Every time they opened their mouths, they called them "the melon stealers."

It was said that when their family members went to the town market, other people recognized them and would bad-mouth them behind their backs.

"Third Brother, our village’s reputation is completely ruined now. The vegetables from our fields are taken to the market, but no one buys them."

"Yeah, my daughter-in-law went to buy fish today, and the shopkeeper refused to sell to her when he saw her."

"My tricycle broke down today, and when I went to town to get it fixed, the repair shop owner flat out refused to do business with me."

"Who exactly is slandering our village?"

"..."

The crowd looked at Zhao Dezhu, their faces livid with anger.

That afternoon, they had had enough.

Some people had been to town and experienced firsthand the "special treatment" others gave their village.

They said their village specialized in producing thieves.

Some people even clutched their wallets and phones tightly upon seeing them, fearful of being robbed.

Although they had thick skins and didn’t care much about their reputation, the reputation of Zhaojia Village was now seriously affecting their daily lives.

Even when they wanted to buy some vegetables, shopkeepers wouldn’t sell to them.

The vegetables they grew were also not bought by others.

If household appliances or vehicles broke down, repair shops wouldn’t fix them.

In short, whenever anyone mentioned them, the immediate reaction was, "Thieves!"

"This must have been done by those two girls!"

After hearing this, Zhao Dezhu clenched his teeth, his expression dark.

In the countryside and town, rumors spread the fastest. And fabricating bad things about their village... word would inevitably spread from one person to ten, then from ten to a hundred.

Now almost everyone in the town knew their village was a den of thieves, especially for stealing melons, and viewed them with suspicion.

"Third Brother, you don’t know. When my grandson came back from the town’s elementary school, he told me that his classmates didn’t want to play with him anymore."

"My granddaughter had the same thing happen. They said they wouldn’t play with someone from ’Stealing melon village’ and ostracized her."

"After my grandson got home, he just cried and said he didn’t want to go to school anymore."

"How can we deal with this? How can we restore our reputation?"

"..."

The people all looked up, their gaze fixing on Zhao Dezhu.

At this moment, they all realized the severity of the problem.

If they wanted to continue living in Zhaojia Village, they had to restore its image in people’s minds.

The town had dozens of villages. It wasn’t particularly large, nor particularly small.

A trivial matter could become town-wide gossip by the next day.

This was just the beginning.

If this situation was allowed to fester for a few more days, people from the surrounding villages probably wouldn’t even associate with them anymore.

After all, everyone is afraid of being robbed.

Now when they went out and saw people from other villages, they felt flushed with embarrassment and couldn’t lift their heads.

To think that stealing a few melons could lead to this; the situation had escalated far beyond their expectations.

"Third Brother, are we... still going to prune the melon seedlings today?"

Suddenly, a few elders looked at each other and asked a critical question.

The only way to restore Zhaojia Village’s reputation now was to seek Hu Wenning’s forgiveness and have her make a public statement in their defense.

If they went and cut the melon seedlings again, who knew what kind of nasty rumors might spread through town.

"This..."

Zhao Dezhu hesitated for a moment but then understood the critical point.

No matter who was fanning the flames from behind the scenes, cutting the melon seedlings again now would only serve to vent their frustration. It would be of no help; their village’s predicament would remain unchanged.

At this thought, he squatted on the ground, taking a fierce drag from his cigarette.

His face darkened, his brows furrowed tightly.

In fact, he wasn’t concerned about the so-called court hearing. But the reputation of Zhaojia Village... it had made everyone in the village unable to hold their heads high. Unless they all moved away, but that clearly wasn’t realistic.

"How about... we apologize to that Miss Hu and ask for her forgiveness?"

Then, another elder made a suggestion.

But it was immediately rejected by everyone else. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Hu Wenning and her companion had made their stance clear at the police station.

They had no intention of reconciling.

"Let’s find a lawyer. I’ve heard that spreading bad rumors about someone constitutes slander, and they slandered our entire village. We could counter-sue them!"

Finally, someone with a half-baked knowledge of the law proposed a new idea.

This proposal immediately won everyone’s approval.

"Right! Let’s do just that. We have to go to court anyway, so we should hire a lawyer."

"This slander has caused us to be treated differently by others; I want to sue them into oblivion!"

"Who knows a lawyer? Should we take a trip to the city to find one?"

"Who’s willing to take some trouble in the next few days to make inquiries in the city?"

"..."

After some discussion, they all put down their pruning shears and machetes, ready to use "legal weapons" to protect themselves.

In their view, this act of smearing their entire village was a serious crime, far worse than them stealing a few melons. They had only taken a few melons. But the other party had spread rumors and slandered their village, making it impossible for them to live normally. Everyone, from their seventy- and eighty-year-old elders down to the young children left behind in the village, had faced cold shoulders and disdain. They had suffered greatly, both in their daily lives and emotionally. If they could just find a competent lawyer, they could make the other party pay and, at the same time, clear their village’s name!

...

「The next day.」

「Jin City.」

「In the nursing home.」

During a slack period at work, Qin Mu received another message from Qing Lan.