Why is she here? Didn't I already arrange for someone to lock her door?
The village chief couldn't understand why Gao Xiuzhi was able to come out. Just as Liang Xunling and the boys from the Li family were wondering, Gao Xiuzhi walked in with a big smile on her face.
Upon entering, his gaze first swept over Liang Xunling and Zhong Jingyi. Seeing that their clothes were obviously very expensive, his smile deepened.
"Xiao Xinyan, why aren't you home? I can't sleep because I miss you so much!"
Before Xiao Yanbao could speak, Zhong Jingyi, who had already witnessed Gao Xiuzhi's ugly face, stood up and blocked Gao Xiuzhi's way.
At the same time, Zhong Jingyi turned her gaze to the village chief's displeased face.
"Didn't she go in? When did she come out?"
Upon hearing Zhong Jingyi's question, the village chief quickly tried to smooth things over with a laugh. Gao Xiuzhi, standing behind Zhong Jingyi, seemed not to have heard the question and walked around to Zhong Jingyi and Liang Xunling with a smile on her face.
"This young lady looks unfamiliar. Is this your first time here? I'll make you some of our local specialty, teppanyaki, in a bit. It's absolutely delicious!"
Ever since Gao Xiuzhi had eaten teppanyaki in the county town, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She even thought about making it herself at home. Just now, when she saw that the village chief had a lot of ingredients and a large frying pan in his yard, she had a flash of inspiration in her embarrassment and described teppanyaki as a specialty of the mountain village.
Zhong Jingyi turned to look at Gao Xiuzhi with cold eyes and said again in a chilling voice:
When did you come out?
When the village chief and Gao Xiuzhi saw that the other party kept asking about Gao Xiuzhi's imprisonment for seizing Xiao Yanbao's parents' inheritance, the village chief came up to them with a simple smile.
"It's like this, I wasn't in the village when that happened last time, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have let Xiao Xinyan suffer. It's my fault for not protecting Xiao Xinyan, I apologize to you!"
As he spoke, the village chief bowed deeply to Xiao Yanbao, his attitude extremely sincere.
Then the village chief took out a key strung together with a red string from his pocket and handed it to Xiao Yanbao.
"Here you go, Xinyan, this is your house key. How could your uncle let someone else take over your house? I've been watching over the house for you all this time!"
At this point, the village chief shoved the key into Xiao Yanbao's hand, his eyes filled with tears as he spoke:
“When your father was alive, he was my good older brother. Over the years, in order to avoid gossip, I have basically never visited your family. I’ve done a bad job! But I must protect this house for you. This is your root here, Xinyan!”
When the village chief got emotional, his eyes filled with tears, and even Li Muxing and the others were almost moved. However, Zhong Jingyi's face remained frosty as she stared intently at Gao Xiuzhi and asked again.
How did you get out?
Zhong Jingyi believed that given the Li family's reputation, the police station responsible for this small mountain village would not release Gao Xiuzhi and the others so easily; something must have happened.
"Sigh, it's all my fault!"
Suddenly, Ninth Master spoke up, and everyone's attention turned sharply to him, who had been sitting in the corner since entering the room.
Even the village chief and Gao Xiuzhi were full of surprise, wondering if Ninth Master had suddenly become enlightened.
Then Ninth Master spoke again:
“I saw the village chief take back the house that Gao Xiuzhi had occupied from Xiao Xinyan’s family, so I took the lead in going to the police station to petition. The police station saw that Gao Xiuzhi returned other people’s property quickly and had a good attitude in admitting his mistakes, so they detained him for fifteen days.”
Although they didn't know why Ninth Master was speaking up for them, Gao Xiuzhi and the village chief both nodded in agreement. Gao Xiuzhi then spoke to Xiao Yanbao at the opportune moment:
"I was bewitched! Please forgive me, you are all so kind! I'll go make you something delicious right away!"
Liang Xunling, who had been silent all along, had already noticed that the village chief and Gao Xiuzhi were exchanging glances that were not quite right. In addition, knowing about Zhong Jingyi's adoption of Xiao Yanbao, she roughly understood the reason why the village chief was so enthusiastic.
"In that case, we should thank everyone on behalf of Xiao Yanbao. Yanbao, you'd better keep the key safe!"
Liang Xunling gave a forced smile and then gave Xiao Yanbao some instructions before reaching out to pull the frosty-faced Zhong Jingyi to sit down.
Seeing that the matter of bullying Xiao Yanbao was finally over, Gao Xiuzhi was overjoyed and was already imagining how to distribute the supplies donated by the Li family.
Thinking of the supplies, Gao Xiuzhi, who had already reached the doorway, spoke again with a broad smile:
"No need for thanks, but we did help Xiao Xinyan with something big! A while ago, Xiao Xinyan's parents' graves were almost dug up, but luckily the director and I buried them in time..."
Blinded by her fantasies of wealth, Gao Xiuzhi failed to notice the village chief who had been winking at her, nor did she see the changing expressions on Xiao Xinyan and the others' faces after she finished speaking.
After saying this, Gao Xiuzhi left immediately, while the village chief remained silent for a moment, his mind racing as he considered how to phrase his words.
"Father! Mother!"
Little Yanbao ran into the yard with a blank expression, her cries heartbreaking.
Zhong Jingyi rushed to hug Xiao Yanbao, only to see a pebble the size of a pigeon egg fly from the dim sky and hit Xiao Yanbao on the forehead. Before anyone could react, another stone the size of an egg hit Zhong Jingyi directly on the head.
The bracelet on Xiao Yanbao's wrist seemed to have lost its automatic protective function, showing no reaction whatsoever when the small stone came at her.
The mother and daughter collapsed to the ground at the doorway. Amidst gasps of surprise, the crowd immediately surrounded them.
"Mom! Yanbao!"
Li Mujun, who had never been so panicked before, cried out. His mind went blank. Liang Xunling quickly checked the pulses on Zhong Jingyi and Xiao Yanbao's necks. Seeing that their pulses were strong and their breathing was steady, she felt a little relieved.
In just a short while, Liang Xunling found that her body was covered in cold sweat from nervousness.
Just then, several more stones fell from the sky. The Li family's security personnel used their bodies to block the stones, while Li Muxing grabbed a wooden stick used to prop open the door and ran into the yard with a shout.
Seeing this, the brothers behind him rushed out angrily, and even the women who were plucking chicken feathers in the yard didn't realize what was happening.
Seeing this, two of the Li family's security personnel stayed behind to protect the people inside the house, while the rest followed Li Muxing and ran outside.
At this moment, the village chief could only hope that his wife and the dog had run far away and hadn't been caught by the Li family...
End of this chapter
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
