Chapter 45: In for a Penny, in for a Pound

The village chief was first startled by his gaze, and then infuriated by his words.

He wanted to throw a tantrum, but he did not dare!

The air suddenly fell silent as everyone simply stood there, quietly staring at the supreme and arrogant man sitting in the chair.

Yang Wenbin’s mind raced with countless thoughts. Summoning his courage, he cupped his fists and said, "My lord, please do not be deceived by these two people."

After saying this, he glanced at Long Tianyu and saw that Long Tianyu raised his eyes to look at him, yet showed no sign of displeasure.

Excitedly, he exaggerated and recounted all of Jiang Lihua’s changes from the past to the present, as well as the fabrication of the thousand-year-old ginseng story that Ni Wenyu had concocted to protect Jiang Lihua.

When he finished, he looked at Long Tianyu expectantly, hoping that Long Tianyu would see through the true nature of these two and have them executed.

Long Tianyu let out a disdainful chuckle.

What kind of people had he not seen? The only reason he had let Yang Wenbin continue talking was to hear about his junior martial brother and Jiang Lihua.

Although he had already sent people to investigate.

Investigations, after all, were never quite thorough enough.

Hearing it now, Jiang Lihua's death and rebirth truly seemed very peculiar.

As for Ni Wenyu's protection of Jiang Lihua, he was not surprised at all. At a single glance, he could tell that this foolish young man was fond of Jiang Lihua, and fabricating lies to protect the one in his heart was entirely normal.

However, this group of ungrateful wretches truly deserved to die.

Long Tianyu spoke, "Release them, and I will spare your lives!"

"My lord!" Yang Wenbin cried out in reluctance.

Long Tianyu gave him a faint glance.

Feeling the impatience in those eyes, Yang Wenbin did not dare to say another word.

Everyone collectively looked at the village chief.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in the village chief's eyes.

Since things had come to this, and this man was now injured as well, they might as well burn them all to death together.

He spoke up, "Everyone, do not be afraid of this evil creature. He is in cahoots with Jiang Lihua. Now that he is injured, let us tie him up together."

Yang Wenbin was quite surprised by the village chief's boldness and decisiveness, but this suited his intentions perfectly. Burning them all to death would be for the best.

To be safe, he decided not to get involved. He secretly gave the Mrs. Sun a look, then retreated to the edge of the crowd to watch from the sidelines, so as not to draw fire onto himself.

"That's right, what man in this world can grow to look like this? He must be an evil monster from the mountains. Let's capture him and burn him together."

With the village chief and Mrs. Sun making such a fuss, the atmosphere was no longer as tense as before, and everyone swarmed forward, wanting to tie Long Tianyu up.

How utterly ignorant!

Jiang Lihua shook her head. One could tell merely from his aura that Long Tianyu’s identity was extraordinary.

Yet this group of people was audacious enough to attempt to burn him to death as well!

Though Long Tianyu appeared calm and composed on the surface, inwardly he was cursing Gu Qingran a million times over.

When he sent the message to Elder Bai, he had sent word to Gu Qingran as well.

Yet at a time like this, Gu Qingran had still not arrived.

If he were truly tied up by this mob of unruly villagers, where would his dignity be?

A villager lunged toward him, only to be kicked away by a single strike from him. The exertion pulled at the wound on his back, causing cold sweat to break out from the pain.

As soon as Gu Qingran arrived here, he witnessed this chaotic scene. Shouting in a booming voice at this bunch of audacious, unruly villagers, he declared, "What are you doing? Stop at once!"

The chaotic scene fell silent as everyone turned to look at the newcomer.

Those two wretched creatures truly had good lives, always having someone to rescue them. However, Yang Wenbin secretly rejoiced that he had not gotten involved.

The village chief was also left speechless; why was it that whenever a critical moment arrived, someone always showed up to save the day?

Jiang Lihua was truly tenacious!

She was born specifically to plague him.

Looking at the newcomer, he asked with an unpleasant expression, "This is our village's business. I advise you not to meddle in other people's affairs!"

