6 A.M, Shen Anran had gotten up and prepared for their departure to the county market. Along the way to meet up with the cart, she bumped into Zheng ShanShan. She immediately stiffled the laughter that was threatening to spill from mouth. She had indeed learned from the best teacher. She held her belongings tighter and began speaking to her mom in veiled words. Liu Meilan understood after some few sentences, smiled brightly at Zheng Shanshan.
"Say Shanshan, have you also gotten a job at the county?" Liu Meilan asked, sizing Zheng Shanshan who only had her clothes on, a sandal and a small sized purse. She looked like someone who had suffered a lot of grievances last night.
"No, auntie," she replied, "I'm heading to the county to get some things." She added, lying through her teeth. She had indeed planned on trolling the mother and daughter to see what gave them so much money that they could change their appearance. She wanted to look better than Shen Anran. Last night, the news that she had been sleeping with the village head got to her parents. They had asked her lots of questions and her father had asked her to kneel and kowtow at the ancestral gate throughout the night to ask for their forgiveness for her misdeeds. After a lot of begging and denying that was the only way Mr Zheng felt was right to punish his daughter. He also felt that there was indeed no smoke without a fire. He was terribly angry at this disgrace living in his house. He promised to go meet the village head the next day and have him arrested, who knew how long he had been leading his daughter astray. At the thought of that, Me Zheng passed out and the entire family consisting of his aunty who was among those who had received the news firsthand and came to relay the information with his wife ran forward to support him. The village doctor came, checked him and gave him a pill, then charged them. They paid through gritted teeth, throwing their grievances at Zheng Shanshan who was kneeling at the entrance to their house. After some beating and harsh words, she was locked outside. After kneeling for a while, meditating on how things turned out this way, she decided to really go see what Shen Abram and her mother was doing at the county market. She was indeed happy she had caught up with them.
"To buy things lah, that's nice, this auntie will show you where to get nice things," Liu Meilan said to her attempting to try to hold Zheng Shanshan.
Zheng Shanshan withdrew her hand in a hurry and said to her, "ah, auntie, no, don't bother yourself, I ShanShan I'm not worse than Anran when it comes to shopping," she said smiling as they all resumed walking towards where the cart was.
"No, I don't mind but since you insist on doing it yourself, I won't say anything further but just be careful not to buy so many sweet and unimportant things," Liu Meilan pretended to care and wore a resigned look, saying, I tried to help but she doesn't want. Shen Anran laughed quietly as she walked alongside her mother, in no time they arrived at the cart stop and greeted Mr Xu then greeted the women who sat in the passenger area. Shen Anran climbed in neatly arranging their load and where to seat before bringing in her mother, who sat together with her.
Zheng ShanShan wore her innocent look as she greeted the women who sat in the cart, she sat at a corner and steadied herself. The women who do smile with her or sometimes throw in some sweet words, looked at her with disgust. Shen Anran caught the reactions from the women and laughed quietly, it's good to eat what you sow sometimes.
"Ah friend, I heard some juicy news last night," an auntie spoke up.
"Ah, really?" "Speak up." "With the way you sound it must surely be so juicy," the auntie said glancing at Zheng Shanshan side ways.
"Ah, sure, sure," she replied grinning from ear to ear as if she had good news to tell. "Ah last night, Mr Zhu's wife beat up Mr Zhu to the point he broke some few ribs and had to be taken to the hospital this early morning at 3 am," she said to them , slowly breaking the news.
"Ah, so bad," one auntie said with fake concern, evident in her tone.
"Really?" One asked, "she didn't do well at all," she added laughing. The others smiled at her.
"He must be in so much pain," one of the aunties said and they all laughed.
Zheng ShanShan knew the news was related to her, she lay her back on the wood and pretended to sleep.
"Ah, some youngies never learn, sneaking up with someone's husband, that's a shame," one of the aunties said, laughing while the others joined.
"While not look for your own spoon to stir your pot?" The other said and the others laughed as they caught the meaning of her words.
"No, using another spoon must be surely sweet, especially when you steal it, you will be hurrying to place it back so you do it so quick to catch the sweetness," one auntie said and the others laughed too.
The words each hit the culprit who was pretending to be sleeping. She felt awful especially as she couldn't retaliate back. She didn't know who spread this news although she felt it was her friend, Shen Anran who did but Shen Anran was a very timid girl, she couldn't do that kind of thing. She tried to ignore the laughters and hidden jabs and soon she fell asleep.
Shen Anran mood improved largely that she decided to prepare some ramen as their breakfast this morning. She smiled throughout their trip only glancing briefly at the seemingly sleeping Zheng Shanshan.