Night had fallen, and the dim twilight concealed most of the outlines of the figures.
When he saw the person who opened the door, Officer Zhu was momentarily stunned and thought he had made a mistake.
How come this girl looks a bit like the one working at Zhang’s butcher shop?
He had visited Zhang’s butcher shop a few times and had seen her delivering goods. Because this girl was truly striking in appearance, he naturally took a few more glances and remembered her.
Officer Zhu wasn’t stupid and immediately understood something.
This was the Fu family residence in Qingshi Village, and the person he was looking for was the Yu family girl who had married into the Fu family. And this girl just so happened to be working at Zhang’s butcher shop in the county…
So, he hadn’t actually found the wrong person; it was the information from Yu Jingde and the others that was incorrect.
Or rather, Yu Jingde and the others hadn’t even recognized her themselves.
Officer Zhu found it utterly incomprehensible. Wasn’t this Yu family girl their cousin? How could there be someone who couldn’t even recognize their own cousin after living under the same roof for more than ten years?
They had claimed she was dark and thin, looking very ugly.
If that was the description they had given him to go by, it was no wonder he couldn’t find her.
Officer Zhu thought the Yu brothers were completely unreliable. They didn’t even know what their own cousin looked like—had all their book learning made them foolish?
Cursing inwardly, Officer Zhu barked, “You’re Yu Li? The daughter of the second branch of the Yu family from Qingshi Village?”
His tone was harsh, making it clear he was here to cause trouble.
Officer Zhu had come specifically to intimidate people, so he naturally didn’t bother to speak politely. This kind of task was something he was very familiar with. The first thing he had to do was assert his authority to scare the person and achieve his intended goal.
Yu Li had just been practicing body techniques in the courtyard when the sudden knocking on the door interrupted her training.
The banging on the door was loud and rude.
She had no choice but to stop, wipe the sweat off her face, and go to open the door. She hadn’t expected to see three officers, two of whom were familiar faces, which surprised her.
Yu Li didn’t think much of it, assuming Officer Ge and the others had found out about her identity and something had happened on their end, prompting them to come looking for her.
She worked at Zhang’s butcher shop, so if someone was determined, it would be very easy to find out her identity.
Yu Li wasn’t afraid of these two officers probing into her affairs.
They had already been threatened by her before, and judging by their reactions, she knew they wouldn’t dare retaliate for the time being. On top of that, she worked in the county town, had already familiarized herself with its dynamics, and had informants like Gao Sheng and Skinny Wu keeping an eye out. If they made any moves, she would learn of it immediately and deal with them directly.
However, upon hearing Officer Zhu’s rude questioning, she vaguely understood that they were indeed here for her—but to cause trouble.
Yu Li calmly asked, “What do you want with me?”
After confirming her identity, Officer Zhu continued in a menacing tone, “I heard you are unfilial to your elders, disrespectful to your brothers, and even hit people in the street. These are crimes that can land you in prison. You’d better come with me…”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab her.
He was confident. A typical young woman would already be trembling in fear, making it easier for him to proceed.
Behind him, Officers Ge and Peng finally snapped out of their initial shock upon seeing Yu Li, their hearts racing when they realized Officer Zhu was about to lay hands on her. Instinctively, they called out:
“Don’t—”
The next moment, the tall and thin Officer Zhu flew backward from between them, landing heavily on the ground with a dull thud, unconscious.
The other two stood frozen in terror, not daring to move as they stared at Yu Li in horror.
That seemingly effortless kick of hers had sent someone flying, just like the time she had kicked them away. It was as if they were weightless paper figures.
Afterward, Yu Li casually closed the courtyard gate behind her and turned to look at Officers Ge and Peng, who were still standing there.
Meeting her gaze, the two men’s legs gave out, and they knelt before her.
“L-Li Boss!” Officer Peng stammered, trembling. “We… we’re here to apologize to you.”
“Apologize?” Yu Li asked expressionlessly. “What are you apologizing for?”
The two officers were drenched in sweat, their mouths quivering, too scared to speak.
On their way here, they had listened to Officer Zhu repeatedly talk about intimidating her into kneeling to apologize to the Yu family elders. Now, faced with her, they instinctively knelt and spoke without thinking.
Make her kneel to apologize? That was impossible.
Them kneeling to apologize? Now that seemed about right.
Yu Li hadn’t forgotten Officer Zhu’s earlier words. She asked, “So you came here to arrest me and put me in jail?”
“N-no, no, no… absolutely not!”
Officers Ge and Peng shook their heads violently, as if trying to shake them off their necks, their hearts pounding so hard they felt on the verge of bursting.
Yu Li considered herself a reasonable person. Instead of immediately condemning them, she asked, “Then what are you here for?”
Terrified that she might misunderstand them as being accomplices of Officer Zhu, the two scrambled to explain:
“It was Zhu Shou who said you hit his cousin from his maternal uncle’s family. His maternal uncle is a scholar who runs a private school in the county, surnamed Chen.”
“He came this time to scare you into apologizing to his cousin.”
“And… and to make you kneel and apologize to the Yu family elders, accusing you of being unfilial and a source of family chaos.”
“… ”
Listening to their disjointed explanations, Yu Li quickly pieced together the situation despite their incoherent words.
So, it was the members of the first branch who had sent the officers, seeking revenge against her.
Last month, she had heard Skinny Wu mention something about this but had never seen anyone show up.
Earlier, Skinny Wu had also told her that an officer surnamed Zhu had been seen hanging around Zhang’s butcher shop a few times. However, since the man hadn’t done anything suspicious, she hadn’t paid much attention to it.
