“What… what the h*ll are you saying?” Widow Zhang’s face turned white, and she carefully stole a glance at the man seated at the back of the bus. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to cut Sheng Ning’s tongue off!

 The middle-aged woman who had complimented Sheng Ning on her good looks asked, “Zhang Fang, what’s she saying? You’re under the protection of both the village head and the village director?” There was a glint in the woman’s eyes.

 She was acquainted with Widow Zhang, as they were both from the same hometown. In her excitement, she addressed the other lady by her full name.

 Everyone started gossiping. “How scandalous! Two men protecting one widow! She must have some really good tricks up her sleeve!”

 The crowd erupted into loud laughter. “Ha ha ha…”

 Zhang Fang was so infuriated that she stomped her foot. She quickly assumed a pitiful expression in order to gain sympathy, and said, “Everyone, please listen to me! I can explain! That’s not true at all!”

 “These are all lies made up by this b*tch, Sheng Ning,” she continued. “She has a horrible reputation in the village and can’t bear to see someone doing better than herself. That’s why she’s smearing my name like this!”

 “Ha! What a b*tch!” she thought. “Six months away from the village, and she’s already become a lot trickier to deal with than before.”

 In the countless times she scolded and insulted Sheng Ning in the past, Sheng Ning would only cry and yell in return. How had she become so eloquent?

 Zhang Fang had suffered a crushing defeat, and a hint of dread clouded her eyes as she stared at Sheng Ning.

 Sheng Ning smiled as she looked at Zhang Fang, but her eyes were cold and sharp, like shards of ice.

 In her previous life, she was burdened by her horrible reputation, but she eventually developed character from it. In this life, she was going to prove to everyone that she wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

 “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have called you Auntie just now! You look so young, and your skin is so fair and pale. You don’t look like an Auntie at all! I should be calling you Big Sister instead.”

 “You… you…” Zhang Fang’s sense of dread intensified.

 As expected, Sheng Ning’s words brought everyone’s attention to the fact that Widow Zhang’s skin was different from the average villager’s.

 Pale, youthful skin definitely wasn’t something a person who’d spent years out on a farm would have. Even the village head’s wife looked a lot older than Zhang Fang.

 “It seems like there’s truth in the girl’s words.”

 “How else could she still look so young if she wasn’t under the protection of the village head and the village director? One look and you can tell she doesn’t have to work in the sun.”

 “She’s a widow, but her life is much better than that of an average woman’s.”

 “That’s right. The average woman only has one man to help her with the farm work. She has two!”

 The crowd’s whispers made their way to Zhang Fang’s ears like an uncontrollable tide. Panicking, she tried to explain herself, but no one was in the mood to listen, and they didn’t pay her any attention.

 As the saying goes, “bad news travels fast.” There wasn’t much entertainment to be had in the village, and everyone typically passed the time by spreading rumors about one family that they had heard from another.

 Scandalous tidbits of cheating spouses, a brother-in-law in love with his sister-in-law, so-and-so’s daughter eloping, someone’s son turning to the vices of alcohol and gambling… were all sufficient to keep everyone occupied for a good few months. And the more the rumors spread, the more ridiculous they became.

 The fact that Zhang Fang was in an illicit relationship wasn’t that big of a deal to begin with. It was a common enough occurrence in a village for a widow to cheat with a married man, but she was cheating with two men at the same time, which was completely unheard of.

 “I did not! I’m not…” Zhang Fang saw that her explanations were falling on deaf ears, and she resorted to pouncing on Sheng Ning. “You little b*tch! You’d better clear my name! I’m going to tear your mouth off! How dare you utter such bullsh*t! How dare you!”

 Zhang Fang was so overcome with hatred that she manged to shove the crowd out of her way. In an instant, she was in front of Sheng Ning. She grabbed her by the hair and forcefully yanked her up off the ground.

 Tears of pain welled up in Sheng Ning’s eyes.