Wang Dahu lay on the ground, shivering all over. That punch Xie Hanshuo had just landed had definitely injured his internal organs!
“You… you are…” Wang Erhu suddenly recognized Xie Hanshuo and pointed at him with a trembling hand, “You are that hunter from Liuye Village!”
In the nearby villages, there were very few people who went up the mountain to hunt.
The reason Wang Erhu remembered was that Xie Hanshuo’s reputation in the area was truly formidable.
Everyone in the village said that Xie Hanshuo was famously good at fighting and even more famously ruthless.
Xie Hanshuo’s father had been a soldier in his early years, returning home later to become a hunter and accumulating some family assets.
After his father passed away, relatives had tried to bully the widowed mother and orphaned son to take advantage of them. At that time, a teenage Xie Hanshuo had driven the group out with a weapon in hand, breaking several of their legs in the process.
There were also some local hoodlums who snuck into the Xie household in the middle of the night to steal chickens, only to be caught red-handed by him and thrown at the village entrance with their hands and feet broken.
Even when facing five people at once, Xie Hanshuo had never lost.
The villagers all said that one slap from the second Xie son could send a person scurrying all over the floor looking for their teeth.
Wang Dahu’s gang had always bullied the weak and feared the strong; now that they had encountered a malicious star like Xie Hanshuo, how could they dare to show even a shred of arrogance?
All they could do was kowtow and beg for mercy.
Xie Hanshuo ignored their wails entirely. He walked straight up to Wang Erhu, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it backward with force.
Snap!
The sound of bone breaking was clearly audible, making one’s teeth ache just hearing it.
Ye Yao felt a numbness at the scalp and subconsciously turned her face away.
“Master! Master, spare us! We won’t ever dare to do this again!”
Wang Dahu and his two brothers wept and begged for mercy, kneeling on the ground with snot and tears streaming down their faces.
By the time Jiang Youning arrived with the village head and a crowd of villagers, this was the scene they saw.
The bullies who usually wreaked havoc in the countryside were all sprawled on the ground, wailing.
And that tall, burly man stood in front of Ye Yao, his voice cold and hard:
“This is the only time. If you dare to come to the Jiang house to make trouble again in the future, I will cripple your hands and feet. Do you hear me clearly?”
“Clear! We hear you clearly!”
“We won’t dare again, really, we won’t dare again…”
The village head looked at the miserable state of the three men and sighed repeatedly: “A sin, truly a sin!”
The watching villagers also began to whisper:
“This poor relative of the Jiang family has actually hitched their wagon to the Xie family in Liuye Village?”
“I heard that the eldest of the Xie family is a scholar and the second is a hunter; that’s quite something!”
“From now on, the Jiang family finally has someone to back them up. It’s not easy for them…”
Regardless of what others were saying, Wang Dahu and his gang had no face left to stay.
The three fled, crawling and stumbling.
The crowd at the entrance gradually dispersed, and only then did Jiang Da dare to bring Jiang Yushu out from the house.
At the sight of a man as tall and fierce as Xie Hanshuo, both of them involuntarily shuddered.
And when Xie Hanshuo saw Jiang Yushu, his first reaction was to frown.
Without power or status, and foolish to the point of having no means of self-defense, such delicate beauty in this impoverished, remote area was not a blessing, but rather a source of endless catastrophe.
The way Xie Hanshuo stood there, frowning and silent, was truly intimidating.
The Jiang family subconsciously assumed he was disgusted by them, so they dared not make a sound.
“We should go.”
A moment later, Xie Hanshuo said to Ye Yao, “It’s getting dark; let’s head back. Those men shouldn’t dare to come again, so you don’t need to worry.”
Ye Yao gave a low response and then turned to Jiang Da: “Uncle, if you have any trouble, let Cousin come to the Xie house to find me. I will come to see you again in a few days.”
Jiang Da nodded repeatedly and saw them to the door.
Just as they were about to leave, she heard Jiang Yushu call out in a thin voice: “Yaoyao…”
Ye Yao turned back and smiled at her: “Aunt, next time I come, I will bring you candy.”
