Chapter 23: Draw Sword and Look Around

The next day, the coral tide receded.
Sun Rui did not come back.
Zhang Jian, who had been eagerly awaiting her return until dawn, disappointingly returned to his room and locked himself in.
Zhang Ziqiang also sighed heavily and shook his head, muttering, "What a world we live in!"
He then returned to his room and began to consider the daily tasks in the village.
Everything seemed to be running as usual, with the exception of the addition of a young paralyzed boy, there was hardly any change in the village.
However, the calmness only lasted for half a day and was then shattered by a figure that broke into the village.
This figure was carrying a large bamboo basket filled with wheat, which swayed back and forth as the figure walked, as if it could spill out at any moment.
"Village Chief! Where did you go, Village Chief?"
Sun Rui's voice echoed from the village entrance all the way to the front gate of the Village Chief's house. Upon hearing Sun Rui's voice, the people of Zhangjia Village all stuck their heads out and looked in the direction where the sound came from.
A long bloodstain stretched from the village all the way to Sun Rui's feet. Sun Rui's body was still bleeding, and it was hard to imagine how one person could bleed so much, the redness was glaring. At this moment, Sun Rui was covered in bruises, with clothes that were black and torn, underneath the holes were wounds that had already started to ooze pus.
But Sun Rui's expression was gentle, and her voice was still full of vitality, like the sunshine, bright and warm.
Zhang Ziqiang slowly walked out of the room, staring at Sun Rui in front of him, who could collapse at any moment, for a moment, he didn't know what to say.
"Village Head! Zhang Ziqiang!"
Sun Rui raised her head and placed the bamboo basket behind her in front of Zhang Ziqiang. She smiled and said:
"What did I say before? A bountiful harvest! Now, come with me to see my wheat field and witness the astonishing yield. Hahaha!!"
"You...you...um, about the wheat field, let's talk about it later. You...you're seriously injured, let me bandage you up."
Zhang Ziqiang said with a complicated expression.
"Bandage? No, I won't! I've been waiting for a year, waiting for this moment! I don't want to wait for a second longer! Hurry, come with me to the wheat field!"
After drifting away for so long, Sun Rui is no longer the polite and elegant heiress from a wealthy family. Her voice is still crisp, but her tone is rough like that of a burly man.
"Don't rush, you're badly hurt, Zhang Jian, Zhang Jian! Quickly get the medicine box and bandage Xiao Rui's wound!"
"I said, I don't want to wait!!!"
To Zhang Ziqiang's surprise, Sun Rui's face suddenly changed. She took a step forward and grabbed Zhang Ziqiang's collar, roaring with a fierce expression:
"I said I don't want to wait! Not even for a moment!"
“小蕊，小蕊你这是要做什么，你快放手、放手！”
张自强没什么修为，被孙蕊这么掐住了衣领，顿时有些喘不过气来。
"What do I want to do? Right now, I damn well just want you to see with your own eyes, see how much food production can be increased using the right, proper methods. I want you to see what my wheat field has become, I want you to use your brain and think about it. With so much food, can we let the villagers live a worry-free life? What kind of changes will it bring to the village?"
"Why are you still asking me what I'm going to do? Shouldn't I be asking you that question? What the hell are you planning to do?"
"Why the fuck did I waste a whole year proving to you the feasibility of these plans? Why is an opportunity to improve the current situation right in front of you, but you're so blind that you can't see it? Why? Huh? Why!"
"You are blind. Your brain is rotten. I have no idea what you are thinking! Now you want me to wait? Wait for what? Wait for you to destroy the crops I planted and then waste another year playing house with you? Am I crazy?"
"You... you let go!"
Zhang Ziqiang's expression became a little panicked, and he hurriedly tried to pull away Sun Rui's hand, but Sun Rui's hands were as if cast in iron and couldn't move at all. He couldn't help but soften his tone:
"Speak calmly, don't...don't be impulsive. I'll go and see with you, we'll go and see the crops. Stay calm, please stay calm..."
"Calm? Stay calm..."
Sun Rui suddenly lowered her voice, like an injured mother leopard, and quietly growled at the enemy:
"You said to stay calm... Those coral insects, you lured them here, right?"
"What...what does it have to do with us?!"
"Do you really think I'm that stupid? Or do you think I've gone crazy, lost my sanity?"
Sun Rui's voice grew lower, but the hidden emotions within it became more and more violent, like an erupting volcano about to burst, with black smoke and flames ready to spew out in an instant:
“真是巧得很啊，这么大一片海岸线，这么多的珊瑚虫，它们哪也不去，专门奔着我那一亩田去！你说怎么会有这么巧的事，嗯？怎么会有这么巧的事？”
"These, these, these monsters still retain some instincts and habits before becoming monsters..."
"Are you trying to fool ghosts with these words? Use your brain, if it were you, would you believe this?"
孙蕊眼睛眯了起来，语气带着些讥讽：
“我真是搞错了，也不知道是脑子抽了什么风，我居然想要做出成绩来打动你！呵呵呵，我现在明白了，你这个村长就是蠢的，蠢得无可救药！
“是非不分、思维僵化，我真的怀疑你当初是怎么当上这个村长的？
“哦，我明白了，‘继承制’是不是？你继承了你爹的村长位置，你害怕外来的变数会影响你在这个村子‘独一无二’的权力是不是？你满脑子只想着稳固你的地位，只要你能在村子里说一不二，这村子变成什么样都无所谓是不是？
"I shouldn't have tried to impress you, I should dismiss you! You are not worthy of being the village chief! You are not worthy!!!"
While saying this, Sun Rui forcefully pinned Zhang Ziqiang to the ground, then gave a fierce glare at Zhang Jian, who had just arrived and was hesitant to speak. Afterwards, she looked towards the villagers who were peeking over with curiosity, and calmly yet firmly said:
"From now on, I am the village chief. Who supports it, who opposes it?"
There was silence in the village, and no one responded.
There were no objections, no cheers, only eyes falling on Sun Rui, without joy or sadness, without any emotional fluctuations, only endless confusion and helplessness.
孙蕊无法理解这些眼神。
她就这么与众人对视，心情渐渐恢复了平静，一腔热血也仿佛被一桶冷水淋了头。
这和她预想中的不一样，不论是村民们愤怒的指责，亦或者是如释重负的欢呼，她都有想过该如何应对，在那样的场景中该说些什么。
But she couldn't handle such numb attention, like a magician performing with all his might on stage, completing the most perfect and grand magic trick of his life at the most crucial moment, yet receiving only a few responses from the audience below.
This is not the emptiness of vanity not satisfied, nor even a sense of loss, but a loneliness.
From beginning to end, it is the loneliness of an outsider.
"Cough, cough, you said I am not worthy to be the village chief, cough..."
Suddenly, Zhang Ziqiang behind Sun Rui slowly crawled up, panting heavily with his mouth wide open, staring straight at Sun Rui and smiling:
"Yes, I am unworthy, I am just an ordinary person, not comparable to someone like you, a 'fairy'. But what about you? What do you know? Do you understand this village? Do you understand us?
"You said you would bring change to our village, do you think you are saving us? What the f*ck are you? Who the f*ck needs you to save them?"