Chapter 90: No Entry

They were both bare, back to back, hip to hip.

The sensation was strangely intimate.

Just as the two of them were silently savoring each other's bodies, and were even on the verge of going a step further, a clamor suddenly rose outside the house.

"Hey! Look over there, there's a ruined house!"

"Let's go there and take shelter from the rain first! Damn it, this cursed sky, suddenly coming down like this!"

"Damn it all, our progress is going to be delayed again!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Everyone, get over there and wait out the rain!"

A chorus of men's voices rang out, and Li Bixian inside was immediately frightened pale.

"Oh..."

"What do we do, Xiaofan? Someone's coming!"

"If they catch us here like this, both of us completely naked..."

"Then even if we jump into the Yellow River, we won't be able to wash this clean!"

Panic seized her, and she grabbed her clothes, desperate to put them on.

Zeng Xiaofan quickly turned around and caught Li Bixian's hand, frowning.

"If you put them back on now, everything we've done will be wasted."

"No. We have to dry ourselves thoroughly and drive out the cold before we can wear anything."

"Ah..." When Li Bixian saw Zeng Xiaofan turn around and take in her entire body, she let out a soft, embarrassed gasp.

Zeng Xiaofan only glanced once, realized something was wrong, and hurriedly turned his head away again.

"It isn't that... there are so many of them coming in a moment. If they see us like this..."

"Who would believe that a lone man and a lone woman were just sitting here by the fire without clothes on?"

Li Bixian was nearly in tears as the footsteps drew closer and closer.

Yet Zeng Xiaofan only said calmly, "Who says I need to explain anything to them?"

"I, Zeng Xiaofan, have lived my life without ever needing to explain myself to anyone."

"You just keep warming yourself by the fire. I'll handle it."

No sooner had his words fallen than the footsteps outside had already reached the doorstep.

"Huh? That's strange."

"It's pouring so hard, so why is there smoke rising from that ruined house?"

"Could there really still be someone living in there?"

"That doesn't make sense... the eaves look like they're about to collapse. How could anyone live there..."

A burly bald man, wiping water from his face, muttered in confusion.

At that moment, a cool, haughty voice drifted out from within the house.

"Friend outside, please stop where you are."

"Someone is already inside. Please look for another place to rest."

As soon as those words were spoken, the people outside stopped in their tracks.

More than a dozen burly men holding hoes, shovels, and other tools exchanged glances.

The bald man wiped the rain from his head again and turned to a tattooed man, asking, "What do we do, Tiger? There really is someone in there."

"Do we leave?"

The tattooed man was none other than Zhou Xiaohu, the local bully whom Zeng Xiaofan had already dealt with once at the western suburb market.

The rain was so loud that Zhou Xiaohu did not recognize Zeng Xiaofan's voice at first. Seeing the downpour growing heavier, he gave a cold snort.

"Leave for what? With rain like this, in the middle of nowhere, where are we supposed to go?"

"There are so many of us. If we head into the village, won't we stand out even more?"

"Small villages like this one, even if a dog wanders in the whole village knows. Let alone a whole crowd like us."

The bald man nodded repeatedly.

"Right, right..."

"This matter has to stay secret... but if we go into their house now, won't the people inside notice us too?"

Zhou Xiaohu crooked his mouth into a grin, revealing a mouth full of blackened teeth.

"This house is so small. How many people could there be inside? Probably just some villagers from the nearby mountain slopes, out doing farm work."

"Dealing with a few villagers is nothing. Scare them a little and they won't dare fart twice."

"And if they really start asking questions and blabbing..."

"Then if they make trouble, just bury them in the rain."

A flash of cruelty appeared in Zhou Xiaohu's eyes. The others lowered their heads at once, not daring to say more.

The bald man nodded vigorously.

"Exactly, exactly... Tiger's got the answer!"

"All right, I get it. I know what to do."

He immediately turned back toward the ruined tile house and shouted, "Folks! Sorry about this! We're workers from out of town, hired to do mountain labor!"

"We were cutting trees in the old forest over there, and with the rain coming down like this, we had no choice but to come inside and避..."

He did not even finish before stepping toward the house.

But the moment he took that step, the cool voice from inside rose again.

"The gate is the boundary. Anyone who crosses it by a single step will not be treated kindly."

Zeng Xiaofan's voice was not loud, yet every person present heard it clearly.

Zhou Xiaohu found the voice oddly familiar. For some reason, the moment he heard it, he felt a peculiar sense of offense.

The others exchanged looks and burst into laughter. The bald man laughed so hard his fleshy face shook.

"Hey, country boy, do you even understand the situation?"

"If you don't, why don't you come out here and take a look at us? And you still dare threaten us?"

"Hahaha! That's hilarious. One spit from each of us and we could drown you!"

"Damn it! Calling you country folk is giving you face, and you still dare act high and mighty?"

"Get the hell out here and welcome your grandfathers, or once we barge in, we won't let you off!"

With a roar, the bald man startled Li Bixian inside so badly she cried out.

"No!"

"You can't come in!"

"You absolutely can't come in!"

"We... we're not in a convenient state right now. Could you please go somewhere else and shelter for a while?"

The burly men all froze when they heard a woman's voice, and then they became excited at once.

The bald man was so thrilled he kept rubbing his hands together.

"Fuck! There's a woman too!"

"Out here in this godforsaken place, there's actually a woman with a voice that sweet?"

"Brothers, it looks like luck is smiling on us today!"

"Heh heh heh..."

The men all broke into obscene grins.

Hearing the woman's voice, Zhou Xiaohu's eyes also flashed with lust as he sneered lewdly.

"Well, well... so there really is a beauty inside."

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to frighten you. Since there's a beauty in there, may I ask what's inconvenient?"

"Are you busy pushing and bumping against a man?"

"Or are you stuck, hooked, or caught and can't separate, so it's inconvenient?"

"If that's the case, big brother can help you out."

At that, the others burst into manic laughter.

The bald man was practically swallowing his saliva.

"As expected, Tiger knows the ropes. A lone man and a lone woman—what could possibly be inconvenient about that?"

"They're definitely doing some shameless little thing behind closed doors!"

"Come on, come on! I want to see just how far you've gone..."

"Want your big brother to lend you a hand? Heh heh heh!"

With a ferocious grin, the bald man stepped one foot through the gate.

At that exact moment, a branch shot up from inside the house into the air, then fell abruptly—landing right beneath the bald man's foot.

He suddenly felt a piercing pain from under his sole.

Looking down, he saw that the seemingly harmless branch that had flown over had actually driven straight through the top of his foot!

It had nailed his right foot, the very one he had just placed inside the courtyard gate, directly to the ground.

"Aaaaaaaah!!!!"

The bald man's bloodcurdling scream rang out across the entire scene.