Chapter 14: The Deceived Girl in the 1970s: Fake vs. Real Daughter Story (Part 14)

“Ye Xiaoxiao, come out here!” Wang Meiling shouted before she even reached Xiaoxiao’s door.

“What is it now?” Xiaoxiao frowned as she saw a crowd of educated youth gathered outside.

The villagers, hearing the commotion, also stepped out to see what was going on.

Seeing the growing crowd, Wang Meiling became even more emboldened. Today, she was determined to tear off Ye Xiaoxiao’s false mask and expose her true face.

She raised her voice. “Ye Xiaoxiao! Comrade Feng asked to rent your house. If you don’t want to rent it out, fine. But what gives you the right to badmouth us?”

Xiaoxiao said coldly, “Keep your voice down. I’m not deaf; I can hear just fine. And could you step back a little? You’re practically spitting in my face—how disgusting.”

A burst of laughter erupted from the onlookers.

“Xiaoxiao’s got good eyesight!”

“Seriously though, maybe Comrade Wang’s been in the countryside too long. She’s starting to shout like us old women.”

“Xiaoxiao, don’t tell me you find our voices loud too?”

Xiaoxiao grinned at the aunties and replied, “Of course not. You all are warm and lively. It’s the ones who come looking for trouble—those are the ones I find annoying.”

More laughter followed.

“You’ve got a point, girl. Why are all you educated youth picking on Xiaoxiao? She’s living alone, so you thought you could bully her? Well, we won’t stand for it!”

“That’s right. In our village, we don’t tolerate people being bullied. Don’t bring your bad habits into our community.”

“You… You all—” Wang Meiling was practically fuming.

Zhou Weiguo quickly stepped in to explain, “It’s nothing like that. It’s just that Comrade Feng came back and told us that Ye Xiaoxiao claimed our quarters were filthy and that we didn’t care about hygiene. We’re here to ask why she would slander us.”

He looked toward Xiaoxiao expectantly.

Xiaoxiao let out a laugh. “So whatever she says, you believe? If she told you manure smells like perfume, would you line up to eat it?”

More laughter.

“She’s not wrong!”

The aunties enjoyed the spectacle, but the educated youth were red in the face with embarrassment.

Xiaoxiao didn’t care in the least. She walked right up to Feng Qingqing and said directly, “I don’t think we exchanged more than two sentences, did we? You wanted to rent my house, even share it. I turned you down. I even pointed you to the team leader and told you to check with him. At no point did I say anything about the educated youth quarters or the people there.”

“So why did you slander me? Trying to drive a wedge between me and the others? Or just out to sabotage solidarity?”

Feng Qingqing’s eyes filled with tears again. “I—I didn’t mean to…”

“Oh?” Xiaoxiao tilted her head. “Then are you saying it’s them who are falsely accusing you?”

Wang Meiling exploded. “Feng Qingqing! What the hell? You said it, didn’t you? Otherwise, why would we all be here confronting her?”

Feng Qingqing stammered, “I—I didn’t…” You misunderstood… It’s my fault. I didn’t explain things clearly.”

The other educated youth stared at her in disbelief. They couldn’t believe that the sweet, gentle new girl was lying just to cover her tracks.

But it was clear now—the words hadn’t come from Xiaoxiao’s mouth but from Feng Qingqing’s heart.

Xiaoxiao wasn’t interested in dealing with the group any longer. She turned to Feng Qingqing and said sharply, “You deliberately slandered me. Shouldn’t you apologize?”

“I… I didn’t mean to… I… I was just…” Feng Qingqing whimpered as she cried, dragging it out without ever finishing a sentence.

Xiaoxiao’s patience snapped. This kind of vague, manipulative nonsense was exactly the kind of person she hated most.

And to make matters worse, a toad started croaking beside her again.

“You’re going too far! Qingqing didn’t mean to—other people misunderstood her, and now you’re blaming her?”

The man even pointed a finger right in Xiaoxiao’s face.

