Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Bastard Who Deserves the Pig Cage

“Huanhuan, it’s okay now, it’s all over!”

Jiang Xingye gently wiped away Xu Qinghuan’s tears with his fingers.

If all the hardships and misfortunes in life were meant to bring him to meet the girl he loves, then it’s all worth it!

“Ah, back then, little Wu was trying to seek justice for his mother, wasn’t it? They said he went to steal from his stepfather’s house?”

“No!” Xu Qinghuan didn’t expect the team members still had such a misunderstanding about him. She glared fiercely at Jiang Xingye, couldn’t he just speak up?

She explained,

“The police station has records, stating clearly that it was because Aye’s mother kept telling him that she was being beaten by her stepfather, that Aye went to find her man.”

“Yes, Xiao Ye has been a good kid since he was young, when has he ever stolen anything?”

“Exactly, Xiao Ye was the kind of kid who wouldn’t even pick up money he found on the street, let alone steal from his stepfather’s house.”

“Ma Zilan is really a piece of work, back then, she even had the police sentence Xiao Ye to death. How could she do that to her own flesh and blood!”

The tide of public opinion suddenly turned in favor of Jiang Xingye, and everyone’s gaze on him changed.

Jiang Chengxu didn’t expect Xu Qinghuan to defend that hooligan to this extent, “Xu Qinghuan, can you even access the police station’s records? You concoct such a big lie to deceive the community members just to support this hooligan.”

Xu Qinghuan said, “Just because I can’t see the police records doesn’t mean no one can. The handling officers from back then are still alive, you can go inquire about the true story, and if there’s even a half-truth in what I said, I’m willing to bear legal responsibility!”

The weight of those words was tremendous, instantly silencing these community members who couldn’t read.

Besides, even if Jiang Xingye had a bad reputation for fighting, he never proactively provoked others.

It was only when the team members bullied him too much that he would fight back.

In the past, he was an understanding, polite, and helpful child, which anyone who was a little older in the team still remembers.

“Comrade Jiang, you come in here smearing little Wu’s name, what’s your problem, can’t stand seeing others doing well? You’re an outsider and you want to bully our locals, are you serious?”

“Exactly, what does this matter have to do with you, an outsider cadre?”

“Hey, I’ve heard this man is quite the piece of work. When he was engaged to Comrade Xu, he was fooling around with her sister, really shameless!”

“Pah! What a scoundrel, should just be dunked in a pig cage!”

“His father committed obscenity crimes. Village girls should stay far away from him, don’t let them be harmed!”

“Oh, how did someone like this end up in our brigade?”

Xu Manman rushed forward crying, “Sister, are you satisfied now? You’ve ruined both my and Brother Chengxu’s reputation. Are you finally happy? When did I ever seduce Brother Chengxu? Tell me, clarify this, you’re clearly slandering me!”

“Slandering you? Who do you think you are that I would bother slandering? You should say it’s the inspection team framing you. Otherwise, could they have caught and imprisoned you two for the crime of behaving indecently in public?” Xu Qinghuan said.

“Xu Qinghuan, how did you become like this? So unreasonable and shrewish, so quick to speak without thinking, where did your former gentleness and grace go?” Jiang Chengxu expressed with anguish.

“I don’t owe you gentleness and grace, who do you think you are, really interesting!”

When it came time to assign tasks, a plot of land at the foot of West Mountain had to be cleared; it would freeze over the winter and be used for planting beans next year.

That plot of land was about three to four acres, the last land reclamation task of the year, but also extremely challenging because many fragments of rock had fallen from the mountain which had been blasted before.

The stones needed to be cleared first before plowing.

“Let the three new cadres handle that land. They seem to have the energy to fight early in the morning; they must be good workers.”

“Right, with the harvest in just two or three days, it’s a perfect test for the three new cadres.”

Since that was the consensus among the community members, the brigade leader couldn’t oppose, “Let’s see if the three young cadres have any objections. Everyone has high expectations for you, don’t disappoint the working people!”

Why should they go to reclaim the wasteland, and Xu Qinghuan only needed to gather pigweed!

Xu Manman said with reddened eyes, “We’re all new cadres, how can we be targeted like this? My sister has always cared for me; can she join us in reclaiming the wasteland? I’ll help her gather pigweed.”

She had heard that it was always that hooligan assisting Xu Qinghuan with her work, so let that hooligan reclaim the land.

Qiao Xinyu cursed, “I’ve seen shameless people, but never someone as shameless as you.”

Xu Qinghuan couldn’t be bothered to argue with her, strapped on her backpack, and left the brigade office to meet Shuanzi and the others waiting, “Fairy Sister, you’re joining us to gather pigweed today, let’s go, great!”

Xu Qinghuan, like a king among children, followed them to the grassy beach by the river.

The area was lush with vegetation, teeming with mugwort that pigs loved to eat, and along the shore, there was a row of paper mulberry trees, whose leaves were excellent for pig feed. The children loved to come here for pigweed.

Xu Qinghuan put down her basket, and a child handed her the tender tips of the mugwort, “Fairy Sister, this is for you!”

“Thank you, Daya!” Xu Qinghuan took out a handful of candy from her pocket for Daya to share with the kids.

“Xiaocao, why was your sister Dacao crying yesterday?” Jiang Daya gave a piece of candy to Jiang Xiaocao.

Nearby Goudan eagerly spoke, “I know, I know, I heard my mom say Zhao Hongbing was bullying Sister Dacao, and Sister Dacao hit Zhao Hongbing, then Zhao Hongbing’s own mother scolded Sister Dacao for being shameless, and Uncle Youliang hit Sister Dacao to vent.”

Jiang Xiaocao burst into tears, crying particularly sadly.

Jiang Youliang was Xiaocao and Dacao’s own father, whose wife suffered complications during childbirth and wasn’t sent to the hospital, resulting in a mother and dead child, a boy, being lost. Xiaocao and Dacao’s grandmother, Shawa, heard some nonsense saying the two sisters jinxed the grandson.

Originally there was going to sell the two sisters off, but the team leader made it clear whoever dared to trafficking people would be sent to the police, thus preserving the sisters.

But tough days still lay ahead.

Liu Zhenzhu, after losing her husband, was cast out by her in-laws and brought her two sons, Zhao Hongbing and Zhao Hongguo, to marry Jiang Youliang.

The two half-grown lads were disliked and tried peeping on young wives bathing, passed judgment on young girls, even though their surnames were changed to Jiang by their mother, the village still called them by their original Zhao surname, obviously not recognizing them as Jiang family members.

Dacao had to sleep with one eye open at night.

She was once harassed by Zhao Hongbing at midnight, lucky she was strong due to years of hard work and managed to escape, but when it became known, her father and grandmother not only didn’t support her but scolded her for being shameless.

The brigade leader had intervened, and it had been quiet for some time, but the old behavior had resurfaced.

On a small hill nearby, Kong Lijuan pointed at Xu Qinghuan and said to Zhao Hongbing, “See that? Isn’t she prettier than your stepsister? Do you know how much money she has in her hands? At least more than a thousand bucks, plus the ’three turns and one sound’ worth five hundred that hooligan gave. Do you think any of that wouldn’t be yours if you got your hands on it?”

Zhao Hongbing’s hand started wandering, and she twisted her body to slap his hand away, “What are you doing?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep