Chapter 350 - 131: The Green Tea Female Side Character in a Period Novel (18)
Chapter 350: Chapter 131: The Green Tea Female Side Character in a Period Novel (18)
Chi Yun’er smiled softly. Hearing about a more complete, multifaceted Jiang Yihua from others filled her heart with a gentle sweetness and a strange sense of pride.
Hearing how differently he treated her, she couldn’t help the reckless feeling that rose within her—the mindset of a gambler.
’It seems my twenty-some years of dark experiences haven’t stripped away my longing and devotion to love. Marriage is a high-stakes gamble to begin with. Without living together, you can never know if the person on the marriage certificate is a saint or a monster.’
’It’s just like the protagonist of *Rickshaw Boy*—an honest and hardworking man who was brutally crushed by reality until the last taut string inside him snapped, and he just gave up completely. No one could have predicted that.’
Because Jiang Yihua had put in a good word for her, Chi Yun’er’s registration went exceptionally smoothly, with no one giving her any trouble.
However, everyone was surprisingly warm toward her, treating her as if she were already Jiang Yihua’s partner. They had received his help in the past, and now they poured all that gratitude onto her.
Even Director Zhong, known for being stern and never cracking a smile, managed to grin when he saw her. The sight nearly made everyone’s jaw drop, and it prompted Chen Xinyao to grab Chi Yun’er’s arm and chatter nonstop until the cafeteria opened for lunch.
Chi Yun’er didn’t go back to the dorm. Instead, she went straight to the logistics department to pick up the standard items provided to new employees, which included a lunchbox, a thermos, and a tea mug.
She rinsed her new lunchbox with hot water, then headed to the cafeteria with Chen Xinyao and a few other comrades from the logistics department in a lively procession.
Zhaoyang Farm was massive, laid out like a series of concentric squares. The center held the offices, living quarters, and a plaza, while rows upon rows of dormitories radiated outward in circles, resembling a maze.
The bell signaling the end of the morning shift rang. Exhausted from a morning of labor, everyone put down their tools, returned to their dorms for a quick wash, and then hurried toward the cafeteria, lunchboxes in hand.
Compared to the farmhands—their clothes speckled with mud, dust, and bits of wheat, their faces sunburned a dark red—the office workers from the logistics department looked far more clean and glamorous. Their refined air was like a cool breeze, inspiring a mixture of disdain and secret envy.
"I heard Mr. Jiang’s girlfriend is here. They say she’s gorgeous—even prettier than a movie star..."
"For real? No wonder none of the women on our farm—and we’ve got every type, from curvy to slender—ever caught his eye. So he had a girlfriend all along. If I were him, I don’t think I could’ve resisted the advances from all these women..."
"Haha, tell me about it. Long-distance relationships are risky. Any man would struggle to resist that kind of temptation. But, I heard..." A man lowered his voice, gesturing for the others to lean in. Only when they were close did he continue.
"Mr. Jiang isn’t a real man, if you know what I mean. Otherwise, how could he stay celibate for so long for a girlfriend he might not even end up marrying?"
"What’s the use of her being beautiful? If you can’t actually enjoy it, it’s all for nothing!"
Everyone gasped. "Li Zi, don’t just spout nonsense. We don’t even know if that’s true. If that rumor gets out, how is Mr. Jiang supposed to face anyone on the farm?"
Jiang Yihua was so outstanding at the farm that his brilliance cast a long shadow, one in which a great deal of ugly jealousy festered.
Once such jealousy gained momentum, and with Dongfeng to help it along, Jiang Yihua would have to endure the brutality of public opinion.
Jealous men, women spurned and humiliated, women currently pursuing him who felt disgusted by the news, people who held grudges against him—they would all fuel the fire of public opinion!
The man who had spoken piped up smugly, "Do I look like the kind of person who just makes things up? I never spread a story unless I have confirmation that it’s the absolute truth."
"Weren’t some of you curious before? About how his ex-girlfriend—the one who stole his job and then looked down on him for being sent to the countryside—managed to snag him in the first place?"
"So, one of them wrote a letter home to ask about it. And what a coincidence—it turns out their relative works in a hospital."
"And guess what?"
Everyone shook their heads, their curiosity piqued. They urged him to stop keeping them in suspense.
Only then did Li Zi continue in a low voice, "Mr. Jiang has gynophobia. You know what that is?"
"It means he can’t get close to women. The moment he does, he breaks out in hives and just convulses."
"Tell me, a man who can’t even be with a woman—is he really a man?"
"If we spent less time thinking about women, we’d be even more outstanding than he is. Only someone with a defect tries that hard to prove himself!"
"I wasn’t going to say anything, but I can’t bear to see Chi get deceived by him. If she marries him, she’ll be a grass widow..."
The group sighed sympathetically. If someone from the hospital had confirmed it, then the story was most likely true.