Chapter 180: If You Don’t Believe It, You Can Try

From his brief interaction with Dong Sangwan, Lin Meng could tell that this girl saw through certain aspects of society with crystal clarity. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made that comment about having no right to act high and mighty. This was likely the result of Dong Feihu’s teachings, combined with the environment she had grown up in.

However, when it came to romance, she was a completely blank slate. According to her, Dong Feihu had never allowed her to interact with the opposite sex. As a result, after hearing about intimacy from her classmates, she had grown incredibly curious. She also had a very simplistic view of romantic relationships, assuming that becoming boyfriend and girlfriend meant they were in love and had to do that sort of thing.

"If Dong Sangwan had interacted with guys even a little, she wouldn’t be this naive about relationships," Lin Meng muttered to himself. "Even if Dong Feihu cares about his daughter, there’s no need to go this far. Is the guy a complete psycho?"

Physical intimacy was a natural human instinct. Dong Feihu’s overprotectiveness would only make Dong Sangwan crave it even more. After all, people always loved chasing the thrill of taboo desires.

"Forget it. I won’t overthink this. I’ll just play along with her," Lin Meng thought, shaking his head. "Once the novelty wears off, she probably won’t pester me anymore."

He had no desire to be anyone’s backer, nor did he want to get tangled up in messy affairs. Wasn’t it much better to stay in Taohua Village, protect his women, make plenty of money, and live a free and easy life every day?

At three o’clock in the afternoon, just as Lin Meng returned to Taohua Village, he heard a chaotic commotion echoing from the center of the village. Judging by the noise, it seemed like something major had happened. Too lazy to bother with petty village drama, Lin Meng headed straight for home. However, as he reached an intersection, the chaotic voices grew clearer.

"Beat these two shameless sluts to death! Their men have done us plenty of harm over the years!"

"Li Dabiao and Li Dahai ruined us, and these two definitely had a part in it! Strip their clothes off and parade them through the streets!"

"Yeah, parade them! Let everyone see what tramps they are!"

As the shouts rang out one after another, Lin Meng’s expression darkened. He didn’t even need to think to know that these insults were aimed at Cheng Xiue and Sun Shumei.

When Lin Meng first messed around with these two women, it was purely out of a desire for revenge. But when they had chosen to stand by his side against their husbands, his attitude had shifted. He wouldn’t necessarily say he loved them, but he at least considered them his people. And since they were his women, he absolutely could not stand by and watch them get bullied!

Changing direction, Lin Meng sprinted toward the source of the voices. In less than a minute, he arrived at Cheng Xiue’s front door.

At that moment, she and Sun Shumei were cornered in the courtyard by a large crowd. They looked terrified, their hair disheveled and faint scratches on their faces—clearly the result of being yanked and shoved around. A few grown men were advancing on them with lecherous grins, their intentions self-evident.

"Stop! What do you think you’re doing?" Lin Meng shouted. With a dark expression, he strode forward and squeezed through the gap in the crowd.

"Lin Meng, why are you here?" The villagers’ expressions shifted slightly. After all, everyone knew that Lin Meng had recently made a fortune and was highly likely to become the next chief of Taohua Village. Consequently, they all harbored a certain degree of awe and fear toward him.

"Uncles and aunts, I know you all hate Li Dahai and Li Dabiao, but this matter has nothing to do with their women. What are you trying to achieve here?" Lin Meng asked in a deep voice, scanning the crowd with displeasure.

"Who says it has nothing to do with them? These two hussies are no good either! They walk around all day exposing their arms and thighs, trying to seduce our men! You can tell just by looking at them that they’re cheap tramps!" a bloated, greasy-faced woman cursed.

"Exactly! They are Li Dahai and Li Dabiao’s women. Every penny they spend was embezzled from us by those two! Now that those bastards are locked up and we can’t get to them, we can only come after these two!"

"They have to give us an explanation today! They either pay back the money their men stole from us, or we’ll strip them naked and let the whole village see what sluts they are!"

The rest of the crowd loudly echoed their agreement. Not daring to offend Lin Meng, they aimed all their hostility squarely at the two women.

Lin Meng sneered inwardly as he listened. These people were acting so tough now, but back when Li Dahai and Li Dabiao were in power, why hadn’t they stood up like this? Even during the land-contracting dispute, if he hadn’t taken the lead to fight for them, these villagers wouldn’t have dared to let out a single squeak. They were classic cowards who only bullied the weak and feared the strong.

Glancing back at Cheng Xiue and Sun Shumei, Lin Meng turned to the crowd and asked mockingly, "If you all hate Li Dahai and Li Dabiao so much, why did every single one of you swallow your anger and keep your mouths shut back when they were running amok? Why wait until now to come settling scores with their women?"

As soon as he said this, the crowd exchanged awkward glances, their faces flushing red with embarrassment and suppressed anger.

"Lin Meng, we aren’t looking for trouble with you. Why are you protecting these two women so fiercely? Don’t tell me you’re sleeping with them?" someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, mustering their courage.

Instantly, a few others voiced their agreement.

"Yeah! Even if you have some money, you can’t meddle in everything, can you?"

"Everyone in the village hates Li Dahai and his cronies! The fact that you’re speaking up for their women... could it be that you plan on acting just like them once you become village chief?"

Clearly, although they respected and feared Lin Meng, they weren’t entirely terrified of him. This made sense. After all, they had witnessed Li Dahai and Li Dabiao’s ruthless methods firsthand—some had even been beaten by them multiple times—so their fear of those two was bone-deep. Lin Meng, at the end of the day, was just a young man who had grown up among them. Aside from his slightly elevated status, he didn’t quite possess that same level of intimidation.

Hearing their accusations, Lin Meng laughed out of sheer anger. "Fine. I wash my hands of this. Do whatever you want!"

Everyone’s eyes lit up at his words. They hadn’t expected him to back down so easily. It seemed this kid was much easier to push around than they had thought. If that was the case, they had nothing to fear from him in the future either.

In stark contrast, Cheng Xiue and Sun Shumei’s faces immediately drained of color. They couldn’t believe that Lin Meng was actually going to abandon them. A wave of helplessness and despair washed over them.

But just as the grown men rolled up their sleeves and prepared to make their move, Lin Meng’s sneering voice rang out once again.

"However, you’d better think this through. Li Dahai and Li Dabiao have only been temporarily detained. They haven’t actually been sentenced yet. For all we know, they might just get locked up for a couple of weeks and then released.

"Furthermore, even if Li Dahai and the others did embezzle money, the higher-ups will be the ones to handle the investigation. If you pull a stunt like this and Sister-in-law Xiue and Shumei decide to call the police, the law will treat it as a separate issue. What you’re doing is definitely illegal, and you’ll likely end up spending a few days behind bars yourselves.

"That’s all I’m going to say. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try it."