Two days after the meeting, Ruan Yue was in the production team's storage room weighing out sweet potatoes for her work points when the gossip flared again.
"She's just pretending to be quiet," Auntie Liu said loudly from behind the grain sacks. "Mark my words, she'll be causing trouble before the New Year."
Auntie Zhang chimed in, "Hmph, once a widow with a temper, always a widow with a temper."
Ruan Yue kept her head down, measuring her portion.
But before she could respond, another voice cut in — clear and steady.
"You shouldn't talk about Sister Ruan like that," Zhao Xiuxiu said.
Both older women turned, blinking. "Oh? And why's that, little girl?"
"Because she helped me at the well," Xiuxiu said firmly. "If she were as bad as you say, she wouldn't have bothered."
Auntie Zhang's lips pursed, but Xiuxiu was already walking away, chin high, as if daring anyone to argue.
For a moment, the storage room was silent except for the thump of potatoes hitting the scale. Ruan Yue glanced at the girl's retreating back and muttered under her breath, "Foolish child."
Still… her chest felt strangely lighter.
---
That evening, as she walked home with her basket, a shadow detached itself from the wall near her gate.
Shen Wenxiu.
He stepped into her path. "Why is Zhao Xiuxiu defending you now?"
"Ask her," Ruan Yue said, shifting her basket higher.
"I am asking you," he said, voice low. "You think I can't see through you? Getting close to her, changing your image — it's all to lower people's guard."
She smiled faintly. "Or maybe I'm just tired of living like the village's favorite target. Not everything is about you, Shen Wenxiu."
His eyes narrowed. "With you, it's always about something."
For a long moment, they stared at each other in the dim light of her doorway, the cold night air taut between them.
Then he stepped back, letting her pass.
> Male lead hostility level — 78%.
The system's voice was almost smug.
But Ruan Yue ignored it, closing the gate behind her. She had no illusions — whether that number dropped or not, Shen Wenxiu was still her most dangerous obstacle.
And in this village, danger had a way of knocking when you least expected it.