HE With the Cold Male Protagonist C21

Chapter 21: A Ruthless Beating, Retribution Never Fails

Since there were also people from Qingshui Village present, as the head of the village, Wang Lizheng naturally could not turn a blind eye, even though he knew full well this was most likely a trap deliberately set.

His face darkened; never before had he been calculated against in such a way. All he could do was cast a troubled glance at Jiang Baiye—this was as far as he could lend his aid.

And judging by the situation, if they did not speak out, there might be more and more “disappearances.” It was only two people this time, but tomorrow it might be three or five. The worse the reputation became, the heavier the burden would be, and the bad name Jiang Baiye had worked so hard to clear away would be slapped back onto him.

If he revealed the truth, however, perhaps an even larger trap lay hidden within. This scheme truly was seamless!

Wang Lizheng’s expression carried suppressed anger as he turned to look at Jiang Laotou and the others. At the same time, Jiang Baiye and Lu Lizhi also cast their eyes over, catching sight of several people’s barely concealed smug expressions. Li Shi and Jiang Laotou were not as composed as Jiang Dashan; their brows and eyes were visibly raised with pride.

But unlike Wang Lizheng, whose face was full of wrath, the two of them only showed faint smiles.

Jiang Baiye then spoke, “I’ll go find them!”

Everyone’s faces lit up with delight. But the night was so pitch-dark—did he dare to venture into the mountains now?

“Tomorrow morning then. At first light we’ll all go together. The more people, the greater the strength.” Having gotten their way, the headman of Lijia Village, Li Erniu’s grandfather and father, and even Li Laoliu—still holding his broken nose—all revealed excited expressions.

Even Xiaosan’s father was rubbing his fists together, eager to send his son into the mountains for hunting tomorrow. Who didn’t dream of getting rich? Ideally, they might even bring back two wild boars or black bears!

Jiang Baiye studied their faces with amusement and said playfully, “No, I will go search right now. But I will need some of the clothes they have worn and the belongings they have used.”

Someone immediately asked why he needed clothing, while others protested that one could not see the road clearly at night, and that it was dangerous.

“Weren’t you just claiming that human lives are at stake, and that if I did not act, I was standing by while people died?” Jiang Baiye rebuked sternly, his tone righteous. “Every moment wasted might mean those people perish inside! You, their own grandfather, father, village head, do not care—yet you expect me, an outsider, to care? How does that make sense!”

This time they were left speechless. Jiang Dashan even began to suspect that Jiang Baiye was deliberately choosing to go at night so no one could see clearly.

But reality was the complete opposite of what he imagined!

When the belongings of Li Erniu and Luo Yi were hurriedly brought out, Jiang Baiye, fearing they might play tricks, demanded more items as well. Among them, several he immediately recognized as genuinely belonging to the two missing men.

He then held the clothes to Dahuang’s nose, letting the dog sniff them.

The others could not discern anything, not realizing that Jiang Baiye had already trained the black-backed wolfhound to memorize these scents.

After giving a rough direction, Dahuang—no longer the fawning creature it acted like in front of Lu Lizhi—barked mightily, majestic and spirited, and trotted off into Lijia Village, stopping from time to time to sniff the ground.

Jiang Baiye followed with a torch, and naturally the rest had no choice but to follow as well, confused and uneasy, especially those harboring guilty consciences.

In the midst of the chaos, with the surroundings pitch-dark, Jiang Baiye almost instinctively grabbed Lu Lizhi’s hand again.

The two of them were tall and long-legged, their strides larger than the others, so they quickly outpaced the group. Just as they followed Dahuang around a corner, they nearly collided head-on with someone coming from the opposite direction. Startled, Jiang Baiye immediately pulled Lu Lizhi into his arms.

Lu Lizhi only felt a long arm wrap tightly around his waist, firm and strong, holding him in a protective embrace. Yet the position…

Before he could even feel anything strange, Jiang Baiye released him, kicking the person in front. “You brat, watch where you’re going! Nearly knocked someone to pieces!”

