The Government Official warned Liu Sanya and the others as they were released, "If you cause trouble again, the punishment won’t be as simple as having twenty strokes of the plank and being locked up for three days. Behave yourselves from now on."
Locked up for three days without a glimpse of sunlight, in the dark and damp cell with rats, and the wounds on their buttocks festering, even worse than Wu Dashan and Wu Xiaoshan’s previous injuries, they were all carried back home by their family members. How could they dare not behave themselves after this? They would definitely be on their best behavior from now on.
You see, what’s even more terrifying was that during those three days, they could not get a good night’s sleep. Sometimes, when they couldn’t take it anymore and fell asleep, rats would climb onto their wounds and gnaw at them, scaring them to the point where they didn’t dare sleep again! Such days were really not fit for humans! They didn’t want to live through it again!
Now was the busy farming season, and not only was the household short of labor, but money also had to be spent on treating their wounds. The problem was, their families didn’t have much money to begin with. Everyone was filled with complaint and hatred, but since they didn’t dare target An Jing and Xiao Changyi, they directed all their resentment and bitterness at Liu Sanya alone.
Additionally, they would no longer be able to rent land from the Wang Family in the future, and everyone didn’t know how poor they would become, so they all really wished they could kill Liu Sanya.
From then on, Liu Sanya was so frightened that she dared not step outside.
After the busy farming season was over, the man who was engaged to Liu Sanya arrived in Jiuping Village to call off the marriage, saying that Liu Sanya was unclean, stealing from others, and that having been imprisoned for three days she was tainted. He did not want such a disgraced wife.
She was supposed to get married this September, but now the man had come to call off the marriage, and Liu Sanya couldn’t control herself, bursting into loud wails and tears.
But no matter how Liu Sanya cried, the man insisted on annulling the marriage, with his family even bringing quite a few people over to make a scene. In the end, Mrs. Hongxia had no choice but to allow the man to call off the marriage.
Good news stays within walls, while bad news travels a thousand miles. The news about Liu Sanya spread far and wide, and from that point on, no young men were willing to marry Liu Sanya.
Of course, these are all events that happened later.
Meanwhile, on An Jing’s side—
The ricefield fish sold very well at the Hundred Dishes Restaurant. Every time Wang Youbao came to purchase fish, his face was blooming with smiles, but there was only so much fish. In the end, when they were all caught, Wang Youbao regretfully complained to An Jing and Xiao Changyi about why they didn’t raise more.
An Jing was speechless and said impatiently, "Didn’t you see how much land my family has? We only have one field; how much can we possibly raise?"
Wang Youbao then remembered that An Jing and Xiao Changyi’s family had only one field and awkwardly chuckled a couple of times, quickly apologizing to An Jing before the matter was dropped.
Wang Youbao bought a total of two hundred and ten pounds of fish, fifty coins per pound, adding up to ten silver taels and five hundred coins.
On the last occasion, when Wang Youbao was buying fish and preparing to leave, Xiao Changyi gave him two of the fish in his hand.
Wang Youbao was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly tried to push the fish back, "I already have enough; there’s no need."
However, Xiao Changyi refused to take the fish back.
An Jing smiled and said, "What you have is what you bought from us. These are a gift from us to you, our friend. If you don’t accept it, it means you don’t consider us friends."
Wang Youbao then hurriedly accepted the fish, also smiling, "In that case, I’ll take it home and make soup."
As soon as Wang Youbao left, Xiao Changyi took the ox to plow the field. There were no more fish in the field; it was time to plow and plant the rice.