Lu Hao gritted her teeth, her voice trembling hysterically, "Wang Quanfu! You are not worthy to be my man! Nor are you worthy to be human! I feel disgusted just seeing you! Even tigers don't eat their cubs, and you're worse than a beast! To sell our daughter to a brothel!
Furthermore, you and your family have never considered me your wife; I'm merely a beast of burden for your family! You beat me daily. If we mother and daughter return with you, it will only be a dead end!"
She knew that Wang Quanfu was deliberately ruining her reputation, shifting all the blame onto her to gain the sympathy and support of the onlookers. Therefore, she too, pointedly exposed Wang Quanfu's despicable actions.
The crowd, hearing this, indeed murmured amongst themselves. Many, seeing Lu Hao seated in the position of the hired manager, thought it an opportunity to curry favor and boldly chimed in, "This brother, as a husband, you beat your wife daily, and you even want to sell your own daughter to a brothel. You, sir, even if you married a hundred wives, they would all run away!"
"That's right, why wouldn't she run? Is she supposed to wait for him to beat her to death?"
"Only useless, incompetent men beat their wives and children. The capable ones are out conquering the world!"
"Who said that? If you can't get a wife, the whole family worries; if you get a wife, the whole family cherishes her. Why is this man so pathetic?"
Wang Quanfu's expression flickered, a flash of panic and annoyance in his eyes. He glared, his face contorted with anger, at the crowd, then pointed at Lu Hao and yelled, "You slut, stop your slanderous talk! It's you, you slut, who thought I was poor and ran off with another man."
"Wang Quanfu! You're the one slandering! You and the widow Li from the next village have been hooked up for a long time!" Lu Hao was trembling with rage.
The two women originally behind Xu Shi, seeing Xu Shi watching the spectacle with schadenfreude, felt utterly bewildered. This... she didn't look like a real mother and daughter. What kind of mother watches her daughter being bullied, not only refrains from helping but also secretly rejoices?
The two women cast looks of disdain at Xu Shi.
"You bitch! Come, go home with me! I'll skin you alive when we get home!" Wang Quanfu didn't want to waste words with Lu Hao anymore and moved to grab her.
"What are you doing!" Bai Jing and Yang Shi immediately stepped forward to intervene.
Huang Gousheng, who seemed to have emerged from nowhere, rushed forward and pushed Wang Quanfu, making him stumble. "You, the damned fellow, bullying a woman, what kind of man are you!"
"Who the hell are you! Don't tell me you're Lu Youdi's lover?" Wang Quanfu pointed at Huang Gousheng and cursed.
"Bang!" Huang Gousheng punched Wang Quanfu square in the face and grabbed his collar, saying, "Say that again, you damned fellow! If your mouth is dirty, go wash it in the latrine!"
Wang Quanfu's left eye socket instantly turned into a large bruise. He was not as tall or as strong as Huang Gousheng. If it came to a direct fight, he would surely lose. So, he turned to the people behind him and said, "Hold this bastard!"
Those people immediately stepped forward to grapple with Huang Gousheng, while Wang Quanfu went back to grab Lu Hao.
"Wang! Let go of my elder sister!" Lu Xing, out of breath, ran over from outside the crowd, followed by Lu Yang and Lu Dahai, also out of breath.
Lu Dahai, seeing Xu Shi standing by with a smile on her face, got angry and slapped her a few times.
Xu Shi covered her face, feeling wronged, wanting to retaliate but not daring to, as Lu Dahai could divorce her at any moment.
Lu Xing and Lu Yang walked to face Wang Quanfu, confronting him.
Seeing the Lu family arrive, Wang Quanfu beckoned to the group behind him again, and the remaining dozens of people immediately walked forward menacingly.
Unexpectedly, Wang Quanfu had brought so many people. Lu Yang glanced at Lu Xing and unconsciously took a step back.
