Grandpa Ouyang quickly took out two taels of silver from his pocket and respectfully put it into the bag.
The young man collecting the money, barely in his early twenties, patted Old Man Ouyang on the shoulder and praised him, "You did a good job, old man! When we're done with this, the brothers will come and patronize your business."
"Good, good, good," said Grandpa Ouyang with a smile.
Lan Ya Mei didn't take the newcomers seriously at all, squatting on the stool drinking and eating peanuts and edamame, while Aunt Guan was sweating bullets.
The leader hadn't realized he was in trouble yet; he just stared at Lan Yamei, as if to say, "Hurry up and hand over the money."
Seeing that Lan Yamei didn't move, a few of her underlings, taking advantage of her position, came up and overturned two tables, shouting, "What's wrong? Have you forgotten the rules? Or do you not want to work here anymore?"
"Aunt Guan, give this girl a plan. Damaging private property will result in full compensation!" Lan Yamei said fearlessly, then put down her wine bowl, jumped off the stool, and said lightly, "A gentleman loves money, but he earns it in a proper way. What kind of protection money are you collecting? And what effort have you put into maintaining order in this ghost market?"
"This is my territory! I can take it whenever I want!" The bald, burly man shook the nine-ringed crescent-shaped scimitar on his shoulder. As the fat on his belly jiggled, he brandished the scimitar twice, pointing the tip at Lan Yamei's nose, and asked with a mocking laugh, "Girl, is your skin loose? I'll tighten it for you."
The henchmen behind him made a lewd suggestion, "No money? No problem. You can pay with your body, hehe..." Their greasy eyes looked him up and down.
That greasy, disgusting gaze was truly nauseating. Lan Yamei, however, didn't tolerate his temper and glared back at him. The group of thugs, oblivious to their own embarrassment, simply assumed the girl was embarrassed.
"Great idea! Let's give the brothers a taste of the good life, how about it, girl?" The bald, burly man laughed heartily, his belly fat jiggling. Several of his underlings were even more eager to try, rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.
Aunt Guan was completely terrified and didn't know what to do. These people were fighting and smashing things like madmen, and no one around dared to run into them.
Seeing that Lan was about to suffer a loss, Old Master Ouyang quickly shielded her behind him, put his hands together, and said ingratiatingly, "Gentlemen, the young lady's business is not good. I have seen her not open for business for several days. She has not earned a single copper coin. Please give me some face and grant her a few more days so that she can find a way to scrape together some money to report to you."
With so many people watching, only Grandpa Ouyang dared to speak. Lan Yamei was determined to teach these scumbags a lesson, turning a good social atmosphere into a mess.
Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Aunt Guan rushed out with a smile on her face and said, "Yes, yes, Brother Tie Tou, please give me a few more days. I will definitely pay you back once I have enough. I really can't sell anything these days and I'm short on cash, so I can't come up with the money." As she spoke, she gently pushed aside the tip of Tie Tou's knife.
Tie Tou sheathed his knife. "Fine, don't say I'm heartless. I'll give you a few more days. If you still can't produce it by then, don't blame me for being ruthless." After saying that, he called his brothers to take a basket of peanuts and edamame away and continue collecting protection money.
"Delicious, delicious! This ugly little girl makes pretty good food." The thugs said as they ate, without any remorse.
"Share this with the brothers, and feel free to take it next time you want some."
"Hehe... Okay, big brother."
Seeing that the crisis was over, Grandpa Ouyang advised, "Kid, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle. We can't beat them, so let's pay them off and keep quiet. Listen to me, don't be stubborn." With that, he went back to his wonton stall to get busy.
Before Aunt Guan could even begin to offer any advice, Lan Ya Mei's face had already darkened to the point of being stormy. "Bang!" She slammed her hand on the table and yelled at the group, "Stop! Who do you think you are? You dare to ask me for protection money? Bah! Shameless! You really think I'm a pushover, someone you can just bully!"
Tie Tou and his brothers stopped in their tracks, their faces contorted with menace, and surrounded the barbecue stall with their weapons. They had to get their revenge; they had to make an example of them.
"What's wrong?" Iron Head bared his teeth, brandishing his broadsword. "Trying to rebel?"
"I don't care if you're iron-headed, meat-headed, or frog-headed! You've run into me today, your good days are over! I'll beat you into a lion's head, or I'm not a Lan!" Lan Yamei is a retired martial arts coach, and her students are all high-level bodyguards with annual salaries of millions. Why would she be afraid of these little punks!
I thought that since I had transmigrated, I should try living the life of an ordinary person, but I never expected that I was destined for a life of swords and spears.
"Hey! Didn't brush your teeth before talking to me? You've got a big mouth! If I don't kill you today, I, Iron Head, will no longer be around here! Brothers, let's take her down!" With a command from Iron Head, a group of brothers behind him brandished long clubs and short knives and charged towards Lan Ya Mei.
With an expression that said, "It's too late for you to regret this," Tie Tou sat down and waited to see the show.
This small encirclement was no problem for Lan Ya Mei at all. Besides, they were just some small fry who didn't know any fighting techniques and were just trying to intimidate people with numbers. Lan Ya Mei snorted coldly.
He quickly stepped back one meter, took two running steps, and kicked the square wooden table with his right foot, catching the thugs off guard. Two of them even broke their ribs with a crack and were in too much pain to get up.
The encirclement was immediately broken.
The others were taken aback at first, but then they rushed forward in a swarm, shouting and using knives and sticks as they went.
A large crowd had gathered around, and everyone was worried for the little girl.
Lan Ya Mei was unarmed, and since the original owner's physical abilities weren't great, she could only rely on her memory to execute the moves. She punched the first hothead who rushed up and knocked him down with one punch. She then snatched the stick from his hand and used it as a weapon to fight the rest of them.
They were all just flashy, weaklings, not even as skilled as street performers. In less than three minutes, they were all knocked to the ground. Whether they were in pain or not, they were all groaning and didn't dare to get up and charge again.
Seeing that he had lost face, Tie Tou gritted his teeth and said, "Oh! I didn't know you were so good! I'll spar with you." As he spoke, he cracked his neck left and right, then turned his arms and brandished his broadsword, slashing down.
The wooden stick in Lan Yamei's hand had broken. She spun around, grabbed a stool, and nimbly blocked the gleaming blade with her hands on the left and right stool legs.
This guy with the iron head was a brute; the blade sank deep into the bench, almost splitting it in two.
The original owner of this body was physically weak and frail. After taking down a few young men, she was already exhausted and sweating profusely. Lan Yamei thought to herself, "This little body needs to be trained more quickly!"
Iron Head noticed the girl's disheveled state and chuckled, "Little girl, when I was a gangster, you were still playing in the mud and pee! You're overestimating yourself! You think you can beat me? Even your dad might not be able to beat me!"
"Bad guys always talk a lot of nonsense!" Lan Yamei decided to finish the fight quickly. She couldn't fight the bull by strength; she would be at a disadvantage sooner or later.
She secretly shifted her strength to her legs, and taking advantage of the moment her opponent's eyes widened, she quickly dodged and swept her leg down in a low kick attack. Fortunately, Tie Tou wasn't a trained fighter and his basic skills were weak. He put all his strength into his knife, and his lower body couldn't withstand the attack. He lost his balance and fell headlong. Lan Ya Mei turned around, picked up a long bench, flipped it over, and trapped Tie Niu firmly under the bench, unable to move an inch. She then stood on the bench and pinned him down.
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