Chapter 35

Incident

When they arrived at the woodshed, Li Yu blew on the lighter and lit the oil lamp on the windowsill. Looking at the Xu brothers who were trembling in pain on the ground, she squatted down and looked at the two of them. She said sinisterly, “Speak! Who are you? Who sent you?”

Xu Er replied with a trembling voice, “No one asked us to come. We heard that only the siblings in your family started a business. You’ve even bought an ox cart. We wanted to get some money to use.”

Li Yu took out a dagger and stabbed it into his thigh. Ah! Xu Er screamed. Li Yu placed the knife on his mouth and looked at him coldly. “Don’t scream. I’ve said it before. If you scare my brother, I’ll take your life.” Xu Er gritted his teeth and closed his mouth. He looked at Li Yu in a daze and thought to himself. The old saying was indeed true!

Seeing that he had stopped screaming, Li Yu took the dagger away. “Think carefully about what you want to say. Remember, I’ll stab you if you lie. I want to see how many stabs you can take.”

Xu Er was so frightened that he kept nodding. He wished he could faint too. “My name is Xu Zhong. His name is Xu Lei. I’m his younger brother. We brothers are from Green Mountain City. Zhang Defa hired us and said that you extorted his family’s money. He asked us to come and…

“Where were you hiding during the day? Why are you here? Why aren’t you saying anything? Tell me!”

Xu Zhong closed his eyes and didn’t dare to look at Li Yu. He said angrily, “During the day, we’ll hide in Zhang Defa’s house. Zhang Defa asked us to catch you and disfigure your face first. Then, we’ll sell you to the lowest brothel and sell your brother to the salt well to dig salt.”

Li Yu clapped her hands. “Aiya! Why can’t you make up something new? Why do you always have to cut someone’s face face and sell them?” Li Yu patted Xu Zhong’s face with her knife a few times. “You’re not good people either. You’re helping the wicked and blowing smoke. You don’t care about the morals of the martial world. Why didn’t you ask around before coming? Remember what you said tonight. Say it in front of the villagers of West Mountain Village tomorrow.”

“Got it. We won’t dare to do it again.” Xu Zhong didn’t dare to look at Li Yu again.

Li Yu pulled out the arrows from the Xu brothers’ bodies and checked the ropes binding them. She reinforced the ropes on Xu Zhong’s body, stuffed their mouths with something, and carried them to lock them in the room. Only then did she return to the central room with the oil lamp to open Li Qing’s door. Li Qing pounced to Li Yu’s side and pulled her back. His voice trembled as he said, “Sister, are you alright?!

“I’m fine.” Li Yu raised her hand and let Li Qing check.

Li Qing raised the oil lamp and checked repeatedly. Seeing that Li Yu was not injured, he finally relaxed and looked at Li Yu. “Sister, who are they? Why did they come to our house in the middle of the night? What do they want?”

“The Zhang family sent them to capture us…” Li Yu told Li Qing the whole story.

Li Qing was so angry that he clenched his fists and rushed out. “I’m going to find them.” Li Yu quickly pulled him back. “Where are you going in the middle of the night?”

Li Qing bit his lip and didn’t dare to look at Li Yu. He blamed himself and said, “Sister, I’m really useless. I didn’t even know that someone had entered. If you didn’t notice, we…”

Li Qing did not dare to imagine how it would have been if his sister had not discovered that the thieves were welcoming him and his sister.

Li Yu went over to touch Li Qing’s head and comforted him gently. “Ah Qing, this isn’t your fault. It’s the Zhang family’s fault. They’re vicious and greedy.” Li Yu pulled Li Qing back to the room and looked at him. She said gently, “They’re the ones suffering now. Be good and sleep. We’ll look for them tomorrow morning.”

“Yes!” Li Qing lay on the bed. “Sister, go to sleep too!”

Li Yu nodded and helped him put the mosquito net away. She got up, blew out the oil lamp, and went back to her room to sleep.

After Li Yu woke up, he realized that Li Qing had come out of the room with a fierce expression. Li Yu called out to him, “Ah Qing.”

