"Village Chief!" Aunt Wang suddenly called out.

Wen Qing looked at the village chief, a tall man with a hunched back, who was intently directing the firefighting efforts in front of the haystack. Hearing the shouts, he looked at Aunt Wang and asked, "Aunt Wang, what's wrong?"

"Village chief, we've found the arsonist!" Aunt Wang rushed up to the village chief.

The village chief asked, "Who?"

Aunt Wang wiped away her tears, pointed at Wen Peng, and said with great spirit, "That's Wen Peng, the youngest son of the Wen family!"

“Village chief, I didn’t set the fire!” Wen Peng said.

Although the village chief is the village chief, he has no real power. He only plays a commanding and mediating role when there are problems in the village, such as collecting public grain, drought, or floods. In ordinary times, he is just as poor and miserable as everyone else in the village.

Now that Aunt Wang has approached the village chief, she just wants to make it more legitimate for Wen Qing's family to pay compensation in money and grain.

"The child said no," the village chief said helplessly.

"You believe him just because he says so! I'm asking you why you don't believe him!" Aunt Wang's expression immediately changed. Pointing at Yao Shiling, she said, "Yao Shiling, let me tell you, the village chief is right here. You have to explain this matter to me clearly today. We'll all be witnesses, and you have to pay me!"

“Village chief, everything should be done fairly. We can’t wrong people without reason,” Wen Qing said.

"Who wronged you? Who wronged you!" Aunt Wang shouted.

The village chief looked at Wang Da with a headache.

Wang Da remained silent. His family suffered the most severe losses. Even if they didn't burn all of their year's grain, and the rest were roasted, they still wouldn't last until the end of the year. There was nothing he could do.

The village chief then looked at Yao Shiling, who said, "Village chief, my Wenpeng said that neither he nor Dadao were in the village at noon..."

“Da Dao doesn’t know anything,” Da Dao’s mother suddenly interjected. “Da Dao and his father slept in the main room all afternoon.”

Yao Shiling was taken aback by what she heard.

"Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Da Dao wasn't even with Wen Peng, so I knew Wen Peng was a liar!" Aunt Wang said smugly.

Da Dao's mother lowered her head and hurriedly grabbed Da Dao's hand, saying, "Da Dao's father, we haven't fed the pigs yet. Let's hurry home and feed them. Come on."

"Okay, village chief, there's nothing more for us here, we'll head back now."

As the couple talked, they forcefully dragged the large knife into their home.

Wen Peng kept his head down.

Yao Shiling remained silent.

Aunt Wang, as if playing the victim, recounted her year of hard work in the fields, how she harvested, hauled, and winnowed the wheat, crying out each and every detail that pointed directly to Wen Peng as the one who ruined her family.

Wen Liangqi's face turned bright red.

Wen Qing let her cry and shout, then took out a dollar from his pocket and stuffed it into Wen Liang's hand. Wen Liang asked, "What are you doing?"

Wen Qing whispered, "Go find Erhuzi."

Wen Liang was taken aback and looked up at Wen Qing.

Wen Qing nodded to him.

Wen Liang immediately understood, took the money, looked around, and sneaked away when no one was looking.

Wen Liang slipped out of his backyard and headed towards the main road. He looked around but didn't see Erhuzi. Then he ran into the bramble bushes, but still no one was there.

Finally, Wen Liang saw several teenagers by the river, about the same age as Wen Peng, wearing tattered short-sleeved shirts and half-length pants with several patches on them, catching shrimp and fish barefoot in the river.

Wen Liang glanced at it, but instead of going forward, he ran towards the small consignment shop in Shuiwan Village.

"Uncle Zhang, I want chili candy, glutinous rice balls, sour plum powder, Tang Monk meat (a type of candy), and glass marbles," Wen Liang said breathlessly.

Uncle Zhang said with a smile, "Did you sell the cicada shells you collected?"

"No, my sister gave it to me."

"Your sister? She would give you money?" Uncle Zhang didn't believe it.

"Uncle Zhang, hurry up, I need it urgently," Wen Liang urged.

