Chapter 27

Lice Li, Ye Wanqing, the Wang family……

These few key words linked together nearly made Zhao Yan collapse.

In her heart she frantically roared—why didn’t Ge Yuan take the bait and not ask a single word about Ye Xiangdang’s matters?

If he wanted to make trouble, go find the Ye family!

Yet even in extreme fear, Zhao Yan still trembled all over as she blocked in front of Wang Jiabao, staring hard at Ge Yuan with a pair of eyes. “You…… this is against the law! Our Jiabao has already become like this—you can’t lay hands again!”

“If you lay hands again, I…… I’ll fight you to the death!”

Saying this she fumbled a pair of scissors out from under the pillow, tightly clutched them in her hand, and stared at Ge Yuan with a face full of ferocity.

Ge Yuan looked at her like a mother hen protecting her chick, his eyes full of mockery. “Against the law? You’ve actually heard of this phrase? That’s truly novel—only after Wang Jiabao was sentenced did you learn it?”

Was her family’s Wang Jiabao an intellectually disabled child while other families’ children were all scarecrows?

Just at this moment a burst of hurried footsteps rang out.

Ge Yuan turned his head and looked. Wang Qiang, draped in clothes, hurriedly came over. He should have discovered the movements in the main room and only then come over to check the situation.

Seeing the scene inside the room, Wang Qiang froze, subconsciously retreated a step, then felt it was improper. He forced himself to grip the wooden stick in his hand tightly and asked in a trembling voice, “You…… what do you want to do?”

Compared to the tall, long-legged Ge Yuan with a fierce face who still held a large iron rod in his hand, Wang Qiang’s combat power was simply unwatchable.

“I don’t want to do anything. I just want you to pay the price for the things you’ve done.” Ge Yuan’s gaze was deep and cold. He tugged the corners of his lips into a smile, revealing a mouthful of stark-white teeth. “You weren’t the ones who directly harmed Wanqing, so I won’t lay hands on you. But since you’re willing to hire little hooligans to ‘handle matters,’ are you also used to using money to eliminate disasters?”

The iron rod in his hand swung once. Ge Yuan directly smashed and broke one bedpost of the canopy bed.

With a crisp “crack” the bedpost of the canopy bed was smashed into two sections. Wood chips flew in all directions. One corner of the top frame collapsed. Although because there were still three bedposts the top frame did not completely collapse, it still frightened Zhao Yan until her face was the color of earth and Wang Qiang’s two legs trembled.

And Wang Jiabao who still lay on the bed unable to move directly wet himself. A smell of urine spread through the room.

Ge Yuan: “……”

With a disgusted furrow of his brows he pointed a finger at Zhao Yan and Wang Qiang and said domineeringly, “Let’s change places and properly chat about the matter of compensation money.”

Zhao Yan: “……”

Wang Qiang: “……”

No—they did not want to properly chat at all. Yet the moment they saw the iron rod in Ge Yuan’s hand they did not dare let out even a fart. The couple ached for the family wealth that was about to be lost and directly forgot the urine-soaked Wang Jiabao in the back of their minds.

Wang Jiabao also did not dare make a sound. After the people all left he felt the foul wet stench below and could not help pounding the bedboard as he howled and cried loudly.

After howling twice he was afraid of attracting the fierce-god Ge Yuan. He raised the right hand that could still move and covered his mouth, immediately lowering the volume, feeling that life had simply become fucked to the extreme!

—

After more than ten minutes of struggling to finally send away the fierce-god Ge Yuan, Wang Qiang and Zhao Yan plopped their bottoms onto the ground. They felt all strength in their bodies had been drained. Their hearts ached so much they could not breathe, as if more than ten centuries had passed.

Spending money to eliminate disaster—in order to send this plague god away their family wealth was emptied by more than half!

After sitting on the ground for a while, remembering the son abandoned in the room, Zhao Yan hurriedly crawled up and urgently rushed toward the main room.

“Son ah!”

“Mom!” The moment he saw Zhao Yan, Wang Jiabao loudly howled and cried out, collapsing as he shouted, “I want to change pants. I don’t want to go to prison. Save me……”

—

Coming out of the Wang family, Ge Yuan walked forward while in a good mood counting money.

Houzi and the others saw him from afar and quickly surrounded him. “Brother Yuan, how’s the situation?”

Ge Yuan hugged the wooden box in his arms and waved a stack of banknotes in his hand. “Not bad.”

