Facing Gu Yunche’s scrutinizing gaze, Mu Guiying paused. “I… I was just afraid Aunt Liu would chase after us.”
A faint smile flickered in Gu Yunche’s eyes.
“They won’t catch up. Your aunt can’t outrun a Jeep.”
As he finished speaking, Gu Yunche turned around.
Just then, the driver beside him exclaimed, “Someone’s blocking the road ahead.”
Gu Yunche saw Liu E leading villagers armed with sticks blocking their path. He hadn’t expected Liu E to be so brazen as to actually dare to come and snatch someone away.
Before coming to pick up Mu Guiying, he had learned a bit about the local customs of Gucheng Village. The villagers there were indeed fierce and unruly.
But just moments ago, Mu Guiying had instructed the driver to take a different route. How did Liu E know to block them on this road?
A trace of doubt flashed in Gu Yunche’s deep, peach-blossom eyes. He turned to look at Mu Guiying, who appeared genuinely startled, beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead.
Mu Guiying looked terrified, but who could tell if she was just pretending?
At this thought, Gu Yunche pressed his fingers to his temples, unable to hide his weariness.
He turned and asked with a smile, “Mu Guiying, what exactly are you up to?”
Gu Yunche’s deep, bright peach-blossom eyes seemed capable of seeing through everything, piercing to her truest self. Yet this penetrating gaze was filled with confusion and doubt.
Mu Guiying had no strength to defend herself. She shook her head resignedly. “I just want to leave this place. As for why Liu E came to block us on this road, I really don’t know.”
Gu Yunche’s expression showed no trace of emotion. He simply watched her quietly for a moment.
He turned around, unbuckled his seatbelt, and said to the driver, Xiao Wu, “Stop the car ahead.”
Once the car came to a halt, Gu Yunche got out.
Mu Guiying stared intently at him as he walked to the back of the car and opened the door.
Recalling how the two of them had been beaten together in the original story, she had a bad feeling. Gu Yunche was going to drag her out too, making her negotiate with Liu E.
After all, he despised her so much.
Gu Yunche opened the car door. “Stay in the car. Don’t come out.”
With those words, he closed the door.
Gu Yunche walked toward Liu E. Dressed in snow-white clothes, his figure was tall and upright, each step exuding an undeniable firmness and solemnity.
Mu Guiying was stunned by Gu Yunche’s actions!
Her gaze followed his figure as he negotiated with Liu E and the others. He took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out several bills, and handed them to Liu E.
Liu E snatched them away, muttering something under her breath. Gu Yunche said something in response, but Mu Guiying couldn’t make out the words.
Suddenly, one of the villagers struck Gu Yunche on the shoulder with a stick. Soon, others joined in.
Gu Yunche was an officer who had come to pick her up during his leave. He couldn’t harm the villagers, so in this situation, he was at a disadvantage.
Mu Guiying grew frantic.
She quickly asked Xiao Wu, “Driver Wu, is there anything in the car we can use to fight?”
Xiao Wu was startled by the scene before him. Only after Mu Guiying’s reminder did he remember there were two short shovels in the back, left over from the last time the car got stuck in the mud during a rainstorm.
“Yes, they’re in the back.”
The two got out of the car, each grabbing a shovel, and rushed to support Gu Yunche.
As Mu Guiying approached, she raised her shovel and charged toward Liu E.
A shovel could kill someone if used to strike, but her intention was only to scare Liu E.
Seeing Mu Guiying’s reckless determination, Liu E took two steps back in fright and fell to the ground.
Mu Guiying shouted loudly, "I've already called the police! If you keep causing trouble, you'll all be arrested!"
She glanced at Gu Yunche, who had cold sweat on his forehead and looked somewhat disheveled—clearly, he had suffered some superficial injuries.
She lifted her chin slightly. "What are you standing there like a fool for? Get behind me."
Mu Guiying was protecting him?
Gu Yunche was completely stunned.
In all his life, this was the first time he had ever been protected by a young woman. And it had all happened so suddenly—her blazing eyes, her cheeks flushed with anger, and that wild, fiery intensity that erupted like a volcano.
As if possessed, he moved to stand behind Mu Guiying. He was a soldier; he couldn’t lay hands on civilians, even if these villagers were unruly and unreasonable.
But the Mu Guiying before him was nothing like the Mu Guiying he had heard about from the villagers of Gucheng Village.
The villagers said Mu Guiying was delicate and spoiled, lazy and fond of comfort.
She was afraid of the sun and wouldn’t work in the fields, afraid of dirt and wouldn’t clean the cow pens, afraid of exhaustion and wouldn’t grind flour at the mill. In short, she couldn’t carry heavy loads or do hard labor. Instead, she was willing to put effort into herself, spending all her savings on vanishing cream and clam oil.
Moreover, relying on her good looks, she had deliberately ruined the matchmaking meetings of girls she didn’t get along with. She would stand in front of their suitors, flaunting herself and making suggestive gestures, causing the suitors to lose interest in the others and explicitly demand to marry Mu Guiying. But she would say she wanted to marry into the city, not some country bumpkin.
And Mu Guiying was also vain and cunning. To cozy up to the film projectionist from the county, she had her village girlfriends help her cut pigweed while she dressed up extravagantly to go watch movies.
In a nutshell, if it weren’t for the Party branch secretary taking pity on Mu Guiying’s circumstances and often defending her, she would have long been driven out of Gucheng Village to fend for herself.
But the Mu Guiying before him—how could she be so different from the one described by others?
Gu Yunche was a bit confused.
On the other side, Liu E, who had been frightened into sitting on the ground, patted her bottom and stood up again.
"Mu Guiying, stop bluffing! This isn’t the Party branch secretary’s office. Where would you find a phone to call the police?"
Mu Guiying sneered coldly. "I used a mobile phone."
Everyone was stunned.
Gu Yunche frowned and lowered his voice. "Mobile phone?"
Only then did Mu Guiying realize she had spoken without thinking.
She cleared her throat lightly. "Master Wu, you have a radio communicator in your vehicle, right?"
Master Wu paused.
Waving his shovel, he nodded and played along with Mu Guiying. "Yes, we’ve called the police. You… you’re…"
Seeing that Master Wu couldn’t finish his sentence, Mu Guiying added, "You’re breaking the law—picking quarrels, provoking trouble, and assaulting an active-duty military officer. You’re really asking for it, picking quarrels and provoking trouble…"
The Criminal Law—she almost blurted it out again.
Mu Guiying stopped short. She couldn’t say any more.
How could an illiterate like her, who couldn’t even read a single character, say such things?
Just then, Gu Yunche continued, "Violating the Criminal Law falls under the crime of disrupting social order. To put it simply, it’s hooliganism."
His magnetic voice carried an undeniable chill and authority, making the hairs on Mu Guiying’s back stand on end as she stood in front of him.
Similarly, it also shocked the ignorant villagers.
Liu E watched as the group fled, still clutching their sticks.
She muttered angrily, "I don’t care. I raised Guiying. If your family wants to take her away, is this all the money you’re offering?"
She clutched a dozen or so ten-yuan bills in her hand.
In the end, it was all about the money!
Gu Yunche said in a low voice, "I told you, I'll wire you the money all at once when I get back."
Before Liu E could say anything, Mu Guiying asked coldly, "Aunt, when I came to your house, my grandparents gave you three gold bars. Didn't that count as money?"
Liu E was greatly astonished.
She thought to herself: Mu Guiying was only three years old when she came to her house. How could she remember the gold bars?