Chapter 77.1

As soon as Gen Ergou appeared, Luan Rong began to tremble all over.

She clung tightly to Mrs. Ruan’s arm, causing her nails to break and bleed. Despite the pain, she hid behind Mrs. Ruan.

Mrs. Ruan shielded Luan Rong, her gaze piercing as she assessed him.

With a sharp face and sinister eyes, he looked anything but trustworthy.

“You are Gen Ergou?”

“Second Brother!” Gen Sigou, still a child, was terrified by Qi Yangyan’s earlier threat. “Second Brother, save me!”

Before Gen Ergou could respond, a thin, emaciated woman lunged at the bodyguards.

The bodyguard moved sideways and grabbed her.

“You son of a bitch, let me go!”

“Mother!”

Gen Sigou’s mother was so frail that she barely reached the height of the bodyguard’s waist, resembling a walking skeleton. She was terrifying to behold.

“You bitch, if I had known you had such relatives, I wouldn’t have bothered with this… hiss, that hurts!”

Gen Ergou could no longer maintain his calm demeanor.

“What do you want to do?”

“I only have one demand,” Qi Yangyan said, his eyes cold behind his glasses, “Let her go!”

The villagers hesitated.

With their mother and brother in their grasp, could they really just watch them die? They began to realize that these people were not to be trifled with.

Gen Ergou glared menacingly at Luan Rong but was blocked by Mrs. Ruan.

“If you dare to look at her like that again, I’ll gouge out your eyes!”

The villagers gasped.

So fierce!

Gen Ergou’s expression worsened as he hesitated.

“Don’t even think about it!” The old lady twisted and squirmed, trying to escape the bodyguard’s grasp. Fueled by anger, she disregarded everything else. “Ergou, don’t let her go! I bought her with great difficulty. How can I let her go so easily?”

“At worst, I’ll let them kill me. I want to see if these people dare to do it!”

The villagers were startled.

Compared to her, they still had some sense of reason.

“These people are even more cruel than the landlords. They will really kill you.”

After hearing this, the old lady also felt panicked.

But she still tried to sound tough. “I heard from the cadres sent down from above that if they kill me, they will have to pay with their lives! And… they will have to pay compensation. At my age, I have lived enough. When the time comes, I will make more money and buy a wife for my Sangou.”

The villagers exchanged looks.

Some were tempted.

“This is indeed a good plan.”

“My son, Er Zhu, is still looking for a wife.”

“Looking at how these people are dressed, they don’t seem poor…”

“Do you think if I lie down in front of them during the fight, they’ll still give us money?”

Hearing such a bizarre idea, Ruan Mingfu was speechless.

Have these people gone mad from poverty?

She wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Ye Qiu was equally speechless.

As the situation became more tense, she stepped forward quickly.

“You can’t ignore reason! She’s their relative,” Ye Qiu frowned. “If she were treated well here, they might have accepted it. But look at her injuries. This is abuse!”

“If we report this, your entire village will face consequences.”

The villagers: “…Do you think I’m afraid of you?”

Though they said this, their confidence faltered.

“Ergou, this is your family matter. You figure it out.”

“That’s right, after all, they are your wife’s family, don’t make things too awkward.”

“If I had known her family was this powerful, I would have stopped them back then…”

Gen Ergou’s eyes burned with rage, but as he turned to speak, he caught sight of Ruan Mingfu.

“You can take her away,” he pointed at Ruan Mingfu, “but you have to leave this woman here.”

Anyway, Luan Rong has been played to death, and staying here will just add another pair of mouths to feed.

Ruan Mingfu is different.

He had never seen such a beautiful woman. If he could…

Thinking of this, Gen Ergou smiled obscenely.

But before he could laugh out loud, a stone came flying at him and hit him right in the mouth.

The thrower was Ruan Mingfu.

“What kind of bastard, you dare to come after me?”

Watching Gen Ergou clutch his mouth, blood seeping through his fingers, the villagers all shuddered. Those who had similar intentions as Gen Ergou quickly rethought their plans.

She was beautiful, but who could stand such a temper?

What if one day, she silently pulls out a knife while lying beside them?

“You little bitch, how dare you hit my son? I’m going to kill you!”

Although she looked skinny, she seemed to have endless energy, and the bodyguards almost couldn’t catch her.

“Not only will I beat your son, I’ll beat you too!”

Ruan Mingfu slapped her across the face.

Seeing the injuries on Luan Rong, she felt a surge of anger. It was hard to quell her resentment without giving this family a good beating.

“Watch out.”

A large hand reached out and pulled her aside.

Just where Ruan Mingfu had been standing, a thick, nasty spit landed. One glance at it made her stomach churn.

…She got her hand dirty touching that old hag!

Yuck!

