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The subsequent marriage proposal was just for the purpose of an ostentation and extravagance formality after all, since the result was already known by both families. However, there were some people who couldn’t help and persistently said that the grapes were sour when they couldn’t eat it. 1
Li Xiao Ju originally thought that it was okay even if she did not get married to someone as coarse and vulgar as Lin Cheng, but when she heard her aunt tell her what Lin Cheng had prepared when he proposed, her heart was filled with regret and hate! Although this Lin Cheng was a bit ordinary, his family was rich! She could eat the white rice every day, not to mention meat, she could even eat meat in different ways. This Lin Cheng was a bit lacking but if she could live a good life, that would do too.
But of all things, she gave up on such a good home because she had a brain fart at the time! Li Xiao Ju gritted her teeth and accidentally pulled the fire blister at the corner of her mouth, causing her to twist in pain.
It won’t do! Li Xiao Ju’s eyes twinkled and suddenly a plan came to her mind. Isn’t it just a betrothal? Even if the person is married, they still can divorce, not to mention that it is only an engagement. Although this Lin Cheng looks a bit stable and calm, he is still a young man,right? At such a young age, he is impulsive and impetuous, easy to get excited. If you just tease him and pretend to be miserable in front of him, are you still afraid that he will not meekly turn to you? Li Xiao Ju dropped her handkerchief that she had torn, and went out the door confidently.
What is this little unrestrained and disobedient bitch doing here? Li Cui Cui came out of the house with her needleworks, just in time to see Li Xiao Ju go out, but she didn’t care or pay too much attention to her anymore. She was a useless thing anyway. She couldn’t even catch a man and wasted her plans for nothing. It was a pity she didn’t have a daughter, otherwise she wouldn’t even need Li Xiao Ju to take benefits from it. But anyway, it was useless, she was just trash that other people did not want.
Pouting her mouth, Li Cui Cui went to her next door neighbour’s house, not caring about Li Xiao Ju anymore. She might as well have gone to her neighbour’s house to talk about everyday matters if she had free time. However, she didn’t know that Li Xiao Ju would do something that would make her too ashamed to go out for days.
Both Lin Cheng and Lin Mai carried a basket of greenfeed for pigs on their backs and headed home. Usually, the village children would cut the grass and sell it to Lin Cheng for three wen a basket. At first, Lin Mai didn’t pay too much attention to it, after all, the two of them didn’t have any special relationship at that time, so he didn’t feel it was right to interfere. Now the relationship between them is different, he could naturally interfere but when he did, there was a problem.
He also knew that Lin Cheng was busy and didn’t have time to fetch the pigweed, so it was okay to do it this way. However, there were many pigs in his house so he must feed them at least two meals a day. Yesterday he did some calculations. There were at least 20 baskets of grass needed for one meal. The pigs had already eaten 120 wen a day! Lin Mai felt distressed just by thinking about it. He thought if he could pay less, then it would be better to do so. Today, when there was nothing to do, he dragged Lin Cheng to the hill outside the village to go hunting for the pigweed.
Li Xiao Ju was so upset when she saw both of them. She had just gone to Lin Cheng’s house and waited for a while but didn’t see him come back, so she thought maybe she should delay it for today, so probably it would be better for her to come back home first and then planned to go back later. However she didn’t expect to see Lin Cheng and that shameless thing together when she almost arrived at her aunt’s house. She was so angry that she almost tore a hole on the end ridge of the lower hem of her gown.
Looking at Lin Mai’s happy smile, Li Xiao Ju was even more upset in her heart. She ran two steps forward to block them, laughed and said, “Lin Cheng Ge, I say why are you not at home?So you’ve gone to look for the greenfeed for pigs ah! Are you tired? How about you go to my aunt’s house to rest for a while and drink some water before you go back?”
At first, Lin Mai was a bit confused, he couldn’t remember which family this young lady came from? But when he heard her say her aunt, he remembered that this was Li Cui Cui’s niece, the one who always wanted to marry Lin Cheng.
Lin Mai’s face instantly darkened at the thought. Before he could say anything, Li Xiao Ju spoke up first, “Lin Mai Ge is also here? I’m really sorry, I was so focused on Lin Cheng that I ignored you. Pardon, that was really rude of me. But it’s really hard for you, you’re so busy and you still have to help Lin Cheng go up the mountain to fetch the pig’s grass.”
“Hey this young miss, trouble you, please can you move out of the way? You’re blocking our paths.” Now not only Lin Mai, Lin Cheng’s face also darkened. He thought in his heart, ‘Who are you? Who are you to thank my future Fu Lang for helping me? just who do you think you are?’
