Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

Chen looked at him with exasperation, poking the village chief's head with her finger and cursing through gritted teeth, "You blockhead, I don't know how you became the village chief."

"Are you that stupid? You have to pay one month's rent in advance as a deposit. If you terminate the lease early, they won't give you back your deposit. At worst, they'll just take away one month's rent."

"But what you've done is this! If you raise the rent in advance, you'll have to pay five taels of silver in compensation. That's obviously unfair! Is this how you draft a contract? Why didn't you tell me about this beforehand!"

Chen cursed and swore, her fierce expression suggesting she wanted to devour the village chief.

The villagers who were watching were now thoroughly amused.

They tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead; they lifted a stone only to drop it on their own foot—that's a perfect description of them.

A woman laughed gleefully: "Oh, Chen, you thought you were so capable, thinking you could squeeze money out of someone, but now you've been outmaneuvered by a predator."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha……"

The people around immediately burst into laughter, their faces full of anticipation for a good show.

Seeing the villagers' gloating expressions as they watched her humiliation, Chen's face turned ashen with anger.

Looking around, he grabbed a broom and rushed into the crowd, chasing after people and slapping them: "You people, are you just bored and looking for trouble? All you do is try to make a fool of yourself. Get lost, don't let me see you again!"

Some people couldn't dodge in time and were hit on the feet several times by the broom.

A short, plump woman, though seemingly clumsy, moved with surprising agility, dodging Chen's broom left and right. She said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh~ it seems she's really angry. Let's go, or we might end up paying with our lives if she gets too angry."

"Get out! All of you, get out of here!"

Chen was already angry, and hearing those women say such sarcastic things only made her angrier.

The two sons and daughters-in-law didn't dare to say a word, afraid that she would take her anger out on them later.

Zhao Lian didn't care whether Chen was angry or not, and coldly glanced at her: "Well, have you thought it through? If you don't compensate, we'll see you at the government office!"

Hearing Zhao Lian say she was going to report it to the authorities, Yan Guihua quickly came over and tugged at her sleeve, whispering, "Zhao Lian, aren't we making a big fuss? She seems quite pitiful."

Sun Shangxiang interrupted her, saying, "Mother, you pity them, but they never thought we were pitiful."

Zheng Xiuzhen chimed in from the side: "That's right, we never intended to harm them, but they've been scheming against us by every possible means. We can't be polite to people like that!"

Zhao Lian held Yan Guihua's hand and blinked her big eyes: "Grandmother, my eldest and second aunts are right, you are just too soft-hearted."

"Think about it, if I hadn't come back, you would have been kicked out! You wouldn't even have a place to cry then."

Yan Guihua initially felt sorry for Chen, but after hearing what they said, she instantly realized that she was indeed too soft-hearted.

Liu Tiezhu said in a calm voice, "Mother, let's not worry about it. Let's leave this to Zhaolian's office!"

Chen was furious: "If I had five taels of silver, would I be bothered with your rent! Even if I did, I wouldn't give it to you!"

Zhao Lian raised an eyebrow and chuckled coldly, "You won't give it to me? Fine! Then let the government decide. But don't blame me for not reminding you, this is all in black and white, with your fingerprint on it."

"If this matter blows up, you'll still have to pay me five taels of silver. And don't let it implicate the village chief; whether he can keep his title is still a question."

Mrs. Chen was getting anxious. How could she not have thought of this? Although her husband didn't earn much each month, he still made some money.

But if I don't become the village chief, I won't get a single penny.

The village chief forced a smile: "Young lady, it's all because my wife is being unreasonable. We won't raise your rent now; it'll still be 100 coins a month."

"You're a magnanimous person. For my sake, let's just let this go, okay?"

Zhao Lian shook her head: "No, we can't let you bully us like this. You think you can just brush it off with a few words? There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

The village chief wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "So what do you want? Tell me!"

"Five taels of silver, not a penny less!"

"Old woman, how much silver do we have left?" The village chief turned to look at Chen.

Mrs. Chen went berserk: "Are you crazy! Where would we get so much money!"

The village chief then looked at his two sons, Li the Elder and Li the Younger, who immediately shook their heads vigorously: "Dad, we give all the money we earn to Mom, we don't have any!"

"Besides, the meager earnings we make aren't even enough to feed our family! How can we possibly have any money left over!"

Seeing that Zhao Lian wouldn't budge, Chen Shi simply sat down on the ground, pounding her chest and stamping her feet: "Heavens above, are we even allowed to live anymore? This little brat has bullied us so much, she's going to kill us!"

The onlookers didn't feel sorry for her; instead, they all scorned her, saying, "Pah! Serves her right!!!"

"In my opinion, the village chief is to blame. He speaks to us with great authority, but he can't even control his own wife. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in such a predicament."

Hearing the sarcastic remarks from those around him, the village chief's face flushed red and then turned pale. He couldn't help but shout, "Alright, old woman, get up! Aren't you ashamed enough already?"

"You old geezer, you watched me being bullied and then yelled at me. I must have been blind to have fallen for you!"

After being scolded like that, the village chief lost face even more: "Have you gone crazy enough? Get up right now!"

Then, the village chief said to his two daughters-in-law standing to the side, "What are you two standing there for? Hurry up and pull her up!"

The two daughters-in-law then realized what was happening and tried to pull Chen away, but Chen suddenly stood up and tried to scratch the village chief's face.

Fortunately, the two daughters-in-law reacted quickly and pulled him back; otherwise, the village chief might have been disfigured.

"What a misfortune for our family! What a misfortune for our family!" The village chief pounded his heart in regret.

As he spoke, the village chief looked at Zhao Lian with a mournful face: "Miss Zhao Lian, our family really can't afford that much silver. Why don't you take whatever you like from our house?"

"Wow..."

With tears streaming down her face, Chen cried out, "I can't live like this anymore! I might as well be dead!" With that, she shoved her two daughters-in-law aside and slammed her head against the corner of the wall.

"what……"

This happened so fast that no one had time to stop it. As they watched Chen about to crash into her, everyone's faces were filled with horror and their mouths were agape.

In that split second, a figure flashed by, and Zhao Lian reached out and grabbed Chen Shi, pulling her sharply and pushing her towards the village chief, who quickly caught her.