Chapter 5: The Violent Beauty
Bang——
Zhang Zhiyuan hadn’t been gone long when a loud crash rang out. Dust flew everywhere. The fragile little door of the noodle stall collapsed to the ground — the entire door had been violently kicked down.
The Zhou family’s bodyguards swaggered in, clicking their teeth and smirking. “Yo-ho! We’ve been looking for you all this time. So Ning Ger, you’re here, huh?”
Ye Ning ignored them. His calm gaze lowered slightly, landing on the broken door. There was a faint look of regret in his eyes as he spoke, “This door is old, but still usable. I had no intention of replacing it. Since you broke it, you’ll need to pay for the damage.”
The bodyguards froze, glancing at each other. They hadn’t expected Ye Ning to remain so composed. Clearly, he was a delicate, gentle Ger. Meeting these burly men, he didn’t scream or panic — he actually demanded compensation for the door! Then they thought again: of course. If Ning Ger didn’t care about money, with a face like that and a figure like his, why would he even consider marrying Zhou Dalang?
Though they were Zhou family bodyguards, they understood the situation perfectly. Zhou Dalang might have been born into a wealthy household in Qingtian Village, but what did he truly have besides money? His looks were at best mediocre, at worst unpleasant. One glance and people avoided a second; a second glance gave them goosebumps and a vague sense of guilt. His body was short and plump, resembling a chopped tree stump. His character and intelligence were virtually nonexistent. Even the bodyguards didn’t think highly of him.
If Zhou Dalang didn’t have some wealth, whose daughter or Ger would marry him? The bodyguards knew this very well.
Yet reason was one thing, the way the world worked another. They paused briefly, then burst into laughter, bending at the waist and clutching their bellies.
“Hahaha! What did he say? He wants us to pay him?”
“At a time like this, he actually asks for money!”
“Hahaha, what a calculating Ger!”
While laughing, the bodyguards gradually closed in, forming a tight circle around Ye Ning inside the small noodle stall. One noticed the back door and signaled for someone to block it, to prevent Ye Ning from escaping.
But they were all wrong. Ye Ning had no intention of running — he stood steadily in place.
“Do you know why we’re here today?” one bodyguard asked, chest puffed out, chin raised. Unfortunately, the folds in his neck were all too obvious.
Ye Ning replied calmly, “My noodle stall hasn’t even opened yet. You’re not here for food, are you?”
“Smart boy!” the bodyguard said, pointing at him. “You offended our Zhou Dalang, and he’s not happy about it! Look around Qingtian Village — who dares not respect our Dalang? Today, we’re here to teach you a lesson! Show you what it means when heaven is high and earth is thick! Let’s see if you dare act wild in Qingtian Village again, tarnishing our Dalang’s reputation!”
“Zhou Dalang traffics people and deceives others,” Ye Ning enumerated calmly, “what reputation could he possibly have?”
“You!” the bodyguard sneered. “Alright! Don’t let your delicate looks fool you, you sharp-tongued Ger. Today we’ll teach you how a Ger should speak and act!”
“Big brother,” another bodyguard said, grinning with a greasy smile — so slick it looked like even a fly landing on his face wouldn’t survive. He rubbed his palms and continued, “Ning Ger is so beautiful. Not just in our village — even in the county, there’s no one like him! Dalang told us to teach him a lesson, and maybe… heh heh heh…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but the malicious intent in his eyes was obvious. The other bodyguards laughed uproariously, their meaning clear without words.
“Exactly, big brother! Ning Ger is too pretty, it’d be a waste to hit him — better we… hahaha!”
“I heard he can’t bear children, is that true? I’ve never seen a Ger who can’t.”
“I say, that’s nonsense. With enough force, how can a Ger not bear children? With all of us working together, if Ning Ger actually gets pregnant, he should thank us for curing him!”
“Ahaha, right! Ning Ger would still owe us medical fees!”
“I do have a question, if Ning Ger really ends up pregnant, then who exactly would be the father?”
The bodyguards laughed lewdly, enjoying their own joke, but a trace of disgust flickered across Ye Ning’s calm face. He said quietly, “Zhou Dalang is a worthless man, and the bodyguards he brings along are just as foul.”
“What did you just say?!” one bodyguard snapped, pointing at Ye Ning. “Good grief, even now you won’t admit defeat. I guess you won’t cry until you see your coffin!”
The bodyguard stepped forward eagerly, reaching out to touch Ye Ning and teasing, “Let us have a feel of that smooth little face of yours…”
“Young Master Jiang! Quickly, save Ye Ning!”
Zhang Zhiyuan’s mouth had never moved so fast. He recounted everything clearly, then pointed toward the distance. “Up ahead! That abandoned noodle stall! There’s nothing around except the Jiang residence, hardly anyone nearby. How could a delicate Ger like Ye Ning stand against Zhou’s bodyguards? Only Young Master Jiang can save him!”
