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When Lin Feng got home, he understood what had happened.

It turned out that the Iron Rod Gang had come to Xiahe Village to collect protection money.

These people really will stop at nothing; they've even come to the countryside to collect protection money.

When Lin Feng arrived at his house, a dozen or so thugs from the Iron Rod Gang had already reached the door of Zhang Xiaoyu's house next door.

Bang, bang, bang! Several thugs smashed the gate of Zhang Xiaoyu's house with iron bars.

"Open the door quickly, the Iron Rod Gang is here to collect protection money."

"Protection fees are collected per person, one tael of silver per person, and it's only collected once a year."

Aunt Lin and several other women stood not far from the gate of Lin Feng's house, sobbing softly.

"Waaah, these damned bastards, they're making life impossible for us ordinary folks."

"Yes, the bandits in the mountains demand head money, the government demands taxes, and the Iron Rod Gang in the town demands protection money."

"This Iron Rod Gang is too despicable. Even the small knife gang in town never came to the countryside to collect protection money before."

"Didn't the four thugs from the Feng family claim they were members of the Iron Rod Gang?"

"Those four thugs from the Feng family have already been burned to ashes. I hope this Iron Rod Gang will also be wiped out soon."

"Keep your voice down, don't let them hear. Old Li just argued with them for a bit, and they broke his arm."

When Lin Feng returned home.

The whole family stood at the gate of the courtyard, looking out.

When they saw Lin Feng return, they all felt they had a pillar of support.

Da Bao pointed at the group of people and whispered, "Daddy, bad guys are coming outside."

Lin Feng patted Da Bao's head. "Son, don't be afraid. Daddy's here."

Lin's mother pulled Da Bao behind her, saying, "Da Bao, don't talk, just stand behind and watch."

Lin's mother tugged at Lin Feng again, "Xiao Feng, there are so many of them, don't fight with them."

"If they want money, we'll give it to them; we can afford it."

The mother was afraid of being taken advantage of.

The Iron Rod Gang has already injured several people since they entered the village.

Lin Feng counted and found that the Iron Rod Gang had brought fifteen people, each carrying a solid iron rod.

Lin Feng has now mastered the Golden Bell Shield technique, so these people can't hurt him with iron rods at all.

However, Lin Feng did not intend to make a move.

He was worried that if a fight broke out, these people would hurt his family.

Even if I beat all these people down, it won't make a difference. The Iron Rod Gang will definitely send even more powerful experts.

Unless you can wipe out the Iron Rod Gang in one fell swoop.

He knew he didn't have that ability yet.

However, it's still possible to ambush and rob these people halfway through the journey while they're still masked.

The village chief of Xiahe Village stood among the Iron Rod Gang members, bowing and scraping as he said, "The resident of this courtyard is Zhang Xiaoyu. There are only two people in his family, him and his wife, and his wife is pregnant."

The bald thug in the lead said, "Pregnant? That means there are three people. It'll cost three taels of silver."

Seeing that she couldn't avoid it any longer, Zhang Xiaoyu opened the courtyard gate.

The thugs from the Iron Rod Gang pointed their iron rods at Zhang Xiaoyu and said, "Hey kid, why did it take you so long to open the door?"

Zhang Xiaoyu said expressionlessly, "My wife is pregnant, and I was taking care of her just now."

Zhang Xiaoyu took out two taels of silver and handed it over, saying, "This is our family's protection money."

The bald thug took the two taels of silver and said, "You still need to pay one tael of silver. Your wife is pregnant with another one, so that makes three people. You need to pay a total of three taels of silver."

Zhang Xiaoyu's temper flared up immediately, and she shouted, "The child hasn't even been born yet, what kind of protection money are you charging? That's outrageous! Even the bandits in the mountains don't charge this much!"

The bald thug pointed an iron rod at Zhang Xiaoyu and cursed, "What the hell are you yelling for? We're not here to reason with you."

Our Iron Rod Gang is going to set a precedent.

If you don't pay, we can't protect the baby in your wife's belly.