That was it.

Xiaoxiao grabbed his finger, twisted, and kicked him square in the chest—sending him flying.

Hah. Turns out those martial arts she picked up in her past life—military boxing, taekwondo, and sanda—weren’t useless after all. At least now, she didn’t have to worry about being bullied.

“Are we clear now?” she said coolly. “When your mother gave birth, did she drop the baby and raise the placenta instead? Got any brains at all? Or did you eat too much of this woman’s crap and fill your head with it too?”

The crowd was stunned into silence as they stared at the man sprawled on the ground several feet away.

Maybe Xiaoxiao hadn’t been bluffing when she claimed she could take on ten people by herself—maybe she really could.

A few people nervously swallowed. Looking at this seemingly frail and quiet girl, they couldn’t help thinking: Good thing we never messed with her.

The other educated youth went quiet. Even Feng Qingqing stopped crying.

Only Lu Ze stepped forward, glaring at Feng Qingqing before helping Lu Chuan up. He looked at Xiaoxiao. “We’re all educated youth. Couldn’t we talk this out? Comrade Ye Xiaoxiao, weren’t you a little excessive?”

Xiaoxiao looked at him calmly. “What, you want to avenge him?”

Lu Ze frowned. “Even if he was in the wrong, this was just an argument. Why resort to violence?”

Xiaoxiao’s tone was sharp. “I don’t like people pointing fingers in my face. Didn’t you see his hand practically touching me? If you were so worried, maybe you should’ve kept your dog on a leash. You let it loose to bite someone, so don’t blame me for kicking it.”

“Who are you calling a dog?!” Lu Chuan roared, finally recovering. He pointed at her again.

Xiaoxiao raised her foot again, but this time, Lu Ze blocked it.

She didn’t care. Instead, she turned on Lu Ze and began sparring directly with him.

It was obvious he had real training. He wasn’t like weakling Lu Chuan.

The two exchanged over a dozen moves. Everyone was stunned—including the team leader, who had arrived unnoticed in the middle of the scuffle.

“What the hell is going on here? Stop it—right now!” he shouted.

Xiaoxiao didn’t even pause. Taking advantage of Lu Ze’s momentary distraction, she threw him to the ground.

The team leader’s face darkened. “Well?” Someone explain what’s going on.”

When no one spoke, Xiaoxiao stepped forward and said, “Team leader, you’ll have to ask Comrade Feng about that. No idea what she said back at the quarters, but the next thing I know, the entire group came here to pick a fight.”

“If I didn’t know how to defend myself, I’d be the one lying on the ground right now.”

Damn, she thought, this body’s really not great. Everything hurts. If the team leader hadn’t shown up when he did, she might’ve lost.

The team leader turned to Feng Qingqing, face stormy. “So what happened? She refused to rent you her house, and you retaliate by stirring up trouble?”

Feng Qingqing said nothing—just started crying again.

The team leader was fuming. When he couldn’t get a word out of her, he turned to Lu Ze, who was just getting up.

“Well?” You tell me. How did a grown man end up fighting with a girl?”

“We’re rough country folk, sure, but even we know better than to lay hands on a woman. And here you city folk are showing off, huh?”

Lu Ze hung his head in shame. It was true fighting with a girl had crossed a line.

Lu Chuan, however, was still indignant. “Team leader, that’s not fair! Ye Xiaoxiao hit me first! She kicked me clear across the yard! And when I tried to stop her, my brother had to step in!”

The team leader was livid. “So you couldn’t take her alone and had to get backup? Two grown men against one young girl? Sounds like you’re the disgrace here.”

“You’re clearly here to stir trouble. No rest for you tomorrow; get yourselves to work early!”

When the other female educated youth looked like they wanted to protest, the team leader snapped, “What are you all still standing around for? Waiting for an invitation to dinner?”

Zhou Weiguo quickly stepped in. “Team leader, it’s all just a big misunderstanding. We’ll be on our way now.”