Uncle Zhang asked this time, "How much do you want?"

"We need five bags of food and ten marbles."

"Okay, I'll get it for you right away."

A chili candy costs two cents.

A rice ball costs two cents.

A bag of plum powder costs three cents.

A bag of Tang Monk's flesh costs three cents.

A glass marble costs one cent.

It cost a total of six cents. Wen Liang took the change and put it in his shirt pocket. Luckily, he had many pockets: four on his pants and two on his short-sleeved shirt, all of which were full.

Seeing that he had bought too much, and that Tang Monk's flesh and sour plum powder were so expensive that Pengpeng had never even tried them, he took two bags and buried them deep in the grass, intending to bring them back for Wenpeng to eat later.

With everything ready, he retraced his steps, ran to the riverbank, and shouted, "Erhuzi!"

Meanwhile, Aunt Wang had already cried out once.

Wen Qing stopped Yao Shiling from speaking, and she only said one sentence: "Wen Peng did not set the fire."

Aunt Wang almost pointed at Wen Qing's forehead, gritting her teeth: "He's the one who put it there! He's the one who put it there! Don't try to deny it. Let me tell you, I haven't even planted my hundreds of kilograms of wheat, corn seeds, or sweet potato seeds yet. You all have to compensate me!"

"Why should we pay? Wen Peng didn't set the fire." Wen Qing said calmly, regardless of what Aunt Wang said, she just said this in a sarcastic tone.

Enraged, Aunt Wang lunged at Wen Qing to hit her.

The neighbors who were watching couldn't bear to see it, so they grabbed Aunt Wang and, together, carried her away.

Aunt Wang started using foul language, cursing and kicking.

Wen Qing remained firm and unhurried.

"Wen Qing," Yao Shiling called out worriedly.

Wen Qing put her arm around Wen Peng's shoulder and pulled Yao Shiling's arm, saying, "Mom, Wen Peng didn't start the fire. We won't admit to this. I'll even make her burn our haystack!"

"You shameless Wen Qing, look around the whole Shuiwan Village, which girl is like you, with no shame at all, arguing with a woman like me? Don't you have any shame at all!" Aunt Wang continued to harass her.

Wen Qing listened without showing any extra expression on her face.

The neighbors continued to block Aunt Wang, but she couldn't hit Wen Qing. Suddenly, she plopped down on the ground with a thud, wailing and crying, "Heavens above! Village chief! Wen Peng set fire to my house! What will my family of five eat now? Is there no justice in this world?!"

"Erhuzi's mother, please don't do this. Let's talk this out."

"That's right, the village chief is here, he'll definitely stand up for you."

"Yes, yes, don't cry."

“”

The neighbors offered their advice, one after another.

"Wang Da, Wang Da, you should also try to persuade your woman," a neighbor said.

"Try to comfort her, she can't cry like that."

Wang Da lowered his head and remained silent. He also believed that Wen Peng had set the fire. In this day and age, several hundred kilograms of wheat were no joke. This was the life of an entire family, and the Wen family had to pay compensation!

Wang Da did not stop Aunt Wang from making a scene.

Aunt Wang got even more worked up and suddenly shouted, "Yao Shiling, you have to compensate me for the wheat!" Before she could finish speaking, her voice stopped abruptly, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Erhuzi's mother has fainted!" someone shouted.

Several neighbors rushed forward, calling out, "Aunt Wang, Aunt Wang."

Wen Qing, Yao Shiling, and Wen Peng were stunned.

He fainted?

The neighbors initially believed that Wen Peng hadn't set the fire, but Aunt Wang's grief caused her to faint. Their sympathy for the vulnerable led to a change in their attitudes. Could it really be that Wen Peng set the fire? Everyone wondered to themselves, otherwise why would Aunt Wang be so heartbroken?

At that moment, the village chief walked over to Wen Qing's family and looked at Wen Peng, saying, "Wen Peng, tell the village chief the truth, did you start this fire?"

After the village chief said that, everyone was convinced that it was Wen Peng who had released it.

