Looking at the girls still trembling off to the side, Li Rui reached into his pocket, pulled out a stack of brand-new banknotes, and casually tossed it onto them.
"This is for your medical expenses. If I ever hear of you bullying Li Ru again, I'll twist your heads off and kick them around like balls."
Li Rui threatened the girls who had acted as claws for the tiger. If they had actually caused Li Ru any real harm, and if not for Principal Fang's sake, he really would not have wanted to pay any so-called medical expenses. They were lucky he had not slapped each of them.
"Yes, yes... we'll never dare do it again," they answered in unison. With an older cousin who could send someone flying with one kick, who would dare mess with her? They decided to give Li Ru a wide berth whenever they saw her. They had no desire to experience flying through the air.
Afterward, Li Rui apologized to Director Huang, Teacher Yang, and the others. After paying for all the damage to the office, he also requested half a day's leave for Li Ru and Li Tai.
Once their leave was arranged, Li Rui led everyone toward the school gates. He now had more money than he could spend, and since he had come to the school, he naturally had to buy things for his two younger cousins.
Li Ru in particular was wearing clothes that, though neat and clean, had been washed pale and did not fit especially well. Anyone could tell she had worn them for many years.
When she learned that her cousin Li Rui wanted to buy her things, Li Ru had initially been unwilling to go. She was a girl with a strong sense of pride, and she also knew that Li Rui's family was not particularly well-off. Naturally, she would not accept gifts from this older cousin.
Only when her mother told her what had happened in the family over the past few days was she utterly astonished. Her cousin Li Rui could put up 50 million to renovate the ancestral hall, drive a supercar worth over ten million, and establish a family education fund.
According to her mother, if she could get into a Project 985 university, the family scholarship could award her over ten million.
With her grades, she had a very good chance of getting into a Project 985 university. Then her mother would not have to work so hard, and she could buy her mother a big house ahead of time. At that thought, Li Ru looked at her cousin Li Rui with eyes full of admiration and gratitude.
Li Ru was far from the only one surprised. Li Tai was equally astonished. Was this the cousin he had always trailed after as a child?
He had actually become such a big shot, casually putting up 50 million to renovate the ancestral hall, employing twenty bodyguards, and even driving a supercar worth over ten million. His cousin really was extraordinary.
When everyone reached the school gates, four bodyguards were already waiting beside two Land Rover Range Rovers.
Only when Li Tai and Li Ru saw the four bodyguards and the two Land Rover Range Rovers did they truly confirm that what they had heard earlier had not been a hallucination. It was all real.
"Please get in, miss." Seeing the tall, powerfully built Li Er, his muscles bulging, address her as "miss," Li Ru froze for a moment before blushing.
"No, no, I'm not any sort of young miss," Li Ru said, lowering her head in embarrassment.
"You're the boss's younger cousin, so you are a young miss of the Li family," Li Er said solemnly.
Hearing Li Er say this, Li Ru said nothing. She bent down, ducked her head, and got into the car. She was an introverted girl by nature and was not good at arguing. Besides, what Li Er said did seem to be true.
Her cousin had brought the family together again, and she was part of that family. There was some reason behind his bodyguard calling her "miss." It was just that her status had changed so quickly that she really could not adjust.
Just as everyone was about to set off for the county town's largest shopping mall, two nine-seater vans came speeding toward their vehicles in the same lane.
The vans then braked sharply, and more than twenty people poured out. Behind the vans came dozens of motorcycles and electric scooters. Altogether, there were probably no fewer than a hundred people, each carrying either a baseball bat or a steel pipe.
Looking at this bunch of yellow-haired, green-haired punks tattooed with dragons and tigers, Li Rui did not even have to guess. They had to be people called over by Yellow Hair and Gu Mengqi from earlier.
Seeing so many punks swarming together, the pedestrians on the street hurried away in fright.
