The summer day was hot, and it got dark late. After seven o'clock, the villagers of Song Khe only then started trickling back to the village, returning their hoes and farm tools to the shed, and preparing to go home, wash up, and eat dinner.
But today was a little different. Before, by this time, the chimneys of every house would be wafting plumes of smoke, but at this moment, only a mere few families had started cooking.
Now, the village head of Song Khe village hadn't cooked yet either. The whole family was either sitting on chairs in the yard or directly on the ground by the house gate, their eyes all intently looking towards the house behind the main house.
At this very moment, outside the yard, a few villagers, intentionally or unintentionally passing by, secretly peeked in, as if they could uncover some secret with just a quick glance, then chatted with those they were close with in the village.
Meng Xiaowei, sitting on the ground, watched and grew annoyed. He suddenly stood up, went to the stone gate, and slammed the door shut. "What are you looking at? What's so interesting to see?"
Meng Xiaowei was strong and healthy, his body looked muscular. In these times, having such a physique was very rare, so when he scowled looking out, the others, as soon as they saw him, immediately wilted and ran off, no longer daring to pry.
Without needing to think much, Meng Xiaowei already knew what the villagers were thinking.
They must be thinking what Educated Youth Su was doing at their house, and then once again ruining his sister's reputation.
They were saying that Meng Yiyi deliberately jumped into the river to trap Educated Youth Su, pretending to jump into the river to commit suicide in front of him so that he would have to save her. As soon as Meng Yiyi fell into the water, her thin clothes clung tightly to her skin. If Educated Youth Su wanted to save her, he would definitely have to touch her, thereby forcing him to marry her.
Alright, although this was the truth, Meng Xiaowei didn't feel his sister had done anything wrong.
Meng Yiyi was a renowned beauty in Song Khe village. There wasn't a single young man in the village who didn't like her; even several young men from the city sent people to ask for her hand in marriage, not to mention the young men from neighboring production brigades who would also rush over to admire her beauty. She was so beautiful, and also the daughter of Village Head Meng Youliang, so for her to fancy Educated Youth Su Qingyi was naturally Su Qingyi's honor.
Anyway, Meng Xiaowei and Meng Dawei also thought the same. The two brothers were a decade or two older than Meng Yiyi, loving this younger sister both like a sister and like a daughter. Naturally, they wouldn't say a single bad word about her.
As a result, that Su Qingyi was utterly insensible. When the Meng family hinted that Su Qingyi should proactively come and ask for her hand in marriage, Su Qingyi flatly refused, saying he simply couldn't bear to watch a life disappear before his eyes, which was why he unconsciously saved Meng Yiyi, and at the same time, he didn't wish for Meng Yiyi to marry him and suffer.
From then on, whenever he saw someone from the Meng family, Su Qingyi would hide or avoid them whenever possible.
If Su Qingyi had proactively asked Meng Yiyi to marry him, both of them being neat and good-looking, it would actually have been a beautiful story. But Su Qingyi refused, and Meng Yiyi immediately became a laughingstock.
The girls her age who were jealous of Meng Yiyi immediately found a good opportunity to mock, ridicule, and laugh at her to their heart's content: "What's the use of being so beautiful? What's the point of being the village head's daughter? Didn't Educated Youth Su still reject her? Did she really think she was so great? It's so funny it makes your teeth fall out!"
Furthermore, the young men who once considered Meng Yiyi a goddess now also held prejudices against her. Before, she was a distant, ethereal goddess, but now? She was nothing more than this, willingly fallen into depravity, doing something so disgusting. The goddess had instantly descended to the mortal world.
That Su Qingyi was truly a sly one.
Perhaps he also knew the Meng family's standing in Shuangxi Village, and understood that his refusal would displease the Meng family, causing them to lose face entirely because of him. Therefore, he orchestrated two incidents.
One was that Aunt Jiang from the village also slipped and fell into the river at the same spot where Meng Yiyi fell, and was also rescued by Su Qingyi.
The other was that Chen Ying also fell into the river at that very spot, and was also rescued by Su Qingyi.
That Chen Ying was different from Aunt Jiang. Aunt Jiang had been married for a long time, and her children were already grown. Chen Ying, however, was a young woman of marriageable age.
If Su Qingyi was obligated to marry any girl he touched, then wouldn't he also have to marry Chen Ying? Now, under the monogamous system, he could only marry one wife. Who should he marry then? Thus, the matter became endlessly complicated.
As soon as Meng Youliang heard this, he knew that Su Qingyi was absolutely determined not to marry his daughter. He had even deliberately orchestrated these incidents to give the Meng family a way out, for the sake of their face. It wasn't that Su Qingyi didn't want to marry, but that he couldn't. Otherwise, if everyone who jumped into the river and was rescued by him had to be married, how many people would he have to marry?
Moreover, Meng Yiyi, Aunt Jiang, and Chen Ying all fell into the river from the exact same spot. That wasn't a problem with the people, but a problem with the river itself.
Su Qingyi proactively suggested that the spot must have been too slippery, making it easy for people to fall into the river. He even went there with others to level the ground.
Thus, Meng Yiyi's fall into the river was an accident, not a deliberate jump, and certainly not a suicide attempt or a calculated scheme.
Meng Yiyi's reputation was preserved, and Su Qingyi didn't have to marry her. The matter was thus resolved.
But Meng Yiyi seemed brain-dead, insisting on marrying Su Qingyi. This made the Meng family hate Su Qingyi even more. What about Meng Yiyi made her unworthy of Su Qingyi?
Meng Xiaowei looked at his younger sister. It had been almost a week since his sister fell into the river and now woke up. She hadn't woken up earlier or later, but precisely at this moment. Meng Xiaowei pursed his lips, guessing that their father must have agreed to make Su Qingyi marry her as she wished, which was why she had finally woken up.
The doctor at the clinic had already said that his sister was perfectly fine. Why she hadn't woken up, he didn't know either.
Now, what wasn't clear? Wasn't it to confront their father, to make him immediately pressure Su Qingyi?
Meng Yiyi felt her second brother's gaze settle on her, and looked towards Meng Xiaowei.
Meng Xiaowei winked at Meng Yiyi, pointing towards the inner room of the main house. He meant to reassure her that if their father took action, there was nothing that couldn't be done. Before, Su Qingyi could pull off those petty tricks only because their father hadn't wanted to intervene.
Meng Xiaowei then pointed to the corner of his mouth, which bore the marks of a beating he'd received after trying to break up a fight among the intellectuals earlier today. Of course, Meng Xiaowei wasn't one to be trifled with, and that intellectual Lu had also been beaten by him.
Meng Xiaowei was telling his sister that if Su Qingyi remained so unreasonable, then even if he had to resort to violence, he would make Su Qingyi willingly marry her.
Mạnh Y Y's mouth twitched, but she thought to herself—Do you even know that your sister truly died when she jumped into the river, and that's when I came to this world?