Wen Peng turned his head, wanting to find the big knife as evidence, but when he looked back, the big knife was gone.

"Did you accidentally set the straw stack on fire while playing with fire? And then you went to play in the woods?" the village chief asked.

“Village chief, I really didn’t set the fire. It was already on fire when I came back,” Wen Peng replied.

"That"

"Village Chief!" Wen Qing interrupted the village chief impatiently, saying, "My brother doesn't even have matches, how can he start a fire?"

When Wen Qing said that, everyone looked at her.

Wen Qing said, "Village chief, you know my family is poor. Every stitch is precious, let alone matches. My mother feels bad if she uses an extra match. After we finish using the matches, she puts them away in the main room, afraid that Liangliang and Pengpeng will waste them." Wen Qing looked at Wen Peng and said, "Village chief, look at my brother's clothes, they don't even have pockets. Where does he put the matches?"

Everyone looked at Wen Peng again.

Wen Peng was wearing old clothes today, full of holes and ripped pieces. To save fabric, Yao Shiling had deliberately removed the pockets from Wen Peng's trousers and patched the holes with the trouser cloth. So, apart from the patches, Wen Peng didn't even have any pockets. Where was he going to put matches?

"Tiger Mom, Tiger Mom!" Wang Da's voice suddenly came from over there.

A group of people surrounded Aunt Wang, calling out to her, bringing her warm water, and pinching her philtrum. Aunt Wang only groaned twice before fainting again, looking like she was in a very serious condition.

"Should we take him to the hospital?" a neighbor suggested to Wang Da.

Wang Da suddenly flew into a rage, grabbed Aunt Wang, turned around, and glared fiercely at Yao Shiling: "Yao Shiling! Let me tell you, whatever happens to Tiger's mother, I'll never forgive your whole family!"

"Uncle Wang, don't say that. We didn't touch Aunt Wang even once when she fainted," Wen Qing said coldly and sternly.

"Wen Qing! You wait!" Wang Da said fiercely.

“I’m not leaving here, I’m waiting.” Wen Qing was determined to stand up to him.

"Wen Qing, say less," a neighbor advised.

"Aunt Wang has fainted."

"Yes, your brother set the fire."

Before the neighbor could finish speaking, Wen Qing retorted sharply, "Don't keep saying my brother set the fire. Who saw it? Who saw it!"

The neighbors fell silent.

"Let me tell you, my Wen family may lack capable men, but we do have people! As long as I, Wen Qing, am alive, you can't bully my family! Pay compensation? Fine! Produce evidence that my brother set the fire! If you don't have it, who dares to make my family pay compensation or grain? If one comes to my house, I'll stab them to death; if two come, I'll stab them both to death. Don't believe me? Try me!" Wen Qing casually picked up the sickle from the haystack and held it in his hand.

If someone else carried a sickle, the neighbors would think it was just to scare them. But Wen Qing was different. Her second uncle had almost killed someone, and she had always been vengeful since she was a child. The neighbors had witnessed how fearless this girl was. Once, a thief broke into her house in the middle of the night. When she discovered him, she took a kitchen knife and chased the thief for three miles in the middle of the night until the thief voluntarily went to the police station.

If it weren't for her and her second uncle being so strong, given Yao Shiling's weakness and status as a widow, and the fact that Wen Liang and Wen Peng were young, the Wen family would have been bullied beyond belief.

Therefore, they had no doubt that Wen Qing would dare to stab someone to death.

For a moment, the back of the Wen family courtyard was silent.

The village chief was astonished.

Wang Da was frightened by Wen Qing.

Everyone else was looking at Wen Qing.

Yao Shiling's eyes reddened; her daughter had always been so wonderful.

Wen Peng wiped away his tears, his dirty little hands tightly gripping the hem of Wen Qing's clothes.

Just then, several children ran back.

"What's going on?" a skinny little boy said. "Erhuzi, your mom is lying on the ground."

