Chapter 602: Chapter 601: 575: Drawing the Sword and Self-esteem

The well-known Boss of the farmhouse had been pinned down to the ground by a few young people, and his ever-present snake basket was overturned. Yu Minglang went over and spoke up to stop these people’s brutal behavior.

“Stop!”

Crouched on the ground, Zhiming covered his head. Xiao Qian also ran over and squatted down to talk to him.

“Are you all right?”

Zhiming didn’t answer, just hugged his head with his shoulders trembling.

“Who the hell are you?” Several young people glanced at Yu Minglang. From their dress and appearance, they looked like staff from other farmhouses in the scenic area. One of them even wore a white apron covered in oil stains.

“Who I am is not important. What matters is that we are all neighbors here. Why resort to violence when we can talk it out?”

Yu Minglang’s words did not stop these people from their brutality. The leader sneered and pointed at the twitching Zhiming on the ground and mocked him.

“You better stay away from this madman! His grandfather was a madman, and so is he! He came back to the village all uppity after high school and didn’t even greet everyone. Phooey!”

The leader of the group tried to kick Zhiming again but was stopped by Yu Minglang.

“Guys, I advise you not to use violence in front of me, I can’t stand it.”

The leader found his hand held by Yu Minglang, and feeling humiliated in front of everyone, this village tyrant was not used to being openly defied like this. So, when Yu Minglang spoke up to stop him, his first reaction was—

“It’s a trap!”

With that said, several people charged at Yu Minglang.

They, however, were flung away almost the moment they lunged at him. In the blink of an eye, Yu Minglang swept two of them to the ground with a kick.

Those who were left standing were also knocked over by his fists and legs.

“Violence is a blind beast, so to deal with you beasts who have no sense and only primal urges, I have only one weapon— violence versus violence!”

Yu Minglang clapped his hands and spat disdainfully at the defeated village tyrant.

“Get out of here!”

When Brother Lang was young, these guys were just brats. They dared to bully in front of him, and it was only right to beat them up!

The group ran away in panic.

Xiao Qian squatted on the ground, patting the shivering Zhiming.

“It’s alright. They’re gone. No one will harm you now.”

Seeing that Zhiming was already a grown man, she wondered how he still got bullied. Xiao Qian had always thought that bullying only happened to children around her little brother’s age.

“They beat me and bully me… It’s always been like this.” Zhiming buried his face in the ground, speaking with a tearful voice.

“It’s okay. They’re gone now. No one will come to bully you again.” Xiao Qian comforted him patiently. With her professional instinct, she sensed that this young man had been traumatized.

It was not the first time this kind of trauma had occurred. The bullies’ movements were so practiced that it was clear they had been tormenting Zhiming regularly.

“They laughed at me for failing, they laughed at my name, and they couldn’t even let Cui’er be… Cui’er!” Suddenly, Zhiming looked up and frantically searched through his overturned bamboo basket.

The little green snake inside was barely alive, with its body in an unnatural curve and its head drooping. Zhiming held his pet, trembling, but the little green snake wouldn’t curl around his hand like it usually did.

Yu Minglang knew at a glance that the snake wouldn’t make it.

Its spine had been broken, and if that happened to a snake, it could only wait to die.

The law of the jungle prevailed everywhere. The strong preyed on the weak not only in the village but also in the city. It was just that this kind of bullying was more direct in relatively simple places like here.

“Cui’er!” Zhiming cried out loud, while Xiao Qian frowned at the scene.

“Those people went too far!”

Yu Minglang nodded, “Actually, they are just half-grown kids themselves. Their parents have failed to discipline them properly, so they become foolish when they grow up. Foolish people then display shameless violence, creating a vicious cycle that results in village bullies and city ruffians. They are the scum of society.”

Yu Minglang had considerable martial power, but he never abused these abilities. He always used his strength to protect those he wanted to protect, not to bully those weaker than himself.

“If my brother was here, this wouldn’t happen. He wouldn’t let them bully me like this… I can’t do anything right.” Clutching the dying little green snake, Zhiming’s tears hadn’t dried, and his eyes were full of hatred as he looked in the direction of the village tyrants’ departure.

“Let’s go. Come back with us. You have some injuries that need to be bandaged.” Xiao Qian said to Zhiming.

But Zhiming just stared in the direction of the bullies, muttering, “If Zhuhu were here, I definitely wouldn’t be beaten. My brother would protect me. My brother…”

His hand clawed a clear trace on the ground, his eyes turning red. He seemed to be in an abnormal state.

Xiao Qian felt that things weren’t looking good, and she was about to provide further psychological counseling when Zhiming suddenly grabbed the dead snake and ran wildly in the opposite direction. His speed was so fast that even Yu Minglang was surprised, like a wild beast.

“Will he be okay?” Xiao Qian asked.

“I’ll go after him and check.” Yu Minglang wasn’t too reassured either. Zhiming’s reaction was not quite like a normal person’s.

As Yu Minglang was about to run after him, he saw the old boss from the farmhouse coming over.

“Uncle, your son Zhiming got into a fight and ran that way. I was planning to have my fiancé go after him.” Xiao Qian pointed in Zhiming’s direction.

“Ah, I’ll go find him. You two go back. You’re not familiar with the roads in these mountains.” The old man frowned but didn’t look too surprised. It was as if he’d grown accustomed to his son being bullied.

“Are you sure you don’t need my help?” Yu Minglang asked.

The old man shook his head, looking at Yu Minglang with a trace of wariness in his eyes, and said bluntly.

“You outsiders don’t meddle in our family’s affairs!”

The once friendly old man suddenly spoke with such rudeness. Xiao Qian and Yu Minglang exchanged glances and decided to give up. If the boy’s father insisted on such a stance, their insistence on helping would only add to the family’s troubles.

On the way back, Yu Minglang asked Xiao Qian.

“How can psychology explain the old man’s overreaction just now?”

“High self-esteem and low self-esteem personality.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you want to use an image to represent self-esteem as a plane, a normal person should be in the middle, low self-esteem below normal, and high self-esteem above normal. Both too high and too low are not normal psychological states. High self-esteem people are fragile and can’t handle the slightest touch of the bottom line, meaning they’re sensitive and love face. Many people around us are like this. Say one word about them, and they’re instantly shattered. They have very strong self-esteem. You see, we’ve been staying here for one day and heard the old man scolding Zhiming several times, right? Almost every time, he emphasized that Zhiming was not as good as his brother.”