In the male dormitory for the educated youths, Xu Hong was drinking with a few close comrades from his hometown.
Since the government had begun arranging for educated youths to return to the cities, the brigade no longer assigned them much farm work, leaving them with plenty of free time.
However, Xu Hong's mood was anything but relaxed. The girl he admired was set to marry a notorious village scoundrel, and the two had even been caught in bed together. On top of that, she had refused to let him have her city-return slot, leaving him bitterly resentful.
So, after causing a scene with Tang Xue, he returned with two bottles of liquor, drowning his frustrations in drink with his hometown friends.
The group was drinking heartily when a sudden "bang!" shattered the atmosphere. The wooden door had been kicked open from outside, and a tall figure appeared in the doorway.
"Which one of you is Xu Hong? Get out here!"
When they saw Li Yi standing there, the few educated youths inside shuddered instinctively.
Li Yi didn't know them, but they all knew Li Yi.
In the entire Nianzishan Brigade, the one person no one dared provoke wasn't the party secretary Feng Kai or the village chief Chen Tingying—it was this guy.
Not because he was particularly capable, but because he was bold, unruly, and completely unprincipled. He was like an obnoxious pest that didn't hurt you directly but made life unbearable. Even the village secretary and the chief dreaded dealing with him.
Xu Hong shrank back instinctively at the sight of Li Yi, but remembering how this scoundrel had shamelessly claimed the girl he'd long pursued, his eyes flared with anger.
Kicking aside the stool he'd been sitting on, Xu Hong stepped forward and shouted, "I'm the one you're looking for!"
Li Yi was already fuming, and Xu Hong's aggressive tone only made him angrier.
Without another word, Li Yi strode forward and delivered a powerful kick to the small table in the middle of the room.
The table, propelled by Li Yi's force, crashed directly into Xu Hong's stomach.
"Boom!"
The table slammed into Xu Hong's midsection, knocking him backward and pinning him beneath it.
Instantly, leftover food, scraps, and dishes rained down on Xu Hong, leaving him as filthy and humiliated as possible.
The other educated youths finally snapped out of their shock. Seeing their friend bullied, they began helping Xu Hong up while stepping forward to confront Li Yi.
"What gives you the right to hit people? Is there no law here?"
"Yeah, are you picking on us just because we're outsiders?"
"If you don't give us a proper explanation, we're going straight to Secretary Feng…"
Li Yi's fierce gaze swept over the group, silencing them. He then said coldly, "An explanation? Once I'm done, I'll be happy to give you one!"
With that, he charged at Xu Hong again. The previous strike had only been a warm-up—today, he was going to make sure this loudmouth paid for every word he'd carelessly thrown around.
Seeing Li Yi charge at Xu Hong again, the other educated youths were furious. Someone shouted, "He's going too far—get him!" and suddenly, all of them lunged at Li Yi.
But Li Yi remained unfazed—fighting was his expertise.
Not only was he a tough brawler by nature, but in his previous life, he'd also trained in combat. Even three to five guys wouldn't easily get close to him.
With one swift punch, Li Yi struck one of them square in the face, leaving the guy dazed, with blood pouring from his nose as he staggered back. He grabbed another attacker's incoming fist and, with a smooth twist, threw the guy over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground.
Next, with a sweeping kick, he dodged a sidekick from a third youth, knocking him down. As the guy started to fall, Li Yi followed up with a powerful kick to his stomach, sending him flying backward. The guy crashed into a wooden bed and was instantly incapacitated.
In less than a minute, all four youths, except Xu Hong, were out of commission.
As Li Yi approached him step by step, Xu Hong's legs trembled uncontrollably. The anger and alcohol-fueled courage he'd had moments before drained away.
"W-what do you want... Don't come any closer..." Xu Hong stammered.
Li Yi sneered, grabbing Xu Hong by the hair. Ignoring the mess and stink of spilled food all over him, he slapped Xu Hong across the face repeatedly, drawing blood from his nose and mouth and leaving him dazed.
"You think you're so tough? Come on, scream for me!"
"Picking on a woman? You're a disgrace to real men—try it one more time!"
"Mess with my wife again, and I'll show you just how far from a saint I am..."
The commotion alerted the other residents in the dormitory, and soon people crowded the doorway to watch. But upon seeing that it was Li Yi, no one dared to step in and stop him.
Just then, Li Na and Tang Xue arrived with Feng Kai, the village secretary. When Feng Kai saw the scene inside, he shouted angrily, "Stop it!"
Li Yi, seeing it was old secretary Feng Kai, finally released Xu Hong, whose face was now swollen and bruised beyond recognition.
Feng Kai stepped inside, taking in the beaten-up youths and the mess around the room, then fixed his gaze on Li Yi and asked, "Did you do all this?"
"Yes!" Li Yi admitted without hesitation.
"Why did you beat them? I could call the police on you for this," Feng Kai said sternly.
"I had a reason for it. You think I'm beating people up for fun?"
"Then tell me that reason. If you don't give me a good explanation right now, I'm calling the police to lock you up for a good ten days or so!" Feng Kai declared loudly.
Even though Li Yi was a local, Feng Kai was the village secretary and had to handle this fairly. Otherwise, it could stir resentment among the educated youths.
Besides, he genuinely thought this troublemaker from the Shan family needed a lesson; who knew what kind of mess he'd cause next if no one stepped in?
Li Yi's next words left Feng Kai utterly stunned: "Because he bullied my wife!"
"Your wife? Since when did you have a wife?"
Li Yi pointed at Tang Xue, standing behind Feng Kai. "Little Xue is my wife. Although it all started as a misunderstanding, she and my third sister are close. Both my parents and I like her, and we, the Li family, consider her our daughter-in-law."
"Now that someone has bullied my wife, tell me, shouldn't I stand up for her?"
Feng Kai had been in the front yard working on reports when Li Na and Tang Xue dragged him over, so he had no idea what had happened. Hearing this, he immediately sensed there was more to the story and asked, "So, from what you're saying, they bullied Little Xue, and that's why you fought them?"
Li Yi pointed at Xu Hong and said, "Not all of them—just him. This jerk is the one who harassed my wife!"
"Xu Hong?" Feng Kai asked, frowning. "And how exactly did he bully Little Xue?"
Feng Kai wasn't particularly fond of Xu Hong. While he wasn't as notorious as Li Yi, Xu Hong was also far from an ideal worker, often slacking off during production tasks.
Li Yi knew he had to explain everything clearly—not to excuse himself, but to make sure these educated youths understood that Tang Xue was his wife. Anyone thinking of gossiping behind her back better have a spine tough enough to handle the consequences.
Without hesitation, he publicly recounted how Xu Hong had bullied Tang Xue, laying out the details for everyone to hear.