She hadn’t made it to the base of the mountain, but had instead ended up at the edge of a cliff. The bottom of the cliff wasn’t very deep, yet Gu Youyou no longer had the courage to jump again.
She stopped, panting heavily.
"Come on, what do you want?" Gu Youyou stood at the edge of the cliff, her demeanor that of someone preferring to break rather than bend.
She dared not jump, but bluffing was still an option.
Loose rocks tumbled down the cliff behind her, and those chasing her immediately halted.
The leader fixed his gaze on Gu Youyou, then lifted his hand slightly; two men immediately stepped out from behind him, one on each side, keeping their distance from Gu Youyou but edging closer to the cliff.
Gu Youyou didn’t understand what they were planning to do, and shouted, "Don’t move, or I’ll jump down."
The leader sneered contemptuously, as if he were watching a clown, which infuriated Gu Youyou immensely.
The two men, one on each side, paid no attention to Gu Youyou and jumped off the cliff.
In fact, this place couldn’t really be considered a cliff, but rather a sizable gully. The two men descended and quickly vanished into the dense forest within the gully.
The leader laughed and said, "Go ahead and jump if you wish. They’re quite skilled; even if they fail to catch you, they won’t let you die. At worst, you’ll break an arm or a leg. Considering you’re going to live a life worse than death, having arms and legs is pointless."
Gu Youyou was so angry she almost bit her tongue.
On the other side of the mountain, Gu Laosan awoke.
He patted his somewhat heavy head and, recalling the events before he passed out, broke out in a cold sweat.
He had been discovered, and Gu Youyou had fled.
Upon realizing this fact, he couldn’t care less about the dirt on his body or the throbbing in his head and struggled to his feet.
As he stood, he felt as if his body was falling apart with pain, and he discovered several severe bruises on his legs.
He had been beaten up, and the blows had been harsh—it had to have been Gu Youyou’s doing. Gu Laosan’s nose was out of joint.
Gu Youyou’s escape completely disrupted his original plan.
His initial arrangement had been to hand over Gu Youyou to those people and then inflict a few cuts on himself—as long as he didn’t die, it would be fine.
He would then tell his family that he had discovered the human trafficker taking Youyou away, and when he went to argue with them, he hadn’t expected them all to be desperate crooks. They not only refused to free her but had almost killed him. He had barely managed to escape with his life.
Liu Dazhuang had pulled off similar stunts in the past, so nobody would suspect his word.
But now that she had run off, the plan had to change.
Looking at the injuries on his body, he had a sudden change of heart and came up with another idea.
Lucky you, Gu Youyou, there’s plenty of time ahead. The old man won’t be getting any better anytime soon; let’s see how long you can stay on guard.
"Oh, my back!" Gu Laosan cursed as he picked up a thick stick from the mountain to support himself and headed down to return home.
When he reached the Gu Family household, it was already late. Gu Feng sat in the main room of the Gu Family home, surrounded by people, both from their own and the neighbors’ families. The local official sat beside him, and two people were kneeling in the room, Gu Laosan’s second brother and Huang Xiangwen.
Gu Laosan immediately understood the situation upon seeing this, his thoughts quickly shifted, and he came up with a new plan.
"Gu Laosi, I’ll beat you to death. How can you live with the deaths of our eldest brother and sister-in-law..."
The first thing he did upon entering was to raise the thick stick he had picked up on the mountain and swung it at Gu Laosi. His cries, deeply mournful, were enough to move one to tears. When everyone saw him, a man in his thirties was already weeping profusely.
The neighbors, fearing that a serious incident might occur, were quietly moved by Gu Laosan’s entrance and hurried to hold him back.