Everyone present was stunned by this scene.
Qu Qing suddenly realized that the fists and force being applied to him had vanished. When he turned around, the fist he had raised to strike was frozen in mid-air.
Qu Qing’s first thought was that his eyes must be playing tricks on him.
The man with the sickle pressed against his neck was nearly scared out of his wits. The cold sensation at his throat made him feel as though his skin had been cut open. At this moment, all his pride and arrogance vanished. His legs trembled uncontrollably as he carefully gripped the blade and begged for mercy, “Please spare my life, spare my life. I won’t dare do it again! I beg you, don’t kill me.”
At this time, the situation in the courtyard had drastically changed. Nearby, one man was on the ground clutching his calf and howling, while another in Hua Zizhou’s grasp was begging for mercy. The one on the ground had been beaten to the point of looking unrecognizable. He was crying and pleading for mercy with a bruised face.
Qu Qing never expected that by taking on multiple opponents, not only would they be defeated, but they would also lose so spectacularly. The usually shy Hua Zizhou was now radiating an intimidating aura that was hard to ignore.
Seeing that the situation was under control and the enemies were begging for mercy, Qu Qing released the man he was holding. As soon as the man was free from Qu Qing’s grasp, he crawled away in a panic.
When Hua Zizhou turned to look at Qu Qing, he saw the injuries on his face from the beating, and his anger peaked, almost driving him to want to make these bastards pay with their lives.
However, when he saw Qu Qing let go of the man in his grasp, he tightly gripped the sickle but ultimately slowly moved the blade away from the thug’s throat, lowering his head to hide his unwillingness and allowing the man to leave.
Upon seeing this, the three thugs immediately fled the scene as if they were escaping from hell. They had never expected that what was meant to be a simple attempt to extort and seize someone else’s belongings would turn into a life-threatening situation.
Qu Qing stood up and immediately walked over to Hua Zizhou’s side, gently placing his hand over the back of Hua Zizhou’s tightly clenched fist holding the sickle, while his other hand reassuringly patted his back. “It’s okay, it’s okay, Zizhou, relax.”
Hua Zizhou’s grip loosened, and with a clang, the sickle fell to the ground. Qu Qing felt his body trembling slightly, so he embraced him and asked with concern, “While I was gone, did they hurt you anywhere besides your face?”
Hua Zizhou unconsciously reached up to touch his injured face, and then he realized, pointing at Qu Qing’s face, “I’m fine, it’s just that I got hit once, but you—your face is all bruised…”
“It’s good that you’re fine, I’m not seriously hurt… they’re just some minor injuries,” Qu Qing said. In reality, he was in considerable pain, furrowing his brow tightly. However, being among a group of children, he felt it necessary to maintain his image as a strong man, so he endured the pain.
Little Qu Xin was still crying inside. Qu Qing hurriedly opened the door to comfort him, and seeing Jiang Zhu still standing at the doorway, he knew the child must have been frightened by the scene. He went over, took Jiang Zhu’s hand, and then led Hua Zizhou into the house, putting the two little ones on the bed. After soothing them for a while, he then remembered the farming tools left outside.
Once Hua Zizhou calmed down from the intense situation, he began to worry that his earlier fierce demeanor might have scared or even annoyed Qu Qing.
But he had no choice, if he hadn’t acted that way, he would have had to watch Qu Qing get beaten by the bad guys while trying to protect him and the children.
Seeing Qu Qing about to go out, he immediately stood up and followed him unconsciously.
The two of them brought the farming tools back, fortunately without losing a single item. If someone had passed by and taken them, they would have had no place to cry.
After that, Qu Qing went to fetch water, and Hua Zizhou followed behind him. When they returned with the water, Qu Qing prepared a cloth soaked in cold stream water for him and said, “Put this on your face, your face is very important, and you need to take good care of it.”
Hua Zizhou silently accepted the cloth, mentally repeating Qu Qing’s words, “Your face is very important.” He recalled how those people had called him an ugly. He suddenly realized that Qu Qing was not someone who didn’t care about appearances.
He pressed the cloth against his face, then quietly got up and walked to the door. Peeking into the yard, he saw Qu Qing filling a basin with water, frowning as he focused intently on something in the basin, occasionally touching the injured spots on his own face with caution.
After a while, it suddenly dawned on him that Qu Qing was looking at his face through the reflection in the water’s surface.
Once confirmed, he leaned against the door frame, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. He then reached into his pocket and fondly touched the candy he had inside.
Turning the attention to the thugs. Although their parents knew their sons weren’t good people, they were still furious upon seeing how badly their sons had been beaten.
The only one unscathed was the one Hua Zizhou had held a sickle to, his parents ordered him to stay home and not cause any trouble for a while. The other two families rushed their sons to see a doctor. After getting treated, the elders gathered together that night, loudly declaring that they would definitely seek revenge against Qu Qing the next day.
Meanwhile, Qu Qing was still unaware of the crisis that awaited him.
The next day, Qu Qing took his family to the fields to work as usual. After the incident with the thugs breaking in yesterday, he was even more reluctant to leave the two little children home alone. Since it was safer to bring them along, he decided to take them with him.
After Hua Zizhou’s impressive fight yesterday, he had completely become a hero in the eyes of the two children. As for Qu Qing, he awkwardly touched his nose, thinking there was nothing wrong with being the supporting character behind the hero.
“Zizhou.” During lunch by the field, he suddenly spoke up, and Hua Zizhou looked at him in confusion.
“You were really, really awesome yesterday!”
Hua Zizhou suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and responded with a soft “mm.” After that, Qu Qing didn’t say anything else. After a while, Hua Zizhou nervously squeezed the rice ball in his hand, hesitating for a long time before saying, “Um… Head of the family, I want to go back early today, is that okay?”
“Sure, just let me know when you’re leaving. Do you have anything you want to do?” “I…”
Seeing that he’s hesitating, Qu Qing didn’t press further and only reminded him to be safe on the way back.
When evening came, Qu Qing waited for a long time but noticed that Hua Zizhou hadn’t said he was leaving. So he took the initiative to finish up work early, saying that he would take the two little ones home to make something delicious, and that Hua Zizhou could handle his own matters and he would wait for him to come back to eat.
He looked at the direction Hua Zizhou left, which was the village and was surprised that he didn’t take Qu Xin with him this time, feeling a bit curious inside.
Meanwhile, the parents of the two beaten thugs were angrily heading to Qu Qing’s house but on their way they encountered a big man with a beard carrying a wild boar.
They felt that he looked somewhat familiar, so they couldn’t help but stare at him for a while. Suddenly, one of the middle-aged women screamed in terror, “You’re Hunter Jiang?”
Seeing that he was recognized, Hunter Jiang was about to smile amiably, but the people in front of him panicked and scattered in fear. At this point, they completely forgot about their intention to trouble Qu Qing.
Hunter Jiang felt quite puzzled. He shook his head, and continued on his heavy steps toward home, carrying the wild boar and a large pack on his back, filled with expectation.