Chapter 56: Public Display

“Bai An!”

Hearing someone call her name from a distance, Bai An looked up in surprise, thinking it was her dad and brother returning.

But the person standing there was not them. The tall figure, the worried expression, the frantic eyes—none of them were her family.

“Lin Zhixia, please help me! They’re trying to take my mom away!”

Lin Zhixia rushed over and pushed away the hands that were grabbing Bai An.

When Bai An realized no one was holding her, she suddenly ran forward, wanting to get to her mom’s side.

“Bai An!” Lin Zhixia worriedly grabbed Bai An’s arm, pulling her into an embrace. “Don’t go over there yet.”

Wan Qing looked at Lin Zhixia not far away, shaking her head as she anxiously shouted, “They have knives! Don’t come over!”

Bai An didn’t understand why they were going to such lengths to take Wan Qing away when she had done nothing wrong.

The man at the front shouted at Lin Zhixia in disbelief, “You can’t even protect yourself, and you want to protect them? I think you’ve lost your mind.”

As he spoke, he turned to the people behind him and said, “Let’s go. Take this woman down first, and we’ll come back tomorrow.”

“You can’t leave!” Bai An struggled fiercely, pounding her fists against the arms blocking her way, shouting, “You can’t leave!”

A group of people took Wan Qing further away until their figures were no longer visible. Only then did Lin Zhixia release Bai An.

Bai An glared angrily at Lin Zhixia. “Are you in on this too?”

“No,” Lin Zhixia said, looking worriedly at Bai An and weakly comforting her, “She won’t be in danger. Don’t worry.”

“How can I not worry?” Bai An punched Lin Zhixia’s arm and shouted, “What right do you have to stop me?”

Bai An was small but quite strong. Lin Zhixia’s hand trembled slightly as he looked directly into Bai An’s eyes and said, “If you had resisted back then, it might not have just been your mom they took.”

Bai An didn’t understand. After giving Lin Zhixia an angry glare, she ran toward the direction of her family’s wheat field.

Leaving only Lin Zhixia and the little puppy in the yard, which was trembling.

“Dad!” When Bai An reached the corner, she happened to run into Lu’s father and son returning. “Mom!”

Lu Jin’an looked at Bai An’s panicked expression and asked, “What’s wrong? Take a breath and tell us.”

Bai An shook her head and said in a flustered voice, “Mom was taken away by someone.”

“What!” Lu Demin rushed in front of Bai An, frowning tightly as he anxiously asked, “How was she taken? Why was she taken? Who took her?”

Lu Jin’an also walked up behind Bai An, his face filled with anger as he said, “Don’t panic. First, tell us what happened.”

With her brother’s reassurance, Bai An took a breath. “Someone knocked on the door, and when Mom went to open it, they just grabbed her for no reason. There were a lot of them, and they had weapons.”

“Weapons!” A shadow crossed Lu Jin’an’s eyes as he glanced at Bai An’s body, relieved to see she was unharmed, allowing her to continue.

“Yes,” Bai An’s voice became increasingly choked, “If Lin Zhixia hadn’t stopped me, Mom wouldn’t have been taken away like that.”

Lu Demin’s expression turned worried. He quickly stood up, instructing Lu Jin’an to take good care of Bai An while he went to find the village chief to ask what was going on.

At this moment, Lu Jin’an also felt anxious, thinking of taking Bai An home first before going out to search for their mom.

A flash of white light crossed Bai An’s mind. She blinked and quietly said to Lu Jin’an, “Brother, I think I know where Mom is.”

Lu Jin’an silently followed behind Bai An. As they turned down smaller paths, getting closer to the center of the village, his brows couldn’t help but furrow.

The central area of the village was where villagers gathered for important matters. If Mom was here, things probably weren’t going to be simple.

Just as Bai An thought, Wan Qing was standing right in the middle of the crowd. There were so many people, and it was so chaotic that Bai An couldn’t see Wan Qing’s current situation at all. She anxiously tugged at Lu Jin’an’s sleeve and asked, “How is Mom doing now?”

Lu Jin’an looked at the center, his expression darkening, as if he were trying to suppress his anger. His brows were tightly knitted, his gaze cold, his lips trembling slightly, and a few veins were visible on his neck.

Bai An noticed his clenched fists and nervously called out, “Brother!”

At that moment, Lu Jin’an’s eyes flashed as if he saw something and pulled Bai An aside.

Watching the central area drift further away from her, Bai An wanted to break free from Lu Jin’an’s grip, but the more she struggled, the tighter he held on.

“No matter what happens, make sure she doesn’t get involved.”

“What?” Hearing Lu Jin’an’s serious words, Bai An looked up and saw the burly man and Cui Ju standing in front of her. She felt a sense of foreboding and anxiously asked, “Why?”

Lu Jin’an glanced at her and entrusted her to Cui Ju, saying, “Hold her tight.”

The burly man and Cui Ju didn’t know what was happening either. Seeing so many people gathered in the village and Lu Jin’an’s serious expression, they could only nod cautiously, indicating they would hold on to Bai An well.

Watching Lu Jin’an walk to the side to pick up a stick and test it in his hands, Bai An immediately shouted, “Brother! What are you going to do?”

The burly man and Cui Ju pulled Bai An tightly, preventing her from running to Lu Jin’an.

At that moment, the burly man’s palms began to sweat, and Bai An’s arm felt a bit slippery. He whispered to the person next to him, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but I feel like something’s going to happen.” Cui Ju glanced at Lu Jin’an’s distant figure, worriedly asking, “Is it going to turn into a fight? What should we do? I’m a bit scared.”

“Me too.” Although the burly man said he was scared, he held Bai An’s hand even tighter.

Lu Jin’an walked alone into the crowd, intentionally moving into the gaps. When he couldn’t push through any longer, he used one hand to shove the people in front of him aside.

“Why are you pushing? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate? Are you blind? Can’t you see there’s someone in front?” The man cursed as he turned to look back. When he saw Lu Jin’an’s expressionless face, he panicked and grabbed the arm of the person next to him.

“What are you doing?” The person being grabbed was annoyed and shrugged him off.

Lu Jin’an stood at the front row and saw his mother tied to a pillar in the middle. Her originally dark and shiny hair had been shaved off halfway, and around her neck was a wooden board with the word “slut” written on it.

“Who did this?!” Lu Jin’an shouted, unable to contain his anger. “Who the hell did this?!”

Hearing Lu Jin’an’s voice, Wan Qing slowly raised her head, looking at the child in front of her, feeling embarrassed as she lowered her head and said sadly, “Jin’an.”

“Mom!” Lu Jin’an, suppressing his anger, stepped forward to remove the wooden board from Wan Qing’s neck.

At that moment, some youths nearby, seeing someone causing trouble, quickly raised their sticks to block in front of Wan Qing, arrogantly saying, “Even if she’s your mom, she’s still a slut, so you can’t take her away. It’s not time yet.”

Before the person could finish speaking, Lu Jin’an struck him on the head with his stick, causing blood to spill as the man fell back helplessly.