Li Hong, listening to Song Tianchen's words, nodded. He knew that Song Tianchen would definitely do as he said. Not long after, they started chatting.
Xiao 1 came over and whispered to Song Tianchen. The man listened with a furrowed brow. Song Tianchen waved his hand, and Xiao 1 jumped out of their sight.
Zhang Hao, Xiang Wu, and Li Hong furrowed their brows, curious. "Tianchen, what did your subordinate say?"
"Xiao 1 said that when he watched Chu Feng's movements, it seemed like he was being followed by several men and a geron. He also overheard their conversation. The men would beat Chu Feng and knock him unconscious. The geron would sleep next to him, and when Chu Feng woke up, they would shout that Chu Feng was having an affair with a geron. Chu Feng should marry that geron, and they should all receive a portion of Chu Feng's earnings. And they would share it. They probably wanted to make money easily." Song Tianchen picked up his wine glass and drank from it. "Does he think I'll let them off easy?"
Xiang Wu looked at Song Tianchen and smiled, "You underestimated Chu Feng too much. Even when he was drunk, he could definitely beat them all. So what now?"
Song Tianchen chuckled, "You're right. I underestimated that bastard. He's the king of drunks, but he's always the best. Little Brother said that Chu Feng nearly broke each of the three men who attacked him. Seeing that, the man screamed and called for help. Some villagers came over, and Chu Feng explained that the man hit him on the waist first, then he hit them."
Zhang Hao chuckled, "What a poor Chu Feng. He was just drunk and wanted to go home. Instead, someone else hit him. It seems they wanted to frame Chu Feng. Heh, they didn't know that Chu Feng was Tianchen's wife slave, even if Chu Feng slept with someone else. Perhaps Chu Feng would rather destroy the evidence than take responsibility. Those cold-blooded men only submit to Wen Baiyu. They must be so desperate for money that they did such a senseless thing. They're still lucky to be alive."
Song Tianchen looked at Zhang Hao and smirked. "Do you think I'll let them live comfortably?"
Li Hong waved his hand, "No killing this time?"
Song Tianchen raised his glass, "I'm a good villager. How could I kill someone? You guys are simply unreasonable!"
Li Hong, "????"
Zhang Hao, ".....?"
Xiang Wu, "????"
Should we hand over Song Tianchen's criminal record for protecting his wife? It seems necessary.
Xiang Wu chuckled. "Yes, we believe you. You're a sensible villager. You wouldn't do it openly, would you?"
Song Tianchen chuckled, "That's what I mean by a good villager. Don't commit murder and arson in broad daylight. That would be troublesome."
Li Hong, "..." This devil...
Zhang Hao, "????" The scariest thing, even more terrifying than death, was when Song Tianchen committed the evil and cruel things Song Tianchen did.
Xiang Wu, "Hahahaha..."
___
At the Village Chief's house.
Chu Feng let the villagers drag them all away! Then he explained that this person had attacked him first, so he was only defending himself.
Listening to Chu Feng's explanation, all the villagers knew what kind of person Chu Feng was, so they believed that Chu Feng would never attack an 'innocent' person. The villagers even brought the Village Chief along.
When the argument broke out, the Village Chief had just returned from Song Tianchen's house. Now the three people were taken by the villagers and interrogated. They all claimed their innocence. Only Chu Feng had attacked them first.
However, all the villagers didn't believe it. Chu Feng was known for his kindness and never used violence against innocent people.
"He attacked us. Look at all of us! He looks fine too!"
Chu Feng grinned, "Should I break all your legs? Tell me honestly in front of the Village Chief, why did you attack me with sticks? If I hadn't dodged a second time, you would have knocked me out on purpose, right?"
All the villagers immediately glared at these scoundrels. However, they didn't recognize these people. They weren't from their village. It was already getting dark.
The Village Chief couldn't recognize them either. The Village Chief spoke, "You aren't from this village. Why did you attack my villagers? If you don't talk, I'll take you to the yamen."
"Village Chief, we're innocent. We were truly attacked by this person. He made us like this. Perhaps because we're from another village, he deliberately attacked us. He also seemed drunk." One of the bravest men spoke. The other two had since been captured. They remained silent and trembled with fear.
The Village Chief looked at Chu Feng. "A Feng, show me the marks where they hit you. If you have evidence, it will be easier to take them to the yamen."
Chu Feng, listening to the Village Chief's words, nodded his head. Turning his back to the villagers, Chu Feng revealed a blow to his back as he undressed.
Chu Feng's body was almost wheat-colored, with many hard muscles even on his back. The Village Chief saw that there had indeed been a wooden blow, clearly imprinted on his back.
Several Gers, both young and old, blushed slightly; even the married ones were amazed by Chu Feng's physique. They looked at his husband's physique, hating that iron couldn't become steel.
Several young Gers covered their faces. The Village Chief immediately glanced at Chu Feng's back. He used an oil lamp to examine the wound.
His eyes widened slightly and he discovered that the blow must have been extremely severe. There was even a branch-shaped object that seemed to have pierced his flesh, causing it to bleed. Although it wasn't deep, it was still a wound.
The Village Chief was furious when other villagers attacked his own villagers. Just as the Village Chief was about to speak, one of the villagers suddenly stepped forward and pointed at the tied-up suspects.
