Seeing the soldier hand the pig leg to Ling Xi, everyone watched with envy, thinking to themselves what incredible luck Su Sanya had—not only had she survived being chased by a wild boar, but she’d even gotten meat out of it.
That was pork, after all—it had to weigh at least ten catties!
Wang Tieniu, in particular, was the type who never learned from his mistakes. He lunged forward to grab the pig leg. “This belongs to Huihui! Give it back to her!”
Yu Lian had been crouching, and with that shove she fell straight to the ground, her backside slamming against a rock. She cried out in pain. Ling Xi fell too, her palms burning with pain.
Wang Tieniu didn’t even glance at them. He snatched the pig leg and thrust it into Su Xinghui’s arms.
Everything happened so suddenly that even Su Xinghui hadn’t expected him to dare push people in front of so many witnesses. By the time she came to her senses, the pig leg was already in her hands.
Facing all the glances thrown her way, she felt awkward and was just about to say something when she saw Ling Xi pick herself up without crying or fussing, her expression unexpectedly calm. “Dad, call the police. Someone’s committing robbery.”
Wang Tieniu still hadn’t paid for luring that wild boar over. Since he’d jumped out on his own, he had no one to blame if she wasn’t polite.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was as if she’d pressed a pause button on the scene. It took a long while before someone reacted. “Call the police? What does she mean? Is Sanya going to call the cops?”
The villagers had never had any contact with the police. They instinctively believed that anyone taken away by the police would end up just like those people in the cattle shed—bad elements and stinking intellectuals, bullied and beaten by everyone.
Seeing the Wang boy dare to bully his daughter right in front of him, Su Changhe was so furious he wanted to skin the little brat alive. But as an elder, it wasn’t appropriate for him to strike, and hearing his daughter’s words, he found them reasonable. He turned and started walking down the mountain, planning to borrow an ox cart to report to the police in the county.
A woman covered in patches rushed over and grabbed his leg, wailing. “Su Changhe, what’s the meaning of this? Who gave your daughter the right to have the police arrest my Tieniu!”
Su Changhe couldn’t shake her off no matter what. His brows knitted tightly. “Daqiang’s wife, let go!”
“I won’t! Who gave your daughter the right to arrest Tieniu?”
Wang Tieniu was stupid but not short on courage. Sticking out his neck defiantly, he said, “My mom’s right! What gives you the right to arrest me?”
Ling Xi walked slowly toward him. Though she was so weak she could barely keep her footing, the aura around her made people dare not underestimate her. “Let me ask you—did Su Xinghui kill the wild boar?”
Wang Tieniu instinctively held his breath and shook his head honestly. He wouldn’t dare claim credit from a soldier.
“So the soldier uncle gave the pig leg to Su Xinghui?”
Wang Tieniu shook his head again.
“Then what more is there to say? The soldier uncle killed the boar, and they gave me the pig leg.” Ling Xi stared at him coldly. “You committed robbery. You must be taken away for reeducation.”
Only at this moment did Wang Tieniu grasp how serious the situation was.
If he was taken away for reeducation, wouldn’t he be just like those bad elements? If that happened, his parents would surely beat him to death!
But he hadn’t said anything wrong, had he? Everyone said Huihui was a lucky star—how else could she find so much food every time she went up the mountain? Shouldn’t this stuff belong to Huihui?
His calves trembling, he believed he wasn’t wrong on one hand, but on the other he was terrified of being taken away for reeducation. His voice shook as he said, “Huihui has good fortune—that’s what drew the wild boar here. You’re a jinx…”
“Wang Tieniu, what nonsense are you spouting!” Before the words had even finished, a sharp rebuke rang out as Su Xinghui came running over with a dark face. If people believed the wild boar had been her doing, how would she ever live it down?
She handed the pig leg back to Ling Xi, her heart bleeding. Meat! That was ten catties of meat!
