Chapter 103 Ruthless
Ye Wan led the three children straight to the village chief's house. Ye Hua followed them.
It's noon now, and the village chief's family is having lunch.
There wasn't much food at home, so they didn't eat breakfast. Their only meal at noon was thin porridge, which the whole family ate while sitting in the main room.
"While it's still not cold, eldest and second eldest, after dinner, go and stock up on firewood. This winter is going to be tough!"
The village chief ate his porridge with pickled vegetables, sighing repeatedly.
No sooner had he finished speaking than the courtyard gate was pushed open.
In the village, people usually don't lock their doors when someone is home.
"Ms. Ye, what brings you here?"
When the village chief's wife, Zhao, saw them arrive around mealtime, she was not happy. Could they be here to borrow grain?
It's no wonder she thought that way; quite a few people came to borrow grain today, and most of them were villagers.
As soon as Ye Wan entered the door, she wailed, "Village Chief, someone climbed over my wall last night! I'm just a woman with three girls, and I was terrified! You have to help us!"
The village chief's wife, Zhao, gathered the bowls and chopsticks together in surprise, "Is that so?"
"It's true, I had to use a sickle to knock him down! Luckily, my older sister was there too, she was so scared she didn't dare to close her eyes all night."
Ye Wan covered her face and pretended to cry, "If something had happened, I would have hanged myself with a rope long ago. How could I be standing here talking to you?"
"It's good that you're alright." The village chief frowned.
Seeing that he was trying to smooth things over, Ye Wan howled even louder, "Village Chief, I slashed that beast's leg with my sickle, so he must be from our village. I need to identify him! This absolutely cannot be left like this, otherwise he'll dare to do it again! How are we supposed to live then!"
"Well...didn't you say you chased them all away? They shouldn't dare come back, right?" The village chief didn't really want to get involved; it was all a thankless task.
Ye Wan stopped crying and looked at the village chief. "Village chief, if you don't make a decision, I might as well take the three girls and die at the yamen gate."
The village chief's expression was not good.
"Village chief, I'm not an unreasonable person, we just really can't survive!" Ye Wan said, slipping a tael of silver to Ye Wan as she spoke.
Upon seeing the silver, the village chief immediately changed his tune, "Eldest brother, second brother, third brother, call the whole village here! How dare people from our village do such a thing! We absolutely cannot let this go."
The village chief had a good ability to rally people, and in no time, everyone in the village had gathered.
"Who was climbing over Lin Anyuan's wall last night? Step forward!"
Ye Wan, with her sharp eyes, spotted a short man in the crowd who was limping along and pointed him out. "Village Chief, it's him!"
"You little brat! All you do all day is steal chickens and dogs, and now you've even learned to climb over people's walls!"
The village chief looked grim; what kind of trouble was this every day?
Donkey Egg is a lazy bum in the village. He's thirty and still hasn't found a wife. He doesn't do anything productive all day. Didn't he say he was going to find some work? Why is he back here again?
"It wasn't me, village chief, don't wrong me!" Donkey Egg shrank his neck.
Ye Wan's eyes were icy cold. "Your leg was injured by the sickle I threw at you last night. You dare say it wasn't you?"
"You damned woman, I haven't even settled accounts with you yet, and you've already come knocking on my door!" Donkey Egg's expression changed instantly.
"Village chief, let's report this to the authorities! Ten taels of silver have been stolen from my house!" Ye Wan was too lazy to waste any more words.
Donkey Egg gritted his teeth, "Bullshit! You think your family has ten taels of silver? You wouldn't even be worth ten taels if you were sold!"
"I said it's lost, so it's lost." Ye Wan sneered. "Fine, you don't have to report it to the authorities, then I'll just cripple your leg."
As Ye Wan spoke, she kicked Donkey Egg in the joint.
"ah--"
Donkey Egg clutched his leg and howled in pain; blood seeped out of his bandaged wound again.
Those who were just watching the commotion were instantly stunned, and their gazes towards Ye Wan changed.
"My God, I never expected the Ye family to be so ruthless."
"Didn't you see it in the cave that night? Ye Wan dared to kill bandits, what wouldn't she dare to do? This donkey has really kicked a hornet's nest."
Ye Wan's eyes flashed with murderous intent. "I'm making this clear tonight: I'm just a woman, and if anything happens to me, I won't survive either. Let's just die together, and nobody will get away with this!"
"If you're not afraid to die, then come on!"
The crowd fell silent instantly.
The village chief also said with a stern face, "Did you hear that? Anyone who dares to do such a despicable thing will be kicked out of the village."
“Village chief, we’re all from the same village, we would never do such a thing.”
"Yes, Ye family, you can rest assured."
Everyone started talking at once, and the men who had been looking at Ye Wan with flirtatious eyes all quieted down.
Lin Anyuan is ruthless, and Ye Wan is even more ruthless. Who would dare to make a move against her? They'd be asking for trouble.
"Little sister."
Ye Hua held Ye Wan's hand to comfort her, her own eyes reddening first.
My younger sister used to be the most timid one at home, and she was never even dared to leave the yard. Now she's being forced into this situation.
Ye Wan thought Ye Hua was scared, so she comforted her, "Don't be afraid, no one should come tonight."
"It's all my fault for not being a man, otherwise no one would dare to bully our family like this!" Er Ya said indignantly.
Ye Wan led the three girls home, saying, "Remember this: the soft fear the hard, the hard fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the reckless."
Upon arriving at the door, he instructed Ye Hua, "Elder sister, you stay home with the three children. I'm going to the prefectural city again."
...
...
The cell door was flung open with a bang.
Officer Li and his two brothers were about to leave when they saw Lin Anyuan being brought in and hurriedly went to greet him.
"Brother, is this one newly arrested? Is he also unable to pay the poll tax?"
Officer Li pretended not to know Lin Anyuan.
"This kid has offended Lord Pan, brothers, teach him a lesson!" The man holding Lin Anyuan glanced at the cell, "Where are your torture instruments?"
Upon hearing this, Officer Li hurriedly said, "Brothers, you don't need to bother with such a small matter. We brothers will make sure to teach him a lesson he won't tolerate. Please have some tea with us."
As he spoke, he took out two taels of silver and stuffed it into his hand. "Brother, this is a small matter for me. I hope you'll give me a promotion sometime in the future."
The two men exchanged a glance upon seeing the silver, and then instructed Officer Li, "Make sure the man suffers a lot, but remember, don't kill him! It'll be difficult to explain if Lord Pan asks about it later."
"Yes, yes, I will definitely take care of it."
After seeing that the person had left, Officer Li came over and asked in a low voice, "Brother Lin, are you alright?"
He searched the cell where Lin Anyuan was being held several times but couldn't find him. It turned out that the man had already been taken away.
"fine."
Lin Anyuan sat on the ground, looking somewhat pale.
His injuries hadn't fully healed yet, and Pan Dong actually tried to drug him.
Lin Anyuan sneered, "Don't wait until he leaves, or I'll gouge out Pan Dong's eyes."
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