Zhao Datu was overflowing with pride.
To Axiang, Zhao Datu’s words were like a bolt from the blue.
How could this happen?
Didn’t he say he liked her? He even gave her so many gifts and chopped wood for her.
Zhao’s auntie and the people behind her were also dumbfounded. It took a while for Zhao’s auntie to react, “Datu, you… you… isn’t this move a bit too vicious?”
“Vicious? This is retribution for Widow Chen. Now you all see, I’ve slept with her daughter. If Widow Chen dares to bully my mother again, I’ll bully her daughter one more time!” Zhao Datu declared, thumping his chest.
After he finished speaking, he turned to retrieve his clothing, but his clothes were underneath Axiang. Pulling any further would pletely expose Axiang in front of everyone. Axiang could only cling tightly to them and stared at Zhao Datu with tears in her eyes; she still couldn’t believe Zhao Datu would deceive her.
Unable to snatch back his clothes, Zhao Datu cursed, “Forget it, don’t need the clothes. I can just buy another… and stop looking at me like that. You think I would really like a piece of goods like you? Let me tell you, the person I like is Xia Dabao. pared to her, you’re not even worthy to carry her shoes. You think the stuff I bought you was anything good? It’s just cheap junk, fitting for a piece of goods like you.”
Axiang now was beyond reaction, just holding onto the clothes and crying nonstop.
Zhao’s auntie might have mented on Zhao Datu being vicious, but deep down she felt a sense of vindication, and she began to speak up for Zhao Datu, “Alright, let’s all disperse. Widow Chen is a promiscuous woman, and her daughter is the same. It must have been her clinging to our family’s Datu. Shameless. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s head down the mountain.”
The group was still in shock, but Zhao Datu also hopped and skipped down the mountain with everyone.
In the desolate mountain shed, only Axiang sat silently, her heart as dead as ashes.
…
The affair between Axiang and Zhao Datu quickly spread throughout the entire village. Everyone said Axiang inherited Widow Chen’s flirtatious nature and had lured Zhao Datu; for a time, Axiang became the laughing stock of the entire village and a negative example for parents with daughters:
“You see, this is the serious consequence of fooling around with a man on the mountain without being married. Now she’s lost her chastity, how is she going to get married in the future?”
“Unless Zhao Datu is willing to marry her, but it would be strange if someone like him would marry her. After such an incident, she can only blame herself for bad luck. Their family already had a bad reputation, now I don’t think anyone would be willing to marry Axiang. This child, I think she’s just ruined.”
“…”
Xia Dabao overheard several villagers discussing this matter in Tian Xiaobei’s pharmacy, and her first thought was that Zhao Datu had deliberately planned this.
How coincidental was it for Zhao’s auntie to go up the mountain at that time to catch the adulterers?
Moreover, she had stumbled upon Zhao Datu being with Axiang a few times before; it was always him pestering Axiang. So how had it bee Axiang pestering him?
Axiang now…
“Abao, what’s wrong with you?” After the villagers left, Tian Xiaobei couldn’t help asking Xia Dabao, who had been staring blankly.
Xia Dabao shuddered in that moment; she had e today to buy some moisture-removing herbs for her mother.
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