Zhu Han breathed in the delicate fragrance emanating from the arms of Bai Aoxue, chuckled, and reached out to pull her close.
"Ah!" Bai Aoxue cried out in terror.
Lin Fan spun around, stepping right beside Bai Aoxue to pull her out of reach just in time. "Bai Aoxue is my wife now, Young Master Zhu, please show some self-respect."
Young Master Zhu furrowed his brows, staring at the little nobody before him with boiling rage. "Damn it, you ruined my mood! Who the hell can tell me who this little bastard is, and where he crawled out from?"
Furious and beside himself, Young Master Zhu pulled a gun from his waist and turned to aim it straight at Lin Fan.
Bai Aoxue stepped in front of Lin Fan. "Zhu Han, let's lay our cards on the table. Forcing me to marry you was my grandfather's idea, and as for the family's funding, we'll find another way! I apologize to you on behalf of my grandfather! I already have someone I love, and my grandfather has agreed to our marriage. I hope you can be the bigger person, and for my sake, don't hold this against the Bai Family."
"Little sis, what are you doing!" Bai Aocong shouted. "Have you lost your mind? If you don't want to marry him, you don't have to! I am already Lin Fan's woman."
"What! This little bastard slept with you?!" Zhu Han felt his heart drop.
"Ugh!" Zhu Han clutched his chest, nearly choking on his own breath from anger! His beauty had been ruined by this punk! He had known for a long time that Bai Aoxue possessed a unique innate constitution that could aid in cultivating his techniques. He had waited until today with such difficulty, only to have her snatched away by this brat!
"If you want to die, don't drag us down with you!" Two deafening gunshots rang out, startling the people in the courtyard into covering their ears and scurrying in panic.
When the gunshots ceased, two of the guards at the door lay dead in pools of innocent blood!
"Ah!" Bai Aoxue screamed in terror.
"In Huadu, there is nothing that Zhu Han cannot have! Look at that! Push me too far, and that's what happens!"
"That's right, Young Master, we never meant to set ourselves against you! What's so great about this broke loser? He's not even worthy of carrying your shoes!"
"If you want to marry him, you marry him, but I'm not doing it!"
"Young Master Zhu, Young Master Zhu, please don't be angry! My daughter is ignorant, I apologize to you!" Bai Tianba said in panic, his old face twisting into a ingratiating smile as he hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Zhu Han. With a flick of his hand, Zhu Han splashed the scalding tea right across Bai Tianba's face.
Bai Tianba's old bones winced in agony, his face twisting in a grimace where he could neither cry nor laugh.
Bai Tianba glanced at his sons. The three Bai brothers—one massaging Zhu Han's shoulders, another kneading his legs—shivered with fear after the gunshots and quickly hurried over to kneel before Zhu Han, kowtowing. "Young Master, spare our lives! It was all this punk, plotting against our sister! How shameless of him to trick Grandfather with some parlor tricks, forcing himself on our little sister without anyone's consent! It's simply despicable!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Zhu Han kicked the three Bai brothers to the ground with one sweep of his foot and pressed his shoe directly onto Bai Tianba's old face. "You bunch of trash! Not one of you is any good, you couldn't even handle this single guy!"
Zhu Han abruptly stood up, the veins on his forehead bulging. He shoved Bai Aoxue aside and pressed the barrel of his gun directly against Lin Fan's forehead. "Punk, scared out of your wits, aren't you? Now crawl between my legs, and I might consider sparing half your life!"
"Zhu Han, as a member of the Four Great Families, you go around killing the innocent! When did the Zhu Family become no better than a bunch of street thugs?"
"You damn—"
"Young Master Zhu, it's all this punk making you unhappy!"
Zhu Han gritted his teeth. Having been lectured by someone for the very first time in his life, he instantly squeezed the trigger!
With a single gunshot, Bai Tianba and his three sons felt a surge of smug triumph in their hearts. Once this little brat was taken care of, they would immediately drug their sister and deliver her to the Zhu Family tied up like a festive gift!
Everyone watched in horror, not daring to draw a full breath. Lin Fan closed his eyes in tension, only to hear a heavy thud nearby.
When he opened his eyes again, Zhu Han had already collapsed to the ground, clutching an injured arm.
"Zhu Han! How insolent!"
