“Are you serious?” Aunt Liu couldn’t believe it.

Her family wasn’t exactly hardworking either—they usually only earned six work points at most. But the village chief’s brother’s family was even lazier! How could they get full work points?

Seeing Aunt Liu’s agitation, Jiang An’an covered her mouth in feigned shock. “Oh dear, how did I let that slip? Forget it, Aunt Liu, just pretend you didn’t hear it…”

With that, she lowered her head and went back to hoeing.

Now Aunt Liu was frantic. She didn’t care if the Jiang family earned fewer work points, but she did care if someone else got more for slacking off. Why could others get full work points for being lazy while her family couldn’t?

Gritting her teeth, she glanced at Jiang An’an. “An’an, I’m going to the restroom. Stay here for now!”

Using that excuse, she hurried off to find her gossip buddies.

“Okay…” Jiang An’an pretended not to know she was spreading the news and nodded.

Aunt Liu rushed straight to a group of her friends who were cutting grass nearby and immediately started ranting about the village chief’s brother’s family getting full work points.

The kind of women who could be friends with a loudmouth like Aunt Liu were naturally just as skilled at spreading news. Soon, the story had reached all the villagers working nearby.

…

Meanwhile, Zhao Chunmei had gone back to her parents’ home in the neighboring village. Zhao Eryan anxiously hurried over to her.

“Sis, how’s the situation with Jiang An’an?” he asked urgently.

These past few days, he hadn’t even dared to step outside, and he couldn’t sleep at night—he kept dreaming about being executed by firing squad.

Zhao Chunmei rolled her eyes in irritation.

“You’re lucky to have a sister like me. Don’t worry, it won’t be long before Jiang An’an comes begging. When that happens, I’ll make her agree to marry you. How could she refuse?”

It was already late September. In just over half a month, the autumn harvest would end. By then, there’d be no more work points to earn. If the Jiang family didn’t beg her, they’d starve to death come winter!

She didn’t believe Jiang An’an could produce two more sacks of coarse rice.

“Sis, you’re amazing! I’m counting on you. If I really get to marry Jiang An’an, that’d be incredible!” Zhao Eryan was overjoyed.

The thought of Jiang An’an soon becoming his woman made him swallow hard.

Seeing her brother’s wretched state, Zhao Chunmei felt even more annoyed. Why did she have to be stuck with such a useless sibling?

“Don’t go out these next few days. Wait until Jiang An’an agrees to marry you. If she runs into you and remembers something, it’s all over!”

Before leaving, Zhao Chunmei repeatedly warned him.

Her brother was just too unreliable—she couldn’t rest easy.

Zhao Eryan nodded on the surface, but inwardly, the thought of Jiang An’an soon being his woman had him too excited to contain himself.

Last time, he hadn’t succeeded. Rubbing his hands together, he thought about how he had to find a chance to have his way with her!

After all, his sister said Jiang An’an would eventually beg to marry him. So what was wrong with doing what a husband should do a little early?

Seeing her brother silent, Zhao Chunmei assumed he’d finally listened and didn’t say more. She still had to hurry back to cook for her idiot son.

Originally, she’d thought that once the marriage was settled and Jiang An’an married in, her foolish son would have someone to take care of him. Who knew things would turn out like this?

But before she even got home, she saw her husband rushing out in a panic.

“What’s going on?” Zhao Chunmei’s heart pounded with unease—something felt wrong.

When he saw her, the village chief frowned. “What else? The work points ledger is causing trouble again. Who knows how bad things are in the fields right now!”

With that, he quickened his pace.

Zhao Chunmei stood frozen for a long moment before snapping back to reality. The work points ledger was causing trouble again? What could have happened? Didn’t they already settle things with the Jiang family yesterday?

Worried sick, she decided she’d better go take a look. After all, ever since that incident on the mountain, Jiang An’an had seemed like a completely different person—definitely not someone easy to deal with!

In the fields, Jiang An’an stood quietly at the back of the crowd, waiting for the main figures to appear.

Sure enough, before long, the village chief and his wife hurried over.

Naturally, they saw the villagers making a ruckus instead of working. If the work had stopped, it could only mean something serious had happened!

“All right, all right! Everyone, stop shouting. If there’s an issue, let’s talk it out properly—no need to make a scene!”

The village chief bellowed with all his strength.

“Village Chief, there’s a problem with the work-points ledger! Everyone here can see your older brother’s family loafs around every single day. So why do they get full work points?!”

Aunt Liu pushed to the front, worked up and agitated.

The village chief froze when he heard this. His older brother?

The brigade Party secretary quickly stepped up beside him. “Yes, your older brother. Somehow his family’s been recorded as getting full points…”

This time the chief was truly stunned. Ever since the last Party secretary had been dismissed and investigated for giving his own family extra points, he, as village chief, hadn’t dared bend the rules even once. So how on earth could his own brother’s family end up with inflated points?

“Old Yang, what’s going on here?”

He frowned, his eyes sharp and severe. Could Yang Aijun be deliberately setting him up in order to topple him?

But the brigade secretary himself felt completely wronged. Just yesterday, he had been baffled by the issue with the Jiang family’s points, and now another family’s records were in question. He was anxious to death and had wanted to ask the chief what was going on!

“I don’t know either! Most likely someone tampered with the records…”

Anyway, it definitely wasn’t him.

He was fed up with Liu Quanwang. Sure, having a brother as the village chief was convenient, but you couldn’t exploit it like this! If you wanted to sneak in a little extra, you could’ve added one or two points for appearances’ sake. But giving the whole family full points across the board? And now they’d been caught!

The chief was boiling with frustration. His eyes swept toward his older brother, Liu Quanwang—only to notice that he was staring at Zhao Chunmei…

At this moment, Zhao Chunmei stood frozen in place.

How had this matter been exposed?!

Back when she’d altered the Jiang family’s points, Liu Quanwang had seen her. To keep him from telling anyone, she had no choice but to change his family’s points to full as well. Who could have guessed it would all blow up like this!

“Village Chief, you need to give everyone an explanation! Our Jiang family work in the fields every day—everyone can see how hard we work. If our points only came to one or two a day, fine, I let it go. After all, maybe the other uncles and aunts worked harder than us.

But Liu Quanwang’s family? They just slack off every day and still get full points? Forget that our Jiang family only gets one or two points—why should the rest of the villagers be limited to six or seven a day?!”

Jiang An’an spoke up at just the right moment, instantly drawing most of the villagers over to her side.

Aunt Liu immediately picked up the cry. “Exactly! The Jiangs bust their backs in the fields and only get one or two points, while Liu Quanwang’s family gets full marks? Do they take us all for blind fools?!”

The crowd’s voices surged together in agreement.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Liu Quanwang quickly dragged his family behind his younger brother for cover.

At the time, he had just been thinking—since he’d caught Zhao Chunmei red-handed, why not take advantage and get more points out of it? Who would bother checking the ledger in such detail anyway? But against all odds, someone actually had!

Who on earth had exposed this?!