Chapter 164: Chapter 164: You Can’t Just Create Something from Nothing, Can You?

Xu Su was leading the others to the spare rooms to pick where they would sleep for the night when she noticed Xi Zirong hadn’t followed.

She went back to her own room and immediately saw the notebook in Xi Zirong’s hands. It looked a little familiar… She wasn’t sure… She needed a closer look.

Once she got closer and saw it clearly, her mind went blank.

“Xi Zirong! Who said you could read someone else’s diary?!”

The notebook was snatched from his hands. Xi Zirong looked up, his eyes a little red. “This Sun Yu, where does he go to school now?”

The diary was from middle school, something that had happened over a decade ago for Xu Su. She didn’t remember what was written inside, but she definitely remembered Sun Yu.

After all, Zhou Mochen had made a special trip to Kang County just because of him.

Xu Su flipped open the notebook. There were only a few entries, and most of them were about Sun Yu.

She hadn’t written in her diary every day during middle school, only when she was in a very bad mood and needed to record her troubles.

And Sun Yu, the one who spread rumors about her, took up most of the space.

“It’s all in the past. Who he is doesn’t matter anymore.” Xu Su put the notebook away in a drawer.

“The fact that he bullied you—I can’t let that go! Tell me, what school is he at?”

“…” Xu Su shot him an exasperated glare. “What, are you going to go pick a fight with him? Xi Zirong, I said it’s in the past, so it’s in the past. If I hadn’t seen this diary today, I wouldn’t have even remembered any of this.”

It was just some drama with a classmate from over ten years ago.

Sun Yu was certainly detestable, but Zhou Mochen had personally dealt with it. Sun Yu himself, along with his entire family, probably hadn’t had an easy time since.

There was absolutely no need for Xi Zirong to go and get even for her.

Xi Zirong watched her in silence, his eyes filled with heartache. Thinking about all the grievances the girl in the diary had suffered, rage churned in his chest. He felt like he had never been this furious before.

After a long moment, he nodded. “Fine, you don’t have to tell me. But stay out of this. I’ll find out myself.”

’Sun Yu seemed to have gotten into City Seventh Middle School back then.’

’…Considering the professional connections of Xi Zirong’s parents, plus his own fame across all the major high schools in Chang City, finding out Sun Yu’s school would be ridiculously easy…’

Xu Su reached out and grabbed his arm. “Xi Zirong, it’s really in the past. Don’t go looking for trouble. And how could you do something like read someone else’s diary!”

“I’m sorry. I thought it was your class notes. I just flipped it open casually and then I couldn’t look away. I didn’t mean to read your diary,” Xi Zirong explained simply. Seeing no one else around, he leaned in and gave her a quick hug. “Susu, don’t underestimate me. I will definitely get even for you.”

’…Who would underestimate you? You come from a prestigious, intellectual family, after all.’

After failing to talk him out of it several times, Xu Su couldn’t be bothered to say any more.

“Xi Zirong, I’m giving you a serious warning. Don’t get handsy with me here, you hear?”

’This guy’s habit of hugging her the moment she’s not looking is never going to change, is it?’

After getting glared at by Xu Su, Xi Zirong pitifully withdrew his hands. “Got it.”

Grandma Xu’s house had four rooms in total. The old woman slept in the inner room herself, and for the remaining three, the two boys took one, Huang Feng and Qian Jia shared another, and Xu Su got a room to herself.

After they had settled their sleeping arrangements for the night, Chen Ni and Chen Dong came over, each carrying a watermelon.

It was a little after two in the afternoon, and the sun was scorching, so none of the farmers were out working.

Xu Su had brought classmates from the city, and they had arrived in a car—an extremely rare sight in Chen Family Village. Many of the villagers who loved a spectacle had heard the news and gathered at Uncle Xu’s house.

Hearing the chatter of the village gossips coming from her own house next door, Chen Ni muttered while cutting up a watermelon, “Susu, you’d better not go over there. They’re making you the butt of their jokes again.”

Xu Su helped Chen Ni pass out the cut watermelon slices to her classmates, just smiling at her words.

Huang Feng was a bit curious. She took a bite of the watermelon, which had been chilled in the well, and asked, “Why would they make jokes about Susu?”

Living in the city, she didn’t understand the way neighbors interacted in the countryside.

Whenever something new happened to a family, everyone loved to come and watch the excitement. It was how villagers with few forms of entertainment amused themselves.

But new things didn’t happen every day, so didn’t the gossiping aunts have to create their own topics for teatime chatter?

Take Xu Su, for example. She had grown up in Chen Family Village but was an outsider with a different surname. She was also a pretty little girl. As her features blossomed, the villagers loved to tease her, saying that so-and-so’s son would be a perfect match for her.

They’d say things like, since she grew up eating the grain of Chen Family Village, she should marry into the village to keep the prize from slipping away.

Some who liked to make crude jokes would say that with a pretty little face like Xu Su’s, a rural family wouldn’t be able to hold onto her, that she was destined to land a sugar daddy.

This was also the reason why Xu Su had been so adamant about not letting Zhou Mochen bring her home last year. Having been the target of the village’s “well-intentioned” jokes since she was little, she was always careful to keep her distance from boys.

No matter which boy they joked about pairing her with, Xu Su stayed far away from him. Aside from her few male cousins on her uncle’s side, she never played with the other children in Chen Family Village.

Huang Feng and the others, being born and raised in Chang City, didn’t get it, but Qian Jia understood the ways of these country women all too well.

“What else could they gossip about? Just wagging their tongues. You’ve seen TV shows, right? You’ve seen those women gossiping at the village entrance, haven’t you?” She pursed her lips and looked at Xu Su’s increasingly beautiful face, guessing, “You can just imagine how out of place a face like Susu’s is in this village.”

“In a village with no entertainment, isn’t her daily life the perfect after-dinner fodder for all those gossiping aunts?”

Qian Jia was right. In recent years, rapid economic development had slightly boosted this poor and backward village. But just a few years ago, very few families in the village even had a television. After finishing their farm work and dinner, most people just went visiting and chatting.

Once they got tired of chattering about everyone’s business, wasn’t it natural for them to latch onto Xu Su—the pretty, high-achieving outsider?

Xi Zirong’s brow furrowed. Considering that Chen Ni and Chen Dong were present, he said nothing. Huang Feng, however, had no such reservations.

She was still puzzled. “What exactly do they gossip about? They can’t just make things up out of thin air, can they?”

“When I was little, there was a really pretty older girl who lived next door to me. Her middle school was pretty far away, you know? A few times she came home a little late at night, and those women started rumors that she was misbehaving at school. Anyway, the things they said were really nasty.”

After she finished, Qian Jia suddenly looked up at Xu Su and shouted, “Holy crap! The people here at your grandma’s place don’t spread rumors about you like that, do they?”

She startled Xu Su. “No, no! Don’t make it sound so awful. I didn’t even go to middle school in the local town. I went to school in Kang County.”

Speaking of Kang County, she glanced at Xi Zirong. His eyes were downcast, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Xu Su felt a headache coming on. She had no idea how Zhou Mochen had dealt with Sun Yu and his family.

She had no doubt that when Zhou Mochen dealt with people, he was never merciful. He probably dealt with the entire family, leaving no loose ends… maybe even going further?

Xu Su recalled that one of Sun Yu’s uncles seemed to have some status in Kang County… He probably didn’t get off easy either.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep