Chapter 32 Not an Illusion

That money from selling the fruits was what she had set aside to cultivate ginseng saplings; it was the hope of Little Wu Village, and she had to get it back!

Li Tian'er hurled her bag hard at the horse-faced man and shouted angrily, "Give me back my money!" With that, she charged at him, having completely forgotten about her personal safety in her single-minded quest to retrieve the funds.

Without starting capital, everything else was just empty talk. Although Village Chief He had promised full support for the medicinal herb cultivation project, Little Wu Village had a weak economic foundation, and the assistance he could provide was truly limited. Aside from being able to freely dispatch the village's able-bodied bachelors for manual labor, other investments were practically zero.

Even if her fruit wholesale business required no capital upfront, she still had to wait until today's wholesale clients sold their goods before she could restock. Early April was prime time for cultivating ginseng, and delaying even a single day could mean missing out on a bountiful harvest.

Her long-untrained martial arts skills finally came in handy. Rushing up to the horse-faced man, Li Tian'er delivered a high kick straight to his chin.

The horse-faced man surely hadn't expected a woman to know martial arts. Having watched the movie The Shaolin Temple several times recently, he had been trying to figure out some boxing moves of his own. He failed to dodge Li Tian'er's high kick to his chin, and a mouthful of saliva flew from his elongated face. At the same time, however, he reached out to grab Li Tian'er's face and chest. Twisting around in a panic, Li Tian'er managed to evade his attack, but she failed to guard against a flying grapple thrown by the short man running up behind her.

The flying grapple was a homemade imitation of the wire-walking hidden weapons seen in movies—one end featured four curved claws made of thick iron wire, attached to a rope so that if thrown onto a perimeter wall, one could climb up the rope to the top. The short man threw the grapple half to tease Li Tian'er and half to rescue the horse-faced man.

Despite being crudely made, the flying grapple carried considerable force. Striking Li Tian'er squarely in the back, the pain caused her to grit her teeth fiercely to keep the tears from falling. The horse-faced man and the short man closed in on her together. As the horse-faced man reached for her arm, Li Tian'er threw a punch straight at his face. This time, the horse-faced man was prepared; before her dainty fist could reach him, he jerked his head aside to dodge. Yet Li Tian'er's punch was merely a feint—her true target was his stomach. Two consecutive punches landed solidly on his lower abdomen, causing him to howl in agony.

"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. You're not going anywhere today; selling you off to the mountains will fetch a pretty penny."

The short man retrieved his flying grapple and brandished a gleaming dagger, its sharp blade casting an eerie and terrifying glow in the narrow alley.

"Let the brothers have some fun with you before we sell you to the mountains to be a wife to a few old bachelors. We guarantee that in two days you'll be completely tamed, and you won't dare throw punches and kicks at men anymore."

Saying this, the horse-faced man also pulled out a dagger. Trapped in a pincer movement between the two, Li Tian'er began to panic.

Her chances of winning a life-and-death struggle against these two scoundrels were slim. If she really lost her life here, she would fail Li Taohua utterly.

Her mission was supposedly to rescue impoverished sisters from their suffering, but for as long as she had inhabited Li Taohua's identity, she hadn't brought much change to Li Taohua's life. Her marriage to Chen Yunchao remained a complete mess; aside from a few new clothes she had bought, she hadn't managed to save even a single yuan for Li Taohua, let alone secure a long-term, viable career for her.

Seeing Li Tian'er waver, the horse-faced man and the short man let out obscene laughs. Each brandishing a dagger, they closed in on her, forcing her to surrender.

Just as the two scoundrels were about to press their advantage, in her desperation, Li Tian'er resorted to her final trick. She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Fire! There's a fire!"

The narrow alley was lined with small, independent households; surely someone would come out upon hearing there was a fire. Regardless of whether anyone was willing to come to her rescue out of a sense of justice, at least people coming out would create enough chaos for her to escape. As for getting her money back, she could always report the incident and ask the police for help.

Aside from Li Tian'er's cries, the surroundings remained utterly silent.

The two scoundrels burst out laughing.

"Shout all you want! Even if you shout your lungs out, only the few of us will hear you. This entire area is slated for demolition and nobody lives here..."

Before the horse-faced man could finish his sentence, the door of the house behind him swung open. A tall man emerged from the low doorway. Before Li Tian'er could even make out his features, the man moved with a blur of motion. With a pair of sharp grunts, the two scoundrels had their arms twisted behind them and were forced to their knees. Their daggers clattered to the ground, the gleaming blades instantly coated with a layer of gray dust kicked up from the dirt.

Catching sight of An Changlin, Li Tian'er felt her mind momentarily stall. She assumed she must be hallucinating to be wishing so hard for An Changlin to come to her rescue.

"What did they do to you?"

An Changlin asked, looking directly at Li Tian'er.

"An..."

Li Tian'er wanted to verify whether what she saw was real, but she cut herself off after uttering a single syllable, fearing that blurting out An Changlin's name would cause the scoundrels to remember it and seek revenge against him later.

"They robbed me of my money."

Seeing the look An Changlin gave her, Li Tian'er snapped back to reality.

"Give her the money back, or prepare to have your hands chopped off."

An Changlin kicked the dagger lying before the horse-faced man. The weapon seemed to sprout wings, flying up before descending sharply to embed itself diagonally right in front of the short man.

Realizing that An Changlin possessed extraordinary martial prowess, and with their arms locked immobility behind their backs, the two scoundrels knew they had no choice left but to beg for mercy. Daring not to act tough any longer, they obediently handed over Li Tian'er's money and pleaded with An Changlin not to torture them further.

"Dealing with trash like you would only dirty my hands."

An Changlin spat on the ground and delivered two flying kicks to the scoundrels' rears, watching as the pair scrambled away in utter terror until they vanished from sight.

Counting her money, Li Tian'er finally settled her anxious heart.

"What are you doing here?"

"I had some urgent business and had to stay here temporarily. How did you end up getting robbed?"

The door behind An Changlin was left ajar, but he showed no intention of inviting Li Tian'er inside. Standing at the threshold to talk to her, his gaze occasionally drifted toward the gap in the door.

Based on Li Tian'er's understanding of An Changlin, both his demeanor and his expression were entirely different from before. Could it be that he had also turned to shady paths and was up to no good? Judging by what the two scoundrels had said earlier, this area was completely uninhabited, and An Changlin's choice to live in this "no-man's-land" could only be explained by a desire to carry out illicit deeds away from prying eyes.

"I suppose they must have targeted me when I was paying for books at the bookstore."

"Be more careful in the future. Don't carry so much cash out on the streets."

An Changlin offered a brief smile before his expression immediately tightened again. Turning around, he closed the door firmly. Still seeming uneasy, he pulled open the door slightly, retrieved a large iron padlock from behind it, shut the door once more, and locked it securely.

"I'll walk you to the station. There are still buses back to Little Wu Village at this hour. But you'll reach home after dark, so you need to be careful on the road. Or perhaps you could go look for Chen Yunchao? I saw him at noon today."

At the mention of Chen Yunchao's name, An Changlin furrowed his brow.

"I'm not going back to Little Wu Village, and I'm not looking for Chen Yunchao. I plan to stay at an inn; I still have some business to take care of tomorrow. Do you live right here? What about Chen Haichao? Weren't you traveling together?"

Li Tian'er's questions caused An Changlin to fall silent.