Chapter 8: An Uncle's Protective Instinct!

Zhang Qi was so terrified that his voice cracked.

While dodging the clubs, he frantically grabbed Li Er: "Why is it you? How could you be here?!"

The Zhang family servants dared not fail to protect their master, but even so, many of the Li family’s blows landed on Zhang Qi.

On the other side, Li Er’s bindings had come loose. Having suffered such a brutal beating, one of his eyes was swollen shut, and he was covered in wounds from head to toe. Not knowing where to vent his rage, he couldn't control himself when he heard Zhang Qi’s words.

Without waiting for his men to join in, he lunged forward himself, grabbing Zhang Qi by the throat and wrestling with him.

"You Zhang bastard! You son of a bitch! You still have the nerve to ask me? I’ll fight you to the death!"

With Li Er’s tackle, Zhang Qi didn't know whether to fight back or not. If he fought back, wouldn't it make things even harder to explain?

But if he didn't fight back, he’d be the one suffering!

In a panic, he pried at Li Er’s hands and shouted, "It has nothing to do with me! They framed me!"

"Uncle!"

No sooner had the words left Zhang Qi’s mouth than a delicate, tearful voice drifted out from the Xie family’s backyard.

Zhang Qi turned his head in shock to see Lu Jia standing in the doorway, leaning against a pillar, looking at them with profound sorrow: "Tonight, thanks to Uncle’s idea, I was able to escape this disaster. Otherwise, I, Xie Jia, would have had no choice but to throw myself into the Xiang River tonight!

"Uncle’s heart for protecting his kin—Xie Jia will surely keep it in her heart."

Zhang Qi’s jaw nearly hit the floor!

What heart for protecting kin? Who the hell was protecting her kin?

What did this have to do with him?

Why say such nonsensical things? Wasn't this deliberately trying to make him take the fall?

"Shut your mouth! Zhang Qiuniang..."

"Big Brother," before Zhang Qi could finish shouting, Qiuniang walked out in response. She went to Lu Jia’s side, her gentle voice laced with gratitude, "Although we usually bicker, I truly didn't realize that in a critical moment, we still have to rely on you!

"Why else do they say that blood is thicker than water?

"Jia-jie’er has suffered such a great grievance this time. If it weren't for you helping us come up with a plan and backing us up, how could we have ever gotten our revenge?

"You’ve been busy with everything from start to finish—luring out this scum who had evil intentions toward Jia-jie’er, tricking him into the trap, and beating this beast into such a state, letting us vent our anger.

"Brother, with your heart for caring for the children, it isn't in vain that they have always kept you in their thoughts."

—My God!

The color drained from Zhang Qi’s face, and he roared, "What are you nonsense are you spouting? How could this be my idea? All of this was you—"

"Mistress Xie, what happened?"

Before Zhang Qi could finish his roar, a large group of people arrived outside the open gate. It was a group of neighbors led by Li Daoist, the father of Li Chang, all carrying torches.

Seeing the scene in the courtyard, Li Daoist said, "Master Zhang, why are you fighting here in the middle of the night?"

"Uncle," Qiuniang stepped forward, "This bastard Li Er bullied Jia-jie’er before and nearly cost her her life. Her uncle specifically set a trap to deal with this bastard and vent our anger for us."

"So that’s how it is," the neighbors said. "I was wondering why so many people from the Zhang family came; so it was all planned in advance!"

It’s over!

He couldn't wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River now!

Zhang Qi looked at the crowd, opening his mouth several times but unable to utter a word.

Damn it, why did these people have to arrive at such a timely moment?

They all lived in Shawan County. Although he usually looked down on these poor wretches, he still needed their support for his business. Now that nearly the whole street had arrived, how was he supposed to argue his way out of this?

"Zhang Qi, do you still dare to say it wasn't you?!"

Li Er’s broken voice pierced the night sky once again.

The servant who had come to pass the message to Li Er, telling him to come to the Xie house under the cover of night, had been wearing Zhang family livery. Having dealt with the Zhang family so many times, how could Li Er not recognize their servants' attire?

The moment Zhang Qi appeared, he had no other thoughts!

Now, hearing the Xie mother and daughter say this, and seeing Zhang Qi speechless, he attacked Zhang Qi like a mad dog.

Caught off guard, Zhang Qi was punched, losing a molar and filling his mouth with the taste of blood.

The servants scrambled to help him up, and he finally snapped, pointing wildly at Qiuniang: "Who said I did this? Who said I did this? You have the audacity to beat someone and then try to pin the blame on me? Do you not want to stay in Shawan anymore?!"

Someone in the crowd said, "Master Zhang, that’s unreasonable of you. Mistress Xie is your own elder sister, and Jia-jie’er is your own niece. If these orphans and widows don't rely on your Zhang family to live in Shawan, are you, as a younger brother and uncle, going to drive them away yourself?"

