This assassin is truly the strangest person imaginable. Ye Tiancheng could no longer stand it. He channeled his true energy, and everyone in the vicinity was slapped.
"There, I've made my move. Can you all stop pestering me? You're incredibly annoying. Just leave quickly."
Ye Tiancheng thought he had completed his task, but he was mistaken. The man in the white robe, after being slapped, refused to leave. Instead, he made more demands of Ye Tiancheng.
"Mr. Ye, that was too light. If you were to act, it wouldn't just be a slap. We won't be able to report back if you do this."
Ye Tiancheng was so exasperated that sweat beaded on his forehead. "Are you looking to die?"
"You'd best leave us alive. If you don't hit us, we'll still be punished when we get back. You might as well just kill us now."
These assassins had changed their tactics. Instead of suppressing others with force, they resorted to psychological warfare. This put Ye Tiancheng in a difficult position; their methods were too powerful for him to handle.
"What exactly do you mean? It's one thing for you to disrupt my engagement banquet, but now I can't even get rid of you. I don't want to kill anyone, so don't force me."
Ye Tiancheng only said this outwardly. He truly didn't want to kill anyone. Killing so many people would likely push his karma to the limit, and he might be banished to another world at any moment.
"Please, Mr. Ye, help us out. We're all just trying to get by. We'll be beaten upon our return no matter what, so please spare our lives."
"You should leave now and stop bothering me."
Ye Tiancheng's face turned red with anger, but the man in the white robe still didn't leave. At this moment, Ye Tiancheng suddenly thought of a plan.
"This is because you refused to leave. I tried to persuade you, but you wouldn't listen. If you get beaten, it's your own fault."
The man in the white robe thought Ye Tiancheng had relented and happily said to him, "Mr. Ye, you're finally willing to beat us so we can report back?"
"I won't do it myself, but I'll have someone else do it."
With that, time resumed its normal flow. Ye Tiancheng shouted, "These are the bandits who suddenly broke in. We don't know their intentions. Security, come and deal with them quickly!"
The attackers were already on the ground, unable to move, their bodies controlled by Ye Tiancheng's true energy. So, when the security guards hit them with their batons, they could only endure it silently, unable to resist at all.
"These people are so strange. They're not begging for mercy even when they're being beaten. It seems we didn't hit them hard enough; we should have beaten them severely!"
The attackers' lack of resistance only further enraged the security guards. Over twenty guards swarmed them, surrounding them, and then began to beat them furiously.
This farce drew even more attention to Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu's engagement banquet.
After the engagement banquet concluded, Hou Mingzhu's father temporarily entrusted Hou Mingzhu to Ye Tiancheng.
"You've been asking about the ancestral hall. You and Hou Mingzhu should go to our old home and inform the ancestors in the ancestral hall about your engagement. Ye Tiancheng, I must remind you again, if you dare to betray my daughter, I will make your life a living hell."
"I wouldn't dare, Uncle Hou. How could I be so bold?"
"I hope you two have a smooth trip! If things go well, you won't have to call me Uncle anymore; you can call me Father-in-law."
Although Hou Mingzhu's father appeared stern, his words indicated his support for Ye Tiancheng. Ye Tiancheng was naturally pleased, as at least this elder wouldn't be an obstacle.
"Alright, I will perform well. I will not let Hou Mingzhu suffer any grievances."
Hou Mingzhu packed a lot of things for their trip to the Hou family's old home to pay respects to the ancestors. They would likely stay for at least a week. Hou Mingzhu was a girl, and she needed to prepare many things, unlike Ye Tiancheng, who only brought two sets of clothes and some toiletries.
Ye Tiancheng always disliked trouble and didn't even want to bring these items, finding it too cumbersome. He preferred disposable items, buying them, using them, and then discarding them.
The people sent by Ye Tiancheng's father only escorted them out of the city before getting out of the car. From then on, Ye Tiancheng had to drive himself. Hou Mingzhu, in the passenger seat, ate continuously.
She seemed to have just finished eating roast chicken, and now she had switched to corn. She was also holding half-eaten fries, happily chatting and eating non-stop, appearing very cheerful.
"The road is very bumpy. It's all my fault for this poor pickup truck. I guess I should get a new car so you can ride more smoothly in the passenger seat."
Ye Tiancheng was developing a sense of responsibility. Watching Hou Mingzhu eat beside him, her personality had changed greatly. The way she spoke was quite endearing, and he felt much more settled than when he was alone.
It seemed that having someone by his side truly made him less anxious and more at ease.
Ye Tiancheng's mindset was also changing. Before, he found Hou Mingzhu annoying, but now he didn't feel that way. He even found the girl quite cute.
"This is delicious! Have some."
Hou Mingzhu popped a sour and spicy boneless chicken foot into Ye Tiancheng's mouth. Ye Tiancheng found it incredibly tasty, with its sour and spicy flavor and chewy texture.
"Mingzhu, you've changed a lot. You wouldn't have eaten in the car before, and you would have been disgusted by my pickup truck."
