Free Web NovelChapter 20: Chapter 20 Making a Move
"Yes, what’s the matter?"
Xia Xue walked out of the house and, seeing that the three men had a ruffian air about them, immediately felt they were up to no good.
"Yo, you’ve forgotten us already? Tell me, when will you pay back the money you owe our Brother Long?!"
The three men skirted around Xia Xue and headed straight into the shop, looking around with smug faces.
"Just give me a few more days, and I’ll pay you back with interest."
Xia Xue immediately panicked, fearing they might do something drastic, so she tried to calm them with kind words.
"Pay back with interest? I think you’re not bad, how about serving as interest for these few days?"
The green-haired leader leaned in close to Xia Xue’s ear, sniffing and chuckling lasciviously with his eyes closed.
"You’re so pretty, our boss will definitely be gentle and cherish you."
The thugs began to get handsy with Xia Xue, who had no choice but to endure it because she still owed their boss money, and in her current situation, it was difficult to come up with the funds to repay the debt all at once.
Wang Hao didn’t want to meddle, but thinking of the equipment deal he had just secured, he didn’t want this incident to delay the progress of his greenhouse, so he stepped forward.
"Who are you guys? Three big men bullying a woman?"
Seeing someone interrupting their scheme, the three thugs were immediately displeased.
"Who is this kid popping up from? Don’t you see we’re in the middle of a conversation? Get lost!"
"If you have a problem, talk about it, why are you getting physical?"
Wang Hao saw them laying hands on Xia Xue’s shoulder and became furious.
"Who the hell are you? If this dame doesn’t pay back the money today, I might just have to take care of her myself! Ha ha..."
The three were not intimidated, staring back at Wang Hao with smug laughter.
They were convinced that Xia Xue didn’t want to escalate the situation and, with their boss backing them, they became even more brazen.
"Stop it," Wang Hao said, frowning as he pulled Xia Xue to his side.
"Are you looking for death, kid? You should go around asking, who in Chicheng County doesn’t know our Brother Long? Daring to mess with us, you’re really fed up with living!"
"Right, pay up!" the henchman beside him chimed in.
Green-hair played the Brother Long card, knowing that in Chicheng County, no matter if it’s the underworld or the legit world, everyone had to give face to Brother Long. Today, they were acting on Brother Long’s orders.
"You owe them money?"
Wang Hao looked at Xia Xue with puzzlement, only then realising that these people had come to collect a debt.
"Yes... I had borrowed a hundred thousand from their Brother Long for my business."
Xia Xue’s face turned pale. Ever since she started her business, her father had been unwell and hospital treatment had cost them a significant amount.
Now she had no choice; with her father’s hospital fees due again and the previous loan to repay, she was forced to clear out and transfer her store.
"If you don’t have the money right now, just use this shop as collateral, or you could use yourself as collateral, heh heh!"
Green-hair leerily smiled on the side, sizing Xia Xue up and down, and the other two also joined in with jeering encouragement.
"Yeah, our boss has been thinking about you all this time. Maybe if he takes you as a concubine, your debt will be cleared."
Xia Xue’s face darkened, she bit her lip and said, "Fine, I’ll go talk to your boss. Ask him to give me a few more days!"
"Sure, then hurry up and come with us!"
Green-hair urged Xia Xue, seemingly having anticipated that she would comply.
Wang Hao, seeing their lecherous smiles and turning to see Xia Xue’s anxious expression, suddenly felt a bad premonition.
"Where are you going? You can’t go with them," Wang Hao said, grabbing Xia Xue just as she was about to leave.
"Fuck off, kid. Step aside or I’ll blow your brains out!"
Seeing this, Green-hair glared angrily and gestured for his two underlings to teach Wang Hao a lesson.
The two minions glared menacingly at Wang Hao, slowly closing in with their fists ready. The two were big and burly, thinking that two against one would surely be no problem.
Plus, they had Green-hair’s support. If Wang Hao was sensible, he would back off knowing the odds.
But Wang Hao didn’t regard the three of them at all, just smiled contemptuously as they pressed in on him.
"Kid, looks like you’re going to bite the dust today, huh!"
One of the youths said viciously to Wang Hao.
"That’s not necessarily true."
"This kid is quite arrogant, let’s get him!"
The two brothers raised their fists and aimed for Wang Hao’s head, but in Wang Hao’s eyes, their punches seemed to slow down by tenfold. He raised his hands and firmly caught the incoming fists!
