Chapter 132: Hindsight

Little Stone shifted his gaze toward Little Black and nodded honestly. "Uh... yes, it would."

If it weren't for the fact that Little Black was raised by Great-Aunt and had always been friendly to the villagers, seeing such a massive white tiger would have been enough to scare them to death.

"Then why did you ask?" Chen Daliu gave Little Stone a tap on the head; this boy was clearly obsessed with money.

"Look, that’s our fellow villagers!"

"Ask them if they’ve seen—" Before he could finish his sentence, he froze, followed by an even more excited cry.

"Ah! Great-Aunt is here!" Thank goodness, Great-Aunt hadn't been kidnapped by Little Black.

"Wonderful, Great-Aunt is right here!" Thank heavens, she wasn't lost.

Those who had been chasing after Bai Xi only just caught up with the villagers who were heading back. Seeing Bai Xi and Little Black safe and sound, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

"What happened?" someone asked urgently. "Is something wrong? Why are you all in such a hurry?"

"It’s because when everyone heard that the Xiaxin Village folks were bullying our people, they rushed over to help!"

"Well, you’re late; it’s all resolved." Chen Youfu chuckled. Since they arrived late, they missed the scene where Great-Aunt authoritatively suppressed the entire village of Xiaxin.

"Resolved? It’s all okay?" Among the latecomers was Li Youcai. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried to walk beside Chen Youfu.

"Resolved, yes. There wasn't even a fight. Great-Aunt just brought Little Black over. You all missed it—Great-Aunt was so imposing..."

"Hahaha, that scene was truly satisfying. You all know how arrogant the village head of Xiaxin has always been. Not just him, but everyone in their village relies on their numbers to look down on others. But just now, in front of Great-Aunt, they couldn't even string a coherent sentence together..."

Li Youcai and the others listened to the recount, their eyes sparkling with excitement and joy—though, naturally, there was a touch of regret.

"By the way, you said you were rushing over, so why were you so slow?"

"Don't mention it." Li Youcai stole a glance at Little Black and whispered, "We took a wrong turn."

"A wrong turn?" Someone was confused. "You’ve lived in this village for so many years and you still don't know the way?!"

"It's not that. You don't understand."

"Exactly, exactly, you wouldn't understand." Because Little Black was present, and because they had misunderstood it, they felt too embarrassed to bring up the matter in front of the tiger and Bai Xi.

How were they to know that Little Black had taken Great-Aunt in the other direction? They had chased after them, lost the trail, and arrived at a fork—one path leading to the border of Xiaxin Village and the other toward the mountains. What were they supposed to do? Thinking Little Black had stolen Great-Aunt, they assumed it must have headed for the mountains, so they pursued that path.

It wasn't that they didn't know their own villagers were fighting with Xiaxin Village and needed help, but Great-Aunt was gone! She had been snatched by Little Black, and they had no idea where she’d been taken. One could easily weigh the gravity of such a situation.

Bai Xi heard them whispering nearby and giggled. "You don't understand; they came late because they saw Little Black carrying me and thought he had kidnapped me. They must have taken a wrong turn while chasing us."

"Is that really what happened?"

Li Youcai scratched his head in embarrassment, and the others nodded with flushed, sheepish faces.

They had searched for a while without seeing a single footprint of Little Black. It wasn't until someone suggested that Little Black might have taken Bai Xi toward Xiaxin Village that they all hurried over.

Meanwhile, as the people from Niuluo Village faded from sight, someone from Xiaxin Village finally collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

Don't think they didn't run away first because they were brave; they had been frozen in place by pure terror, unable to move their legs. That was a giant white tiger! A man-eating beast—if they had been mauled, it would have been too late to cry for help.

"Village Head, are we just going to let them walk away?" A Xiaxin villager, feeling indignant, asked in a low voice.

Zhou Dahu glared at the speaker, his rage boiling, but he could only retort in a low growl, "Then you go up and have a fight with the giant white tiger!"

Little Black’s presence was too intimidating. Even though the people from Niuluo Village were no longer in sight, the residents of Xiaxin dared not raise their voices. They were already unlucky enough as it was.

"I, I..."

"That’s right, you’re so tough, go ahead and fight the white tiger then."

"I’m talking to you, Zhou Dajin. If you're tired of living and want to die, don't drag us down with you."

"Exactly. You didn't make a sound earlier, and now that they're gone, you’re playing the hero?"

Chastised by the entire village, Zhou Dajin was both angry and anxious. "So, you’re all just going to willingly pool your money to pay Niuluo Village? What gives them the right!"

Five hundred and eighty yuan! He had never even seen a hundred-yuan bill in his life; why did Niuluo Village think they deserved so much?

"What gives them the right? You ask what gives them the right? The fact that Niuluo Village has a giant white tiger!" Zhou Dahu still felt cold sweat running down his spine. Negotiating with a quirky, impulsive little toddler who did whatever she wanted had been nerve-wracking, even though the negotiations hadn't gone well.

He was terrified that if one thing went wrong, someone in Xiaxin would end up as tiger feed. Even though he wanted to kick Zhou Dajin for his outburst, he no longer had the strength.

Hearing this, the people of Xiaxin instinctively looked in the direction Niuluo Village had departed. Someone cursed bitterly, "Niuluo Village really hit the jackpot. Where did they even get a white tiger? Keeping such a ferocious beast—aren't they afraid it will eat their own villagers?"

This wasn't some house cat or dog; it was a white tiger, a beast of prey. If someone actually got eaten, they would surely light firecrackers to celebrate.

Someone else scoffed, "I don't know if the people of Niuluo Village will get eaten, but I know one thing: if we don't scrape the money together, that tiger will definitely eat us first."

Zhou Dajin stared, eyes wide. "Are you really willing to just hand over the money?"

Five hundred and eighty yuan! With one hundred and sixty-three households in the village, that was at least three yuan and fifty-five cents per household. Considering how little a work point was worth, that was days of backbreaking labor.

"Not pay? You try not paying. Is your house made of copper and iron?"

"Zhou Dajin, if you're so capable, you don't have to pay." The speaker counted on his fingers and immediately grimaced in pain.

At the thought of shelling out over three yuan, he was in no mood for civility. He cursed, "You want to die, fine, but don't drag us with you."

Who wanted to pay? But looking at the situation, was there any other way?

Didn't everyone hear the little girl’s ultimatum before she left? It was clear: if they didn't pay, or if they didn't pay enough, she would let the white tiger pay them a visit.

Who dared to gamble their lives on that?

That massive white tiger, so obedient to the little girl’s commands, not even getting angry when poked or pulled—that level of control was terrifying enough.

No household could stand against a giant white tiger.