“You get out of here!”

When Du Yunyan arrived at Yan Yan’s house, he ran into Yun Liang, a man who was being driven out from inside. Yun Liang, a fellow villager, looked disheveled, with two marks on his arms, and pleaded as he spoke, “Big sister, Let’s talk.”

“I have nothing to say to you!” Yan Yan’s mother held a bamboo whip in her hand, her momentum intimidating, chasing him from the front of the house to the back, “You still dare to come to my house?”

“I—” The man looked embarrassed, but still brazen, “Big sister, I didn’t mean to force you. Let’s talk—”

She spat on the ground, her face flushed, “Who wants to talk to you?!”

“Chen jie,” Du Yunyan stepped forward with a stern face, “Give me the bamboo whip.”

After learning the situation from the village chief’s house, Gu Wenxi hurriedly followed them to Yan Yan’s house, cursing in his heart. Most of his anger stemmed from the newly discovered truth, and a small part was due to Du Yunyan’s concealment and stubbornness, insisting on handling possible troubles himself.

The person mentioned by Yan Yan, he had heard of last year. His name was Yun Liang, a man in his thirties who was still single. He idled away his time every day, causing his nearly seventy-year-old father to become ill from anger and eventually pass away. Despite working odd jobs in the city, whenever he had extra money, he would squander it, accumulating goodness knows how much debt.

What was infuriating was that not only was he ineffective in his career, but his personal life was also chaotic and unrestrained. Despite his age, he hadn’t married or considered settling down. Relying on his somewhat handsome appearance, he was used to fooling around, seeking momentary pleasure. He had gotten involved with a divorced single woman from the same village a couple of years ago, but the relationship fell apart, and they went their separate ways. Fortunately, it didn’t affect others, and the villagers didn’t like to meddle in other people’s affairs, so they turned a blind eye.

Recently, he had set his sights on Yan Yan’s mother, who worked outside. He harassed her every other day, although he didn’t gain anything, it was enough to annoy people. Today, he even barged into their house and said some true or false harsh words. Yan Yan was scared and sneaked out to find Du Yunyan.

Yun Liang’s father had a good relationship with the village chief when he was alive, and before he passed away, he entrusted him to take care of his son. To cause such an ugly incident, the village chief’s heart was extremely heavy, calling out that the old man in heaven couldn’t rest in peace.

Gu Wenxi hadn’t seen the real person. Through the village chief’s brief description, he envisioned a rough and tough local bully. Thinking that Du Yunyan had to deal with such a person, he felt his scalp go numb, feeling nervous along the way, afraid of causing trouble.

After mentally completing a big drama, they arrived at their destination.

Gu Wenxi was dumbfounded. The so-called “village bully” was indeed tall and burly, but Du Yunyan was not bullied. Instead, he forced the man against the wall, holding a bamboo whip and giving him a “lecture.”

“Apologize to Chen Jie!”

The bamboo whip fell onto a nearby table with a crisp sound, causing the man to shrink his shoulders. There were already two marks on his arms, perhaps from Du Yunyan’s hand.

“Hurry up!” another crack of the whip.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“Do you dare to come again?”

“N-no… I won’t dare.”

Gu Wenxi suddenly realized that Du Yunyan’s previous anger towards him was nothing compared to what he was seeing now. Du Yunyan was in full force, his cold gaze devoid of the usual gentleness, his voice sounding as if it were amplified, with a slight tremor.

“Village chief?” The man’s gaze swept over to a few people nearby. “I really won’t dare anymore, village chief, I didn’t do anything! “

Du Yunyan temporarily put down the bamboo whip and stepped back to Gu Wenxi’s side, letting the village chief talk to him.

“How dare you!” The village chief was very emotional, “Your father was always so kind, but you day by day… How can you face your deceased father!” Yun Liang stood for a long time, moving his legs a little, and the old man shouted sternly, “Stand still, don’t move around!”

He had to straighten up again and stand against the wall.

“Are you okay?” Gu Wenxi asked Du Yunyan softly.

“Of course, ” Du Yunyan’s expression softened, “Do you think I can be bullied?”