Lu Xing didn't retreat but advanced, walking close to Wang Quanfu, clenching his fists, his eyes burning with anger. "Wang, you hit my elder sister, hit my niece, and want to sell them. I haven't settled accounts with you yet, and you've come knocking on my door!"
Wang Quanfu's expression faltered as he looked into Lu Xing's blade-like cold eyes, but feeling he was in the right today, he blustered, "Lu Youdi is my lawfully wedded wife, and it's natural and right for me to find her and bring her home. Your family affairs are none of your business as an outsider!"
A tall man behind Wang Quanfu sneered, "Lu Youdi has already been sold to my elder brother as a wife and has no relationship with your Lu family anymore. My elder brother is legitimately finding his wife. If you continue to be unreasonable, don't blame us for being impolite!"
After speaking, the tall man clasped his hands together, his knuckles cracking audibly.
An older man beside him also threatened with a sarcastic smile, "Wang Quanfu just wants to find his wife and daughter. Are you people from Hongshu Village hogging his wife, wanting to oppose us people from Wangjiagou Village?"
Many people from Hongshu Village standing nearby immediately shouted back, "So what if we want to oppose your Wangjiagou Village? What can you do to us? You won't be taking Miss Lu Hao from our village today!"
"Thank you, everyone!" Lu Dahai bowed gratefully to the people of Hongshu Village, then turned to Wang Quanfu and said, "What exactly do you want before you'll release my daughter?"
"Father! We don't need to negotiate with them. Anyone who dares to take my elder sister away today will have to step over my dead body!" Lu Xing's tone was exceptionally resolute.
He simply refused to believe that there was no law in this world, and that villains who bully women and children were instead protected?
Lu Dahai glared at Lu Xing and leaned close to his ear, whispering, "This is our family affair, we can't cause trouble for Xiaoye Ge and Tang Sao."
Lu Xing glanced at the scene. It was indeed the case that because of his elder sister's matter, Tang Sao's recruitment had been disrupted. So, he had no choice but to brace himself and say to Wang Quanfu, "Speak, what exactly do you want before you'll release my sister?"
Wang Quanfu exchanged glances with the people behind him and laughed triumphantly, "Hand over two hundred taels of silver, and we'll release her!"
"Two hundred taels?" The surrounding crowd gasped in astonishment. Looking at this girl named Lu Youdi, she was as thin as a bamboo pole. Even if her daughter was sold to a broker for a high price, it would only fetch ten taels at most. In those days, it was hard to come up with even one tael of silver, let alone two hundred. It was truly shocking! These Wang family members were clearly looking for trouble!
Lu Dahai was also quite stunned, feeling that this Wang fellow was deliberately making things difficult for them. With their family's conditions, producing 200 taels of silver was a huge joke, wasn't it? If they could afford it, they wouldn't have sold their daughter in the first place.
Lu Xing glanced at Lu Dahai, then turned to Wang Quanfu and sneered, "You bought my sister for ten taels of silver back then. I'll return ten taels to you now. If you want it, take the money and get lost; if not, then let's fight!"
When Wang Quanfu mentioned two hundred taels of silver, Lu Xing understood. The target of these people was not their family, but Xiaoye Ge and Tang Sao, because only they could afford 200 taels of silver, and they were the elder sister's current employers.
However, he was puzzled. Who had leaked the news of his elder sister being at Xiaoye Ge's place to this Wang fellow? And why choose to cause trouble on the day of the workshop recruitment?
The dozen or so clansmen behind Wang Quanfu, as well as the dozens of refugees, all rolled up their sleeves with fierce expressions. If they wanted to fight, let's fight!
If the Lu family only compensated ten taels of silver, with so many of them, it wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth. Wang Quanfu had promised to give each of them one tael of silver to boost his morale.
If they couldn't get one tael of silver, beating these people up and robbing them of their cash would at least compensate for their losses.
Lu Hao suddenly rushed forward, shielding Lu Xing behind her, and shouted loudly, "Don't touch my brother! If you want to hit someone, hit me! Even if you beat me to death, I won't go back with this beast!"