Evil

The reason the Thanh Ha Bang could grow so large, aside from having backing from above and talent within the gang, was that its management of gang members, compared to other smaller gangs, was also somewhat stricter.

For example, the Thanh Ha Bang didn't recruit just anyone, but only healthy and uninjured young men. They provided food and lodging, and there was even a monthly stipend to be collected.

And this money, naturally, came from oppressing the common people.

In previous years, being a Thanh Ha Bang member meant life was still quite decent.

However, in recent years, disasters and chaos had repeatedly occurred.

The common people's lives were not easy, and the Thanh Ha Bang's life was similarly not easy. But the monthly tribute due to those above could not be reduced in the slightest.

To maintain its operations, the Thanh Ha Bang could only reduce expenditures, cut the gang members' stipends, and further increase exploitation from below.

Regarding this, the gang members naturally had some dissatisfaction, but they certainly wouldn't vent it within the gang.

Therefore, the powerless common folk naturally became a target for oppression.

One layer oppresses the next; those below will only be more vicious.

Now that Tran Ho had been killed by scoundrels, Duong Uy had ordered a thorough investigation, digging three feet deep if necessary.

The yamen would not interfere.

The lackeys below could then use the pretext of this investigation to seek benefits for themselves, enriching their own pockets.

Moreover, being members of the Thanh Ha Bang, they had long heard some rumors that the yamen no longer cared about people outside the city.

After entering the villages, they acted with utter impunity, with no regard for the consequences after people died.

Upon entering a house, they took whatever they saw.

What they could take, they took; what they couldn't, they smashed.

If they saw an attractive young woman, lightly, they'd take liberties; heavily, they'd vent their own savagery right in front of the woman's husband.

...

Phuc Trach Village, Tong Family Home.

Tong Dien had taken on two jobs from Tran Mac. Although the remuneration wasn't much, by selling the bear meat and bear blood in the city for cash, he had also exchanged it for some money and bought grain. In the middle of this winter, it was barely enough to live on.

In the woodshed, the whole family sat huddled together.

Tong Dien, Tong Dien's wife, his eldest daughter, his eldest son-in-law, and his younger granddaughter all had a bowl of thin congee. Only his eldest granddaughter, Tong Yen, had more congee in her bowl.

The eldest granddaughter had completely inherited her mother's good features while avoiding the flaws. At thirteen or fourteen years of age, she had a delicate face, but due to malnutrition, her skin appeared a bit rough.

Liu Shu looked at the extra congee in his daughter's bowl and muttered, "Yen Tu will marry out sooner or later, why feed her so well? Father, you sell your strength; you should eat more."

"What do you know?" Tong Dien glared at Liu Shu. "Let Yen Tu nourish herself well. In a while, I want to find a good marriage for her. Otherwise, with this scrawny body, she'll be disliked."

As soon as these words were spoken.

Everyone was startled. The eldest daughter asked curiously, "Father, who do you have your eye on?"

"The Tran family's second young master." Since they were all family, Tong Dien didn't hide it. "In the whole village, Brother Mac Nhi's family is doing the best. Besides, Brother Mac Nhi is still a scholar, around twenty years old. Yen Tu is a good match for him."

Hearing this, the eldest daughter couldn't help but roll her eyes and said, "Father, Yen Tu and Brother Mac Nhi are, at best, matched in age. When Aunt Tran was still alive, she used to say every day that her Brother Mac Nhi was the Wen Qu Star descended to earth. Now that Brother Mac Nhi is so capable, why would he fancy Yen Tu?"

"Yen Tu's mother is right. Brother Mac Nhi also has a great beauty like Mistress Han beside him. His standards must have become picky by now," Liu Shu said.

"What do you all know? A young man is naturally amorous; how could he not have such thoughts? Mistress Han is, after all, Brother Mac Nhi's sister-in-law. And I'm offering Yen Tu to him, not as a wife. She's still good enough to be a concubine." Tong Dien naturally knew his own standing, so from the beginning, his idea was for Yen Tu to become Brother Mac Nhi's concubine.

The family fell silent. Although the Tong family were just ordinary people, they were at least from a respectable background. If they were to give their daughter to someone as a concubine, they would be looked down upon.

Moreover, a concubine had no status at all, and her son would still be a son born of a concubine.

But now, life was difficult, they couldn't even eat their fill. If...

"Bang!"

While everyone was silent, the woodshed door was kicked open by someone.

Rural doors were usually not installed very securely. With this one kick, the wooden door directly broke the doorframe, slammed to the ground, and stirred up a cloud of dust.

"Cough, cough..." The Tong family coughed from the dust. A scar-faced man, holding a large dao, walked in grimly: "Laozi thought this house was empty; turns out they were all hiding here."

At the same time, a cacophony of clanging and banging sounds came from the Tong family's main bedroom, and then Tong Dien saw pots, bowls, and basins being thrown out from the house one by one.

Seeing this scene, Tong Dien immediately became anxious and wanted to go out of the woodshed to see.

But he was tripped to the ground by the scar-faced man, tumbling over.

"Old man!"

"Father!"

"..."

The Tong family members were startled, then their expressions changed drastically, and they hurriedly checked on Tong Dien's condition.

Tong Dien's wife looked at the scar-faced man with an angry face: "You... why are you hitting people for no reason?"

At this moment, several Thanh Ha Bang lackeys who had been searching in the Tong family's main bedroom walked over to the scar-faced man and said, "Boss, this house is also full of poor devils. We only found these."

The lackey was carrying what was left of the Tong family's grain.

"Damn it, bad luck!" The scar-faced man spat and said, "Laozi is under Brother Dao of Chu Gia's command in the Thanh Ha Bang. You can call me Brother Dao. Right now, Laozi suspects someone in your village harmed our Brother Ho and robbed the Thanh Ha Bang's goods. Brother Hung has ordered a thorough investigation. These are all stolen goods, all confiscated! Let's go."

Of course, these words were just an excuse the scar-faced man found to legitimize his looting.

The culprit who could kill Brother Ho must be a martial artist who had entered a rank.

How could such an expert hide in a small mountain village?

"Brothers, next house!"

Just as the scar-faced man was about to call his brothers to leave.

Tong Dien's wife rushed forward and hugged the scar-faced man's thigh, not letting him go, demanding he return the grain.

That was the Tong family's entire food supply. If it was robbed, the whole family would have to starve this winter.

The eldest daughter pushed her husband, but her husband didn't move an inch, frozen in fear and trembling.

The scar-faced man was no kind soul either. He directly kicked fiercely, sending Tong Dien's wife sprawling: "Old hag, you refuse face when it's given, you only behave after a beating..."

The scar-faced man turned his head and spat fiercely.

But this time, his head turned, and he immediately spotted Tong Yen, who was being held tightly by her mother. He grinned at once: "Oh, an unexpected gain..."

The scar-faced man walked towards Tong Yen.

The lackeys behind him hurriedly followed, their mouths emitting lewd laughter.

"You... What do you want to do?!"

The eldest daughter, as if guessing something, her face changed drastically. She quickly shielded Tong Yen behind her, fumbled for a piece of firewood from the pile, her gaze icily staring at the scar-faced man, but her trembling hands betrayed the terror in her heart.

Her two daughters cried out loudly in fear.

Beside them, Liu Shu cowered.

"Die!"

The scar-faced man knocked the firewood from the eldest daughter's hand with one swipe. The lackeys behind him dragged the eldest daughter away.

The scar-faced man grabbed Tong Yen and headed towards the Tong family's main bedroom...