Chapter 155: Stirring Up Trouble

Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Stirring Up Trouble

Shen Yanzhi froze, instinctively refusing, "No, no..."

"Teacher Shen, you should give Teacher Lu a chance to repay you for saving her life."

Lu Tingting was intent on winning over the man she liked, but she hadn’t considered how demeaning it was to eagerly offer to wash his clothes.

If they ended up together, it would be one thing, but if they didn’t, the incident would become a laughingstock.

By framing it as repaying a life-saving debt, Jiang Moli ensured that even if nothing came of it, Lu Tingting wouldn’t be criticized.

Shen Yanzhi wasn’t a fool; he could tell Lu Tingting was interested in him.

It wasn’t that he disliked Lu Tingting, but he didn’t feel any romantic attraction to her.

"Teacher Lu, I appreciate the thought, but I already accepted your thank-you gift the other day. We’re even now. Let’s just be regular friends from now on."

"Okay."

Hearing Lu Tingting’s straightforward agreement, Shen Yanzhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, his smile becoming much warmer.

Jiang Moli, however, had a gut feeling it wasn’t that simple.

While Shen Yanzhi was off at the Feng family’s place borrowing hot water to make them tea, she glanced at the delighted Lu Tingting. "He just rejected you. What are you grinning so foolishly about?"

"What do you know? We’re just friends now, but who’s to say we won’t be more than that later? Besides, the fact that he could resist my charms proves he’s a truly upright and decent comrade!"

Jiang Moli slung an arm around her shoulder. "Or maybe, just maybe, it’s not that he resisted temptation, but that you’re just too ugly?"

Lu Tingting was fuming.

She turned her head away, ignoring her, and instead began to survey Shen Yanzhi’s living quarters with great interest.

The space was half the size of the room she shared with Jiang Qing, but it was certainly big enough for one person.

Other than a desk and stool set, a bed, and a washbasin stand, there was no other furniture.

A four-to-five-meter-long bamboo pole was suspended near the inner wall, with folded shirts, pants, and jackets draped over it.

Shen Yanzhi didn’t own many clothes, but what he had was well-made from fine material, suggesting he came from a very well-off family.

Since Shen Yanzhi was a bachelor, it wasn’t proper for the two women to stay long. They left after finishing their tea.

On the way back, Lu Tingting was clearly displeased.

She scoffed at Jiang Moli. "Is that it? Is that your big secret for chasing guys? I must have been out of my mind to listen to you!"

"What’s the rush?"

Jiang Moli crooked a finger at her. "Come here, I’ll whisper it to you."

Dubiously, Lu Tingting leaned in close, and Jiang Moli whispered, "Find an opportunity and ask him to show you how long a meter is. When he spreads his arms to show you, fall into his embrace. If he doesn’t push you away, congratulations, you’ve got a boyfriend. If he shoves you away, just fall to the ground and refuse to get up. Make him pay your medical bills."

"If you can’t have the man, getting some of his money isn’t bad either. It’s a no-lose situation. Your Third Aunt treats you well, doesn’t she?"

Lu Tingting stared at her, utterly speechless. "You’re unbelievably shameless. Don’t tell me you used this trick to snag my Third Uncle?"

"You want to know? That’ll cost you extra."

Glaring at her with puffed cheeks, Lu Tingting turned to leave but was pulled back by Jiang Moli.

"Not so fast. Let’s go stir up some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"You’ll see."

...

Seeing that the day was no longer so hot, Jiang Qing put on a hat, ready to head out.

She planned to go to the village at the foot of the mountain and ask around about buying two or three chicks.

The other army families all grew their own vegetables and grain to make sure no one went hungry.

She didn’t want to farm, nor did she know how. But Jiang Moli’s act of donating the commune’s hen to the school had given her an idea.

She could build a coop in her yard and raise chickens.

The eggs could provide extra nutrition for her and Zhang Jia Ming, and she could also sell them for some extra money to help with household expenses.

Just as she stepped out of her fenced yard, she saw Lu Tingting and Feng Meihua heading her way, with Jiang Moli trailing behind them.

