The village chief’s face turned iron blue with anger. He had tried to persuade them nicely, even going so far as to demean himself with a smile, only to be met with scathing insults?
He could no longer stay, and the village chief turned and walked away.
The two men who had come with him were also fuming with anger. Seeing that the village chief had left, they quickly followed suit.
It was clear that, at the bottom of their hearts, they also feared An Jing and Xiao Changyi—one had dared to kill, and the other had killed on the battlefield and returned. How could they not be afraid?
"Husband," An Jing said with a smile as soon as the village chief walked out of the courtyard, "I bet they now think we are stubbornly unreasonable."
"Ah," An Jing suddenly sighed, "The values of those people are really so twisted."
Xiao Changyi didn’t understand what An Jing meant by "values," but he gathered that she was speaking ill of the people from Jiuping Village. He nodded slightly again, "Mm."
"Say a few more words," An Jing requested, smiling as she tilted her little face upward. She was used to hearing him speak just one word, usually "mm," and although she wasn’t tired of it, she just wanted to tease him.
Xiao Changyi immediately replied, "Yes."
"Pfft—" An Jing couldn’t help but burst into laughter at his response. How could her aloof husband be so adorable!
The corners of Xiao Changyi’s usually cold lips curved up slightly. He liked seeing her smiling at him after she had aggressively dealt with people, knowing she wouldn’t show this side to anyone else, just him.
Xiao Changyi’s eyes, usually cold, became softer and softer because the person he was looking at was her.
As soon as the village chief returned, he gathered everyone together and recounted his failed attempt at a peaceful resolution.
When everyone learned that An Jing and Xiao Changyi were still refusing to reveal the secret to making the black flowers non-toxic, they were all fuming with anger.
This meant they had no other choice but to watch enviously, unable to partake in the black flowers themselves.
No one spoke; everyone was seething in silence, and the atmosphere was ominously quiet.
After stewing in his own anger for a while, the village chief finally said, "Alright, everyone go home. We won’t starve without the black flowers."
"Village chief!" Suddenly, someone stood up furiously. "If they don’t care about the people in our village, then why should we care about them? We might not eat black flowers, but from now on, they’d better not dream of eating a single thing from us!"
"Right!" someone shouted in support, equally outraged. "If something happens to their family, they shouldn’t expect our help! They don’t treat us like neighbors, so why should we treat them as such and support them? We won’t help!"
"Exactly!" another person angrily added. "They don’t even consider us part of the same village. If they’re not willing to share such a small secret, then from now on, we shouldn’t share anything with them either!"
After mulling it over for a long time, the village chief finally said, "Well then, from now on, if they have any problems, we won’t help them, and if our village has anything, we won’t share it with them either." He paused, "They are so selfish, this will be a lesson for them."
"Good!" everyone shouted in agreement.
"Village chief, since you’ve said as much," Lin Daqiang chimed in, "then we can’t let them use our village well to draw water anymore!"
"Right!" Aunt Liu Hua shouted in support, still filled with righteous indignation about An Jing using a fake method to hoodwink her. "The well belongs to us. If they won’t share the secret to allow us all to enjoy the black flowers, then they can forget about using our well!"