Lang Yingjie, the leader of the Sky Wolf Gang, hurried over.
Based on the misunderstanding that had occurred yesterday, he had basically confirmed Lin Fan's identity. That long-lost, secretive cultivation technique was something only a descendant of the Bai Family—correction, the Lin Family—possessed. And the Lin Family had once maintained close ties with Tiansha Shura.
Although his Sky Wolf Gang interacted with the Four Great Families, and Young Master Zhu had secretly contacted his subordinate He Zhenming to buy Lin Fan's life, as the leader of the Huadu district, the Sky Wolf Gang had not sunk so low as to hobnob with money-hungry riffraff like the Zhu Family!
Right now, the only thing he could do was protect the young master with his life. After all, his very life had been given to him by the Bai Family—the Lin Family in the past.
Although the Sky Wolf Gang had arrived at the Bai Family estate with a massive contingent of subordinates, Zhu Han immediately perked up upon seeing reinforcements arrive.
"The Sky Wolf Gang!"
"The Sky Wolf Gang? Is that the gang that helped the Four Great Families fight the Youming Killing Emperor back then?"
"Good heavens! This punk has run afoul of a terrifying enemy!"
Bai Aoxue grabbed Lin Fan tightly. "What do we do, Lin Fan?! Young Master Zhu is close friends with He Zhenming of the Sky Wolf Gang!"
She cast a vicious glare at Lin Fan and hissed, "Punk, you're finished!"
Taking a closer look, it really was Lang Yingjie who had fired a shot at him!
Zhu Han had also heard about Lang Yingjie's reputation from his uncle; even his own grandfather had never seen the man's true face. Rumor had it that he was a nine-month-old infant, an ugly monster scarred in a fire, with an obsession for wealth.
Yet seeing him now, the man was handsome and refined, completely contradicting the rumors!
The leader of the Sky Wolf Gang had grown up in the forest since childhood, running with wolves, and his gang's most famous weapon was their Wolf Fang Claws. Wherever they struck, no patch of skin remained intact. It wasn't necessarily fatal, but it crippled; those who were injured either went mad or became imbeciles afterward, enduring a fate worse than death for the rest of their lives.
He had heard his uncle mention that this Lang Yingjie had always been a loner, and one had to treat him with caution even if they crossed paths. Within a single year, he had risen to stand on equal footing with their Zhu Family, and was appointed as the new Golden Protector by Ning Family, the fourth of the Four Great Families!
"L-Leader! Did you make a mistake?" Zhu Han whispered in a trembling voice, not daring to breathe too heavily around Lang Yingjie.
Bai Tianba scrambled back up from the floor and chuckled maliciously at Lin Fan. "As expected of Young Master Zhu. He actually managed to summon the leader of the Sky Wolf Gang!"
Lang Yingjie's expression was as cold as frost. "Zhu Han, as a scion of the Four Great Families, you actually commit such heinous deeds! I have already investigated the matter regarding He Zhenming. It was due to lax supervision on the part of our Sky Wolf Gang's leadership that Mr. Lin was nearly killed! The Sky Wolf Gang has already stripped him of his position and expelled him from the gang! From this day forward, our Sky Wolf Gang will never cooperate with the Zhu Family again!"
Zhu Han collapsed heavily onto his buttocks. "Protector, did—did I hear that right?! He Zhenming took fifty thousand from me to get this done properly! What's wrong with me liking Miss Bai? You can't sever ties with the Zhu Family! You can't!"
Zhu Han instinctively dropped to his knees. The Soul Returning Grass cultivated by the Sky Wolf Gang was the miracle medicine his uncle dreamed of having. His uncle had always dealt with the Sky Wolf Gang with the utmost caution, while he himself had shoveled fifty thousand into He Zhenming's hands over three days just to grease palms, along with three million meant as payment to buy Lin Fan's life!
And now look at where he was! He had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait! If his uncle found out about this, he would surely beat him to death!
"As a token of our apology, we offer these funds to make amends for the losses suffered by Mr. Lin and Miss Bai!" Lang Yingjie presented a check in his hand, offering it to Lin Fan. Lin Fan didn't even glance at it before handing it straight to Bai Aoxue.
"What?! One billion in compensation!" Bai Aocong rushed forward, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor!