They Were Truly Tired of Living

By the time Lin Feng ran home, he understood what had happened.

The Iron Rod Gang had come to Xiaohe Village to collect protection fees.

These people truly stopped at nothing—they had even brought their protection racket out to the countryside.

When Lin Feng reached his home, the dozen or so Iron Rod Gang thugs had already arrived at the gate of Zhang Xiaoyu's neighboring house.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Several thugs smashed Zhang Xiaoyu's courtyard gate with iron rods.

"Open up! The Iron Rod Gang is here to collect protection fees."

"Protection fees are charged per head—one tael of silver per person. We only collect it once a year."

Aunt Lin and several women stood not far from Lin Feng's courtyard gate, sobbing quietly.

"Wuwu, those damned bastards truly won't let us common folk live."

"Exactly. The bandits in the mountains collect head taxes, the government collects taxes, and now the Iron Rod Gang in town wants protection fees too."

"This Iron Rod Gang is too wicked. Even the Small Knife Gang in town never came out to the countryside to collect protection fees before."

"Didn't the Feng Family's four tyrants say they belonged to the Iron Rod Gang?"

"The Feng Family's four tyrants have already been burned to ashes. Hopefully, this Iron Rod Gang will soon vanish into smoke and ashes too."

"Keep your voices down. Don't let them hear you. Old Li Gen argued with them just now, and they broke his arm."

When Lin Feng returned home,

the whole family stood at the courtyard gate, peering outside.

The moment they saw Lin Feng return, they felt as if they had found their backbone.

Dabao pointed at the group and whispered, "Daddy, bad people came outside."

Lin Feng rubbed Dabao's head. "Don't be afraid, son. Daddy is here."

Mother Lin pulled Dabao behind her. "Dabao, don't talk. Just stand behind us and watch."

Mother Lin tugged on Lin Feng again. "Xiaofeng, there are so many of them. Don't fight them.

If they want silver, we'll just give it to them. Our family can afford it anyway."

His mother was afraid he would suffer a loss.

Since entering the village, the Iron Rod Gang had already injured several people.

Lin Feng counted them. The Iron Rod Gang had brought fifteen men, every one of them carrying a solid iron rod.

Lin Feng had now mastered the Golden Bell Shield. These people could not hurt him with iron rods at all.

But Lin Feng had no intention of making a move.

He was worried that if a fight broke out, these men might hurt his family.

Even if he beat them all to the ground, it would be useless. The Iron Rod Gang would surely send even stronger experts afterward.

Unless he could wipe out the Iron Rod Gang in one fell swoop.

He reckoned he did not yet have that kind of strength.

Still, he could put on a disguise, ambush these people halfway, and rob them of their silver.

The Village Chief of Xiaohe Village stood among the Iron Rod Gang men, bowing and scraping as he said, "The people living in this courtyard are named Zhang Xiaoyu. There are only two people in his household, him and his wife, and his wife is pregnant."

The bald thug at the head of the group said, "Pregnant? Then that makes three people. Collect three taels of silver."

Seeing that he could not avoid it, Zhang Xiaoyu opened the courtyard gate.

An Iron Rod Gang thug pointed an iron rod at Zhang Xiaoyu. "Brat, why did you take so long to open the door?"

Expressionless, Zhang Xiaoyu said, "My wife is pregnant. I was taking care of her just now."

Zhang Xiaoyu took out two taels of silver and handed them over. "This is our household's protection fee."

The bald thug accepted the two taels and said, "You still owe one more tael. There's another one in your wife's belly, so that counts as three people. You owe three taels altogether."

Zhang Xiaoyu's temper flared at once, and he shouted, "The child hasn't even been born yet! Why collect protection fees for it? What kind of sense does that make? Even the mountain bandits don't collect money like this!"

The bald thug pointed his iron rod at Zhang Xiaoyu and cursed, "What the fuck are you shouting for? We aren't here to reason with you.

Our Iron Rod Gang is going to set this precedent.

If you don't pay, we can't guarantee the safety of the child in your wife's belly."

