The village chief's words immediately caused the previously quiet crowd to begin whispering among themselves.
Indeed, the lesson from Jiang Ling's family should have served as a wake-up call for them, but the villagers were unwilling to do something so thankless and exhausting. After hesitating for a while, apart from Zhao Erleng and Lu Wangde who volunteered, no one else took any action.
The village chief nearly fainted from anger when he saw this scene. He never imagined that the large group of people in front of him were not as good as a stranger.
"Do you really want me to call out names? Call out one by one, that's fine!" the village chief said angrily to the crowd.
"Village chief, please don't blame me for being blunt, but the autumn harvest is just around the corner. Who has time to do this thankless and exhausting work?" The speaker was Wang, Lu Youren's later wife, who was heavily pregnant and looked indignant.
"Lu Wangshi, what right do you, a woman, have to interrupt!" the village chief snapped coldly, then looked at the crowd and said, "You all still remember the autumn harvest! If those refugees steal your grain during the harvest, I'd like to see how you pay your taxes! I'd like to see how you eat! Have you been eating too much grain lately? Have you forgotten what last year was like?"
The village chief's words made everyone shrink back, and eventually a few more men from Lujia Village stood up.
Upon seeing this, the village chief almost burst into a tirade. He tried to take deep breaths to calm his agitated state.
"Alright, you guys are the captains of the security team. I'll start calling out the names of the rest of you one by one!" As he spoke, the village chief began to squint and sized up the crowd.
In no time, the village chief called out more than sixty people. Those who were called all hung their heads and looked extremely unwilling, while those who were not called showed smug expressions.
The village chief glanced at the expressions on these people's faces and said angrily, "You lot! What can I say about you! Forget it, if your names are called, come to me to register in a bit. I'll pay you five copper coins a day. You'll patrol for half an hour during the day and one hour at night. If you encounter any unfamiliar faces during the day, question them carefully. If you encounter any unfamiliar faces at night, come to my house immediately to report!"
"What, five copper coins?"
"Five copper coins? You can only earn a dozen or so copper coins a day carrying heavy loads in town!"
"Oh dear, why wasn't I called on?"
After hearing what the village chief said, everyone immediately erupted in chaos, and their previous expressions of smugness turned into disappointment.
The village chief snorted angrily, then turned to the crowd and said coldly, "What, your attitude has changed so much now that you're offering money?"
“Village chief, I… I think I can do it too, why don’t you take a look at me?” As soon as Lu Youren heard that there was money, he rushed over and looked at the village chief.
"Hmph! Just wait, we might recruit more later!" The village chief didn't want to waste any more words with Lu Youren and rejected him without hesitation.
"Alright, everyone disperse! The guard team will begin today!" The village chief waved his hand, signaling everyone else to leave, leaving only the group whose names had been called earlier.
After registering them briefly, the village chief explained the situation to them and then divided them into seven groups of ten. Each group only needed to patrol one day a week, so as not to delay the autumn harvest and to ensure the safety of the village.
"Hey. You've heard about Jiang's daughter, tsk tsk tsk, so young and already..."
"Yes, I also heard that she had an ambiguous relationship with Zhang Dazhuang from Guiyue Village before."
"Wait a minute, wasn't Zhang Dazhuang engaged to that Sun family's daughter? How come he's still involved with Jiang Suihe?"
"Oh dear, you don't know..."
"Hey, ladies, what are you all talking about? It's so lively!" On the way back, Jiang Ling suddenly heard whispers around her.
She didn't want to pay any attention to this group, but to her surprise, they kept saying increasingly offensive things, especially the widow Wang, whom Lu Youren had married later, who kept throwing mud at Jiang Suihe.
In ancient times, Jiang Ling knew that a girl's reputation was more important than anything else. Anyone would find it unbearable to watch a child being insulted like this by a group of women, especially since the victim was Jiang Ling's daughter. She quickly stepped forward and reprimanded them with a dark face.
Aside from Widow Wang, the others shrank back guiltily upon seeing Jiang Ling and prepared to leave. Only Widow Wang seemed fearless, even sticking out her round belly.
"Oh, your belly looks like you're six or seven months along!" Jiang Ling glanced at Widow Wang's belly and said unfriendly.
"Of course, I'm definitely carrying a boy!" Widow Wang had no idea what Jiang Ling was up to. She proudly held out her belly and emphasized the word "boy" in an attempt to humiliate Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling chuckled, making the previously proud widow's expression turn somewhat strange. She frowned and looked at Jiang Ling with displeasure, asking, "Hey, what are you laughing at!"
"It's nothing, I just feel like some people with hairy faces have the nerve to call others monkeys!" Jiang Ling said calmly.
Jiang Ling's words startled Widow Wang. She looked at Jiang Ling strangely for a long time before asking, "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, what do you mean? So even if you're six months pregnant, my divorce from Lu Youren won't have lasted more than two months. So, does that mean the child in your belly isn't Lu Youren's?"
"You...you're talking nonsense! Believe me or not, I'll tear your mouth apart!" Widow Wang blushed and angrily cursed at Jiang Ling after being rebuked like that.
"Oh? Even if the child in your belly is Lu Youren's, the dates of my divorce from Lu Youren and your pregnancy don't match up. You yourself are not respectable, so what right do you have to smear my daughter?" Jiang Ling said fiercely, her eyes wide.
Widow Wang never expected that Jiang Ling, whom she hadn't seen for so long, would become so sharp-tongued. She bit her lip in resentment, wanting to say something but finding herself unable to refute.
"And you lot, how come you saw it with your own eyes when you described it so vividly?" Seeing that Widow Wang had lost her temper, Jiang Ling immediately shifted her focus to the village women who had been gossiping earlier.
Seeing Jiang Ling's expression, the village women quickly shook their heads and dared not speak. Jiang Ling glared at them and continued, "You all have daughters too. If what happened today had happened to your daughters, would you still be so indifferent as to discuss it? To make false accusations? To throw mud at them?"
"Jiang... Shi, don't be angry, we're sorry, we were wrong..." A quick-thinking village woman apologized to Jiang Ling and then slunk away in front of her.
Seeing this, the other village women followed suit and all slunk away, just like the woman who had done the first one.
Jiang Ling glared at Widow Wang and said, "Don't be so rude. Even if it's not for anything else, you should at least do good deeds for the child in your belly! Besides, how do you know that the baby in your belly is definitely a son?"
With that, Jiang Ling revealed a sinister smile and turned to leave, leaving Widow Wang standing there dumbfounded.
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