The crimes committed by Lin Yongbei were already well-known in the village, yet Lin Changjin still took the opportunity to publicly denounce him, criticizing him for a full ten minutes.

After the scolding, his mood remained heavy.

“Beastly behavior destroys not only oneself but the whole family—this is a crime that warrants hard labor!”

“Besides violating the law, we should establish more clan rules. Those of you here, except for a few outsiders, are all from the Lin family. Even non-Lin households must respect these rules when living in Lin territory. I’ve discussed this with Uncle Wu and Uncle Jiu. In the future, if anyone in Lin Daqi does something beastly like this, we’ll first punish them according to our clan rules before involving the police!”

“Of course, after the punishment, they’ll still have to serve hard labor!”

“Everyone, keep your belts tight, or else our village will be the first to have a eunuch!”

Uncles Wu and Jiu were the most senior members of the Lin clan and highly respected. With the village leader Lin Yongdong and the village party secretary Lin Shiyuan in agreement, the decision was practically set.

“If you want to act like a beast, we’ll castrate you!!”

Sixteen lives were lost, and Lin Shiyuan still shuddered at the memory.

He took the loudspeaker from Lin Changjin, voicing his agreement with the previous statements.

“Bullying outsiders is already beastly, but bullying our own people is even worse—such people aren’t fit to be called human! Before you become a beast, think about how many people in your family will die!”

“Don’t think women and children are easy targets. When you push someone to the brink, even a woman or a child can bring ruin upon your entire family!”

“Let everyone remember the lesson from Lin Yongdong’s family! Sixteen lives were lost, and six innocent children died all in one day!”

As Lin Shiyuan mentioned the six children who had perished, his sorrow was palpable.

After criticizing Lin Yongbei, it was Lin Yongdong’s turn for reproach. Then came the criticism of two elders who blindly defended their kin, followed by Lin Hongni.

Lin Zhijun and Lin Qingni stood on the outskirts of the crowd.

Listening to Lin Changjin criticize Lin Yongdong and Lin Yongbei, the siblings cried uncontrollably.

Finally, someone had acknowledged Lin Yongbei’s crimes!!

After Lin Qingni was mistreated, if even one person in that family had spoken up against Lin Yongbei, they might not have felt so desperate.

Perhaps their mother wouldn’t have died, and their sister wouldn’t have sacrificed herself for revenge. All of it was ruined by Lin Yongbei alone!!

This public criticism meeting, in a way, gave them some justice.

Though justice came too late, it was better than nothing.

At least it eased the resentment in their hearts and clarified who had done wrong.

Earlier, they had been in despair, but now Lin Zhijun’s eyes, once dim and clouded, began to shine again, full of hope.

“Tomorrow, I’ll tell mom this good news!”

He even wanted to go to Lin Yongdong and Lin Yongbei’s graves, urinate on them, and leave his mark.

No… better yet, he’d treat their graves like a toilet, let them stink forever.

…

Xiao Zisu listened intently, though she only partially understood.

She heard that many people had died, and some were sinners, but the deeper meanings escaped her.

Little Bai Guo finally figured out who Lin Zhijun and his sister were.

So, it was them!

At the health clinic, Lin Zhijun had mentioned his sister’s name, Qingni, but Little Bai Guo hadn’t recognized them.

They hadn’t had these names in the story; it must have been a change later on. The siblings were orphans, close to the antagonists since childhood, and were Xiao Zisu’s childhood playmates. After the antagonist’s daughter drowned, they began to resent the female lead.

Unfortunately for them, they were cannon fodder—unable to match the main characters.

Little Bai Guo sighed.

If she hadn’t survived, their family wouldn’t have had a chance to be villains!

She felt a bit of regret about it. What should she do?

The village leader was still speaking.

After summarizing the Lin Yongdong family incident, the discussion shifted to the well problem. From now on, if anyone in the village jumped into the well, the whole family would lose a month’s worth of labor points according to the household registry.

This caused an immediate stir.

Labor points were food—life itself!

To have a whole family’s labor points deducted for a month was unbearable.