At that moment, Wang Hao’s hands were instantly wrapped by golden dragons, he exerted a little strength.
"Crack!"
"Ah! My hand!"
Accompanied by the sound of breaking bones and the brothers’ screams, Wang Hao let go, and the two brothers crouched on the ground in pain.
"What?!"
Green Hair’s heart skipped a beat, realizing that Wang Hao was not someone to mess with. His eyes turned cold, he picked up a steel pipe from the equipment and swung it at Wang Hao’s head.
Wang Hao dodged Green Hair’s attack with a swiftness that could not be covered by a blink, then turned and landed a spinning kick in Green Hair’s stomach, knocking him down face-first.
"You better roll back and tell your Brother Long that the money Xia Xue owes will be repaid in full, and from now on, Xia Xue is under my protection. Anyone who dares to come looking for trouble again, it won’t be as simple as just breaking a couple of hands!"
Wang Hao easily took down the three men, putting on a fierce facade to intimidate them.
"You... just you wait! Brother Long won’t let you off!"
The three men helped each other up, dropped a sentence, and scrambled out of the store.
"Mr. Wang, thank you so much! You really didn’t have to offend Brother Long for me, he’s notoriously fierce and cruel in Chicheng County!"
Xia Xue, watching the trio’s embarrassing retreat, hadn’t expected that on her and Wang Hao’s first meeting, he would help her like this, and a wave of warmth inexplicably surged in her heart.
"It’s nothing, I don’t care about any Brother Long or Brother Tiger; we’re in a society ruled by law now. I’m not afraid of their unruly behavior. Besides, we have a partnership, and of course, I can’t let you get into trouble."
Wang Hao chuckled and, seeing Xia Xue’s pitiable look, couldn’t bear to leave such a beautiful girl to be bullied by some thugs.
"By the way, how much money did you borrow from them?"
Wang Hao looked at Xia Xue with curiosity.
"When we started the company, my dad borrowed a hundred thousand from them. With my dad being sick and hospitalized all this time, there’s still fifty thousand left unpaid. I was just getting ready to sell the shop to pay off the debt!"
Recalling her hardship, tears began to well up in Xia Xue’s eyes.
These past years, she had been running the business alone, thinking she could finally lead a good life with her father.
But who would have thought her father’s illness would change everything.
Wang Hao saw it all and his heart ached.
"How about this, I’ll give you fifty thousand first to pay them off, and I’ll help you figure out the rest later."
"How can I accept that, I can’t take your money."
Xia Xue strongly declined, even though she desperately needed the money, but after all, she wasn’t familiar with Wang Hao. How could she take his money? freёwebnoѵel.com
"Consider it an advance on your salary for when I hire you as our technical advisor in the future. Take it, with you here, I can be at ease about the greenhouse construction. From now on, we’re like family."
At the words "like family," Xia Xue’s face turned red unconsciously, and she gave a knowing smile.
Wang Hao finally came up with a reason to keep Xia Xue around for the long term. This way, he could see her more often, which made him happy just thinking about it.
"Fine, there are some more parts for the greenhouse equipment in the warehouse, let me take you to take a look."
The warehouse was about a ten-minute walk from the shop, located inside the neighboring residential community.
The two shared an umbrella in the rain, and just a few minutes into their walk, the rain started pouring down heavier.
Women’s umbrellas are usually quite small, and now with such heavy rain, Wang Hao deliberately shifted the umbrella towards Xia Xue’s side, causing his white t-shirt to become soaked.
Xia Xue clearly felt Wang Hao lean the umbrella towards her and took the initiative to move a step closer to him.
They were very close, that familiar scent of camellias wafting to him once again. It smelt so good that Wang Hao couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
Unintentionally, Xia Xue caught sight of Wang Hao’s solid muscles, her face turned red unconsciously, and she subconsciously shuffled outward.
Just then, a car sped by.
"Watch out!"
Wang Hao, quick as a flash, pulled Xia Xue into his arms to protect her, as the car passed through a puddle, splashing Wang Hao’s back with a large splash of water.
Xia Xue pressed against Wang Hao’s chest, her first time being this close to a man. Smelling the man’s scent, her heart immediately raced like a startled deer.
Suddenly, she felt something at her waist and her face flushed with heat once again...
