Mrs. Fan continued crying, "If they refuse to compensate, we’ll report them to the government and make the government force them to pay!" She came to make things difficult for them, not to be beaten up for nothing!
An Jing laughed, "Just now I said, go ahead and report us, we won’t stop you." After a pause, her smile grew wider, "We’ll just sit at home and wait for the government to come and arrest us. You must not disappoint me by losing your nerve at the last minute and not reporting us."
Mrs. Fan was furious. "If you’re reported to the authorities, not only will you be paddled, but you’ll also have to compensate us with money! Stop pretending, we know you’re scared!"
An Jing played along, "Yes, we are so very scared~"
Mrs. Fan: "..." Clearly, they admitted they were scared, so why was she even more irritated?
Pan Shuangquan was clearer-headed than Mrs. Fan. An Jing was also a First-class Good Citizen, and he had heard before that Xiao Changyi might have known the Lord County Magistrate even before An Jing was named a First-class Good Citizen; now that An Jing was not afraid of their reporting to the authorities, it was clear on which side the Lord County Magistrate would stand.
It was quite possible that the Lord County Magistrate might end up paddling them instead.
Therefore, no matter what, they couldn’t report to the authorities.
Mrs. Fan had been beaten until she spat blood and definitely needed to take medicine and recuperate. Pan Shuangquan didn’t want to spend money on medical fees and medicine, but since An Jing and Xiao Changyi refused to compensate and they couldn’t report to the authorities, he was helpless.
He could only scold Mrs. Fan sternly, "You’re full enough to burst thinking about reporting to the authorities! Mrs. Fan, if you don’t come back with me now, I’ll divorce you this instant!"
He had felt his family was in for a year of bad luck when his son died; as expected, it came true. His son had barely been buried, and while everyone else was celebrating the New Year and visiting relatives, misfortune had struck him.
His wife was sent to someone else’s home, where she was beaten until she spat blood, and that was bad enough, but he even had to pay for her medical expenses!
Pan Shuangquan had long harbored grievances against Mrs. Fan, and now that she was not heeding his words, he really wanted to just divorce her and be done with it.
When Mrs. Fan heard that Pan Shuangquan was serious, she was immediately frightened into silence and dared not argue with An Jing and Xiao Changyi anymore. She obediently followed Pan Shuangquan home, but inside she was burning with anger, knowing full well that she would need to take medicine for a long time before she could recover.
Her in-laws and husband were so dissatisfied with her now, they might not even be willing to spend money for her to take medicine for such a long time...
Even if they were willing, they would surely complain about her every day, nagging her endlessly...
Thinking that she hadn’t caused An Jing and Xiao Changyi any trouble, but instead had made her own situation worse, Mrs. Fan truly hated An Jing and Xiao Changyi with a gnawing rage.
After Mrs. Fan and Pan Shuangquan left, Xiao Changyi unceremoniously shut the courtyard door.
This only added to Mrs. Fan’s irritation.
Although Pan Shuangquan also knew that the others couldn’t wait for them to leave and that they were not welcome, the door closing right behind him as soon as he stepped out was extremely vexing for him.
Inside the courtyard, An Jing didn’t care at all about Pan Shuangquan and Mrs. Fan’s feelings; she just looked at her husband and laughed.
Xiao Changyi closed the courtyard gate, turned around, and saw his wife looking at him with laughter. He was startled for a moment, then his cold eyes softened. He walked over to his wife, lowered his head, and rubbed his forehead against hers.
An Jing rubbed back, cheerfully saying, "Husband, I knew that you would protect our child."
Xiao Changyi stopped rubbing, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and supported her back to the kitchen, saying indifferently, "It’s our child, of course I would protect it."