The woman wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes and followed Jiang Huaifu and the other man inside.
The streets of Jiangning are much wider than those of Biancheng, and the vendors have set up their stalls closer to the front, leaving a narrow space for people to walk in the middle.
As soon as they reached the center, they saw a group of people carrying sticks emerge from the passageway.
"You little bitch, where do you think you're going?" The leader was a burly man with a long stubble beard, who spoke with a southern accent and whose clothes looked dirty.
The woman hiding behind Song He'er was so frightened that she kept trembling and dared not show her face.
The burly man turned his gaze to Song He'er. Seeing that she was wearing a cap and dressed plainly, he felt a pang of pity and reached out to pull the cap off.
Jiang Huaifu stepped forward first and shoved the big man's hand away.
"Perhaps this gentleman is drunk and has mistaken someone for someone else?"
The burly man sized Jiang Huaifu up and down, then replied with a disdainful expression, "So what? In this territory, my brother calls the shots. Don't even mention a woman; this entire street, if I want it, it's all mine!"
"Oh, quite the big talker," Song He'er said with a mocking laugh.
The burly man became interested, his lecherous eyes continuing to linger on Song He'er. "Where is this young lady from? Let's not hurt our feelings and talk things out. That woman behind you doesn't know any manners. Don't let her defile your body. Get away from her quickly!"
"I've come today because of the matter concerning the lady behind me. I wonder if this virtuous brother could be so accommodating?"
The burly man stroked his beard with his fingers, staring at Song He'er with suspicion as he looked her up and down. "Do you know how much money this woman owes? How much can you help her? I say, young lady, you'd better not meddle in other people's business, lest it make things difficult for us to get along."
As he spoke, the burly man moved closer to Song He'er again.
Jiang Huaifu's face was cold, and a pair of fierce eyes flashed with icy light.
Before the burly man could even get close to Song He'er, a delicate folding fan landed precisely on his neck with the force of a blade, scaring him so much that he dared not take another step forward.
"Watch your manners, or even if you have a lot of helpers, you won't be as fast as my folding fan. It will take your head in no time."
The burly man was a seasoned veteran of the martial world, and he could tell that Jiang Huaifu was a skilled martial artist. So he dared not approach any further and could only ask in a low voice, "Where are you from, and what do you want?"
Jiang Huaifu replied coldly, "A businessman."
"We don't do business with people of dubious origin."
"As far as I know, you obtained a workshop from that woman by lending money at exorbitant interest rates, didn't you? Even though I have no evidence to prove that you used any underhanded methods, I know very well that these things have ended up in your pockets without any explanation. If you want to sell them quickly and at a high price, I'm afraid it won't be easy to sell them, right?"
Beads of sweat began to appear on the burly man's forehead. "What...what exactly do you want to do?"
.............
My darlings, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Did everyone watch Director Zhang's "Man Jiang Hong"?
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