Aunt Chen hurried to the village entrance with her five sons, where the area around the well was full of muddy pits.
Chen Dashan, the eldest son of the Chen family, threw a bucket into the well. When he pulled it up, he found it wasn’t even half full. He lowered it deeper, and upon drawing it up, he saw the water was murky yellow, which puzzled him.
Aunt Chen took one look and thought of Mai Ya’s bucket, which had also been filled with murky yellow water. She immediately suspected the Zhang family women were behind it.
Every evening when they fetched water, it was clear and plentiful. Now, at noon, it had turned like this. What were the Zhangs doing with so much water? Then she remembered her husband, Old Man Chen, constantly grumbling about their fields.
Her heart sank. She told her sons to draw the water and store it in the cellar, then rushed to the Zhang family’s fields. Stealthily, she felt the soil—it was still damp!
She hurried back home, dragged Old Man Chen out of bed despite his grumbling, and told him about the Zhangs’ mischief. The couple then rushed to their eldest brother’s house, demanding justice for the village.
Seeing the Village Head’s large water vats filled to the brim, Aunt Chen smirked and said, “Brother, we’ve discovered something serious. The Zhangs must pay for this!”
The Village Head stroked his carefully groomed beard—a style favored by scholars, and even the township head kept one, glossy and well-tended. His eyes gleamed with a mix of worry and delight. He fetched the village’s ceremonial gong, reserved only for major events…
…
Meanwhile, Mai Zi carried a wooden bucket, walking quickly back home under the scorching sun. Lugging over ten pounds of water left her panting heavily.
Her body had recovered much better than before, now almost as strong as a normal ten-year-old child’s.
When she arrived home, Xiaocao hurriedly handed her water and asked anxiously, “Did it work?”
If not for fear of alerting others, Xiaocao would have gone with Mai Zi to fetch water, sparing her this exhaustion.
Mai Zi gulped down a large mouthful of warm water and nodded. “I just saw Aunt Chen rushing home. She’ll probably go to the Village Head soon.”
“The Village Head will surely call a village meeting. Everyone will attend, and we can slip away with the crowd. Meet at the mountain pass tonight. Be careful!” Mai Zi grasped Xiaocao’s hand. Neither asked what the other planned to do.
The meeting was held in the Zhang family’s fields. Everyone righteously condemned Zhang Shi and the other women. The Li family shifted all blame onto them, but even so, they faced the villagers’ scorn.
Old Man Chen was particularly furious, lamenting that he hadn’t used well water to irrigate his fields.
Zhang Shi, sharp-eyed, noticed that Aunt Chen’s shoes were still wet. Her eyes darted, and she cried out, “The Chens must have drawn water too! Old Man Chen is always complaining about needing water for his fields!”
“We only took a few buckets to water this small patch. How could the well water be so shallow?”
Zhang Shi wailed and stomped, cursing the Chens and accusing the Village Head of favoring his own brother and being confused.
Old Man Chen was indeed the Village Head’s younger brother. Though the two families often clashed, blood ties bound them together in critical moments.
Seeing the villagers' suspicious gazes fixed on her family, Aunt Chen had already felt confident. A large crowd followed Zhang Shi as they rushed toward the Chen family's land, including Lin Hu's entire household.
Lin Xiaocao had already split up with Mai Zi by this time. She stealthily returned home. Since Village Head Chen had called the meeting in haste, the Lin family's house was in disarray, with several room doors left slightly ajar.
Entering the kitchen, she found the cabinet storing grain locked as usual. Lin Xiaocao dashed into Lin Hu's bedroom and retrieved the money box hidden beneath his bed board.
Lin Xiaocao knew about this hiding spot from her childhood, when she accidentally bumped into the bed board while sweeping the floor. Back then, she was responsible for all the household chores, so she had learned most of the family's secret stashes for money.
No one understood this household better than Lin Xiaocao herself. Opening the money box, she found ten pieces of broken silver, a silver hairpin, and seven or eight strings of copper coins.