Those people, seeing they could not defeat Su Muqing and the others, began to instigate the sold children. Some of the children, upon hearing they could return to their parents, were quite happy.
Madam Zhou, noticing some of the young girls still wished to return to their parents, could not help but offer a word of caution. "You all must think carefully. If you go back and are sold again, no one will save you."
"We won't be! Please return our children to us!"
"That's right! We won't..."
Seeing those people tightly clutching the grain and refusing to return it, yet feigning concern for their own children.
For children under ten, Su Muqing made the decision for them. Since those parents were unwilling to return the grain, it was unlikely they would treat their children well.
For the girls her own age, Su Muqing addressed them. "I am giving you a chance. Whoever still believes their parents will not sell them again, come and receive your deeds of sale from me!"
To show she meant what she said, Su Muqing even brought out a stack of deeds of sale.
"Er Ni, come back quickly. Hurry!"
"Hairy girl, come to your father."
A group of people called out names for a long time. However, the girls whose names were called, although their faces were tear-streaked as they looked at their relatives, not a single one took a step forward.
This was because they knew that even if they returned to their parents this time, they would be sold again next time. Originally, as girls, they were not favored at home. They did all the work but ate very little.
Conversely, this young lady gave them a choice and had just distributed grain to those people earlier. It seemed she was not a bad person. Perhaps following her would lead to a better life.
"You wretched girl, I raised you for over ten years. How could you be so ungrateful!"
"Exactly, you ungrateful wretch. Just like your mother, you think your wings have hardened now? If I had known you were so heartless, I should have slept with you back then!"
A man, seeing the girl refuse to come over, began to curse with obscenities. Su Muqing frowned and turned to glare at the man.
Old Third, seeing this, immediately struck him with the back of his saber, shattering his teeth and splattering blood onto the faces of those around him.
In the end, the matter concluded with the man losing his teeth. Su Muqing used three guan of low-grade grain to purchase 37 children.
Among them, the youngest was 3 years old and the oldest was 13. There were also four women sold by their mothers-in-law, and a family of five who sold themselves. In total, there were 46 people.
Since the grain had been distributed, the ox cart was now empty. Su Muqing instructed Old Third to settle these people aside and then went to find Su Minghui and the others.
No matter what happened today, she needed to have a serious talk with them. If they disagreed with her taking these people along, Su Muqing decided she would form her own team.
Meanwhile, led by Su Mingfu and Er Gouzi's mother, a group of people had cornered Su Minghui, leaving him exasperated.
"Village Chief, why don't we just let Su family girl and her group leave separately? Look at how scary their fighting and killing is. Those people are wealthy gentry. Aren't they afraid of bringing disaster upon our village?" Er Gouzi's mother, Madam Wu, still resentful that Su Muqing had not distributed silver to her family, seized the opportunity to speak ill of her.
As Madam Wu stepped forward, others immediately chimed in. "That's right, Village Chief! I believe Ling girl wasn't lying. Haven't you seen the fierce look on Qing girl's face? Oh my! It was terrifying. And wherever she goes, there are great lightning strikes. How strange is that!"
"The way you put it, it does seem plausible..."
"Isn't it? I saw it clearly. The lightning seemed to have eyes, avoiding her every time it struck. If it wasn't her doing, could lightning strikes bend?"
"Exactly! And look at her attitude towards Old Madam Chen. As the saying goes, there are no unfilial children to their parents. No matter what, she is her adoptive father's mother! Look how heartless she is!"
Su Mingfu, seeing people badmouthing Su Muqing, quickly added, "Brother Minghui, we grew up together. For the sake of a young girl, driving my family out of the village like this is hardly fair, is it?"
"Shush, shush, shush... stop talking..."
At this moment, a wave of hisses emanated from the crowd. Someone noticed Su Muqing standing behind them with a smile. They didn't know how long she had been there or how much she had heard.
Su Muqing smiled and said to Elder Uncle Su Minghui, "Elder Uncle, I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
Su Minghui had been repeatedly signaling her to leave. Helplessly, the girl acted as if she saw nothing. He could only say, "What is it, speak."
Su Muqing pointed to the dozens of people who had been led aside. "I want to take these people with me. You can rest assured, I will not use any of the village's resources. Their food and drink will all be my responsibility."
"Qing girl, it's not that Auntie wants to lecture you. We agreed that whatever we obtained would be shared by the village. You just gained so much grain, and I saw you distribute it to outsiders without our consent. Doing this is not right, is it?" the village's Widow Liu said sarcastically, clearly displeased with Su Muqing's actions.
"Pah! You slut. How much effort did you contribute just now? That girl and her group fought with real swords and spears. You, on the other hand, did nothing and just want to take advantage. All day long, you just lie there waiting to be fed." Third Grandmother spat, the saliva landing directly on Widow Liu's face.
"You old hag... I hope you die a terrible death. I'll beat you to death!" Widow Liu jumped up, ready to attack Third Grandmother.
"You dare touch my mother, try it!" Third Grandmother's sons and daughters-in-law all stepped forward.
Widow Liu's family had only three people, so naturally, they were no match for them. She glared at Third Grandmother, full of defiance.
"Third Aunt, I think Widow Liu is right! When did it become her, a mere girl's, place to make decisions?"
"Pah! Before the silver Qing girl distributed to you has even cooled, you start speaking ill of her. I say, that girl is the lucky star of our village. All of you are truly blind!"
"Sigh! It all comes down to those five taels of silver, doesn't it? Can it really be called a lucky star?"
"Exactly! That silver was found property, belonging to the public. She took 40 taels herself and still isn't satisfied? So greedy at such a young age! If she were truly a lucky star, she shouldn't have taken a single coin..."
Madam Wang could not help but shout, "What do you mean, not satisfied? If it were you, would you have given the silver away? I saw you all pick up a dead dog before, and you secretly ate it yourselves without sharing a single dog hair! Now you call her greedy, what does that make you? Return the silver!"
"I wasn't talking about you, why are you so agitated?"
"Who asked the Village Chief to coddle her? I say... some people talk a good game. What about fairness and justice? I suspect the amount found back then was more than 240 taels of silver. Some people still don't know how much they took! Pah!"
"You..."
"Enough!" Hearing them speak increasingly outrageously, Su Minghui finally lost his patience.
Su Minghui closed his eyes, then opened them again, his eyes filled with determination! "Since you are all so dissatisfied, then let the village split!"