A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

"Hey, Aunt Li, have you heard?"

"What's going on? Why are you being so secretive?"

At the public pool in the military compound, several family members were washing clothes while whispering amongst themselves.

The speaker was the wife of Wang, an officer in the logistics department, who was usually quite close to Wu Xiuli.

"What else could it be? It's just that little prodigy from the Lu family!"

Sister-in-law Wang curled her lip, her face showing a hint of disdain and schadenfreude.

"I've heard that child isn't as innocent as he seems!"

"Oh? What do you mean?" Aunt Li, who was the first family member to ask Lu Nianci about greenhouse heating techniques, immediately became interested.

"I heard it from Sister Wu, the daughter of Deputy Commander Wan," Sister Wang said, deliberately lowering her voice and whispering in Sister Li's ear, "She said, 'That child is very cunning!'"

"What happened with Deputy Commander Chen last time wasn't a 'dream' or a 'notebook' at all!"

"It was that kid. He somehow heard the rumors and deliberately went to Dean Liu and the others to curry favor, saying he had a solution!"

"Dean Liu and his colleagues were desperate and grasped at straws, so they believed her nonsense. And what happened? They were just lucky; she actually guessed right!"

"What?!"

Li's wife and several other family members around her were all stunned.

"And there's more!" Seeing that she had successfully attracted everyone's attention, Sister Wang spoke even more enthusiastically.

"How do you think she got that 'little advisor' position? She just went to Commander Gao's house every day, her words as sweet as honey, completely charming him and making him give her such a big face!"

"To put it bluntly, they're opportunistic and good at flattery!"

"He's not like a child at all! He's smarter than us adults who've lived for decades!"

Sister-in-law Wang spoke with such conviction and detail, as if she had witnessed it herself.

After hearing this, the family members around looked at each other, their expressions becoming somewhat subtle.

"No way... Nianci, that child, seems quite well-behaved." Aunt Li was a little incredulous.

After all, it was Lu Nianci who personally taught her how to build her greenhouse.

"You can know a person's face but not their heart!" Sister Wang sighed. "Think about it, a wild girl from the countryside, without parents, has managed to survive until now and thrive so much. Can she be an ordinary person?"

"Besides, Sister Wu said this herself. Her husband is the deputy commander; he definitely knows more inside information than we do! How could it be false?"

She brought up the "authoritative figure" Wu Xiuli, which immediately convinced the remaining family members who were already wavering.

Yes.

Wu Xiuli is the wife of the deputy commander, so her information network is certainly more advanced than that of ordinary family members like them.

Thinking about it this way, those previously unbelievable "miracles" seem to have a "reasonable" explanation now.

What kind of genius?

What prodigy?

To put it bluntly, she's just a shrewd person who knows how to scheme and flatter her superiors!

In an instant, the gratitude that everyone felt for Lu Nianci's kindness was quickly replaced by the gossipy pleasure of "suddenly realizing" and the delicate balance of "so she's nothing special after all."

The darker side of human nature was laid bare at this moment.

Soon, this "dirt," which was ignited by Wu Xiuli and embellished by Wang's sister-in-law and other "megaphones," spread rapidly throughout the military compound like a virus.

"That girl from the Lu family is a little liar!"

"All her 'achievements' were obtained through dishonest means!"

"At such a young age, she already knows how to flatter and fawn over her superiors; she's dishonest!"

Malicious rumors are spreading like wildfire.

People who were praising Lu Nianci and admiring her just a few days ago have suddenly changed their expressions to one of disdain and contempt.

The way they looked at Lu Nianci changed from awe to scrutiny and suspicion.

Some family members who used to come to the Lu family every day to "learn from their experience" now avoid the Lu family's door, as if they are afraid of getting some bad luck.

Public opinion is a fearsome thing; it can melt metal.

An invisible yet extremely malicious act of "praise to death" is unfolding.

Zhou Yayun and Lu Zhenguo naturally heard these rumors as well, and they were so angry that they trembled all over.

Zhou Yayun was so angry that she wanted to rush out and argue with those gossipy women several times, but Lu Zhenguo stopped her each time.

"What's the point of arguing with them? You can shut one person up, but can you shut everyone up?"

Although Lu Zhenguo was also angry, he was more rational than Zhou Yayun.

"There's definitely someone pulling the strings behind this! What we need to do now isn't argue with those ignorant women, but stay calm and figure out where this rumor is coming from!"

However, the storm was more violent than they had imagined.

Even within schools, discordant voices began to emerge.

Lu Nianci had just entered the third year of junior high school, and because of her young age, she already attracted attention.

Now, as rumors spread throughout the compound, her situation at school has become precarious.

Some older students started whispering about her behind her back.

"Look, it's her! That 'child prodigy' who skipped grades by flattering others!"

"I heard she's an amazing actress; she even fooled the teachers and the principal!"

"Tch, I thought he was something special, turns out he's just a little fraud!"

Although he tried to keep his voice down, these words inevitably reached Lu Nianci's ears.

Li Hao was so angry that he wanted to rush up and fight those people several times, but Lu Nianci stopped him each time.

"Sister Nianci! They've gone too far! We can't just let this go!" Li Hao said angrily, his face turning red.

Lu Nianci simply shook her head calmly.

"People can say whatever they want."

Her face showed not a trace of anger or grievance, as calm as a bottomless lake.

It was as if those vicious words were just the wind blowing across the lake, unable to stir even the slightest ripple in her heart.

She knew that explaining would be useless.

The best way to fight back against rumors is not to argue, but to use stronger facts to slap them in the face!

However, she can choose not to care.

That doesn't mean that some people can be indifferent.

That day, Lu Xingzhou had a rare day off from the army and went home.

As soon as he entered the compound, he keenly sensed that something was amiss.

In the past, the uncles and aunts in the compound would greet him warmly whenever they saw him.

But today, when those people saw him, they avoided his gaze and even pointed and whispered behind his back.

His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

He ignored those people and went straight home.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw my mother, Zhou Yayun, sitting on the sofa wiping away tears with red eyes.

Meanwhile, the father, Lu Zhenguo, sat to the side, his face dark, silently smoking.

At home, a gloomy and depressing atmosphere prevailed.

"Dad, Mom, what happened?"

Lu Xingzhou's heart sank suddenly.

"Where is Nianci?" he asked instinctively.

"Nianci... is doing her homework in her room," Zhou Yayun said, her voice choked with emotion.

Lu Xingzhou glanced at his sister's tightly closed door, then at his parents' grim faces, and his unease grew stronger.

"What happened?"

His voice turned cold.

Under Lu Xingzhou's repeated questioning, Zhou Yayun finally couldn't hold back and blurted out all the vicious rumors that had been circulating in the compound these past few days.

"...They said Nianci was a fraud, that she was dishonest, that she...that at such a young age, she already knew how to use improper means to curry favor with her superiors..."

Zhou Yayun became more and more aggrieved as she spoke, and tears streamed down her face like beads from a broken string.

Lu Xingzhou listened quietly.

His facial expression remained unchanged.

But the temperature in the living room seemed to drop to freezing point in an instant.

In his unfathomable eyes, little by little, a terrifying storm, powerful enough to freeze everything, began to gather!

When Zhou Yayun finished speaking the last word.

Lu Xingzhou suddenly spoke.

His voice carried a chilling undertone.

"Who said that?"