Ma Xiaobian dusted himself off, bowed to Ye Ya, and said obsequiously, "Sister, I've long admired your name. It's my great honor to meet you today. Since you've stood up for Ma Yunfei, I'll spare him for your sake."
Wild Girl angrily questioned, "You bunch of people came here to bully my brother, that's going too far! I was just trying to help someone in need."
Ma Xiaobian explained meekly, "Sister, I'm not bullying Ma Yunfei. He borrowed a thousand yuan from my dad, promising to give his daughter to him. But when my dad came to hug his daughter, he was hit on the head with a stick. Tell me, is he bullying us, or are we bullying him?"
Wild Girl asked in surprise, "Brother Ma, you...you don't even have a wife, how come you have a daughter?"
Chen Yuyan explained, "Yueyue is my sister's child. My sister entrusted her to me before she died."
Ye Ya stared at Chen Yuyan and asked, "Who are you?"
"I am Ma Yunfei's wife, and last night was our wedding night."
"Ah! Brother Ma, you...you actually got married behind my back?!"
Ma Yunfei didn't know what to say, wondering: Could this wild girl be my lover? Did I promise to marry her?
He looked at Chen Yuyan, hoping to get an answer from her.
Chen Yuyan whispered, "A year ago, Yeya went to the market to sell furs. A tractor driver, who had been drinking, drove his vehicle into Yeya. You realized something was wrong, rushed over, and pushed Yeya into the ditch by the roadside, but broke your own arm in the process. Because of your heroic act of saving the damsel in distress, Yeya has been clinging to you ever since, insisting on marrying you. However, Yeya is an only child, and her father, Yiqiang, insists that you become her live-in son-in-law, which you are unwilling to do."
Ma Yunfei finally understood his relationship with Ye Ya and immediately fabricated a lie: "Ye Ya, my father repeatedly instructed me before he died that I must give birth to three sons to continue the Ma family line. If I were to become your son-in-law, wouldn't I become an unfilial son? I had no choice but to marry Chen Yuyan."
Wild Girl asked angrily, "Did you two get a marriage certificate?"
Ma Yunfei looked somewhat bewildered.
Chen Yuyan replied, "Yunfei lost his ID card, so we can't get a marriage certificate yet. However, we held our wedding ceremony last night."
Ye Ya snorted and said, "If we don't have a marriage certificate, then it doesn't count as marriage; it's just cohabitation."
Ma Xiaobian vaguely heard a few words of what Ye Ya and Ma Yunfei and his wife were saying.
Like his father, Ma Xiaobian was an opportunist. His eyes darted around a few times before he said, "Wild girl, I'd like to invite you to my humble abode for a few drinks. Would you do me the honor?"
Wild Girl glanced sideways at Ma Xiaobian and asked, "What are you saying? I don't understand. I'm saying, are you going to stay here and ask for a beating?"
"Girl, it's not that I'm staying here, it's that Ma Yunfei owes my dad a thousand yuan. There's an old saying: 'Debts must be repaid,' isn't that true?"
Ye Ya took out a wad of cash from her pocket, counted it, handed it to Ma Xiaobian, and said, "This is the thousand yuan I owe you. Count it carefully and get out of here."
Ma Yunfei was startled and asked, "Girl, where did you get so much money?"
"I just went to the market and sold all my furs. I made a total of 1,200 yuan."
Ma Yunfei was astonished; he hadn't expected leather goods to be so valuable.
In 1990, one thousand yuan was not a small amount.
Ma Xiaobian counted the money, bowed to Ye Ya, and said, "Sister, you truly deserve to be called a hero. You are even more generous than a man. Now that I have received the payment, I will take my leave."
Ma Xiaobian led a dozen or so thugs away in a sorry state.
The neighbors chattered amongst themselves:
"I never expected that Ma Yunfei would make friends with a female knight-errant. What a romantic encounter!"
"I heard that the girl who can hit the bullseye every time has extraordinary martial arts skills, and ten or eight men can't beat her."
Then Ma Xiaobian and a dozen or so thugs left dejectedly.
Some of the thugs were unconvinced and urged, "Boss, she's just a girl. Do you think a dozen of us strong men can't beat her?"
"Yeah, even though her dad is a crack shot, does he think he can take us for a wild boar? Why should we be afraid of a little girl like her?"
Ma Xiaobian cursed, "You stupid pigs, all of you have pig heads on your necks. Let me tell you: Yi Qiangzhun is someone no one within a hundred miles can afford to mess with. More than ten years ago, I heard that a deputy township head bullied him. In the middle of the night, a pack of hungry wolves broke into the deputy township head's house and ate the family of five, leaving not even bones behind. Let me tell you: that pack of hungry wolves was sent by Yi Qiangzhun."
"Ah! Does that mean the Hungry Wolf is under the command of One-Shot Accuracy?"
"By the way, have you all finally seen the light? One shot is all it takes to make a wild beast obey him. Tell me, who can afford to mess with him?"
A group of thugs were so scared they stuck out their tongues.
Ma Xiaobian handed the thousand yuan to his father and said, "I got the money back, but I didn't dare to lay a finger on Ma Yunfei."
Ma Suanpan asked in bewilderment, "Son, I told you to teach Ma Yunfei a lesson, at least to beat him to the point of being bedridden for three days. Why didn't you lay a finger on him?"
"Father, just now, I was about to teach Ma Yunfei a lesson when suddenly a female warrior jumped out. She said she was the girl from Dragon King Mountain, known as 'One-Shot-Accurate'. This girl is highly skilled in martial arts; she kicked me to the ground with one kick. After questioning her, I confirmed that she is indeed 'One-Shot-Accurate's' daughter. Father, tell me: do I dare to touch 'One-Shot-Accurate's' daughter?"
Ma Suanpan was startled and stammered, "How did your daughter, who's so accurate with a single shot, get involved with this kid, Ma Yunfei?"
"Dad, we all underestimated Ma Yunfei. That kid is really lucky with women. I heard that Yi Qiang wanted to take him as his son-in-law, but Ma Yunfei refused."
Ma Suanpan paced around the room a few times, then said angrily, "We dare not touch Ma Yunfei, but the village chief is not afraid of him. I'm going to the village chief's house right now to file a complaint against Ma Yunfei, saying that he is gambling with others."
Ma Suanpan took two bottles of wine and immediately went to the village chief's house.
Upon seeing the wine, village chief Ma Bajin asked with a smile, "Ma Suanpan, it's not a holiday today, why are you bringing me wine?"
Ma Suanpan, with a mournful face, pointed to his head and said, "Village chief, you have to stand up for me! Ma Yunfei was gambling with a group of people, and when I went to stop him from doing something illegal, he broke my head. Village chief, Ma Yunfei is a notorious gambler, everyone in the village knows him, you have to do something about it."
Ma Bajin glanced at the two bottles of liquor and saw that they were Wuliangye. He clicked his tongue and said with a stern face, "Even if you hadn't come to report Ma Yunfei today, I would have wanted to deal with him for a long time. I'll go and gather the militia right away, tie that kid up, and send him to the township."
Ma Suanpan said excitedly, "Village Chief, we should have gotten rid of Ma Yunfei, this scourge, long ago."
Ma Bajin was also a gambler. He once played cards with Ma Yunfei at the same gambling table. Once, when they were gambling together, Ma Yunfei won two hundred yuan from the village chief.
Ma Bajin had long disliked Ma Yunfei and was looking for an opportunity to teach him a lesson.
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