Gu Qingran could not be bothered to waste words with this mob of unruly villagers and directly drew his long sword. "Release them. If any of you dare to act recklessly again, you will all die."

When had the people of the village ever witnessed such a spectacle?

They were instantly terrified by Gu Qingran's aura. Fearing that he would go on a massacre, the timid ones already rushed forward to untie the ropes binding Jiang Lihua and Ni Wenyu.

The three of them gathered around Long Tianyu.

The wound on Long Tianyu's back had split open. Jiang Lihua took him inside to tend to his injuries, while Ni Wenyu and Gu Qingran remained outside to deal with the village chief.

Jiang Lihua emerged after finishing treating Long Tianyu's wound.

The village chief and the others were all kneeling on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy the moment they saw Jiang Lihua.

"Lihua, for the sake of us being fellow villagers, please spare us."

"That's right, we were only deceived by the village chief and the Yang family."

"It was all the village chief who bewitched us into coming."

The village chief's aged face twisted in anger, his hands trembling with rage.

These fair-weather friends—if he hadn't told them that once Jiang Lihua was gone, her wealth would be distributed equally among everyone, would they have ever come?

Jiang Lihua walked up to the village chief and looked down at him from above. "Does the village chief have anything to say?"

Spitting on the ground toward her, the village chief retorted, "I have nothing to say. You are clearly an evil spirit, not the real Jiang Lihua from before."

Jiang Lihua smiled slightly and addressed the crowd, "Have I not treated you all well?"

The villagers lowered their heads and remained silent.

In truth, ever since Jiang Lihua opened her processing workshop, she had hired people for work and bought vegetables within the village, which greatly increased their income.

However, the conditions offered by the village chief were simply too tempting, and they too had wanted to make their families' lives a little better.

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Jiang Lihua said no more. Further talk was useless.

Turning to Gu Qingran, she said, "Thank you, Brother Gu. Please handle the village chief and these people as you see fit."

Gu Qingran nodded.

Jiang Lihua knew that since these people had wanted to burn Long Tianyu to death, Gu Qingran would certainly not let them off easily, so she did not need to make a redundant effort.

She needed to go to the processing workshop to check on Uncle Jiang and Mother Zhang.

Why had they not come out to help despite such a massive commotion?

Upon hearing that Jiang Lihua was not going to plead for them, but was instead handing them over to an outsider to deal with, the villagers' faces filled with anger.

"Lihua, how can your heart be so cruel? We are all fellow villagers from the same neighborhood."

"Exactly, Lihua, look, you weren't even hurt. Just let us go."

"That's right, just beg this young gentleman to spare us."

Jiang Lihua was almost amused to laughter by their thick-skinned shamelessness. "Just now, why didn't you say anything about sparing us for the sake of being fellow villagers?"

The crowd wailed endlessly, "We were only following the village chief's orders; we had no choice!"

These ungrateful and treacherous people would find no softness in her heart.

Jiang Lihua sneered, "Now, I have no choice either."

A man shouted, "She is nothing but an evil spirit, cold-hearted and merciless! Everyone, stop begging her!"

Ha, an evil spirit let it be, then.

Jiang Lihua sent Carpenter Wang's family, who had spoken up for her, back to their home. As for the rest, she left them entirely for Gu Qingran to handle.

Mrs. Zhou lunged forward to grab her. "Lihua, Mother came here only because she was tricked by them."

Giving Mrs. Zhou a cold look and hesitating for a moment, Jiang Lihua shook off Mrs. Zhou's grip and walked toward the processing workshop alongside Ni Wenyu.

Originally, she had intended to use the promise of sparing Mrs. Zhou as leverage to force her into revealing who her biological parents were. But upon second thought, she decided against it—what if it turned out to be yet another eccentric family?

It was better to simply live alone like this!

Upon reaching the workshop, the voices of Uncle Jiang and the others could be heard from within. It turned out that the outer doors of the workshop had been locked from the outside.