Jiang Yushu clapped her hands, giggling foolishly: “Candy, eat candy, hehe…”
“We’re leaving; you all should go back inside, too.”
Ye Yao waved goodbye, followed behind Xie Hanshuo, and turned to leave with reluctance.
She sighed softly.
Next time she came, she feared she would be unable to act on her own and would have to look at others’ faces…
The setting sun sank lower, and the evening glow quietly stained half the sky.
Ye Yao followed behind Xie Hanshuo, looking at his straight, silent back; her heart felt as if it had been lightly pinched by something.
Since leaving the Jiang house, he hadn’t said a word. He seemed to be enveloped in a layer of icy air, making it impossible for anyone to get close.
Ye Yao couldn’t help but think of her past life—
At that time, she hadn’t started doing business, and because she really missed her uncle’s family, she had personally made some food and brought it over.
The newlywed Xie Moyan was still considerate back then and accompanied her.
They had also encountered Wang Dahu making trouble at the time.
Xie Moyan had stepped in to settle the trouble, earning the Jiang family’s total gratitude.
But as soon as they left the Jiang house, Xie Moyan’s disgust could no longer be hidden.
He frowned and said the Jiang house was dirty and messy, claiming it made him “get bad luck all over him” and that he would need to wash thoroughly when they got back.
Then, Xie Moyan blamed her for “not being sensible,” telling her to interact less with poor relatives in the future so as not to get dragged down or cause trouble.
Later, when she was doing business and needed help, the Jiang family was honest and hardworking, willing to help just for a meal.
At that time, she had spoken every good word she could in front of Xie Moyan and provided help in secret, making sure Xie Moyan didn’t find out, so he finally agreed to it reluctantly.
But she knew clearly that in Xie Moyan’s heart, he had always looked down on the Jiang family.
Now, replaced by the second Xie son… she feared the situation was much the same.
Seeing Xie Hanshuo’s cold face throughout the journey, Ye Yao knew what she had to do in the future.
After all, she was now a member of the Xie family, and it didn’t look good to always provide for her maiden family; she could only come secretly in the future.
A bitter, barely perceptible smile rose at the corners of Ye Yao’s lips.
However, she understood in her heart that Xie Hanshuo was actually far better than Xie Moyan; he gave her all the money he earned and treated her with sincerity.
But precisely because of that, seeing him display such a cold and displeased look made a kind of indescribable disappointment spread through her heart.
In her past life, although she had met many people and experienced many things, the thought that the person lying on the pillow beside her for the rest of her life was also like this… it was hard to avoid feeling a sense of melancholy.
However, the low mood lasted only a moment.
Ye Yao quickly opened her mind to it.
The road must always go forward, and one must always look ahead.
She could earn her own money now; what was wrong with helping her maiden family?
Even if Xie Hanshuo were unwilling, she would always have a way.
Just as she was thinking this, the man walking in front suddenly stopped and called her by her full name: “Ye Yao.”
The tone sounded like he was gritting his teeth, or perhaps he had been holding it in for a long time and finally could no longer resist letting it out.
Xie Hanshuo turned around, his face looking severely dark, and he squeezed the words out from his throat with great difficulty:
“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
Ye Yao was stunned: “…Ah?”
Where did that come from?
Why would she be afraid of him?
“When I acted earlier, it was indeed a bit heavy.”
Xie Hanshuo weighed his words, speaking somewhat cautiously, “But they deserved to be hit. I… I won’t use force on people without cause. Please don’t be afraid of me or distance yourself from me because of this.”
He had inadvertently caught a flash of fear in her eyes earlier.
He had subconsciously wanted to move closer, but she had turned her head away to dodge him.
That reaction overlapped with the way she had been fearful and resistant on their wedding night.
As if in her eyes, he really was a ferocious, crude, and savage villain.
But that was not what he wished to be.
This had become a thorn in his heart that he couldn’t pull out.
Every time it was accidentally poked, it throbbed with a dull pain.
However, Xie Hanshuo also understood that this was perhaps human nature.
He could understand it, but… his heart was, in the end, quite unhappy about it.