With the man guarding the gate, Xiang Yun wasn't worried about Di Yao escaping. She looked at the ruined patch and scraped the mud off her own shoes in disgust.
This morning, Di Yao had heard that Xiang Yun was on good terms with the neighbors. Unless absolutely necessary, she shouldn't make a commotion to attract attention.
Di Yao glanced at the man-high bamboo fence and the burly man blocking the gate. Between climbing the fence and charging the gate, she reluctantly chose to charge.
Maybe that little act of hers earlier would still work?
She heard the man's provocative whistles and vulgar remarks: "Little sister, want your big brother to give you a good hug?"
Di Yao took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes, lowered her head, and charged toward the gate.
She was running with the courage of a last stand, ready for mutual destruction, determined to endure pain. She hadn't expected that after all the scheming, she would still have to resort to the most primitive and stupid method: brute force.
But when she slammed into the man, the expected pain never came—someone had shielded her head.
Feeling a hand pressed against her forehead, Di Yao thought, "Oh no," and prepared to stomp on the man's foot. But when she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a man sitting on the ground, hugging his knees and grimacing in pain.
Wait—then who was the man in front of her?
Di Yao recognized the familiar pattern on the shoes. One glance told her it was Wei Xunzhou.
Her heart surged. She looked up at his eyes.
"Husband!"
The anger in Wei Xunzhou's brow was unmistakable. In the deepening darkness, his eyes grew deeper and darker, hiding endless chill.
Xiang Yun and her lover were now ashen-faced, all their earlier aggressiveness gone, replaced by unease and deep-seated fear.
"You're finally here..." Di Yao grabbed his arm and shrank behind him, backing up step by step, trying to pull him home. "They're bad people. Let's go home quickly."
But Wei Xunzhou didn't move. Di Yao couldn't budge him an inch.
She knew he was angry and wanted to get revenge for her, but... he was a gentle scholar. Could he really fight?
In the urgency, she didn't have time to wonder why Xiang Yun's lover was now on the ground. She just kept persuading Wei Xunzhou not to act on impulse.
"Husband, we can't beat them. Let's run."
Wei Xunzhou slightly turned his head, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He pried her fingers off his arm one by one.
"Don't be afraid. I know what I'm doing." Then he stepped forward and, with a clean motion, stomped the man who was trying to get up back to the ground.
Then he planted his foot on the man's abdomen, gradually applying pressure. The man screamed and banged his head against the ground again and again. "Ahhh!"
Xiang Yun collapsed to the ground in fear, then scrambled up and desperately tried to run into the house.
But Wei Xunzhou didn't intend to let her off either. He picked up the club he had taken from the man and threw it at her. It struck her squarely on the shoulder. She shrieked and fell, crying and begging for mercy.
Wei Xunzhou looked at the dirty hands clinging to his shoe in disgust. His words were like icy blades: "You've gone too far."