Chapter 41: The Cheater is Cheated

  The one speaking was indeed Liu Yinger. When Xue Xiang was startled awake, he saw this green lily at a glance. It had been more than four months since they last met. Occasionally, in the middle of the night when dreams returned, Xue Xiang would also think of her - that beautiful figure, elegant face, an encounter that had not occurred in past lives but only in this life. Young and infatuated with Ai, although Xue Xiang's mental age far exceeded the boundaries of youth, his infatuation for Ai had never dissipated. Whether in past lives or this life, Xue Xiang had never tasted forbidden fruit; towards beautiful women, he had no evil intentions but always a yearning heart.

  Liu Ying'er wore a green and white striped cotton-padded jacket, the back of which was narrow and slightly long, barely covering her plump buttocks. The collar of the jacket was tied tightly, not revealing any skin. Although the jacket was loose, it couldn't hide the pair of high-standing breasts. White linen pants, with the pant legs still cut off at the middle, barely covered a pair of crystal-like jade calves. The pant leg openings were re-sewn, with red silk thread embroidered with a red sparrow on the white pant leg edges, and the pant legs were shrunk inward, so the pant leg openings weren't too wide, appearing mismatched with the upper half of the loose-fitting pant legs, yet having a unique charm. Paired with a pair of black-bottomed white-faced low-heeled cloth shoes, it was as if they had coincidentally matched the eclectic style of later generations. Liu Ying'er was born to be a clothes rack, and even wrapped in hemp cloth, she couldn't hide her elegant demeanor. Adding a bit of cleverness and adornment, she naturally had an extraordinary charm that moved people deeply.

  Xue Xiang gazed foolishly at Liu Ying'er's delicate face, which was as clean and pure as jade, greedily admiring the most heart-moving scenery in the world. The sunlight passing through the window cast a warm glow on her gem-like face, making it even more holy and radiant. She slightly turned her head, as if avoiding the sunlight, and her long eyelashes blinked, decorating her big, watery eyes like peach blossoms.

  Xue Xiang had been intentionally ignoring the evil people and things in front of him earlier, just waiting for this beautiful lady with a strong sense of justice to appear. Although it was cliché, rescuing a beauty was still the best way to win a girl's heart. Whether you admit it or not, every girl hopes to have a boy come to her rescue in times of crisis, and if that boy isn't too ugly, he will often be regarded as a white knight in her heart.

  "Hey, look what we've got here... a beauty! Ah, too stunning. Hehe, comrade, mind your own business, I'll deal with this myself. Once I'm done, I'll treat you to tea."

  Hearing someone scolding from behind, Qian Dabiao felt particularly displeased. Hasn't everyone seen the big shot show off? Yet, there's still someone who isn't afraid of death.

  Qian Dabiao turned around, ready to retort, but what entered his line of sight was a refreshing and beautiful woman, an unprecedented beauty. The dirty words that were about to come out of his mouth were swallowed back, replaced with a civilized tone.

  As he spoke, he pulled down the vest that had been rolled up, covering his fat body. A pair of small eyes, like green beans, stared at Liu Ying'er without blinking.

  "What business is it of yours with her? This is extortion, blackmail!" Liu Ying'er rebuked with a wrinkled nose.

  "Stop being shameless, get lost! You've messed with the wrong person, you'll pay for it!" Qian Dabiao's civilized facade didn't last two minutes before his true nature was revealed.

  "Second fatty, how can you talk to a female comrade like that? Quickly apologize to her." Wang Xi saw the beautiful woman and his heart was already itching. This time he couldn't even bother to remotely control from behind, and instead inserted himself in front of the stage.

  Qian Dabiao usually doesn't take anyone seriously, but he makes an exception for Wang Xi. He knows that this seemingly harmless-looking man is actually ruthless and merciless. Just as Qian Dabiao was about to apologize hypocritically, Liu Ying'er interrupted him: "No need to apologize, just don't make things difficult for this lady."

