Chapter 69 Conflict

Looking at the envelope on the table, Yang Xingwu felt a momentary sense of unreality.

After listening to the words of the man before him, he had originally thought that the original owner of this body had failed the examination, and even the original owner himself had believed so. Never had he expected that, in the end, all their efforts had merely paved the way for someone else!

Now, the imposter had actually come to his home seeking a settlement, and had even uttered such shameless words.

As the old saying goes, whenever you feel that you are carrying a heavy burden forward, it simply means that someone else is living a quiet and peaceful life in your place!

Recalling a news story he had seen earlier—where an aunt, mistakenly believing she had failed the technical school entrance exam, spent half her life wandering in hardship, only to discover later that her quota had been stolen, while the imposter lived a life of ease and abundance forever after, leaving the case unresolved even after trending on social media—he felt a profound sense of oppression. There were even instances where imposters managed to infiltrate the halls of government. Whenever he encountered such news, the very words between the lines left him feeling suffocated.

The more Yang Xingwu thought about it, the angrier he became. His fists clenched involuntarily, driven partly by his own emotional fury and partly by the lingering obsession of the original owner.

Suppressing the urge to resort to violence by sheer willpower, he still wanted to hear what other shameless nonsense these people could spout.

Seeing that Yang Xingwu remained silent, Liu Zhijun assumed that he was unsatisfied with the offered price.

"Yang Xingwu, just accept it already! This is a considerable amount of money. A regular worker couldn't save even a thousand yuan in two years. This is more than enough for you and your brother to build houses. Don't be too greedy, or you might end up with nothing at all! Once you take the money, hurry up and write me a receipt, and we can still be classmates after this!"

"Shut your mouth! Is that any way to speak?"

Liu Dagang reprimanded his son, then turned to Yang Xingwu with a different tone:

"Student Yang, it is always better to resolve grudges than to keep them alive. Two years have passed, and it's time to let it go. People must look forward! Look at you, you've now been admitted to university yourself and your future is boundless. Don't ruin our amicable relations over some trivial matter. If you ever need anything in the future, just come to your uncle; I'll definitely see to it that everything is properly handled for you!"

Liu Dagang slapped his chest with a resounding thud.

Shen Chunwei also chimed in on the side, attempting to persuade Yang Xingwu.

Watching the performance of the three men, Yang Xingwu was struck by a profound sense of speechlessness.

"What a wonderful way to put it. Uncle Liu truly lives up to his reputation!"

With that, Yang Xingwu gave Liu Dagang a thumbs-up.

Assuming that Yang Xingwu had finally compromised, the three men instantly heaved sighs of relief, their faces breaking into smiles.

Disgusted by their shameless expressions, Yang Xingwu took advantage of the moment he lowered his thumb to land two fierce punches squarely on Liu Zhijun's face.

Yang Xingwu's movements were so swift and decisive that none of the three had time to react. One second he was giving a thumbs-up, and the next, his fist had connected with Liu Zhijun's face. Liu Zhijun's face swelled up instantly, blood spraying from his nose.

A shrill, miserable scream echoed through the main room.

"Yang Xingwu, how dare you hit me?"

Before he could strike again, Yang Xingwu was grabbed by Liu Dagang and Shen Chunwei.

Realizing he could no longer reach his target, Yang Xingwu leaped directly into the air and delivered a swift kick, shouting as he lashed out:

"I'm beating you, you son of a bitch! And you two old bastards are no good either!"

Hearing the commotion, Wang Zhaodi rushed into the room. Seeing her son being bullied, she immediately deployed her notorious scratching techniques.

Upon witnessing the situation, Yang Xiaolan ran straight to the kitchen to grab a knife.

Seeing her second brother being bullied, young Yang Xiaohong immediately sprinted towards her grandfather's house on her short legs, shouting at the top of her lungs as she ran:

"Grandpa! Second Uncle! My brother is being beaten, hurry over here!"

Her piercing screams shattered the quiet peace of the small village.

Hearing the commotion, the villagers at home grabbed whatever tools were at hand and rushed toward Yang Chunsheng's house.

When Yang Xiaohong reached her grandfather's house, only a few of her older male cousins were there. Upon hearing the eldest granddaughter's frantic cries, Sun Chunni hoisted a carrying pole onto her shoulder and bolted toward her eldest brother's home.

Hearing his cousin's voice, Yang Xinglong grabbed a sickle and dashed toward his uncle's house.