Jiang Changxin’s attendant heard this and frowned at the sedan chair. The soft curtains hung down, hiding everything inside. The Young Master Jiang that Zhang Zhiyuan spoke of was just behind that veil, silent.
Suddenly, a folding fan poked through a corner of the window, and the attendant immediately leaned forward.
“Third young master Zhang,” the attendant said over his shoulder, “lead the way quickly.”
Zhang Zhiyuan scrambled up from the ground, agile as ever, and sprinted back toward the noodle stall, with the sedan bearers close behind.
His throat burned with exertion, sweat poured down his forehead. Despite aching, heavy legs, he ran instinctively fast, racing straight back to the noodle stall in one breath.
“Ye Ning! Ye Ning!” Zhang Zhiyuan shouted, terrified that the delicate Ger might suffer humiliation or injury at the hands of the Zhou family, who were hardly kind-hearted.
“Just up ahead, hurry!” he urged, but then…
“Ahhhhhhh——!”
Zhang Zhiyuan froze, spine stiffened, stopping mid-step. His gaze locked on the source of the scream. It was… the noodle stall!
Such a pitiful, piercing wail, such raw agony — Zhang Zhiyuan felt his chest tighten and his heart ache. Had he come too late?
Bang!
He didn’t care and barreled into the noodle stall. The door had already fallen, so he didn’t hit it directly. In his rush, he smashed his forehead against the doorframe, dizzy and disoriented, almost falling flat on his rear. Fortunately, the attendant following him steadied him.
Pain throbbed in Zhang Zhiyuan’s forehead, but there was no time to notice it. His eyes widened in shock at the scene inside. No matter how much he calculated, he had never expected this.
Two bodyguards lay on the ground, clutching their stomachs. Two more pressed against the dust- and cobweb-covered walls; whether their backs or the wall itself, they had no room to retreat. If they had tried, they would have had to fall a full mile back.
The leader of the bodyguards was bent in a strange, twisted posture, his arm forced backward by Ye Ning. His fingers were turning blue. Now it made sense — the deep, anguished screams just now weren’t Ye Ning’s at all. It must have been this bodyguard leader.
“Ah! Let… let go… it’s going to break… it’s going to break…” the leader wailed, pleading.
The other bodyguards shouted threats, their voices trembling: “Let go! Let go! Do you know who you’re offending? We’re the Zhou family’s guards — can you handle the consequences?!”
“Do you still want to survive in Qingtian Village, Ye family?”
“Y-yes! Offending the Zhou family… you’ll regret it!”
Though the bodyguards were trying to intimidate Ye Ning, their quivering voices betrayed their own fear.
Zhang Zhiyuan’s eyes widened in disbelief, frozen for a long moment. The Jiang attendant beside him remarked quietly, “Third young master Zhang, it seems… Ning Ger doesn’t even need anyone to save him?”
Zhang Zhiyuan nodded dumbly. “Y-yes… that’s right.”
Indeed, Ye Ning did not need anyone’s help. He had come from the apocalypse; without certain survival skills, he could never have lived through such chaos. Although his body now appeared fragile, unable to lift or carry, it was fortunate that Ye Ning still possessed some cunning. The bodyguards might look fierce, but their skills were shallow — hardly worth fearing.
When Ye Ning had told Zhang Zhiyuan to run, it was not a rash decision. He had already weighed the situation carefully, so he moved calmly and steadily, unfazed by danger.
The bodyguard leader had intended to grope Ye Ning, but instead found himself in a difficult position.
“Let… let go! You… I warn you… we Zhou family…”
Before the threat could finish, Ye Ning smiled faintly. His natural beauty and harmless appearance made the smile feel almost otherworldly, as if nothing in the world could match him.
He asked lightly, without preamble, “I heard your Zhou family raises a lot of pigs. Have you ever seen one slaughtered?”
The bodyguard leader froze, blinking. “Slaugh… slaughter pigs?!”
Ye Ning gave no answer. Suddenly, he released the grip, and the bodyguard leader, thinking himself free, moved to escape. But Ye Ning acted swiftly, seizing a wooden chair nearby.
There were only four chairs in the stall, one of them with a broken leg. Ye Ning grabbed it, swung it in a wide arc, and smashed it down onto the bodyguard leader’s back without hesitation.
Smash!! Crack—
“Ah!!”
The bodyguard screamed again as the chair shattered into pieces.
Ye Ning’s slender, pale hands grasped the broken leg, twisted his wrist, and the jagged edge spun elegantly in his palm, pressing against the back of the bodyguard leader’s neck.
“The pig must bleed thoroughly, or the meat smells foul and won’t sell for a good price,”
Ye Ning said, smiling faintly, his expression like a plum blossom blooming in winter. Calmly, he continued, “I can help you bleed this pig leg of yours — how about that?”
Splinters flew from the noodle stall’s doorframe, scattering toward the Jiang family’s sedan. A few struck and lifted the curtain slightly, revealing the intricate, lavish embroidery of the robes of the person sitting inside.
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Obrigada pela tradução!!🥰💞
What omg this is so cool.. Wahh