Making Things Difficult

Fang Yuan had rebuffed them so cleanly, even talking back. Village Chief Li and the village elders' expressions instantly turned extremely ugly.

They were used to having the final say in the village. When had a youngster ever made them lose face like this—especially a youngster with disaster about to come crashing down on him?

The men exchanged glances, their lips moving as they muttered hurriedly in low voices. Their faces alternated between green and white.

In the end, Village Chief Li seemed to suppress his anger, but his gaze turned even more sinister.

He stepped forward, no longer bothering to hide it. His voice was cold and hard, laden with naked threat as he addressed Fang Yuan, who was still endlessly swinging his chopping knife in the yard.

"Fine! Fine! Fang Yuan has such lofty aspirations that he can no longer heed the words of us old men!"

He stared fixedly at Fang Yuan's back and said, word by word, "We have delivered our message. You chose this road yourself. I only hope that someday... you will not regret it!"

The old man with the goatee beside him chimed in darkly, his voice low. "The ancestral rules of Fang Family Village still stand. This village cannot tolerate those who bring trouble and disaster upon us, then refuse to heed advice. You'd best take care of yourself!"

With that, they did not linger. Their faces black with fury, they flicked their sleeves and left.

The courtyard outside temporarily fell quiet again, but that invisible, suffocating sense of rejection grew even heavier than before.

Inside the house, Liu Wanwan had heard everything that happened outside through the crack in the window.

Rather than relaxing after the Headman and the others left, her heart sank straight to the bottom. Her hands and feet turned ice-cold.

More than anyone, she knew that offending Heizi meant the terror of drawn blades and open warfare. But offending Village Chief Li and these so-called village elders—

That was what truly meant being unable to take a single step, suffering torment like flesh being sliced away by a dull blade!

Heizi's evil was like a mountain flood bursting forth—violent and direct.

But these people's malice was like filthy water in a gutter, seeping into every crack, lingering and venomous.

They would use every hidden power and connection at their disposal to ostracize and make things difficult for the Fang Family:

For instance, the right to allocate good water sources during spring plowing.

Now that Fang Yuan no longer had a scholarly title, they could manipulate him even more easily!

When corvée labor was assigned, the harshest, most exhausting, and most dangerous work would certainly be dumped on Fang Yuan first.

If the village ever had relief aid or benefits to distribute, the Fang Family would always be forgotten.

Even when Little Bean Sprout grew up and wanted to arrange a marriage in the village, people would point fingers and throw every possible obstacle in her way.

They would indulge, even encourage, others to bully the Fang Family, while always standing upon the lofty heights of "reason" and "rules."

That was what it truly meant for a village to leave no room for you—utter despair.

Liu Wanwan leaned against the cold earthen wall, her body trembling slightly.

She came from a great family; she knew these dark methods all too well.

She was not afraid of Heizi coming at them with real blades. At worst, they could fight until the fish died and the net tore.

But she feared this day-after-day cold rejection from the entire familiar environment, these soft knives that carved away flesh.

Though Fang Yuan had withstood the pressure just now, he had also completely blocked off the last sliver of room for maneuver in this village.

That afternoon, the sun tilted westward, and the cold grew sharper. It looked as though the wind was about to rise.

Estimating the time, Liu Wanwan picked up a water bucket. After hesitating for a moment, she still forced herself to head toward the communal well at the center of the village.

She still harbored a faint hope of luck.

But reality quickly shattered her illusion.

The moment she reached the well, before she could even lower her rope, several women drawing water nearby reacted as if they had been stung by scorpions.

They yanked their own buckets back and looked at her with wariness and disgust.

One broad-shouldered, thick-waisted woman stepped directly in front of the well, hands on her hips, her spittle nearly spraying Liu Wanwan's face. "Oh? Madam Fang still dares come here to draw water? Aren't you afraid of dirtying the well our entire village drinks from?"

Another thin, tall woman joined in with a mocking tone. "Exactly! Offending Heizi means inviting a calamity star! Who knows what bad luck your family has picked up? If you touch this well water, how are we supposed to drink it?"

"Get lost! Go draw water from that abandoned well at the end of the village! Don't stand here being an eyesore!"

Yet another woman stepped forward and actually shoved Liu Wanwan.

Liu Wanwan staggered from the push. Her bucket fell to the ground with a clang.

Looking at these neighbors, people she might once have nodded to in greeting, now wearing vicious faces, she felt both humiliated and desolate.

She bit her lip. Knowing there was no use arguing, she silently picked up her bucket and lowered her head amid the sneers and curses behind her.

Step by step, she walked toward the nearly abandoned broken well at the end of the village, much farther away.

In the courtyard, Fang Yuan had just finished another frenzied round of chopping, heat steaming off his entire body.

He wiped away his sweat and instinctively looked toward the gate. His brows slowly furrowed.

"Wanwan went out to fetch water... She's been gone too long," he muttered.

The well at the village center was not far. Even if she had to wait in line, she should have returned by now. A sense of foreboding welled up within him.

He did not hesitate again. Tucking the chopping knife behind his waist, he strode out and pushed open the courtyard gate.

He headed straight for the well in the village center. When he encountered several villagers along the way, they immediately avoided him as if he were the god of plague.

Fang Yuan grabbed a half-grown boy who had not managed to dodge in time and asked in a deep voice, "Have you seen my wife?"

The boy stammered in fright. "I... I saw her... She... she was driven away by the aunties... I think... I think she went toward the abandoned well at the end of the village..."

Fang Yuan's gaze turned cold. He released the boy, immediately spun around, and hurried toward the village's edge.

The closer he got to the end of the village, the fewer people there were.

From afar, he saw Liu Wanwan struggling to draw water with a rope beside the abandoned well.

And beside her stood two loafers, lounging about as they grinned and circled Liu Wanwan.

"Oh, Madam Fang, drawing water? Heavy, isn't it? Want us brothers to carry it for you? We can carry it all the way home too!"

One of them spoke frivolously, his lecherous eyes roaming over Liu Wanwan's body. He even tried to reach out and touch her face.

The other stepped forward and deliberately slammed his shoulder hard into Liu Wanwan's bucket.

"Oh dear! Sorry! Didn't see it!" The bucket tipped over, icy well water splashing all over Liu Wanwan and making her shudder from the cold.

The water she had worked so hard to draw spilled all over the ground.

That Riffraff even deliberately stepped on the overturned bucket, making it creak.

The two burst into malicious laughter.

Liu Wanwan was furious and frightened. Soaked through, she was so cold that her lips turned purple. Tears swirled in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them back.

Fang Yuan felt a surge of hot blood rush straight to his head!

He charged over in a few strides, so fast that he kicked up a gust of cold wind.

The two loafers had their backs to him and had not noticed him. They were still teasing her.

"Little miss, don't be afraid. Your brothers will help you draw water. How about we go to your house tonight and warm your bed for you? Hahaha..."

"I think you're asking to die!"

The icy voice exploded behind them like a clap of thunder.