Li Xiao Ju had already thought about what attitude he would be, so she didn’t get angry, blinking her watery eyes at Lin Cheng and said in a somewhat aggrieved tone, “Are you still angry because of what happened last time? I also know that it was my fault and I shouldn’t get angry with you. Since I already know that I was wrong, besides that, my aunt also has already punished me, so don’t be angry with me anymore, okay?”
What happened last time? Lin Mai frowned, Could it be that these two had met in private? Looking at Lin Cheng’s dark face Lin Mai chose not to say anything. Anyway, he knew that Lin Cheng would give him an explanation.
It was exactly in the late afternoon, after finishing eating the people in the village had the habit of staying in front of the entrance to do some work, talk and chat with their neighbor. At the time the three of them were just confronted with each other, some people listened to the gossip with their ears open. As soon as Li Xiao Ju’s words came out, people’s thoughts were already running wild. Could it be that Li Xiao Ju has some kind of relationship with Lin Cheng? But listening to the tone of Lin Cheng’s voice, it was not quite like that. The people started whispering to each other again.
“Is this Lin Cheng probably provoking Li Cui Cui’s niece?”
“It looks a bit like that, but isn’t he engaged to Lin Mai?”
“You don’t understand, do you?” An older ger slapped the woman who had just spoken and said with a wink, “I’ve heard that Li Cui Cui is thinking of betrothed her niece to Lin Cheng. However Lin Cheng doesn’t like her. Now, she’s rushing up here and trying to get him back.”
The woman looked at that senior ger with disbelief, “Is that true? How shameless is that? But Lin Cheng is also blind ah! He doesn’t want such a pretty girl! He wants a little ger who may not be able to give birth to a child. Is he stupid?”
“That’s why I said you don’t understand.” Another woman gave her a tug and gave Li Xiao Ju a despised look. She unconsciously raised her voice and said, “That’s the way it is nowadays, when they see someone with a good family, they stick to them! If it was someone from a poor family, they would have run away a long time ago.”
Lin Cheng couldn’t help but wanted to laugh after he heard these words, but he managed to hold back. Lin Mai watched Lin Cheng’s face turn red because of holding back so he could not help but laugh softly.
When they heard this, Li Xiao Ju naturally heard it too. She saw Lin Mai was laughing so she thought he was laughing at her. Li Xiao Ju glared at Lin Mai and turned her head to the people who were chatting happily. She said furiously, “Talk, keep talking, what’s there to talk about? You make it sound like you’re so noble and virtuous but you guys are just country folks that do farming! What qualifications do you guys have to badmouth me?”
Originally, they only had the intention to gossip, but they had no intention to interfere, since it had nothing to do with them anyway. However, when they were scolded by her, they definitely were not happy about it, “What’s wrong if we talk about you? It’s about you, so what? Doesn’t this mean you’re afraid of what people will say about you? You make it sound like you’re from the city, in fact you are just a farmer and you think that you’re a lady from a wealthy family! You’re really like an old woman who wears rouge and doesn’t know how ugly herself is!”
Li Xiao Ju who had always been highly praised and complimented for her good looks, had never been called ugly before, this was the first time. She was so furious that she almost fainted. She reconsidered and thought better of it but met plot with plot where her own trick went against her. She miscalculated Lin Cheng’s reaction and ended up falling directly on the ground.
The moment she stumbled, Lin Cheng sensed that something was wrong so he immediately pulled Lin Mai to the other side. As expected, the next moment Li Xiao Ju fell towards where he was standing before but luckily he dodged quickly or else he would meet with a mishap.
Li Xiao Ju held her own palm that was already hurt so much and sat down. Just now she thought she would fall on Lin Cheng, so she didn’t control her strength, but she didn’t expect Lin Cheng to dodge. He had actually dodged! Li Xiao Ju gritted her teeth and cried like a pear blossom bathed in the rain; she looked at Lin Cheng and said, “Lin Cheng Ge, can you bear to see them bully me like this?”
The corner of Lin Cheng’s mouth twitched, “What’s it has to do with me? Anyway, I’m not the one bullying you. Besides that, my future Fu Lang is here! Can you stop looking at me with the expression as if I am the heartless man (unfaithful lover) on your face? It’s awful if people misunderstand!”
Lin Mai tapped his hand and laughed, “It’s alright, I believe you!”
Li Xiao Ju looked at the two people who had ignored her and those people who were looking at her with disdainful expressions. The anger in her heart went straight to her head to the point of bursting. She made a sudden jump and ignored her own hand that was steadily aching, took off her favorite hairpin and lunged at Lin Mai