Zhang Qi’s face turned livid; he nearly bit through his remaining teeth!

On this side, Li Er threw another punch: "Still trying to quibble? Hit him!"

His followers were used to being arrogant, so they naturally did whatever he said.

The Zhang family servants stepped forward to help, finally managing to pull them apart.

Zhang Qi climbed up from the gaps between the people, bruised and swollen, and pointed at Lu Jia and the others, shouting: "You’d better explain this clearly in front of everyone! What is going on here!"

Lu Jia wiped away some fake tears and replied, "Uncle, you know best what is going on. We didn't do anything, so how are we supposed to explain? Although you always curse Li Er behind his back for having a pig’s brain, even if he is stupid, Mother has already said it clearly enough just now—he should have understood, right?"

After saying this, she turned to Li Er: "Did you understand?"

How could Li Er answer that?

If he said he didn't understand, it would prove he had a pig’s brain.

The point was, what was there not to understand?!

Didn't every word point to Zhang Qi as the mastermind?

Li Er was trembling with rage; if he weren't truly unable to win the fight, he would have lunged again.

Zhang Qi gritted his teeth and glared at Lu Jia, pointing at Li Er: "Then how did he get in? Did I let him in?!"

"Of course you let him in," Lu Jia blinked. "I’ve just recovered from a serious illness, and Mother and Yi-ge’er are too busy taking care of me to even think about this. You don't actually think we had the energy to pull this off, do you?

"Besides, if you didn't let him in, Uncle, how did you happen to be here exactly?

"If you didn't set this trap yourself, how could you have appeared at the scene of Li Er’s beating in the middle of the night?

"You’ve already done the good deed, Uncle; surely you aren't planning to shift the blame onto us afterward?

"Of course, if you insist on doing that, we have no choice but to accept it."

Every "Uncle" Lu Jia uttered was like a slap to the face. Zhang Qi looked at her—languid and calm—and was so angry he felt foolish!

The dead girl had an answer for everything, making it impossible to refute. The key was that with her sarcastic tone, she not only pinned the blame firmly on his head but was now turning it around to accuse him of shifting the blame?

Was she really just a fifteen-year-old yellow-haired girl?

Why did he feel like she was no less formidable than a mountain demon?!

"Master Zhang, since you wanted to protect your niece, you should have seen it through to the end. How can you quit halfway and shift the blame? Even though the Li family is wealthy, they aren't necessarily stronger than your Zhang family. Why are you so afraid of trouble?

"If you can't afford to offend the Li family, the Xie family of three is even less able to. Aren't you clearly harming them?

"If you couldn't handle this, you shouldn't have set it up in the first place. Beating someone and then shifting the blame—is that something a human would do?!

"And you call yourself an uncle. You don't look after them, you only bully them, and now you’re even stirring up trouble to harm them. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

The onlookers pointed at Zhang Qi and scolded him one after another.

Zhang Qi’s face grew increasingly pale, while Li Er looked more and more like a firecracker with a lit fuse.

Lu Jia curled her hands inside her sleeves.

Once Qiuniang walked to the end of the street and cast that fog, it would be a miracle if the Zhang family didn't take the bait!

Knowing the Xie family had a trap, it was impossible for Zhang Qi not to rush over to see what was real and what was fake!

And since Li Er could do something as reckless as jumping onto a boat to see Lu Jia, what difficulty was there in tricking him into coming to the Xie house?

Now was not the time to return to the capital, and the Xie family had no ability to defend against further schemes from the Zhang family. The best way to extinguish the Zhang family’s schemes was to let them bite each other and tear off their masks.

"Go get the sedan chair! Take the master back first!"

Lu Jia was watching the show with her hands tucked away. Seeing that he couldn't gain any advantage, Li Er was already ordering his servants to retreat.

He glared at Zhang Qi, gritting his teeth: "You just wait! Our Li family isn't finished with you! I’ll tell you clearly today: whatever it is you want from our family, even if I give it away to someone else in the future, I will absolutely never give it to you!"

Wanting "something" from the Li family?

Lu Jia’s hands, which had been circling, stopped.

Zhang Qi frantically grabbed Li Er: "Second Master, let’s talk this over! Listen to me, I’ll explain later!..."

Seeing his anxious, busy appearance, Lu Jia frowned even deeper. Qiuniang, standing beside her, exchanged a glance with her and also furrowed her brows.

It was clear that Zhang Qi was being held hostage by Li Er’s words. But when the He woman was pressuring Qiuniang, wasn't she using the property deed and the house they were currently living in as leverage?

Could it be that the Zhang family’s schemes against Lu Jia, all the underhanded things they had done, weren't just to swindle them out of those three hundred taels of silver and the house?