He Yan grabbed him and urgently said, "Yuanze, be rational!"
"Be rational?" He looked at her with bloodshot eyes and asked, "How can I be rational? Should I endure it like you? He Yan, this is not rational, this is cowardly! Why are you letting that jerk threaten you like this? Do you believe everything he says? This is a society governed by law. What are you afraid of? He Yan, you weren't like this before!"
Angered, Liang Yuanze spoke without restraint. He Yan, shocked, felt a pang in her heart and couldn't help but turn red-eyed. She asked him in a trembling voice, "Yuanze, are you accusing me? Am I cowardly? Am I willingly accepting Fu Shenxing's threat, is that it?"
Liang Yuanze realized his mistake. He closed his eyes in pain, took a step forward, and embraced He Yan, saying with a bitter tone, "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. I meant we should be brave, we should go to the police, we shouldn't let that jerk do as he pleases."
He Yan didn't speak, she just trembled in his embrace. After a while, she asked him, "Yuanze, do you understand what we are facing?"
"I understand!" Liang Yuanze held her shoulders tightly, as if trying to give her strength. But before he could say more, they heard the sound of the doorknob turning.
Both of them were astonished. Liang Yuanze let go of He Yan and, disregarding her instinctive resistance, walked over to check. He had barely reached the entrance when the door was suddenly opened from the outside. Several burly men rushed in, and before Liang Yuanze could react, they had pinned his arms and pushed him to the ground. He struggled vigorously and angrily demanded, "Who are you? Let go of me!"
Without a word, one of the men punched Liang Yuanze in the abdomen, causing him to double over in pain. Another man swiftly snatched the phone from He Yan and handed it to the sturdy bald man who had entered. The bald man took a glance at the not yet dialed emergency number on the phone, sneered, and said, "Apologies, Miss He."
He turned his head and someone forcibly restrained He Yan. Liang Yuanze watched with fury, shouting, "Let her go!"
The bald man didn't respond kindly to Liang Yuanze. He turned back and ordered his men, "Beat him, beat him hard."
Several men immediately rushed forward, surrounding Liang Yuanze and punching and kicking him. In a matter of moments, he was lying on the floor. He Yan was frantic and wanted to scream for help, but her mouth was taped shut so she could only muffle her struggles. Slowly, Liang Yuanze's resistance weakened, and as he was about to pass out, the bald man called for the beating to stop. He then ordered his men to lift Liang Yuanze up from the ground and cruelly asked, "Tell me, which finger offended Mr. Fu?"
Without needing further instructions, the men pulled out both of Liang Yuanze's hands and pressed them onto the coffee table, demanding, "Tell us!"
He Yan let out a mournful cry and desperately tried to get to Liang Yuanze, and unexpectedly, the two men next to her, caught off guard by her sudden strength, let go of her, allowing her to climb on top of Liang Yuanze.
The bald man became angry and reprimanded his men, "Useless! Get Miss He off him, be careful not to hurt her."
He Yan tore the tape from her mouth and held onto Liang Yuanze, refusing to let go, crying out, "I want to find Fu Shenxing, I want to find Fu Shenxing!"
The bald man signaled his men to pull He Yan off Liang Yuanze, re-taping her mouth, and then said with a smile, "Miss He, feel free to find Mr. Fu, but don't delay our work. We don't want to hurt you, and we hope you understand, right?"
He then took a knife from one of his men, skillfully handled it, and looked at He Yan, laughing as he asked, "Tell me, which finger did this guy use to offend Mr. Fu?"
How could He Yan answer? She couldn't break free from the two men beside her, and could only shake her head, tears streaming down her face. The bald man just smiled and continued, "Well then, let's ask this: is he left-handed? I don't want to cut the wrong hand again."
"P-please! Please!" He Yan cried incoherently, even bending her knees, trying to kneel in front of the bald man. Liang Yuanze, who had regained consciousness, looked at He Yan with difficulty and hoarsely said, "He Yan, stand up. Don't beg this group of animals!"
"Good! That's more like a man!" The bald man laughed and applauded, then stepped on the coffee table, stomping on Liang Yuanze's head. "Just two words from you, and I'll only take one of your fingers." With that, he sliced off Liang Yuanze's right index finger, leaving him writhing in agony.
Liang Yuanze let out a pained scream, but it abruptly cut off as he forced it down his throat.
"Alright, he's tough," the bald man laughed, then told his men to put Liang Yuanze's severed finger in a plastic bag. He then lightly tapped Liang Yuanze's head with his foot and said, "It's a pity you offended the wrong person. Kid, thanks to Miss He's face, we're letting you go. Remember, don't point fingers at others recklessly again, or it won't just be a finger next time."
He told his men to release He Yan and, with his men, departed. Several cars were waiting in the dim alley, and the bald man sat in the front car, casually tossing the bag of severed finger to a man in the back seat, saying, "Here, Five, the job's done."
Five took a look at the bag of bloody severed finger, wrinkled his brow in disgust, and tossed it out through the car window. He then asked, "The woman wasn't hurt, was she?"
"No," responded the bald man cheerfully, "we didn't touch the woman at all. Rest assured, our men know their boundaries and didn't go too far with that guy, except for taking his finger, he's mostly unharmed."
Little Five nodded in satisfaction.
The bald man scratched his shiny head and asked, "If you ask me, daring to snatch a woman from Mr. Fu, it would be better to find a way to kill him directly, why bother to scare him, it's neither here nor there."
Little Five curled his lips and said, "Maybe he's concerned about that woman."-#~Wondrous&;Pen&;Pavilion?++
The bald man thought about the almost insane appearance of He Yan just now and couldn't help but click his tongue twice. "I really don't understand Mr. Fu. What kind of a woman can't he find? How did he fall for a married woman? I've been watching that woman. She's devoted to her husband. Little Five, you didn't see the sound she made when I chopped off that boy's finger just now. It was like a mother wolf, it made me shiver."
Little Five didn't speak, just frowned.
After a moment, the bald man suddenly said, "Little Five, don't you think Mr. Fu is different now? He used to kill without getting his hands dirty."
Little Five gave the bald man a cold glance and stopped him from saying anything more, saying coldly, "Are you tired of living?"
The bald man smiled awkwardly, "I was just speaking casually, don't take it seriously, Five Brother!"
Indeed, Fu Shenxing wasn't like this before. As Fu's reputation gradually improved, although Fu still held the black power of Nanzhao, since Fu Shenxing took over the Fu's, he gradually shut down those black industries and became more and more distant from people like Little Five, until he returned from abroad earlier this year.
Little Five smiled silently and said to himself, "I think Brother Xing is the best now. This is our Mr. Fu, the king of Nanzhao's dark night."