"Really? Was I that picky before? I think your car is quite fun. Although it's a bit bumpy, I find it interesting. The cars at home are too smooth, and if I eat carelessly, the driver would scold me. It's better with Brother Ye; he doesn't care what I do."
"You're becoming more and more interesting. Let's eat on the road later. I saw some roadside restaurants appearing after driving for a while. You're not picky, right? Actually, you've been eating all the way, so you shouldn't be hungry."
Ye Tiancheng suddenly realized that perhaps he was the only one who was truly hungry. Hou Mingzhu hadn't stopped eating; how could she be hungry?
"I'm hungry! Of course, I'm hungry. I'm starving."
When Hou Mingzhu said this so shamelessly, Ye Tiancheng realized that this girl was a little rascal. She was completely different from before, like a transformed person.
"Okay, then we'll order more dishes later." As Ye Tiancheng spoke, he took a banana from his bag. "This is fruit I specifically brought for you from the gardening center. Eating it is good for your health. You can have it to tide you over until we eat later."
As it was already approaching noon, Ye Tiancheng was too hungry to bear it and finally found a restaurant.
After parking the car by the roadside, Ye Tiancheng entered the restaurant. However, the hygiene of this fly-infested eatery was questionable. As soon as he entered, he felt it was somewhat dirty and chaotic.
"What would you like to eat, brother?"
If Ye Tiancheng were still the farmer he used to be, he wouldn't be so particular. After farming so much land, he would be too tired to care about cleanliness. He would sit down, devour a bowl of noodles in a few bites, and be satisfied as long as his stomach was full.
But now it was different. Ye Tiancheng had seen some of the world. He prioritized health in his food, followed by taste, and he also appreciated quality. He paid attention to the dining environment, unlike before when he could eat anything.
"Mingzhu, don't you think this place is a bit dirty?"
"But we're in the middle of nowhere, and we're hungry. We can only eat here, so let's not be so picky."
Ye Tiancheng once again suspected that Hou Mingzhu might have been possessed by a spirit, to say such a thing. Normally, Hou Mingzhu was difficult to please. The last time they went to a beef noodle restaurant, she almost drove Ye Tiancheng crazy.
"Alright, then we'll just make do and eat here."
As Ye Tiancheng sat down, he felt the chair was sticky, as if it hadn't been wiped in eight hundred years. This made Ye Tiancheng feel uneasy.
"This young lady is very beautiful. Young man, you are very fortunate. What would you like to eat? Here's the menu, order yourselves."
Ye Tiancheng took the menu and felt his appetite vanish. There were offal, pig stomachs, and no normal dishes. Everything looked greasy. Moreover, on this hot day, he had wanted some refreshing small dishes, but they were all difficult to swallow, making him furious.
"Don't you have any vegetarian dishes? Just make scrambled eggs with tomatoes and a cucumber salad."
"We don't make those dishes."
When the waiter said that, Ye Tiancheng became a little angry.
"Can't a restaurant be a little flexible? Do people really eat these dishes on such a hot day?"
"These are all our signature dishes, of course, people eat them. Some customers even drive specifically to eat here."
Ye Tiancheng was about to vomit just listening to it. "Alright, then can I go to the kitchen and pick some raw ingredients, and you can cook them for me?"
Hou Mingzhu said nothing, just waited obediently. She was incredibly well-behaved throughout the entire process, which made Ye Tiancheng even more inclined to make decisions for her.
"The kitchen is a restricted area, you cannot go in."
The waiter's anxious attitude made Ye Tiancheng even more curious. What was going on? Was there a corpse in the kitchen?
Ye Tiancheng insisted on taking a look. The sight almost made him throw up. The kitchen was even dirtier and more chaotic, and there was a very strange smell. Any normal person couldn't stand such a nauseating odor.
"I'm not eating. Your restaurant is too deadly."
Ye Tiancheng considered himself someone who could eat anything, but he still couldn't stand the stench. Even if the smell were masked after cooking, what he would be eating wouldn't be good.
Ye Tiancheng had no choice but to pull Hou Mingzhu out of the restaurant. He realized he couldn't be so casual anymore. He was bringing someone with him, and a woman at that, so he needed to plan better.
Encountering such awkward situations every time was quite absurd and made him seem utterly incompetent.
"Mingzhu, wait for me for a moment. I'll make a call, and then we'll have something to eat."
Before Ye Tiancheng could even make the call, the fat, big-eared owner of the restaurant, who had been hiding behind the building, suddenly rushed out and started yelling at Ye Tiancheng.
"Not only do you not patronize my business! You also want to ruin my reputation, you shameless wretch! If you dare to come here to eat again, I'll break your teeth."
Ye Tiancheng stepped on the accelerator and drove forward a short distance. If it were any other time, given his temper, the restaurant owner would probably already be a corpse.
But Ye Tiancheng couldn't create more killing karma.
His current situation couldn't handle it. His karma was increasing too quickly, and with the killing karma, he would likely be sent to another world soon. It was better to behave himself.
"Big Brother Ye, that fatty was so fierce just now."