Jiang Zhi looked at Qin Shi, who was completely oblivious to her mistakes, and then at the children and women around her. She knew that she had to teach this troublemaker a lesson today.

She had previously established village rules, which included prohibitions against gossiping, as well as the following: neighbors should be united, help each other, and not cause trouble or bully others.

Now the Qin family is not only stirring up trouble, but also blatantly robbing people. This evil practice must be eradicated.

"Qin, tell me what exactly is going on?" Jiang Zhi still needed to adopt the demeanor of a village chief and calmly let Qin explain the facts.

Qin raised her voice and said, "This family is so annoying. They have so many kids, and they steal chickens and dogs every day. The herbs I had my eye on were stolen by them. Now I'm just trying to get the money I made from selling the herbs back."

Tian Tao pouted, barely suppressing her anger, and said, "You're lying! We didn't steal anything, nor did we steal any herbs. My younger brother and sister and I dug these up..."

Qin interrupted her, drawing out her words: "Oh, oh, oh, I've wronged you! Tell me, did your mother steal my vegetables? Did she steal my kindling?"

"No, my mother didn't distinguish the vegetables and took the wrong ones. My family even compensated you with half a pound of grain."

"The firewood was taken by mistake too. Who told you to pile it under my shack?" Tian Tao tried to explain.

Qin slapped her thigh: "No matter what you say, what's stolen is stolen. Your family is like a litter of rats, and if they can't be raised, they'll definitely steal."

Tian Gui has three children, and now his wife is pregnant with another one. Normally, it's not a big deal; just add more water to the pot and the baby will grow up.

But in these chaotic times, every extra child means another mouth to feed, even if it's still in the womb.

Qin was a local villager and had always had conflicts with her eldest daughter-in-law. After fleeing the famine, life became difficult, and her eldest daughter-in-law treated her even worse.

So she could only come back with her youngest son. However, her youngest daughter-in-law hadn't had a child since getting married, so she couldn't stand seeing other people's children making a fuss.

They especially disliked Tao'er's mother, who was heavily pregnant.

Jiang Zhi understood the reason, but she just didn't want to listen to the noise.

Now, because the Qin family is a local, Tian Gui's family doesn't say a word even when they're being bullied.

Not only did Tian Gui remain silent, but the two women who were also selling herbs also kept quiet, silently watching Qin Shi make a scene.

The children selling herbs were quite excited, chattering about how Qin had been robbing other people's money these past few days.

Jiang Zhi didn't rush to look at the stone slab where Xia Yuan kept the accounts.

He was definitely going to deal with them, but the situation wasn't clear yet, so he didn't want to involve the Xia family.

In farming households, disputes arise over things like whose chickens wander into the fields to eat vegetables, or who has gathered a few bundles of firewood. Even a glance at something can lead to a conflict.

She believed in seeing is believing, and that hearing was deceiving: "Shut up, everyone, let's go inside and take a look!"

Only by being at the scene can the case be solved. With a whoosh, several children ran ahead to lead the way, and the group headed towards Tian Tao'er's house.

Xujia Village now has twenty households, excluding the ten households living in the relatively flat area near the medical shed.

The other people's shacks were scattered within a hundred meters, varying in distance and height according to the terrain.

Tian Gui's family and Qin's family lived relatively close to each other, sharing a small drying yard.

When Jiang Zhi arrived, Tao'er's mother was sitting in front of the shed sorting through the moneywort that the children had found.

Seeing the village chief suddenly arrive with his men, followed by the menacing Qin Shi, she quickly stood up.

Tian Tao'er ran over to support her: "Mom, don't be afraid, the village chief will back us up."

Two children, around seven or eight years old, a boy and a girl, ran out of the shack. They were both very thin, and their clothes were too short and small for them. The boy's shirt even showed his belly button.

Upon seeing Qin Shi and Jiang Zhi, the two children quickly stood with their sister.

Jiang Zhi didn't say anything, but first walked around the two shacks.

Li Laoshi is honest and knows about twenty households, but these households don't know her.

Important matters are discussed in group meetings, and arrangements can be made for Errui to convey, without needing to publicize them to each individual.

In addition, thanks to the vigorous promotion by Xu Yaozu's wife, the original owner's "vicious" image had already been deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Not only were Liu and Genyou's wife, Tian, ​​and other women from the same family afraid to get close to them, but the women from outside the family dared not speak at all.

In fact, Jiang Zhi is also used to maintaining a distance. She prefers to talk things out, handle business strictly, and not let personal feelings interfere, which makes the relationship easy.

Unlike others who mediate disputes by shouting loudest, Jiang Zhi walked around the house, leaving everyone present looking at each other in bewilderment.

Qin was still in high spirits, but when Jiang Zhi stood by the woodpile between the two families, she became somewhat uneasy.

"Sister-in-law, my place is a bit cramped, so I'll just pile the firewood here temporarily!" Qin explained.

Jiang Zhi gave her a cold glance: "Call me village chief!"

Qin choked: "Village chief, I only piled up firewood!"

Jiang Zhi continued walking, taking two steps to stand next to a small pile of vegetables on the drying ground.

These are freshly cut green vegetables. The women can dry them to make pickled vegetables or dried vegetables.

"Whose is this?" Jiang Zhi asked loudly.

Peach's mother quickly replied, "It's from my family!"

Qin jumped up immediately: "You're trying to steal again! These are vegetables I just harvested this morning!"

Peach's mother immediately exclaimed anxiously, "This was chopped by my husband before he went to work this morning, how come it's yours again!"

A pile of food and two owners!

Jiang Zhi bent down to pick up the vegetables and examined their roots. They were all cut in the morning and were all prepared for drying today; there was not much difference between them.

Qin kept nagging, "Village chief, his wife and children love to steal. These vegetables are clearly mine, but she's lying to my face."

"How many vegetables did you cut today?" Jiang Zhi suddenly asked.

Tao'er's mother hesitated for a moment and then shook her head: "Tao'er's father didn't say anything when he left!"

Qin said smugly, "My family cut down seven trees!"

She counted the vegetables when she put the two families' vegetables together, and there were seven vegetables here.

Jiang Zhi looked at her and said, "I'll go to your field right away and count them. If there aren't seven fresh roots, you're lying."

Qin panicked again and quickly changed her words: "I can't remember how many there are either."

Seeing that she was in a terrible state, Jiang Zhi was certain that she couldn't do anything to her, and she immediately became determined.

Today, we'll not stop the case, but establish our authority and make her suffer terribly.

“Come on, does anyone know where their land is? Pull up all the fresh vegetable roots that were cut down today from their land,” Jiang Zhi said to the children.

Immediately, a child stood up and said, "I, I know!"

Just then, a child timidly said, "I know, I went to the field to poop this morning and saw Aunt Qin cutting vegetables. She only cut two."

Qin's expression changed drastically: "Stone Monkey, how dare you talk nonsense! Believe me, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

As she spoke, she lunged forward, intending to hit the child.

Stone Monkey quickly ran to Jiang Zhi's side: "I'm not making this up. You only cut down two trees and left two yellow leaves behind."

That's enough of a reason. Jiang Zhi narrowed her eyes and slapped Qin Shi hard across the face as she chased after her: "You won't give up until I slap you across the face!"