As soon as Liu Sanya arrived at the edge of An Jing and Xiao Changyi’s rice paddy, she didn’t hesitate to enter the field; then, she began to catch fish.
When some people from Jiuping Village saw what Liu Sanya was doing, they asked her how she dared to catch An Jing and Xiao Changyi’s fish?
Liu Sanya lied, "Xiao Changyi allowed my family to catch them. My dad has done him a favor, and he felt there was no better way to repay us, so he let us catch some fish to eat."
The people from Jiuping Village immediately became envious.
Seizing the opportunity, Liu Sanya added, "Do you want to come down and catch some too?"
Those people immediately waved their hands, "No, no, no, we wouldn’t dare."
Liu Sanya laughed, "What’s there to be afraid of? All of you come down and catch them; there are so many of you. They can’t possibly beat you up one by one, can they?"
After exchanging glances, those villagers felt that Liu Sanya’s words made sense. There were so many of them that An Jing and Xiao Changyi surely wouldn’t be able to fight them one by one. Plus, they had been coveting those fish for a long time, so they also went down into the field and started catching the fish.
Numerous Jiuping villagers nearby, who were harvesting rice, saw that the villagers were catching fish in Xiao Changyi’s field as if they were afraid of missing out. They dropped what they were doing and also rushed to Xiao Changyi’s field to catch fish.
When An Jing, Xiao Changyi, Wang Youbao, and Wang Youbao’s two family servants—a group of five—arrived at the field, they were greeted with the sight of many Jiuping villagers catching fish.
As soon as they saw An Jing and Xiao Changyi, the atmosphere instantly froze.
An Jing couldn’t help but laugh sarcastically, "So many people blatantly stealing our fish, this is truly unprecedented."
That single word ’stealing’ immediately angered those still in the field.
With Wang Youbao, the small landowner, present, how could they admit they were stealing the fish? That would be inconceivable! They still wanted to continue renting land from the Wang Family; how could they do so with such a blemish on their character?
One person retorted angrily, "When did we ever steal your fish? Don’t falsely accuse us!"
An Jing gestured for that person to look at his own hands, "You’re standing in my field right now, with our fish in your hands—caught red-handed. Anyone with eyes can see that I’m not making false accusations."
"We are catching fish, not stealing! Besides, Sanya said you allowed us to do it!" the man shirked responsibility.
An Jing immediately turned to Liu Sanya, "When did we ever say that they could catch fish?"
Not showing the slightest shame at being caught red-handed, Liu Sanya retorted, "I never said those words; they wanted to catch fish with me on their own accord!"
"Liu Sanya!" Those from Jiuping Village who had followed her to catch fish did not expect her to say that and were furious. If it wasn’t for Liu Sanya’s instigation, would they have entered the field?
An Jing smiled, "So they followed you on their own to catch the fish? That means you were the first to catch fish from my family, weren’t you?"
Realizing she had incriminated herself, Liu Sanya was irritated yet still snapped back, "If it weren’t for my dad, Xiao Changyi wouldn’t have lived to see this day. How’s eating a couple of fish from your family any concern of yours!"
An Jing immediately responded, "Everyone should have heard by now, it’s not me who allowed her to catch our fish, she did so of her own accord. As for why you all decided to follow her, I’m not interested. What I do care about is that taking without permission equals theft; you are all stealing our fish!"
"You!" No one was willing to be labeled a thief just like that.
After glaring at An Jing, they turned their anger toward Liu Sanya. If not for this wretched girl’s incitement, how would they have ended up !
Only then did Liu Sanya begin to feel fear, imagining she would definitely be ostracized in the village from now on.