"Ah, I know them! They're from Hu Village. They're a notorious bunch of scoundrels in this small town!"
The Village Chief listened to the villagers' words. He recognized them. "Zai, tell me clearly? Do you really know these people?"
"I know them. They usually collect 'security' fees from small vendors like us in the market. If we don't give them money, they'll ransack our small shops, and there won't be anything to sell." Zai was the son of the third Chao family.
He was a vegetable vendor in the market; everyone knew he often sold vegetables there. If he couldn't get vegetables from his family, he would buy them from the villagers. Even if they weren't expensive, the villagers were happy to sell them.
"Yes, Village Chief, I've seen them hanging around the market too. It's them. Sometimes they'll extort money from old people," one of the villagers said.
The Village Chief became even angrier when he heard this. "Go to Hu Village and summon their Village Chief. We need to discuss this. If they refuse to take responsibility, I'll take these scoundrels to the yamen. They can't be allowed to roam around and disturb the villagers anymore."
"Let Xiao 1 go to Hu Village." Soon, a voice rang out. Several people turned around and discovered it was Song Tianchen and his three friends. Song Tianchen was incredibly handsome, and even at 31, he didn't look like anyone his age at all.
At most, they thought Song Tianchen was 20-23 years old. The Village Chief saw Song Tianchen and smiled. "Tianchen, you're here."
"Let me see who dares to hit my friend!"
Song Tianchen stepped forward and saw the faces of the three men, along with a Ger who was also tied up from behind. He wasn't ordered to kneel because he was a Ger. Song Tianchen stepped forward and kicked the talkative man.
All the villagers were stunned, and the Village Chief couldn't say anything. "Cough... Cough..."
Then the man coughed up blood. Everyone immediately screamed. They didn't know that Song Tianchen was even more cruel than they had imagined. When they saw Song Tianchen with Yan Mao,
He was very considerate and always smiled affectionately. Now they saw that Song Tianchen hadn't even said a word and kicked the man until he vomited blood.
The villagers immediately whispered, "Isn't Tianchen a bit excessive, kicking someone until they vomited blood? I didn't think he was rich and so cruel."
"Shut up. If you still want to make some money, remember, your husband is still working on the Song family farm. If he fires your husband, your life will be even more difficult!" The Ger beside him stopped him.
Zhang Hao smiled, "Tianchen, did you do it on purpose?"
"Yes, I didn't want him to die while we were interrogating him. This guy had a dead blood clot stuck in his chest. I could see his face and hands were turning blue, almost as if he was having difficulty breathing. So I kicked him." Song Tianchen smiled, then looked at the man. "How are you feeling?"
"Much... much better."
Song Tianchen smiled, "Good!!! This way, it'll be easier to interrogate you!"
The three men were immediately frightened. Song Tianchen was now smiling, making them almost out of breath. Their faces were all pale. Song Tianchen patted the shoulder of the man who was vomiting blood.
"You better answer honestly, or I'll give you another kick. I might accidentally kick your third organ, preventing it from getting up again, and you won't be able to satisfy the prostitutes in the brothel!" Song Tianchen smiled.
The three men were immediately frightened. Although Song Tianchen spoke softly, the villagers who heard him couldn't help but shudder.
They knew Song Tianchen was always up to no good in whatever he did. Because Shan Village and Hu Village weren't that far apart, the Village Chief of Hu Village quickly arrived. When he saw the three men and one of the Ger, he immediately gritted his teeth.
Village Chief Shan glared at Village Chief Hu and said, "Village Chief Hu, how are you going to resolve this matter? If you can't handle them, I plan to take them to the county yamen. They've already beaten my villagers. I won't allow this to happen again."
Village Chief Hu was actually somewhat envious of Shan Village's development. They were becoming increasingly prosperous, and they even had a brick road from the village to the market. If calculated in monetary terms, it would have cost thousands of taels to build this road.
In the yamen, some people praised Shan Village's development. [Actually, they were praising Song Tianchen and Yan Mao, as they were both related to Her Majesty the Empress. Even the civil officials of the yamen had never seen the Empress.] So, some villages were very envious of Shan Village.
Song Tianchen and Yan Mao even built a free school. They invited four Xiucai scholars to teach in their village. All the children were allowed to attend school. Song Tianchen and Yan Mao bought a bookstore and sold books at a low price to the villagers, a normal price for outsiders.
Even now, there are almost no children left in their village who don't study. The Xiucai's salary is 4 taels a month, so the four scholars happily teach. This is in addition to the small gifts from the villagers.
Their salaries are kept secret from the villagers; the scholars are honest and keep their secrets. So the villagers know that they are helping willingly. Even when these Xiucai aren't teaching in elementary school, the most they earn is 2 taels.
That's why they opened a private school. But Song Tianchen and Yan Mao personally invited them and told them their salaries.
The four of them didn't refuse at all and were happy to teach. This is why Shan Village has developed so well.
Song Tianchen and Yan Mao didn't feel any loss by halving the price for their villagers. They had already earned tens of millions of taels of silver and several tens of millions of taels of gold.
This included business profits and numerous awards from the Emperor and Empress.
A mere penny or two was nothing to them. So they halved the price and gave the Xiucai teachers high salaries. Some Xiucai learned that they were teaching village children and made light of them.
However, the four of them smiled and said they were paid some of their salaries, even higher than those of wealthy families.