"What's wrong?" Lin Xiao Tian looked at the angry Er Guai.
Li Er Guai sighed and began to recount what happened that morning when Li De Ping had called him over.
He had been there too, waiting for Lin Xiao Tian to return to start work.
But instead of Lin Xiao Tian, Li De Ping had shown up.
Li De Ping had called him to the village office and then produced a stack of documents.
The documents essentially proved that the village ponds belonged to the village collective. Li Er Guai and Lin Xiao Tian had used the ponds without the village's permission and had even raised fish in them, which constituted an infringement of public property.
According to village regulations, they had to pay a fine and hand over all illegal gains from recent days to the village. The village chief, Li De Ping, would then distribute this money equally among the villagers.
Li Er Guai naturally refused to accept such shameless behavior. Li De Ping was clearly envious of them and was looking for an excuse to seize the money.
But the documents were in black and white, bearing the village's official seal. Li De Ping had covered all his bases, leaving Li Er Guai no room to argue.
Li De Ping had just declared that if the fine was not paid, he would confiscate the ponds they had enclosed. If they refused, he would convene a village meeting for a vote by all villagers.
Li Er Guai was furious. In a village vote, they were bound to lose. Li De Ping had promised to share the money with the villagers, and since they were all poor, they would surely support Li De Ping.
This village vote, while seemingly fair, was actually a one-sided act of bullying them!
"That Li De Ping is a scoundrel!" Li Er Guai clenched his fists.
"This is outright robbery! Li De Ping is such a scoundrel, I say we all go over there and beat him up! See if he dares to be so brazen then!" Huang Mao gritted his teeth in anger.
Li De Ping's actions were undoubtedly cutting off his source of income.
"Right! Let's go teach him a lesson! This Li De Ping clearly hasn't been beaten enough!"
The other henchmen nearby also started to flex their muscles.
They were ruffians. In the past, they were the ones who bullied others, and no one had ever dared to bully them!
Moreover, after following Lin Xiao Tian for the past few days, they had earned more money than they ever had in their lives. They had thought this kind of life would continue forever, but who knew a Li De Ping would pop up halfway? How could they possibly tolerate this?
Li Er Guai was also inspired by the atmosphere, grabbed a wooden stick, and prepared to join them.
He had been bullied by Li De Ping for years and had long wanted to explode.
"Stop right there!" Lin Xiao Tian called out from behind.
"Brother Tian! We can't just let this go!" Huang Mao said.
"Don't worry, Brother Tian, we're experts at this. We'll make sure you're satisfied in the end!" The other henchmen chimed in.
But Lin Xiao Tian still stopped them.
"This might make Li De Ping compromise for a while, but have you thought about it? If Li De Ping dared to do this, wouldn't he have made any preparations?"
"Always thinking about fighting and killing, do you still see yourselves as mere thugs?"
"All of you, stop! I'll handle this matter!"
Lin Xiao Tian scanned the people present.
After hearing him, everyone lowered their heads in shame.
"Brother Er Guai, continue arranging the work at the fish ponds. I'll take care of Li De Ping's matter," Lin Xiao Tian patted Li Er Guai on the shoulder.
Looking at Lin Xiao Tian's confident expression, the previously agitated crowd now felt like they had found their backbone.
"No problem, Xiao Tian, don't worry about the fish ponds," Li Er Guai said, patting his chest heartily.
Lin Xiao Tian smiled slightly, then left the fish ponds and walked towards Li De Ping's house.
"Xiao Tian, where are you going?"
He met some people on the road who, seeing Lin Xiao Tian walking in a hurry, asked out of curiosity.
"To the village chief's house, to have a chat with the village chief," Lin Xiao Tian replied with a smile.
There were more women than men in the village. Because the village was too poor, many men chose to work outside. Some of the village women often gathered to chat in their free time.
"Hey! Isn't that Xiao Tian?" A few sharp-eyed young women spotted Lin Xiao Tian.
Lin Xiao Tian was now a celebrity in the village. Huang Mao and the others had praised him profusely in the village, saying he was generous.