“Who knows.”

“Your father asked me to take care of you,” the village chief said angrily, his neck turning red, “I saw you go out to work before, and I thought you could learn well, but… huh, you came back and caused trouble! How can I explain to your father!”

“Yes, you’re right!”

“Be serious! Do you know I can send you to the police station?”

“You’re exaggerating, I didn’t do anything! Even if I go to the police station, I’ll only be held for a couple of days,” he pretended to look innocent, “How could I force others? I’m just pursuing big sister normally.”

“You…” Yan Yan’s mother was so angry that she couldn’t speak, almost in tears.

She had married into the village from outside, her original name was Chen. Due to her poor relationship with her family, she had not left even after her mother-in-law died two years ago, always staying in the village with her daughter, waiting for her husband’s rare visits home. The villagers had always been harmonious, even if there were only two people, it wasn’t difficult for them, but they didn’t expect to encounter such a grievance in recent days.

“Shut up!” The village chief was also angry, “Xiao Chen is a married woman, how can you say such things?”

“Okay,” he knew he was wrong, “I was blinded by momentary madness. I won’t do it again in the future,” he glanced sideways at Du Yunyan, smirking, “You just ignore the real moral corruption and make a fuss about me doing nothing.”

The old man took a few steps forward, hands on hips, “You really have the nerve to say that? Besides you, who else in our village is corrupt morally? Huh?”

Yun Liang slapped his mouth, chuckled twice, his gaze like a sharp blade, bypassing the village chief, and went straight to Du Yunyan, disdainfully said, “Moral corruption is right in front of us, isn’t it?”

The village chief followed his gaze.

“The Du Yunyan you admire, he’s having an affair with a man,” he raised his arm and pointed at them, gritting his teeth, “It’s him and the man next to him.”

Gu Wenxi and Du Yunyan’s faces changed simultaneously, while the village chief angrily pointed his finger at Yun Liang’s nose and scolded, “Nonsense! They are good friends, how dare you slander them? Your own dirty thoughts want to drag others down—”

“Is that so? Why don’t you ask him if they’re just friends?” Yun Liang had just been scolded by Du Yunyan, who was a few years younger, and felt humiliated. Now that the village chief was present, he wanted to vent his anger. After a moment’s pause, he smirked and said, “I saw it with my own eyes, the two of them in the little grove down there—kissing! You know what kind of people kiss each other, don’t you?”

His words shook everyone present, and they all turned their eyes to Du Yunyan and Gu Wenxi in the center of the room, even Yan Yan looked up blankly.

“This kid looks decent, has good conditions, and hasn’t found a partner at thirty. Why do you think that is? Haha…” Seeing that the two had nothing to say, Yun Liang was very pleased, “It turns out… if I hadn’t found out, it wouldn’t have come to light.”

“He’s too proud and looks down on the girls in the village!”

“We are lovers,” Du Yunyan’s lips trembled as he spoke.

Yun Liang burst into laughter, “He admitted it! Village Chief, I was right, wasn’t I?”

“What’s wrong with us being lovers?” Gu Wenxi couldn’t stand this kind of humiliation. Since Du Yunyan had confessed anyway, he had nothing to hide. “We love each other freely. We can kiss whenever we want. Can you compare that to harassing married people?” As if to confirm his words, Gu Wenxi grabbed Du Yunyan’s shoulder and kissed him on the cheek, making a crisp “smack” that everyone in the room heard clearly.

The village chief hadn’t recovered from the sudden turn of events yet, and he felt embarrassed by this bold move, holding his forehead with one hand, his brows furrowed tightly.

Yun Liang became even more excited, “See, he can still do such shameless things in front of children. Now you know what kind of people they are, right?”

“You… You’re not innocent yourself, shut up!” After scolding Yun Liang, the village chief asked Du Yunyan with a gasp, “Yunyan, is this true?”

“Yes,” Du Yunyan lowered his eyes, “I have nothing to hide.”

“Ah,” the village chief stamped his foot and looked up at the ceiling, “What’s all this mess!”

^[1]Author’s Note:

This character is the one mentioned in Chapter 13.