Ye Cheng looked at them, his eyes gleaming brightly in the darkness like a predator who had spotted its prey, just waiting for the target to appear before he pounced to tear it apart.
Despite the clear danger, the group of five was completely oblivious, one of them even tried to pull Xiaofeng to their side to threaten Ye Cheng.
The moment that person touched Xiaofeng’s clothing, a loud ’bang’ was heard as a figure was flung away.
Ye Cheng looked at his own hands, he could confirm he hadn’t acted, so it must have been... His gaze shifted to Xiaofeng, who stood there casually as if nothing had happened, confusion in her eyes.
Seeing him looking, Xiaofeng smiled at the other party.
The tall, thin man saw his own man being thrown out, shock flashing in his eyes. How did she do that?
Xiaofeng dusted off her hands, unconcerned, "My hand slipped just now and I accidentally flung someone out. If there’s a fracture, my brother is a doctor. He can fix you up for a small fee."
Oh, the groans of the man who was flung out.
The remaining four exchanged looks and unconsciously stepped back. The tall, thin man suddenly produced a hoe, brand new and extremely sharp.
He raised the hoe, "We don’t care where you come from, but if you’re here, you must abide by our rules. Leave us a road construction fee, or else we’ll dig a few more giant pits upfront to trap your vehicle here."
What was there to fear? The whole village was theirs. If it came to it, they could have the villagers block them and prevent them from leaving.
So, these people didn’t seem like old pros at all, struggling even to extort a toll fee. Xiaofeng casually walked to Ye Cheng’s side, "Big brother, they won’t let us go. What should we do?"
Ye Cheng didn’t reply but silently walked up to the truck, squatted down, and lifted the front of the vehicle.
The crowd watched as Ye Cheng moved, the tall, thin man frowned—was he really going to move the car?
The other three laughed, "Baozi, did you see that? He’s really trying to move it. Let him try. If he succeeds, I’ll concede defeat."
Baozi, the tall, skinny man, stared intently at Ye Cheng, feeling an ominous premonition.
As Ye Cheng stood up in an instant, the vehicle was already out of the pit, firmly landing on the nearby flat ground. They could leave anytime they wanted.
The three exchanged looks again and met Ye Cheng’s indifferent gaze, involuntarily taking three steps back.
Ye Cheng clapped his hands, his chilling aura all the more palpable in the dark night, "Who just said something about keeping her as a hostage?"
His voice was calm but carried an implicit authority.
Baozi, hearing his words, suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Ye Cheng walked up to Baozi, glanced at him and another man, "It was you two, right?"
The other man, intimidated by Ye Cheng’s aura, took a step back, wishing he could run home to his mother. Ye Cheng looked dangerously intimidating.
Before the man could react, Ye Cheng had already made his move, lifting him up like a small chicken, "Midnight, plotting against passing drivers and even thinking of targeting my sister."
Saying so, he spun the man around in place.
Baozi, seeing Ye Cheng’s decisive action, didn’t dare harbor any ill intentions, approaching with a forced smile, "Brother, it’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. We genuinely wanted to help you. Since you don’t need our help, we’ll leave right now."
Lifting a person seemed effortless for him, could he be the legendary strongman? If he wishes, Mantou could be thrown out at any time.
"Brother, brother," Mantou landed headfirst, his face red and neck thick, "Brother, let’s talk this over. We’re not utterly wicked villains. Circumstances inspired us to think of this money-making idea. Brother, we just wanted some money, we never thought to do any real harm. You can go; in the future, we’ll let your vehicle pass without question."
Collecting toll fees for over a year, they had encountered tough targets but never one this tough.
"Yeah, release him first," Baozi was anxious as he watched Mantou struggle, another man still lying on the ground not far away, not yet managing to get up.
Xiaofeng glanced at Ye Cheng and smiled at them, "Big brother, they said that wasn’t how it should go. We have some strength, if we were afraid of you today, what would have been the consequence?"
If they had truly been a brother and sister without any fighting capabilities and penniless, the outcome would indeed have been different.
"Little Miss," Baozi almost kneeled to Xiaofeng, they were genuinely good business people demanding only toll fees, not engaging in egregious activities, of course, excluding special circumstances where they might scare people with unconventional methods, "We were just trying to scare you, didn’t actually intend to do anything?"
"Right, it was just a tactic, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to truly harm anyone. We are all villagers here; we just want to make some money, nothing else," he explained.
This was the only road to the highway through their village, not charging a toll—how could they not take advantage of their uniquely favorable conditions.
"Little Miss," Mantou also knew it was better to appeal to the woman than the stoic man: "Look, our village is poor. You’ve seen it, no stores nearby, no city close, just our lone village. We really had no other choice."
Ye Cheng snorted coldly, poverty as an excuse for blackmail.
Xiaofeng nodded gravely, "So, it’s our fault you’re poor, blaming it on the drivers passing through here?"
Baozi, seeing she was seemingly receptive, chuckled awkwardly, "Of course not your fault. We blame ourselves for coming up with such an inhumane money-making scheme. Little miss, how about this—if you let your big brother put my brother down, we’ll let you go with no further trouble."
Ye Cheng, hearing this, loosened his grip slightly, and Mantou spun around several times on the spot, dizzy, "Stop, stop, brother, let’s talk this over."
Without agreement, he became a human spinning top—suffering unbearably.
The others, watching Mantou’s state, felt their temples throbbing.
Ye Cheng’s hand loosened, and Mantou’s feet hit the ground with a ’bang,’ stirring up a cloud of dust.
"Oh, my poor back," groaned Mantou in pain.
Seeing Ye Cheng’s gaze fixed on him, Baozi felt uneasy. What was he going to do? Recalling his earlier suggestion to keep his sister as a hostage and considering Mantou’s treatment, his entire body felt uncomfortable, "Brother, I didn’t mean any harm toward your sister, really?"
He had merely intended to frighten them.
But upon hearing his words, Ye Cheng’s expression turned colder. He, he... all he wanted was a simple toll fee; why was it so difficult?
Ye Cheng scoffed, a sister? What kind of a look was that?
With such poor vision, it seemed his eyes were failing him.