"Not tell anyone?" Shen Mianmian seemed to guess what her dad was about to say, but before he said it, she still found it hard to believe.
"Right," Shen Jianhua nodded awkwardly, "Mianmian, the whole village knows that Siyu is about to receive the progress award. If we suddenly say you got it, everyone will definitely laugh at Siyu."
"Siyu is old enough to care about her reputation. If this gets out, she won’t be able to save face. If she can’t handle it and does something foolish, what then?"
"You are her older sister. You should give in a bit to her. Although the recognition will go to her, the money from the progress award will be yours, and neither your mom nor I will ask for it."
Shen Jianhua went on at length, in his view, this was the best solution, and it didn’t shortchange Shen Mianmian in any way; anyway, everyone thought the progress award went to Zhou Siyu, so it wouldn’t affect Shen Mianmian.
Shen Mianmian’s heart had gone cold.
She thought her dad was going to talk about high school and university, but to her surprise, it was about the progress award.
In order to save Zhou Siyu’s face, her own honor had to be sacrificed.
And he had the nerve to say it was no loss to her.
Her heart felt stifled, but she put on an innocent smile on her face, "Dad, I really want to agree with you, but you spoke a bit too late."
When Shen Jianhua heard the first part of her sentence, he was about to praise Shen Mianmian for being understanding, but then he heard the second part and was confused, "Too late? How?"
We came back from school, and everyone was inside not going out; other people still don’t know, how is it too late?
"When we came back, didn’t we run into Aunt Zhang? She asked me, and I just blurted it out."
Shen Jianhua: "..." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⟡𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵
Zhou Lanfang panicked, "The Zhang family woman has a big mouth; if she knows, won’t the whole world know?"
After making plans for so long, only to fall through suddenly, Zhou Lanfang felt so suffocated she could hardly breathe, wishing she could knock Shen Mianmian out.
Seeing Shen Mianmian reaching out to grab more food with her chopsticks, she reached out and took the plate away.
"Eat, eat, eat, eat yourself to death."
Shen Mianmian looked at Shen Jianhua with a hint of grievance, "Dad, are you blaming me, are you mad at me?"
He was left speechless by the question.
Angry? What right did he have to be angry? And what right did he have to blame his daughter?
The daughter had simply told the truth to outsiders.
But even though that was the case, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Yet he knew he couldn’t blame his daughter, "Since you’ve already mentioned it, let it be."
Shen Mianmian bit her chopsticks, "If I had known earlier, I definitely wouldn’t have told anyone."
Now that the words had been said, who couldn’t play the good person?
Indeed, the Zhang family woman was a blabbermouth; having learned the news, she spread it throughout the village causing quite a stir, with people sitting together and chatting about it when there was nothing else to do.
Zhou Lanfang and Zhou Siyu must have really felt ashamed, as they didn’t visit anyone until New Year’s Eve and stopped watching TV; one was sewing shoe soles at home, and the other was reading.
Shen Mianmian kept busy earning money, leaving early and returning late every day. On New Year’s Eve, Shen Mianmian didn’t go out to set up her stall. While the family was preparing lunch, Li Chunhua suddenly arrived.
She even brought a large bag with her, a cheerful smile on her face, and before she reached the door, she called out loudly.
Hearing the voice, Shen Mianmian put down the fire poker in her hand and went to greet her, "Auntie."
Li Chunhua happily responded, and seeing Shen Mianmian looking a bit fleshier and seemingly taller, she praised.
"Mianmian is getting prettier and prettier."
Shen Mianmian smiled sweetly, "Auntie, you’re making me blush with your compliments."