The woman standing closest to Liu Sanya even gave her a vicious push, cursing, "It’s all your fault, you wretched girl! If it weren’t for you, would we be working in the fields?"
"Exactly!" the others chimed in, looking as though they would have devoured Liu Sanya if they could.
Liu Sanya was pushed so hard that she fell on her bottom in the field, but she was too scared to speak; all she could do was cry, and so she cried.
Someone said, "We’re going to be flogged!" Such petty theft usually resulted in a flogging.
Now, not only could they no longer rent land from the Wang Family, but they were also facing a beating. A man was so distraught that, in his anger, he kicked Liu Sanya to vent his frustration.
"Enough, no matter what, we can’t hit a girl," scolded an older man. "Right now, our priority must be to figure out a way to clear ourselves of these theft charges. Without the charges, we won’t be flogged."
After some thought, someone suggested, "What if we all insist that An Jing and her group are framing us? An Jing and Xiao Changyi are just two people, while we are many. With so many of us against them, how could the Lord County Magistrate believe just the two of them over us?"
Someone immediately agreed, "Excellent idea! Let’s hurry out of here now and not linger in their fields any longer. If we ensure there’s no evidence against us and all declare that they’ve wronged us, it might just be them who end up being flogged instead."
"Right!" Everyone quickly left the field.
In that moment, no one dared to continue fishing in the field. They only cared about escaping, so that when the government officials arrived, they would find no one caught red-handed.
Even Liu Sanya was dragged out of the field by someone. It wasn’t that they wanted to save her, rather they feared being implicated by her. They even sternly warned Liu Sanya to insist that she was being falsely accused by Xiao Changyi and his group.
Liu Sanya certainly didn’t want to suffer a flogging. Although she was still crying, she didn’t forget to nod and repeatedly agreed.
"Youbao, you wait at my house for us," An Jing said to Wang Youbao on the way back.
"Alright," Wang Youbao replied. "You and Changyi take my carriage to report to the authorities. It’s faster."
Then, Xiao Changyi, driving Wang Youbao’s carriage, went with An Jing to report to the county.
The carriage was indeed much faster than an ox cart; it took less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn for An Jing and Xiao Changyi to arrive at Sixteen Town.
But Xiao Changyi didn’t continue on to the county. Instead, he stopped the carriage to the side.
An Jing didn’t ask Xiao Changyi why they weren’t continuing to the county but smiled at him meaningfully in the town.
Meeting An Jing’s profound gaze, Xiao Changyi said nothing and entered an inn. Then, he went upstairs and knocked on the door of a guest room.
"Who is it?" A man’s voice answered from inside, cautious and vigilant.
As soon as Xiao Changyi finished speaking, the door of the guest room was immediately opened from the inside. A Qingyi-clad man with well-defined features and a sword hanging from his waist greeted Xiao Changyi with great reverence, kneeling and bowing, "My lord."
The smile on An Jing’s face deepened. My lord, her husband...
Xiao Changyi did not even glance at the man kneeling on the floor; he led An Jing directly into the guest room.
The Qingyi-clad man quickly got up and closed the door.
Then, facing Xiao Changyi, the man knelt again respectfully, one knee down, fists closed—a posture of someone trained in martial arts; head bowed, he did not dare look at Xiao Changyi.