"Damn it! How dare they bully my brother? I'll chop them to pieces!"

Yang Xinghu picked up a hoe and followed his older brother, instructing his younger brother to summon more people. Yang Xingbao immediately ran off toward the fields to call the adults.

Both Yang Xiaohong and Yang Xingbao spread the word in the fields. Hearing that his son was being bullied, Yang Chunsheng dropped his farming tools and ran back home alongside his eldest son.

Just as Yang Chunsheng arrived home, he met his father and younger brother at the courtyard gate. Exchanging nods, the group stepped inside.

Upon entering the courtyard, they saw the fellow villagers, all armed with farming tools, surrounding three strangers.

Yang Chunsheng was just about to ask what was going on when he heard words that made his blood boil:

"Yang Xingwu, since I was able to intercept your secondary vocational school admission notice, I am entirely capable of intercepting your university admission notice as well. Sanchuan is at the same administrative level as our county; the mail passes through the regional transit station and is distributed directly to the county seat. I advise you to accept a settlement, otherwise..."

As soon as Liu Dagang finished speaking, the surrounding villagers were momentarily at a loss.

Earlier, they had rushed over to help simply upon hearing Yang Xiaohong's cries, assuming it was nothing more than a routine village brawl. It now appeared that the matter involved far more than they had imagined. Catching sight of the three-wheeled motorcycle parked at the entrance, many of them began to hesitate.

"Yang Xingwu, if you're not satisfied, I'll add another thousand. Two thousand yuan—that's a fortune in your village! As long as we can settle this, everything is negotiable!"

Seeing the crowd gathered in the courtyard, Liu Dagang could no longer afford to feel the pinch of his wallet and blurted out the offer. His goals were twofold: first, to secure a settlement, and second, to sow division among these stubborn villagers.

A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him; he needed to weather this immediate storm first!

After all, facing these villagers just moments ago, the three of them had already suffered quite a beating!

Hearing this, the villagers instantly erupted into a clamor.

"Good grief! Two thousand yuan! I can't even earn a hundred yuan in a whole year!"

"That's right! This Yang Xingwu is truly lucky!"

"Lucky? What's lucky about it? Xiao Wu getting into that school was purely through his own ability, and the subsidies over the past two years alone amounted to several hundred yuan! Plus, with a government cadre status, after working for five or six years he would easily save that much money, and then he could marry a city girl—how wonderful would that be! If you ask me, these city people sure know how to calculate!"

"Exactly! Guihua is the one with sense here. Beat these bastards to death!"

Hearing this, Yang Xingwu was left utterly speechless. He had originally assumed that the other party had discovered his true test scores and had come to seek a reconciliation out of fear, but it now appeared they only knew half the story!

A compensation of two thousand yuan was by no means a small sum in this era; it could even be considered an astronomical figure!

Even with his status as a regularized university student, earning fifty or sixty yuan a month would require him to work for nearly four years to accumulate that amount.

However, some things cannot be calculated simply in monetary terms. As the saying goes, destroying a person's future is no different from killing their parents!

Moreover, their actions had directly caused the death of the original owner. Had the identity theft never occurred, the original owner would have been the pride of the village, assigned to work in the city by now, marrying a city bride, and living a life of ease and security forever.

Yet all of this had been stolen away by the very people standing before him. Could it simply be written off with a mere two thousand yuan?

"Hmph! To think that even a mere messenger dares to be so arrogant?"

Seeing that his elders had returned, Yang Xingwu no longer bothered to exchange pleasantries.

Snatching a wooden stick from the hands of a nearby villager, he charged forward and began swinging fiercely at the three men.

Seeing this, Yang Chunsheng quickly led his eldest son and younger brother forward to join the fray.

At this moment, Yang Xingwu exuded a chilling aura of hostility, his gaze fierce and unrelenting. No one looking at him now would ever mistake him for the honest, simple-minded fellow he once was.

Enduring the physical pain, Liu Dagang felt a profound sense of grievance and frustration.

"Yang Xingwu, aren't you afraid of going to prison?"

"You were willing to shell out two thousand yuan for a settlement, which means those people have no personal grudge against me. Why would they ever make things difficult for me?"

Hearing this, Liu Dagang completely lost all his bravado.

"Yang Xingwu, I'm going to tear you apart!"

Liu Zhijun, who had already taken a couple of punches to the face earlier, had several front teeth knocked out, causing him to lisp noticeably as he spoke.

"Don't worry! It's either you or me until the very end!"