Chapter 2: Compromise

After Zhang Qiang finished speaking, some of the onlookers started noticing something strange.

Small murmurs arose among the crowd. Though their voices weren’t loud, the mockery in their tone was evident.

Zhang Qiang had just claimed he was drugged and seduced, that he remembered nothing, and that it was all Jing Xi’s fault—yet he somehow clearly remembered the exact color of her undergarment.

Seeing others laugh at him, Zhang Qiang wanted to argue back but couldn’t find the words. Instead, he stood there making strange noises before eventually falling silent.

Meanwhile, Aunt Zhang’s face had turned livid.

She knew the truth. She had seen Zhang Qiang properly latch the door—there was no way it had been left open by accident.

But how could she expose her own husband?

Either way, it was humiliating for her.

No matter how she looked at it, she was the one losing face. But she couldn’t let her own family be disgraced!

As the confrontation continued and considering Zhang Qiang’s weak responses, the villagers began to see through the situation.

Their whispers of blame slowly started to shift.

Clearing his throat, Xie Aiguo asked, “Jing Xi, did you suffer any harm today?”

Jing Xi answered honestly, “No matter how you look at it, this situation isn’t good for me.”

“…”

Wasn’t that obvious?

In this era, whenever a scandal involved a man and a woman, the woman was always the one blamed. The man, on the other hand, could easily walk away unscathed.

Then his wife or mother would come forward to clean up the mess for him.

Jing Xi’s gaze burned with intensity. “Village Chief, can you clear my name today? Can you publicly state that I never seduced anyone?”

Xie Aiguo surveyed the situation. Even though he had already dismissed some of the crowd, there were still two neighboring families present.

Not to mention Wu Dazhuang—the village’s infamous troublemaker.

That man had the biggest mouth in town. He couldn’t keep a single secret.

If this matter wasn’t settled properly today, who knew how the rumors would spread once everyone left?

“Jing Xi, how about this? This whole thing, after all, hasn’t actually caused you any real harm. We’re all neighbors, so let’s just treat it as a misunderstanding. You and Zhang Qiang can apologize to each other, and we’ll put this matter behind us!”

“The villagers have helped you a lot over the years. Shouldn’t you be grateful in return? Hasn’t Aunt Zhang given you food more than once? Don’t you think so? From now on, just avoid each other. You’re a young, unmarried girl without parents—if this story spreads, how will you ever get married in the future?”

“And as for you, Zhang Qiang, Jianjun, you asked Jing Xi to help with the work. You knew she was a young girl, and you’re both grown men. Why not wait until there was another woman at home? Just because of the age gap, does that mean you don’t need to avoid suspicion? And saying things like ‘seduction’ and ‘tricks’—do you think that’s something you can accuse someone of so casually?”

“This is an important time for the country’s development. We shouldn’t be causing unnecessary trouble for society, should we?”

Xie Aiguo went on a long-winded speech, but Jing Xi understood exactly what he meant.

He was trying to smooth things over.

To minimize the situation until it faded away.

She chuckled softly. Her body had finally warmed up, and she no longer shivered. Standing up slowly, she looked directly at Zhang Qiang’s family and the village leaders.

“So what you’re saying is, I should just stay quiet and take the blame?”

“But let’s get one thing straight—how exactly did I take advantage of Aunt Zhang’s family? When Wang Cuihua gave me food or money, it was because I worked for it! During the harvest season, I harvested half an acre of crops for them per day. That was my earned wage!”

Someone in the crowd muttered, “Well, that’s not exactly how it works…”

But Wang Cuihua wasn’t having it.

As if suddenly realizing something, she snapped, “Jing Xi! What more do you want? Are you saying you’re completely innocent? A proper young lady like you—why would you go deliver potatoes to another man’s house? You know what you look like—like some vixen—and yet you still prance around the village! You claim you’re just doing small jobs to make a living, but who knows if you’re actually trying to seduce men to find yourself a good husband? You’re young, but your mind is already full of wicked schemes. I think what you need is a good beating!”

Jing Xi’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Can’t control your husband, so you try to drag other women through the mud? You say I seduce men? Have you even looked at your husband? Old, fat, unhygienic, and already balding before fifty. Do you think I’d be so desperate as to seduce him? Stop treating a pile of dung like a prized treasure! You can keep him all to yourself! A husband and wife are birds of a feather. For all I know, this whole situation was planned by your entire family! You say I need a beating? Then maybe you need a real lesson!”

“You—!”

Jing Xi’s words were like sharp knives, stabbing directly into Aunt Zhang’s pride.

She turned her gaze toward Zhang Jianjun and Zhang Qiang, glaring at them both.

Zhang Jianjun stood beside Wu Dazhuang—two men clearly up to no good.

But Zhang Jianjun was timid. Wu Dazhuang, on the other hand, remained indifferent. Seeing that things weren’t going anywhere interesting, he turned and walked away.

What could an orphaned girl possibly do?

Xie Aiguo, sensing that the situation was getting out of hand, quickly intervened. “Alright, that’s enough! Let’s put this matter to rest! Old Zhang, you and your wife come with me to the village committee. Aunt Wang, please take Jing Xi home. No one in this village is allowed to spread rumors about this incident!”

Jing Xi opened her mouth but didn’t argue further.