  "What are you talking about, how can we bully the old man? We have always been respectful to the elderly. But when the old man damages things, he can't just put on airs and not compensate for it, that's not reasonable anywhere." Wang Xi said seriously, staring at Liu Ying'er's twin peaks.

  "Are you trying to shift the blame on others? It was you who broke it yourselves. All those passengers just now saw it too."

  "Oh, is that so? Whoever saw it, come out and let me take a look." Wang Xi smoothed his long, messy hair and shouted, thinking this gesture was extremely elegant. He was very satisfied with his current hairstyle, and the memory of his previous hat-head still made him blush. Only this hairstyle suited him, and the beauty in front of him must be stunned.

  Liu Ying'er was indeed stunned, and not a single passenger on the full bus stood up to support her. Liu Ying'er carefully examined each face, and found that Xiao Liu, the little rascal, was also there. She hummed in disdain, this coward, he didn't even dare to stand up and speak. Liu Ying'er felt a wave of bitterness in her heart, how could he be like this? He wasn't like this before. The last bit of sympathy she had for Xue Xiang's treatment of Xiaobei was completely gone. She didn't want to think about who it was that had stopped Xue Xiang from dealing with the bad guys back then.

  Xue Xiang puffed out a mouthful of smoke, meeting the angry gaze of Liu Ying'er, thinking to himself that now she should know how hard it is to be a good person. He had decided not to let her suffer at the hands of evil people, but how could he make her understand the helplessness behind his clenched fists and drawn sword? Xue Xiang leaned back in his chair, smoking. The car drove up to a large pagoda tree, its dense branches pressing down extremely low, almost touching the window frame, as if about to poke inside. Xue Xiang casually plucked a leaf from the tree and began to play with it in his hand.

  Wang Xi saw that the crowd was still quite sensible, and no one dared to make a fuss. He leered at Liu Ying'er and said, "How's that? Justice is in people's hearts, isn't it? The great leader has always said that the masses' eyes are bright."

  Liu Ying'er looked at his smug face and felt a wave of nausea, for a moment she couldn't find the words to say.

  "Girl, thank you, forget it, don't argue anymore, I'll sell the musk and compensate them." The old lady held onto Liu Ying'er's hand to express her gratitude, her turbid eyes almost shedding tears. She then turned to Wang Xi and the other person and asked: "How much do you want me to compensate?"

  Wang Xi and Qian Dabiao were overjoyed to see the old lady give in, and they exchanged a glance. Still, it was up to Wang Xi to set the price. He smiled and said, "Old mom, I'm not being stingy, but you really did break my family's treasured heirloom. If it were just an ordinary vase, we wouldn't be making such a fuss about it. But this is a Song Dynasty porcelain, do you know how long ago that was? My dad told me it's something called Jun porcelain, worth three or four thousand yuan. How about you compensate us two thousand yuan and we'll call it quits?" He had no idea what dynasty the vase was from; it was just one of the decorations in his father's study, probably not too far off. He had casually remembered his father mentioning that Jun porcelain was the king of porcelains, and now he brought it up to intimidate her.

  "Why don't you just go and rob, Master? Drive directly to the police station." As soon as Wang Xizai opened his mouth, everyone in the car took a deep breath. They thought he was just eyeing the musk in the old lady's basket, but they didn't expect him to be so ruthless. Liu Ying'er couldn't hold back her anger and made the decision for the old lady, telling the bald driver to drive to the police station.

  The old lady heard that it would cost so much money, and even if she sold her musk, it wouldn't be enough to compensate. The grievances in her heart could no longer be tolerated, and she burst into tears. The crowd on the bus felt a pang of sadness and glared at the two men fiercely. The bald driver was also hesitant about whether to drive the car to the police station, but he had just heard the fat man say that his cousin was the director of the Tianqiao Police Station. Wouldn't going there be like throwing themselves into the tiger's den? He hesitated for a moment, and the bus slowed down gradually.

  Wang Xi saw that everyone's face was not good and knew he had offended the crowd. At this time, it was not possible to stimulate people's nerves again. A common man in anger could still splatter blood within five steps. He hastily said: "Old mother, you're also having a hard time, let's just use your basket of musk deer to compensate, we'll take a loss." He deeply understood the psychology of following the crowd, now it was just lacking a leader.

