As they were talking, Xiao Hao and Wang Xin's mother arrived, each leading their own child and heading home.

Xiao Hao stuck out his bottom and refused to leave: "Mom, I'm not leaving. The war isn't over yet! We'll go home after we finish watching the war."

Xiao Hao's mother kicked him in the butt, saying, "Look at you, so capable! What's so interesting about that?"

They've never seen anything like this before. This isn't a war; it's more like beating people up!

The village officials all came, and soon everyone dispersed. If we didn't leave, we'd get bitten by mosquitoes.

"I haven't finished my work yet! Get home right now, you can watch the show tomorrow."

Chen Hong didn't know anything about the Wang family in the village, so while calling everyone to walk back together, she whispered to Xiao Hao's mother:

"What's going on? Is this still going to get out of hand? Is it going to cause a big fuss? Has anyone in the village stepped in to handle this?"

Xiao Hao's mother looked around and, finding no close neighbors of the girl's family, lowered her voice and said to Chen Hong:

"You know Wang Qing's family, right? They're from the same Wang family as the village chief, but they've long since branched out into five different lineages."

There's no way to explain Wang Qing's situation. Her family had already arranged a marriage for her, and the groom lived in a neighboring town.

Unexpectedly, this girl went out to work and somehow got involved with a young man from the Chen family in the neighboring village.

She came back and immediately started making a scene about breaking off the engagement, but her family definitely wouldn't agree to it. This marriage was arranged by her cousin.

Her mother and aunts had to talk themselves hoarse to get the matter out of trouble.

The Wang family was ashamed of this, and not many people knew about it. They thought they had broken up; they never expected the two of them to be so bold as to secretly meet up in the woods.

Just you wait and see. When the groom's in-laws from the next town find out tomorrow, they'll definitely come and cause trouble. They've cheated on him; this will only make things more difficult, and there will be a lot of trouble later!

Chen Hong understood. The woman was engaged but was secretly dating, which in rural areas was equivalent to marital infidelity.

It's no longer just a relationship issue between two young people; it now involves at least two large families.

If this is handled well, the woman and her fiancé will peacefully annul the engagement, and the woman will compensate the fiancé with gifts including the initial engagement gift, engagement gift, gold jewelry, a wedding gift, the cost of several banquets, and a fee for the woman to address her parents as her new parents.

In addition, there are seasonal gifts, New Year's red envelopes, and various clothes, shoes, bags, etc. that the groom's family buys for the bride's family from the time of engagement.

You also have to pay the man extra compensation for the embarrassment (commonly known as emotional distress compensation). If you calculate it like this, it won't be done properly without at least tens of thousands of yuan.

The financial aspect alone would require the matchmakers from both sides to make ten or eight trips back and forth. And that's not all; all the favors and connections made between relatives over the years would be nullified.

It's better if relatives and friends from both sides meet on the road, sigh to each other, and then go their separate ways.

Those with fiery tempers might spit at each other, exchange sharp words, and even fight, creating a lifelong feud.

If things go wrong, the woman might refuse to pay compensation or apologize, and the man, feeling cheated on, might have his entire clan come to hold him accountable, smashing things as soon as they enter, potentially leading to a major conflict between the two villages.

This is only a matter between the two families of the engaged couple!

If things escalate further, it's not impossible that the man might just walk past the woman and beat the guy he was dating half to death.

It all depends on the boy from the next village. How prosperous his family is. If the family is powerful, he can stand up for himself and won't be beaten.

If the family isn't powerful enough, it's easy to get beaten to a pulp by both the father-in-law and mother-in-law.

After hearing Xiao Hao's mother and Chen Hong's explanation, the guests from Beijing were stunned!

Everyone looked like, "What's going on? Why is this happening? I don't understand!"

Not to mention them, Chen Hong hadn't witnessed such a grand-scale brawl in over thirty years.

When they got home, the children, as if it were none of their business, happily counted the cicadas.

Tonight, Chen Hong caught the most, more than 160.

Yu Yang, Xiao Hao, and Wang Xin did well too, catching thirty-two, twenty-six, and twenty-eight respectively. That's enough for them to have a meal.

Fang Xiaoying and Guan Tao weren't very skilled at the job, but they were tall enough to climb up the tree trunks and catch the tree.

They caught twenty-one and twenty-six respectively, which was barely enough for one dish.

The worst off were Director Jin and Madam Guan. The two of them only caught eleven cicada nymphs, less than six each on average. They could finish them in a few bites, not even enough to fill a tooth gap!

Even so, both of their stockings got snags, costing them five or six yuan in reimbursement.

The cicada nymphs I caught were sold, and the money was just enough to buy socks. The main point was that they came and went without a trace, so I got a free ride and watched a good show.

Xiao Hao's mother felt sorry for them, but to her surprise, the children were still very enthusiastic, saying that they had never had the experience of catching cicada nymphs before and that it was truly an eye-opening experience.

That evening, everyone in the villa talked late into the night, speculating about how the matter would unfold.

By the end of the conversation, Director Jin and the others were both surprised and impressed, having learned a great deal about rural customs and etiquette.

Tonight, not only did Chen Hong's family turn off their lights very late, but many families in the village also went to bed very late.