Clatter—
Murong Mingyuan, standing frozen like a sculpture, dropped her golden riding crop.
Even if she were whipped to death with it, she wouldn't have dared to believe she would see Li Qianfan here!
Sister Hua and the others also sensed something was wrong.
But they didn't recognize Li Qianfan, and at most, after sensing something amiss, they looked at Murong Mingyuan with confusion, not fear.
"Master."
Chu Yazhi massaged Li Qianfan's legs and asked, "Did you hear everything they just said?"
"They were speaking so loudly, it would have been difficult not to hear," Li Qianfan said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
Chu Yazhi immediately knelt behind him and began to massage his shoulders.
Li Qianfan swept his gaze over Sister Hua and the others, his eyes finally landing on Murong Mingyuan.
Their eyes met.
After a long moment.
Li Qianfan calmly asked, "Murong Mingyuan, has the Murong family truly grown tired of living? Or are you a family of loyalty and filial piety, a charitable family, or a family of martyrs?"
Neither.
Since they were neither, who had given the Murong family the audacity to bully Chu Yazhi?
"I, I'm sorry."
Murong Mingyuan regained her senses, lowered her head, and said, "I, I will never come to trouble Jian— trouble Chu Yazhi again."
After saying that, she turned to leave, forgetting to pick up her beloved golden riding crop.
Li Qianfan chuckled, "Stop."
His voice was not loud, but it carried a captivating magic that Murong Mingyuan couldn't resist.
She immediately stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back.
Li Qianfan, still smiling, asked, "Do you think this is a place you can come and go as you please?"
Chu Yazhi added fuel to the fire, "Little slut, weren't you very proud just now? Why aren't you being stubborn anymore?"
Li Qianfan frowned and glanced at Chu Yazhi.
He disliked Chu Yazhi interfering when he was handling matters.
Chu Yazhi immediately understood and quickly lowered her head in a gesture of repentance.
"What do you want?"
Murong Mingyuan also knew she wouldn't be leaving easily today, so she adopted a defiant attitude and fiercely demanded of Li Qianfan, "Do you want this lowly servant to beat me again? Come on! I'm not afraid at all!"
"I know you have a strong will and are not afraid of being beaten or dying," Li Qianfan said, genuinely praising Murong Mingyuan. He then instructed Chu Yazhi, "Go and bring in the purified water from the water dispenser outside."
Chu Yazhi agreed and, as she quickly left, cast a teeth-clenching smile at the still bewildered Sister Hua, "None of you will leave unscathed!"
Sister Hua frowned and looked at the sharp-faced, jackal-like Xiao Cai.
Xiao Cai's right hand rested on his waist as he slowly walked in front of Li Qianfan. "Friend, no matter who you are. Those who dare to disrupt my Hua Lian Sect's business will face a tragic end."
From Murong Mingyuan's fearful reaction, especially Li Qianfan's age, he guessed that Li Qianfan might be a young master from an even more powerful aristocratic family than the Murong family of Sijiu.
But so what!?
Eagles on the grassland don't care about aristocratic families.
Xiao Cai respected Murong Mingyuan because the Murong family of Sijiu had come from the grassland.
"Hua Lian Sect?" Li Qianfan asked Xiao Cai with some surprise, "Does Hua Lian Sect still exist on the grassland now?"
More than twenty years ago, there was indeed a Hua Lian Sect on the grassland.
And Hua Lian Holy Mother Su Rina was also considered one of the four great masters, alongside Yang Xiao of the Eastern Land, the War God of the Olympus Temple, and the Pharaoh of the Golden Tower Kingdom, Black Hole Qi.
Of course, the claim of Su Rina being one of the four great masters was somewhat exaggerated.
The key was that Su Rina had disbanded the Hua Lian Sect twenty years ago and was now living freely in Western Europe. Li Qianfan would have to respectfully call her Aunt Na (Little Mother) if he saw her.
Xiao Cai said coldly, "As long as the grassland exists, Hua Lian will never die."
