The night went by without Mi Zhiguo returning home for dinner.

His absence only made Mi Xue happier; she and her mother prepared another lavish meal that made Mi An exclaim at the feast upon his return, clearly pleased with the spread. This left Zhang Yang feeling helpless inside. If it were possible, he still wanted to have a proper conversation with Mi Zhiguo, not necessarily for full acceptance from him but at least to prevent any hindrance in his relationship with Mi Xue.

Today, Mi Xue didn't stay long at Zhang Yang's side and quickly moved into her mother’s room. Yesterday she had been constantly with Zhang Yang, leaving no time to chat with her mother. Tonight was the perfect opportunity to make up for it; Mi Xue knew that her mother probably had many questions waiting for her.

Early the next morning, Mi Xue dragged Zhang Yang along as they visited relatives one after another. Whether or not Mi Zhiguo approved of her didn't concern her anymore. Her main goal was to introduce Zhang Yang to everyone else. After all, he had brought a pile of gifts with him. It was an eventful day for them; driving from house to house, they made rounds at every aunt and uncle's home in the neighborhood.

The biggest takeaway was that these people were all quite impressed by Zhang Yang, holding positive impressions towards him. As the old saying goes: "A mouth fed becomes short of words, a hand given something feels hesitant." With so many gifts from Zhang Yang, if they still spoke ill of him, it would be entirely unreasonable.

Word quickly spread through these relatives that Mi Xue had started dating and found herself an affluent young man with excellent qualities. This news soon reached the neighbors as well. Most of them worked at the county government office. When Luo Fenglan went to work, some people would even secretly ask her about it on the side.

Everyone knew how pretty Mi Xue was; she had been studying away from home in a university. Now that she had found a boyfriend, many were curious... Not far from Mi Xue's house, several young men gathered together inside one of the buildings.

Sitting at center with his face twisted into something sinister and gloomy was a young man in police uniform, repeatedly tapping an iron handcuff against the table. This was Yu Yong. After hearing about Mi Xue returning home, he had immediately returned to Lieshan County. Back during their school days, this man had always lusted after her beauty. When Liu Zhicheng casually mentioned that they were a perfect match of talents and charm, it stirred something inside him.

After discussing it with his father and bringing along Liu Zhicheng, his father finally agreed to help mediate the marriage proposal. Subsequently, he received further good news - The Mi family had accepted! All that remained was waiting for Mi Xue's graduation. Once she graduated and started working, they could officially become a couple.

This news brought him great joy at the time. He had even planned on visiting Changjing to see her when given an opportunity. Unfortunately, before he made it there, word spread suddenly - Mi Xue returned home with a boyfriend! Moreover, this man was being praised highly for his wealth and excellent qualities by others.

It made Yu Yong unable to sit still any longer. He rushed back from the city immediately. Fortunately, he wasn't completely foolish; he understood the importance of knowing both oneself and one's enemy well. Zhang Yang driving a Benz car did cause some hesitation in him.

"Brother, shall I go ahead and dislocate his arms for you?"

One on his side suddenly offered this suggestion - His cousin, son to another official who was just a township mayor under the county government. This boy had become somewhat of a local bully there, fearless with no real concern for anything.

"That's right! No matter how capable he is, he's still an outsider. We could find some people to secretly follow him, dislocate his arms and smash up his car. Who would know it was us?"

This time the speaker was a small-time thug in the county town who had followed Yu Yong during their school days. While Yu Yong went on to college under another name, this guy remained in the county town causing trouble. Now considered somewhat of a minor villain with some local notoriety.

"Let's wait until later... After all, if I'm already here, how can I let him have it easy?"

Yu Yong waved his hand forcefully while grumbling frustratedly. His biggest concern was Zhang Yang's background, but someone else had been sent out to investigate that for him.

A beeping sound suddenly came from Yu Yong’s pagers. Seeing the number displayed, he rushed over to use the nearby telephone machine. He hadn't yet upgraded to a mobile phone - not because he couldn't afford it, but rather due to his father currently being in an important phase of promotion and advising him against showing off too much.

"Mr. Yu!"

A flatteringly obsequious voice came through on the other end. Zhang Yang would definitely recognize it if he were here; it was Liu Zhicheng speaking.

"Quickly, tell me what you found out!"

Yu Yong anxiously questioned him. Liu Zhicheng had personally gone to Changjing to investigate Zhang Yang's background. As Mi Xue’s uncle himself, this made things easier through the familial connections.

"I've already investigated thoroughly! This guy is just an ordinary person who happened upon good fortune and knows some medical skills. He treated the father of the health bureau director in Changjing, then interned at San Hospital. There were also rumors that he treated a wealthy man's illness and was given a car as payment. That's all there is to it! His family isn't even from this province!"

"Really? You're certain about it? This car of his was just from treating some rich guy who gave him the vehicle?"

Yu Yong’s eyes suddenly brightened at Liu Zhicheng's news; this information would be extremely helpful for his purposes.

"Of course! I personally went to their university with Mi Xue's uncle identity and asked around among students we have good relations with - it's definitely true! Their classmates even mentioned that Zhang Yang used to be quite ordinary, but he only became wealthy after treating someone's illness!"

Liu Zhicheng immediately assured him confidently. He was still in Changjing at the moment, having gathered this latest information through his connections there.

