"Grandma!" Ah Jiu quickly retreated into the woods.
"Those villagers went to our field."
"Let them go, they're just ordinary folk."
Wang Shi said it with such nonchalance that Ah Jiu became indignant. "Aren't you even a little bit concerned? All you care about is whether you have spiritual spring water to drink? Grandma, you're too selfish."
"Selfishness is human nature. There are karmic principles at play here, and I won't get entangled in unnecessary karma."
Wang Shi said this with a calm expression. In Ah Jiu's eyes, she was a crooked, ugly melon that had fallen from the heavens, untouched by worldly affairs.
"Are you going or not? If you don't go, I won't give you spiritual spring water anymore."
Ah Jiu glanced back. She knew that even if she went to make a fuss, she couldn't defeat them.
"I'll go now."
Wang Shi got up and ran with surprising speed.
Ah Jiu felt a sense of relief and followed closely behind, then looked back, worried about her fruits.
Ah Jiu decided to stay and guard her fruits.
She squatted down and craned her neck to see her grandmother at the edge of the field shouting loudly, "What are you doing here?"
She saw those people frantically digging at the edge of the field, even getting down on the ground to pick something up and stuff it into their clothes.
As expected, her father's wheat seeds, which he had planted that day, were being dug up and they intended to claim them as their own.
"Where did you old thing pop out from? Are you one of the refugees?"
The man who spoke stood up, and Ah Jiu finally saw clearly that it was the uncle who had threatened to report them earlier that evening.
Ah Jiu watched anxiously, wondering what method her grandmother would use to stop them from causing trouble.
As she was thinking, with a cry of pain, Wang Shi lay straight on the ground, "They're hitting me, they're killing me... Someone help!"
"You... I didn't hit you. You all saw it. I didn't touch him."
The scrawny uncle was terrified and didn't know what to do, staring in horror at Wang Shi rolling on the ground.
Wang Shi clutched her stomach, "Oh, my heart hurts... I'm going to report you to the village elder. Not only are you stealing our seeds in the middle of the night, but you're also hitting people. Oh, I'm dying, someone help!"
Damn it, Ah Jiu never dreamed that her usually proud grandmother would resort to such a low-class tactic.
"I didn't... I didn't touch you, old woman, don't talk nonsense."
The scrawny uncle, scared, turned and fled. Instantly, people from the village who had been woken up came out.
These past few days, the deaths of three people had been linked to demons and monsters, and the villagers had been sleeping restlessly every night. Any slight disturbance would bring them out.
Some were even carrying farming tools, like hoes, sickles, shovels, and kitchen knives, while others carried heavy door bars.
Ah Jiu quickly put the ripe pomegranates, peaches, and watermelons into her basket, occasionally craning her neck to look in her grandmother's direction.
Indeed, as Grandma had said, each generation was worse than the last. Ah Jiu had planted three watermelons this time, but only six had grown in total.
There were also fewer peaches than before. It seemed she still had to get seeds from the spiritual space for the fruits to be so pleasing.
After picking all of them, the large basket from Grandpa Niu's house was just filled.
Ah Jiu pulled the basket into the woods and then cut down the watermelon vines and pomegranate trees to cover them.
Only then did she head towards the crowd.
"Zhang Da, what are you doing? Didn't we discuss this this evening? Tomorrow, we'll see the situation with the government officials. If not, Miss Meng promised to help us. Why are you out here stealing seeds in the middle of the night?"
The village elder was reprimanding the dark and thin uncle named Zhang Da.
"That's right, Zhang Da. We're all in a hurry to plant, and it's not just you. You did this thing, and then you even hit someone."
Some of the righteous villagers spoke up to help.
Wang Shi, who was rolling on the ground covered in mud, increased her wailing upon hearing this:
"My old bones probably won't make it. Who can withstand being hit by a young man... I'm falling apart."
Ah Jiu almost stared in disbelief as she squeezed into the crowd.
Grandma would sometimes hold her forehead, sometimes rub her old waist, "My body hurts, my chest hurts, my legs hurt, my butt hurts, I can't live anymore. Elder Li Zheng, you must stand up for me..."
"This..." The village elder was also stunned. He looked at Zhang Da, "Zhang Da, how could you hit an old person too?"
"I really didn't hit this old woman... If I had touched a single finger of hers, may I die a terrible death."
Zhang Da shivered in fear.