a cane, she could walk well enough.

Grandma Bai, being a person who respected others’ privacy, agreed to let Tang Wan go back by herself and said she would come to pick her up later.

It was on the way back that Tang Wan met the two girls.

Luo Ying and the others had probably been going to cut pigweed. Seeing Tang Wan walking alone with a cane, they all came over to help.

“Sister Tang Wan, you really live at Grandma Bai’s house?” Luo Ying looked at her with a somewhat complicated expression, as if feeling sorry for her.

“You know already,” Tang Wan was not surprised. Zhong Ling and Sister Yan Hong had already visited her. This was no secret, and in the countryside, there really were no secrets.

“Yeah, everyone in the village knows you’re now living at Grandma Bai’s,” Luo Ying nodded confidently and told her everything she knew.

“They all say you must have saved Grandma Bai’s life, otherwise Grandma Bai wouldn’t have agreed to let you live there,” Cuicui added.

Tang Wan was a bit surprised to hear how much the rumor had grown. Actually, she was the one who had been saved.

“Is that what everyone thinks?” Tang Wan asked.

“Of course. Otherwise, why would Grandma Bai let you live there?” Luo Ying answered firmly.

Grandma Bai’s house was made of blue bricks and tiles. Even the village chief’s house wasn’t as nice.

You couldn’t find a house better than Grandma Bai’s within ten miles around.

Who wouldn’t want to live in such a good house? If Tang Wan hadn’t saved Grandma Bai, Grandma Bai wouldn’t be so willing to let her stay.

“But…” Luo Ying hesitated a little, “When you lived at Grandma Bai’s, did you meet Qin Zheng? Wasn’t he scary?”

Her tone was full of questions. Cuicui, hearing this, also looked at Tang Wan curiously.

Since they heard Tang Wan was living at Grandma Bai’s, they had been worried about this.

Others might not know, but they knew that the morning they went to look for wild vegetables, Qin Zheng was there when Grandma Bai called Tang Wan.

Just one glance was intimidating enough. They wondered if Tang Wan living there would mean Qin Zheng would hit her.

“No, he hasn’t seemed to be home these days,” Tang Wan could tell what they were worried about.

Qin Zheng really hadn’t been home much lately. Except for the day he came back and finished building the house, the following days he was busy somewhere and didn’t come home. It was just Grandma Bai and her at home.

“That’s good. If he hit you, that would be really scary,” Luo Ying said dramatically, patting her chest.

Tang Wan laughed at that: “Why would he hit me for no reason?”

“Well, since you saved Grandma Bai, he probably wouldn’t hit you.”

Luo Ying added, “He’s actually very good to Grandma Bai. After he came back and finished the house, the first thing he did was bring Grandma Bai to live there.”

Hearing this, Luo Ying and Cuicui relaxed. When they first heard the news, they were quite scared, fearing something might have happened when they left Tang Wan alone there.

With the two of them accompanying her, they soon arrived at the youth work point.

“You two are going up the mountain to cut pigweed, right? Don’t worry about me. I’ll pack up some things, and Grandma Bai will come to pick me up later. You better hurry to the back mountain,” Tang Wan said as she saw both of them carrying back baskets.

Cutting pigweed also earned work points.

“Are you okay on your own?” Cuicui looked a bit worried.

“No problem, I have a cane,” Tang Wan patted her cane to reassure her.

“Then we’ll go ahead,” Luo Ying said.

Watching Luo Ying lead Cuicui away, Tang Wan went back inside.

She would stay at Qin’s house for at most three days; getting two sets of clothes would be enough. Mainly, she wanted to take some things out of the space to give to Grandma Bai.

While living at Qin’s, Grandma Bai refused to accept any money from her, just saying Qin Zheng owed her and couldn’t take her money.

So she thought she might as well take some of the things her father had sent in the space out and, while she was still living there, share them with Grandma Bai. That way, Grandma Bai couldn’t refuse.

There was no one at the youth work point at this time. Tang Wan first took things out of the space, then bent down with some difficulty to pull out a box from under the bed.

Once she took it out, Tang Wan felt something was off.

It wasn’t that something was missing.

Tang Wan had a habit of placing boxes with the locked side facing outward for convenience.

But now, the locked side was facing inward.

This was actually how most people would do it, but definitely not how Tang Wan herself had placed it.

Thinking this, Tang Wan silently opened the box, recalling what she had put inside.

It seemed nothing was missing, even the several dozen yuan she had put plainly on top hadn’t been touched.

Could it be that she remembered the box’s direction wrong?

Tang Wan considered this possibility but still felt uneasy.

Someone must have touched her box but hadn’t taken anything.

Thinking this, she felt the watch in the compartment — such a valuable item was untouched. So why would someone rummage through her box?

Tang Wan touched the pendant mark on her chest.

Was it for this?

If so, the person was very clear in their purpose.

Without hesitation, Tang Wan put the valuables back into the space, even a set of clothes just in case.

After finishing this, she put the box back.

She had already taken out quite a lot of things from the space.

Among them, she took out two cans of malt extract, planning to add some spiritual spring water when giving it to Grandma Bai to drink.

During these days living there, she also noticed Grandma Bai’s body wasn’t as sturdy as she appeared; on rainy days her legs and feet ached.

Drinking some spiritual spring water to help regulate would probably be very effective.

With this in mind, Tang Wan packed her things into an oil-paper bag, waiting for Grandma Bai to come pick her up.

But unexpectedly, the person who came wasn’t Grandma Bai—it was Qin Zheng.

Seeing Qin Zheng standing at the door, Tang Wan hesitated for a moment but still handed him the things she was carrying.

Though the clothes were in a bag, Tang Wan still felt a little embarrassed handing them to Qin Zheng.

Luckily, there was no expression on Qin Zheng’s face.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking the things from Tang Wan.