Jiang Yuwei was engrossed in watching when she heard the man's voice and couldn't help but look at him. She saw that the man had a thick beard and a prominent scar across his face, which was terrifying at first glance.
The group of henchmen who had been standing there dumbfounded rushed forward when they saw this person arrive, chattering and complaining.
"Tiger, it's because they won't pay protection money!"
"Yes, they even hit people!"
"Yes, Tiger, you must stand up for us!"
"Tiger Lord, please save Brother Ganzi!"
Hearing that Tiger Lord had arrived, the man hurriedly turned around with difficulty and waved to the back of the house:
"Tiger, my dear grandfather, you've finally arrived! Please teach this brat a lesson! Look what he's done to me!"
Tiger ignored everyone's words and walked straight up to Ning Wu, looking at him with a stern face and saying:
"Don't you know this is my territory, Tiger Lord's territory? You dare to cause trouble on my land? I think you have a death wish!"
Looking at the size of Tiger Lord in front of him, Ning Wu knew he couldn't defeat him alone. His elder brother Tie Zhu wasn't there, and the rest of them were just the elderly, women, and children. He knew he wouldn't gain anything by fighting them head-on.
So Ning Wu released the pole, looked at Tiger Lord and said:
"Tiger, it's not that we don't want to pay the protection money, it's just that we have to pay it too often, and we can't afford it. We're just ordinary people, and setting up a stall is a last resort for us, just to earn a living. But your gang of brothers come to collect protection money every few days, disrupting our business. We were forced to take action against them!"
Tiger sneered upon hearing this and slapped Ning Wu hard across the face.
"No one has ever dared to argue with me about protection money. I have so many underlings protecting this area, and all I ask for is a little protection money. You're already whining and refusing to cooperate. I think you just need a beating!"
When Uncle Cai saw his son being beaten, he was about to rush forward with his carrying pole, but Ning Wu stopped him with a look. Then, Ning Wu licked the blood from the corner of his mouth and slowly spoke to Tiger:
"Tiger, I'm the one who hit your brother. If you want to hit or yell at me, come at me alone. They have nothing to do with this. Can you let them go?"
Tiger Lord, after hearing this, looked Ning Wu over with interest, then glanced at the crowd standing behind the stall and said:
"What nonsense are you spouting? You think you can trade your life for the lives of so many people? You're dreaming!"
Seeing that Tiger was relentless, Ning Wu took a kitchen knife directly from Aunt Zhou's stall. Tiger frowned, took a few steps back, and was about to order someone to rush forward and take the knife from his hand when he heard Ning Wu grit his teeth and say:
"Tiger, today's troubles started because of me alone. Pick two of these five fingers, and I'll chop them off right now! I just beg you to spare my family!"
As he spoke, Ning Wu raised the kitchen knife in his hand, waiting for Tiger to speak.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei could no longer sit still and jumped off the carriage, shouting:
"Wait!"
When Ning Wu looked up and saw that it was Jiang Yuwei, his eyes immediately reddened. Although Jiang Yuwei was just a woman, they didn't know when it started, but as long as she was there, everyone felt that they had a pillar of support.
Jiang Yuwei walked quickly to Tiger. Although the two were of vastly different heights and builds, Jiang Yuwei did not lose any of her imposing presence in front of Tiger.
"Tiger, I'm the owner of this stall now. You can talk to me about what you have to say. There's no need to make things difficult for them, because you're not in the right when it comes to collecting protection money. What do you say?"
Upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Tiger clenched his fists in anger.
"You, a woman, dare to stand in front of me and yell at me? Go home and wash your husband's feet! Don't meddle here!"
As he spoke, Tiger raised his hand to slap Jiang Yuwei, but Ning Zixuan, who had come down from behind Jiang Yuwei, immediately grabbed Tiger's wrist and said coldly:
"Lin Hu, what do you want to do?"
Just as Tiger was about to curse, he turned his head and met Ning Zixuan's murderous eyes, and his expression immediately changed.
"Oh my, Your Highness, it's you! What brings you to our humble place? If I had known you were coming, I would have gone out to meet you beforehand!"
Ning Zixuan didn't want to see his fawning expression, and simply said coldly:
"Apologize to this lady."
Upon hearing this, Lin Hu looked down at Jiang Yuwei standing in front of him, then at Ning Zixuan with a cold face, and hurriedly bowed and scraped as he spoke to Jiang Yuwei:
"Oh dear, so you're a friend of the young master. I was blind to your greatness. I apologize. From now on, you can set up your stall here, however you like. With me here, no one will dare to come and collect protection money from you again!"
Seeing his expression, Jiang Yuwei spoke coldly:
"What about the protection money collected before?"
Seeing this, Lin Hu pulled the pole he had hidden behind him to the front, kicked it, and cursed:
"You piece of trash! You dare to collect protection money, friend of the prince? I'll chop your hands off when we get back! Tell me now, how much protection money did you collect? Hand it over right now!"
The pole was also quite frightened, scratching his head as he spoke:
"It seems to add up to about three taels of silver. Well, Tiger, I've already handed it all over to you after I collected it. I don't have any silver on hand."
Upon hearing this, Tiger slapped the top of the pole and kicked him far away, cursing:
"You blind fool!"
As he spoke, Tiger turned to Jiang Yuwei with a smile, took out a purse from his pocket, and handed it to her, saying:
"Please accept this. There are five taels of silver inside. Consider it compensation for your friend. Please forgive this. From now on, you can set up your stall here in peace. No one will bother your stall again."
Jiang Yuwei reached out and took the money pouch, opened it, glanced at it, weighed it in her hand, and then smiled:
"Then I'll have to trouble you to take care of my stall from now on, Tiger."
Tiger wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded after hearing this:
"Don't mention it. We've become friends through this little misunderstanding. Just let me know if you ever need anything!"
Ning Zixuan, too lazy to argue with Lin Hu, waved his hand impatiently and said:
"Alright, you can go now. Don't delay their business!"
Tiger breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and hurriedly bowed and said goodbye to Ning Zixuan and Jiang Yuwei before turning around and leaving with his group of underlings.
Jiang Yuwei turned to look at the messy stall, then looked at Ning Wu and smiled:
"Ningwu, you did a good job today. You acted like a man. Since your brother Tiezhu isn't here, you have to hold this stall up."
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