Who would willingly jump into a well?

What if someone accidentally fell or was pushed in? To have the entire family penalized for an accident was almost like condemning them to death.

Lin Changjin’s voice cut through the crowd with authority: “Isn’t three times enough to wash the well? How many people and tasks have been delayed because of it? Do you still want to wash it more? If it weren’t for Dr. Bai’s well, you’d all be drinking river water by now!”

The crowd quieted.

After a pause, he continued: “Those who claim it was an accident, Upstream Village has never had accidents like this! Is it an accident just because it happened to your family?”

“Upstream Village never had anyone jump into a well, but in other places, it’s common, especially with bad in-laws who mistreat their daughters-in-law or men who beat their wives and children. If you drive someone to the edge, they’ll jump into the well. Then what will you do? You’ll starve with the wind in your faces!”

A fifteen-meter-deep well was not easy to clean!

After three washes, Lin Changjin was getting impatient!

Lin Changjin’s firmness prompted Lin Shiyuan to step in: “A whole month of labor points is a bit too harsh for the poor families, they’d starve. How about half a month?”

With the first month’s penalty set as a baseline, reducing it to half a month seemed much more merciful.

The villagers finally accepted this solution.

From that day on, in Upstream Village, being an “honest person” was no longer considered a good thing. With Lin Yongdong, the honest man who forced his wife into the well, who knew what kind of monster lay beneath the skin of those who appeared “honest”?

Within a few days, three so-called “honest men” were uncovered.

They wore the guise of honesty, remaining silent and unassuming outside, but inside their homes, they were more vicious than anyone, beating their wives and children mercilessly. These were the “honest people” you should fear!

Soon, the reputation of the “honest person” took a major blow.

…

At the health clinic, Bai Zhu was teaching Xiao Zisu how to memorize medical texts, with Lin Zhijun and his sister following along.

To Little Bai Guo, it sounded like a lullaby, and she dozed off. After an hour, the session ended, and she woke up.

Bai Zhu sighed, “What will happen when you’re old enough to go to school?”

She always felt drowsy when memorizing, whether it was medical books or other texts. Even when Li Qiurong read foreign languages, it had the same hypnotic effect.

Her grandfather was worried.

“What will you do if you don’t study? Will you farm?”

Xiao Zisu kissed her younger sister’s face, “Little sister, grow up quickly. I’ll learn medicine with Grandpa, and when you’re older, I’ll teach you.”

Indeed, most of Xiao Zisu’s motivation to study came from her little sister.

She already imagined teaching her little sister the medical texts and felt happy at the thought. She kissed her younger sister’s adorable face again.

Little Bai Guo grimaced.

She couldn’t even stay awake listening to the books. How could she ever memorize them?

Memorizing would never happen in this lifetime!

Lin Qingni looked at her with a touch of envy.

The little one had soft, fair skin, and the scent of milk on her, with a clean face that made her unlike other crying children.

She thought her face was as sweet as candy and longed to kiss her.

She envied Xiao Zisu for getting to kiss her little sister!

Lin Zhijun ran out and returned a few minutes later, out of breath.

He came in carrying a strong smell of stink bugs.

Bai Zhu immediately noticed and turned to look.

Lin Zhijun held a bundle of dragon’s beard grass with five stink bugs attached.

After a few days of learning from Dr. Bai, he wanted to repay him.

Though he was young and couldn’t help much, he thought he might cheer up Dr. Bai by teasing the little ones with stink bugs.

Dr. Bai calmly turned his gaze away, not stopping him.

Though lazy, Little Bai Guo was fiery-tempered.

If he teased her with stink bugs, she would get angry and even pee on him as revenge.

If Lin Zhijun was willing to do it, Bai Zhu figured he wouldn’t have to be the bad guy anymore.

Dr. Bai watched the drama unfold.

Xiao Zisu and Lin Qingni had seen him use stink bugs to tease Little Bai Guo and thought it was perfectly normal, since that’s what adults did.

And so, Little Bai Guo’s crisis began!