Through a tacit understanding, Mo Fei maintained this simple connection with Miss Colleen.
Every week, he specially made a few exquisite white loaves, which Aiwen then took to sell to Miss Colleen.
Miss Colleen and her maid Molly would also ask after Aiwen and ask a few questions about the Mo Orphanage.
Colleen had never visited the orphanage, and since then, Mo Fei had never taken the initiative to appear before the noble young lady either.
If Miles had not been so utterly irritating this time, Mo Fei would never have thought of asking Miss Colleen for help.
The proper boundaries in such matters were sometimes difficult to judge.
Fortunately, there was no rush yet. He still had time to plan things out slowly.
After learning of Miles's plans, Mo Fei slowly made his way back to the orphanage.
The second day passed, then the third, and life seemed completely unchanged. Everything was just as it had been, and the children relaxed.
Perhaps it was just as the director had said: that bakery owner was merely a petty bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong, not someone worth worrying about.
But a week later, unusual talk actually began circulating around the orphanage.
Within just a few days, rumors and slander began springing up everywhere, spreading unchecked.
Some embellished the story, claiming that the orphanage director's temperament had changed drastically, that he had become exceptionally violent and punched and kicked the children at the slightest provocation.
In reality, however, Mo Fei was leading the children in practicing Tai Chi...
Others maliciously speculated that the orphanage secretly trained the children to be thieves and had stolen a great deal of money and valuables. One fellow who sold dairy cows even spoke with absolute conviction.
"You have no idea. That director showed up looking all gloomy, carrying a huge sum of money, and bought three dairy cows. Think about it. Who buys cows in winter? Isn't that... perhaps those dairy cows serve some special purpose..."
As he spoke, he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
In truth, he was not the fellow who had sold them the dairy cows at all. He had merely spotted an opportunity in the recent affair. If he could invent a story, perhaps his own dairy cows could fetch a good price too...
Some went even further, deliberately smearing the director by claiming that he denied the children food every day and wantonly bullied them while using them as free labor.
Others said the children had no one to care for them, were incorrigible by nature, and were destined to join gangs someday.
In short, all the prejudice and malice seemed to erupt at once.
They never considered the contradictions in these claims, willing only to believe the malice they imagined.
The abnormal speed at which these rumors spread soon alerted Mrs. Field that something was wrong.
As an elderly woman who had weathered many storms, she understood the power of rumors all too well.
But just as she was planning to enlist some respected people to help vouch for him, Mo Fei came to see her.
"Mrs. Field, I'd like you not to clear things up just yet..."
Hearing the man before her make this utterly unexpected request, Mrs. Field could not quite figure him out for a moment.
Seeing her confusion, Mo Fei told the shrewd elderly woman about his earlier conflict with Miles.
The moment she heard Miles's name, Mrs. Field gave a cold snort.
"That fellow..."
Her reaction made Mo Fei realize that the elderly woman before him might know a great deal about Miles.
"Ma'am, do you know something about him?"
"How could I not? He's a hack, and a ruthless one at that..."
Since Mo Fei had asked, she laid out the entire story.
When he first arrived here, his skills had actually been quite mediocre, but his goods were cheap, so he gradually established himself.
Yet no one had expected that once he had secured a steady customer base, he would resort to false accusations against the other bakeries in the area.
Wary of his gang connections, some shop owners chose to leave outright, while others intended to hold on.
But no one had anticipated that he would actually send gang members to harass them and demand protection money.
After repeated rounds of this, all the bakeries were gradually driven out.
Then he actually began raising his prices, using his exclusive hold on sales to rake in money.
Because of his earlier actions, the surrounding business owners had long since learned his methods. Those who could buy bread elsewhere chose to travel farther to purchase it, while those who could not simply endured it.
That was why so many people had immediately expressed their support when Mo Fei decided to start selling bread.
After recounting these past events, Mrs. Field worried that Mo Fei, like the shop owners before him, would no longer dare to sell bread.
Although it would not affect her much, she still could not bear to see this promising path prepared for the children cut off just like that.
"What are you planning to do, Director Mo?"
"Don't worry, Mrs. Field. I'm not backing down. These rumors just appeared so suddenly that I suspect Miles has something to do with them. Presumably, he isn't counting on rumors alone to bring me down. That would be far too childish. I imagine he has other tricks waiting for me..."
Mrs. Field could see that too, and it only worried her more.
Mo Fei, however, smiled reassuringly instead. "There's no need to worry, ma'am. Asking you not to clear things up now is also a precaution. Clearing things up now wouldn't do me any good, so we might as well let the storm grow a little..."
"Once my situation gets bad enough, he'll probably reveal his true intentions. If we turn things around then, it might have an unexpected effect..."
"But..." Mrs. Field could see that too, but the question was, what if the orphanage failed to withstand this series of schemes?
Yet looking into Mo Fei's determined eyes, she ultimately chose to trust the man before her.
Several other neighbors on good terms with him also expressed their support, but Mo Fei persuaded them to hold off in the same way.
Among them, Vil-V went so far as to say outright, "Go ahead and do what you need to, Director Mo. If things really don't work out, I can make room in my tavern for the children to sleep..."
Mo Fei was deeply grateful, but still declined.
With Mo Fei taking no action, the rumors soon affected bread sales.
Daily sales dropped by a full half.
This left Lina so anxious that sores broke out around her mouth.
Mo Fei, however, was doing all right. He simply cut back sharply on the bread sold here, then had Aiwen take Boer and the others to sell it in the West End.
Although this meant much harder work for Aiwen and the others, their income ultimately did not change much.
Then one day, Mo Fei took Aiwen out to buy supplies. They had only just reached the market at the street corner when murmurs, doubts, and contemptuous looks closed in around them from every direction.
The scene made Aiwen clench his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The boy's chest heaved, his eyes filled with anger and a sense of injustice.
He did not understand how neighbors who had been perfectly fine before had suddenly become like this.