Chapter 157 Don’t Believe the Rumors

Chapter 157: Don't Believe the Rumors

Fu Yanju wondered whether renovations like these would cost a fortune.

But she shouldn’t interfere too much with her sister-in-law’s business. Her mother, Wu Yanhua, had told her that Su He was quite the businesswoman.

She didn’t know the first thing about business herself, so she’d better learn from Su He. She’d just follow Su He’s lead and do whatever she said.

Fu Yanju had always been the quiet, hardworking type—otherwise, she wouldn’t have endured years of mistreatment in the Chen family.

"I’ll go find Chengan later," Fu Tinghua decided. He was determined to help his wife with this matter.

She was serious about making this shop work, and he wanted to lend a hand wherever he could.

Auntie Zhang finally took a good look at Fu Tinghua. Well now, isn’t he a looker!

Last time Su He came by, they were all talking about how delicate and pretty she was—who knew her husband would be even better looking?

"If you know the Xia family," Auntie Zhang said, "things should be easier." She didn’t push the matter further—it wasn’t her business to interfere.

It was mid-July, and since the rent for the second half of the year had already been paid in advance, Su He made up the rent difference to Auntie Zhang.

After receiving the money, Auntie Zhang was grinning from ear to ear.

With this issue resolved, she finally felt at ease.

From now on, the shop was completely Su He’s to use.

"Let’s get going and start dinner. No use rushing this—we’ll need to buy materials tomorrow and hire workers to fix up the shop right."

There were probably renovation companies around, but Su He’s budget was tight. Hiring one might send costs through the roof.

Instead, she planned to find a few experienced workers. She’d provide the materials, and they’d handle the labor to give the shop a proper renovation.

Su He felt this venture was her first real shot at success.

The group walked back to Fu Tinghua’s place—one advantage of the shop was that it was close to home.

Fu Tinghua drove off to the Xia residence to find Xia Chengan, while Su He and Fu Yanju started preparing dinner.

Seeing all the vegetables they had brought with them, Su He let Fu Yanju know she’d be right back and took some over to the neighboring courtyards.

At the first house, Su He knocked, and a woman opened the door.

When the woman saw Su He, she looked surprised and asked, "Yes, miss? How can I help you?"

Miss? That was the first time anyone had called her that since arriving in this world.

"Hello, I’m your neighbor—Dr. Fu’s wife. We just moved back to town today.

Here, these are some vegetables I grew myself in the village. Thought you might enjoy some—fresh from the garden."

Su He smiled and handed the bag of vegetables to the woman.

"You—you’re Dr. Fu’s wife? The Dr. Fu who became Deputy Director?" the woman gasped.

"Yes."

Hearing the confirmation, the woman’s face lit up with a warm smile.

"Oh, welcome, welcome! Wanna come in for a bit? I'm Qin Fenghua—Liu Kai from the TCM Department's wife. You can call me Qin—"

She was about to say "Qin Sister," but then she remembered her son was practically Su He's age. Wouldn’t that be weird?

"Actually, why don't you call me Auntie Qin?" she quickly corrected herself.

"Auntie Qin, got it! I’m Su He."

"Oh, I know."

Everyone living in the hospital apartments had heard of Su He’s name.

After all, she used to be the main gossip target among the rumor-loving women.

There wasn’t any deep hatred between them, yet everyone just couldn’t stand her.

The girl standing before her wasn’t anything like the ugly monster described in the rumors. She was cheerful, charming, fair-skinned, and quite pretty.

Man, gossip really ruins people.

Qin Fenghua had never met Su He before, but she’d already decided not to believe those false rumors anymore. From now on, she’d trust her own eyes.

"Come on in for a minute?" she offered again.

"No thanks, I’ve got more veggies to drop off. We’re neighbors now, so let’s keep in touch."

"Of course! Anytime! How about a quick cup of tea?"

"No, no, thank you. Maybe another time."

After a little back-and-forth, Su He finally handed over the vegetables.

Once Su He left, Qin Fenghua looked at the fresh greens in her hands and felt even more favorably toward her.

Su He went on to deliver vegetables to a few other nearby households, and they all accepted her kindness, changing their minds about her significantly.

The people who lived here were all big shots in their departments.

Most had never met Su He before, and many who weren’t into park gossip didn’t even know the rumors about her. So winning them over was a breeze.

Just by giving away some veggies, Su He managed to earn quite a bit of goodwill from the neighborhood.

She had a way with people—putting in little effort while making a great impression on the neighbors.

As for the folks in the apartment complex, Su He gave up on socializing altogether.

After all, the original Su He’s image there had been too messed up to fix.

She couldn’t be bothered to waste time with that crowd.

Though they lived in the same residential area, it felt like two different worlds—the villa section and the apartment section. If Su He stayed put, she wouldn’t run into them anyway.

After handing out some vegetables, there were still plenty left, so Su He stashed them all in her space.

While the kids played and Fu Yanju was busy, Su He also slipped a few ripe durians into her space.

These durians were huge and smelled amazing—she couldn’t let them go bad.

Thinking that, she took one ripe durian back to the living room.

Chen Waner looked at the durian in Su He's hand and felt quite curious.

It smelled wonderful to her.

"Auntie Su, what is this? It smells so nice." She had grown quite close to Su He and now dared to ask questions directly.

"I know! It's durian—you can eat it!" Niu Niu piped up excitedly.

Su He grinned. "Perfect, let’s crack one open while your dad’s away."

Dr. Fu didn’t like the smell of durian, so they took the chance to enjoy it while he was out.

By the time Fu Yanju came out, Su He had already placed the durian pulp on a plate.

Too bad they didn’t have smartphones back then—they could’ve filmed the whole durian-opening!

Shame no one could see this durian’s thin rind, plump pods, and heaping fruit—enough to make any durian lover die of envy.