The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

"We couldn't find anyone there."

"That bastard must have gotten wind of it beforehand and ran away."

The crowd searched Xu Yong's house thoroughly but found no one there. They rushed into the courtyard and angrily surrounded Tian Shi.

Where did your man go?

"We won't leave your house unless you tell us."

"If your husband doesn't come out, then your family's belongings will have to be given to everyone else."

As expected of someone who had been the village chief's wife for so many years, Madam Tian remained completely calm. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, she emphasized, "I don't know anything about the pesticide. My husband went to the Zheng family in Pingchuan County. If you want to find him, go to the Zheng family."

Tian was thinking that if Xu Yong couldn't escape responsibility, she would drag the Zheng family down with him.

Anyway, this pesticide was made by someone Xu Zaohua had mixed. Her husband won't get better, and Xu Zaohua can forget about being the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family in peace.

Seeing that no one could find Xu Yong, Liu Tielian and the others believed that Xu Yong had really gone to the Zheng family to avoid trouble.

If Xu Yong really went to the Zheng family, I guess no one could do anything about him. They wouldn't really ask the Zheng family for him, would they?

Even if he were to report it to the authorities, with the Zheng family protecting him, Xu Yong might not necessarily be punished.

If Xu Yong tries to argue that he prepared the medicine for everyone's corn, and that he didn't expect the medicine to ruin the corn, that his intentions were good but the result was bad, then the government can't convict him based on that reason alone.

However, if Xu Yong cannot be found, the angry villagers may regard the entire Qinghewan as their enemy, thus bringing disaster upon the whole village.

This could actually happen.

There will definitely be some simple-minded villagers who will wonder why their corn was ruined by pesticides while the corn in Qinghewan is thriving.

When one's mindset is unbalanced, it's easy to transform hatred towards Xu Yong into hatred towards the entire Qinghewan area.

Liu Tielian absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen.

Xu Yong has to step in and apologize or offer compensation; he needs to show some attitude and quell the anger of the villagers in these villages.

Thinking this, Liu Tielian said to Tian Shi, "Sister-in-law, since Xu Yong has gone to the Zheng family, let's make him come back and apologize to everyone properly. He should apologize for what he should apologize for."

Tian angrily retorted to Liu Tielian, "What kind of apology is he offering? They just pushed their wilted corn onto my husband. Who knows if the corn was damaged by pesticides or something else? Maybe they're taking advantage of the situation."

These words made the villagers even angrier.

They used the pesticides that Xu Yong sold them, which caused the corn to wither and die, but Xu Yong's wife turned around and accused them of the same thing.

Everyone was clamoring to take Xu Yong's grain as compensation.

Tian lay across the courtyard, yelling that she would kill anyone who tried to take her family's grain.

Tian's attitude made Liu Tielian so angry that he wanted to give up and ignore it.

He initially felt sorry for Tian, ​​thinking that Xu Yong's escape had left her alone to clean up the mess, since her two sons were away on the mountain.

Liu Tielian now feels that Tian Shi and Xu Yong are two kinds of people who can't sleep in the same bed.

They are the same kind of people who will stop at nothing to gain profit.

"Everyone, calm down. We're not here to cause trouble; we're here to demand an explanation from Xu Yong," said Village Chief Hu of Guazhou Bay, waving to his fellow villagers.

With so many people, if everyone goes to Xu Yong's house to carry grain, how much can each person carry?

The grain belonging to Xu Yong's family must come from the villagers of Guazhou Bay.

He told everyone not to act rashly only to mislead the other villagers.

Village Chief Zhang and Village Chief Hu of Moon Bay share the same idea.

Tong Huaqiong was fully aware of this.

The village chiefs are indeed seasoned veterans from grassroots work. You can't say they did anything wrong; they are certainly much better at protecting the interests of the villagers than Xu Yong was as village chief.

Their respective plans led to a temporary stalemate.

