Seeing his granddaughter in trouble, Old Man Li scrambled to hold onto Gong Ye's leg, kowtowing and begging for mercy, hoping Gong Ye would be magnanimous and spare them.
“Master Gong, Master Gong, you are a person of great virtue. My granddaughter didn’t do it intentionally. Please let her off this once! This old man begs you!” Old Man Li prostrated himself on the ground, his head hitting the floor with a loud thud.
Gong Ye looked down at the old man clinging to his leg and disdainfully kicked him away. He hadn’t made much money today, and instead, he had lost face at the hands of this young woman. Gong Ye was already in a foul mood and wasn’t about to let her off easily.
“Where did this old fool come from? Can you afford to pay for soiling my clothes? Come here, you two, drag this old man away for me.” Gong Ye said, then with a lewd smile, he dragged Old Man Li’s granddaughter towards the dead-end alley.
Hearing his granddaughter’s piercing screams, Old Man Li, who was held back by others, was completely helpless. He could only watch as they entered the dark alley, until he could no longer hear his granddaughter’s voice.
Old Man Li cried out loudly, hoping passersby would help them. However, Gong Ye’s gang was brazen and backed by the young master, so who would dare to risk their lives by provoking them?
Witnessing such a tragedy, the passersby could only shake their heads with regret. Under the furious glares of the vicious ruffians, fearing trouble, they ultimately treated it as a spectacle and left as if it were none of their business.
Old Man Li was held by several ruffians, his mouth covered, kneeling at the entrance of the dead-end alley, watching helplessly as those beasts violated his granddaughter.
Afterward, Gong Ye, with a satisfied look, adjusted his waistband and swaggered up to Old Man Li. “You stinking old man, we’re practically relatives now. I, Master Gong, am magnanimous. Let’s just forget about today’s matter. You can leave!”
The ruffians behind him released their hands from Old Man Li’s mouth. Once he could speak, Old Man Li stared fiercely at Gong Ye with bloodshot eyes. “I, I’m going to report you to the town magistrate!”
To his surprise, Gong Ye burst into wild laughter upon hearing this, as if he had heard the funniest joke. “Hahahaha! You say you’re going to report me to the town magistrate? Do you know who we are working for? We are working for Young Master Qi. Do you know who Young Master Qi is? He is the town magistrate’s grandson. And you still want to report me… Hahaha…”
Seeing Gong Ye laugh, the ruffians behind him joined in the laughter. Old Man Li was filled with such hatred that his eyes seemed to bulge, his appearance like that of a cornered prey.
“If I can’t report you to the town magistrate, I’ll report you to the county. If I can’t report you to the county, I’ll report you to the prefectural government. If I still can’t report you there, I’ll risk this old life of mine and report you to the capital! You beast worse than an animal, you will surely get your retribution!”
Gong Ye hadn’t expected this old man’s backbone to be so stiff. He was actually a little flustered, but he maintained an indifferent expression.
“Go ahead and report if you want! The magistrate of Beihe County is a relative of our Young Master Qi, the governor of Cangzhou is his brother-in-law, and the prefect of Maoning Prefecture is his own father. He has relatives in every major official position you can think of. In the end, not only will you fail to report us, but you’ll also implicate your entire family.”
Seeing Old Man Li’s face turn pale at his words, Gong Ye was very pleased. However, thinking that this old man dared to threaten him, Gong Ye, who had originally intended to let him go, ordered his men to beat Old Man Li severely.
Finally, he had several ruffians escort the two back to Li Family Village. One reason was to prevent them from actually reporting to the town magistrate, and the other was to threaten them: if they dared to speak nonsense, they would burn their dilapidated courtyard to the ground.
Recalling that day’s events, Old Man Li still couldn’t help but tremble all over. Whether it was fear or sorrow, he truly regretted it deeply.
“We were dumped at our doorstep. Soon, Cui Ya’s incident spread throughout the village. Within a couple of days, the family she was engaged to found out. They blamed Cui Ya, saying that even though she was engaged, she still went to town every day, thus bringing about this disaster. Their family was also gossiped about, and within a few days, they came to their door to break off the engagement…”
“After Cui Ya’s engagement was broken, she locked herself in her room. Who knew that that very night, she quietly ran away while we were asleep? When my old wife woke up to check on her and found she was missing, she went to look for her and only found her new embroidered shoes by the river. Those were the dowry she had embroidered for herself, but she couldn't bear to take them with her in the end…”
At this point, Old Man Li was crying uncontrollably. He sadly raised his withered, dry hands and covered his face tightly, finally unable to hold back his sobs and breaking down into loud wails.
If only his granddaughter hadn’t gone to town with them that day! She was to be married in a year…
Looking at the constantly heaving, hunched back, Su Muqing’s brows furrowed tightly. She couldn’t believe that in such a small town, there were still such lawless bullies!
The young master, with clenched fists, listened to the entire ordeal. He didn’t even have the courage to stand in front of Old Man Li, only watching his trembling back with silent sorrow.
Thinking that all of this had happened because of his own negligence. After being associated with those people for several months, he hadn’t realized that these people’s true nature was so vile!
The young master was extremely angry, his rage burning within him. Previously, he thought that by taking extra care of this family, he was atoning for his sins, but now he realized his guilt was too profound…
Perhaps because the young master’s aura was too low, Manager Tu and Huo Qiyuan couldn’t help but look up at him with complicated expressions. As for Li Hong, he had been giving him a cold shoulder ever since he guessed his identity.
Seeing him standing there with clenched fists and head bowed in silence, everyone else ultimately said nothing.
Su Muqing handed him a handkerchief with a faint fragrance and, after some thought, asked cautiously, “Did you… find her body?”
Old Man Li, with a face streaked with tears and snot, held the soft handkerchief in his hand but didn’t know how to use it. He shook his head blankly and once again covered his face sadly.
Seeing that Old Man Li was losing emotional control, Li Hong answered Su Muqing’s question. “No, because Yong’an Town experienced continuous heavy rain recently, and the river’s water level rose very high. After learning that Xiao Cui had jumped into the river, our villagers searched along the riverbank all night but couldn’t find her.”
Su Muqing raised her eyebrows and pondered. Since the body wasn’t found, perhaps someone had rescued her along the way, meaning the old man’s granddaughter might still be alive.
However, upon further reflection, more than half a month had passed since the incident. If she were truly alive, she would have come back to take a look, wouldn’t she? But she hadn’t returned for so long…