Chapter Ninety-Six: The Pale Scholar

Although Lu Hao thought this way, many of the employees behind him wore expressions of confusion.

A few cooks in the kitchen muttered among themselves.

“Is our new boss really that spineless? He’s scared just because they’re a bunch of thugs.”

“When we were fifteen or sixteen, running around the streets, we weren’t afraid of those punks either.”

“Ah, businessmen value harmony; our boss is just a pale scholar—no wonder he’s a bit weak.”

“Stop talking—if you keep it up, the boss will dock your pay. After all, it’s not our own place getting trashed.”

“......”

At this moment, the kitchen staff were openly discussing among themselves, their words laced with mockery toward Lu Hao. Yet, no one stopped them.

Zhao Xiaojie looked at Manager Wu with a puzzled expression. “Manager Wu, what should we do?”

Wu Manager sighed irritably. “I don’t know. Don’t ask me. Who knows what the boss is thinking?”

“I was even thinking of taking those idiots out myself, but the boss won’t allow it.”

Sighing, Zhao Xiaojie began clearing the dishes, refusing to let others touch them, clearly in a foul mood.

Though neither of them voiced it outright, both had begun to doubt Lu Hao.

Both were capable men. They stayed partly because this was a new restaurant full of potential, and partly because Lu Hao was young and personable—they believed he could achieve something great.

But Lu Hao’s passive behavior today had been too much to tolerate.

It left them disheartened and unconvinced. Although Lu Hao had preserved the restaurant’s reputation, his weak image before outsiders had firmly taken root in the employees’ minds, effectively undermining his authority.

Refusing to let the staff intervene only chilled their spirits further, filling them with worry about the restaurant’s future.

If this happened a few more times, there was no guarantee some of them wouldn’t rebel.

Zhao Xiaojie and Manager Wu exchanged a glance, silently hoping those troublemakers wouldn’t show up at the restaurant again in the next few days.

...

At this very moment, dusk had fallen.

Lu Hao had changed into an old woman’s attire—a colorful floral dress, a headscarf covering his head, and worn cloth shoes. Wrapped tightly, he leaned on a cane as he shuffled through the village.

From the outside, no one would guess that beneath the disguise was a young man named Lu Hao. He looked like one of those elderly women who spent their days sitting on doorsteps gossiping.

Lu Hao had been tailing Yang Tian and his gang all day.

His plan was to find the right moment to cripple them, ideally enough to keep them bedridden for three to six months.

He couldn’t confront them openly in the restaurant—any altercation would brand him as a restaurant owner who fought with customers, a reputation Sun Wenguo’s group would exploit to drive away the villagers.

Yet, he couldn’t let these thugs roam freely either.

They wouldn’t just come once; they were likely acting on Sun Wenguo’s orders, and would keep coming daily until they destroyed his business.

He couldn’t keep enduring their harassment—it would also undermine his authority among the staff.

So he chose to don a different identity and strike first, targeting their fresh recruits to rob them of their capacity to cause trouble.

By dressing as an old woman and beating them, even if they cried foul to the authorities, no one would believe them—instead, they’d be mocked.

At this moment, Yang Tian and his gang were just leaving the Red Romance KTV, each with a few wild young women in tow, swaggering drunkenly.

Five or six of them were overjoyed—today they had a free meal at Lu Hao’s place, and tonight Sun Wenguo was treating them to a wild night at the Red Romance.

“Peak of life! Peak of life! Getting paid to bully people is the best feeling ever!” Yang Tian laughed, pinching the buttocks of the young woman beside him.

She batted her eyes coquettishly. “You’re amazing, Brother Tian! No one dares to mess with you in the village. You have to take good care of us from now on.”

“I’m afraid of being bullied.”

The surrounding henchmen began to flatter him.

“Brother Tian, honestly, after following you for so many years, I’ve never seen you get hit. You’re truly fierce.”

Another kicked him and scoffed, “Flatterers only flatter to get ahead. What do you mean Brother Tian ever gets hit? Can you even talk?”

“It’s more like all of us following Brother Tian have never been beaten by outsiders. That’s what being badass means! Know what it proves? Following Brother Tian means eating well.”

“Exactly! Brother Tian’s the boss of Peach Blossom Village. No one dares to provoke him.”

“Didn’t you see? Even the owner of the Neijiang Restaurant bows to Brother Tian. He trashed his place, ate for free, and the owner didn’t dare to do a thing! Hahaha!”

Their flattery only swelled Yang Tian’s ego further.

He grabbed two wild young women, chuckling loudly. “Damn, I’m the number one boss in Peach Blossom Village. The reincarnation of Xiang Yu!”

“In a couple of days, I’m getting a tattoo of the Overlord Crossing the River at the village tattoo shop.”

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly tripped over something. Intoxicated, he fell hard to the ground.

“Damn it! That stupid rock had no eyes!” Yang Tian spat on the ground.

Looking up, he saw a bent old woman, hunched almost to the ground, leaning on a cane, waving at him apologetically.

That old woman was, of course, Lu Hao in disguise. Under the dark, windy night, no one recognized him.

“You bastard! Are you looking to die?” A thug rushed forward and shoved Lu Hao, trying to knock him down.

In broad daylight, they might show some respect for the elderly, but after drinking like this, they turned into bullies preying on the weak.

To them, the elderly were easy targets for venting their anger.

Yet, in the next moment, Lu Hao did not fall. Instead, he swayed but remained standing.

The thug who pushed Lu Hao was the one who ended up falling, tumbling across the ground several times.

“Little ones, don’t you know the meaning of respecting the old and cherishing the young?”

“I’m seventy-eight years old this year, and you still want to... want to hit me, an old woman?”

Lu Hao smiled sweetly, mimicking a frail voice.

The next second, Yang Tian stood up.

“You old bastard! You’re unlucky to run into me tonight!” he snarled, reaching to grab Lu Hao by the collar.

But unexpectedly, Lu Hao thrust his cane directly into Yang Tian’s crotch.

“Ah!”