Wasn’t the Wang family relying on having money to be arrogant?

Then he would make them bleed more!

See how they would still commit evil afterward!

This time negotiating with the Wang family he had directly dug eight hundred yuan out of the Wang family. Wang Qiang’s heart ached so much he almost had a myocardial infarction and died…… No matter how good the Wang family’s conditions had been before, with their skill at squandering and courting death the family’s situation had long been far from what it once was. Taking out this much was already very strenuous.

This time the Wang family’s family wealth was probably emptied by more than half.

Hah……

Was his woman frightened for free?

Adding the three hundred that Lice Li and the three had received but had not yet had time to spend, Ge Yuan’s income from this trip was one thousand one. Oh…… there was also a box of jade bracelets, jade lock pieces and such that the Wang family took out to make up the number because they could not produce the amount he wanted.

Although they were small things of not much use, they still counted as compensation. Who knew—maybe the little girl at home liked these girly things?

Houzi, Flower Shirt and the others had also worked hard coming along this trip. Ge Yuan took out two hundred yuan. “The rest of this is my woman’s. These two hundred you take to buy cigarettes and wine.”

Houzi took it with a giggling smile. “Brother Yuan is truly straightforward.”

Flower Shirt asked, “Lice Li and the three are still thrown in the courtyard—do we take them away now?”

Ge Yuan nodded. “Take them away!”

“The Wang family here—we just leave them alone?”

“How is that possible?” Ge Yuan grinned darkly and sinisterly. “Compensation is compensation. After Lice Li tells the public security bureau about them hiring people to harm someone, how the public security handles the case—will this old man still interfere?”

Everyone: “……”

Brother Yuan was truly so cunning!

So manly!

—

With Ge Yuan leading people on a night raid and taking down Lice Li and the three with the speed of thunder that the ear could not cover, the Qingshui County Public Security Bureau early in the morning welcomed their “achievements.”

It was just…… the feeling in their hearts was a bit hard to describe.

If everyone had the ability of a victim like Ge Yuan, what would the people’s public security still be needed for? To eat dry rice?!

The responsible public security officer made a record, looked at the miserable state of Lice Li and the three, and then looked at Ge Yuan with disapproval. “Your behavior is still improper. This is using violence to control violence.”

Although Ge Yuan was the person who escorted the offending hooligans over and counted as a “good person,” wasn’t he also just a hooligan? As a public security officer he truly looked down on this kind of person.

Using violence to control violence?

Ge Yuan’s cold eyes swept toward Lice Li and the other two.

“Public security comrade ah, this has nothing to do with Brother Yuan! I…… we……” Lice Li put on a bitter face and racked his brains to think of a reason. “We three got drunk and were playing around hitting each other, so…… so we ended up like this.”

Chicken Feather Chen also quickly opened his mouth with a bitter laugh. “Yes, playing around. You hit me once, I hit you once, ha…… hahaha…… and we ended up like this. We never expected that the moment Brother Yuan came he caught us.”

Iron Head Wang also wanted to say something so that when he ran into Ge Yuan later he could suffer a bit less, but this clumsy intellectually-disabled excuse he truly could not continue, so he simply kept silent……

Counting as tacit agreement.

A breath stuck in the public security officer’s chest. “Forget it, forget it. Since it was caused by you yourselves ‘playing around,’ then you can’t blame others! Do you still have anything to confess?”

“Yes yes yes!” Iron Head Wang found the opportunity and quickly raised his head with hot tears in his eyes. “I want to report the people who hired us—it was the Wang family, the Wang family of Niujiao Town!”

The public security officer began recording again.

Ge Yuan raised his brows a little, said not a single word, and deeply hid his merit and fame.

By the time they came out of the public security bureau it was already nine in the morning.

Ge Yuan waved at Houzi and the others waiting outside. “Go. I’ll take you to eat at my woman’s place. Houzi, go buy some wine. Braised foods go well with wine.”

“Got it!” Houzi loudly agreed, straddled his bicycle, and went to buy wine.

The group of little hooligans dressed very unusually, looking at a glance not like any good things, swaggered through the streets, attracting quite a few people’s gazes and also startling quite a few people.

Chen Ying was standing in front of the Zhen Wei shop talking with Ye Wanqing. Her eyes unintentionally glanced in that direction and she instantly jumped in fright.

