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Still, she figured she might as well chase after him and see where he was headed.
Just now, Jiang Niannian had heard the sparrow chirp to relay Big Yellow’s message:
that the man wasn’t from their village.
Even Big Yellow had never seen him before—a total stranger.
Jiang Niannian quickly extracted the key points:
She put two and two together:
What if Li Laosan was the one who bought the pesticide, and that stranger was there to pick it up—to poison her eldest brother’s fish pond?
That way, Li Laosan could appear in public and have someone vouch for his alibi.
So even if the investigation led back to the pesticide from his home, it would just look like a theft—nothing directly implicating Li Laosan.
Jiang Niannian’s mind was already scripting a whole high-level criminal plot.
Her top priority now was catching that stranger.
“Xiao Jing, go tell Big Yellow to hold him down—don’t let him escape!”
“Xiao Jing” was the name Jiang Niannian had given the sparrow.
Upon hearing her order, the sparrow flapped its wings and flew ahead to deliver the message:
[Chirp chirp! Bite him! Don’t let him run!]
Jiang Niannian bolted toward Li Laosan’s house.
Sanbenzi and Wang Fendou were stumbling out, supporting each other.
Seeing her charge at them again, the two hugged each other in fright.
Holy crap, this girl is terrifying—we swear we won’t mess around again!
Jiang Niannian brushed past the two hugging men and kept running.
Xiao Jingyan, who had been following behind, saw the pair clinging to each other and found it shameful and eye-searing.
As Jiang Niannian ran ahead, she saw Big Yellow latched onto the man’s pant leg.
The man picked up a stick and had already hit Big Yellow several times.
“Damn dog, let go!
Let go! Get off me!”
Jiang Niannian rushed forward, grabbed a rock off the ground, and hurled it at him.
“Stop it! Who are you?
How dare you beat up our village’s dog—I’ll break your legs!”
She shouted and threw another rock at him, then sprinted forward and grabbed the stick he was about to strike Big Yellow with.
“Get lost, brat! This doesn’t concern you!”
Jiang Niannian kicked him right in the nuts!
“I love interfering—what are you going to do about it?
You dared lay a hand on our dog? You’re dead meat. Come on—you’re going to see the village chief with me!”
“OWWW—let… go!
Or don’t blame me for getting rough!”
The man’s body curled like a shrimp, turning from flushed red to deathly pale.
He clenched his teeth and tried to punch Jiang Niannian.
She grabbed his fist, twisted it, and threw him over her shoulder.
Then she pinned him down, pressed her knee into his lower back, and wrenched his other arm behind him.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have any handcuffs or rope.
Just as she was wondering what to do—
Xiao Jingyan arrived.
He had witnessed her impressive moves and couldn’t help but raise a mental question mark:
Why is this girl so good at fighting?
Logically, if she was raised in the city, how did she develop these skills?
With that thought, he calmly stepped forward and asked:
“Need some help?”
Jiang Niannian had the man firmly pinned.
Upon hearing him, she said,
“Can you help me bring him to the village chief?”
Xiao Jingyan nodded immediately.
“Absolutely!”
He grabbed the man and yanked him up.
The man struggled, but Xiao Jingyan held him down with ease.
“Be honest. Which village are you from? I’ve never seen you before.”
He turned to Jiang Niannian.
“You know this guy?”
Jiang Niannian: “Nope. But I saw him sneaking around, acting real suspicious—definitely up to no good.
So I caught him and brought him to the village chief. He can decide what to do.”
Xiao Jingyan had assumed she knew him. Turns out, not at all.
“But I agree—he looks shady.
I’ve lived in this village for over three years now, and even if he’s from a neighboring village, I’ve never seen him before.”
Jiang Niannian thought to herself:
You hadn’t seen me before either, and look how that turned out. What’s the big deal?
She patted Big Yellow on the head and asked,
“You okay? Does it hurt?”
[Woof woof! I’m fine! My skin’s thick and I’m tough!
Niannian, you were amazing—so powerful and heroic!]
Jiang Niannian: Okay, that’s a bit much.
Xiao Jingyan was standing next to her, so she didn’t chat much more with Big Yellow.
Instead, she heard Xiao Jingyan ask:
“Your moves back there were impressive.
Who taught you?”
Jiang Niannian: ???
What’s that supposed to mean?
Was he suspicious of her?
Thinking quickly, she gave a careful excuse:
“An old Red Army vet from our neighborhood taught me.
He’s an elderly man who lost both sons in the war. I used to visit him often.
He practiced martial arts in his courtyard every morning.”
Then she added warily,
“Why are you asking?”
Xiao Jingyan: “Hmm, you’re right.
Instead of that, I should ask you what you were thinking about that fifty cents?”
Jiang Niannian: Cue imaginary castle being dug with her toes again.
“Look, I already gave you the money and took the goods. What else is there to think about?
You’re a grown man—can you stop obsessing over fifty cents?”
She cleared her throat.
“Anyway, let’s hand this guy over to the village chief first!”
Xiao Jingyan tightened his grip, making the man yelp in pain.
At the village chief’s home, Jiang Niannian gave a quick summary:
“Big Yellow and I were walking around the village.
When we got near Li Laosan’s place, we saw this guy lurking around, acting super sketchy.
I suspect he was scouting the place—might even be linked to the missing piglets!”
The man immediately protested:
“I didn’t! Don’t falsely accuse me!”
Jiang Niannian stared at him.
“Falsely accuse you?
Then tell me—if you’re not from our village, what were you doing there?
Sneaking around like you didn’t want to be seen.
If Big Yellow hadn’t caught you, you’d be long gone.”
Seeing that he couldn’t talk his way out, the man suddenly shouted:
“I want to report her! This female comrade beat me!”
Jiang Niannian guessed that he must’ve seen her beating up Wang Fendou and Sanbenzi while hiding behind the tree earlier.
“You want to report me?
Got any proof?
So what if I hit you?”
The man shot back, “You didn’t just hit me—you hit two other male comrades too!”
Jiang Niannian: “Oh? Then let’s call them over and ask!”
Soon, Sanbenzi and Wang Fendou were brought in.
Their faces were full of misery.
They’d already been beaten—did they really need to get humiliated in front of everyone too?
The village chief’s house was packed with curious onlookers.
As they entered and saw Jiang Niannian, Sanbenzi let out a pained hiss—his bruised face still throbbed.
He gave her a pitiful glare.
Jiang Niannian rolled her eyes dramatically and turned to the restrained man.
“This guy says I beat you two.
Did I?”
The two of them shook their heads in perfect sync.
“Hiss… No, no, you didn’t hit us.”
They weren’t dumb.
If they admitted she beat them, they’d have to explain why.
And assaulting a female comrade was a much more serious offense than just taking a few punches.
The accuser was furious at their response.
“Why aren’t you telling the truth?! It was her, she beat you!”
Sanbenzi shook his head even harder.
“Don’t make stuff up!
Comrade Jiang is a good person. Why would you slander her like this?”
Wang Fendou nodded in agreement.
“Exactly! How could you wrong a decent comrade like her?”