Lu Lizhi thought to himself that he wouldn’t be so easily broken. Rather, it was this youth, slim and light, who seemed fragile.

Xiaosan scratched his head and grinned sheepishly. “Ye-ge, are you two alright?”

“We’ll talk later.” Jiang Baiye was tugged by Lu Lizhi, and he quickly caught up with Dahuang, who was waiting up ahead. The rest of the crowd had also caught up by now.

“This… this isn’t the road into the mountains, is it?”

“Is Jiang Er up to some trick again, trying to fool us?”

Jiang Dashan frowned deeply, uncertain what scheme the boy was hatching. Tonight, he was determined to see him fall for good!

The search itself was not difficult. A dog’s sense of smell is more than a thousand times sharper than a human’s. In no time at all, Jiang Baiye found Li Erniu and Luo Yi in the most remote, abandoned shack in Lijia Village.

The two of them were merrily feasting on meat and wine, clutching greasy chicken legs in their hands, chatting excitedly about soon being rich and planning to gamble a few rounds in the casino—when suddenly the door was kicked open!

With a crash, the rotten wooden door slammed to the floor, dust rising in clouds.

Li Erniu and Luo Yi were so frightened that their chicken legs fell from their hands.

Behind them, those in the know from Lijia Village turned pale on the spot, while Jiang Dashan clenched his fists in impotent fury at the failure of his plan.

Li Shi and Jiang Laotou, slower of foot, finally stumbled to the scene, panting like broken bellows.

By the time they arrived, Jiang Baiye had already seized each man with one hand, like lifting chicks, and dragged Li Erniu and Luo Yi out in fury. “So you were hiding here!”

“Do you know how worried everyone was about you? Everyone was out searching for you, and yet here you are, eating and drinking in comfort!”

Li Erniu and Luo Yi were still dazed when Jiang Baiye landed a solid punch on each, sending them sprawling to the ground. Then he began to beat them mercilessly.

Those who had been involved in plotting against him all felt as though those blows were landing on their own faces.

The pain seemed to strike them directly.

Some even felt too ashamed to show their faces.

Dahuang bounded happily around Jiang Baiye, barking in excitement, eager for praise for completing its task. It then ran to Lu Lizhi’s side, only to be met with a cold glare that made it shrink back.

“Stop, stop! You’ll cripple them!” The Li clan head hurried over, nearly collapsing from shock at the sight.

Li Erniu immediately cried out in desperation, “Grandfather, save me! Ah, it hurts! Don’t hit my face! Ye-ge, Ye-ge, spare me!”

“Don’t stop me!” Jiang Baiye snarled. “This time they must be punished thoroughly, so they’ll know this is no joke! If everyone had gone into the mountains looking for you and run into danger, how many lives would have been lost? They deserve this beating!”

With every sentence, he delivered another blow. One strike per man, taking turns, until Luo Yi’s eyes rolled and he was nearly senseless, unable even to speak.

Such a display of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys left no one daring to challenge Jiang Baiye again.

When Luo Yi collapsed unconscious, Li Erniu thought he was dead, and snot and tears flowed down his face in terror. “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me, Ye-ge! They told me to hide here—father, grandfather, village head—it hurts, waah!”

“Shut up!” The Lijia headman quickly barked, trying to stop him. “Jiang Er, don’t go too far!”

“If I don’t beat them into submission, what if they pull the same trick again, pretending to vanish and making everyone search, only for tragedy to strike? What then?” Jiang Baiye’s blows grew fiercer as he spoke.

Li Erniu nearly wished he could faint, but Jiang Baiye deliberately struck only certain places, making him suffer without passing out. In his panic, he spilled everything.

“It was Jiang Dashan—it was Jiang Dashan who told us to do this! He said you knew the shortcut, told us to stir up trouble, even taught us how—”

At that, no one tried to hold Jiang Baiye back anymore. After all, with matters laid bare like this, Lijia Village could hardly take the blame themselves.

