After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

"what is that?"

Li Quanfu exclaimed "Eh!" and strode towards the courtyard wall next to the Zhang family's gate.

On the wall near the gate of the Zhang family compound, a black circle-like object was half-buried in a pile of shimmering snow.

Xu Zhuzhu was secretly delighted; finally, someone had noticed.

She was afraid no one would see it, so she didn't put it in the yard, but deliberately placed it on the top of the yard wall. As a result, apart from her, no one in the group of onlookers paid any attention to it, which was a real miscalculation.

Of course, Xu Zhuzhu didn't see Li Quanfu herself. Just a short while ago, she deliberately moved closer to Li Quanfu and then asked Xu An in a childish voice what that thing was, her voice just loud enough.

……

Everyone looked over and saw Li Quanfu's puzzled expression turn serious as he carefully took the item down from the wall.

The villagers rushed forward, all sticking their heads out.

Xu Wenjie was the first one. He pretended to be surprised and went up to the trap. He picked up the trap and looked at it carefully. His expression changed drastically in an instant.

"Village Chief, isn't this the animal trap you lent me?"

Everyone exclaimed in surprise, "There's no way to deny it now!"

Li Quanfu frowned, threw the object in front of Zhang Xiaolin with a thud, and coldly questioned, "Brother Xiaolin, explain yourself. How did this thing end up on your wall?"

Gone was his usual affable and honest demeanor, replaced by a more authoritative air. Hearing Li Quanfu's tone, one could tell he sounded more like a village head than before.

Xu Wenjie was very happy.

Zhang Xiaolin, however, remained tense, his fearless expression frozen in place, though his eyes darted around, clearly having already broken down.

In the instant he came to his senses, his first thought was to excuse himself, and he cursed his still unconscious father in his heart for doing such unreliable things.

Throw something onto your own wall.

"how could I know!"

He turned away impatiently and argued loudly, "Maybe someone threw this thing onto my wall?"

His eyes darted away, and he seemed very guilty.

They're quite good at making excuses.

When Zhang Chenshi saw this, she swallowed back her sobs. Looking at the sharp gazes of the crowd, her face turned pale, and countless excuses for her son flashed through her mind.

The moment he opened his mouth, he was ultimately unable to utter a word.

He could only sigh, stammer as he looked at Zhang Xiaolin, and muttered, "Son."

Master Zhang was also shocked, but his first thought was still to protect Zhang Xiaolin.

"Xiao Lin is right. Who said he stepped on the wall of his house?"

The onlookers were unimpressed, especially Old Lady Wang, whose mouth had just been covered. She loudly mocked, "He really knows how to spout nonsense. This is the first time I've ever seen that this young man from the Zhang family can argue so much better than an old woman like me. He's as stubborn as my iron pot. He can't even deny something that's obvious."

Zhang He cried even harder, "Uncle Zhang, if you really want that prescription, I will copy it and give it to you, but please return the original copy. I won't pursue the rest."

Zhang Xiaolin's feet were in excruciating pain, and the noise from a group of people around him made him furious.

Seeing her mother crying like this, Xu Zhuzhu rushed to comfort her, and Zhang He then hugged the two children and started crying as well.

Who among us doesn't have a deceased relative?

Especially when she saw the constables carrying the body last time, Pear Blossom's mother had just passed away before the New Year. Seeing Zhang He crying so heartbreakingly, she couldn't bear to go up and comfort her.

“Madam Xu, the things will definitely be returned. Don’t cry yourself sick.” She then tried to persuade Zhang Chenshi, her eyes red, “Second Aunt Zhang, you should also persuade Uncle Lin. Who doesn’t want to keep a memory of their parents? Madam Xu is new here, and her hometown is far away. She can’t even visit the graves of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Since you’ve said that, just return the things.”

She and Zhang Chenshi were neighbors. Although Zhang Chenshi didn't go out often, she often went to Zhang's house to keep Zhang Chenshi company and relieve her boredom. Now she couldn't help but speak up as well.

Pear Blossom's mother was a well-known virtuous wife in the village, and her words came from the bottom of her heart, were reasonable and well-founded, and everyone who heard them couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

With a pained expression, Zhang Chenshi clenched her hands tightly. After hesitating for a long time, she tugged at her son beside her and stammered, "Son, if you took it, give it back!"

Zhang Xiaolin abruptly shook off his mother's hand, jumping up and down in anger, but his foot was hurting. He yelled irritably, "Mom! Why won't you believe me?"

The way he said that made it sound like he was usually very trustworthy. Nobody cared about his reputation anymore. It was only after he moved out in the last two years that things became more peaceful in the village. Nobody wanted to pretend anymore and started to look at him with mocking eyes.

"I didn't take it!"

