42 Acting
“Sigh, child. I’ll be honest with you. Your reputation is bad because someone deliberately spread the news that you fell into the water in the village and that you were behaving inappropriately. This Liu Shi is the one who spread the most rumors. Look. This is his retribution. He didn’t control his mouth and spoke ill of others behind their backs. Xia Wan, you’re such an obedient child. How could you do such a thing?”
The woman’s face showed that she trusted Xia Wan.
Xia Wan’s face revealed a hurt look. So, it was all Liu Shi’s words.
In reality, she did not take the women’s so-called goodwill and sympathy seriously at all. These gossipmongers were now talking about Xia Rui because of her incident, which meant her previous bad reputation had been washed clean. However, even if Xia Rui’s incident had not happened, these gossipmongers would still be talking about her.
Having little care about the feelings of the people involved, these women only wanted to blab to their heart’s content.
“Okay, okay, don’t be sad. Now, everyone knows that you’re innocent. Your cousin always looks serious, and your grandmother keeps praising her. I didn’t expect her to be so cavalier.
The woman comforted Xia Wan, who lowered her head and replied, “Thank you, aunts. My brother and I will go to the county to see if there is a place for us to work. You can take your time and sit down.”
“Ah, go on. You’re a good child.”
Xia Wan turned around and walked toward Xia Chen. She could still hear the mumbling of the women behind her.
Previously, Liu Shi had deliberately spread rumors that Xia Wan was seducing men. “I didn’t expect Xia Rui to be the one who’d do such a shameless thing. She and Liu Shi did such a shameless thing and even tried to frame Xia Wan. These two people are really a shameless couple.”
“That’s right. Otherwise, what would happen to the two of them now? This is karma.”
After Xia Wan walked to Xia Chen’s side, Xia Chen asked, “What are they talking about?”
Xia Wan smiled mysteriously and happily shared the news with Xia Chen. “Brother, they said that they believe that I didn’t do such a shameless thing and that Xia Rui did it. Last night, Xia Rui and Liu Shi got sick. The aunts said that they must have done something to cause them to get sick together.”
“Ah, Liu Shi also contracted this disease.” Xia Chen was surprised, but then he smiled. good, let him talk bad about you behind your back.
Realizing that he had said something wrong, Xia Chen quickly urged, “Alright, let’s hurry to the county.”
Xia Wan smiled. “Brother, I know you and little brother went to stand up for me. Thank you.”
Xia Chen felt even more embarrassed when Xia Wan said it out loud. “There’s no need to thank me for avenging my sister. It’s what we should do.”
After arriving in town, Xia Chen decided to go to the factories to see if there were any vacancies. Even if it was not a permanent job, something short-term was also good. He did not have high expectations, though, where ten yuan a day would be enough to make him happy.
Xia Wan, on the other hand, wanted to take a look at the more prosperous streets and observe which shops were more popular. The two had different goals, so Xia Wan took out ten yuan from her pocket and handed it to Xia Chen. “Brother, take the money and find a job. If you’re hungry, go eat. Don’t save it for me. I have many ways to make money in my head.”
Xia Chen refused, but he couldn’t argue with Xia Wan, so he had to accept the money. At the same time, he made up his mind to find a good job and not let Xia Wan down.
After Xia Chen left, Xia Wan began to stroll along the streets. She realized that the living areas and business people were mixed together on the streets. There was no special commercial street, and the clothes sold were more rustic and piled up messily. One look at them and no one had the urge to go in and shop.
Xia Wan thought that girls were the easiest to spend money on. Selling clothes was a good idea, but she needed to rent a shop. If Li Jin and Xia Rui found out that she had rented a shop, they would’ve definitely come up with bad ideas.
Hence, if she rented a shop, she would pretend that she was helping to look after it. At the same time, she would find herself a strong backer. She would say that her boss was a big businessman and owned several shops. This way, Li Jin and the others wouldn’t dare be so rash.
After walking for about two hours, Xia Wan had already seen all the shops in the area. They were very scattered. She happened to see a restaurant and walked in directly.