The news that An Moxue had a thousand yuan spread like wildfire throughout Anle Village, and soon news of her return also spread.

People have a herd mentality. There are too many people with ulterior motives. Even if someone seems alright normally, there will be plenty of people who want to follow the crowd and get some benefits. After all, even if they don't get anything, they won't lose anything, right?

An Moxue can't control these people's petty thoughts, but she can nip their delusions of taking advantage of her in the bud.

She's not afraid of trouble, but she hates trouble.

She rode her bicycle, leaving the educated youth at the village entrance behind, and went straight to the brigade headquarters without going home.

The quota of corn and miscellaneous grains will be delivered in a few days, so all the village cadres have gathered at the village brigade headquarters to verify the data. Once the grain is delivered, it will be distributed.

Especially with the county's commendation meeting the day after tomorrow, where Anle Village was named a model advanced village and An Moxue was named an outstanding educated youth, every single one of these things is on the minds of the village cadres.

Knowing that she was going to the county to hear the verdict today, everyone waited at the village office and wouldn't leave. After all, who wouldn't want to hear the latest gossip as soon as possible!

Before Anmo Snowman even entered the house, the sound of his bell—a "ding-a-ling"—attracted the attention of the cadres in the brigade headquarters, and everyone stopped what they were doing.

Everyone knew that at this time, An Zhiqing had most likely returned, and one or two hot-tempered people had already opened the door and gone out.

Those inside the room only heard the person who went out say, "An Zhiqing, you're back! How did things go?"

An Moxue parked her bicycle at the door and said, "The verdict has already been handed down. Let's go inside and I'll tell you all about it."

"Sure!"

Then, the people inside saw the two people who went out enter the brigade headquarters with An Moxue.

As soon as An Moxue entered the room, she called out to everyone, "Uncles and brothers, the results are in today."

Everyone saw that An Moxue had a smile on her face and her voice was full of joy.

Judging from her expression, everyone knew what was going on.

Village Chief Guo asked, "How was the verdict reached?"

Everyone wanted to know that no one who could become a minor cadre in the village was stupid; this concerned the entire village, not just An Zhiqing's personal matter.

“The people involved were sentenced to anywhere from a few months to a few years, but they weren’t sent to ordinary farms; they were sent to border reclamation farms.”

Wow, that's impressive!

"Well done!"

"That's the correct verdict!"

"That's too lenient. Why weren't more of them sentenced to death? A few more years would have been better! A bunch of inhuman bastards!"

"That's good enough!"

"The verdict has been officially handed down, and An Zhiqing's status as an outstanding educated youth is secure."

The officials present started talking all at once, and Village Chief Guo seized the opportunity to say, "Alright, stop talking. Doesn't anyone want to know the specifics?"

Everyone fell silent, staring expectantly at An Moxue. Looking at their eager eyes, she thought to herself, "Who says gossip is only for women? Men do it too."

Don't believe me?

Come, come, come and see this group of village officials.

An Moxue looked at everyone, smiled, and said, "Actually, it's nothing. The verdict was announced right in the courtyard of the Public Security Bureau. When I arrived, they were all standing in the courtyard, their hands tied behind their backs, heads drooping, looking listless. When the verdict was announced, they all looked incredulous. Some immediately wilted, while others jumped up and down, acting defiant. In the end, they were all suppressed by the county armed forces department. It's a pity that the people listening to the verdict were mostly family members, not ordinary citizens. This was at the request of the cabinet committee. We got the result we wanted, so we can't be too concerned about the details. It's a bit of a regret!" After saying that, An Moxue shook her head and sighed.

The cadres launched into another tirade.

"The Cabinet Committee has always been like this!"

"A bunch of bandits."

"There's nothing we can do, nothing we can do. We can't fight city hall!"

"That's fine. It's not worth it to suffer any more losses if we push you too far."

"The family didn't cause any trouble?"

“How could I not have made a scene! If I had, I was warned that causing trouble would be the same crime as causing a family member’s crime, and I immediately became obedient. At that time, I was surrounded by more than a dozen family members, all of whom looked like they were going to eat me alive. I asked the county party secretary one question.”

Just as An Moxue was about to continue, the squad leader of the second team interrupted, "What did you say?"

He was immediately interrupted by a squad leader next to him: "Can't you just listen to me? Why are you so annoying! You interrupted me at this crucial moment."

"I'm just playing the straight man. There needs to be an atmosphere when listening to a story, you don't understand anything!"

"You know what I mean! We don't want to hear you talk, we want to hear what An Zhiqing has to say, so shut your precious mouth!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

After laughing, An Moxue continued, "I only asked one question: 'Secretary Li, if someone attacks me, wouldn't that be considered self-defense? And wouldn't I be held responsible for any injuries or disabilities?' Secretary Li replied, 'Publicly attacking and beating the orphans of martyrs is an even more serious crime.' They could only glare at me hatefully. Some even wanted to curse, but Director Li of the Public Security Bureau said that publicly insulting the orphans of martyrs is also punishable by imprisonment, so they fell silent."

After listening, Village Chief Guo said with emotion, "No matter what, we ordinary people still have to abide by the law and be good citizens. Otherwise, the country might find you and make you pay for it. These Red Guards were so rampant before, who did they ever respect? Just you wait and see. Now that they've entered the farm, their families won't be any better off. Those who were bullied by them before will have to find ways to get revenge. Their future days will be tough!"

Accountant Chen chimed in, "When the drum is broken, everyone beats it; when the wall falls, everyone pushes it down. That's just how it is. You have to be decent no matter what."

After hearing the whole story, everyone was satisfied with their gossip and went back to doing their own thing. As for it being over just like that, how could it be!

In Anle Village, An Moxue's story has always been at the top of the gossip list, and it remains there. How could those on the front lines of gossip give up? It's all the stuff they can brag about to their neighbors when they get home. Right now, work is the priority.

An Moxue saw that no one was asking about the thousand yuan, and she thought, "This won't do."

If no one asks, why don't you just tell them yourself?

She walked up to the village chief and asked, "Uncle Guo, how did the educated youth at the educated youth compound find out about my compensation of one thousand yuan? When I came back just now, I was stopped by the educated youth and a few young people from the village at the village entrance. They all asked me about the one thousand yuan and wanted to borrow money from me. They acted like I would be a sinner if I didn't lend them the money. I told them I didn't have any money, and they looked at me like I was a monster, standing there saying really nasty things."

Village Chief Guo sensed a conspiracy in these words and said, "Something's not right. You just got back. Normally, even if people in the village knew about the verdict, they wouldn't know so quickly. Did they ask you about Hong Xiaobing's sentencing?"

"No, they only asked about money, saying they borrowed money, but didn't say anything else."

"It's a conspiracy; someone is trying to use the masses to cause you trouble."