"Who would believe that!" someone in the crowd said, and everyone started demanding that Zhang Xiaolin return the items.

Seeing that Zhang Xiaolin was in a weak position, Third Master Zhang wanted to step in and help, but Fourth Master Zhang stopped him, saying, "Third Brother, it's best not to get involved in some things. If this gets entangled in a lawsuit, you'll only be asking for trouble."

Master Zhang glared angrily, "You think you're so smart! You even scheme against your own nephew!"

He flung Zhang Siye's hand away, but didn't say another word.

Looking at Zhang Sanye's foolish appearance, Zhang Siye spat and turned his head away, preferring to ignore it.

Seeing this, Li Quanfu glanced at Xu Wenjie, who nodded slightly, and then stopped worrying about other things, speaking sternly:

"Now the evidence is conclusive. Zhang Xiaolin, if you still have any remorse, return the items yourself, or I'll have to search the house."

After saying that, he called over a few young men to drive away Zhang Xiaolin and Zhang Chenshi, who were blocking the courtyard gate.

Zhang Xiaolin didn't take anything at all, and he wasn't afraid of being searched. But if they just searched the house like that, what face would the Zhang family have left in the village?

He roared, "Li Lao Er, what the hell are you pretending for! Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have a brother-in-law backing you up. I'm telling you, if you follow me into this courtyard today, I'll make sure you can't live in Lao Ya Village! Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle, say something! We can't let people bully us like this."

Upon hearing the shouts, Zhang Sanye was about to grunt when Zhang Siye interrupted him, saying, "Xiao Lin, let's search. We're innocent, so don't panic. If anything happens, your third uncle will protect you."

Zhang Xiaolin rolled his eyes, knowing he couldn't be counted on, and his fourth uncle's words were more pleasant than anyone else's.

Those hot-blooded young men were not very happy at first, but upon hearing this, all the dissatisfaction they had accumulated over the years erupted at this moment.

A strong young man said indignantly, "Zhang Xiaolin, your Zhang family is only doing this because of the good deeds of your ancestors. We villagers have respected your Zhang family for so many years, but you've become less and less human! Without your ancestors, you're nothing! You're just pretending to be my grandpa!"

After saying that, he swung his fist and stepped forward, making a move to give Zhang Xiaolin a good beating.

Zhang Xiaolin, who was all bark and no bite, turned pale instantly. His domineering attitude was the result of everyone's tolerance, and now that someone was no longer tolerant, he was naturally afraid.

"Wang Dazhuang... what are you trying to do? I know people from the Zhou family. If you dare hit me, I'll take you to the authorities, and you'll be in big trouble!"

Sure enough, upon hearing that it was the Zhou family, the young man named Wang Dazhuang paused, his hands stopping what they were doing. He frowned and tentatively asked, "The Zhou family?"

"Is it the Zhou family, the big landowners in town?"

"Which other Zhou family could it be? I advise you to be sensible." Zhang Xiaolin said smugly.

Zhang Xiaolin thought that mentioning the Zhou family would make Wang Dazhuang wary, but to his surprise, Wang Dazhuang laughed loudly instead, "Zhang Xiaolin, you're bragging without considering the consequences! Your Zhang family and the Zhou family are completely unrelated, what could they possibly have to do with each other? So what if I beat you up today?"

Old Mrs. Wang grinned widely, laughing loudly with schadenfreude, "I never thought Dazhuang would have some backbone; he's a descendant of the Wang family!"

Wang Dazhuang's father and Wang Laotou were cousins, and he was also Wang Laotai's grand-cousin.

Xu Zhuzhu suddenly found this old lady Wang to be kind of cute. They shared the same surname, Wang, but compared to that dead old woman in town, she was much better.

Seeing this, Li Quanfu quickly pulled the person away.

It wasn't that they were afraid of the Zhang family, but rather that they were afraid Wang Dazhuang would be extorted by the Zhang family. They gently advised, "Just move them aside. We'll just go in and search their things, so they don't have any leverage against us."

The men received the order and did as instructed.

Zhang Chenshi instinctively tried to stop everyone from going in, but Zhang He stopped her, saying, "Auntie, you don't want Uncle Lin to be called a thief by the villagers for the rest of his life, do you? Don't worry, as long as he returns the things, I promise I will never pursue the matter further, and I will never let the village gossip about him."

Zhang Chenshi wasn't a scheming person; she would listen to anyone who said a few kind words. Zhang He's words at this moment were sincere, so how could Zhang Chenshi not be swayed?

At this moment, Zhang Xiaolin was left all alone and helpless. He was carried aside by four or five young men, but unexpectedly, they all picked on Zhang Xiaolin's injured foot.

Suddenly, pitiful howls and curses echoed over Laoya Village.