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Chapter 408: Chapter 398: When the Young Fall, the Old Step Up
With so many neighbors watching, Wang Dahui definitely couldn’t be frightened by a young girl, or else how would he continue to mix in this neighborhood?
After weighing his options, he took a step forward and pushed Shen Yunfang.
Shen Yunfang certainly saw his move, but instead of dodging, she fell to the ground on purpose.
The crowd gasped in shock. They probably hadn’t expected Wang Dahui to actually get rough with a young girl.
"Hey, Wang Dahui, have you no shame, hitting a young girl like that? If you’re so capable, go out and fight the police," a neighbor who couldn’t stand it yelled.
"Shut up, don’t interfere." Before the just-minded person could stand out, they were pulled away by their family member.
The remaining people, although sympathetic to Shen Yunfang, dared not offend Wang Dahui.
After this incident, the girl could dust off her pants and leave, but they couldn’t. If they offended Wang Dahui and he sought revenge when the opportunity arose, none of their families could bear it.
Alas, it was because of such thoughts that these scoundrels were tolerated and became so bold.
Wang Dahui didn’t care about the onlookers, looking at the girl who wouldn’t get up and asking with a mockingly pleasant expression, "How about it, have you figured it out? Do you realize you have to compensate with money now?"
"Hmph, you know this is robbery, right? If you get caught, you’ll be facing bullets," Shen Yunfang dramatized from where she sat on the ground.
"Haha, let me be frank with you, I call the shots around here. If I say it’s robbery, then it’s robbery. Hurry up and hand over the money, don’t waste my time," Wang Dahui, mesmerized by his own illusion of dominance, blurted out something he shouldn’t have.
"Fellow comrades, this man has admitted to robbing me, and he even hit me first. If I fight back now, that would be legitimate self-defense," Shen Yunfang declared before making a move.
"Fine, as long as you can beat him, I will testify for you." A male voice rang out from the back of the crowd, but when everyone turned to look for the man, he had disappeared.
Wang Dahui revealed a ferocious smile and took a step forward, "Girl, you still want to fight back? You really don’t know your place. Since you won’t give up the money, don’t blame me for not being polite." As he spoke, he bent down to grab Shen Yunfang.
Perfect opportunity!
Shen Yunfang seized the moment, swiftly kicked out, striking directly at the heart. Instantly, the courtyard echoed with a scream like that of a pig being slaughtered. All the men in the audience, regardless of age, subconsciously clenched their legs and then gasped in pain—how excruciating it must have been.
Shen Yunfang didn’t care. Seeing Wang Dahui brought down by her kick below the belt, she immediately sprang up from the ground, pressed down on Wang Dahui, and started pounding him with left and right fists, aiming only for the fleshiest parts.
The onlookers, hearing the thud of fists on flesh, involuntarily took several steps back. It seemed bad luck didn’t work but good luck certainly did. They had just said Wang Dahui would kick an iron plate and now, here the iron plate stood, right before them. How satisfying.
"Ah! You murderer, stop hitting my son," an old lady ran out of the house. Upon seeing Shen Yunfang delivering blows, she immediately charged into the fray.
Shen Yunfang quickly dodged to the side and glanced at the old lady. She had just met her while viewing the house; this must be Wang Dahui’s mother.
This old lady was quite something. Her son was just outside, scamming and bullying people, and she kept quiet, hiding inside the house. But now that her son was taking a beating, she rushed out. She was probably trying to use her old age to her advantage.
Shen Yunfang shook her wrist, having punched for a while now, and the anger in her heart had mostly dissipated. It was time to stop without any disadvantage.
"Oh, my son, are you okay, don’t scare me. You murderer! May you not die a good death! Bullying us, as orphans and widows, I’m going to fight you!" The old lady rocked Wang Dahui, who was curled up on the ground, for a while, then shakily stood up, preparing to charge at Shen Yunfang.
What now? The young one was down, and the old one still wanted to suit up and play the victim?
Shen Yunfang could hit Wang Dahui but couldn’t lay hands on such an old lady. No matter who was right or wrong, if anything should happen to the old lady in the process, Shen Yunfang would be blamed.
Only a fool would fight to the death with an old lady.
"Orphans and widows? You lie so blatantly without your tongue snapping. You say I’m bullying orphans and widows? Just you wait, I’m off to the police station to surrender myself," Shen Yunfang quickly said as she dashed down a narrow path cleared by the crowd.
Of course, Shen Yunfang didn’t really go to the police station. Not because she was scared, but because it would be too much of a hassle, regardless of whether she was a victim or not. Besides if she ended up at the police station, Li Hongjun would definitely find out and getting out freely to wander would become much more difficult in the future. After some painful reflection, Shen Yunfang decided to give Wang Dahui another chance to reform himself.
However, she learned some lessons from this ordeal. As a woman with a delicate appearance, wandering alone outside made it easy for others to harbor ill intentions. If Li Hongjun had accompanied her to the viewing today, Wang Dahui wouldn’t have dared to cause trouble, even if he had a hundred times the nerve.
From then on, Shen Yunfang became more cautious in her dealings. If no one could accompany her, she would still go out on her own, but if there was a house for sale, she wouldn’t recklessly go to view it by herself anymore. She would first go home and see if Li Hongjun was free; if not, she’d ask Ma Liguo for help.
Ma Liguo was surprised to see her so eager to buy houses. In the eyes of most people at the time, a house was good enough if it could shelter you. They preferred to hold on to their money for peace of mind rather than invest it in real estate. Who could have predicted that in ten to twenty years, the housing prices here would shoot up like a rocket, almost as fast as printing money?
But Shen Yunfang’s house buying did inspire him. Seeing her enthusiasm, he too invested some passion into it. Initially, he was just helping a comrade look at houses, but eventually, he too was influenced, realizing that with money in hand, it was wise to invest in more real estate. He may not have foresight, but he believed that Li Hongjun and his wife were no ordinary people. There must be great potential in something they were so obsessed with. Thus, not long after, he too joined the ranks of property hoarders and, unsurprisingly, became a multimillionaire in the future. Of course, all of this came later. For now, Ma Liguo was devoted to selecting houses for Shen Yunfang.
However, at that time, not many people were selling houses, and even fewer had all the paperwork in order. Shen Yunfang didn’t want much; she just insisted that when buying a house, all the procedures had to be complete, transferring ownership to her name, legally recognized.
This one requirement alone eliminated the majority of houses. At that time, most houses were allocated by work units; they had living rights but not the right to sell, so in the weeks before the new year, the two of them saw several properties, but it all turned out to be in vain as they didn’t manage to buy a single house.
This only proved how important it was to have a well-informed person by your side. It was only thanks to Ma Liguo that her family could buy those two houses.