“My heavens! Sister Qing…… these…… these hooligans aren’t coming to collect protection money, are they?”

This group of little hooligans seemed to truly be walking toward the steamed-dish shop ahhhhh!

Look—the long-legged man with a full face of sideburns leading them, fierce-god appearance, the tendon meat on his arms looking solid and powerful at a glance, a pair of eyes glowing greenish like a wild wolf’s—that was simply the expression of having found prey and preparing to fiercely slaughter it once, fiercely tearing off a piece of meat……

No—it seemed a bit wrong again. That rough man also looked a bit familiar.

Before Chen Ying could figure it out, Ye Wanqing had already walked out from behind the counter, passed her, and walked toward that group of little hooligans that she found frightening just by looking. Only then did she suddenly realize—oh…… they were indeed acquaintances! That one who fought very well!

Forget it—she still silently slipped away. Going back to watch the tea stall was better than watching people fall in love! Hadn’t she seen that the moment the person came Sister Qing’s eyes only held that one person?

Chen Ying held a broken heart and silently fled.

Walking in front of Ge Yuan, Ye Wanqing raised her head to look at him with a smile, a bit surprised. “Why did you suddenly come over?”

And bringing so many people.

This was the first time.

“I brought the brothers over to eat a meal. Right now……” Ge Yuan suddenly remembered that it was only ten in the morning—not yet lunchtime. Bringing so many people over might put Ye Wanqing in a difficult position. He could not help feeling he had been stupid.

He also did not care about his own face and forcefully changed the topic. “I just came to look at you, then take them to eat a bowl of noodles.”

Ye Wanqing was surprised. “You’re not eating a bit at my place?”

Ge Yuan shook his head righteously. “A group of rough men eating so well for what? Going to eat a bowl of noodles is enough. Not letting them eat pig food is already being very fair to them.”

The crowd of brothers behind him: “……”

Pig food? Ye Wanqing recalled the appearance of Ge Yue not letting her cook, hugging her leg and crying loudly, saying she only wanted to eat the pig food Big Brother made, and could not help laughing out loud.

She actively took Ge Yuan’s hand and then said to Flower Shirt and the others behind him, “The shop is very empty right now. Everyone can sit. Quickly come in.”

Ge Yuan still wanted to struggle. She pinched his hand and said softly, “Give me some face! Give me a chance to properly entertain your brothers, okay?”

“……Then okay.” Ge Yuan rubbed his nose. Looking at her slightly red cheeks he particularly wanted to lean in and fiercely kiss her once.

What giving her face—his little girl was afraid he would lose face in front of the brothers!

She not only did not look down on his brothers but also greeted them like a hostess.

Truly good.

—

It was only ten o’clock. The steamed dishes were almost prepared, yet the rice had not yet been steamed. So Ye Wanqing took out a bag of enriched flour and planned to make several plates of egg-and-scallion pancakes as the staple food—this would be faster.

First she poured the flour into a large bowl, added clear water and stirred vigorously. After stirring evenly until there were no white granular bits she cracked in four eggs and stirred them together, making a pale-yellow batter.

The batter did not need to be too thick—a bit thinner—so the pancakes cut out would be softer and the texture better when eaten.

After adjusting the batter Ye Wanqing also put in some cut scallions and finely minced sausage, evenly mixing them into the batter to enhance the flavor.

The following procedure was very simple. Heat the wok and add oil. Use a spoon to scoop out one spoonful of batter and put it into the wok. Slowly fry over low heat for a few minutes until both sides are lightly yellow, then it can be taken out of the wok.

After taking it out of the wok Ye Wanqing placed the egg pancakes on the cutting board and cut them into triangular shapes for convenient eating. She arranged them piece by piece on the plate, then placed a stack of bright-red chili sauce to the side. Looking at it was pleasing to the eye.

When the egg-and-sausage pancakes were carried out they instantly caused a scramble.

This was food made by Sister-in-law with her own hands—they had never even eaten it before!

When the food entered their mouths their eyes grew even brighter. The fragrant smoothness of the egg combined with the unique salty-fragrant texture of the smoked sausage, then matched with scallions—one bite was full of happiness.

People at this time were not yet that refined regarding food. Eating such delicious things for the first time, the little hooligans were all excited.

“Don’t snatch, don’t snatch.”

“Telling others not to snatch—you yourself have the ability not to move your chopsticks!”

“Beast ah! This old man already bit it in his mouth and you still have the face to stretch out a hand?”

