The next morning, there were a bunch of women washing their clothes by the river. Women at this age loved to gossip about family matters the most. Even trivial matters could sound sensational in their mouths. One of the older women suddenly asked the people beside her secretively, "Have you heard about Chen Baiyi?"
"Her fiancé died again? Sigh, who doesn't know that?"
"No, it was last night."
"Yesterday night?" The person beside her was intrigued by her secretive tone. "I didn't hear about it. What is it? Tell us quickly."
Seeing that no one knew, the person waved her hand smugly and got everyone to gather. The women surrounded the woman in a circle. "Yesterday, my husband went to the market. It rained heavily at night, so he hid from the rain at a friend's house. When he came back in the middle of the night, he told me that he saw Chen Baiyi and He Xiao holding an umbrella together. The two of them looked so intimate." Her tone revealed her disdain.
These words caused an uproar. Although the village wasn't as conservative as before, such things would definitely be gossiped about behind their backs.
"Didn't Chen Baiyi's fiancé just die?"
"That's right. It hasn't even been that long ago, but she's already so anxious to find her next target."
Seeing that someone agreed with her, the woman became more and more excited as she spoke, as if she had seen it with her own eyes. "You guys don't know what happened. The two of them hugged each other. Good lord, they even started kissing on the street so passionately. You guys didn't see it. If you guys saw it, you guys would have blushed."
With that said, she even patted her wrinkled face to prove that Chen Baiyi and He Xiao had indeed done such a shameful thing on the streets. "If no one had seen it, who would believe that Chen Baiyi would do such a thing?"
They really had no sense of shame!
"One can never judge a book by its cover!"
"Yeah, right."
"Chen Baiyi looks like an upright young lady. Ma'am, don't talk nonsense and ruin other people's reputation." Someone didn't believe her and questioned her words.
"How could I be spouting nonsense?! My husband saw it with his own eyes." Seeing that someone was questioning her, she described the situation even more vividly. Everyone present was not young anymore. When they heard this, they also blushed. Originally, it was a discussion, but now, it had become that old woman's one-sided story. She spoke animatedly as spit flew everywhere.
"I heard that He Xiao is a murderer." This added more sensationality to the matter and the discussion continued.
"I know. I heard that he killed someone and was imprisoned. In order to avoid arrest, he hid in the village."
"Otherwise, why would he fancy a small place like our village?"
"Chen Baiyi has already lost three fiancées, and He Xiao is a murderer. Aren't the two of them a perfect match?" Everyone agreed with this. One jinxed her husbands to death, and the other was a murderer. They were a match made in heaven.
After washing their clothes, the women returned home. After they heard such explosive news, they smiled and couldn't wait to share the news with their friends. Instantly, the news of Chen Baiyi and He Xiao spread throughout the village.