"Oh! They've already arrived!"
After putting Yuer down, he told me, "Let's go… We have a lot of things to do. First of all, let's get rid of your deadbeat uncles."
Without pausing, Uncle Chen walked straight toward the hall.
I immediately followed behind him.
The entire time, Madam Liu looked confused.
As we passed the warehouse attached to the house, I saw two men carefully transporting items from the house onto carts outside.
"Zhao Hu, Sun Tie, both of you, stop what you're doing and come with me. We need to go somewhere before heading to the city."
Both of them looked surprised by the sudden order but immediately followed Uncle Chen.
Zhao Hu was a man with broad shoulders, with a scar running across his cheek.
From the first impression alone, I could tell he was the type who intimidated others simply by standing still.
The other one, Sun Tie, was slightly shorter than Zhao Hu but looked just as powerful.
He had thick arms and a square jaw.
Uncle Chen and I sat on the cart while the two guards drove the ox cart toward my house.
Within moments, we arrived.
We entered the house together.
"Oi! Where the hell have you gone without telling anyone? Because of you, my father and mother told me to search all over the village!"
Not even a moment passed after we entered before I was stopped by a boy who looked at least two years older than me.
He had a thin body and a sharp face, with a sneer on his lips as he looked at me.
"Li Wei…" I muttered his name.
The same cousin who the system said would kill me at the age of thirteen.
Seeing that I showed no reaction and remained calm, he rushed toward me, but stopped abruptly when he noticed the three adults standing beside me.
"Who are they? Why did you bring them with you?"
Even with them present, his tone remained arrogant and angry.
I didn't even open my mouth before Uncle Chen spoke directly.
"Kid, where are your parents right now? We need to speak with them immediately."
Though his voice was calm, Uncle Chen's tone was cold enough to make Li Wei step back.
Without another word, he turned and went to call his parents, giving me one last menacing look before leaving.
It was very clear that this guy would not have hesitated to use physical violence against me if I hadn't brought Uncle Chen with me.
Now that I thought about it, he had always looked down on me for no reason.
From the very first time we met, he had looked at me as if I were some inferior being.
I had never done anything to offend him, yet he always seemed eager to pick a fight with me.
Fine. From now on, I would consider him an enemy.
Not long after he gone, a thin woman with sharp eyes rushed toward me.
"Little Tianyuan, where have you gone?! Your uncle and I were really worried about you…"
Her words were filled with fake warmth.
I already knew her act well, but it was still amazing how someone could say things they didn't mean without hesitation.
If someone unrelated to me saw her like this, they might even mistake me for her own son.
Before my aunt could get any closer, Uncle Chen stepped forward and positioned himself in front of me, blocking her path.
It was a small gesture, but I was deeply grateful for it.
The moment she got close, I had felt extremely uncomfortable, with a strong urge to run as far away from her as possible.
Her face twisted slightly when she realized someone had stepped in her way.
She quickly forced her fake smile back onto her face, but that smile froze again when she noticed Uncle Chen, as well as the guards standing beside him.
She sensed danger.
A bad feeling welled up in her heart.
She remembered Uncle Chen from the funeral, the same man who had shown genuine concern for the child and told him to seek help whenever needed.
At first, she and her husband had planned to take everything slowly, believing no one would interfere once the maid was sent away.
However, Uncle Chen's appearance at the funeral, the villagers' high regard for him, and his close friendship with Tianyuan's father had made her force her husband to act quickly.
She didn't want this man interfering with their plans.
But from the looks of it, Tianyuan had gone and brought him here himself.
Why?
I've been taking such good care of him… Did that brat notice something and go to this man?!
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
Still, maintaining her fake smile, she asked politely,
"And who might you be? Did our little Tianyuan cause any trouble outside?"
Clearly, she knew who he was but pretended not to.
However, not a single one of her actions escaped Uncle Chen's eyes.
He looked directly at her and then at her husband, who had also arrived and was standing beside her, and said calmly,
"I am Chen Guangyi, a good friend of Li Yuan, the father of little Tianyuan. I did not come here to waste time getting to know any of you. Return everything you took from this house without Tianyuan's permission, right now, and then get lost."
No nonsense. No wasted words.
He told them to leave just like that.
I was amazed by his boldness and overbearing manner.
There wasn't even a trace of the warmth he usually showed.
Instead, he looked at them with eyes filled with disgust.
The entire hall fell silent.
My eldest uncle's face stiffened, while my aunt's complexion turned pale.
They exchanged glances with each other before my aunt immediately retorted angrily,
"W-what?! How dare you slander us like this? First of all, who are you? What right do you have to interfere in our family's business?"
While she shouted angrily as if deeply offended, shock churned inside her.
How did this man know?