Trouble with the Zhao Family (Part 2)

"Yan, what happened to you?"

Seeing Qin Yan's tightly knitted brows, the old village chief hurriedly asked what had happened.

"Zhao He brought six of her brothers to beat me to death. This is what happened..."

Qin Yan gathered his thoughts and embellished the story considerably.

The old village chief's face twitched as he listened.

"You're saying you ran into the Zhao family while chopping firewood on the mountain, and they tried to kill you, but a wandering hero happened to come along and save you!"

The old village chief was speechless after hearing him out. Did he want to listen to what he was saying?

"That's right!" Qin Yan's expression didn't change. "Granduncle, you have to save me. I'll remember your kindness and repay it a hundredfold."

The old village chief gave Qin Yan a long look. "You're telling the truth."

"Yes!"

"Mm!" The old village chief nodded slightly. "You still weren't ruthless enough, kid. If it were me, I would have slaughtered those Zhao Family boys and left no trouble behind.

"But it doesn't matter. You'll get used to it once you get the chance to do a few of them in.

"You're still too young!"

Qin Yan's eyes widened. As expected of the old village chief—every word was a pearl of wisdom.

He couldn't help giving him a thumbs-up.

6!

"Heh, heh!" The old village chief chuckled. "Back when I served in the army, I was a squad leader. The battlefield is the last place you can afford to hold back.

"It's either your death or my survival.

"The world is full of dangers. You have to be ruthless and vicious enough to live well.

"I have high hopes for you, kid. I don't know how you did it, but I'll take responsibility for your troubles."

"Village chief, you understand what's right. I'll never forget this as long as I live."

The older and younger man looked at each other and smiled.

There was no need for clever people to say more.

Qin Yan needed someone to back him up.

The old village chief valued Qin Yan's potential and wanted him to look after his descendants after he was gone.

Each got what he needed!

The old village chief acted like thunder and lightning, immediately rallying people in the village.

A group of old geezers whose teeth were falling out grabbed the weapons they treasured at home and came at once.

They were all old men who had enlisted and served alongside the old village chief.

"Village chief, who are we going to take on? My great saber can hardly bear its hunger and thirst!"

Looking at the fierce old men, Qin Lin's mouth twitched.

In no time, a hundred or so of the village's young and able-bodied men had gathered.

Everyone turned to look at the old village chief.

"People from Zhao Family Village tried to bully Yan. Six or seven of them wanted to beat him to death. What do you say we should do?"

The old village chief's voice was grave.

"What? Those bastards from Zhao Family Village actually dared to bully someone from Clear Water Village.

"Those little brats must have a death wish!"

The old men gathered around the village chief immediately bristled their beards and glared.

The villagers were a close-knit lot, and nothing riled them more than people from another village coming to bully their own.

Especially someone like Qin Yan, whose father had just died and whose two brothers had bullied him into splitting up the family.

Though he had beaten his two brothers, they also thought he had snapped because he'd been bullied too badly.

They could leave their own village's affairs alone.

But what gave a bunch of outsiders the right to come and bully one of them?

Before long, the group found the Zhao Family brothers, all sprawled miserably on the ground.

The old village chief didn't even need to give the word.

The village's young men were beside themselves with excitement. They rushed forward and gave the brothers a thorough beating, regardless of whether they were already injured.

After the beating, the Zhao Family brothers all had battered faces.

When they saw Qin Yan, they nearly fainted with rage.

That bastard had beaten them so badly, then brought a group of people to beat them again.

"Qin Yan!"

Zhao Wen's words whistled through his missing teeth, and he looked ready to devour someone.

Qin Yan pretended to be frightened and hid behind the old village chief, looking at Zhao Wen with an innocent expression.

"Someone tie these boys up and take them back. Zhao Yang... go notify the Zhao Family and bring their village chief too!"

The old village chief spoke to the middle-aged man beside him.

"Yes, Father!"

Qin Zhaoyang nodded and immediately headed for Zhao Family Village.

The village square!

Quite a few people from Clear Water Village and Zhao Family Village had come, forming a broad crowd several rows deep.

"My sons!"

When Zhao Qinshi saw the terrible state her sons were in, she wailed and threw herself at them.

"Father, you have to stand up for me! That little beast Qin Yan broke my leg.

"My husband was beaten so badly by him that he can't get out of bed.

"How is our family supposed to live?"

At the sight of her relatives, Zhao He began wailing too, staring at Qin Yan with venom in her eyes.

Old Zhao was heartbroken to see it. His children and nephews had been beaten like this, and anger immediately surged through him.

"You people from Clear Water Village are far too unreasonable! You broke my son's and daughter's legs. How are they supposed to live from now on?

"Village chief! You have to stand up for our family!"

Old Zhao looked at the people from his village with reddened eyes, then spoke mournfully to the chief of Zhao Family Village.

"Village chief, you have to stand up for us! That little beast Qin Yan broke my second brother's leg, and he broke his sister-in-law's leg too.

"He's worse than a beast."

Zhao Wen looked at Qin Yan with scarlet eyes, wishing every moment that he could kill someone.

