All the adults in the village were teaching their children not to talk nonsense outside, reminding them that Manbao was indeed a child of the Zhou Family. As for the reason such rumors surfaced, it was of course because Dawei's grandmother didn't get along with Manbao's mother, so she concocted lies to deceive Dawei.
The children believed it because the adults often talked about things without evidence, like when the woman from the Dong family had her vegetables pulled up. She didn't see it happen, but she would curse at the Xi Family, convinced they were the thieves.
The atmosphere at Zhou Dayuan's house was particularly oppressive. The family ate their dinner in silence, and after they had finished, Ms. Zhang shook herheads and said to her grandson with frustration, "Don't you ever repeat what's said at home, do you understand?"
