Chen Yuyan grabbed a stick from behind the door and hit the old man on the head.
"Ouch!"
The old man let out a low groan and collapsed to the ground.
Just as the old man slumped over, Chen Yuyan snatched Yueyue away and hugged her tightly.
Ma Yunfei struggled to his feet, walked to the table, and picked up the IOU, which read: "I hereby borrow 1,000 yuan from Ma Suanpan, and voluntarily offer my daughter Yueyue to pay off the debt." Below was Ma Yunfei's crooked signature, dated May 18, 1990.
Ma Yunfei asked, "Wife, who is Ma Suanpan?"
"You...you're still drunk? Don't you even recognize a horse abacus?"
"Honey, I hit my head on the wall. It might have caused me to lose my memory. My mind is completely blank right now, and I can't remember anything."
“Ma Suanpan runs a small shop in our village. He’s obsessed with money and a real schemer. I knocked him out. When he wakes up, he’ll definitely tell his son, Ma Xiaobian, that we’re in big trouble.”
Is Ma Xiaobian very powerful?
"Ma Xiaobian is a notorious scoundrel in our Majiawan. He has gathered a bunch of petty thugs and they run rampant in the village."
Ma Yunfei shrugged and said dismissively, "I thought Ma Xiaobian was a high-ranking official, but it turns out he's just a scoundrel."
“Ma Yunfei, you…you really have amnesia? Ma Xiaobian’s nickname is Second Village Chief, and no one can afford to offend him.”
The neighbors all rushed over to see what was going on, and when they saw the abacus lying on the ground, they started talking amongst themselves:
"It's over, Ma Yunfei's family has gotten into big trouble. When Ma Xiaobian comes, he'll definitely burn their house down."
"Burning down the house is a minor matter; the real problem is that Ma Yunfei will be beaten to a pulp, and his wife won't escape this fate either. She might even be violated by Ma Xiaobian."
A kind neighbor advised, "Yuyan, you should take your daughter and run away as far as possible, and never come back."
“Yes, Yuyan, since your husband is a good-for-nothing, then don’t cling to him. A gambler like Ma Yunfei should be left to remain a bachelor for life.”
In short, the villagers all agreed that Chen Yuyan should quickly take her daughter and run away, leaving Ma Yunfei to bear the consequences of his troubles alone.
Ma Yunfei was somewhat apprehensive. He knew he had no martial arts skills and was powerless. If those thugs came, they would beat him to a pulp.
He thought: "Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best."
"Honey, do we have any relatives?"
Chen Yuyan rolled her eyes at Ma Yunfei and scolded, "Your gambling angered your father to death. All the relatives know you are an unfilial son, and no one pays any attention to you anymore."
"Honey, you have your family back home, right? Let's go to your family home for a few days and lay low for a while before we talk about it."
“Ma Yunfei, it seems you really have amnesia. My parents died early, leaving only my sister and me. My sister also died of illness last year, leaving behind Yueyue.”
Ma Yunfei was somewhat disappointed and asked, "Wife, do we really have no relatives or friends in our family?"
"Yeah, we can only wait to die here."
As he spoke, Ma Suanpan regained consciousness from his brief unconsciousness. He got up from the ground, touched his head, and saw some blood on his hands. He said angrily, "Ma Yunfei, you dare to hit me? I think you've got a death wish. You wait, I'll have my son deal with you."
Ma Suanpan covered his head and walked away.
The villagers all chimed in, saying, "Yuyan, you'd better run! It'll be too late if you wait any longer."
Before he finished speaking, a dozen or so young men, carrying short sticks, rushed over menacingly.
Chen Yuyan said timidly, "It's over. Even if our family of three isn't poisoned by rat poison, we'll be beaten to death by this Ma Xiaobian. Either way, we're going to die, so let's just die."
Chen Yuyan hugged Yueyue tightly and said, "Yueyue, don't be afraid, Mom is here."
Ma Yunfei knew he was powerless to protect his wife and daughter, and even himself.
However, he was unwilling to give up and wait for his death, so he rushed into the kitchen and grabbed his only weapon, a rusty kitchen knife.
Ma Xiaobian rushed over with a dozen thugs, brandishing wooden sticks and shouting, "Ma Yunfei, are you out of your mind? How dare you hit my dad! Today, I'll show you the power of our Stick Gang!"
"The Stick Gang?"
Ma Yunfei thought to himself: I never expected that Ma Xiaobian would actually be the head of a gang.
Chen Yuyan whispered, "Ma Xiaobian organized a gang called the Stick Gang, and he is the gang leader."
Ma Yunfei stood in front of his wife, brandishing a kitchen knife, and said, "Ma Xiaobian, if you dare to touch my wife and daughter, I'll fight you to the death today!"
"Haha...you're usually such a spineless coward, how come you're all hard today?!"
A dozen or so thugs surrounded him, brandishing short sticks. At the sound of a command, they would pounce on him and beat Ma Yunfei into a pulp.
“Ma Yunfei, since we’re from the same village, I’ll give you two options: one is to hand over your daughter Yueyue and then kneel down in front of my father and apologize; the second option is self-explanatory.”
Ma Xiaobian swung the stick.
"Ma Xiaobian, today it's either you die or I live, I'm going all out."
Ma Yunfei held the kitchen knife high, like a hero ready to die.
Ma Xiaobian sneered, "Ma Yunfei, you've finally become a man. Fine, today I'll grant your wish and let you leave with a whole corpse."
Ma Yunfei said fiercely, "Whoever dares to be the first to rush up, I will chop off their head like slicing a watermelon."
You know what, Ma Yunfei's fearless attitude actually scared those punks.
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