Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, Village Chief Li publicly announces a 2,000-yuan penalty against Zhou Laosi for burning crop straw after someone reported him. Zhou Zheng demands to know who filed the report, and Su Wan steps out from behind the crowd, calmly admitting that it was her. Wang Xiulan brings up the kindness they showed her years ago, when they helped pay her university tuition and rushed her grandfather to the hospital in the middle of the night. But Su Wan insists that these are two separate matters. Zhou Laosi accepts the fine but declares on the spot that the ties between their two families are now severed. Yet why was the maximum penalty imposed, and where were the reporting materials sent? This bitter confrontation has only just begun.