Erhuzi was the fattest of the group of children and the most mischievous. He would steal money from Aunt Wang to buy marbles and firecrackers. He would also follow the two hens around. As soon as the hens laid an egg, he would immediately pick it up and take it to the county town to sell. An egg was worth six cents, which was enough for him to play with firecrackers.

"Dad, what's wrong with Mom?" Erhuzi asked.

Wang Dazheng was angry: "Wen Peng set our straw stack on fire, and your mother fainted from anger."

“Uncle Wang, it wasn’t Wen Peng who set it off. Wen Peng was just collecting cicada shells. It was Er Hu Zi who set it off!” the skinny boy said. “Er Hu Zi threw the firecrackers on the straw stack, saying that if he burned the straw stack, his mother wouldn’t let him pull the straw to start a fire for cooking anymore.”

The little skinny boy's words were like a bomb, stunning everyone and causing them to gasp in surprise.

"It was Erhuzi who started the fire."

"It's not Wen Peng!"

"He set his own house on fire and burned down Wenpeng's house as well."

"Our straw stacks are gone too."

“”

Yao Shiling was also surprised.

Wen Peng was stunned.

Wen Qing turned her head, and Wen Liang returned to his original position, saying, "Sister, there are four cents left, here you go."

This was the first time Wen Qing had heard Wen Liang call her "sister." In her past life, he always called her Wen Qing, or sometimes he didn't. Wen Qing's heart softened instantly: "No, you can keep the flowers."

"I don't want it." Wen Liang casually stuffed four small bills into Wen Qing's pocket.

Wen Qing had no choice but to accept it. When she turned around, Wang Da looked at Erhuzi with a shocked expression: "Did you really start the fire?"

Erhuzi looked at the group of people and was frightened. It was because he was frightened that he told the truth: "I didn't set fire. I just set off a firecracker in our wheat stack. I didn't set fire to theirs!"

Before Wang Da could react, Aunt Wang, who had been unconscious, suddenly sat up, startling all the neighbors.

"You beheaded bastard!" A hard slap landed on Erhuzi's face.

Erhuzi stumbled, and the matchbox and broken firecrackers in his pocket fell to the ground. This was irrefutable evidence; everyone saw it clearly.

Aunt Wang was stunned for a moment, then slapped him again, and Erhuzi immediately covered his face and burst into tears.

Aunt Wang gritted her teeth and started hitting him relentlessly: "I'll make you cry, I'll make you cry!"

"Aunt Wang, don't hit him, don't hit him! Erhuzi is still a child." The neighbors quickly stepped forward to persuade him.

Aunt Wang could only hit him as hard as she could.

Wen Qing, Yao Shiling, Wen Liang, and Wen Peng watched from the side.

Seeing this, the village chief couldn't help but feel ashamed. He had wronged Wen Qing's family earlier. He looked at Wang Da and said, "Please persuade your wife to stop hitting them. Take a look at the straw stacks of these families. You should compensate for the losses if you can. Everyone is counting on straw and corn stalks to repair their houses."

Wang's face turned bright red with embarrassment.

Upon hearing about the compensation for the loss, Aunt Wang's eyes rolled back, and she fell to the ground with a thud. This time she was truly unconscious, her forehead hitting a tree branch just in time, and blood immediately gushed out.

"Tiger's mom! Tiger's mom!" Wang Da immediately rushed over to check on her.

Aunt Wang fainted once before, and everyone believed it was real, but they didn't expect she was faking it. Now that she's fainted again, everyone is half-believing and half-doubting.

It wasn't until Wang Da turned her over that everyone realized she had truly fainted. Blood was gushing from her forehead, her face was pale, and her lips were purple.

Everyone rushed forward, some calling out the soul, others pinching the philtrum until they woke Aunt Wang up.

Aunt Wang lay on the ground groaning, "I'm going to die, I'm going to die."

"Quickly, take her to the village doctor for a checkup, lest something really happens," the village chief said.

Wang Da quickly carried Aunt Wang on his back and headed straight for the village.

Fearing someone might die, the village chief went along.

Erhuzi chased after him, crying.

