Wei Anguo was sitting on the sofa, lost in thought, when the sudden doorbell startled him. His hand brushed against a wound on his face, causing him to wince in pain.
"When you're down on your luck, even a mouthful of cold water can get stuck in your throat! Who could it be?" Wei Anguo grumbled irritably. He glanced towards the stairs, expecting Yin Fang to come down and open the door at this hour, as she usually did.
It seemed she was still angry about him not bringing Wei Jin back.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Wei Anguo didn't dare to get upset. He reluctantly walked towards the entrance, his body filled with a simmering rage.
A sudden thought struck him. They had only recently returned from Africa. Hardly anyone knew, and after their previous troubles, very few friends or relatives visited anymore.
So, who could be at the door?
As Wei Anguo pondered this, a sense of foreboding washed over him. The doorbell continued to ring, becoming more urgent. Trembling, he called out towards the door, "Who, who is it?"
The doorbell abruptly stopped. Then, a dull voice, like a broken grandfather clock's rasp, echoed. "Is this Wei Anguo's home? We're looking for Wei Anguo."
The words hit Wei Anguo like a hammer blow to his forehead. He hadn't expected them to be so direct, cutting straight to the chase and asking for him by name.
Wei Anguo froze for a moment. He crept silently towards the door and peeked through the peephole.
Outside stood several burly men, all dressed in black. They looked imposing and clearly meant trouble.
Could Zhan Mohan have found out that he had gone to confront Wei Yumeng? Had the Zhan family sent people to drag them back to Africa?
Wei Anguo stomped his foot in despair. If only Wei Yumeng hadn't been so infuriating, he wouldn't have openly clashed with her!
"No, no! You've got the wrong person, please leave!" Wei Anguo stammered nervously, his eyes still on the men outside. He gritted his teeth, vowing never to return to that godforsaken place in Africa!
The men in black exchanged glances. One of them pulled out his phone and cross-referenced it with the house number. "The information and the address are correct. This is indeed Wei Anguo's home."
Wei Anguo's heart sank. He wanted to see what was on the man's phone, but suddenly, a ferocious face loomed into the peephole, magnified ten times over!
"Aiya, you scared me to death!" Wei Anguo let out a loud shriek and stumbled backward, knocking over a pile of things with a resounding crash.
The commotion inside was clearly heard by the men outside, who immediately understood. "He's peeking at us. This man is Wei Anguo!" one of them declared loudly.
"Mr. Wei Anguo, please open the door. We have something to discuss with you," the leader of the black-clad men said calmly. He stared icily at the peephole, a confident smile on his face.
The other men were less patient. Since the doorbell was useless, they began banging forcefully on the door, making a tremendous racket at the Wei family's front entrance.
"I'm not! I'm really not! You're disturbing the peace. If you don't leave, I'll call the police!" Wei Anguo was completely panicked. He struggled to crawl backward, shouting at the door as if he had lost his mind.
His words did nothing to deter the men. They continued to demand that Wei Anguo open the door. "Mr. Wei Anguo, we have no ill intentions. We just want to visit your home and have a chat."
"Don't think you can fool me with your sweet talk. Leave now, or I won't just refuse to host you, I'll take action!" The solid door remained shut, giving Wei Anguo a false sense of security. He retorted boldly, reasoning that as long as he stayed inside, they wouldn't dare break in.
"Then we have no choice." Seeing Wei Anguo's uncooperative stance, the leader of the black-clad men spread his hands and gestured to two of his companions.
Two men stepped forward, produced small tools, and with practiced ease, they pried open the Wei family's front door.
Wei Anguo watched in stunned silence as the lock turned and the door clicked open. Three to five men in black poured in like a swarm of vengeful spirits from hell.
"You, what are you doing? Breaking and entering is a crime!" Wei Anguo stammered, pointing at them indignantly. He never imagined they could pick locks.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Wei, you likely won't have the chance to see us arrested." The leader smiled and advanced towards Wei Anguo.
Wei Anguo almost collapsed to the ground in fear. He scrambled up, his face pale, and without looking back, tried to run upstairs. "Yin Fang, hurry down! Call the police!"
The men in black wouldn't let Wei Anguo escape so easily. They lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar. Wei Anguo's cries became even more desperate.
"He's too loud. Muffle his mouth!" he commanded. At his word, the men in black, eager to silence Wei Anguo, not only gagged him but also bound him tightly like a zongzi.
Wei Anguo looked up at them with despair in his eyes, lying on the sofa like a caterpillar.
Before the men in black could proceed, angry shouts and heavy footsteps echoed from upstairs, descending the stairs. "Wei Anguo, are you crazy? I was trying to sleep, and all I could hear was your howling downstairs! What in the world are you doing..."
Yin Fang, who had stormed to the top of the stairs in a fit of rage, choked back the rest of her words. She was stunned by the scene before her, and a deep terror washed over her.
"Mmmph wah..." Wei Anguo's eyes lit up as if he had seen a savior. He looked at Yin Fang, trying to wriggle his body, his muffled words indistinguishable.
The group of men in black also noticed Yin Fang. One of them checked his phone, a smile spreading across his face. "Oh, we almost forgot this coward has a wife! But it's no trouble."
It was clear the burly men weren't intimidated by Yin Fang. She immediately tried to distance herself from Wei Anguo. "Please, sirs, I didn't see anything, I don't know anything! I've disliked Wei Anguo for a long time. Whatever you want to do, kill or chop, it's up to you. I'm going back to sleep!"
Wei Anguo felt as if he had plunged into an ice cellar. He stared at Yin Fang in disbelief. If his mouth hadn't been gagged, he would have unleashed a torrent of curses.
"Spouses are like birds of a feather, flying together in the same forest, but scattering when disaster strikes. That saying is truly profound." A man in black laughed heartily and quickly moved behind Yin Fang, dragging her onto the sofa. He then drew a gleaming knife and pressed it against her throat.
Yin Fang was petrified, the cold steel against her carotid artery, threatening to make her faint.