Chi Wan's cutting remark made Xu Cuifen explode into a torrent of curses. "You goddamn bitch! You're the one who walks the streets! Officers, you don't understand, this little bitch is a prostitute! Dali and his friends were set up! You have to investigate this properly and get justice for our Dali!"
A torrent of vile insults was hurled at Chi Wan, so much so that she almost laughed in exasperation.
"Officers, you all heard that. I'm pressing charges for slander and defamation of character as well. I'll need you to act as witnesses."
Xu Cuifen never expected that a young woman like Chi Wan would be completely unfazed by such attacks on her reputation. Instead of trading insults, she went straight to the police to file a report.
And the police actually backed her up!
The older officer had already watched the full video of the incident and knew that Chi Wan, a young woman, had nearly been assaulted by these thugs. He felt a pang of sympathy for her, now having to endure such slander from their families. His face hardened. "All of you, shut your mouths! Slandering a victim in front of the police? Do you all want to be detained for disorderly conduct?!"
But Xu Cuifen was blinded by rage, pointing her finger right at the officer. "So that's how it is! You cops are taking her side! That little slut has every single one of you under her spell, doesn't she? I'll have this all over the news by tomorrow!"
The officer was left fuming at Xu Cuifen's blatant attempt to twist the facts.
"That's enough! The young woman is right. What Liu Dali and the others did constitutes premeditated retaliation and attempted rape. This is a criminal case! A settlement is out of the question; this is being referred for public prosecution! And you dare to insult an officer of the law? Make another peep, and I'll detain every last one of you!"
Seeing the officer fly into a rage, Xu Cuifen and her group finally reined themselves in.
But the glare she shot Chi Wan was pure venom, and it never once occurred to her that Liu Dali and his friends were the ones who had broken the law.
Meanwhile, the village chief, unable to persuade Chi Yuanshan and his family, had initially thought they were being cold and unreasonable, making a mountain out of a molehill.
But when he heard the police call it a case of attempted rape, he finally sobered up a little. Unlike Xu Cuifen and the others, who were ignorant of such matters, as the village chief, he certainly knew what a public prosecution case was.
But knowing and accepting were two different things. After using his authority to suppress Xu Cuifen, who was still trying to cause a scene, the look he gave the Chi family was filled with an undeniable annoyance.
What Chi Wan didn't know was that one of her earlier suspicions had been spot on: Liu Dali and the village chief were indeed related.
For years, Liu Dali had managed the orchard, bringing substantial income to the village. He had even organized the villagers to build a concrete road.
Although the road led directly to the orchard, and its ultimate purpose was to make it easier to transport the fruit, it was still a good deed at the end of the day.
In contrast, the Chi family had been back less than two days and had already caused several incidents, even nearly sabotaging the construction of the village's research base. It was no wonder the village chief was unhappy with them.
Chi Wan couldn't be bothered to argue with these thugs. After submitting her evidence and giving a statement, she left with Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe.
She knew she had probably made a mortal enemy of Liu Dali and his crew, but so what? When someone attacks you so brazenly, are you supposed to just swallow your pride and let them walk all over you?
If they had chosen to back down and let it go, Liu Dali wouldn't have shown any restraint. On the contrary, he would have thought her family was scared and would have only become more aggressive in his attempts to take back the orchard.
Either way, their family wouldn't have been able to live peacefully in the village.
Since that was the case, she might as well get her satisfaction now and worry about the rest later.
Although the Chi Family had gone bankrupt after a failed investment, Chi Wan had been pampered her whole life. The education she'd received had taught her that there was no reason to back down when faced with a problem.
She had been lucky this time, getting help from Li Xingye to subdue those men.
If she were just an ordinary college student, she couldn't bear to imagine what she and Chi Yuanshan would have faced. Even if she had ignored the threat of the video and insisted on pressing charges, her family's peaceful life would have been destroyed all the same.
This incident also taught Chi Wan a lesson: she couldn't afford to be naive about the depths of human evil.
After all, some malice knows no bounds.
Therefore, Chi Wan and her parents were in complete agreement: they had to send these thugs to prison. Otherwise, what awaited them would be even more deranged and frenzied retaliation from Liu Dali.
The village chief, on the other hand, was fixated on protecting Liu Dali, simply because Liu Dali was good at managing the orchard and bringing in revenue. Furthermore, he didn't want any complications with the research base project, so his future attitude toward the Chi family was anyone's guess.
On the way back, Chi Yuanshan sighed. "Yinghe, Wanwan, maybe we should just sell the mountain."
The village was no longer the place he remembered. The orchard was a secondary issue; what had happened to Chi Wan this time had genuinely terrified him.
Song Yinghe clutched Chi Wan's hand, silent for a long moment.
She had seen the video Chi Wan recorded after arriving at the police station, and her hands were still trembling with rage.
Song Yinghe couldn't understand it. 'How could Liu Dali and his friends dare to be so brazenly violent?!'
So when she heard Chi Yuanshan's suggestion, she hugged Chi Wan and said through gritted teeth, "Sell it! We'll cut down all the fruit trees and sell them off, then sell the mountain. Be done with it completely! Let's see Liu Dali's family covet our orchard then!
"I can't stand this village for another second! Thank God nothing happened to Wanwan today, otherwise… Otherwise, how could I go on living!"
Hearing this, Chi Wan quickly pulled out of Song Yinghe's embrace. "No! Mom, Dad, we can't sell the mountain!"
Chi Yuanshan said, "But if we keep the mountain… even if Liu Dali goes to prison, he still has family. Everyone in this village is related one way or another. What if one day they decide to target you again? Your mom and I… we couldn't bear for something like this to happen a second time!"
Song Yinghe chimed in, "That's right, Wanwan. If the mountain's gone, it's gone. We can use the money to start a small business, and we'll definitely be able to support you. For your dad and me, your safety is the most important thing."
Hearing her parents' caring words warmed Chi Wan's heart and strengthened her resolve. "Mom, Dad, trust me. We don't have to sell the mountain. Whether it's Liu Dali or Zhou Dali, they won't be able to threaten us anymore."
"But…"
The couple exchanged a look. Chi Yuanshan suddenly recalled the vines that had mysteriously appeared and then vanished. He hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "Wanwan… do you… do you have some kind of special power?"
'A special power?'
The video Chi Wan recorded didn't include the part where Liu Dali and the others were tied up by vines, so Song Yinghe had no idea how the two of them had escaped danger. She'd assumed it was a surge of fatherly love that had allowed Chi Yuanshan to fight one against four.
Now, hearing the conversation between father and daughter, she realized something had happened that she didn't know about.
But Chi Wan just gave a mysterious smile. "No rush. We'll talk about it when we get home."