The Master Descends the Mountain: My Destined CEO

The shopkeeper shook his head. "I'm not sure. I don't go out all day, and someone delivers my groceries every day."

"If you really want to know, go ask at the little shop by the village entrance. The people there should know."

They left the restaurant.

They hadn't taken more than a few steps when the sound of soft sobbing drifted from a nearby alley.

A girl's voice followed, choked with sobs. "Let me go! My grandpa knows I'm out. If I don't go back, he'll definitely come looking for me."

"Tch. That damn old man wouldn't find you even if he came out. Just hang out with us for a bit. Otherwise, you can forget about going home today!"

Hearing this, Jin Mingzhu's sharp, heroic features grew even colder.

If there was one thing she despised in this world, it was men who bullied women!

She quickened her pace and strode to the mouth of the alley.

Sure enough, five or six people were inside. Only one was a girl; the rest were men.

The girl didn't look very old—sixteen or seventeen at most. She was quite pretty, which was probably why she'd been targeted.

As for the men, one glance was enough to tell they were thugs. They were dressed like delinquents and looked to be in their early twenties.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

A few of the men turned their heads. When they saw a beautiful woman, their eyes lit up.

"Well, well, another one. Perfect, we were just one woman short!"

"She's a new face. Definitely not from around here. Where'd you come from?"

"Who cares? Hey, how about you come shoot some pool with us?"

As they spoke, the men began to surround her.

Xiao Ye stood at the entrance to the alley, showing no intention of helping.

With Jin Mingzhu's abilities, this handful of men wouldn't even be a challenge.

'Besides, she hasn't had a good fight in a while,' he thought. 'A little exercise would do her good. I won't steal her fun.'

The young girl looked at Jin Mingzhu, then at the other men, and couldn't stop herself from whispering, "You... you can't do this!"

"Shut up! You're coming with us, and you're going to be quiet about it. Otherwise, we'll start showing up at your house every single day!"

"Just imagine what people will say about you then!"

Even in this day and age, people in small towns could be terribly old-fashioned.

When they saw men showing up at a young woman's door, their first thought wouldn't be to blame the men, but to assume the woman was indecent.

The girl's face went deathly pale at his words. She was only back for the holidays and still had to go back to high school.

'If people found out, the rumors would be devastating!'

Jin Mingzhu's expression turned grim. She rolled her shoulders, took a few steps forward to the girl, and pushed her out of the circle of men. "Go home."

"Miss..."

"This doesn't concern you anymore."

The young girl grit her teeth, turned, and ran. 'I have to go get Grandpa!'

Jin Mingzhu was gorgeous. The men had never seen a woman so beautiful, and they immediately lost all interest in the younger girl.

"Looks like you want to be the one to come play with us instead."

"Even better. We'd love to get to know you, too."

One of the men stepped forward, his gaze on Jin Mingzhu filled with a vile, disgusting lewdness.

Jin Mingzhu raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face, then followed up with a swift kick that sent him sprawling to the ground.

"You dog! How dare you look at me like that!"

"You dare hit me?!"

The other men rushed forward, planning to attack her all at once.

Jin Mingzhu didn't hold back, landing a heavy slap on each one. "A pack of worthless trash, only good for bullying little girls!"

"Today, I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

A few short minutes later.

The men were all on the ground, writhing in agony.

"We were wrong, ma'am! We were really wrong! Please, stop hitting us!"

Jin Mingzhu planted her foot on his face. "I'll ask you one more time. Are you ever going to do something like this again?"

"We won't! We swear, we'll never dare to again!"

Jin Mingzhu was on a mission, and besides, these guys hadn't managed to actually hurt anyone.

All she could do was give them a beating to serve as a warning.

"You'd better remember this. I'm going to be around for a while. If I catch you doing this again, I swear I'll make sure you can't be men anymore!"

'Jin Mingzhu had countless ways to turn them into eunuchs.'

"Yes, yes, yes, ma'am! We absolutely won't dare!"

The men helped each other up and limped away.

Jin Mingzhu walked to the mouth of the alley and gave Xiao Ye a slight smile. "Those guys deserved a beating!"

'She didn't want Xiao Ye to think she was just a brute. No man likes a barbaric woman.'

"I know," Xiao Ye said with a nod. "You did the right thing."

'Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to that girl.'

The thugs gritted their teeth against the pain and finally staggered back to the pool hall.

The moment they stepped inside, they couldn't hold themselves up any longer and collapsed to the floor with a THUD.

"San'er, what happened to you?"

"Who beat you up this badly?"

People in the pool hall rushed over.

"Don't even ask. Damn it, we ran into some crazy bitch today and she's the one who did this to us!"

The thug said through gritted teeth, "By the way, where's the boss? Doesn't he love a pretty face? The crazy bitch we ran into today... she was drop-dead gorgeous."

"I swear, she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life!"

The other thugs nodded eagerly. "Yeah, she's gorgeous. And what a body."

If only one of them had said it, the others might not have believed it.

But with all of them agreeing, it had to be true.

Someone immediately said, "I'll go get the boss right now!"

「About half an hour later.」

A sedan pulled up in front of the pool hall.

A moment later, a middle-aged man pushed aside the heavy curtain at the entrance and strode in. "Where are the guys who got their asses kicked?"

"Boss, I'm here! Boss, look at us! Look at the state she left us in!"

"Boss, you have to get revenge for us!"

"That crazy bitch fights dirty, but she's a real looker. Like a... a rose with thorns!"

The others nodded along. "Yeah, a thorny one!"

As it happened, the middle-aged man had a particular interest in that type of woman. "She'd better be as beautiful as you say. If not, you all know what'll happen!"

He'd dropped everything and rushed back from the city for this!

"Don't worry, Boss. She's absolutely gorgeous!"

The thugs immediately started leading the way. "We'll take you there now. They must still be nearby. I just had someone ask around; they came here looking for someone."

"I've even got someone keeping an eye on them!"

Xiao Ye and Jin Mingzhu had long since noticed someone was tailing them, but they paid it no mind.

The town wasn't large to begin with, just a straight shot with one main road. The other areas were all rundown, offering no complex terrain to speak of.

Even without being followed, you were bound to run into everyone else just by walking a little further.