She hadn’t expected this Officer Zhu to track her down to the village, even bringing along Officers Ge and Peng to cause trouble for her.
“N-no, no! We’re not here to cause you trouble. We didn’t know the person Zhu Shou was looking for was you!” Officer Ge cried out anxiously, nearly in tears. “Boss Li, even if you gave us ten lives, we wouldn’t dare mess with you!”
Officer Peng quickly chimed in, “That’s right, that’s right! If we’d known he was after you, we absolutely wouldn’t have come!”
The two men were in such a panic that they looked like they might start swearing oaths on the spot, desperately trying to prove they had no intention of troubling her.
Yu Li didn’t let them off so easily. “So, if it weren’t me, you’d just go intimidate someone else?”
“N-no, no, we wouldn’t…”
Their rebuttals were weak. If the person they had encountered today weren’t her, they really would have gone to intimidate whoever it was. After all, they had already agreed to Zhu Shou’s plan, enticed by the promise of Wen Niang’s attentions.
Yu Li didn’t bother listening to their excuses. She walked over, grabbed the clothes off the unconscious Officer Zhu, tore them into several pieces, balled them up, and stuffed them into the two men’s mouths. Then, casually pulling a tree branch, she stripped off the leaves and started whipping them.
The three grown men rolled around on the ground, unable to escape her blows.
With their mouths stuffed, they couldn’t make a sound, only managing occasional muffled grunts.
Officer Zhu was whipped awake from his unconscious state, the tree branch lashing across him mercilessly. The pain made tears stream from his eyes.
Suddenly, a voice called out from the courtyard.
“Li Niang, who’s here? Why did you close the gate?”
Earlier, when the loud knocking had started, Zhou Shi had been busy helping two children wash up.
Hearing the urgent knocking, she had thought it might be something serious and felt a bit worried. But knowing Yu Li was practicing martial arts in the courtyard, she hadn’t rushed out.
By the time she finished washing the children, Yu Li still hadn’t come back.
Zhou Shi told the children to go to bed and stepped out to check.
By the faint twilight that was fading fast, she noticed the courtyard gate was closed, and Yu Li wasn’t in the yard. Instead, there seemed to be some odd sounds coming from outside.
Just as she was about to open the gate to see what was going on, Yu Li’s voice rang out from outside.
“Mother, someone came looking for me. You don’t need to come out.”
Zhou Shi paused but couldn’t help feeling uneasy. She opened the gate anyway.
When she looked outside, she saw Yu Li standing a short distance from the house, seemingly unharmed. She let out a sigh of relief.
The light was dim, and apart from Yu Li standing there, Zhou Shi didn’t notice the three men lying on the ground. She was still puzzled.
“Li Niang, where are the people?”
Yu Li glanced at the three men in the bushes, then turned back to push Zhou Shi back into the house.
“Mother, go back inside. Everything’s fine here. I’ll be back in a while.”
Zhou Shi, unable to match Yu Li’s strength, was easily pushed back into the house. The gate shut once more.
Although still somewhat puzzled, Zhou Shi could see that Yu Li clearly didn’t want her to go outside. After thinking it over, she decided to let it go and turned to find Fu Wenxiao.
Fu Wenxiao sat by the window, his eyes staring coldly in the direction of the courtyard.
His expression was icy, and under the lamplight, his pale face appeared as sharp and biting as ice and snow, exuding an intimidating aura.
When Zhou Shi saw his appearance, her heart trembled slightly. She spoke softly, “Xiao’er, the night wind is strong. Don’t sit here and let it blow on you.”
Fu Wenxiao asked, “Mother, who came looking for Li Niang?”
He had been sitting there watching Yu Li practice body techniques. The sudden knocking on the door had called her away, and she hadn’t returned since. A moment ago, he had sharply heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground outside.
Clearly, the visitors tonight did not have good intentions.
Zhou Shi shook her head. “I didn’t see clearly. Li Niang pushed me back before I could tell.” She hesitated, her voice tinged with worry. “Xiao’er, do you think it could be…”
“No!” Fu Wenxiao’s expression was frosty. “Those people probably think I’m already dead. At most, they might send someone to confirm that I’m truly gone.”
Zhou Shi opened her mouth, unsure of what to say.
—
Outside, Yu Li stood beneath a tree, its heavy shadows concealing her figure.
In front of her knelt three men.
Night had fallen, and the villagers had returned home to eat and rest. Moreover, the Fu family’s house was a good distance from the neighboring homes, so no one had noticed what was happening here.
Yu Li didn’t want to alarm the villagers, which was why she had gagged the men before taking action.
She wasn’t afraid of these officers, but that didn’t mean the villagers wouldn’t be.
Officers Ge and Peng knelt willingly, even hoping that their obedient posture might earn her mercy and stop her from beating them any further.
Officer Zhu, still unclear about the situation, was pulled to his knees by the other two.
He realized that they had completely fallen into her hands tonight.
At this moment, all three officers harbored deep resentment toward the Chen family and the Yu brothers.
Officers Ge and Peng not only hated the Chen family but also despised Officer Zhu. If it weren’t for him, they wouldn’t have ended up like this, beaten by Yu Li once again.
This time, the beating hurt even more than the one in the alley—it was a gagged beating, no less.
Yu Li coldly regarded the three kneeling men and asked, “Just now, you said I should kneel and apologize to whom?”
“N-no, no!” Officers Ge and Peng shook their heads frantically. “Nothing like that! It’s them who should kneel and apologize to you!”
They weren’t lying. At this point, they were so enraged that they wanted to tie up Yu Jingde and the others and force them to kneel before her to apologize.
Those bastards!
How dare they provoke her? Were they tired of living?