Chapter 54: I Don’t Just Take Anyone!

“If you keep running your mouth, we’ll go find the police right now and let them sort this out! If this money is mine, I’ll absolutely report you for slander!”

He said coldly.

Liu Lingqing’s face turned pale instantly.

Call the police?

She definitely didn’t want that!

Huang Yuwei quickly stepped in to speak up for her. “Xie Zhao, Lingqing just spoke without thinking. She didn’t mean any harm, so don’t be angry.”

“She was just worried you might be doing something illegal, which is why she spoke so harshly. Please don’t take it to heart.”

Xie Zhao took the vanishing cream and clam shell balm wrapped in oil paper from the salesclerk, carefully placing them into his pocket.

Only then did he turn to look at Huang Yuwei, a faint, mocking smile playing on his lips.

“Classmate Huang, are you feeling better now?”

Huang Yuwei froze.

“Back when we were classmates, you’d trip every three days and faint every five, falling onto me every single time. I only looked after you out of classmate solidarity. Why didn’t you try to avoid gossip back then and say we weren’t a good match?”

Xie Zhao spoke without showing the slightest mercy.

As soon as he finished speaking, the onlookers burst into laughter.

Tch!

So it turned out it wasn’t even clear who was chasing whom!

“X-Xie Zhao! Don’t talk nonsense!”

Huang Yuwei’s body trembled, and her face burned with hot embarrassment. She was dying of shame!

But Xie Zhao had no intention of stopping.

He had always been this way. Usually, he would leave people some leeway, but if they pushed him too far, he wouldn’t just refuse to back down; he would push right back to the very limit!

Xie Zhao shrugged with a smile. Staring at Huang Yuwei’s suddenly pale face, he continued, “Back when I was Chen Donghai’s son, you eagerly clung to me, trying to get close to me time and time again. What, now that you see me down on my luck, you’re afraid I’ll pester you?”

“But I don’t just take anyone.”

“That was true then, and it’s true now.”

Xie Zhao enunciated every single word, his tone suddenly growing heavy. “A person needs to have self-awareness, otherwise they’ll only end up a laughingstock!”

Huang Yuwei’s face turned deathly pale in an instant!

Her lips quivered, but her throat felt as if it were glued shut, leaving her unable to utter a single word.

Right at that moment, the salesclerk who had gone to fetch the cashmere vests finally returned.

Panting and wiping the sweat from her brow, she ran over to Xie Zhao’s side with a smile, carrying five brand-new cardboard boxes.

“Comrade? The vests you wanted are here. I’ve already tied them up with string so they’re easy for you to carry back!”

Xie Zhao nodded.

He pulled out seventy-five yuan and handed it over. “Thank you for your trouble.”

He was polite and well-mannered.

Watching him felt like a breath of fresh spring air.

Carrying the five cardboard boxes, he walked straight past Huang Yuwei and Liu Lingqing without so much as a glance, exiting the department store.

It was only after Xie Zhao’s figure had completely vanished that the crowd inside the department store erupted into a flurry of discussion.

“Oh my! Did you see that? He bought eighty yuan worth of things in one go! That’s two months’ salary for us! If that wasn’t his own money, how could he bear to spend it?”

“Hmph, those two young women were way too irresponsible with their words! That was rumor-mongering! Slander! Ruining someone’s reputation!”

“It’s just because he looked down on her that she started talking nonsense! What do they call that? ‘If I can’t have him, I’ll destroy him!’ I’ve seen plenty of people like that!”

*

The chattering of the crowd felt like a barrage of slaps raining down on Huang Yuwei and Liu Lingqing’s faces.

Huang Yuwei finally couldn’t take it anymore. Her face flushed red, and she felt she had lost every shred of her dignity!

Covering her face, she sobbed and ran out with her head down. Liu Lingqing quickly followed, her heart filled with anger and resentment.

Hmph.

That hateful Xie Zhao!

It was all his fault!

*

Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

When he saw that Xie Zhao had bought five wool vests, Xie Youzhen was so pained that he choked on his hand-rolled tobacco.

“Sigh! You boy, why won’t you listen? Why would I need this kind of thing? I sweat from working every day, I’d roast to death wearing this! Go return them right now! What a waste of money! Think of how many pounds of meat this could buy!”

Xie Youzhen hopped down from the handcart, grabbing Xie Zhao to drag him back.

Xie Zhao was very direct, tossing the five cardboard boxes straight onto the handcart.

The handcart was covered in mud, which instantly smeared all over them. Grinning at Xie Youzhen, he said, “They’re dirty now, no returns!”

Xie Youzhen: “…?”

This brat!

Xie Cheng felt the pinch too.

But when he saw the fine, dense cashmere, he immediately fell in love with it.

It felt so warm in his hands, instantly soothing the chilblains and hangnails left over from his time working in the mines.

He took a few deep breaths, suppressing the sting of the cost, and made a silent vow to himself.

Catch more fish, collect more river snails.

They would earn it back eventually!

With that thought, he felt much better. Turning around, he called out to Xie Youzhen, “Dad! Let’s go. If we don’t head back now, the villagers will start getting anxious!”

Xie Youzhen had no choice but to let it go.

With a sigh, he climbed onto the mule cart, cracked the long whip, and drove the mule back toward Shishui Village.

Over an hour later.

At 1:30 PM.

By the time the mule cart wobbled its way into the village, Xie Youzhen’s house was already surrounded three layers deep.

Even more villagers had come today, and the bamboo baskets they carried were even larger!

“Second Brother Xie is back!”

Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted. The next moment, Xie Youzhen and the others, who had just appeared at the intersection, were instantly swarmed.

“Second Brother Xie! How is it? Can we get our money today?”

“I gathered a lot more! I’ve got forty pounds today! Second Brother Xie, are you still buying?”

“Yesterday, Sanliuzi said you guys bought a wild boar. Second Brother Xie, why does your family buy everything? Do you want wild rabbits?”

*

The crowd was in an uproar, and the repeated cries of “Second Brother Xie” made Xie Youzhen’s head spin.

He instinctively looked toward Xie Zhao.

He was terrified of large crowds; he couldn’t get his words out fast enough and would get flustered!

Xie Zhao stood up with a smile.

He was already standing on the handcart, so he raised his voice and shouted, “Everyone! We’re buying river snails today, and we’re also paying out the money from yesterday’s accounts. But you have to stop blocking the road first! Can someone lead the mule cart into my yard?”

Well, that did it.

As soon as he said this, the crowd burst into laughter. Someone grabbed the mule’s lead rope and began pulling the cart into the yard.

“Make way, everyone! Shishui Village’s God of Wealth is here!”

The crowd burst into a roar of laughter.

Within a few minutes, the cart pulled into the yard, and everyone helped unload the miscellaneous wooden buckets and water vats.

They washed them clean, lined them up neatly, and even helped fill them with water.

As Xie Zhao sat, slightly dazed, behind the square table and picked up the ledger, a thought crossed his mind.

There is strength in numbers.

The Chairman truly did not deceive me!

Having finished his silent exclamation, he opened the ledger and called out to the crowd, “Line up, one by one! We’ll collect the river snails first. If anyone has tabs from yesterday, we’ll settle them all together!”

Tch!

The crowd instantly grew excited and restless!

Settle the tabs?!

They were really going to get paid!

In an instant, the villagers spontaneously formed a line. Since they were all from the same village and knew each other well, everyone knew who had arrived first, making it impossible for anyone to cut in line.

Xie Zhao opened the blue cloth bag, took out five bundles of Da Tuanjie, and placed them on the table.

“Brother, weigh them up!”