In Minecraft Java Edition every villager keeps its own memories of each player, as numbers, and its prices read them. Curing a zombie villager leaves two: a good word worth 25, and a bigger memory worth 20 that counts five times. On an enchanted book every five points is an emerald off, so a 30 emerald book drops to 5.

Then the villagers gossip. When two stand close, one copies what the other remembers about you, a little weaker each time. The good word arrives next door as 20, then 15, so the same book costs 26 there and 27 one more door down. It works the other way too: punch a villager four times and its memory of you reaches minus 100, the line where a nearby iron golem goes for you. Good words fade a little every day. The cure's big memory never fades and is never retold; the game's code names its amount REPUTATION_CHANGE_PER_EVERLASTING_MEMORY.

The numbers are Java Edition 26.3's. Since 1.20.2 (2023) one cure fills that memory, so curing the same villager again adds nothing; before that it stacked.

The village, the figures and the 30 emerald book are our own simplified version, drawn in code; the memories and prices on screen are the game's own rules run on it, and the days pass faster than in the game.

Has an iron golem ever come for you and you never knew why?

Sources: Minecraft Java Edition, the game's code (Mojang's server releases 1.14 to 26.3, read with Mojang's published mappings): GossipType, GossipContainer, Villager, MerchantOffer, DefendVillageTargetGoal and the villager_trade data. Mojang, Minecraft Snapshot 19w12b notes (2019). Mojang, Minecraft Java Edition 1.20.2 notes (2023).
Not an official Minecraft video. Not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft.
Sounds and music: our own, made in code.