"Hmm, from what you say, you sound quite impressive," Li Qianfan nodded and took out his phone. "Wait a moment, I'll make a call first."
Soon, the call was connected.
A woman's voice came through, "Who is it?"
"Aunt Na, it's me, Qianfan."
Li Qianfan said very politely, "I need to tell you something. I've encountered two grassland people who claim to be from the Hua Lian Sect. They're arrogantly saying, 'As long as the grassland exists, Hua Lian will never die.' Furthermore, they dare to come to the mainland to sell women to the grassland. I just want to ask you, do you still have any subordinates on the grassland who inherited your mantle?"
The woman on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment. "Yes. These eight characters were given by me. But I forbade them from causing trouble in the mainland."
Li Qianfan looked at Sister Hua and said, "But they came. And the woman they want to sell is mine."
Sister Hua's face was filled with bewilderment, and then, suddenly realizing who "Aunt Na" was, she turned instantly pale!
She, a nobody, certainly wasn't qualified to meet Aunt Na.
But she had heard the legends of Su Rina—
Who would have thought that after secretly coming to the provincial capital of Tiandong, they would encounter someone who knew Su Rina?
When Su Rina spoke again, her voice was grim, "I will deal with them. But I doubt anyone will listen to me. After all, I haven't been back for over ten years. For today's incident, leaving them one hand each will be a form of punishment."
"Two hands, for good luck," Li Qianfan said, and before Su Rina could say anything else, he ended the call.
Sister Hua began to tremble all over.
Xiao Cai, however, didn't notice, and said in a cold voice, "Kid, do you really think you can fool me by making a phone call and putting on a show?"
Li Qianfan shook his head. "I'm not acting."
Heh—
Xiao Cai sneered.
As soon as he let out a laugh, Li Qianfan suddenly reached out and drew a short knife from his waist.
Grassland men loved to carry knives with them.
Although it wasn't a prohibited item and could be bought online for a few hundred yuan, it didn't have a blood groove.
But—
The blade flashed repeatedly!!
Xiao Cai looked at Li Qianfan with utter confusion and asked, "Why is there suddenly blood on your face?"
Li Qianfan raised his hand, wiped the blood from his face, and replied calmly, "That's because I've chopped off your hands."
Xiao Cai instinctively looked down.
The moment he looked down—
The nerves connected to his severed wrists finally transmitted the real pain rapidly to his brain's central nervous system.
"Ah!"
Xiao Cai screamed in terror.
No words could describe Xiao Cai's feeling as he saw his hands, cut off at the wrist, disappear and fall to the ground.
Li Qianfan could only express his regret.
With a rip.
Li Qianfan used the sharp knife to tear open the bedsheet and said to the two men in black shirts, who were now completely stunned, "You two, help him bandage his wounds. For Aunt Na's sake, I will only take their hands today, not their lives."
Those who trafficked women and children were the people Li Qianfan hated the most, bar none.
He would kill any one he encountered!
If anyone tried to talk to him about these people also having parents and children, and their families suffering after their deaths, he would annihilate their entire family!
Once their whole family was dead, no one would be in pain anymore, right?
The two men in black suits showed no reaction.
Assaulted by intense pain, Xiao Cai fell straight backward and fainted.
Li Qianfan glanced at the pathetic Xiao Cai and frowned at the two men in black shirts. "Didn't you hear me?"
"Heard, heard!"
The two men in black shirts hurriedly nodded and rushed forward to bandage Xiao Cai's wounds.
Chu Yazhi, who had carried the half-full bucket of purified water to the doorway, felt her legs go weak upon seeing the extremely bloody scene and covered her mouth with her hand.
Murong Mingyuan's eyes were wide with disbelief.
Sister Hua was trembling like a sieve.
With a clatter.
Li Qianfan lit a cigarette and handed the knife to one of the men in black shirts, clearly instructing, "Either cut off Sister Hua's two hands. Or, each of you will lose one hand. You have half a minute to consider."
"Ah!"
Sister Hua suddenly screamed and turned to run.