Yan Shaoxuan glanced at the imposing young man, then at the two battered figures on the ground, and finally at the bow and arrows in his own hands. He felt a pang of regret.

“What happened? Did he bully you?”

The moment the words left his mouth, two sorrowful gazes met his. Wang Ergou seemed to want to speak, but a bloody tooth fell out as he opened his mouth.

Yan Shaoxuan: “…”

Ignoring them, he stepped over the tooth and approached Yan Xiaoyu, frowning as he examined him. “Are you hurt?”

Yan Xiaoyu still held the rope, ready to bind Wang Ergou and Yan Xiaobao. Seeing Yan Shaoyan appear, he was somewhat surprised but made no attempt to conceal his actions.

“I’m unharmed. These two bought sleeping potion, intending to overpower me when I wasn’t looking, frame me, and force me to marry Wang Ergou. Luckily, I’m strong and thwarted their plan.”

He’d just extracted this information from Wang Ergou.

If Wang Ergou and Yan Xiaobao merely harbored resentment and wanted to vent their anger on him, he would have simply returned without asking such detailed questions.

But he had also prepared the sleeping potion, clearly indicating ulterior motives.

Yan Xiaoyu, sensing something was amiss, deliberately targeted the most painful spots. Yan Xiaobao was young and couldn’t take a beating, so he aimed his fists at Wang Ergou instead.

Wang Ergou had only ever been a petty thief before. Even when caught, he’d never been beaten this badly. He wasn’t made of steel and soon couldn’t take it anymore, spilling everything he and Yan Xiaobao had planned. It turned out these two had been eyeing Yan Xiaoyu for quite some time. 

Since the summer harvest, the Yan household had been in constant turmoil. As the youngest, Yan Xiaobao was often used as a scapegoat for their grievances. Resentful, he directed all his hatred toward Yan Xiaoyu. If only Yan Xiaoyu hadn’t insisted on fighting him and splitting the family estate, would things have escalated to this point? 

Coincidentally, Wang Ergou had also developed a grudge against Yan Xiaoyu over a rented house dispute. Both being village troublemakers, they conspired against Yan Xiaoyu after exchanging a few slanderous remarks and soon joined forces. 

Originally, they just wanted to beat Yan Xiaoyu up to vent their anger. But later, Yan Xiaoyu’s tofu business flourished, and Wang Ergou grew intensely jealous. If he’d rented that house back then, wouldn’t he have gotten a slice of the tofu business pie? Meanwhile, Yan Xiaobao heard his parents had been turned away from Yan Xiaoyu’s place and that Yan Xingmao planned to expand his tofu business—potentially stealing Qian’s family’s customers. He couldn’t sit still either. 

The two put their heads together and hatched a plan—to knock Yan Xiaoyu unconscious, stage a scene where he and Wang Ergou stole him, and then have Yan Xiaobao expose him. 

According to his plan, once Yan Xiaoyu lost his reputation, Yan Xingmao and his wife, constrained by social standing, would surely marry their son off to Wang Ergou. Wang Ergou would become Yan Xingmao’s son-in-law, take over the tofu business, and then share it with Yan Xiaobao. 

Both would achieve their goals.

Yan Xiaoyu was naturally vindictive and unwilling to suffer any injustice. Hearing Wang Ergou’s scheme, how could he possibly tolerate it? Wang Ergou constantly slandered his elder sister, a habit Yan Xiaoyu had long despised. Yan Xiaobao had also caused the death of his original self. With old grudges piled upon new ones, Yan Xiaoyu broke Yan Xiaobao’s nose, leaving him crooked. Wang Ergou fared even worse; his state was too gruesome to behold. 

Now lying on the ground, he grimaced in agony, cold sweat pouring down his face. Unable to speak, he watched Yan Xiaoyu warily. As Yan Xiaoyu approached, he trembled in fear, his eyes fixed on his as if he were a demon. 

Yan Xiaobao was luckier than Wang Ergou. At only twelve years old, Yan Xiaoyu feared he might kill him and held back his strength. Even so, it was more than enough to terrify him. When Yan Shaoxuan appeared, both boys breathed a sigh of relief, their jaws dropping. Finally, they wouldn’t have to endure any more! Wang Ergou, sensing the change, wisely kept his mouth shut, while Yan Xiaobao hadn’t yet grasped the situation.

After Yan Xiaoyu recounted his actions, Yan Xiaobao turned to Yan Shaoxuan, crying foul.“Second Brother Yan, don’t listen to Yan Xiaoyu’s nonsense! He’s making it all up! Look what he’s done to me—”

“‘Second Brother Yan’? You dare call me that? Who are you, anyway?” Yan Shaoxuan cut him off coldly. His fists clenched, his face dark and stormy, his gaze sharp as knives piercing Wang Ergou and Yan Xiaobao. Terrified, Wang Ergou scrambled desperately to crawl away.