The residents in the buildings on either side of the street first heard the commotion and came to their windows to see what was happening. The sight gave them a fright as well.
Who in the county town besides Gu Tianlong could put on such a show of force? With the notorious Gu Tianlong sending out so many people, the residents knew this was no small matter. They shut their windows one after another, unwilling to bring trouble upon themselves.
Only a small number of bolder people watched the situation in the street through their windows. Such a grand display was a rare sight; they had to get a good look at the spectacle.
At that moment, the passersby were not the only ones frightened by this show of force.
What are we going to do? These must be Gu Tianlong's men. Hurry and call the police! Inside the car, Eighth Aunt was already trembling in fear. Eighth Uncle and Seventh Aunt's expressions had changed drastically as well.
"Cousin, let's call the police," Li Ru said, her pretty face pale with fright.
Only Li Tai, despite the slight trembling of his hands and feet, still had a firm resolve to protect his family in his eyes.
"No need. They're just clay chickens and pottery dogs." To Li Rui, although these hundred-odd people had strength in numbers, they really were nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs. More than half of them were less like gangsters and more like a bunch of street swaggerers.
Li Rui guessed that only the twenty-odd people who had gotten out of the vans were core members of the so-called God-Slaying Gang. As for the other eighty or ninety, they were merely punks who hung around schools. Quite a few were even students.
Never mind the four bodyguards beside him-with his system-enhanced body, Li Rui himself could take on thirty of these street swaggerers without any trouble.
But even a lion used its full strength to hunt a rabbit. When dealing with these dregs of society, he had to make them feel fear-fear like being in purgatory.
"Li Yi, call Li Wu and the others. Tell them to get here immediately."
"Yes, boss," Li Yi answered, then called Li Wu and the others. The sixteen bodyguards from Li Wu through Li Ershi had been staying temporarily at a hotel in the county town, not far from here. Upon receiving Li Yi's call, they immediately sped toward County No. 1 High School.
Although twenty bodyguards were more than enough to deal with these hundred-odd people, he did not merely want to teach them a lesson. He wanted them to feel profound fear and never dare provoke him again. Li Rui then purchased 180 beginner bodyguards through the system.
Ding! The host has purchased 180 beginner bodyguards, spending 360 million. Financial account balance: 89.95 billion Dragon Country Currency. The bodyguards have been deployed within a one-kilometer radius.
"Let's go meet them," he said to Li Yi and the other bodyguards. Then he turned to Li Tai. "You're a man of our family. Look after your mother and your younger cousin."
"Cousin, I want to go too," Li Tai said, a trace of determination flashing in his eyes.
"With me here, it's not your turn to go. Have you forgotten what I can do? Besides, not one of these bodyguards of mine is a pushover. Every one of them is at least as good a fighter as I am."
"And I have more people in the county town. I've already told them to come over. Don't worry. Stay in the car and look after your cousin and your mother. If anything happens to them, I'll hold you-you responsible." Li Rui smiled at first, then spoke to Li Tai sternly.
"Cousin..."
Seeing that Li Tai still wanted to say something, Li Rui gave him no chance to speak. Instead, he turned to Eighth Uncle. "Eighth Uncle, I'm leaving everyone in the car to you."
"Well... Xiao Rui, will you really be all right?" Eighth Uncle asked worriedly.
Li Rui nodded without saying anything, then turned and walked toward the hundred-odd punks.
"Who's in charge?" Facing more than a hundred people, Li Rui showed not a trace of fear as he calmly asked.
"Brat, heaven had a road, but you wouldn't take it. Hell had no gate, yet you barged right in. Weren't you acting pretty arrogant earlier? You even hit me. Try hitting me again!"
No one answered Li Rui's question. Instead, a yellow-haired man slowly approached. He was none other than Yellow Hair, whom Li Rui had sent flying with a kick in the school office.
"Oh, I've really never heard such a strange request before. Are you sure?" Li Rui asked Yellow Hair, looking rather surprised.