“……”

Very quickly Houzi arrived carrying wine and also joined the battle group.

Ye Wanqing watched the group of people noisily playing and snatching food. She had Fatty Wang’s mother carry over several plates of steamed dishes that had just come out of the pot, then personally went to cut them a plate of braised food combination. Only then did she return to the back kitchen and continue frying egg-and-sausage pancakes for them.

While frying she was suddenly hugged from behind.

“Wanqing……” The man’s low voice rang above her head. Ye Wanqing turned her head and met the man’s deep, pitch-black eyes. Inside them there was only a tiny reflection of her.

“Why aren’t you going to eat? Full?”

“I……” Ge Yuan had only said one word and no longer wanted to speak. He directly lowered his head and kissed her lips, deeply invading her teeth, sucking the sweet flavor of her.

Using action to express the words he wanted to say.

……He did not want to eat food—he only wanted to eat her.

Ye Wanqing did not mind being close to the tall man, yet……

“The pancakes are going to burn.” Lightly pushing Ge Yuan’s chest away she pressed her lips into a smile. “You came looking for me—do you have something to tell me?”

Ge Yuan looked at Ye Wanqing skillfully flipping the spatula, his eyes full of grievance.

That group of bastards outside should simply have been left hungry.

Making it so he could not even kiss satisfactorily.

However, fortunately he still had places where he could claim credit. Who knew—maybe in the evening he could kiss a couple more times……

Thinking of this Ge Yuan’s spirit shook. He told her the big matters he had done last night and this morning, then took out the compensation money he had demanded from the Wang family and Lice Li and the others, as well as that box of jade articles.

“I told you not to be impulsive, yet as a result you ran off through the night and did a big thing?” Ye Wanqing was both angry and amused. This man—why was his memory so good?

She had thought that by not giving him the portraits he would have no way.

She had known that Ge Yuan bringing a group of brothers over meant something had definitely happened…… Unexpectedly she had truly guessed correctly.

Yet everything the tall man did was for her. She also could not fail to appreciate it. She was just a bit angry, feeling he was still a bit too reckless. What if it was not handled well and the Wang family and those three hooligans bit back, saying he trespassed into private residences and committed assault?

Ge Yuan raised his brows a little and said seriously, “It won’t happen. If they dare to do that I’ll beat them once every time I see them! My fists are hard—they’re afraid of dying! If I let them run away and you get bullied for nothing, you can endure it—I can’t!”

Fool.

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips into a smile.

Unable to hold it she turned, cupped her tall man’s face, and fiercely kissed him once. “I’ll give you a reward when we go back.”

“……Okay!” Ge Yuan’s heart instantly bloomed with joy.

He worked hard to press down the continuously rising corners of his lips so he would not show it so obviously, yet the steps walking out of the back kitchen were floating. There would be a reward in the evening—happy!

Only after sitting down at the table did Ge Yuan belatedly discover that the plates on the table were already empty, looking exactly as if a locust plague had passed through. His face instantly turned a bit dark.

The air suddenly quieted.

“Brother Yuan, we accidentally ate everything.”

“Forgot to leave some for you.”

“You’re not going to beat us?”

Ge Yuan gritted his teeth. What his woman made—he had not even eaten one piece!

Just as his expression grew darker and darker and Flower Shirt and the others felt their little lives were about to be handed over here, Ye Wanqing carried out another large plate of egg pancakes and smiled as she greeted them. “Egg pancakes are unlimited. However much you want to eat there is. Eat as much as you want!”

Flower Shirt and the others instantly had hot tears in their eyes. Without anyone directing them they shouted in perfect unison, “Thank you, Sister-in-law!”

Ge Yuan: “……”

Ye Wanqing: “……”

—

Although Ge Yuan had given no reaction at the time to the words Zhao Yan spoke, he had recorded them in his heart.

During the day he did not want to affect Ye Wanqing’s mood, so he did not speak of it. After Ye Wanqing returned home in the evening he also told Ye Wanqing about this matter.

Ye Wanqing lightly and coldly laughed. She was very surprised, yet also did not feel surprised.

Previously she had vaguely heard that the Wang family had been guided by someone and planned to take Shen Qiang into the family, then throw dirty water onto her, saying Wang Jiabao had not had improper intentions toward her at all—it was she who took advantage of Wang Jiabao being drunk and maliciously beat Wang Jiabao.