Her expression soured, and Xie Yanzhao quickly asked, “Are you okay?”

Ruan Mingfu shook her head.

Leaning against Xie Yanzhao, her beautiful brows were tightly knitted, and she felt that her appetite would suffer for days to come.

On the other hand, the old hag looked quite pleased with herself.

When she saw the closeness between the two, she began to shout again.

“You shameless little bitch, have you never seen a man before? You just pounce on a man…ah!”

The old hag screamed in pain and fell to the side.

It was Mrs. Ruan who had kicked her hard enough to dislocate her jaw. Unable to close her mouth, she couldn’t speak, and drool ran uncontrollably down her front, soaking her clothes.

“Mom!”

Gen Ergou panicked.

Ignoring his bleeding mouth, he took a step forward, but the bodyguards fixed their cold, sharp knives on him.

“They’re hitting people! They’re hitting people…”

The villagers thought the outsiders were just trying to scare them, but they never imagined they would actually dare to strike.

Though they had shovels, they were no match for the robust figures of the intruders. The muscles on these men were almost as thick as their thighs. With their emaciated bodies, they were no match for even a single kick from them.

“Ergou, maybe we should just let them go…”

“You’re right. Your mother is old and can’t stand this kind of torture.”

“If you lose your wife, that’s it. Ask them to pay you some money, and then you can go find another virgin.”

“Second Uncle is right…”

Gen Ergou’s attitude began to soften.

In a real fight, he knew he couldn’t match them. Although the Gen family had some connections in the village, they wouldn’t risk their lives to help.

“You can take her with you, but you have to give me fifty… no, one hundred! Just give me one hundred and I’ll let her go with you.”

Not only did Mrs. Ruan did not want to give the money, she also wanted to beat the entire family to death.

“Sister, just give it.” Ye Qiu seemed to understand her intentions. “Luan Rong’s situation… we should take her back and check on her first.”

Mrs. Ruan looked at Luan Rong, who had been trembling and hiding behind her since Gen Ergou appeared, not daring to lift her head, and after a moment of silence, she said, “Yangyan.”

Qi Yangyan scanned the faces of the villagers one by one.

“I can give you the money. But you have to get all these people out of the way.”

The villagers looked at each other, then at the pile of money in Qi Yangyan’s hand, and made way for him without even asking Gen Ergou to say anything.

The bodyguards were divided into two groups to escort Mrs. Ruan and her group out.

Others might have wanted to stop them, but seeing the money Qi Yangyan displayed, they quickly suppressed their urges.

Li Xiuxiu looked up curiously and suddenly locked eyes with a villager.

He grinned widely at her, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth, and even whistled at her. Frightened, Li Xiuxiu quickly lowered her head, tightly clutching Ye Qiu’s arm. This place was even scarier than the village she had been to when she went to the countryside.

No wonder there were no educated youths in this village.

The commune officials were wise enough to know the consequences of letting people in.

As soon as Mrs. Ruan and her group exited, Qi Yangyan finally handed the stack of money to the bodyguard.

“There’s three hundred yuan here, not much, but it’s a reward for your understanding.”

The villagers were in an uproar.

Three hundred yuan?!

They can barely feed themselves all year round, let alone make money. They are lucky not to be left with a life of poverty. Families with better conditions can only make a dozen or twenty yuan a year. They have to save up for most of their lives to earn these three hundred yuan.

The villagers looked at Gen Ergou with envy.

With this money, the poor Gen family, with three brothers and only one wife among them, would finally rise up…

Gen Ergou never thought that such a good thing would happen.

Straightening his back, he held his head high under the envious gazes of the villagers.

Qi Yangyan looked at Gen Ergou deeply and said, “Let’s go.”

The bodyguards released Gen Sigou.

The young man had already been frightened by the scene just now. As soon as he was released, he quickly hid in the firewood pile nearby, looking at these “bad guys” with vigilant eyes.

The old lady wanted to rush forward to fight, but she could see how thoroughly cowed these big men were.

The other villagers also wanted to get rich like Gen Ergou, but when they saw the knife in the bodyguard’s hand, they immediately gave up the idea.

Qi Yangyan successfully rejoined Mrs. Ruan.

The villagers followed them to the village entrance, watching as everyone got into the cars. There were at least seven or eight of them. Even the commune cadres who came to work didn’t have such a grand appearance.

They wiped the sweat from their foreheads.

“Thank goodness nothing happened…”

“Ergou’s wife’s family is so amazing. They drive so many cars.”

“Guess this is Old Gen’s luck… if only they had treated the outsiders better back then, they could have enjoyed life with them.”

“It’s all about fate…”

“At least they gave three hundred yuan.”

As the last words faded, those in the crowd with ulterior motives exchanged glances, each seeing the hidden intentions in the other’s eyes.