One must admit, Liu Zhicheng did show some intelligence and had indeed uncovered a lot of details. Zhang Yang did treat the health bureau director's father; naturally, the wealthy man he treated was Su Shaohua. Unfortunately though, few knew about Su Shaohua's identity, and those ordinary classmates of Zhang Yang certainly wouldn't know either.

Furthermore, Liu Zh

Yu Yong had especially focused on investigating Zhang Yang’s personal background.

Zhang Yang's household registration followed his grandmother and grandfather - just ordinary people from another province. Liu Zhicheng used his connections to learn this information at the university before completely relaxing his concerns.

It turned out he was nothing but a lucky guy who stumbled upon good fortune, which now gave Yu Yong no more worries - hence why he called up Yu Yong for the update.

"I got it. You did well. I'll have my elder brother help you with that project matter; he will definitely hand it over to you!"

Yu Yong spoke into the phone before hanging up without waiting for Liu Zhicheng's thanks. The person in question was his family’s most powerful figure - a vice mayor in the city, and even part of the Standing Committee. This gave him far more authority than Mi Zhiguo, who held merely an ordinary county government post.

"Damn it, so this guy is just some random nobody! Everyone get ready, we're going to take action!"

After hanging up, Yu Yong finally let out his frustrated exclamation. Since Zhang Yang had no real background and was only a lucky bastard, there was no need for him to hold back anymore. He wanted to teach Zhang Yang such a thorough lesson that he would never dare get near Mi Xue again - along with totally destroying his car in the process!

"Big brother, are we going in? I'll go gather people!"

The young thug who had followed Yu Yong exclaimed excitedly as well. After giving it some thought, Yu Yong eventually nodded in agreement. Naturally, when dealing with Zhang Yang, more was better - especially after holding this anger for two days straight; he wanted to fully vent out all of his frustration!

Soon enough, someone managed to find out where exactly Zhang Yang currently was located at the moment.

Actually, it wasn’t hard at all to locate him. His Benz car made such an obvious impression in this small county town that wherever they went there would always be people seeing them around.

"Boating on Tianlong Lake, this guy is even playing romantic with me - come along everyone!"

Upon learning where Zhang Yang was, Yu Yong angrily shouted and immediately led his group out the door without even bothering to change clothes first.

Tianlong Lake lay in the eastern part of Lieshan County; it wasn’t particularly large but still very famous for certain legends about a dragon's eye at its bottom that housed an actual dragon or underground water channels leading right into the sea itself. These stories weren't completely baseless as this little lake had never once dried up despite any kind of drought, giving rise to such myths naturally over time.

It was now evening when Mi Xue didn’t want to go back home too early; she decided instead to take Zhang Yang here for a boat ride along Tianlong Lake just to relax and unwind. Actually, when she was younger she had once harbored an unknown dream - hoping someday that with her beloved partner in life, they could walk hand-in-hand around the lake's edge or row together across it. Taking Zhang Yang here also had symbolic meaning behind it for fulfilling those old wishes of hers; this scene alone, just being together on the water between only two people, was something she had imagined countless times before as a beautiful memory.

Yu Yong didn’t move slowly at all. In no time flat he arrived and found that by then already some twenty to thirty people were gathered along the lakeside with many of them carrying knives or iron pipes in their hands. Their knives alone outnumbered those found back in Jiao Yi City. Speaking about chaos, actually smaller places tend to be more chaotic than bigger cities themselves!

"Strong Brother, Yu Brother!"

Upon seeing Yu Yong arrive, these people quickly moved closer and called out his names loudly.

"Where is he?"

That "Strong Brother", or the thug following Yu Yong, immediately cried out in a loud voice before someone pointed towards where they could see a black car parked at some distance away.

"Come on then, let's first go smash up that damn thing!"

Upon seeing this car, both Yu Yong’s anger and jealousy surged together instantly; he immediately screamed out this command without hesitation! After all, what did it matter if someone was worth more money? This place was his territory - just one acre of land under his control! The better Zhang Yang's car was, the stronger desire Yu Yong felt to destroy it completely due to that very jealousy.

Certainly, he himself didn’t even own such a nice vehicle; naturally, if possible taking possession for himself would be ideal too! Unfortunately though, despite how bold he might be in mind, actually trying to commit an open robbery was something not really feasible at all...

With around thirty people altogether, they stormed over en masse. Everyone watching along the road quickly scattered aside out of fear as these folks hurriedly made their way toward Zhang Yang's car parked there.

Yu Yong took the lead by immediately picking up his big hammer - which he had just snatched from a nearby roadside and smashed it straight into the window glass right away!

Though good quality, Zhang Yang's car wasn't an actual tank after all; even tanks couldn't withstand such brute force pounding without damage at once! That single hit shattered the glass immediately.

Others seeing this action joined in quickly too - some people who couldn’t reach jumped onto the roof instead while everyone else just continued hammering away at poor Zhang Yang's Mercedes-Benz vehicle! Within minutes, the car was already riddled with countless holes and completely ruined!

Zhang Yang rowing their boat slowly on the lake center suddenly turned around sharply upon hearing all of this commotion.

Mi Xue heard it too and immediately looked toward shore anxiously. Unfortunately, they were now in the middle of the lake quite far from land; there was absolutely no way for them to stop whatever was happening at that point anymore!

"Bastards!"

Zhang Yang suddenly cursed aloud with eyes turning completely cold as ice...