His pregnant wife was Zhang Xiaoyu's weak spot. He feared she would be frightened, and he wanted to pay another tael to settle the matter.

But he truly had no money left.

Suppressing his anger, Zhang Xiaoyu pulled several hundred copper coins from his clothes. "This is all the money my family has. Take it all."

A thug beside the bald man, with a stalk of grass in his mouth, spat it out and cursed, "Pah! Who the fuck are you trying to fool? If you can't bring out silver, I'll beat the child out of your wife's belly."

As they spoke, the thugs tried to rush into the courtyard.

Zhang Xiaoyu panicked a little and stretched out his arms to block them.

"Don't, don't. Brothers, please show mercy. Let me think of a way."

Zhang Xiaoyu spotted the Village Chief beside the thugs.

He said to the Village Chief, "Uncle Zheng, lend me one tael of silver. I'll earn it back and repay you in a couple of days."

Village Chief Zheng Fugui was an accomplice of these thugs.

He helped the Iron Rod Gang collect money from household to household. Not only would the Iron Rod Gang not charge his family protection fees, they would even give him a cut afterward.

Zheng Fugui waved his hand. "Xiaoyu, ask someone else. Your uncle has two children too, and money is tight."

Zheng Fugui was the richest man in the village, sly and crafty to the bone. How could he possibly be willing to lend out silver?

Zhang Xiaoyu looked toward the villagers watching nearby.

The villagers all turned their heads away, not daring to meet his gaze.

Seeing that Zhang Xiaoyu could not borrow any silver, the thugs tried to rush inside again.

"If you can't pay protection fees for the child, then don't have a child."

Zhang Xiaoyu, a full-grown man of seven feet, directly dropped to his knees for the sake of his wife and child.

"Masters, give me a few days."

"Give you your granny's time! We're collecting all of Xiaohe Village's protection fees today."

At that moment, Lin Feng called out, "Brother Zhang."

Zhang Xiaoyu looked toward Lin Feng.

Lin Feng took out a piece of broken silver and tossed it to Zhang Xiaoyu.

"Brother Zhang, I forgot to return the silver I borrowed from you a couple days ago. I'll return it today."

Zhang Xiaoyu caught the silver and gave Lin Feng a grateful look.

Lin Feng had never borrowed silver from Zhang Xiaoyu.

By saying this, Lin Feng not only helped Zhang Xiaoyu, but also spared him his dignity. At the same time, he indirectly told everyone that his own family did not have much silver either and had needed to borrow money.

Zhang Xiaoyu handed the silver to the thugs.

Once the thugs received the silver, they stopped making things difficult for him.

After collecting protection fees from Zhang Xiaoyu's household, the thugs came to Lin Feng's gate.

Seeing so many people in Lin Feng's household, the bald thug immediately broke into a smile.

He counted Lin Feng's family with his finger. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Nine people, nine taels of silver."

Mother Lin said, "There are only eight people in our family. The other one is my son's brother-in-law, just here for a visit."

The bald thug looked at Village Chief Zheng Fugui.

Zheng Fugui said, "There are indeed only eight people in this household—five children and three adults. The other one isn't from our village."

The bald thug said, "Then we'll collect eight taels of silver."

A thug in the back said, "This family is really blessed to have had so many children."

Another thug replied, "That isn't their blessing. It's ours.

The old man and old woman might be gone after we collect protection fees from them for a few years.

The little ones can live for decades. One tael of silver a year means dozens of taels of silver."

"You really know how to do the math. By the time they grow up, we'll all be dead. What fucking protection fees would we still collect?"

"It doesn't matter if we're dead. Our children can keep collecting protection fees from them."

"You actually make a lot of sense."

A one-eyed thug pointed at Zhou Chunlan. "This woman is pretty enough. Wonder how much it costs to sleep with her once?"

Another man chimed in, "One-Eye, your eye really is sharp. The more I look at this little lady, the more pleasing she is.

The brothers stationed in Xiaohe Village will have it good."

Lin Feng's face darkened when he heard that. These dogs actually dared to tease his wife right in front of him. They were truly tired of living.

It seemed these bastards could not be allowed to remain alive.