Li Qing saw Li Yu smile. “Sister, why don’t you sleep a little longer? Shall we go find Zhang Dacai now?”

“Calm down. They’re the ones suffering in our hands. Ah Qing, you have to learn to be patient.” Li Yu looked at Li Qing. “Now, go to the school and apply for leave from Mr. Li. I’ll go to the forest to collect the prey. When Xiao An comes, we’ll go to the village chief’s house first.”

Li Qing did not understand why he had to go to the village chief’s house first, but he still nodded. “Sister, I’ll go to the school to apply for leave now.”

“Alright, be careful on the way,” Li Yu instructed.

“Got it.” Li Qing opened the courtyard door and ran towards the school.

Li Yu went to the place where the rope was tied and realized that she had trapped two hares and three pheasants. Li Yu placed the prey in her space and went home to stir the bean paste. She then went to the kitchen to cook the noodles and placed them aside to wait for Li Qing to return.

After preparing the pig food, she carried it to the pigpen. At this moment, Xiao An arrived and quickly took the bucket. “Sister Li, I’ll feed the pigs and clean the pigpen. You go ahead.”

“Okay.” Li Yu handed the pig barrel to An and returned to the kitchen. Li Qing returned after washing up. The siblings ate and walked towards the village chief’s house.

In Zhou’s Academy, after Li Qing took leave and left, Zhou Jia said to Ruyi, “Follow that child and see what’s going on.”

“Yes, Young Master.” Ruyi followed Li Qing to the Li family’s house and hid behind the western wall. After a while, he saw Li Qing and Li Yu coming out and walking towards the village. Ruyi also followed the siblings to the village.

When the Li siblings were about to reach Zhang Decai’s house, Zhang Decai was pacing around the door worriedly. When Zhang Decai turned around and saw the Li siblings, he hurriedly walked into the house. After entering the house, he hurriedly closed the courtyard door.

“Sister, look.” Li Yu stopped Li Qing from going over and went straight to the village chief’s house to knock on his door.

“Who is it? It’s so early in the morning!” The village chief opened the door and saw that it was Li Yu and her brother. He smiled. “Xiaoyu, Ah Qing, you’re here to look for your uncle, right?”

Li Yu stopped him. “Grandpa Village Chief, we’re here to seek justice.”

“Justice? Xiaoyu, what happened?” The village chief frowned. Chen Yaohui and his brother also came out. They looked at Li Yu and her brother.

Li Yu said angrily, “Zhang Defa found two hooligans in Green Mountain City. They hid in Zhang Decai’s house yesterday. Last night, they sneaked into my house…”

“This is too bad!” The village chief’s family widened their eyes when they heard Li Yu tell them what had happened. They felt that it was too scary. Chen Yaohui said angrily, “They’re worse than pigs and dogs. Father, are you going to interfere or not? Look, they even dare to bring people to the village to commit evil.”

Li Qing bowed to the village chief. “Grandpa, if my sister hadn’t discovered them, we would have been doomed today. You have to help us!”

“What is the Zhang family trying to do?” The village chief was so angry that his face turned ashen. He waved at them and said, “Go and bring Zhang Decai along. We’ll go to Xiaoyu’s house to take a look.”

The group of people left the village chief’s house and happened to see Zhang Decai driving the ox cart away. Zhang Decai turned around and saw Li Yu and her brother coming out with the village chief and his group. He waved his ox whip and drove the ox away.

Li Yu jumped onto the ox cart and grabbed Zhang Dacai. He said coldly, “Are you trying to flee? What were you doing earlier?”

Zhang Decai struggled and shouted, “What right do you have to arrest me?”

Li Qing went over and kicked him a few times. “Bastard, you’ll die a horrible death.”

“Alright, Ah Qing.” The village chief stopped Li Qing and looked at Zhang Decai with a dark expression. “Zhang Decai, you know what you’ve done. The people you brothers sent to Xiaoyu’s house are still locked up!”

The surrounding villagers came out of their houses when they heard the commotion. When they saw Chen Yaohui and his brother grabbing Zhang Decai and walking towards Li Yu’s house, they all followed. Ruyi and everyone else also followed.