I've seen people with thick skin, but never this thick.
But what does that have to do with Wang Family Village?
Shen Nanchu and Wang Jianguo looked up and out the window.
The scenery outside was truly beautiful.
Seeing the expressions on Wang Jianguo and Shen Nanchu's faces, Lin Aimin knew neither of them wanted anything to do with this mess.
Indeed, if he weren't the town mayor, he wouldn't want to deal with these two fools either.
Utterly useless, only capable of ruining things.
"Your rabbit fur quality is so poor, it's impossible to sell for money."
"You'd better raise them properly and see if you can sell them as meat rabbits to the food station!"
As soon as Mayor Lin Aimin finished speaking, Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang's wails grew even louder.
"Mayor, how can that be?"
"Wouldn't all our money just go down the drain?"
Lin Aimin wasn't about to indulge them.
"Then figure it out yourselves."
"There's nothing more I can do."
In the end, Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang slunk away in defeat.
Returning from the town government office, the stone in Wang Jianguo's heart finally settled.
He looked at Shen Nanchu, his eyes full of admiration,
"Nanchu, it's all thanks to you today."
"If it were up to me to argue, I definitely couldn't have out-talked them, and might have even gotten tangled up by them."
"You have to be tough with people like that," Zheng Tongwei said as he walked. "The more you give in, the more they push their luck. We earn our living by our own skills, we haven't stolen or robbed, there's no need to be afraid of them."
Shen Nanchu nodded,
"Exactly. Lock the rabbit shed door properly these next few days, and quickly store the clipped rabbit fur in the warehouse. Don't give them any openings."
Hearing this, Wang Jianguo's expression turned tense,
"I'll go arrange that right now. I'll have Su Jianzhou and the others keep a closer watch, and add an extra person for night duty."
...
Just as Shen Nanchu had anticipated, Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang hadn't given up after returning home.
The two of them huddled under the crooked-neck tree in Niu Family Village, scheming for half the night. Their eyes lit up as they came up with a brilliant plan.
They would sneak into Wang Family Village and swap a few rabbits, to improve the stock of their own rabbits.
"We'll do it tonight!"
Niu Fugui spat on the ground,
"Dark moon and windy night, perfect for the job. Wang Jianguo and his lot would never expect us to dare go back!"
Qian Mancang rubbed his hands together, a thieving glint in his eyes,
"We won't be greedy, just swap four or five female rabbits. Once we get them back, we'll breed them with our bucks. In less than half a year, we'll have Angora rabbits too! Then let's see what Wang Family Village has to be so cocky about!"
Taking advantage of the night, the two men, each carrying a sack, hunched over and crept into Wang Family Village.
Moonlight filtered through the leaves, scattering on the ground like handfuls of crushed silver, stretching their shadows into twisted shapes.
The wooden door of the rabbit shed was slightly ajar, and the soft sound of rabbits nibbling grass came from inside.
Niu Fugui swallowed hard, signaled Qian Mancang to keep watch, then pulled out the sack he'd prepared earlier and tiptoed inside.
"Hurry up!"
Qian Mancang urged in a hushed voice from outside the door, his heart pounding, feeling a chill down his back.
Just as Niu Fugui reached out and grabbed a female rabbit by the ears, before he could even stuff it into the sack, a sharp shout came from behind him,
"Well, well! You two rotten thieves, you actually dare to come steal rabbits!"
Zheng Tongwei stepped out from the shadows, holding a flashlight.
Su Jianzhou followed close behind, gripping a shoulder pole, his face red with anger,
"See if my pole doesn't thrash you!"
Startled, Niu Fugui's hand loosened. The female rabbit "whooshed" back into its cage. Flustered, he scrambled for the door, crashing right into Qian Mancang.
The two of them tumbled to the ground like rolling gourds. The sack fell aside, revealing the scrawny wild rabbits they'd brought to swap.
"Run!"
Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang scrambled to their feet and bolted for the village outskirts. In their panic, they didn't watch the path and charged headlong towards the roadside manure pit.
"SPLOSH—"
A dull thud, accompanied by earth-shattering howls, as Qian Mancang landed squarely in the manure pit. The splashed manure water sprayed everywhere like a fountain.
Qian Mancang struggled to get up, but his feet slipped, leaving him flat on his back. He gulped down several mouthfuls of manure water, his hands flailing wildly in the muck, looking just like a flipped-over toad.
"Village Chief Niu, Village Chief Qian, not at home hugging your wives to sleep in the middle of the night, but coming to our Wang Family Village rabbit shed... what were you planning to steal for a snack?"
Wang Jianguo's flashlight beam landed precisely on Niu Fugui's face.
Several villagers, roused from sleep and holding hoes and shoulder poles, glared menacingly at Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang.
Niu Fugui looked at Qian Mancang floundering in the manure pit, then at Wang Jianguo's eyes that seemed ready to devour him. Scared witless, his legs went weak. He turned to jump over the wall and escape, but his foot missed its footing, and he too went "SPLOSH" into the adjacent manure pit, landing right on top of Qian Mancang.
"Oof! You're crushing me!"
Qian Mancang, who had just managed to get halfway up, was slammed back down by Niu Fugui.
Niu Fugui choked and coughed. He opened his mouth to curse, only to swallow another mouthful of manure water. Instantly nauseated and dizzy, his hands clawed frantically at the filth, but he couldn't climb out.
The two of them pushed and shoved each other in the pit, their bodies covered in yellowish-brown muck, the stench so foul it even scared away the mosquitoes nearby.
Zheng Tongwei covered his nose and took two steps back, a mocking smile curling his lips,
"I say, Village Chief Niu, Village Chief Qian, how's the taste of the manure pit? Much fresher than the filth that spews from your mouths!"
The villagers burst into laughter. Their waving flashlights made the two men's wretched state in the pit look especially ridiculous.
Wang Jianguo stood with his hands on his hips, laughing so hard tears nearly came to his eyes,
"You two never learn your lesson. Now you've fallen into the manure pit, serves you right!"
Su Jianzhou found a long bamboo pole.
"We can pull you up, but first tell us: were you trying to steal our rabbits?"
Qian Mancang, with a woeful face, mumbled a plea through the mess,
"Won't steal... never again... just pull us up... the smell is too strong..."
Niu Fugui, beyond caring about face now, nodded repeatedly,
"We were wrong... we won't dare cause trouble again... Village Chief Wang, be magnanimous, spare us..."
Zheng Tongwei gave a cold laugh,
"Spare you? Maybe. But how do we settle the account for you scaring our rabbits?"
"How about you compensate our rabbits with some feed!"
Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang didn't dare refuse, agreeing repeatedly from within the manure pit.
Only then did the villagers hand over poles and shoulder poles, pulling the two men out with many hands.
Both were covered in manure, with rotting leaves stuck in their hair, so foul-smelling no one dared get close.
Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang, not even bothering with their filthy state, scrambled and crawled their way out of Wang Family Village, even forgetting the sack of rabbits they'd brought with them.
Watching their disgraceful retreating figures, the villagers cheered in unison, their eyes gleaming with vindication.
After this ordeal, Niu Fugui and Qian Mancang were thoroughly defeated. Not only had they failed to steal the chicken and lost the rice, they also earned themselves the nickname "The Manure Pit Duo," becoming the biggest laughingstock in the entire town.
It's said they fell seriously ill after returning home, took detours around any manure pit they saw, and never dared mention Wang Family Village's rabbits again.
...
