CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 74 DRAMA_1

Lu Yuan crouched in the bushes, swarmed by the disturbed night mosquitoes.

He didn’t dare to swat at them, secretly regretting not wearing long trousers.

When Lu Xinghua and the two others finished talking and walked ahead, he quickly crawled out of the bushes.

He kept neither too near nor too far behind the three of them.

This country road was made of yellow mud interspersed with bits of gravel. It allowed Lu Yuan to tread lightly without risking arousing the trio’s attention.

With his current reaction speed, even if Lu Xinghua and his two companions were to suddenly turn around, he was confident enough to dive into the nearby bushes in time.

Lu Yuan followed Lu Xinghua and the two others until they reached a car parked ahead.

He noticed them taking out implements like wooden sticks and wrenches from the car, and then heading towards a distant house illuminated by lights.

Lu Yuan watched his father, Lu Xinghua, who looked like a gangster from a TV show. He was brandishing a metal pipe, flanked by two underlings, and walking with brisk steps. Despite the absurdity of the scene, Lu Yuan fought back a laugh and even entertained the thought of capturing the moment on his cell phone.

Yet, an unexplainable wave of sadness overwhelmed him.

When did Dad get pushed to such a state...

In less than two or three minutes, Lu Xinghua and his comrades reached the house.

Lu Yuan halted at a wild pomelo tree about twenty meters away and took out his cell phone to check the time.

12:35

Yet, the four-story self-built rural house was lit up brightly.

Huh?

Lu Yuan suddenly found that there was no signal displayed on the top right corner of his cell phone.

He held up his phone high and slightly shook it.

PLOP.

Something white dropped from above his head.

Lu Yuan instinctively dodged, and looking down, realized it was bird droppings.

Immediately, he looked up and, aided by the light from the cell phone screen, to his surprise, saw...

The not-so-large wild pomelo tree was densely packed with—crows!

Shit!

Lu Yuan quickly covered his own mouth.

「...」

"What was that noise?"

A skinny, short, middle-aged man with a tense expression swiveled his head around anxiously. The sturdier one beside him, annoyed, gave him an impatient shove.

"Could you quit being so jumpy in the middle of the night? Who are you trying to scare?"

"But I really heard something!"

The skinny middle-aged man maintained an alert expression.

"Alright!"

Lu Xinghua spoke, then looked at the sturdy man and said, "Kuizi, you’re going with me to knock on the door... Put your weapons away first. Li, you stay behind. If anything seems off, call the police immediately."

"Okay, Bro Lu."

Both nodded in agreement, offering no objection to Lu Xinghua’s instructions.

Lu Xinghua signaled to the sturdy man, and they both hid the steel pipes and wrenches they were carrying behind their backs.

Then they walked slowly towards the house, one in front of the other.

"Such a stench!"

Upon reaching the main gate of the yard, the sturdy man, unable to stand the smell any longer, rubbed his nose while spitting on the ground. "Is that bastard Wang Zhichao brewing manure in there? How could it stink so much?"

A moment ago, they were far away from the house, uphill with a cool breeze, so they didn’t smell a thing.

But now that they were closer to the house and the wind was gone, they immediately detected a strong stench of chicken and duck droppings wafting out.

Lu Xinghua frowned but didn’t think much of it.

In the countryside, many people raise chickens and ducks in their courtyards.

If they keep a lot of them, the droppings of these birds are collected and sold as fertilizer.

It was summer now, so the strong odor seemed fairly normal.

Lu Xinghua reached out to push the large iron gate in front of him.

The gate was locked from the inside. He soon applied greater force, creating a louder noise.

Strange bird calls echoed from the yard, accompanied by the sound of fluttering wings, which quickly subsided.

"Is anybody there? Is anybody at home?"

As Lu Xinghua knocked on the door, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The sound was somewhat grating in the quiet night on the hillside.

The sturdy man standing nearby also grew impatient and knocked on the door with Lu Xinghua.

The two large iron gates banged loudly from their pounding.

"Open up! Open up!"

It was unclear how long they had been shouting when suddenly...

The iron gate creaked open a crack, revealing a middle-aged man in a tank top standing behind it, staring expressionlessly at the two of them.

"Who are you looking for?"

"I’m looking for..."

Lu Xinghua’s eyes brightened, ready to speak, but he suddenly noticed shadowy figures behind the man, as if many people were there.

His expression tensed slightly; he stepped back instinctively and politely said, "Fellow, I’m looking for Wang Zhichao."

"There’s no one here by that name."

The man in the tank top replied coldly, ready to shut the door.

But Kuizi, standing by Lu Xinghua, couldn’t hold it in any longer.

"What do you mean no one by that name? I saw that son of a bitch go in with my own eyes! He’s definitely hiding in there, tell him to come out!"

"I told you, there’s no one."

The man in the tank top grew impatient, attempting to forcefully shut the door despite Kuizi’s hand on the door frame.

"Fuck!"

Upon seeing this, Kuizi turned fierce, giving the door a direct kick.

BANG!

The gap in the iron gate was kicked much wider, and the man in the tank top at the entrance stumbled back from the force.

The figures behind the man in the tank top, seeing this, stirred with a RUSTLE, about to surge forward.

Lu Xinghua felt a rush of panic and instinctively reached for the steel pipe at his waist.

At that moment, a figure hurriedly burst out from inside.

"Go! You guys go quickly!"

Lu Xinghua was pushed quite a distance by the person. When he steadied himself and took a clear look, he recognized the person.

"Wang Zhichao?!"

"Damn it! So you were hiding here, you bastard! Pay up!"

Kuizi, who was nearby, also lunged forward and grabbed the figure that had darted out of the door.

"I’ll pay! I’ll definitely pay! But listen to me now, you need to leave!"

The man was desperately pushing Lu Xinghua and Kuizi away, continuously urging them.

Lu Xinghua’s brows furrowed as he noticed more and more people coming out from behind the iron door, their faces all grim. An uneasy feeling welled up within him.

He took steps backward, guided by Wang Zhichao’s pushing force, while Kuizi, who came with him, remained obstinate, shouting, "Leave? Leave my ass! We’re not leaving until we get our money today. Li, call the police!"

Kuizi yelled at Li, the short, thin middle-aged man who was keeping watch in the distance.

But Wang Zhichao, who had been forcefully pushing them, had become so frantic that even his eyes were red.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and threw a punch at the two men in front of him.

"I told you to get lost!"

「...」

Upon seeing the man who had dashed out of the door punch his father, Lu Xinghua, Lu Yuan tensed up, ready to rush forward in the next second.

He was prepared to descend like a Divine Weapon in the ensuing chaos, knocking down everyone on the other side, to take Lu Xinghua and his companions away, or to charge straight into the house.

But before he could act, his father, Lu Xinghua, had already grabbed the two men who had come with him and turned to run down the hill.

Four or five men from behind the iron gate set off to chase them.

And Wang Zhichao, the person Lu Xinghua and the others had been so desperately looking for...

At that moment, he was desperately holding back those men who, logically, should have been on his side, stubbornly preventing them from giving chase.

A few men broke free from Wang Zhichao’s obstruction and chased after them down the hill until they saw two vehicles start up, make a U-turn, and speed away, disappearing in a cloud of dust.

Only then did they walk back, cursing, and began to punch and kick Wang Zhichao.

Finally, they grabbed his hair and literally dragged him back through the iron gate...