The commotion of three people quickly drew a crowd of villagers around them.
Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang started whispering back and forth, trying to smear Father Pei’s name.
“That old troublemaker has a bad heart—he deliberately knocked over the fertilizer.”
“Exactly, all to hold back Wang Family Village.”
“I suspect he has ulterior motives for coming to our village.”
“Could he be trying to cause trouble for us?”
Between the lines, it was clear they were trying to shirk responsibility for the spilled fertilizer and pin the blame squarely on Father Pei.
Father Pei stood silently, not defending himself.
Under the sway of public opinion, words felt hollow and powerless.
Soon, Wang Jianguo hurried over, anxious and upset.
Those two fools didn’t even know how to apply fertilizer properly.
Damn it, if only he had done it himself, this bag wouldn’t have gone to waste.
These three bags of fertilizer were hard-won, wrested from the technician’s hands, and now one was ruined for nothing.
The thought pained Wang Jianguo deeply.
When he arrived at the edge of the field and saw Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang leading the villagers in attacking Father Pei, his anger flared.
“What are you doing?”
“Vi-Village Chief,” Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang shrank back, seeing Wang Jianguo’s grim expression.
But thinking of Father Pei as the scapegoat, they quickly regained their confidence.
“This isn’t our fault; it’s all his.”
“Right, he’s the one who knocked the fertilizer over.”
Wang Jianguo looked at Father Pei. “Comrade Pei, what do you have to say?”
“Yes, I did knock the fertilizer bag into the field,” Father Pei admitted without denial.
“Village Chief, see? The old man admitted it himself,” Wang Daqiang said eagerly.
“That’s right, we’re not falsely accusing him,” Wang Daming said with a smug look.
“I haven’t finished,” Father Pei’s sharp eyes swept over Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang. “I didn’t knock it over on purpose. Someone else pushed me.”
Wang Jianguo still didn’t understand what was going on. After all these years as village chief, was it all for nothing?
“Who else saw what happened just now?”
The villagers looked at each other, busy with their work—no one had seen anything.
Without any witnesses, Wang Jianguo would have no choice but to split the blame evenly.
“Village Chief, I saw it. That troublemaker knocked over the fertilizer. It has nothing to do with Daming and Daqiang,” Wang Xiumei’s grandmother stepped forward.
“Exactly, I saw it too. It’s got nothing to do with my family’s Daming and Daqiang,” Wang Xiumei’s grandfather arrived just then.
Some villagers chuckled. “You weren’t even working in the field. How could you see it?”
“I saw it, that’s all,” Wang Xiumei’s grandfather said with a defiant look, as if daring anyone to question him.
Except for Wang Dazhi’s family of three, everyone else started chiming in, claiming they saw it.
This was a shameless tactic through and through!
Pei Yunxi, hot-tempered as she was, wanted to rush out and harshly scold Wang Xiumei’s grandparents for their shamelessness, but someone held her back.
Turning around, she saw Shen Nanchu.
Seeing Shen Nanchu gave Pei Yunxi a sense of calm and resolve—she no longer felt rushed or angry.
Shen Nanchu smiled as she walked up to Wang Jianguo. “Village Chief, I just saw it clearly. It was those two brothers who pushed my dad.”
What does it mean to defeat magic with magic? This is it.
Isn’t this just perjury?
Who doesn’t do that nowadays?
They have numbers on their side, right?
But the Pei family isn’t small either!
Grandma Pei immediately caught on. “That’s right, it was those two who pushed my son.”
Grandpa Pei chimed in, “Yes, it was those two rascals who shoved him down.”
Pei’s Mother added, “Those two pushed my husband.”
Pei Yunxi said, “They pushed my dad down.”
Pei Yunzhou nodded, “Yes, I saw it too.”
Wang Jianguo felt like he was about to grow a few more gray hairs.
How on earth was he supposed to handle this?
Maybe he should just leave it to his wife’s man.
In the end, Wang Jianguo decided to pin his hopes on others.
“Did anyone else see what happened just now?”
The villagers fell silent.
After almost a minute, a trembling voice finally spoke up.
“I saw it just now. It really was those two young men who pushed Comrade Pei down.”
An old man who had been helping Father Pei carry fertilizer stepped forward.
“You’re all in cahoots, obviously covering for each other,” Wang Daming immediately launched an attack at the elder.
“Exactly, a bunch of sneaky leeks,” Wang Daqiang even managed to pull out a rare idiom he remembered.
Shen Nanchu: ……
Ignorance really is terrifying.
“Well, surely you’ll believe me now?”
Wang Dazhi finally summoned the courage to stand up.
“I saw it. It was my big brother and little brother who pushed Comrade Pei down.”
The Wang family members had just contradicted their own kin, making Wang Dazhi’s testimony all the more credible.
Wang Jianguo didn’t even have to think twice before shooting Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang a pair of sharp glances.
Grandpa and Grandma Wang Xiumei glared fiercely at Wang Dazhi.
“Village Chief, don’t believe a word Wang Dazhi says. He’s a habitual liar.”
“What he says can’t be trusted.”
Wang Dazhi felt bitter inside, but he just couldn’t bring himself to lie.
Wang Xiumei and Sun Fang, standing behind Wang Dazhi, also spoke up.
“Grandpa, you clearly went to the bathroom just now. How could you have seen Uncle and Fourth Uncle?”
“Mom, didn’t you just go home to get money?”
Several villagers also joined in with their own testimonies.
“Right, I saw Grandpa Xiumei in the bathroom.”
“I even asked Grandma Xiumei why she went home.”
Just like that, all the so-called evidence crumbled to dust.
Wang Jianguo knew all his suspicions had been spot on.
Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang still refused to admit anything.
“Wang Dazhi is lying, I didn’t do it.”
“Exactly! Wang Dazhi’s family is just jealous that we brothers have parents who love us, so they’re deliberately framing us.”
It was truly a case of not believing until the coffin is seen.
Shen Nanchu pointed to the ground.
“Village Chief, there are footprints on the ridge—my dad’s and theirs. You’ll see once you look.”
The ridge was damp, and anyone who stepped on it with force would leave clear footprints.
No matter how much Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang tried to argue, it was useless.
Facts speak louder than words.
Wang Jianguo shot a fierce glare at the two brothers.
“You two will pay the village back for the fertilizer money. Twenty yuan per bag of fertilizer, ten yuan each.”
“Village Chief, you didn’t calculate the money right,” Shen Nanchu spoke up to remind Wang Jianguo.
“No way, right?”
Wang Jianguo was completely baffled. How could the money for the fertilizer he bought be recorded incorrectly?
Shen Nanchu pointed to the farmland where the fertilizer had just been spread. “Village Chief, the fertilizer applied to this field is excessive. The crops here will get burned.”
“If we calculate it this way, this acre of land will yield nothing. They should compensate the village with the equivalent price of one acre’s grain.”
“That would be about 65 yuan per acre.”
“Wait, that’s not right. If the fertilizer had been applied properly, the yield would have doubled, which means 65 yuan plus another 65 yuan, totaling 130 yuan.”
“Add the 20 yuan spent on the fertilizer, and the total comes to 150 yuan.”
……
