Chapter 20: Eating Melon

"Isn't Su Qianqian Su Qingyue's sister? Why would she harm her own sister like this?"

"I heard there's no blood relationship. They were swapped at birth. Su Qianqian is the daughter of the Capital Su family, and Su Qingyue is the daughter of the Shuangshui Village Su family."

"The Capital Su family even raised Su Qingyue as their daughter, so Su Qianqian calls herself the sister."

"Whoa! No wonder Su Qianqian hates Su Qingyue so much. It all makes sense now!"

Su Qianqian cried hysterically, "It's not like that!"

"After I returned to the city, I begged my parents to continue taking Su Qingyue in. To accompany her back to the countryside, I specifically applied to go to the countryside, just because I was afraid she wouldn't be used to it."

"Everything she eats and wears well now is provided by my parents' money and coupons."

"Even the fact that she could find a job in the county town is because she occupied my educational resources for the first seventeen years and gained knowledge and convenience."

"Today, worried that something might happen to her, I went to the commune with Zhou Wenfang to report it. What did I do wrong?!"

Su Qianqian's eyes were red, "Qingyue, I truly treated you as a sister. Today was also because I was worried about you that I went to the commune. From beginning to end, I never said you were committing adultery; I was just worried you were being harmed."

These words swayed the sympathy of many people again.

"It seems it was Zhou Wenfang who reported it, and it was Zhou Wenfang who led people to the cornfield!"

"This Su Qianqian isn't easy either. Who wouldn't go crazy after having their life occupied for seventeen years!"

"That's true, and she even accompanied her sister back to the countryside. Her heart isn't bad."

Su Qingyue really didn't expect Su Qianqian to be so thick-skinned. She said extremely coldly, "I don't want to be sisters with someone like you!"

"I wanted to return to the village after learning my true identity, but it was delayed by a flash flood; it wasn't you begging your parents to keep me."

"After the flood ended, it happened to coincide with the military district organizing a trip to the countryside. You were the one who took the initiative to tell your parents you wanted to go."

"You keep saying you went to the countryside to accompany me, but how many times have you visited me since I returned to the countryside?"

"When I couldn't finish my work and my hands were worn out, did you ever help me or ask about me? Not even once!"

"Is your so-called sisterhood just something you do with your mouth?!"

"Also, when I left the Capital, I wrote to my parents telling them not to send me money or coupons anymore."

"I will slowly repay the kindness of my foster parents!"

Su Qingyue finished speaking with dignity and handed the reply letter from the Capital to Captain Xiang.

After reading it, Xiang Jianming proved to the crowd that what Su Qingyue said was true.

Yuan Guang stood up, "I can testify, Su Qianqian has harmed Su Qingyue before!"

"She was stepped on by someone on the train and was overbearing, wanting the person to pay money."

"I said a few words, and she was so angry she said her name was Su Qingyue!"

Su Qianqian's eyes widened, and she gritted her teeth to fight back, "Nonsense, are you helping her speak because you like Su Qingyue!"

Yuan Guang was so angry he wanted to hit someone. He pointed at Dai Xiaohong, "She is the person involved. Su Qianqian, are you sick in the head? Last time I helped Comrade Dai say a few words, I was also slandered by you like this."

Dai Xiaohong pushed her glasses and said boldly, "Su Qianqian was blocked by everyone asking for her name at the time, and she deliberately said her name was Su Qingyue."

Zhang Jun added fuel to the fire, "Police comrades, I remember now!"

"There is a chubby salesperson at the state-run restaurant who can testify that Su Qianqian and Zhou Wenfang invited me to share a table at noon today."

Zhang Jun's eyes were red, "They had bad intentions and kept instigating me at the state-run restaurant, saying Su Qingyue had been longing for me for a long time."

"As long as I was bold enough, I could marry Su Qingyue."

"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have dared to grab Su Qingyue at all."

"The Qingshan Brigade knows my character; I don't usually act like this. Police comrades can go investigate!"

Su Qingyue bit her lip, tears swirling in her eyes. She said with a trembling voice, "Su Qianqian, you still dare to say you didn't harm me?! You still have the nerve to say you treated me as a sister?!"

"It's not like that, I just told you to be bold and talk to her, I didn't tell you to lay hands on her. You have bad character and committed the crime of hooliganism, and you still have the nerve to blame me!?"

