Su Li, satisfied, had her fill inside the dreamy, renovated storefront. As soon as she stepped out, she found nine mushrooms hidden in a corner, about to grow moldy.
"It must be you, definitely you..." The outsiders, who had previously scattered like rabbits, now appeared before Su Li without exception.
Si rushed up and grabbed Su Li’s sleeve, fearing she would vanish in the blink of an eye.
Anian also glared fiercely at Su Li, his face taut, yet still managing to suppress his emotions, he said, "Return our money bag to us, and we will let bygones be bygones."
Aside from Anian and Si, there were two other outsiders who had always been as inconspicuous as invisible people, and they formed a circle, blocking all the possible escape routes for Su Li.
A few girls, pouting with faces full of reproach, looked at Su Li and clamored, "How could you do this..."
"Isn’t it said that most people in Fairy Tale Town are kind, cute, and full of a sense of justice?"
"Why did we encounter such a weirdo as soon as we arrived?"
Si hesitated and said, "According to the information released, most are as you say, but a small part of them are set as villain characters..."
"So, we’re that unlucky... to have encountered one?"
Si wasn’t very sure and added, "But the last time I was here, this young lady..."
Nine people, eighteen eyes were all fixed on Su Li. Even so, Su Li maintained an appropriate smile on her face, even nodding at Anian, who seemed the angriest.
This just made him even more livid.
Su Li, branded by the outsiders as a villain, not only felt no shame for her actions but rather retorted confidently, "You’ve been eating my food, staying at my place. Do you think you can just leave it at that?"
"There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world, a truth even a three-year-old knows. You lot are way older than that, aren’t you?"
"We..." Si stuttered without a rebuttal and finally managed to squeeze out, "But we never said we’d pay..."
Su Li looked at them incredulously and said, "Don’t you pay when you go out to eat? I owe you nothing. Why should I support you..."
"Because of my kindness and hospitality?"
Anian, impulsive by nature, had veins popping in his forehead. Had it not been for the presence of his goddess, he probably would have wanted to flatten the young lady’s shameless face.
"But that’s no reason for you to steal our money bag,"
said a girl who seemed gentle and generous disdainfully.
Su Li emphasized once more, "You’re wrong, I didn’t steal. I took them openly and honestly."
"And look at your pockets. I left you a note, didn’t I? So it wasn’t sneaky."
In the end, it comes down to who has the thicker skin.
In the original owner’s memory, the impression of the outsiders who frequently appeared in their village was not good.
Each time these outsiders arrived, they had to bring out the food carefully saved in their homes.
She could never understand why everyone would rather go hungry than feed these ungrateful strangers.
Given the attitude of the entire village, the original owner was perplexed but never voiced her skepticism.
And while these people were eating their best food, there was always an uncomfortable undertone in their demeanor.
The original owner was young and couldn’t discern what that feeling was, but Su Li knew—it was the condescending look from above.
It was like observing an ant, a leaf... would you care about these things?
No matter how much Su Li complained about potatoes tasting awful and scorned the cellar full of them, these potatoes were the villagers’ sustenance.
And that full cellar of potatoes wasn’t all hers.
The majority of the grain would be forcibly confiscated by the high-officials of Fairy Tale Town, leaving the villagers with very little.
Aside from the potato harvest season when everyone could eat their fill of potatoes, at other times of the year, even to eat something to satiate hunger required careful calculation.
This indicated how precious the salted meat and other foodstuffs offered to the outsiders were.
Yet these people didn’t seem to value it, their attitude was one of entitlement, which made the original owner very uncomfortable, truly displeased at heart.
Once Su Li arrived, it was different.
Everyone was human, no one should pamper another.
You ate mine, I took yours.
An eye for an eye, no one owed anything to anyone else.
But apparently, this group of men and women didn’t think so, grabbing at Su Li to make her exchange for a purse of money.
Su Li spread her hands with a smile, "Hey, no more left."
Si couldn’t believe it and snatched the empty purse, turning it upside down, but not a single coin fell out.
"Really, really all gone..."
The tears immediately fell from the eyes of the few girls.
"What do we do? I’m so hungry, I want to eat something good."
"You woman, you’re really despicable..."
Anian, seeing his beloved girl shedding tears, couldn’t hold back and swung a punch towards Su Li.
But the seemingly withered and frail girl effortlessly caught his fist with her bare hands. Not only that, but she squeezed his wrist painfully, leaving him powerless to exert any force.
Su Li said with a smile, "Come on, let’s hurt each other..."
No matter how much these outsiders hated Su Li, it didn’t change the fact that the money was gone.
"There’s nothing we can do, we just follow her, I don’t believe she can keep going without eating or drinking."
Si gritted his teeth and spitefully came up with such a plan.
Su Li raised an eyebrow, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Watch her like a hawk?
She didn’t mind; it would not cost her a piece of flesh.
Furthermore, they would not get a bite to eat. She really didn’t understand how they came up with this idea.
However, looking at these young outsiders, who seemed like flowers cultivated in a greenhouse, it was understandable that they would act on a whim.
While these outsiders were entangling themselves with Su Li, a little girl wearing a big red hat merrily bounced past them.
A nearby vendor enthusiastically called out to the girl, "Little Red Riding Hood, where are you off to with your basket today?"
Hearing the vendor’s words, Si and the others abruptly stopped in their tracks, their eyes lighting up as they turned to focus on the little girl.
They didn’t bother to argue with Su Li anymore and grabbed hold of her sleeve, dragging her towards Little Red Riding Hood.
The girls jostled to speak first, "Little sister, are you Little Red Riding Hood?"
Surrounded by so many strange big brothers and sisters, Little Red Riding Hood wasn’t afraid at all and cheerfully replied, "Yep, I’m Little Red Riding Hood."
"Do you think my red hat is pretty?"