She Lives without Regret in This Life

After dinner, Sheng Ning tidied up the house. By the time she finished cleaning, it was already late afternoon. Sheng An had gone out and hadn't returned, making her a bit uneasy.

In the early 1980s' countryside, security was generally good, but you could never be too sure about unexpected incidents. With this thought, she hurriedly locked the door and went out to find him.

Although she had been away from home for less than a year, it felt like decades had passed to her. As she looked at each mud-brick house in the village, matching them slowly with the families in her memory, an inexplicable sense of nostalgia washed over her.

She didn't know where to look for Sheng An at first, so she stopped a little boy playing naked on the road, "Hey there, have you seen Sheng An?"

Sheng Ning was beautiful, with fair and tender skin, just the type that kids adored. When the boy saw Sheng Ning, his eyes lit up, and he pointed towards the village chief's house while wiping his nose, "He went to the village chief's place, Sheng An likes playing with Xiao Hong from their family."

Just as the boy finished speaking and Sheng Ning was about to thank him, a sharp voice suddenly came from behind, "Gou Dan, don't pay attention to her." A woman rushed over, pulling Gou Dan back and looking at Sheng Ning warily.

"Gou Dan, don't pay attention to her, this woman is no good, a bad omen."

"But she's really pretty." Gou Dan said naively, sniffling as he spoke.

"What do you know? She's a loose vixen, be careful or she'll lead you astray." The woman slapped Gou Dan on the butt.

Throughout this, Sheng Ning watched the woman with indifference. She had intended to retort, but considering the child, she held back.

"Hey there, better stay away from 'vixens' like me in the future!" She smiled at Gou Dan, her eyes appearing to hold a whole galaxy within them.

Gou Dan stared up, mouth agape, drooling.

Seeing this, the woman was nearly furious, "Keep looking, keep looking! So young and already just like your father, I'll beat you to death, I swear I will."

"Mom, don't hit me!" Gou Dan, strong for his age, broke free from her grip and bolted away.

"So clever." Sheng Ning's mood improved even more.

"Sheng Ning, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Whether I did it on purpose is hard to say, but you definitely did." Sheng Ning tilted her head. It had been decades since she'd seen this person, she really couldn't remember who she was. However, Sheng Ning was not the type to back down. Earlier with the child there, she hadn't wanted to say anything harsh, but now that Gou Dan had run off, she didn't feel the need to hold back.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's pretty clear, you accused me of being a vixen without any reason. Am I seducing your man?"

"You... you dare," the woman stammered, as if a cat with its tail stepped on. Her deadbeat husband was already easily swayed by someone like Mrs. Zhang. If Sheng Ning actually made a move, what chance did she have left?

"Could it be you're worried about not being able to keep an eye on your man, and you're taking it out on innocent people?" Sheng Ning didn't expect a casual remark would hit a nerve.

"Shut up! You're just a single girl, do you even have the right to talk like that?"

"Oh, so now you recognize I'm an unmarried girl? Then why didn't you consider if it was appropriate when you were insulting me just a moment ago?" Sheng Ning's expression remained unchanged, but her voice turned authoritative.

The woman had been confident in confronting her, but now she was clearly bested and slunk back home in defeat.