Chapter 103

(Brothers, please forgive me—I drank too much yesterday, and today I’ve got something to take care of; next time, barring any surprises, it’ll be back to the usual rhythm.)

Wang Yan didn’t hit them too hard; it wasn’t realistic to cripple so many people. Aside from Liu Jinhu, most just had superficial injuries. A bit of Honghua oil, and they’d be fine in ten days or so.

“Ow… damn it, this kid’s really strong.”

“Yeah, all of us together and he still took us down… ow…”

Seeing Wang Yan walk away, the group exhaled deeply, groaning and cursing as they struggled to their feet.

“Brother Hu, you okay? This bastard’s too damn strong.”

“Yeah, Brother Hu, is your leg alright…?”

Two of them, quick to read the situation, stepped forward to help lift Liu Jinhu together.

Someone else finally caught on and rushed over to help: “Brother Hu, are we just gonna let this slide?”

Liu Jinhu gritted his teeth against the pain as the three helped him up. He snapped, “We all got beaten by one guy—what else can we do? Are we gonna kill him over this?”

Is killing that easy? He could brag about it in daily talk, but when it came to real action, he had no guts. Liu Jinhu knew his own limits—he wasn’t a true outlaw, just a petty thug who relied on his brute strength to gather a gang and boss people around.

As for hiring someone even tougher to retaliate—he thought about it and gave up. Wang Yan’s casual, chilling brutality had opened his eyes; just recalling it made him shudder. He’d seen men with murder on their hands, but none as terrifying as this. If you couldn’t kill him outright, don’t provoke him—he wasn’t ready to die yet.

Seeing the others gradually gather around him, Liu Jinhu put on a casual air: “Alright, don’t be bitter. That guy’s clearly trained—this beating was deserved. Even I nearly had my leg broken and I didn’t say a word. Why are you all giving me that face? No deep grudge here. Just be polite when you see him from now on.”

“Hey… where’s Zhao Jiaqing?”

Someone outside called out: “Brother Hu, they’re right here.”

The men around Liu Jinhu stepped aside, revealing Zhao Jiaqing and the others trembling and shivering on the periphery.

Facing a sea of hostile stares, Zhao Jiaqing, a man who knew how to read the room, dropped to his knees with a thud and stammered: “Brother Hu, I didn’t know he was this strong—I swear, I…”

The others quickly followed suit, dropping to their knees.

“Brother Hu, you’re a man of great tolerance…”

“Yeah, Brother Hu, we didn’t mean…”

………

The group clamored loudly, begging for forgiveness—yesterday beaten, today beaten again, and now it looked like another round was coming. They couldn’t take it anymore. Worse still, regardless of whether they’d been set up, they definitely had to pay Wang Yan back. And hiring Brother Hu wasn’t free—they’d promised him money too. They simply couldn’t afford this; it was pushing them to the edge.

Liu Jinhu snapped: “Enough! Shut up, all of you.” Seeing them stop pleading and stare at him, trembling, he continued: “I didn’t get this done for you, so I’ve got no face to ask for your money. Running into a hard case isn’t your fault. Let it go.”

Without another word, he ignored the men weeping thanks on the ground and left, supported by his men.

He didn’t want to let Zhao Jiaqing and the others off—he’d just been beaten and shamefully backed down, his authority shattered. Now, acting like a man of principle and righteousness, he was trying to salvage his image, to rebuild the morale of his scattered followers. This was his own hard-won strategy, forged over years of street experience. Once time passed and people forgot, he’d be the feared Brother Hu of southern Cheng again.

Watching Liu Jinhu and his men leave, Zhao Jiaqing and the others wiped sweat from their brows and exhaled deeply, collapsing onto the ground.

They looked at each other, silent for a long time.

Finally, Zhang Jun said: “Where are we gonna get that much money? We can’t really give him our house…”

“What else can we do?”

“Sigh…”

With a sigh, they pushed themselves up.

Noticing Zhao Jiaqing still sitting there dazed, Zhang Jun nudged him: “What are you staring at? Come on—borrow whatever you can, just scrape something together…”

Though Zhao Jiaqing had started it and they’d all been tempted, human nature being what it is, none of them could truly say they didn’t blame him. But now, in this state, what good did blame do? Wang Yan was that strong—even Brother Hu had backed down. They had no intention of dodging the debt. The money had to be paid. No one could escape it.

“Ah… oh…”

Zhao Jiaqing snapped out of it, grimacing as he stood: “Where are we gonna get that much money? Who’s gonna lend it to us?”

Zhang Jun and the others fell silent.

None of them were honest, hardworking people—they spent their days gambling, and relatives and friends all knew their true colors. Borrowing money was hard enough; now, with such a large sum, it was nearly impossible.

“Then tell me—what else can we do besides sell the house?”

Zhao Jiaqing thought for a moment and said: “Let’s go… find our leader…”

………

Wang Dashan worked quietly, stealing glances now and then at Wang Yan nearby.

After calming down, he’d pieced together what happened—Wang Yan clearly had won big, or Zhao Jiaqing and the others wouldn’t have been so furious as to gather so many people.

But he’d heard of Liu Jinhu—this man was a big shot in the area, a true boss. Wang Yan had beaten him like that and even taken five thousand yuan from him. Wang Dashan had lived his whole life as a quiet, law-abiding man—he’d never seen anything like this, and he was genuinely uneasy.

After thinking for a long time, Wang Dashan walked over and squatted beside Wang Yan: “Maybe… maybe we should just let it go. Better to avoid trouble. They’re not people to mess with—we can’t handle them.”

Wang Yan understood—he was just a regular citizen who wanted peace. But he didn’t realize: many things, many people, take three steps back when you give them three inches. Especially Zhao Jiaqing and Liu Jinhu—they were classic bullies who only targeted the weak.

“We’ve already made them our enemies. If we just let it go now, they’ll think we’re easy prey. Besides, that money was hard-won—I’m not giving it up.” Wang Yan sat on the ground, unconcerned. “Just relax. I can handle this myself. It won’t affect you.”

Wang Dashan understood the logic, but he couldn’t shake his old habit of retreating to find peace.

Hearing Wang Yan’s words, he thought he was being misunderstood—that Wang Yan thought he was afraid of being dragged in, too scared to stand up. Wang Dashan quickly spoke up: “That’s not what I meant—I just…”

Wang Yan waved him off: “I know you well. Don’t overthink it. They only have numbers on their side—you’ve seen my strength. Not just those guys, even if there were ten times as many, it wouldn’t matter.”

“Hey… now I just realized—when did you get so strong?”

Wang Yan casually showed off two moves and grinned: “You know I’ve got a ton of books at home—two were about martial arts. I just practiced on my own. Enough of this—get back to work. We’re eating meat tonight.”

Ignoring Wang Dashan’s lingering doubt, Wang Yan took a sip of water and went back to work.

Seeing his resolve, Wang Dashan, though still uneasy, said nothing more. He stood and returned to his labor, head down.