After the frail beauty went to the countryside, she went crazy with scientific research.

Chapter 174, Episode 0181: Sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone.
One minute they were talking about the Hua family dividing their property, the next sentence Mao Sanni immediately switched to another family in the village.

Also an acquaintance.

"Do you know Chen Yuanman from Secretary Chen's family? Oh, she used to be Chen Liuya, but Secretary Chen changed her name."

Lin Yuexi didn't answer, but only raised an eyebrow at her.

Mao Sanni assumed that she already knew something, since Aunt Wu and the others often came to see Xi Meizi and would inevitably talk about village affairs. Chen Yuanman's matter was a big juicy story, and they couldn't possibly not want to hear about it.

"I'll still call her Liuya, it's easier to pronounce."

No wonder people in the countryside give their babies simple names; they don't misspell anything.

[Mao Sanni was from an ethnic minority and spoke with a local accent. The name 'Huanman' sounded like 'mother' in her portrait, which even she herself found awkward.]

"When Liuya first came, she was as skinny as a monkey. The Chen family is really kind. She has only been here for a short time, and now she is already chubby and tanned."

Everyone used to think that Chen Liuya was tanned dark and yellow because of the hardships she had endured. But after being taken care of by the Chen family in the village for so long, she gained a lot of weight, but her skin still didn't improve. That's when everyone realized that she was born with dark skin.

"What I'm about to tell you has something to do with her dark skin."

The Chen family has only one granddaughter named Yuanyu. Although there is no story of "only one girl for generations, who is pampered like a precious jewel but becomes selfish and self-centered", it is a fact that the entire village acknowledges that the Chen family loves Chen Yuanyu.

Moreover, the Chen family has raised Chen Yuanyu very well. She is usually quiet and gentle, not arrogant or impatient, has beautiful handwriting, and has never fallen out of the top three in exams.

When Chen Liuya came, she did not reject her. On the contrary, she felt sorry for her and gave Chen Liuya a lot of things.

“I’ve known Niu Niu [Chen Yuanyu’s nickname] for several years. I know she’s soft-hearted and easily bullied. I even tried to persuade her back then, which wasn’t very endearing.”

“I know Chen Liuya all too well. My cousin is just like that. My mother took her in because she felt sorry for her, but she was not grateful at all. Instead, she felt that our family looked down on her and bullied her.”

"Don't you even look at what she eats and uses? What does she wear? She has almost everything I have."

She herself is a cautionary tale, and she doesn't want her good friend to encounter the same distressing things as her.

What a pity, sigh~
Well, when you're not facing something, everyone probably feels like they're the special one!

"Chen Liuya often tells people how pitiful she used to be, and she often goes to the river to wash Niu Niu's clothes. If someone sees her and asks her, she says on the surface that she did it voluntarily, but she always acts like she has been wronged but dares not say it."

"The villagers didn't dare say anything in front of Secretary Chen's family, but they talked about it behind their backs. Many people thought that Niu Niu was very good at pretending. She pretended to be a well-behaved girl, but in fact she was darker than anyone else. Chen Liuya was already so pitiful, and she still bullied Chen Liuya."

Chen Yuanyu has been studying in the county's first year of high school since the second half of last year. She usually lives at school and rarely goes out, even when she returns to her village during holidays.

Therefore, Chen Yuanyu was unaware that her reputation in the village had been ruined.

So far, things are alright. After all, Chen Yuanyu was someone the villagers watched grow up, and compared to Chen Liuya, who came from outside, most people trust Chen Yuanyu more.

Those who gossip in public are mainly people who can't stand seeing others do well.

A while ago, her second cousin-in-law overheard a close friend telling her that Chen Yuanyu had been flirting with a teacher at school and had even been chased down and beaten up by the teacher's wife.

It was just a coincidence, or perhaps someone was taking the opportunity to slander them.

Chen Yuanyu usually comes back every two weeks. Last time, the third son of the Chen family went to pick her up by bicycle. But on the way back, the third son of the Chen family lost his balance and the two siblings fell into the ditch by the roadside. Chen Yuanyu had several bruises on her face.

When this rumor came out, and people recalled Chen Yuanyu's appearance when she returned recently, hey, it seems to match up.

“Chen Liuya is really vicious. Even my sister-in-law said that if she didn’t know the truth, she would probably believe it too.”

What a coincidence!
These kinds of risqué rumors are the easiest to spread, and even though they were wary of Secretary Chen, they couldn't help but gossip about it in private.

The main reason is that many people believe in it, so naturally more people talk about it.

Within a few days, the rumor reached Chen Laoda's wife, Wei Zhong, and the entire Chen family knew about it.

As expected of someone who has served as a Party Secretary for decades, Secretary Chen was angry, but he didn't immediately go to reason with the person spreading the rumor or go out to explain. Instead, he secretly investigated the source of the rumor and found it to be Chen Liuya in just one day.

Furthermore, it was discovered that Chen Liuya had smeared their family in the village, especially Chen Yuanyu, who had been portrayed as the Black Widow.

Mao Sanni's cheeks trembled with anger. "In the countryside, a girl's reputation is the most important thing. Even if it's cleared up after all that, what good will it do?"

Others will only say: Flies don't land on eggs without cracks.

Moreover, the most terrifying thing about rumors is that their meaning keeps changing as they spread. Rumors in the village are already circulating that Chen Yuanyu was beaten for some shameful reason. If the rumors spread outside the village, what kind of rumors will they spread?

It's unbelievable that even sayings like "their kids are old enough to run errands" can get out.

What's even more infuriating is that because Chen Liuya and Chen Yuanyu are family, and given Chen Liuya's past actions, the villagers believe her even more. On the contrary, if Secretary Chen and his family try to explain, they will be seen as making excuses to protect Chen Yuanyu.

Lin Yuexi looked up and silently glanced at her.

She was very angry, but not at all anxious. If it wasn't just a close sisterly relationship between her and Chen Yuanyu, then the matter had already been resolved.

Sure enough, after her anger subsided, Mao Sanni's face turned gloating. "Chen Liuya didn't even bother to do her research before harming people. There aren't any male teachers in the county high school now."

Well, you can't say for sure, the principal is a man.

After the movement began, some teachers were implicated and got into trouble, while others left out of fear. Now, the entire high school, including the principal who is almost sixty, only has five teachers, all of whom are locals, with one teacher for each subject.

Fewer and fewer students are going to high school. There is only one class for each of the first and second years of high school. Each teacher has to teach two classes in rotation and is barely managing to keep going.

There's no way around it; their place is remote, and not many people are willing to come here in the first place. Besides, being a teacher is still a risky profession.

Chen Liuya hadn't found out the specifics about the county high school teachers, so people who didn't know the facts would believe such rumors.

It doesn't take much effort to crack the rumor; all it takes is for a current high school student to tell the story about their school, and the rumor will fall apart on its own.

In their village, five people just graduated from high school last year!

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuexi treated it as mere amusement.

Mao Sanni originally told her about it as a joke.

It’s better to have fun alone than to have fun together!
Neither of them expected that an old saying would come true so quickly.