A peasant girl traveled through time and space, and she became prosperous

"Fine wine, these people all stole your grain. I've gathered them together, do whatever you want with them."

After the village chief finished speaking with Wen Meijiu, he turned around, put his hands behind his back, and showed everyone his back. The meaning was clear: their fate would be decided by Wen Meijiu.

Wang Baoquan wanted to apologize to the village chief, since the village chief was the most senior member of the Wen family clan. He could easily regain the forgiveness of the entire village by simply bowing his head, which was a worthwhile deal.

Now that the village chief had Wen Meijiu deal with them, he instantly felt ashamed and had nowhere to hide. He looked at the others and saw that they were all hanging their heads, not much better off than him.

His eyes darted around, and he suddenly raised his hand, shouting at the village chief's retreating figure:

"Brother, I oppose your decision."

You can do whatever you want with me. Even if you tear me to pieces, I definitely won't utter a single complaint.

She's just a young girl, she has no right to boss us elders around like that. If that's your attitude, then I'd rather not admit my mistake.

After he finished speaking, he nudged the people standing next to him with his elbow.

Driven by the gambler's mentality, the others, clinging to a gambler's hope, joined in the shouting, though their voices were much lower than Wang Baoquan's due to their guilty conscience.

Wang Baoquan was not afraid of Wen Meijiu because he had heard that Wen Meijiu had not punished Wen Deren and had even made him take back the millet he had been compensated with.

Compared to what Wen Deren and his wife did, he felt that what he did was nothing at all. At most, he wanted to steal, but he didn't succeed. If he didn't succeed, could that be considered stealing?

The village chief turned around, his eyes wide, glaring angrily at Wang Baoquan, whose neck was stiff. He slapped the back of his left hand against his right palm, questioning him with obvious heartache:

“You didn’t take my grain, it was someone else’s winery. We asked you to apologize to them, and you’re putting on airs.”

Brother, to put it bluntly, what does this have to do with me? You don't need to use your seniority to intimidate me.

"The wine decides, not me."

The village chief gave Wang Bao face because they were of the same generation; he was too embarrassed to use the word "steal" directly in front of Wen Meijiu.

"Brother, you said you were taking it, but I didn't take it. I scattered it all on the ground, even under her carriage. What does that have to do with me?"

If she really cared about wasting food, she could just pick it up from the ground, wash it, and still eat it, right?

Wang Baoquan was stealing millet meant for warm wine, but when Zhi Zheng startled him, he spilled it all on the ground.

The ground was dry, but it was covered in dust from being walked on so many times. If millet fell on it, it would be difficult to pick it up. How could he have the nerve to say that, without showing any remorse?

Whether they wash it or not is their problem. What you're doing now is admitting your mistake. How can you compare the two?

Knowing he was trying to muddy the waters, the village chief wouldn't tolerate it.

From this farce, the village chief also realized that no matter what kind of village chief he is, when things really come to a head, he really can't control anyone. From now on, the fate of the entire village can only depend on Wen Meijiu.

The days on the road of fleeing famine were already difficult enough, and he did not want his entire clan to start killing each other before even reaching Donghai County.

Therefore, a rule must be established for everyone, and this rule must be established by Wen Meijiu.

"Brother, I trusted you so much. We used to be on good terms, and I would help your family whenever they needed anything. Now it seems I was just being too nice to you. I was just being presumptuous."

When Wang Baoquan heard that the village chief really didn't intend to help him anymore, he was immediately disappointed and angry, and his words were particularly harsh.

"One thing at a time. If it were anything else, I would definitely go to great lengths for you."

The village chief lowered his head, let out a long sigh, and said that things still needed to be made clear.

Wang Baoquan usually tries to curry favor with the village chief, firstly because the village chief has some power and prestige, and secondly because the village chief has many sons, and his family won't suffer any losses if they help each other.

In reality, no matter how much he did for the village chief, the village chief would compensate him in other ways and would never take advantage of him.

The village chief, however, wasn't as thick-skinned as him, and didn't speak with the same confidence.

With a sneer, Wang Baoquan pulled out his pipe from his lower back, tapped it on his left hand, and said mercilessly, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes:

"Since you're so loyal, brother, why don't you take the blame for your brother this time?"

How could he say such shameless things? The village chief was furious. Seeing him looking at him so calmly, he wanted nothing more than to slap him.

The two of them stood there, staring at each other, frozen in place.

Those people were all looking at Wang Baoquan. As long as Wang Baoquan was safe, they didn't need to apologize to Wen Meijiu. In any case, the grain they had taken had been returned, and they hadn't gained any real benefits.

Wen Meijiu was extremely grateful that the village chief spoke up for her, and of course she wouldn't let the village chief lose face because of her.

Wang Baoquan is a man who cares a lot about his reputation and likes to act arrogantly because of his age. He is shameless when he does bad things. Wen Meijiu knows this very well after dealing with him a few times.

Wen Meijiu tugged at the village chief's sleeve, gently comforting him and telling him not to hurt himself over such a small matter, as there was still a long road ahead.

After calming the village chief down, Wen Meijiu greeted everyone and said:

"Fellow villagers, you all share the same surname, Wen, and you are all family. As long as you admit your mistakes, you are still one family."

Since the village chief has stepped in, I have to give him face. Anyone who admits their mistake can come to my house and get a bowl of cornmeal.

I know that everyone did this because of food shortages at home and being incited by others, but that doesn't mean it's justified.

Wang Baoquan wanted to get everyone to join him, but Wen Meijiu did the opposite, isolating him.

On the way to escape famine, food was running out, and the road ahead seemed endless. Everyone was panicked. Forget about robbery, even murder and arson were commonplace.

Wen Meijiu didn't dwell on those things; what she cared about was who stabbed her in the back.

"I was wrong, Meijiu. It's all my fault for being hard of hearing. I listened to other people's slander and did such a foolish thing. I'll apologize to you right now and then go apologize to your parents later."

A bowl of cornmeal worked so quickly that someone immediately admitted their mistake and was surprisingly polite.

"Yes, we'll still be family from now on, Uncle."

Wen Meijiu greeted the first person who apologized to her with a broad smile.

“Hey, hey, hey…”

Wang Baoquan tried to stop the man, but the man dodged him and went straight for the warm wine.

After failing to stop the first person, Wen Baoquan tried to stop the second person, but the person ignored him completely, pushed his arm, and walked past him again.

Seeing that everyone had admitted their mistakes and gone to collect their cornmeal, Wang Baoquan stomped his feet and stood there cursing, calling them disloyal and two-faced.