Liu Qiang made a gesture, and the police officer took out handcuffs, "Su Qianqian and Zhou Wenfang are suspected of instigating others to commit crimes. Take them away for interrogation!"

Su Qianqian's expression turned ashen, "No, it's not like that. It was Zhou Wenfang who insisted on saying Su Qingyue was committing adultery, and I followed her to the commune after listening to her."

"You two are in the same gang, you're both evil!"

Someone in the crowd asked, "What reason does Zhou Wenfang have to harm Su Qingyue!"

Su Qianqian said hurriedly, "Because she has a crush on Su Qingyue's fiancé, Shen Xunbao!"

Another thunderclap struck the crowd, and for a time, the expressions on everyone's faces were different.

Some had their mouths wide open, some had their eyes rounded, and some stared at Zhou Wenfang and Su Qingyue without blinking, afraid of missing important details.

Pei Huaiye's expression stiffened. He took two steps back and then quickly stabilized his stance.

Like everyone else, he looked at Su Qingyue in disbelief.

Su Qianqian said sternly, "The Capital Su family and the Shen family had a marriage arrangement since childhood. Zhou Wenfang likes Educated Youth Shen, so she is jealous of Su Qingyue and wants to ruin her reputation!"

Zhou Wenfang's lips trembled, and she roared in a shrill voice, "Su Qianqian, you're full of it! This was clearly your idea!"

"It was you who saw Zhang Jun being rejected after trying to chat up Su Qingyue, and saw Su Qingyue getting a job at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and you were burning with jealousy that Su Qingyue was doing better than you, so you discussed with me to let Zhang Jun harm Su Qingyue."

"Why are you trying to clear your name?"

"I am jealous of Su Qingyue; she is so beautiful, what woman wouldn't be jealous and envious?"

"I said I had a crush on Shen Xunbao, that was something I said when I was young and ignorant. I treated you as a friend and told you."

"But now you are stabbing me in the back in public!"

"Police comrades and Captain Xiang can go ask Shen Xunbao, ask everyone in the Educated Youth Courtyard, have I ever done anything out of line to him?!!"

Zhou Wenfang recalled one thing after another and finally realized that Su Qianqian had been using her to suppress Su Qingyue all along.

Looking at the handcuffs and thinking of her family in the Capital, she shed tears of regret. If she really went to labor reform, her parents would probably turn white-haired overnight.

"Police comrades, Captain Xiang, I am willing to accept criticism and education, I am willing to cooperate with the investigation, I will be responsible for the mistakes I made!"

"Comrade Su Qingyue, I solemnly apologize to you. I listened to the words of a villain and deliberately framed you. I'm sorry!"

Zhou Wenfang apologized while crying, and the crowd sighed with emotion for a while.

Liu Qiang rubbed his temples, "Let's go, take them all back to the police station for interrogation!"

Su Qianqian immediately panicked.

She couldn't admit guilt; she absolutely couldn't let her parents in the Capital know what she had done. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to return to the city and was afraid of being hated by her biological family.

"Who dares to take me away? My father is the Chief of Staff in the south of the Capital. Go and ask around, how dare you arrest me!?"

Pei Huaiye's eyes were sharp, "I don't care whose daughter you are, if you break the law, you must accept punishment!"

Su Qianqian's shrill scream pierced the night sky, "Su Qingyue! How dare you!? I'm going to send a telegram to my parents saying you ruined me!"

Su Qingyue wouldn't let it go this time. She said coldly, "Su Qianqian, you and Zhou Wenfang brought this upon yourselves! Right and wrong will be handled impartially by the police comrades!"

The Jeep roared away, and the angry curses of Zhou Wenfang and Su Qianqian were blown away in the wind.

Li Zilan held Su Qingyue's hand and asked softly, "Qingyue, you were scared to death today, right?"

"Big Sister-in-law, it's fine now. Today, thanks to Comrade Pei arriving in time."

Su Qingwu and Li Zilan hurriedly thanked Pei Huaiye. They had previously felt that this man was fierce and cold, but now that he had saved Su Qingyue, he looked much more pleasing to the eye.

Pei Huaiye nodded coldly. He turned to Su Qingyue and asked word for word, "You have a fiancé?" ===== CHAPTER 21 =====