Yet on the surface she still had to declare righteously, “This leg was given to Little Xi by the soldier uncle. How can you snatch my little sister’s things?”
Wang Tieniu had thanklessly worked for nothing, his eyes plainly saying: I did it all for you!
But Su Xinghui couldn’t be bothered with this fool. She turned and ran down the mountain.
She was afraid that if she didn’t leave soon, she’d be angered to death. It had been her wild boar, yet not only had she gotten nothing—not even a hair—but she’d also stirred up trouble, letting Su Lingxi take advantage for nothing! Damned Su Lingxi!
Meanwhile, seeing the pork returned, Su Shanren spoke up, “Since it’s all settled, let’s all head down the mountain. It’ll be dark soon.”
“Grandpa Village Chief, Wang Tieniu snatched my pig leg and even knocked my mother down. How can that count as settled?” Ling Xi frowned slightly.
Before Su Shanren could answer, Wang Tieniu’s mother, Su Aihua, started wailing again, “Su Sanya, what more do you want? Didn’t they give the pig leg back? Second Daughter-in-law Su, aren’t you going to control your daughter!”
Yu Lian was no pushover. She scooped up Ling Xi and cursed, “Su Aihua, are you blind? You didn’t wail when Wang Tieniu pushed his aunt and snatched things, but now you’re wailing your head off? You should all be sent off for reeducation!”
Su Aihua was exactly the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. She immediately swallowed her wails and muttered, “But the pig leg was returned to you…”
Ten catties of meat! Enough to eat until New Year!
Su Shanren could see Ling Xi wasn’t easily fooled, and asked with a smile, “Then what does Sanya want to do?”
“Grandpa Village Chief, you know my health is poor. Today truly gave me a terrible fright.” Ling Xi smiled too, smiling with exceptional sweetness, like a little fox.
Su Shanren nodded. “Fine then. Wang Daqiang’s wife, go home and get ten eggs for Sanya, and we’ll call it even.”
“Ten eggs!” Su Aihua’s small eyes went round. “Village Chief, where would my family get that many eggs?!”
Ling Xi smiled indifferently. “Since Auntie Wang can’t bear to part with them, we won’t force it. Let’s just go to the police station and talk it over instead.”
Seeing Yu Lian turn to leave with her in her arms, Su Aihua panicked at once and hurried after them. “No, no! Sanya, listen to your auntie. My family really doesn’t have that many eggs. Let your auntie apologize on your Brother Tieniu’s behalf—can’t you just let it go?”
Su Changhe, afraid she might hurt his wife and daughter, quietly stepped between them. “Wang Daqiang’s wife, whether you want your son or the eggs is up to you. My daughter is tired and needs to rest.”
Su Aihua was seething inside!
Her hens were poor layers—ten eggs took half a month to collect. How could she bear to give them away? But if she didn’t, her son would be arrested, and their whole Wang family would never hold their heads up again.
Not daring to curse the Su family, she grabbed Wang Tieniu’s ear and scolded, “You little brat, of all things to snatch, you had to snatch from those black-hearted ones! I feed you and clothe you, and you cause trouble every single day. Just wait till your father comes back—I’ll have him beat you to death!”
Mother and son grumbled their way down the mountain to fetch the eggs, never seeing the half-smiling look in Ling Xi’s eyes.
“Ancestor, you’re just letting them off like that? How kind of you,” Cai Yu asked in disbelief. He simply couldn’t believe Ling Xi had a kind bone in her body.
A stone that could make even the former Divine Sovereign compromise—how could it possibly be easy to bully?
“How could that be?” Ling Xi looked at him as if he were an idiot. “That was only punishment for stealing my pig leg. The score for deliberately setting a wild boar after me hasn’t been settled yet.”
At the time, everyone had been too busy running for their lives, so she was the only one who saw it. It wasn’t convenient to settle accounts face to face.
But… Ling Xi smiled with narrowed eyes. There were plenty of days ahead.