  Everyone's mind simultaneously flashed with a phrase: Desperate times call for desperate measures!

  The old mother was about to hand over the basket and calm things down when a voice suddenly came.

  "Ah, let go, let go, ah, my treasure! Ah, this is a family heirloom passed down from my great-great-grandfather's great-great-grandfather! I heard it was already the 20th generation when it reached my grandfather. A thousand-year-old tree leaf, you're going to compensate me for it!" Xue held a folded catalpa leaf in his left hand and grasped Wang Xi's collar with his right, his face filled with pain as he spoke.

  The car turned around and all the passengers in the carriage saw that they had been cheated in such a dramatic way, and they couldn't help but laugh, it was too funny.

  Wang Xi was furious at Xue Xiang's shamelessness, and with both hands, he forcefully pulled on Xue Xiang's arm, but it didn't budge. Qian Dabiao watched from the side, getting anxious, and angrily said: "You're looking for death! You've cheated me, Qian Dabiao, and you don't even have a good reason. When we go out to cheat people, at least we use a porcelain bottle. But you, you didn't even choose a prop, you just directly pulled on a tree leaf and started acting. Isn't that too much? You're simply robbing openly!" Qian Dabiao was so angry that his words came out quickly and urgently, revealing the truth of what he was doing. It's also strange that Xue Xiang's behavior was too exaggerated. In the past, Qian Dabiao would cheat others, but at least he needed to set up a scheme and think it through. Today, when he himself was being cheated, and with such rough methods, he couldn't accept it.

  "Your mouth is really dirty, let me wash it for you." With that, Xue threw away the leaves, grabbed Qian Dabiao's neck, pressed his occipital bone, and slammed him against the car wall. Then, with a loud noise, he grasped Qian's hair tightly and rubbed it hard against the wall, back and forth, making a screeching sound that made everyone's teeth ache.

  Wang Xi felt a chill run down his spine as he watched, this was too direct, you can't scam people like that, we haven't even said no to compensation yet.

  Xue Xiang grabbed Wang Xi's collar and lifted him off the ground, sneering: "A broken vase is worth three to four thousand, so how much do you think these leaves from a several-thousand-year-old tree are worth?"

  Wang Xi was choked by Xue Xiang and couldn't breathe, his eyes rolled back, and he gestured with his hands in the air, signaling Xue Xiang to let go so he could answer. Xue Xiang released his grip, and Wang Xi fell to the ground from mid-air, almost losing his balance. After a long while of gasping for breath, he said: "This brother, killing someone is just a matter of pointing to their head and toe, today we admit defeat. This porcelain vase was an old item, which dynasty it belongs to I'm not clear about, but we can find someone to appraise it. Today, let's consider your face and just forget about it, don't make things difficult for us either. A desperate dog will still jump over a wall, let alone with people in the yamen."

  Wang Xi was indeed a master of the dark side, and at this moment, I was the fish on the chopping board, while he was the knife. Yet, despite being in a precarious situation, he remained fearless and composed, speaking with a mix of flattery and intimidation that hit all the right notes.

  "Oh? So you mean you don't want to compensate anymore, that's not good."

  "Brother Xi, don't waste words with him, watch me take care of him." Qian Dabiao got up from the ground, his pig-like face swollen like an elephant's head, with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His lips were curled outwards, resembling a cured sausage. Qian Dabiao pulled out a deboning knife from his waist and pounced on Xue Xiang.

  "Your bravery impresses me, and your foolishness equally astonishes me." Xue Xiang's fist heavily hit the shoulder of Qian Dabiao who was holding a knife, and the punch landed at the same time as the knife fell. Qian Dabiao let out a miserable cry and collapsed to the ground.

  "Master, drive a bit faster. Conductor, open the car door."

  "Alright, hold on tight." The bald driver saw Xue's fierce move and the two car thieves cried out for their dads and moms, feeling a mix of pain and pleasure in his heart, with no more hesitation.