It’s not that she was overthinking, but Ye Cheng’s condition was somewhat special. If she handed her hand to Ye Cheng and it triggered his illness, she couldn’t possibly help him in front of all these people.
After thinking for a moment, Xiaofeng steadied herself using the car door instead of giving her hand to Ye Cheng.
Ye Cheng’s gaze lingered on her hand briefly but he didn’t mind.
Watching them get out of the car, the tall and thin one shone a flashlight on them, noting a beautiful girl and a handsome guy; they didn’t look much like siblings, but rather like a young couple traveling together.
"You said you would move it yourself, so move it. I really want to see how capable you siblings are." A truck, no matter what, weighs tons. A single person or two people simply can’t move it.
Did this pair of siblings really think a truck was some kind of light object that they could easily handle themselves, boldly claiming they could?
Regardless of whether they could move it or not, they were still going to have to pay the toll tonight.
Xiaofeng glanced at the other party and understood what they were thinking. Today, whether they could move it or not, getting past without paying would not be easy.
In this era, unlike the twenty-first century, you couldn’t just make an emergency call when facing trouble and expect help to arrive in a place where network information was undeveloped, not every household even had a telephone installed, and only a few people owned mobile phones that might not have signals everywhere.
Thus, calling the police or for help was impossible.
"I hope you gentlemen will keep your word," although Ye Cheng could probably handle five men alone, since they hadn’t started anything, they naturally wouldn’t strike first.
"Hurry up and do it." The one at the back, already impatient, said, "If you two really can lift the car on your own, we won’t charge you any money and will just let you pass."
To lift the vehicle, what kind of person would that have to be—a superhuman perhaps? Could that be possible? Probably not.
"Really?" If it wasn’t true, then there would be no show.
Ye Cheng whispered to Xiaofeng, "Are you sure I can lift it?"
He was indeed very strong, but he had never tried lifting a car before. This woman was indeed bold to challenge them directly.
What if he couldn’t lift it?
Xiaofeng smiled gently, like a spring breeze sweeping across a lake, bringing warmth, "If you can’t lift the car, just lift a person, it’s that simple."
He glanced at Xiaofeng and laughed; this woman certainly had a ruthless heart.
"Stop muttering, hurry up," the tall and thin one said, losing patience, "If you don’t have the capability, just pay up. Not more, not less, pay eight hundred and you can pass."
They didn’t have time to play; they needed to deal with these two quickly. More vehicles would be coming by soon.
Ye Cheng looked at him, didn’t lift the truck, but walked over to him.
The tall and thin one felt intimidated by Ye Cheng’s presence and stuttered, "What are you going to do?"
Ye Cheng looked at him, replying softly but firmly, "I’m just going to show you what skill is."
"You want to show us your skills, why not just lift the car? Why are you getting so close to me?" Hell, this was just a young guy; how could he impose such an overwhelming pressure that felt like a student facing a stern teacher.
"Lifting the truck is too tiring," Ye Cheng’s voice was low, but it felt different to the listener.
"Are you playing us? If so, just pay up honestly. Hand over the money and you can go on your way. See that sign, ’To pass this road leave toll money, eight hundred exactly,’" he said.
Their village was the only way toward the national highway in this direction; they would offer help for free during the day if a car got stuck.
But at night, free help was out of the question.
Their village backed onto a good road, so of course, they had to make some profit. In an area with no other villages around, other businesses weren’t viable, causing trouble for drivers brought money the quickest.
MOST drivers were alone or in pairs when traveling, and most would pay up without fuss to ensure safe passage during these kinds of situations.
Of course, if they encountered large groups or tough individuals, they’d either charge less or just let them through.
"Your place has such a nice environment, with the national highway up ahead, this place being a necessary route from outside counties to the highway. If you opened a restaurant or a hotel here, wouldn’t it make money faster and let everyone pay more willingly?" It was night, although dark, the beam of the flashlight still allowed a clear view of the surrounding environment.
Even without looking, she was certain that this place would become a business hotspot in the future.
"Pah," a man from behind spit out, "Where did this lunatic come from, coming here and suggesting business ideas to us."
In this era, not many people had cars, not many vehicles passed through here at night, why bother with small money when a few good hauls in the night made quick cash.
"Exactly, it’s easy for you to talk without any pain," the tall and thin one sneered, "Do you know how much it costs to open a restaurant? Not to mention a hotel, with the current state of our village where we just got enough to eat, who’s going to build it?"
They too wanted to run a legitimate business, but the problem was they had no money. If they had the money, they wouldn’t be doing this.
"Baozi," the man behind stepped forward, "Don’t waste time talking with them. In my opinion, unless you give them a taste of the hard life, they won’t understand."
"Right." The three men surrounded them, forming a circle around Ye Cheng and Su Xiaofeng, and the man with a keloid on his hand scoffed coldly, "I think you two are not siblings at all. You’re probably a young couple who ran away to elope behind your parents’ backs."
Siblings? They did not seem like it at all.
"So?" Ye Cheng was not very patient with such situations, adhering to the principle of not striking unless struck first.
"Can’t you see? You need to pay up. If you don’t have money, leaving your wife would also do. She’s so pretty, you certainly wouldn’t want to," they had encountered such young couples before and knew that scaring them usually worked.
"Right, since your wife is so pretty, keep her here while you go get the money," the tall and thin one reasoned, since the girl said she would lift the truck herself, it was obviously just boasting.
He had waited long enough, but they did nothing substantial.
Either pay or leave someone, they had to choose one; they still had other places to be after this.
"Leave her?" In the darkness, Ye Cheng’s silhouette stretched long, his expression unreadable, but Xiaofeng could hear from his voice that Ye Cheng was likely running out of patience, and his tone had cooled several degrees.
"What, can’t bear it? If you can’t bear it then stop the nonsense, pay the money," the tall man didn’t want to waste words anymore, just two young people, surely they couldn’t be too hard to handle.