Switched Marriage: The Coddled Little Wife
Chapter 420: Competing for the Spotlight?

Chapter 420: Chapter 420: Competing for the Spotlight?

"Who would slander you?"

Qian Chuncao had now also come to her senses, and with a pang of distress, she looked at the seeds that had spilled on the ground and could not be recovered. She had been worried about the seeds all along, and now she heard Technician Liu actually trying to pin the blame on her sister-in-law.

Although she didn’t know what had happened in the morning, she knew her sister-in-law, who was definitely not the kind of person who liked to show off.

Besides, the vegetable greenhouses were suggested by her sister-in-law to begin with. Wasn’t that limelight enough? Was there really any need to compete with a technician for fame?

Ridiculous.

"Technician Liu, although my sister-in-law and I are family, we would never tell blatant lies. The seeds were clearly handed to me by you, and you let go before I could even reach out. I initially thought you were just being careless, but now I see you had this scheme in mind all along—wanting to dirty my sister-in-law’s name. How could you be so foul-hearted?"

Forget about my sister-in-law hitting someone; at this moment, Qian Chuncao herself felt like giving her a slap.

She just regretted that her sister-in-law’s slap earlier was too light.

Liu Yahong’s tears immediately began falling, and her grievances seemed hard to fully express.

Pointing at Lin Chuxia and Qian Chuncao present on the scene, she shudderingly stepped back.

"How can you... how can you bully someone like this? It’s clearly your fault, yet you’re pinning it on me. I know you cover the sky with one hand in Qin Family Village, but you still can’t insult someone like this, right? If it weren’t for Technician He and Technician Hu being here, wouldn’t I have been bullied to death by you?"

She looked for help towards He Shujie and Hu Lichun, but the two men just watched the scene, neither showing any sign of wanting to intervene.

Liu Yahong frowned slightly and gave Hu Lichun a profound look.

Hu Lichun silently lowered his head, his heart filled with complaints.

He wasn’t at the scene of the incident, so how could he know who was right or wrong.

Yet, based on his interactions with Lin Chuxia and Sister-in-law Qian over the past few days, he actually felt that Sister-in-law Qian and her party had the upper hand in the argument.

But Liu Yahong was the director’s niece, and they had been reminded when she arrived to take good care of her.

Just as he hesitated about whether to step forward or not, Liu Yahong had already covered her face and run out.

"There’s no one here to stand up for me, I’ll go find someone who can. I refuse to believe there’s nowhere I can seek justice."

Qian Chuncao wore an expression of worry, not for Liu Yahong, but because she just ran off crying like that. Qian Chuncao was concerned that Liu Yahong might say something unreasonable and tarnish her sister-in-law’s reputation.

Qin Liang and his wife had the same thought and began to step outside, "I’ll go have a look, she must have gone to the village chief."

"No need, big brother. Let her go wherever she wants. Farming is more important, let’s see if we can recover any of these seeds first."

Lin Chuxia certainly didn’t care how Liu Yahong might smear her name. As for the village chief, he was not even in the village today.

He Shujie watched as a few people searched for vegetable seeds in the manure but couldn’t bring himself to do the same.

"Let’s not search any longer. We’ll plant what seeds we have left and we can also plant other crops."

Lin Chuxia stood up and dusted off her hands, "No, we cannot let these seeds go to waste as they are the fruit of your labor. Big brother, can we just spread this manure evenly on the field? Once the seedlings emerge, we’ll transplant them. I’m just not sure if the fertilizer will be too strong and burn the seedlings."

Qin Liang’s eyes lit up, "That’s also a solution. No worries, leave it to me. I’ll handle it."

In terms of farming, Chuxia had faith in Qin Liang; if he said there was a way, then there certainly was one.

On the other hand, Liu Yahong went straight to the village chief’s house, only to find that the village chief was not home, leaving only a teenager, Qin Yuzhu.

She did not linger and turned to visit the Party Secretary’s house.

The Secretary of the Qin Family Village was not young and didn’t involve himself much in village affairs, but he was aware that the authority of the Party Secretary was intact, and his words carried no less weight than those of the village chief.

Moreover, she noticed that the village chief had an extremely good relationship with the Qin Family, almost to the point of fawning over Lin Chuxia, so perhaps it would be better for the Secretary to handle this matter.

Arriving at the Secretary’s house, Liu Yahong stood at the doorway, pitifully imploring him to stand up for her without even entering.

The Secretary’s daughter-in-law respected the visiting technicians very much and, upon seeing Liu Yahong like this, first invited her to come inside.

Liu Yahong refused to enter no matter what, and so the Secretary’s daughter-in-law hurriedly summoned the elderly Secretary from inside.

With this back and forth, the passing villagers who saw the commotion at the Secretary’s doorstep began to stop and watch, which was exactly what Liu Yahong had intended.

When the Secretary appeared, Liu Yahong exaggerated the story in front of a few local villagers.

"I don’t know why the villagers of Qin Family Village would do such a thing. If you really look down on the technicians sent by the Agricultural Bureau, just say so directly to the Bureau and forget it, instead of going through such lengths to insult people."

The Secretary’s brow had long been knitted into a frown. Although he had little contact with Lin Chuxia, he did not believe Lin to be that kind of person.

Moreover, he was familiar with Qin Liang and his spouse. They were very honest and unlikely to do such a thing.

"Could there be some misunderstanding here? Since it was unintentional, let’s not take it to heart. I believe Lin was just too concerned about those vegetable seeds. After all, they are sent from the Agricultural Research Institute and are exceptionally valuable."

"But no matter how precious, she can’t just hit people, right? I see it clearly now, you people from Qin Family Village are all the same. To you, we are just outsiders. If that’s the case, I’ll go to the Bureau and say, no need for you to drive us away—we’ll leave and save you the trouble of having us around."

With that, Liu Yahong left fuming, and the Secretary was at a loss.

With the rapid development of the country in recent years, he felt out of touch due to his age, not as quick-minded as the younger folks, and most village matters were handled by the village chief.

He held onto his position as Secretary out of respect from the community.

The commotion caused by the supporting technicians really put him in a difficult position.

Knowing that the village chief was not around today, he turned and said to his daughter-in-law, "Go find Lin quickly and tell her about the situation here; let her be aware."

The Secretary’s daughter-in-law didn’t hesitate for a moment; she hopped on her bicycle and left.

The old Secretary stood at the doorway, hesitating whether to persuade Technician Liu to stay, but the onlooking villagers had already started talking.

"I think Technician Liu has come with bad intentions, who knows if what she’s saying is even true."

"Well, that’s not definite, right? Look at her face, all red, looks like she really did get slapped."

"Even if she got slapped, does that make her right? Mr. Lin has such a good temper; if he raised his hand to slap her, the other person must have gone too far."

"I heard that Technician Liu had a little friction with Mr. Lin this morning. Liu looked down on Mr. Lin, thinking she knew nothing yet was bossing people around, and I personally heard Technician Liu muttering under her breath that our Mr. Lin was a stinky baozi seller."

"What? Did she really say that?"

That one remark set the attending villagers ablaze.