Zhang Xiaoyu's pregnant wife was his Achilles' heel. He was afraid that his wife would be frightened, and he also wanted to pay another tael of silver to settle the matter.

But he really didn't have any money.

Zhang Xiaoyu suppressed her anger and took out several hundred coins from her pocket. "This is all the money my family has left. You can take it all."

Next to the bald thug was another thug with a straw in his mouth. He spat it out and cursed, "Pah, who the hell are you trying to fool! If you can't come up with the money, I'll abort your wife's baby."

These thugs were about to rush into their yard.

Zhang Xiaoyu panicked a little and reached out to stop these people.

"No, no, please, gentlemen, have mercy and let me think of a way."

Zhang Xiaoyu saw the village chief next to the thug.

He said to the village chief, "Uncle Zheng, could you lend me one tael of silver? I'll pay you back in a couple of days once I've earned it back."

Village chief Zheng Fugui was an accomplice of this group of thugs.

He helped the Iron Rod Gang collect protection money from door to door. The Iron Rod Gang not only refused to accept protection money from his family, but also gave him a share of the profits.

Zheng Fugui waved his hand, "Xiaoyu, you should borrow from someone else. Your uncle has two kids and he's short of money too."

Zheng Fugui was the richest man in the village, but he was also cunning and shrewd, and he would never lend money to others.

Zhang Xiaoyu then looked at the villagers who were watching.

The villagers watching all turned their heads away, not daring to look him in the eye.

When the thugs saw that Zhang Xiaoyu couldn't borrow any money, they tried to rush in again.

"If you can't afford the protection money for your child, then you shouldn't have the child."

Zhang Xiaoyu, a grown man, knelt down on the ground for his wife and children.

"Gentlemen, please give me a few days."

"Give your grandma some time, the old men are going to collect all the protection money from Xiahe Village today."

At this moment, Lin Feng called out, "Brother Zhang."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoyu looked at Lin Feng.

Lin Feng took out a piece of silver and threw it to Zhang Xiaoyu.

"Brother Zhang, I forgot to pay back the money I borrowed from you a couple of days ago. I'll pay you back today."

Zhang Xiaoyu took the money and gave Lin Feng a grateful look.

Lin Feng never borrowed any money from Zhang Xiaoyu.

By saying this, Lin Feng not only helped Zhang Xiaoyu but also gave her face, while indirectly telling others that his family didn't have much money and needed to borrow as well.

Zhang Xiaoyu gave the money to the group of thugs.

Once the thugs received the money, they stopped bothering him.

After collecting protection money from Zhang Xiaoyu's family, the thugs arrived at Lin Feng's house.

When the bald thug saw that there were so many people in Lin Feng's family, a smile immediately appeared on his face.

He pointed to the people in Lin Feng's family with his hand, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine people, nine taels of silver."

Lin's mother said, "There are only eight people in our family. The other one is my son's brother-in-law, who came to visit."

The bald thug looked at the village chief, Zheng Fugui.

Zheng Fugui said, "This family does indeed only have eight people: five children, three adults, and the other one is not from our village."

The bald thug said, "Then I'll take eight taels of silver."

A thug behind them said, "This family is really lucky to have so many children."

Another thug replied, "That's not their good fortune, it's ours."

The old men and women might be killed after collecting protection money for a few years.

"A child can live for decades; one tael of silver a year adds up to tens of taels of silver."

"You're really good at calculating. By the time they grow up, we'll all be gone. What's the point of collecting protection money then?"

"It doesn't matter if we're gone, our children can continue to collect protection money from them."

"What you said makes a lot of sense."

A one-eyed thug pointed at Zhou Chunlan and said, "This woman is quite pretty. I wonder how much she charges for a night?"

Another person chimed in, "One-Eyed, you have a really sharp eye. This young lady is indeed more and more attractive the more you look at her."

The brothers stationed in Xiahe Village are blessed.

Lin Feng's face darkened upon hearing this. These bastards dared to flirt with his wife right in front of him; they were really asking for trouble.

It seems these bastards can't be allowed to live.