Tong Huaqiong always felt that the Tian family was stalling for time, firstly to allow Xu Yong to escape, and secondly to wait for Xu Jin to arrive with his family members to lend their support. Although Xu Yong had lost power in Qinghe Bay, the Xu family members were still a force to be reckoned with.

While others were asking the Tian family for the people, Tong Huaqiong was already prepared.

Before she went to the county town to present the prescription early in the morning, she was still worried that Xu Yong might do something bad in secret, so she asked her stepson Gu Dahan to keep an eye on Xu Yong.

She ran into Gu Dahan when she went into the Xu family's house to eat melons. Gu Dahan quietly told her that Xu Yong had never left the house.

But why couldn't the villagers of Guazhouwan and other villages find Xu Yong even after searching his house thoroughly?
They searched the pigsty, chicken coop, and outhouse, but there was no sign of Xu Yong anywhere.

He's a living person; he can't just disappear into thin air.

Tong Huaqiong started brainstorming: If Xu Yong ran away from home, how should he escape?

They couldn't have dug a tunnel; they must have scaled the wall.

Climbing over the wall is quite risky. Village Chief Hu of Guazhou Bay is a very capable man. In order to prevent Xu Yong from escaping, he had already sent people to guard the area around Xu Yong's house.

Tong Huaqiong believes that Xu Yong had already escaped by climbing over the wall before the villagers from various villages arrived.

He wasn't afraid of being blocked on the road by these angry villagers from other villages when he fled.

How will he escape without being discovered?
A spark ignited in Tong Huaqiong's mind.

"Dahan, have our hired laborers follow the road from the Xu family's outhouse all the way up the mountain," Tong Huaqiong called over Gu Dahan, who was watching from the crowd, and whispered the instructions.

Gu Dahan nodded and quietly withdrew from the crowd.

The Xu family's courtyard was surrounded by wooden stakes, with only a hidden path outside the outhouse leading directly into the mountains, surrounded by corn.

Tong Huaqiong was certain that Xu Yong had escaped by climbing over the wall of the outhouse before everyone rushed in.

If Gu Dahan can capture Xu Yong, just as she predicted, Xu Yong will definitely appear before everyone in a surprising guise.

Tong Huaqiong started to look forward to it just by thinking about it.

"Get your man out here."

"Don't think that just because you're a woman and you're taking the lead, we can't do anything to you."

"If our corn doesn't turn out well, your corn won't have a good harvest either."

Tian insisted that Xu Yong was not at home, but no matter who she insisted on, it couldn't prove that the yellowing of everyone's corn was caused by pesticides.

Judging by the time, Tian realized that Xu Yong had already escaped.

If they escape to the Zheng family, they will have a chance to survive.

As two ants on the same vine, Xu Zaohua couldn't possibly ignore Xu Yong.

“I already told you that the pesticide formula came from Widow Tong. How would we know that the formula works for the corn in Qinghe Bay but not for your corn?”

“If you keep making a fuss, you won’t be able to save the corn. You have more than one acre of land, right? If I were you, I wouldn’t be concerned about the damaged cornfields, but would instead try to increase the yield of the cornfields that haven’t been sprayed with pesticides.”

While glancing at Tong Huaqiong, Tian gave a subtle hint.

"Damn it," Tong Huaqiong thought to herself, "they're trying to shift the blame onto me again."

Tong Huaqiong said, "Tian Suying, stop targeting me. When you were collecting money from everyone, why didn't you say your prescriptions were ineffective? Now that Xu Yong isn't home, shouldn't you return the money to everyone?"

Some villagers who had initially been inclined to ask Tong Huaqiong for pesticides became distressed upon hearing her words and started clamoring for more money from Tian Shi.

"Give way, give way."

Amidst the commotion, Gu Dahan, along with four strong young men, carved a path through the crowd.

Tong Huaqiong looked over and, good heavens, four people were carrying a person in.

When Tian saw the person being carried sway, they nearly fainted. (End of Chapter)