Facing Gu Yunche’s scrutinizing gaze, Mu Guiying hesitated before answering softly, “I… I was just afraid my aunt would chase after us.”
Gu Yunche chuckled lightly, amusement lingering in his eyes.
“They won’t catch up. Your aunt can’t outrun a jeep.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the driver suddenly exclaimed, “Someone’s blocking the road ahead!”
Gu Yunche looked forward and saw Liu E leading a group of villagers armed with sticks.
He had not expected Liu E to be this brazen—to actually come and snatch someone away in broad daylight.
Before coming to pick up Mu Guiying, he had looked into the customs and temperament of Ancient City Village. The villagers there truly were fierce and unruly.
But earlier, Mu Guiying had instructed the driver to temporarily change routes.
So how had Liu E known to block them here?
A trace of confusion flickered through Gu Yunche’s deep peach blossom eyes. He turned back to glance at Mu Guiying.
She looked genuinely shocked, cold sweat even beading on her forehead.
Mu Guiying appeared frightened.
But who could say whether she was pretending?
Thinking this, Gu Yunche pressed his fingers against his brow, unable to hide his exhaustion.
Turning toward her, he asked with a faint smile, “Mu Guiying, what exactly are you planning?”
Those deep and brilliant eyes of his seemed capable of seeing through everything, piercing directly into the deepest corners of her heart.
Yet within that penetrating gaze was only confusion and doubt.
Mu Guiying had no strength left to defend herself. Like someone resigned to fate, she shook her head.
“I just want to leave this place. As for why Liu E came to block this road, I truly don’t know.”
Gu Yunche’s expression remained unreadable. He simply looked at her silently for a moment before turning around to unfasten his seatbelt.
To the driver, Xiao Wu, he said calmly, “Stop the car ahead.”
Once the jeep stopped steadily, Gu Yunche got out.
Mu Guiying stared at him without blinking as he walked to the back of the vehicle and opened the rear door.
Remembering how the two of them had been beaten together in the original novel, a bad premonition rose in her chest.
Was Gu Yunche planning to drag her out too and make her negotiate with Liu E?
After all, he disliked her that much.
But after opening the door, Gu Yunche merely said, “Stay inside the car. Don’t get out.”
With that, he closed the door.
Dressed in spotless white, tall and straight-backed, Gu Yunche walked toward Liu E and the villagers. Every step he took carried unquestionable firmness and cold authority.
Mu Guiying was stunned by his actions.
Her eyes followed his figure as he negotiated with Liu E and the others. He pulled out his wallet, withdrew several banknotes, and handed them to Liu E.
Liu E snatched the money greedily while still muttering complaints under her breath. Gu Yunche responded with something, but Mu Guiying could not hear clearly.
Then suddenly, one villager swung a stick against Gu Yunche’s shoulder.
Soon after, the others joined in.
Gu Yunche was a military officer. He had come during his leave to pick her up. He could not possibly strike villagers back.
In this situation, he could only suffer silently.
Mu Guiying became anxious.
Quickly, she turned to Xiao Wu.
“Driver Wu, is there anything in the car that can be used as a weapon?”
The driver had been frightened by the scene outside. Only after Mu Guiying’s reminder did he remember there were two short iron shovels in the back, left there after the jeep had gotten stuck in mud during a previous rainstorm.
“Yes, in the back.”
The two hurried out of the car, each grabbing a shovel before rushing over to support Gu Yunche.
As Mu Guiying neared the crowd, she raised the shovel and charged straight at Liu E.
If she truly struck someone with it, they could die.
She only intended to scare them.
Seeing Mu Guiying charging at her like a madwoman, Liu E staggered backward in fright and fell flat onto the ground.
Mu Guiying shouted loudly, “I already called the police! If you keep causing trouble, all of you will be arrested!”
She glanced at Gu Yunche.
There was sweat on his forehead, and his clothes looked somewhat disheveled. Clearly, he had suffered some superficial injuries.
Lifting her chin slightly, she snapped, “Why are you just standing there? Get behind me.”
Mu Guiying wanted to protect him?
Gu Yunche was utterly stunned.
This was the first time in his life a girl had ever protected him.
And it had all happened so suddenly.
Her blazing eyes, flushed cheeks from anger, and volcanic fierceness and passion—
Everything about her felt overwhelmingly vivid.
Almost instinctively, Gu Yunche stepped behind Mu Guiying.
He was a soldier. He could not fight ordinary civilians, even if they were unreasonable and savage.
Still, the Mu Guiying before him was completely different from the Mu Guiying he had heard about from the villagers.
According to them, Mu Guiying was spoiled, lazy, and delicate.
She was afraid of the sun and refused to work in the fields. She was afraid of dirt and would not clean the cattle pens. She feared exhaustion and would not grind flour at the mill.
In short, she could neither carry nor lift anything.
Instead, she loved pampering herself, spending all her savings on skincare creams and cosmetics.
They also said that because she was beautiful, she deliberately ruined matchmaking dinners for girls she disliked. She would flirt shamelessly in front of the men, causing them to lose interest in the intended girl and insist on marrying Mu Guiying instead.
Yet she would proudly declare that she intended to marry into the city and would never marry a country man.
Furthermore, Mu Guiying was supposedly vain and cunning. To get close to the film projectionist from the county, she made other village girls cut pig grass for her while she dressed herself up beautifully to watch movies.
In short, if the village chief had not pitied her tragic background and protected her repeatedly, the villagers would have long since thrown her out of Ancient City Village to fend for herself.
Yet the Mu Guiying before him now—
How was she completely different from the one everyone described?
Gu Yunche felt thoroughly confused.
Meanwhile, Liu E climbed up from the ground and dusted herself off.
“Mu Guiying, stop bluffing! This isn’t the village chief’s office. Where would you even find a phone to call the police?”
Mu Guiying sneered coldly.
“I used a cellphone.”
Everyone froze in shock.
Gu Yunche frowned slightly and lowered his voice.
“A cellphone?”
Only then did Mu Guiying realize she had spoken carelessly.
She coughed twice.
“Driver Wu, your car has a radio communicator, right?”
Driver Wu paused briefly before waving the shovel and nodding cooperatively.
“That’s right! We already contacted the police. You people… you people are—”
Mu Guiying interrupted when she saw him struggling for words.
“What you’re doing is illegal. You’re provoking trouble and assaulting an active-duty military officer. That’s a serious crime—”
She nearly blurted out “criminal law” again.
Mu Guiying abruptly stopped herself.
She could not keep talking like this.
After all, she was supposed to be an illiterate village girl.
Then Gu Yunche continued coldly, “This violates criminal law and constitutes disturbing public order. Simply put, it’s hooliganism.”
His magnetic voice carried an unquestionable chill and dominance, causing the hairs along Mu Guiying’s spine to stand on end as she stood in front of him.
The ignorant villagers were equally shaken.
Seeing the crowd flee while clutching their sticks, Liu E cursed angrily under her breath.
“I don’t care! I raised Guiying myself. Your family wants to take her away, yet you’re only giving this little money?”
In her hand were several fifty-yuan notes and some ten-yuan bills.
In the end, it was all about money.
Gu Yunche said in a deep voice, “I already told you. Once I return, I’ll send you another payment in full.”
Just as Liu E was about to continue arguing, Mu Guiying suddenly asked coldly,
“Aunt, when I first came to your house, didn’t my grandparents give you three gold bars? Didn’t that count as money?”
Liu E was utterly shocked.
She thought to herself:
Mu Guiying had only been three years old when she came to their house.
How could she possibly remember the gold bars?