But Yan Xiaobao, his eyes swollen to slits and smeared with his own blood, remained oblivious to Yan Shaoxuan’s fury. He thought Yan Xiaoyu was taking out his anger on him because of Yan Yonghe.“Yan Erge, help me—”

“Help you with what?” Yan Xiaoyu kicked him again. “Help you commit crimes and endanger lives?!”

Yan Shaoxuan ignored Yan Xiaoyu’s words, staring at the boy’s swollen knuckles as he took a few steps forward. “Your hand is injured?”

His hand instinctively reached out, then withdrew as if nothing had happened.

Yan Xiaoyu didn’t think much of it: “Oh, whatever.”

Yan Shaoxuan was about to speak again when footsteps approached nearby. It must be Niu Fugui and Yu Chunying leading the villagers to search for him.

“You’ve been missing all day. Your mother and sister were frantic. They asked the village chief and others to come look for you.” Yan Shaoxuan’s gaze swept over the two bodies on the ground, then settled on the young boy’s hairline. His voice was low, tinged with an almost imperceptible tenderness: “Don’tbe afraid. It’s done. Even if these two were beaten to death, they deserved it.*

Yu Chunying’s group encountered Ji Wenyan and Yan Yonghe at the mountain’s base. Upon hearing that Yan Xiaoyu and Yan Xiaobao were missing, the two brothers followed them up the mountain.

Yan Shaocheng questioned everyone who had been up the mountain that afternoon. After deducing Yan Xiaoyu’s likely location at the woodcutting site, he led the group split into three teams to search separately.

It was the team led by Ji Wenyan, including Yan Yonghe and Yan Xiaoyue, who found Yan Xiaoyu and his group.

Seeing her brother, Yan Xiaoyue rushed over, clutching Yan Xiaoyu and sobbing uncontrollably.

The others were stunned by the scene before them.

Yan Xiaobao’s presence was one thing, but why was Wang Ergou here too? Why were both of them so badly injured, looking as if they wouldn’t last long, while Yan Xiaoyu stood perfectly fine nearby?

The wounds on Yan Xiaobao and Wang Ergou were clearly inflicted by someone. Yet when he arrived, aside from the two injured men, only Yan Xiaoyu and Yan Shaoxuan remained. He knew Yan Shaoxuan had arrived before them, searching for him.

Could it be that Old Master Yan wasn’t wrong after all? And Yan Xiaobao really had been lured here by Yan Xiaoyu to vent his anger? But then what about Wang Ergou?

For a moment, a thousand thoughts swirled in everyone’s minds, and they were all a bit overwhelmed.

Wang Ergou and Yan Xiaobao were overjoyed to see the village appear. This… he was truly saved!

Yan Yonghe approached with a cold expression to support his younger brother. Upon recognizing him, Yan Xiaobao burst into loud sobs.

“Big Brother, Yan Xiaoyu really isn’t innocent! If you hadn’t come, he would have killed me!”

Hearing this, Yan Yonghe shot a dagger-like glare at Yan Xiaoyu: “Yu-ger, how did this happen?”

His expression was haughty and accusatory, clearly signaling that if Yan Xiaoyu didn’t provide a reasonable explanation, he would make him pay dearly.

“You ask me how this happened? Why don’t you ask your dear little brother?! Your brother colluded with Wang Ergou, bought drugs, tried to knock me out, ruin my reputation, and force me to marry Wang Ergou—all to seize my family’s tofu shop!”

As Yan Xiaoyu finished speaking, everyone present gasped in shock.

No matter how you looked at it, he and Yan Xiaobao were blood-related cousins. How could Yan Xiaobao devise such a vicious scheme against him?

And Wang Ergou—already married to a Fulang—would stoop to such shameless, treacherous, and malicious deeds just for tofu!

Yan Xiaoyu stormed up to Yan Yonghe and flung the drugged handkerchief onto him.

“Your brother nearly drowned me earlier, nearly costing me my life! And today he commits such an unconscionable act—he’s beyond redemption! He wastes grain by living and wastes land by dying. If I kill him today, I’m ridding the world of a menace. How dare you question me?!”

“You’re the lofty scholar, poring over books for over a decade, cramming your head full of grand principles—yet you can’t even manage your own brother? Could it be you know he tried stealing my family’s tofu to fund your imperial exams, so you deliberately turn a blind eye?!”

Yan Xiaoyu’s expression was fierce and intimidating, forcing Yan Yonghe to stumble back several steps.

This was the first time he’d crossed paths with Yan Xiaoyu since his arrival. Accustomed to the original body’s meek demeanor, Yan Yonghe was utterly unsettled by Yan Xiaoyu’s demonic fury. It took him a long moment to regain his composure. “Do you have any proof for these accusations? Xiaobao is only twelve—how could he possibly commit such acts?”