Besides, they were angry too. What kind of stupid plan had Jiang Dashan cooked up? They got beaten, cursed, and gained nothing at all!

Jiang Dashan’s face shifted rapidly through colors, fury boiling within him. “Nonsense!”

“You cut ties so nastily, then saw Jiang Baiye’s household prosper and grew jealous, so you used us as your knife! This is your family matter, your Qingshui Village matter—dragging us Lijia folk into it, shouldn’t you be the ones apologizing to us?” The Lijia headman brazenly turned the blame back.

“Enough!” Wang Lizheng’s voice was low and heavy, full of disgust. “In today’s matter, your Lijia Village is also at fault. We’ll let it pass at that. From now on, our two villages will not interfere with each other. As for matters of our village, we will handle them ourselves.”

With that, he led the villagers away.

The Li clan head rushed to check on Li Erniu, “Grandson?”

Seeing him lying unconscious, he nearly fainted himself, then cried, “Quick, call the doctor! Doctor!” and collapsed to the ground.

Soon the barefoot doctor arrived, but he found the clan head’s condition far worse. He had suffered a stroke, leaving him bedridden with a twisted mouth, slurred speech, and paralysis—unlikely to walk again, needing constant care.

Yet Li Erniu’s family, unwilling to tend to anyone, abandoned the old man immediately, rushing instead to the headman to demand justice. In their eyes, if not for his collusion with Jiang Dashan, they would not have ended up like this.

But the headman, seeing the downfall of the once domineering elder who had long lorded over him, seized the chance to establish his own authority. As the official head of the village, he fiercely punished them.

One a local tyrant, the other wielding actual authority—neither willing to yield, they quarreled and clashed endlessly. For a time, the entire Lijia Village was thrown into chaos. This, however, is a tale for later.

Back in Qingshui Village, it was already late at night. Wang Lizheng, exhausted, waved his hand. “Come again tomorrow morning. I have something to say to all of you.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “Spread the word—let the entire village gather.”

Li Shi and Jiang Laotou, seeing that Wang Lizheng had not mentioned their part, secretly breathed sighs of relief, believing the matter to be settled. After all, their family had a tongsheng scholar; one could not offend them lightly.

But Jiang Dashan frowned, uneasy, and instructed Li Shi, “Before then, quickly make contact with Madam Feng. Hint to her that Yueming has made several respectable friends, all men of scholarly rank. Hasn’t she been longing to arrange her daughter’s marriage?”

Jiang Laotou was overjoyed. “Yueming really befriended such people?”

“With Yueming’s talent for networking, of course it is no surprise!” In an instant, they forgot their humiliation and defeat, brimming once more with pride and confidence.

They glanced again toward Jiang Baiye’s group, their expressions tinged with disdain. What was a bit of small fortune compared to scholarly prestige? In the end, it was still the realm of petty merchants and laborers!

He Shi, seeing their shamelessness, gnashed her teeth in anger. “Disgusting! How could they get off so lightly!”

“Don’t worry. Tomorrow something good is bound to happen.” Jiang Baiye, full of confidence, then noticed Lu Lizhi looking a little weary and promptly suggested returning home.

When he escorted him to the door, he found himself reluctant to let go. “Lu Lizhi, you really are wonderful.”

Lu Lizhi was puzzled, staring at him in confusion—was it all just for that small, trivial matter?

But Jiang Baiye knew that for this man to take the initiative to help was no small thing at all.

“Tomorrow I’m going to the prefectural city. Will you come along? I can give you a ride.” He thought of Xuanhe Prefecture, the vast stage belonging to Lu Lizhi. Though the time described in the book had not yet come, perhaps he could let him begin a better life early.

After a moment’s hesitation, Lu Lizhi nodded.

“Good. Once Uncle Wang finishes speaking tomorrow, we’ll set off together!” With their time agreed upon, the day’s terrible mood was replaced by anticipation.

And he, too, had a “surprise” prepared for them…