The complex expressions on everyone's faces all fell on Jiang Ling. Jiang Ling sighed helplessly. It was obvious that someone had framed her.
Actually, finding this guy is easy. It's clear who was contradicting me yesterday and who I had a grudge against. But right now, without any evidence, I'd only be attacked by him if I rashly revealed his identity.
"Impossible! It's definitely not her, someone must have framed her!" Jiang Yaojie, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
“Hey, you little outsider, what right do you have to meddle? Do you really think you’re one of us?” Lu Youren glared at Jiang Yaojie and mocked.
“You…” Jiang Yaojie’s face flushed red and his whole body trembled slightly.
Jiang Ling knew that Jiang Yaojie was a kind and loyal boy, so she patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "It's okay, I'll handle it, don't worry!"
"Fine, you say I betrayed you. Then let me ask you, what time was it, where was I, who was I talking to, and what did I say?" Jiang Ling glanced at the man in front of her and said calmly.
"you……"
The man glanced at Jiang Ling, whose expression was calm, hesitated for a moment, then bit his lip and said, "You came to Jiangjia Village and told my wife this last night at midnight!"
"What Jiang Family Village?"
"This...isn't this the place where Lady Jiang married into?"
"Bah! This Jiang family is truly two-faced! She discovered the grain herself but then leaked it to people in other villages!"
The harsh curses reached Jiang Ling's ears, but she pretended not to hear them. She remained standing in the crowd, head held high, staring intently at the man pointing at her, and said, "Can you guarantee that every word you're about to say is true?"
The man, who had been so aggressive just moments before, hesitated when Jiang Ling asked him a question. He bit his lip, his eyes darting away, avoiding Jiang Ling's gaze, but he still said confidently, "I, Jiang Hai, guarantee that everything I'm saying is true!"
"Why is it so noisy here?" Before Jiang Ling could finish speaking, a rather authoritative voice came from not far behind her.
Everyone looked toward the sound and saw two men, one fat and one thin, slowly walking toward them from a distance. Although they were both wearing coarse linen clothes and cloth shoes, the materials were brand new, and even the cloth shoes were almost spotless.
"It's him?" Jiang Ling was stunned when she saw the slightly chubby man. This was the man she had unintentionally saved last time.
"How did he end up here?" Jiang Ling didn't want to get involved, but she was currently facing off against Jiang Hai and didn't seem to have any particularly good way to get away.
"What are you?" The sudden appearance of two people broke the atmosphere. Jiang Hai frowned and turned to scold them.
"You..." Before the slightly overweight man could speak, the thinner man standing next to him opened his mouth as if to say something, but after the slightly overweight man glanced at the thinner man, the thinner man immediately shut his mouth, though his eyes remained fixed on Jiang Hai.
"I'm a scholar, and I thought I'd come and see what was going on since I saw this dispute. Is that alright?" the slightly overweight man continued to speak to the crowd with a smile.
"What? A scholar?" Upon hearing this, everyone looked at him with respect, and even the burly men from Jiangjia Village showed fear in their eyes.
Jiang Ling knew that scholars held a very high status in ancient times, especially for those illiterate peasants. Meeting them was almost no different from meeting a county magistrate.
The slightly overweight man hesitated for a moment on Jiang Ling before finally fixing his gaze on Jiang Hai.
He stroked his chin and asked gently, "What are you arguing about? Perhaps I can help you."
Jiang Ling pursed her lips and didn't speak. Instead, Jiang Hai immediately put on a respectful expression and said to the slightly fat man, "Scholar, it's...it's like this. This woman is a daughter-in-law from Jiangjia Village who married into Lujia Village. Last night, this woman came to our house in the middle of the night and told my wife that a large batch of...potatoes, or something that can fill our stomachs, had been found in Lujia Village."
"They even told us to go early, lest Lujia Village take all the food!"
The man spoke with such conviction that even most of the people in Lujia Village believed him, and they all glared at Jiang Ling with burning eyes.
Jiang Ling wasn't in a hurry to explain anything; she wanted to see what the slightly overweight man in front of her was up to.
The slightly overweight man stroked his chin, then pointed at Jiang Ling and said to the men from Jiangjia Village, "So why are you so sure it's her and not someone else?"
"I...my wife said so!" Jiang Hai's expression changed slightly.
"May I ask what your wife said?"
"She...she said the woman was very thin, with dark skin, and eyebrows...eyebrows..." Jiang Hai stammered, glancing at Jiang Ling every now and then.
Jiang Ling quickly lowered her head, preventing the man from continuing to steal glances at her face.
"In short! In short, she has dark skin and is very thin!" After Jiang Hai could no longer see Jiang Ling's face, his tone became anxious, and he no longer had the respectful tone he had just used.
"Alright, as your wife said, she has dark skin and is very thin. Then why did you recognize her at a glance? There are more than just her among the aunts and sisters-in-law here, and most of them match the characteristics you described!" The slightly chubby man's tone was calm, yet it carried a powerful sense of pressure.
"You...you! Why are you protecting her so much? Could it be that you're her lover?" Jiang Hai couldn't keep up his lie, so he started smearing the two people in front of him.
"How dare you!" The thin man standing next to the slightly overweight man couldn't hold back any longer and shouted angrily.
The slightly overweight man glanced at the thinner man and waved his hand to stop him from continuing.
"Answer my question first, and I'll answer yours right away, how about that?" the slightly overweight man continued casually.
"You! I advise you not to interfere in the affairs between our two villages! Otherwise, my fists are not to be trifled with!" Jiang Hai shouted angrily, cracking his knuckles.
"Oh? Is that so?" The slightly chubby man smiled faintly. He turned to the thinner man next to him and muttered a few words to him. The thinner man nodded and then turned to leave.
"I advise you not to meddle in other people's business, otherwise..." Jiang Hai continued to threaten the slightly chubby man, but the slightly chubby man did not show any fear and still looked at him with a smile.
"You..." Jiang Hai seemed to be provoked, and he raised his hand to hit the slightly fat man.
"Watch out!" Jiang Ling exclaimed, and just as she was about to take a step forward, a dark figure darted over.
The shadowy figure moved swiftly and nimbly, pinning the burly man to the ground in the blink of an eye.
"Let me go! Iron Head, Big Melon, come help me right now!" Jiang Hai struggled and shouted defiantly as he was pinned to the ground.
"I, the magistrate, would like to see who dares to help him!" The slightly overweight man, his previous smile gone, glared angrily at the remaining burly men from Jiangjia Village!
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