Her eyelid twitched.

"Principal Feng."

Feng Meihua looked at her. "Were you heading out?"

Jiang Qing nodded.

"I need a moment of your time. There’s something I need to clarify with you. Let’s talk inside."

"Alright."

As she watched Feng Meihua’s retreating back, Jiang Qing instinctively glanced at Jiang Moli.

Jiang Moli simply curled her lips into a smile.

Jiang Qing looked away, but her heart sank.

"Teacher Jiang, Teacher Lu told me that you said Teacher Shen was sent here because of his bad family background. Is that true?"

Jiang Qing shook her head. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never said that."

"You’re the one who told me!" Lu Tingting said angrily. "You even said Jiang Moli knew about it and told me to ask her!"

Jiang Qing’s eyes reddened, and tears began to stream down her face. "Teacher Lu, I admit it was wrong of me to spread rumors about Jiang Moli. But I never intended for you to be misunderstood by Camp Commander Lu. You burned my study materials and constantly targeted me in the dorm, always looking for trouble. I can let that slide. But now you’re making up these baseless accusations to slander me? This is going too far!"

Lu Tingting’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. "That’s a load of fucking bullshit! You’re the one who told me! Now you’re denying it and turning it around on me, accusing me of slander? Do you dare swear you never said it?"

Jiang Qing raised her hand. "I dare. I swear I never said it. If I did, may I come to a bad end."

Puffed up with rage like a blowfish, Lu Tingting turned to Feng Meihua. "Principal Feng, she’s the one who told me! If I’m lying in the slightest, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!"

With both of them swearing such solemn, life-or-death oaths, Feng Meihua was momentarily at a loss for who to believe.

Catching sight of Jiang Moli, who was watching the drama unfold from the sidelines, she asked, "Teacher Jiang, you’ve been dragged into this as well. What are your thoughts?"

Jiang Moli replied, "Whoever is lying is well aware of it. But what’s done is done. Now that we all know about Teacher Shen’s background, we’re all in the same boat. Each of us had better keep our mouths shut. If any real trouble comes of this, we’ll all face the consequences together."

Feng Meihua nodded in agreement. "The higher-ups want to protect Teacher Shen. We are not to discuss him. Especially you, Teacher Jiang," she said, singling out Jiang Qing. "You absolutely cannot let this get out."

’There are three of us here, but she singles me out by name. It’s just because I don’t have any backing and am easy to bully.’

’What a snob, looking down on people!’

Although Jiang Qing resented Feng Meihua’s unfair treatment, she dared not let a trace of it show on her face:

"I can promise not to spread it, but who’s to say if Teacher Lu and Teacher Jiang will be able to keep the secret."

A small, unsmiling smirk played on Jiang Moli’s lips. "Then you’d better just pray we’re tight-lipped and don’t drag you down with us. If not, well, you’ll only have your own bad luck to blame."

Watching Jiang Moli and Feng Meihua walk away, Jiang Qing was choked with fury.

’Her original plan was to use Lu Tingting’s big mouth to take care of Jiang Moli at the same time.’

’Who would have thought Lu Tingting would go off-script and actually run to tattle to Principal Feng.’

Just as she was lost in thought, a heavy slap suddenly landed on her left cheek.

Clutching her stinging cheek, she glared at Lu Tingting. "Are you crazy?"

"You knew I was crazy, yet you still provoked me. I think you’ve got a death wish!"

With that, she lunged at Jiang Qing, grabbing and pulling at her hair.

Jiang Qing was forced to fight back.

The two of them wrestled together like a pair of wild animals.

At the fork in the road before the school, Feng Meihua said politely to Jiang Moli, "Teacher Jiang, why don’t you come over to my house for a bit? You’ve been here so long, and I haven’t even had you over for a cup of tea."

"I don’t like tea."

Hearing this, Feng Meihua laughed. "Alright then. Come over for dinner some other day."

"Great! Which day? Lunch or dinner?"

Er.

’I was just being polite. Did she really have to take me up on it?’