She understood now—if she wanted justice, she wouldn’t get it from the villagers.

The weak are prey to the strong.

She was an orphan.

If she couldn’t fight them head-on, she would find another way.

A woman’s revenge might take time—but she would have it.

She shot a cold glance at the Zhang father and son before allowing Aunt Wang and her daughter, Pangya, to help her home.

Calling it a “home” was generous—it was just a small, shabby earthen house, barely over twenty square meters.

Though old and worn, she had kept it tidy.

Once she got home, she changed into dry clothes and noticed that Aunt Wang seemed to have something to say. Quickly, she shut the door.

“Aunt Wang, is there something on your mind?”

Aunt Wang glanced at Pangya, then pulled Jing Xi to sit on the kang bed. “Child, I heard some gossip. I don’t know if it’s true, but you should at least be aware.”

“Today’s incident—apparently, it was Wu Dazhuang and Zhang Jianjun’s idea. Zhang Jianjun has been interested in you for a while. He’s tried talking to you several times, but his mother always stopped him. She never thought you were a good match—no family, too poor, no value in marrying you.”

“But then he started hanging around Wu Dazhuang. One day, Pangya overheard Wu Dazhuang suggesting to Zhang Jianjun that if he couldn’t marry you, there was… another way to have you. They were planning something bad.”

Jing Xi’s eyes darkened.

So Wu Dazhuang had his own motives. He wanted Zhang Jianjun to make the first move while he sat back, waiting to take advantage of the situation.

But she wasn’t going to let this go.

She clenched her fists.

A debt of humiliation—she would collect it in full.

Today, she had completely offended some of the most troublesome people in the village.

She carefully examined the room. There was a small single kang bed with a relatively clean bedding set, the floor was neatly tidied up, and the room contained two chairs, a cabinet, and some grain—not much, but it seemed to be all the girl owned.

Jing Xi noticed a small notebook and a half-used pencil on one of the chairs. She walked over and picked it up.

The notebook recorded every household she had helped with the autumn harvest and what they had given her in return.

She really was a hardworking child. She wasn’t raised by the villagers—she had clearly grown up relying on her own hands.

Her handwriting was decent, and it was evident that she recognized quite a few characters—she wasn’t illiterate.

Jing Xi began to understand why the original owner of this body had been so enraged that she died.

This girl was just a pure, honest soul.

The money she had saved was all earned from helping with the harvest.

Some families paid her in grain, while others gave her money.

She found a neatly folded stack of fifty-two yuan under the bedding in the corner of the kang bed.

Thinking it over, she knew she had to get revenge for this injustice.

She couldn’t stay in this village any longer, but before leaving, she had to settle the score with every single person who had wronged her.

---

That evening, while she was cooking sorghum rice for a simple dinner, she suddenly overheard two people talking outside.

It was Wu Dazhuang and Zhang Jianjun.

She stood up and walked to the doorway.

The voices were a little distant, but she could hear them clearly.

“I told you this wouldn’t work, but you wouldn’t listen! You should’ve brought her to my place—then it would’ve been a done deal!” Wu Dazhuang’s voice rang out.

“Brother Dazhuang, how was I supposed to know my old bastard of a father had the same idea? And I didn’t even realize he was home! He usually goes to Uncle Qi’s house to play cards at this hour! Damn it, my parents came back from the brigade today, and my mom scolded me like crazy, saying I brought shame to the family! The more I think about it, the angrier I get. It’s all that little slut Jing Xi’s fault! I have to deal with her, or I won’t be able to sleep at night!”

Wu Dazhuang spoke again, “Don’t rush. It’s dark now, and Jing Xi lives in an isolated spot. The two of us will come up with a plan. If not today, there’s always another time. She won’t be able to escape.”

“Alright! Brother Dazhuang, let’s head to your place first. Oh, and by the way, the Long family will be coming in about ten days to collect the goods. The batch this time isn’t great—we need to figure out how to fool them… also…”

Jing Xi listened carefully, but the voices suddenly faded away.

She looked at the bubbling sorghum porridge in the pot and the glowing embers underneath it.

Her mind raced.

So Zhang Jianjun really wasn’t giving up.

But what was this Long family they mentioned? What were they collecting?

As she pondered, her gaze landed on a black box in the corner of the room.

The box was about the size of a palm, with a stone placed on top of it, covered in dust.

She picked up the box and examined it carefully. Something about it felt odd.

After wiping off the dust, she saw that the box was entirely black and polished, as if it had been well-maintained.

She didn’t know much about wood, but the box seemed completely out of place in this humble house.

Gently, she opened the lid and found that it was empty inside.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed a line of tiny characters etched onto the inside of the lid.

She read them aloud softly:

“Infinite Space, exclusively yours, Jing Xi.”

The next moment, a powerful force pulled her inside.

In an instant, she vanished from the simple room, and the box disappeared completely from the corner where it had been.

Jing Xi felt her head spin, her body weightless.

For about two or three seconds, she drifted through darkness before landing on a vast open ground.

She steadied herself, reaching out for something to hold onto.

Her heartbeat pounded rapidly, as if it was about to leap out of her throat.

Then, suddenly, a gushing spring appeared in her line of sight, bubbling up with a steady, powerful flow.