"Feng Yuanchun, you... *cough, cough*..." Chen Shengjun scrambled to his feet, clutching his chest, his face twisted in pain. "Feng Yuanchun, are you really going to be this cold-blooded? Do you have no regard at all for what we had?"
"What we had?" Feng Yuanchun flared up. "I don’t know you that well, so don't talk to me about feelings. Chen Shengjun, if you think you can fool me, you’ve got another thing coming."
With that, she kicked the scumbag aside once more and began running toward the village, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Indecent assault! Chen Shengjun is trying to assault me!"
Her cries drew a crowd of villagers.
"Yuanchun, what’s wrong? Who is assaulting you?"
"Yuanchun, who is chasing you?"
...
Yuanchun put on a look of terror and fright. "Wuu, it’s Chen Shengjun! I was heading home from work when he intercepted me on the path. He said that because I hit him this morning, he was going to... he was going to ruin my reputation and force me to marry him, just so his mother could torment me! Thank goodness I was quick on my feet—I kicked him and ran, or he would have succeeded."
As she spoke, she forced out a few tears, looking so pitiful that she easily won the sympathy of the villagers.
"Chen Shengjun, have you lost your mind? Trying to ruin Yuanchun’s reputation! If she hadn't managed to run away, her whole life would have been ruined by your hands."
"There isn't a single decent person in the Chen family. I used to think you were better than your three brothers because you seemed more hardworking, but who knew you were even worse than them? Yuanchun is just a girl—how could you even think of doing something so heinous? Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"
"Ha! If he were afraid of retribution, he wouldn't harbor such malicious intentions in the first place."
...
The villagers surrounded Chen Shengjun, berating him with righteous fury.
Chen Shengjun struggled to climb back to his feet. "I didn't... I’m being slandered by Feng Yuanchun! I stopped her, but it was only because..."
He wanted to find an excuse to smooth things over, but then he realized that the Feng family and the Chen family had already become enemies; reconciling with Feng Yuanchun was impossible. Unless... Chen Shengjun changed his tune, gritting his teeth. "You’ve all misunderstood! The truth is, Yuanchun and I are dating. I was looking for her to apologize. My mother didn't know we were seeing each other, which is why she bullied Yuanchun this morning. I wanted to apologize on my mother's behalf and beg for Yuanchun's forgiveness."
Chen Shengjun spoke with absolute sincerity.
Unfortunately, no one in Fengjia Village believed him.
"Hahaha... did I hear that right? This boy actually claims he’s dating Feng Yuanchun?"
"You heard right, I heard it too. Chen Shengjun, you couldn't succeed in your assault, so now you want to destroy her reputation? You are truly shameless."
"Chen Shengjun, a toad like you thinks he can date Yuanchun? Hahaha... can your Chen family even afford a one-hundred-yuan bride price?"
"He doesn't want to pay a hundred yuan. He wants to ruin her reputation so he can get a wife for free without spending a cent."
"How utterly shameless."
"This won't do. We have to tell the village chief. If everyone acts like Chen Shengjun, destroying a woman's reputation just because they want to marry her, then no girl will ever dare to step out of her house again."
Every family in the village had a daughter waiting to be married—or if they didn't now, they would in a few years. The villagers did not want to live in a village with a beast who was constantly leering at their daughters.
Incensed, the villagers marched Chen Shengjun off to see the village chief.
Yuanchun followed leisurely behind the crowd, the corners of her mouth curling upward.
*Heh. Scumbag. In our previous life, you betrayed the original girl and dragged her name through the mud. In this life, I’m going to make sure you get a taste of that very same experience.*
*I want you to experience what it feels like to be reviled and humiliated by everyone.*