Yan Xiaobao clung to him, pounding his chest in agitation. “He’s lying! Big brother, Yan Xiaoyu is lying! Don’t believe him!!”

Beside them, the barely conscious Wang Ergou struggled to open his mouth and protest. “Yan Xiaoyu is slandering me! We’re two grown men; he’s just a kid. If it were like he says, I’d have been ready. How could I have fallen into the wind and ended up like this? He clearly holds a grudge from the past and ambushed me today when I wasn’t prepared to vent his anger!“

”Look, that handkerchief still has Yan Xiaobao’s blood on it. It’s clearly what Yan Xiaoyu used to daze me!”

Under the village’s watchful eyes, Yan Xiaobao and Wang Ergou desperately tried to clear their names, speaking with vehement conviction, their expressions filled with righteous indignation.

Their fiercely indignant demeanor did indeed fool some of the onlookers.

Yan Yonghe’s expression relaxed as he gave Yan Xiaoyu a dismissive glance. “Xiaobao and Wang Ergou’s words hold weight. They can corroborate each other’s accounts, and that handkerchief serves as evidence. But you? Who will vouch for you? Not a single scratch on your body, yet you make such outrageous claims about them bullying you. Why should I believe you?”

Hearing this, the crowd’s sympathies shifted slightly toward Yan Xiaobao and Wang Ergou.

Logically, Yan Xiaoyu wouldn’t risk his reputation to falsely accuse Wang Ergou and Yan Xiaobao. He was completely unharmed, and not even his clothes were disheveled. Claiming Wang Ergou and Yan Xiaobao were trying to ruin his good name simply lacked credibility.

Yan Xiaoyue’s heart burned with urgency, leaving her frantic and at a loss. Her brother had gone up the mountain alone—where could he possibly find evidence? What was she to do?

Just as her anxiety peaked, a voice cut through the air: “Who says he has no proof?”

Amidst the astonished stares, Yan Shaoxuan stepped forward: “Every word Brother Yu said is true. I saw it with my own eyes when I went up the mountain just now. I am his witness.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the situation shifted again. Yan Xiaobao and Wang Ergou were flustered.

“Bullshit! You weren’t even there when Yan Xiaoyu interrogated me! You didn’t see a thing!!”

Yan Xiaobao cursed furiously, only realizing his slip of the tongue after the fact.

“Oh?” Yan Shaoxuan stepped beside Yan Xiaoyu and turned to Yan Xiaobao. “So you admit Brother Yu’s words are true?”

Yan Xiaobao stubbornly insisted, “I didn’t! I said you arrived late and knew nothing! You’re siding with Yan Xiaoyu and deliberately twisting my words!”

Though he refused to admit it, the villagers now looked at him and Wang Ergou differently.

“No.” Yan Xiaoyu looked puzzled as he picked up the handkerchief and waved it in front of him. “Are you trying to wriggle out of this? Whose handkerchief is this? Who bought the sleeping drugs and where? Lantai Town isn’t that big. You don’t really think we can’t find out these things, do you?”

Yan Xiaoyu was about to speak again when two other teams from the village, having received the signal, arrived on the scene.

Old Master Yan, seeing his precious grandson so badly injured, felt his heart wrench with pain. Upon learning the injury was inflicted by Yan Xiaoyu, he ignored the circumstances entirely and shouted at Yan Xiaoyu:

“Yan Xiaoyu! You worthless scum! How dare you lay such a vicious hand on Xiaobao! I won’t let you off today!”

He rushed to Ji Wenyan: “Young Master Ji, you’re a friend of Yan Yonghe. You must stand up for my Xiao Bao! That Yan Xiaoyu brat bullied Xiaobao and defied me even before we divided the family estate. After the split, he doesn’t even regard me as his grandfather anymore…”

Old Master Yan droned on, dragging Ji Wenyan into his grievances, begging him to punish Yan Xiaoyu.

The villagers, already privy to the truth, all sighed silently.

This was undoubtedly Yan Xiaobao’s fault, but with the county magistrate’s son backing the Yan household now, it was Yan Xiaoyu who stood to lose.

Yan Xiaoyu hadn’t expected the young man accompanying Yan Yonghe to be the magistrate’s son. How could his luck be so terrible, coinciding with this Ji Young master visiting the Yan household? Could it be that today’s situation would truly see the Yan family turn the tables on him?

Ji Wenyan’s gaze swept over. Yan Xiaoyu’s mind raced, desperately formulating a strategy, only to be pulled behind Yan Shaoxuan.

“Ji Wenyan, are you really going to help Yan Xiaobao twist the truth?”

Yan Shaoxuan’s brows knitted tightly, his expression displeased.