Only later had he learned that the bastard had broken his younger brother's and sister-in-law's legs.

Zhao Changfeng's expression was grim as well. "Old Qin, you've gone too far.

"Qin Yan is the worst of all. He defied all human decency and bullied his brother and sister-in-law. He's worse than a pig or a dog."

At those words, not only the people from Zhao Family Village but even those from Clear Water Village looked at Qin Yan in astonishment.

When they saw the miserable state the Zhao Family brothers were in, that possibility hadn't occurred to them.

They hadn't expected Qin Yan to be the one who did it.

The boy was ruthless!

The people from Zhao Family Village were even more furious. The boy had gone too far in bullying them.

"Village chief, the people of Zhao Family Village aren't so easy to bully.

"You must give us an explanation for this, or we'll never let it rest."

A group of people stared fixedly at Qin Yan, and the atmosphere became tense, like swords drawn and crossbows bent.

The old village chief remained calm and pointed to Qin Yan beside him.

"He's only a child."

"And you're saying a child of thirteen or fourteen crippled six strong, able-bodied men all by himself.

"Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

The old village chief glanced at Zhao Wen and said coldly, "It was clearly you Zhao Family brothers who tried to kill Qin Yan. If a passing hero hadn't stepped in to help, he would have died at your Zhao Family's hands long ago."

With that, the old village chief pushed Qin Yan forward in front of everyone.

"Look at his build. Does he look like he could beat six strong men?"

At that, everyone fell silent.

No matter how they looked at him, Qin Yan didn't seem capable of beating six strong men.

His face had yet to lose its childishness, and his build was still considerably smaller than an adult's.

Seeing this, Zhao Wen's face flushed red with anger.

How shameless! This old thing was turning black into white.

"Now let's talk about the Zhao Family brothers trying to kill someone."

The old village chief's expression remained calm. "Six grown, strong men bullied a child. Even a passing hero couldn't stand to watch and stepped in to teach them a lesson.

"Zhao Changfeng, the people of your village owe me an explanation. Do you really think these old bones of ours can't lift a saber anymore?"

Village Chief Zhao's mouth twitched. Qin Zhengyang had had an explosive temper when he was young, leading men to beat the people of several surrounding villages into submission.

These old army ruffians were nearly in their graves, yet they still had to come stir things up.

Looking at the Zhao Family brothers, he felt nothing but disdain. A bunch of trash couldn't even deal with a child and had been beaten instead.

Even he felt ashamed.

After a discussion, the two village chiefs decided that the Zhao family would pay Qin Yan five taels of silver.

"What? My son's and daughter's legs were broken, and we still have to pay?"

Old Zhao's face flushed red. He couldn't accept it.

Zhao He trembled all over with rage. She pointed at the old village chief and shrieked, "You old thing, you're in cahoots with that little beast Qin Yan! My leg was broken, and I still have to pay? What kind of sense does that make?

"You've gone too far!"

Sitting on the ground, Zhao He wailed.

"Too far? When you shrew joined forces with the Zhao Family brothers to break my arms and legs, why didn't you say that was too far?"

Qin Yan sneered.

"So only you're allowed to bully people? There's no such principle under heaven.

"Your whole family joined forces to slander me. Wasn't that going too far?

"And you teamed up with Second Brother's family to drive me out. I don't need to tell you how much the family house is worth, do I?

"At least several dozen taels.

"And I didn't get any of the family's other belongings or farmland.

"All I got was two taels of broken silver and an old house. Together, they might not even be worth five taels.

"And don't bring up how much Father spent on me.

"No matter how much he spent, that was his business. What did it have to do with any of you?"

Qin Yan's words rang with conviction, making people nod despite themselves.

However the Qin family's property was divided among the three brothers, the eldest and second sons had gotten the better end of the deal.

When Qin Zhaolin was alive, however he chose to squander his own family property was his business.

Even if he favored his youngest son, Qin Yan, no one else had the right to point fingers.

Qin Yan's youth worked in his favor, making everyone doubt he could have taken down six strong men alone.

With the Zhao Family brothers still in Clear Water Village, it would be nearly impossible for them to leave without paying something to get them back.

At that moment, Zhao He and the Zhao Family's faces alternated between ashen and pale. They felt helpless, unable to use their strength or win the argument.

They knew perfectly well that Qin Yan was lying, but no one else believed them.

What kind of image did Qin Yan have in the village?

He was honest and simple, bullied by his eldest brother and sister-in-law. For that, he had Zhao He's usual shrewish behavior to thank; it had left a deep impression on the villagers.

People naturally preferred to side with the weak, and they didn't think Qin Yan was capable of beating so many strong men.

With the old village chief backing him as well, his reputation naturally led everyone to stand behind him.

Zhao He saw that not one person in the village was on her side.

Even the women who were usually close to her now kept their heads down, not daring to go against the prevailing tide.

Of course, seeing Zhao He fall on hard times, perhaps they were secretly pleased.

Hadn't she always thrown her weight around because she had so many brothers?

Well, look at her now. No one was helping her, were they?

Zhao He saw the situation clearly, her face deathly pale, and hated Qin Yan all the more.

It was all that little beast's fault!