An Hegui gratefully said, "Mancheng, your willingness to step in is the best thing we could hope for. After all, you’re the village leader, and your words carry more weight in Jiuping Village than ours."
"Not at all, this is what I should do—"
Before An Mancheng could finish speaking, An Jing and Xiao Changyi entered the room; as soon as An Jing walked in, she raised her voice and asked, "Why don’t you report this directly to the authorities?"
"An Jing..." The moment her close friend An Jing arrived, Shi Xiaolan became even more uncontrollable, weeping harder as if to pour out all her grievances to An Jing.
It was then that An Mancheng realized that An Jing and Xiao Changyi were the ones who had come and was surprised by the imposing presence they exuded, which was not something a farmer’s child would typically possess.
However, An Mancheng still said, "Who would go to the officials over such a trivial matter?"
An Jing immediately scoffed, "Trivial? Someone has a broken head and you call it trivial? What, then, is a serious matter in your eyes? Death? To put it bluntly, by the time someone’s dead and you report it, it will already be too late."
An Mancheng was left speechless. The girl had quite a sharp tongue.
An Hegui sighed helplessly, "An Jing, girl, peacefulness brings wealth. If it can be endured, just endure it. It’s just sad that Fu Zi has suffered so much."
"Endure?" An Jing laughed coldly, "It’s no wonder people bully you ."
"You—!" Everyone was infuriated by An Jing’s words.
Seeing everyone looking at her angrily, An Jing’s smile was blooming like a flower: "What, do you find my words unpleasant? But have you ever considered, there are some people you simply should not endure." She paused, "Because endurance will only encourage those people to bully you more!"
Without giving An Mancheng and the others another glance, An Jing turned to Shi Xiaolan, "Xiao Lan, let me be honest with you. Wu Dashan and his ilk don’t target you because they dislike you but because they hate that my family always buys tofu from your family instead of theirs. They don’t dare to trouble me and my husband, so they can only vent their frustrations on people like you, who are easier to bully."
"An Jing, you—" Although An Jing’s words were harsh, Shi Xiaolan was stunned and felt as though An Jing was radiating a light, a light of ’no one can bully me,’ a light she never even dared to hope for.
An Jing continued, "You all know what kind of people Wu Dashan and Wu Xiaoshan are. If you don’t stand up for yourselves today, they will continue to bully you tomorrow."
Although everyone outwardly appeared angry at An Jing for her blunt words, they inwardly agreed with her.
An Jing looked towards An Fu, who was lying on the bed, and said indifferently, "Brother An Fu, whether you stand up for yourselves today or not is your business. I’ve come to tell you that my husband and I won’t tolerate any nonsense. You may be passive, but we don’t want to be vexed by having friends like you. If you choose to endure this today, then the ties between our two families will be severed."
Shi Xiaolan panicked as she didn’t expect An Jing to go as far as to suggest breaking off relations, but before she could finish speaking, An Fu said, "Report it. Father, I want to report this to the officials."
After a pause, An Fu added more emphatically, "I don’t want to be bullied anymore."
Ever since his leg became lame, the people of An Village hadn’t mocked him; however, people from other villages had not been so kind, and those who ridiculed and bullied him were far from few. He had been enduring it all this time, only to be bullied yet again.
He truly had had enough.
Today, he had only chosen to endure out of habit, but An Jing’s words ignited a fire within him.
He did not want to be bullied anymore. Reporting this to the officials today would also serve to show others that he, An Fu, was not so easily bullied!