Everyone had also heard from Huang Mao about Lin Xiao Tian making a lot of money selling fish, and they couldn't help but admire him.
This morning, they had heard that people from the Imperial Medical Hall had come, saying they had cured Lin Xiao Tian's foolishness and invited him to join the medical hall.
The Imperial Medical Hall was renowned, and these farmers all knew it. Lin Xiao Tian being selected to join meant he had a bright future.
Suddenly, Lin Xiao Tian, who had been a despised fool before, transformed into a popular figure in the eyes of the villagers.
"This child Xiao Tian is getting handsomer as he grows up," one young woman commented.
"Isn't that the truth! Look at those muscles, they must be very strong!" Widow Zhang Cuihua nodded in agreement.
"Haha, Xiao Tian is still single. Cuihua, if you can't resist, why don't you invite him to sleep on your kang tonight!" one woman immediately teased Zhang Cuihua.
"Oh, come on! He has Yu Xiang, so he wouldn't even look at me. If you, Sister Qin, had this figure, he might consider it."
The women joked carelessly. Their lives were usually very mundane, and they were extremely enthusiastic about topics related to romance and relationships.
Lin Xiao Tian, who was not far away, clearly heard their conversation. If it had been before, he would have blushed, but since his experience with Bai Xue last time, Lin Xiao Tian had become much calmer.
"Xiao Tian, did you hear? Cuihua wants to keep a door for you tonight. Are you going?" Sister Qin, who had been joking with Zhang Cuihua, stopped Lin Xiao Tian.
"Of course, I'll go! Whoever keeps a door for me, I'll go to their place. But, one by one." Lin Xiao Tian also joined in their teasing.
"Haha, you little rascal, you're not foolish anymore! You know how to take advantage of us now!" Sister Qin leaned towards Lin Xiao Tian.
"Good boy, I'd like to see if you dare to take advantage of us!"
Seeing this, the other women also crowded around.
Faced with such a situation, Lin Xiao Tian admitted he was flustered and quickly made an excuse that he needed to see the village chief, then fled.
"Haha, so you want to see Gui Hua? Gui Hua is not bad either!" Sister Qin's teasing voice came from behind.
Lin Xiao Tian did not respond and ran away as if fleeing, which made the women burst into laughter.
A few minutes later, Lin Xiao Tian arrived at Li De Ping's house.
Li De Ping's house was one of the few concrete flat-roofed houses in the village, a symbol of wealth in Jinsha Village.
A wall surrounded the house, and many flowers and plants were grown inside. Lin Xiao Tian walked around the wall and finally found the location of the main gate.
As soon as he reached the gate, Lin Xiao Tian saw a plump figure, it was the village chief's wife, Li Gui Hua.
Li Gui Hua was about 1.6 meters tall, with straight, round legs. She was wearing denim shorts that barely reached her knees. She bent over for a long time to dig out a handful of weeds, a process that made Lin Xiao Tian's heart race.
Lin Xiao Tian didn't know why, but since he had slept with Bai Xue last time, he had become particularly desirous of such things.
"Aunt Gui Hua?" Lin Xiao Tian called out.
Li Gui Hua turned her head immediately upon hearing this. Seeing that it was Lin Xiao Tian and noticing her posture with her back to him, her face instantly turned red.
"Xiao Tian! Are you looking for De Ping? He just went out." As if sensing Lin Xiao Tian's gaze, Li Gui Hua maintained her posture, only turning her head slightly to speak with Lin Xiao Tian.
"Oh... then I'll... wait a moment!" Lin Xiao Tian couldn't help but swallow.
Seeing his reaction, Li Gui Hua chuckled.
"You little rascal, is Auntie's place nice to look at?"
"This..." Lin Xiao Tian swallowed with difficulty.
"Tell me the truth! Say if it's big, if it's round?" Li Gui Hua urged.
"Big and round."
"Then... do you want to touch it?" Li Gui Hua looked at Lin Xiao Tian teasingly.