An Jing had intended to go to the town to get her furniture made, but Shi Xiaolan had mentioned to her that An Fu’s second uncle, An Legui, was a carpenter; although she was not familiar with An Legui, she had met him a few times and felt that Uncle Legui was quite alright. Consequently, An Jing did not make the trip to the town but instead went to An Village with Xiao Changyi to seek An Legui’s carpentry services.
An Legui was not a man of many words; he had not expected An Jing and Xiao Changyi to come to him for furniture, and much less a substantial amount of it. He was so stunned that it took him a while to recover before hastily taking on the biggest business deal he had ever had to date.
Not knowing how to properly express his gratitude, yet feeling deeply thankful for An Jing and Xiao Changyi entrusting him with the business, the inarticulate An Legui could only keep repeating "thank you" to An Jing and Xiao Changyi.
As Xiao Changyi had estimated, making this furniture would require two taels; An Jing paid a tael as a deposit and then returned home with Xiao Changyi.
As soon as they got home, An Jing and Xiao Changyi took their tools for clearing land and headed to the boundary of their mountain land, intending to clear more ground for building houses.
While An Jing and Xiao Changyi were clearing land, Zheng Genshui arrived in Jiuping Village.
Zheng Genshui was a chief of a district—a position known as headman, commencing at the Ninth Grade, respected for his virtue and thus became one of the headmen assisting the County Magistrate in managing the villages.
Jiuping Village, An Village, and Pan Family Village were all within his jurisdiction.
Today, Zheng Genshui had attended a routine meeting at the County Government, where among the many village headmen, only he was rebuked by the Lord County Magistrate for failing to manage Jiuping Village well, causing it to be a village full of troublemakers.
So, immediately upon returning from the County Government, Zheng Genshui, fuming with anger, came to Jiuping Village, scolded the village head of Jiuping Village fiercely, and asked indignantly how the village head managed Jiuping Village.
Commoners dare not fight against officials; although the headman did not work in the County Government, he was still of the Ninth Grade and ranked just below the official registrar. The village head of Jiuping Village did not dare to talk back and let Zheng Genshui scold him.
It wasn’t until Zheng Genshui asked him that he answered, "The village has always been peaceful, but ever since An Jing and Xiao Changyi got together, there has been unrest. An Jing and Xiao Changyi are too selfish and self-centered, causing our village to keep our distance from them. And yet they reported to the authorities and had our villagers arrested."
Seeing the village head passing the buck, Zheng Genshui was so enraged that his beard bristled, and he glared, "They reported to the authorities because you stole their fish, didn’t you! The Lord County Magistrate told me, so many of you stealing fish is larceny, which is a serious crime, and that’s why they were beaten with so many planks and locked up!"
"They are not larcenists; they were misled by that girl Liu Sanya—"
Seeing the village head still trying to pass the blame and not even letting him finish his sentence, Zheng Genshui shouted sternly, "Do you still want to be village head or not?"
The village head immediately responded repeatedly, "It was larceny, it was larceny, it’s all my fault for not managing the village properly, all my fault."
Zheng Genshui’s expression softened slightly. After a long pause, he asked again, "What’s the deal with An Jing and Xiao Changyi? Normally, I see you only causing trouble within the village, and I didn’t bother with you all, but now you’ve brought it all the way to the County Government. I wanted to stay out of it, to save myself from the hassle. Your village really has too many problems... But today, the Lord County Magistrate blamed me, and from now on, how can I dare not manage your affairs? I’ll have to oversee every little thing."
The village head inwardly lamented; if every little thing was managed, they would lose the freedom they had before.
But he still replied, "Headman, I’m sure you have already heard quite a bit about our Jiuping Village. An Jing and Xiao Changyi, they simply do not get along with our village."