Chapter 245: You Know the Consequences Yourself
Seeing that people had arrived, the Local Bully, whose legs had long gone numb from kneeling, quickly took the chance to stretch and shuffled forward.
He looked at Xiao Ye in terror. "Mr. Xiao, it was all my fault, my mistake entirely!"
"I've brought all my men to kowtow and apologize to you!"
With that, the Local Bully slammed his head to the ground with a heavy THUD.
His underlings behind him scrambled to do the same.
The ones in the back, however, were much more careless, merely going through the motions.
The crowd burst into an uproar.
They never would have imagined that these men had come to apologize to Xiao Ye.
This was especially true for the workers who had watched the entire incident unfold yesterday.
As they were leaving yesterday, they had been discussing how Xiao Ye had clearly gotten the short end of the stick.
After all, he had lost a million. That wasn't chump change; it was a fortune that most people could only dream of.
But who would have thought that today, the Local Bully himself would be here kowtowing and begging for forgiveness.
'This young man is truly remarkable!'
An underling brought over a chair. Xiao Ye sat down and looked down imperiously at the Local Bully. "Did I tell you to kowtow and apologize to *me* yesterday?"
"N... no!"
He was, of course, unwilling to kowtow and apologize to those workers, which was why he had directed his apology to Xiao Ye.
'But it seems I couldn't escape it after all...'
The Local Bully didn't dare defy the order. He nodded immediately. "I'll kowtow and apologize right now!"
With that, he quickly scanned the crowd, found someone he had bullied in the past, and immediately began to kowtow and apologize. His posture was the very picture of sincerity.
Xiao Ye just watched, his voice flat. "If you don't miss a single one, I'll let you off the hook for today."
"But if you miss one... you know the consequences!"
'At that point, it wouldn't just be the Local Bully; his uncle, or whatever he was, would be finished too!'
'Their entire family would be dragged down with them!'
When the Local Bully heard this, he nearly fainted. 'It's a miracle I can remember even a few of them; how could I possibly remember everyone?'
'Besides, I wasn't even the one who bullied half these people—my underlings were! Now I have to apologize for them? What kind of sense does that make?!'
At that moment, the person the Local Bully hated most was Brother Nan. 'Once I'm done here, I'm going to have to make some arrangements. Even if he's in jail, I won't let him off easy!'
At that very moment, in a detention center, Brother Nan suddenly sneezed and felt a chill run through him.
He quickly pulled his clothes tighter around himself. "Why is it so cold? Am I coming down with something?"
To save his own skin, and for the sake of his entire family, the Local Bully simply started kowtowing and apologizing to every single worker.
The ground was frozen solid. Although he had prepared by wearing thick clothes, he was still freezing his ass off.
One man, not daring to be kneeled to, tried to step aside, but the Local Bully latched onto his leg. "No, you can't leave! You have to forgive me!"
"I... I forgive you! Just let me go!"
Xiao Ye's voice was cold. "None of you need to worry about him retaliating."
Hearing this, the workers finally felt at ease.
Many of them had been bullied by the Local Bully to the point of despair, some nearly losing their families and homes. Seeing him in this pathetic state, they were secretly delighted, though they didn't dare show it.
They didn't dare, but that didn't mean no one did.
A woman burst from the crowd. She wore a tattered, padded cotton jacket, and she looked utterly disheveled.
But even so, her delicate features were still visible. Among this crowd, she was an undeniable beauty.
The woman brandished a kitchen cleaver as she charged forward. "I'll kill you!"
She was armed, so no one dared to stop her.
With a single glance from Xiao Ye, one of his men moved, intercepting the woman and knocking the cleaver from her hand.
Lin Chuyue saw the hatred in the woman's eyes and was suddenly reminded of herself.
'Wasn't I just like her when I faced the Han Family?'
'For a woman to be driven to this extreme, something terrible must have happened.'
"Ma'am, please don't be reckless. Whatever happened, you can't resort to murder."
"What happened to you? Would you be willing to tell us? Perhaps we can help."
It's like the saying goes: when you've been caught in the rain yourself, you want to hold an umbrella for others.
Now disarmed, the woman's courage evaporated. At Lin Chuyue's question, she broke down, wailing.
She didn't have to say a thing; the people around her quickly pieced the story together in bits and pieces.
Apparently, the woman was known as the belle of the factory. She was stunningly beautiful and had a husband who worked out of town, but the two of them had a very good relationship.
But then that damn Local Bully had taken a liking to her and started pursuing her.
The woman told him repeatedly that she was married, but he wouldn't listen and obstinately continued. Then, one day, the Local Bully had her taken away.
When she returned, she tried to kill herself but was fortunately stopped.
She hadn't been back to the factory since. She'd also divorced her husband. Now, only her elderly mother remained, watching over her in the staff dormitory every day, terrified she might try something again.
The factory management was decent enough; they just told her to take a leave of absence instead of firing her, afraid of being the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Hearing this, Lin Chuyue was seething with rage. She pointed at the Local Bully. "You... You're an animal!"
"She was already married, yet you still did something like this! You're utterly shameless!"
"Xiao Ye, don't you let him get away with this!"
"Besides her, there must be many other victims!"
Xiao Ye nodded and then called over one of his men. "What's the status of the investigation I ordered?"
'Of course he wasn't going to let the man off. Making him kneel and apologize was just one part of the plan.'
The man handed over a file. It contained a meticulously detailed list of the Local Bully's crimes, one after another.
WHOOSH!
The papers scattered down over his head!
His face stung from the impact.
The Local Bully didn't have time to worry about the sting; he scrambled to pick up the papers. When he saw what was written on them, his face went deathly pale.
"No... I didn't do this!"
"Mr. Xiao, you promised! You said that if I brought my men here and apologized to everyone, you'd let me go!"
Xiao Ye chuckled. "I lied."
"Men! Take this evidence to the police department. And while you're at it, make sure his dear uncle goes with him."
"And all these followers of his—send every last one of them away!"
"I don't want to see a single one of them walk free ever again!"
The Xiao Family's investigative team was incredibly powerful. Investigating someone in a small city like this was child's play.
Not to mention, the Xiao Family could also call on local influential families for assistance.
The Local Bully and his henchmen—none of them would escape.
The Local Bully stared at Xiao Ye, kowtowing repeatedly as he begged for mercy. "Xiao Ye, I was wrong! I was truly wrong! I'm begging you, please spare me!"
"I'll never do it again, I swear! I'll turn over a new leaf! I'll be a new man!"
Xiao Ye, of course, didn't believe a word of it. 'Can a leopard change its spots?'
The surrounding crowd watched in silence as the Local Bully and his men were dragged away. Then, a moment later, they erupted into cheers.
"This is great!"
"Thank you!"
"We're finally free from fear!"