It seemed the village chief and his faction had indeed been determined to burn them all to death today.

Ni Wenyu found a large stone and smashed the lock open.

Uncle Jiang and the others rushed out immediately. "Miss, what is going on?"

Jiang Lihua recounted the events of tonight to them.

Uncle Jiang's eyes blazed with fury, while Mother Zhang and Auntie Zhao stood lingering nearby in lingering fear, pulling Jiang Lihua close as they wept.

If not for their great fortune, their young mistress would likely have been burned to death by this group of people!

Jiang Lihua brought them back with her, as Gu Qingran had already finished dealing with that group of people.

The ringleader, the village chief, was sent to the official yamen. Mrs. Sun and Yang Wenbin were each given fifty heavy paddle strikes, while everyone else received thirty paddle strikes to teach them a memorable lesson.

"Lihua, Wenyu, what are your plans for the future?" Gu Qingran asked.

Looking at Jiang Lihua, Ni Wenyu said, "Lihua, let's go live in the town together!"

His original plan had been to take Lihua away from this place only after he passed the imperial provincial examination. But human calculations could never match the twists of fate, and Lihua Village was clearly no good place to stay.

He might as well use this opportunity to take her away from here.

True to his expectation, Lihua nodded and agreed to his suggestion.

"It is best if you are willing to leave. I will arrange a house for you in town," Gu Qingran said.

Ni Wenyu and Jiang Lihua offered their thanks in unison, "Thank you, Brother Gu."

This was not the time to be prideful, and since they were unfamiliar with the town, it was best that Gu Qingran could help arrange things.

This kindness was something they would repay in the future.

Gu Qingran waved his hand. "No need for formalities. Lihua has saved my life as well, so a house is a small matter."

Ni Wenyu was His Highness's junior martial brother.

Coupled with the fact that His Highness was currently recovering from injuries here, it was evident that His Highness intended to cultivate Ni Wenyu.

Even if Jiang Lihua had not saved him, he would still have had to make proper arrangements.

To move was to act; taking advantage of the fact that the sun had not yet set, they found a village ox cart to transport them to the town.

Uncle Jiang and the others stayed behind to pack up their belongings and would head to the town the next day.

Jiang Lihua and the others spent their first night at an inn.

The very next day, Gu Qingran selected a courtyard house for them.

The courtyard featured two main rooms, two wing rooms, and two utility rooms, which was more than enough space for them to live comfortably.

Because Long Tianyu was currently nursing injuries and other places were unsafe, he temporarily stayed together with Jiang Lihua and the others.

The moment Jiang Lihua stepped into this courtyard, she fell in love with it. The grounds were swept clean and neat.

It was now the third month of spring, and in a corner of the courtyard stood a pear tree. Its branches put forth tender new buds tinged with pale green, looking as though before long they would burst into full green leaves and blossom into pure white pear flowers.

Walking over to the pear tree, Jiang Lihua naturally began to recite her favorite poem about pear flowers.

"Pear flowers pale white, willows deep green, catkins flying as blossoms fill the city.
Melancholy, a patch of snow by the eastern railing; how clear can a lifetime appear when looked upon?"

Ni Wenyu, Long Tianyu, and Gu Qingran all gazed at the young girl dressed in a pale green quilted jacket with her hair styled in double buns.

Standing beneath the pear tree and gazing up at it, her small face beamed with a brilliant smile, and her sparkling eyes made her look exceptionally delicate and charming.

At that very moment, all three men forgot to harbor any suspicion as to how a rural country girl who had never studied books could possibly recite poetry.

With her captivating smile and alluring, darting eyes, the scene was deeply etched into Ni Wenyu's mind.

A sudden breeze swept past, carrying a hint of coolness. Long Tianyu coughed twice, bringing everyone back to their senses as they helped him indoors.

Jiang Lihua took the main room on the right, the main room on the left was given to Long Tianyu, and Ni Wenyu temporarily occupied a wing room.

Once Uncle Jiang and the others arrived with their packed belongings, this place would truly become their home.