The man instinctively clutched his waist and saw it was empty. His pupils contracted, followed by Steward Hong stroking his beard and laughing heartily:
"You wretched girl, even if I gave you a knife, could you turn the heavens upside down? Seize her."
Seeing that a group of people looked at the frail Ah Jiu with utter impunity.
Ah Jiu tossed the bullhorn knife to Meng Shaode, who had just gotten up, in front of him. Today, Jiu'er would give her father one last chance. If you protect me once, daughter will acknowledge you as her father.
Meng Shaode was so frightened that he thought his daughter wanted to kill him, and he raised his hands to defend himself, beads of sweat beading on his face.
Chui Mu saw that the sharp tip of the knife was stuck in the ground right in front of his feet, and he swallowed hard. So his daughter wasn't going to cut him, then it was—
He was a schoolteacher and had never wielded a knife or gun. What could he do?
At this moment, several strong men were rushing towards Ah Jiu. Ah Jiu stepped back in fear, her eyes full of disappointment for her father. From now on, she would have nothing to do with this family.
Meng Shaode gritted his teeth, grabbed the ram horn knife, and shielded Ah Jiu behind him, glaring at the thugs whose footsteps had abruptly stopped, waving it a few times.
"I'll see who dares."
Ah Jiu was immediately startled. Looking at the broad, mountain-like shoulders blocking her, an unprecedented heavy emotion welled up in her throat.
The men looked at each other. Who didn't know he had killed people before? His cowardly behavior just now was clearly an act.
"Quickly stop him, stop him for me," Steward Hong, terrified, hid behind others, fearing that the first blow would land on his head.
"I'll see who dares to touch my daughter," Meng Shaode's neck stiffened, and the bulging veins beneath the scar twitched with the handle of the knife.
In Ah Jiu's memory, her father's roar could silence her for three days. Now, this terrifying sound gave her a sense of shock.
"What's wrong, what's wrong?" a voice asked urgently.
An old woman in her fifties arrived, her head wrapped in a scarf and her clothes patched in several places.
As soon as she entered, she was startled: "A'de, what are you doing? How can you treat Steward Hong like this? Put down the knife quickly."
The sense of security that had just appeared in Ah Jiu's eyes was instantly doused with cold water. She clearly remembered that it was her grandmother's idea to sell her. Her father, though seemingly a crude man, was stubbornly filial.
How could he not listen to his grandmother?
"Ah?" Meng Shaode had just realized that the person in front of him was the birth mother of the original owner. The old woman quickly went forward with a fawning smile to apologize:
"Steward Hong, please don't be angry. My unpromising son, he looks respectable outside, but as long as I'm here, even a tiger would have to lie down obediently for me. Don't worry, this girl, you can take her away today."
Steward Hong snorted and turned his face away, clearly not accepting the apology: "Hmph, I think your Meng family is tired of living."
Grandma Wang, flustered, glared back at Meng Shaode. Unexpectedly, her attention was drawn by the gaze of a maid beside him.
She was so thin that her chin looked pointed, making her eyes appear even larger. However, her eyes were as cold as midwinter, devoid of the purity and tenderness of an unmarried girl.
"Daughter, don't be afraid. No one can say anything today," Meng Shaode turned around, and a smile appeared on his fierce, scarred face.
Ah Jiu was startled by her father's sudden action. It wasn't because he had suddenly become gentle, but because his face, when he smiled, looked even more terrifying than crying.
"Mmm," Ah Jiu pursed her lips and nodded vigorously, a hint of a little girl's dependence on her father appearing in her eyes.
"What did you say? A'de? Say it again? This family is not for you to lead."
Wang Shi clearly heard this. She had just been boasting, and now she had lost all face in front of the Li family.