Yet later because of the report letter Shen Qiang left before leaving, the Wang family’s perfect calculation fell through. Wang Jiabao was sentenced to life imprisonment and only waited until the injuries improved a bit before being taken into custody…… After all, raising a cripple was also difficult for the people’s public security and was a waste of national materials.

Yet Ye Wanqing had not expected that the expert who guided the Wang family from behind was actually Ye Xiangdang.

Truly high!

If that matter had truly been accomplished, Wang Jiabao would not have to go to prison, the Ye family and Wang family would not have to turn against each other, and only she, Ye Wanqing, would be unlucky. Being schemed against and bullied, she would still have to carry the crime of deliberately injuring someone!

Thinking of all the various things of the previous life, then thinking of all the various things of this life, Ye Wanqing’s lips rose in a cold and indifferent smile. She recognized the shamelessness of the Ye family even more clearly.

Although she told herself time after time that in this life she would no longer have any entanglement with the Ye family, her heart still felt a bit uncomfortable.

The Ye family was so vicious toward her. If possible she did not even want to fulfill the obligation of support.

She wanted to sever relations with the Ye family!

And also…… although when Ge Yuan threw Lice Li and the others at the public security bureau it went relatively smoothly, Ye Wanqing also learned from Houzi’s mouth that those people’s attitude toward Ge Yuan was not particularly good. They had even truly spoken the words “using violence to control violence” and nearly also pinned a crime on Ge Yuan.

Why? Wasn’t it still because Ge Yuan’s reputation was not good?

This could not continue like this forever!

Moreover, previously Ye Wanqing had hesitated about whether to continue studying. After experiencing this incident of Ge Yuan dealing with the public security bureau, she had finally determined it now.

She would study…… perhaps carrying a bit of utilitarian heart, yet this was still very necessary. Right now she wanted to study not only to learn knowledge and make up for the regret of the previous life, but also to be able to make more connections so that future development would be smoother.

Ge Yuan’s career and her career both needed connections.

……In only a short one or two minutes Ye Wanqing thought of many things in her mind.

Raising clean, black, and bright almond eyes, Ye Wanqing seriously looked toward the tall man in front of her. “Brother Yuan, tomorrow I’ll take you to the barbershop, cut your hair, and also shave the beard—how about it?”

Wanting to change her tall man’s local-tyrant image—start first from personal image!

If she did not know what kind of face was hidden under Ge Yuan’s blue-green stubble, perhaps Ye Wanqing would not have this much confidence. Yet she knew, so she felt starting the transformation from the exterior was the best entry point.

No matter when, humans liked beautiful things. Besides, even if not beautiful, being cleaned up neatly and refreshingly also made people like it more.

Ye Wanqing simply made this decision!

Ge Yuan: “……”

Stroking his own stubble, his eyes were full of helplessness and he even a bit wanted to run.

Why did his little girl still keep thinking about shaving off his beard? Just because kissing was prickly?!

He did not want to shave!

—

Ge Yuan tossed and turned the whole night.

Stroking his own stubble, his heart was full of entanglement, yet he firmly refused to admit he was a bit panicked.

He thought of the idea that if he could not afford to offend then he would hide. As a result when he went out at five in the morning he ran into the little girl with a face full of gentle smiling meaning right at the courtyard gate.

Ge Yuan: “……”

Ye Wanqing held a small pair of tweezers in her hand. Her voice was so sweet it was excessive. “Brother Yuan, what a coincidence. Where are you going so early in the morning? If you don’t want to go to the barbershop to cut hair and shave, how about I handle it for you?”

Ge Yuan: “……”

How handle it? Use tweezers to pull them out one by one for him?!

Truly the human world of hell!

No matter how Ge Yuan resisted, the moment he met his own woman’s face that was neither smiling nor not smiling he became helpless. What made him even more despairing was that regarding this decision of Ye Wanqing’s, Old Zhong’s face was full of approval and said he had long found him displeasing.

Ge Yue even more had not the slightest sense of right and wrong. “Everything Beautiful Sister-in-law says is right!”

In this family his status was growing lower and lower!

After eating breakfast Ye Wanqing handed the shop matters over to Fatty Wang’s mother and first pulled Ge Yuan to the barbershop. She also did not go elsewhere. Thinking of taking care of an acquaintance’s business she went to the one where she had sold her hair last time.

This time she had money and no longer needed to thick-skinnedly ask others to take care of her.