The men behind him quickly chimed in, "There's no sun at night, how can you get some sun? It's just your excuse!"
"Exactly, they couldn't even come up with a better excuse. Saying they were drying seaweed at night, they really think we're idiots."
"......."
Among the women behind her with their heads down, one of them explained softly, "It really is just drying seaweed..."
Her voice was too soft and was quickly drowned out by the man's voice.
From what these people said, Pei Yao and the others roughly understood a little bit about it.
It turned out that these women had gone out yesterday afternoon and didn't return until it was completely dark at night. When they returned, they had brought back sixty coins with them.
The women in the village generally don't wander around outside after dark.
They found it very strange that they could earn sixty coins in just a few hours.
They only earned fifty or sixty coins a day working at the docks to move and unload goods for others.
They were just illiterate country women; who would pay them so much?
Most of these people look down on their wives from the bottom of their hearts.
So after thinking it over, they realized, "Oh no, my wife must have been doing something bad outside."
That's why we have this scene of attacking them today.
After Pei Yao figured it out, she just found it a little funny.
These men, they're incapable themselves, and they forbid their wives from being capable; but once their wives are capable, they accuse them of using improper means...
Pei Yao explained calmly, "Because the tide only goes out at night, we go to collect and dry the seaweed in the evening."
There was a moment of silence in the crowd after Pei Yao spoke.
The woman who had spoken earlier turned to her husband after hearing Pei Yao's words and said, "Husband, Miss Pei is right, that's exactly it. I really didn't lie to you. I came here last night to collect seaweed."
This woman was a newlywed, and her husband still listened to her.
He had already explained it to her husband when she came home late last night.
Originally, her husband wasn't planning to come today to cause trouble, but the man who was leading the group kept instigating him.
After hearing his wife's words, he began to waver.
Upon hearing this, the leading man jumped up again, furious that a mere girl dared to contradict him: "These are all excuses you've come up with. Don't think I don't know. Sixty coins for drying seaweed? There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Some people behind him echoed:
"That's right, this seaweed can't be sold for a single penny in town, yet you're paying sixty coins for it? How is that possible?"
"Don't be fooled by them, folks. I think they're just up to no good."
After the man finished speaking, he glanced at Pei Dalang and Pei Erlang with a mocking smile on his face.
Upon hearing this, Pei Dalang was so angry that he rolled up his sleeves and was about to go up and beat him up.
The man was a little scared when he saw that the tall and strong Pei Dalang was about to beat him up.
He ducked into the crowd behind him.
Pei Yao quickly grabbed her uncle: "Uncle, don't do it, or you'll blame us later."
Upon hearing Pei Yao's words, the man immediately became arrogant again.
He gave Pei Yao and the others a provocative look:
“Fellow villagers, this family doesn’t look like good people, and they don’t even seem to be from around here. I’m afraid they’re criminals who have been exiled here for committing some crime. I heard before that three families of exiled criminals came to Liangshuijing Village, and I’m afraid they are the ones.”
The men were angry when they heard his words, but when they looked up and saw Pei Dalang and Pei Erlang's strong muscles, they immediately became embarrassed and dared not go forward.
“Brother Qi is right. You brought our wives here late at night and gave them so much money. Who knows what you’re up to? You have to give us an explanation.”
A man stepped forward from the crowd and said something.
The "Brother Qi" he mentioned was the leader of the fight between Pei Dalang and his wife.
His full name is Qi Dayong.
He was already familiar with Qi Dayong in the village, and seeing his brother get the short end of the stick, he immediately stepped forward and said indignantly.
"If you don't give us an explanation, we'll take you to the authorities and let the magistrate deal with you."
Pei Yao's expression grew increasingly cold as she looked at them and said indifferently, "So what do you want?"
Qi Dayong thought that Pei Yao had heard the yamen back down, and his arrogance rose even higher: "Pay us money, your family must pay us some silver."
Upon hearing his words, Qi Dayong's wife, Zhang, quickly tugged at his sleeve: "Husband, don't do this..."
Qi Dayong shoved Zhang aside and said, "Get out of here! You've cuckolded me. I'll deal with you when we get back."
Zhang trembled upon hearing his words.
He timidly replied, "I didn't."
Pei Yao frowned as she watched him hit the woman, and stepped forward to pull Zhang Shi behind her.
"What are you doing!"
Before Pei Yao could even open her mouth to mock, a loud shout came from behind the crowd from Uncle Niu Er, the villager.
Uncle Niu pushed through the crowd and stood in front of the man who had started the trouble. He glared angrily at him, followed by villagers from Liangshui Village.
They were all holding tools, some even holding sticks.
The villagers walked up to the Pei family and surrounded them, forming a protective barrier behind them.
It looks like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
They all looked menacing at the people from Liujia Village across the street.
Pei Yao looked at the person in front of her with some surprise. Niu Qingshan, who was in front of her, turned his head and whispered to Pei Yao:
"Sister Yao, don't be afraid. We just heard that someone was bullying your family, so we quickly brought people over."
"They've gone so far as to bully our villagers! Do they really think we're all alone?"
The person speaking at the very front was Uncle Niu.
Although he is old, he speaks with a strong voice and is still very authoritative.
The people of Liujia Village immediately lost their arrogance after being glared at by them.
Qi Dayong knew Uncle Niu Er, and he explained:
"Second Uncle, this family bullied us first."
Uncle Niu snorted coldly, clearly not believing him.
Qi Dayong glanced at Uncle Niu Er and continued:
“Yesterday, the wives of all my brothers were locked up by this family under the pretense of doing labor until after dark. When they came back, each of them was given sixty coins. Who knows what they did? Second Uncle, you watched us grow up, you have to stand up for us.”
Liangshui Village and Liujia Village are close to each other, and people from the two villages often visit each other.
Before Uncle Niu could speak, Aunt Fang in front recognized Qi Dayong.
"I was wondering why that voice sounded so familiar. It's you, you little rascal."
Aunt Fang glared at Qi Dayong and stepped forward, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him out.
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