The once chaotic backyard fell silent again, with neighbors gazing at the burnt haystacks with worried expressions.

"What should we do? Will Wang Dayi compensate us for the losses?"

"You'll just have to pay up. It's good enough if she doesn't try to extort you."

"Not necessarily. The village chief's attitude this time is quite tough. If he doesn't compensate us, he won't give them any preferential policies from the government in the future. Do you think they'll dare to act tough then?"

"Hmm, that makes sense. Let's wait for the village chief to handle it."

“”

After exchanging ideas, the neighbors came over to comfort Yao Shiling. They said that since they were all neighbors, there were bound to be some disagreements. Yao Shiling and Wen Qing did not treat each other coldly; they just needed to be polite.

Soon it got dark, and the remaining haystacks were completely shrouded in smoke. The group sighed and then dispersed.

"Mom, let's go home first." Wen Qing pulled Yao Shiling towards the yard.

"But what about Aunt Wang?"

"Wait for the village chief to handle it."

"Will the village chief handle this?" Yao Shiling asked.

Wen Qing: "Yes, Mom. We've been through so much trouble, let's cook first."

Wen Qing had no time to think about Aunt Wang's matter. She had only eaten two small steamed buns with bean paste for lunch and was starving.

“I’m hungry too,” Wen Peng chimed in.

"Here, have this." Wen Liang took out two packets of sour plum powder and two packets of Tang Monk meat from his pocket.

Wen Peng's eyes lit up: "Second Brother, did you buy it?"

"The money was given to me by my sister."

Yao Shiling glanced at Wen Liang. It seemed that Wen Liang no longer held any prejudice against Wen Qing and was finally willing to call her "sister."

"Let's eat together!" Wen Peng took the plum powder and bit the bag with his mouth, looking both greedy and cute.

This immediately made Wen Qing and Yao Shiling laugh, and the family's tense nerves relaxed.

After returning home, Yao Shiling lit a kerosene lamp in the kitchen. To save oil, Wen Liang took a book and read by its light in the kitchen, while Wen Peng sat in front of the stove to boil water.

Wen Qing and Yao Shiling said that the fire started from Aunt Wang's place, so the source must be Aunt Wang's place. Wen Peng usually likes to catch grasshoppers and cicadas, but there are none there, so it must not be Wen Peng who started the fire.

With such a big incident, half the village's children are here, except for Aunt Wang's son, Erhuzi. He must have done something bad and run away.

Yao Shiling had never imagined that her daughter had such a thoughtful side. Listening to her reasoning, she nodded repeatedly. Just as she was washing her hands and preparing to cook, she saw Wen Qing take out scallions, fresh meat, and other items from a bag.

"Why did you buy meat again?" Yao Shiling started to nag again.

Wen Qing said it was the money for three days of consulting, but Yao Shiling thought that the whole family had been frightened today, so she should have a good meal to calm their nerves: "Save some money, you still have to go to school later."

Wen Qing smiled and said, "I understand."

Then the mother and daughter washed, chopped, and stacked the ingredients, with Wen Liang and Wen Peng helping out. In no time, they had chopped and mixed the pork and scallion dumpling filling.

Yao Shiling rolled out the dough, and Wen Qing made dumplings.

Wen Liang boiled water.

Wen Peng drooled as he stood to the side.

Twenty minutes later, plump, white pork and scallion dumplings were ladled out of the pot, their aroma filling the air.

The family sat around the cutting board, eating dumplings and praising them.

Wen Peng slurped, "So delicious!"

"Mmm, it tastes good," Wen Qing said. "Mom, eat more."

Yao Shiling smiled and said, "Eat less at night."

Wen Peng ate with gusto, not forgetting to ask, "Second Brother, do you think it's delicious? Is it delicious?"

Wen Liang: "Even delicious food can't shut you up."

Wen Qing and Yao Shiling laughed.

Just then, a voice called out from outside the courtyard: "Yao Shiling, Wen Qing, are you home?"

Wen Liang was startled and immediately stood up, saying, "Stop eating! Quickly put the dumplings away!"