The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 471 - 469: Can’t Be a Coward

Chapter 471: Chapter 469: Can’t Be a Coward

Seeing that the shoulder pole was coming straight for his brother’s head, Wang Yonggui had a jolt of fear and was about to back away. If that pole hit him squarely, his skull would surely be split open.

Wang Yonggui immediately flipped the tabletop with both hands with all his might, toppling it over.

The man surnamed Ma, who was originally sitting sideways on the tabletop and gesturing for his subordinates to step forward, turned on the tabletop to face Wang Yongfu and Wang Yonggui. He kicked out with one foot at Wang Yonggui, who was closest to him.

He hadn’t anticipated that Wang Yonggui would dare to resist at this moment and overturn the tabletop.

All of a sudden, he went down with the falling tabletop, landing on his back with his legs in the air.

As he fell, his hands flailed in the air, and he happened to grab onto the clothes of the man beside him who was swinging the shoulder pole. With a strong pull, the man’s aim was thrown off.

Having pushed over the tabletop, Wang Yonggui tried to run. The other side had numbers and strength on their side, not to mention they were all wielding shoulder poles. The situation looked grim; there would be no peaceful resolution today.

If he didn’t run now, when would he?

He had just started to flee when his foot slipped on something, and he stumbled toward his brother, Wang Yongfu.

There was a "thud"—the sound of a shoulder pole hitting flesh.

An agonized howl followed, and tears and snot immediately poured out of Wang Yonggui.

It was damn painful! That was the last thing Wang Yonggui felt before he blacked out.

Wang Yongfu first saw Laosan knock over the tabletop, blocking the men. Then, as the shoulder pole was about to strike him, Laosan threw himself over fearlessly.

He watched in horror as the pole struck Laosan’s shoulder, and then saw Laosan roll his eyes and pass out.

Wang Yongfu’s hands trembled as he held the limp body of Wang Yonggui, and his eyes reddened. "Laosan... Laosan, what’s happened to you?" he stammered.

Behind Wang Yongfu, Jindou and Jinhoo were furious. They both cried out, "Uncle Three!" and sprang forward, no longer caring about the burly men around them with their menacing shoulder poles.

The man surnamed Ma, even while holding onto someone else’s clothes, could not escape the fate of being flipped over.

He stood up with a darkened face, enraged and humiliated, "You’re showing brotherly love when death is at hand? Fine, your grandpa Ma will grant you that today—" he said, grabbing a shoulder pole from one of his men and swinging it towards Wang Yongfu and Jindou, who were gathered around Wang Yonggui.

Then came a rush of hurried footsteps, getting louder as they approached.

A man beside him whispered urgently, "Eldest Brother, someone’s coming!"

The man surnamed Ma hesitated for a moment before turning to look.

He saw a crowd of villagers armed with shovels, shoulder poles, kitchen knives, and hoes, all rushing towards them with a fierce look in their eyes.

Especially upon seeing their group, the villagers hastened their pace, with some shouting, "Who’s this blind fool daring to cause trouble in our Qilidun?"

"Stop immediately! Or we’ll break your legs!"

"Dare to harm our Wang Family, and we’ll make sure you come in upright but leave horizontally..."

...

The group surrounding the Wang Family started to panic. Before coming here, they had scouted for several days and inquired about the Wang Family’s situation in Qilidun.

They knew the Wang Family’s business was thriving, making the villagers jealous. And with a particularly fierce old woman in the Wang Family who had offended everyone in the village, they figured no one would come to their aid in times of trouble.

Not to mention, they had chosen this time right after lunch, when there’s normally not much going on; the men would usually be taking a nap after eating and women busy with housework, the quietest time in the village.

So how come a whole group of villagers had suddenly appeared out of nowhere?

What were they to do?

The leader of the group, the man surnamed Ma, looked at his brothers with suspicion flickering in his eyes, "Who let the news slip?"

He had been watching all along, and there were only the four members of the Wang Family at their doorstep today.

All four men were right under his eyes, and no one slipped away.

With his eyesight, he couldn’t spot anyone nearby either.

Therefore, his first reaction was to suspect the men he had brought with him. Of the dozen or so strong fellows, only seven or eight were his own brothers, the rest had been hired just passing their time.

Before taking on this job, he wasn’t reckless; naturally, he had made inquiries and knew that the Wang Family’s sons were all in their prime, especially their daughter, who was born with prodigious strength.

The image of her kicking Hunter Qin into the air that day was still fresh in his memory.

At that moment, he was relieved that he hadn’t taken the job, thinking that he and his brothers wouldn’t be enough to serve as mere fodder to them.

But the amount of silver offered by the employer was too much to refuse. He needed to support the band of brothers under his lead, as there wasn’t much work to be found in town, and they made do by providing protection to eke out a living.

If they could pull this off, he could take the silver elsewhere, get his brothers settled with wives, leading to a comfortable life, and he, as their Eldest Brother, would have done right by his brothers.

Even though he knew the job was tricky and feared the silver wouldn’t come easily, Boss Ma braced himself and took it on.

Moreover, upon learning that Song Chongjin had gone blind and Wang Yongzhu had left for the county town, Boss Ma knew it was his only chance.

As a precaution, before arriving, he had left some brothers in Shiqiao Town, just in case something went wrong, so they wouldn’t all be caught in one fell swoop.

Fearing he wouldn’t have enough men, he had hired a few toughs known around town to bolster his numbers and make an impression, hoping to intimidate the Wang Family just by their presence.

But the villagers charging at them numbered a good dozen or so, and their momentum was no less impressive.

The hangers-on, who were only there to take advantage of the situation, felt their legs turn to jelly.

They were all locals from nearby, and everyone knew which villages were easy to bully and which weren’t.

What could be said about Qilidun was that they were particularly tight-knit.

Ignore the fact that the village was home to several clans often at odds internally; when facing an outside threat, their stance was absolutely united.

Seeing the fierce determination of the people from Qilidun, the hangers-on lost their nerve first, "Um...Boss Ma, they’ve got too many people, we can’t beat them, let’s just leave while we can still escape without hurting anyone..."

"Right, right, as long as there’s no blood shed, everything can still be talked over, let’s just back down and go, or we might not be able to leave at all..."

...

Boss Ma’s expression darkened; he wasn’t native to Shiqiao Town, having come here with his mother who remarried around when he was ten.

His temperament was always one to fight and compete fiercely. Moreover, due to discord with his stepfather, he left home after only a couple of years in anger, following an old beggar to God knows where, his mother even thought he had died outside.

Unexpectedly, he came back a few years ago with a few underlings and quickly established a foothold in the town with his ruthless methods.

If he showed weakness today, if he backed down, how would he ever make a living in Shiqiao Town again?

With these thoughts, Boss Ma’s heart hardened, and he gripped the staff in his hand, swinging it in a full circle, he aimed for Wang Yongfu’s arm and swung down.

Disabling Wang Yongfu’s arm and considering Wang Yonggui, who had been knocked unconscious, not knowing whether he was dead or alive, should be enough to settle the score.

With the Wang Family down two key members, the deal would likely fall through.

Thinking this, Boss Ma put even more strength into his blow.

The whooshing staff headed straight for Wang Yongfu.

"Don’t—"

"Stop—"

...

"Ahh—" A sharp, agonizing scream rang out, followed by a spray of blood bursting forth.