Chapter 166: Chapter 166: His Protection
Aaron Cheney fought back the urge to vomit and said unhurriedly, "Of course. Everyone in the village knows I donât lie!"
Vera Xavier glanced at him, her gaze deepening slightly.
But Aaron Cheney didnât look back at her. âAre you kidding me? Sheâs the woman Nathaniel Nathan has his eye on. If I stared too long and Nathaniel found out, heâd gouge my eyes out!â
He said with a perfectly straight face, "Hereâs what happened. I was in the woods trapping bamboo rats, and SisâI mean, Vera Xavierâwas sitting on this slope, dozing off. Then Cara Preston came over. She stood behind Vera for a moment, and seeing that Vera hadnât noticed her, she lifted her foot to kick her in the back. But Vera must have sensed something and dodged to the side. Caraâs kick was too forceful, she couldnât stop herself, and she rolled right into the pond. Thatâs when Vera Xavier grabbed the bamboo pole to rescue you."
As soon as he finished speaking, all eyes fell on Cara Preston.
She shouted, "Thatâs not what happened! Youâre lying!"
Aaron Cheneyâs expression was dead serious. He held up three fingers to the sky and declared, "If a single word of what I just said was a lie, may Heaven punish me to die without any heirs!"
After speaking, he looked at Cara Preston and said, "I dare to make such a solemn oath. Do you?"
Vera Xavier raised an eyebrow slightly. âThis Aaron Cheney is pretty interesting. Everything he said was, in fact, true. He just conveniently left out the part where I hit Cara Preston with the bamboo pole. So, technically, he didnât lie.â
Cara Preston was dumbstruck by Aaronâs question. She had been making it all up, so how could she possibly dare to swear an oath?
Her hesitation stood in stark contrast to Aaron Cheneyâs decisiveness. Anyone who wasnât a fool could accurately judge who was telling the truth and who was lying.
Grandma shot Cara Preston a cold glance, but instead of scolding her, she turned on Rona Langdon. "My eyes have truly been opened today! So this is the âgood daughterâ youâve raised!"
Rona Langdon opened her mouth, but not a single word came out. The surrounding villagers all stared at her as if she were a laughingstock.
"My eyes have been opened today. To think she wouldnât believe her own flesh and blood, but would believe an adopted daughter!"
"Itâs not that surprising. After all, she didnât raise the biological one herself!"
"That adopted girl is really using every trick in the book to drive the real daughter away. She was the one who tried to kick Vera into the pond, and when she failed, she turned around and bit back with a false accusation. What a vicious heart."
"You canât even tell by looking at her. To be so vicious at such a young age! Iâm just glad my daughter never went missing. If we had a menace like that in our house, sheâd turn everything upside down!"
Rona Langdonâs expression was absolutely ghastly.
Grandmaâs face hardened. "Everyone disperse! Go on home!"
Both Zachary Preston and Grandpa wore stern expressions and said nothing.
Everyone left, and not a single person moved to help Cara Preston up. Rona Langdon viciously pinched her waist. "You idiot! Youâve completely disgraced me this time!"
Cara Preston felt the most aggrieved of all. Unable to hold it in, she finally broke down into whimpering sobs.
Rona Langdon scolded her as she helped her up, "Cry, cry, cry! All you know how to do is cry! You useless thing!"
Cara Preston didnât dare to talk back. She just gritted her teeth and said, "I almost succeeded. Itâs all that Aaron Cheneyâs fault."
Rona Langdon was also seething with anger. Aaron Cheney had connections, or else she would have blown up at him earlier. The feeling of being unable to vent her fury was so intense it almost made her choke.