The male supporting character was actually myself.

"Luckily, I have a lot of stock here. I don't even know when I put these things in. Perfect for you to use." Jiang Chen found a bottle of pet dog shampoo in his space, squeezed out some, and started lathering it up with lots of fragrant foam.

"Woof woof woof!" Big Yellow seemed to understand and responded with two gentle barks.

Half an hour later, Jiang Chen used a hairdryer to dry the dog's fur, and Da Huang looked like a completely different dog.

Its fluffy, shiny yellow fur is clean, neat, and spirited, making it look cute and well-behaved.

It wasn't completely dark yet, so he found a rubber ball and played a ball-throwing game with Big Yellow for a while.

Meanwhile, He Gousheng was sitting at the mahjong table, puffing on a cigarette and laughing as he played cards. Ever since he went to the fortune teller yesterday, he felt reassured and was just waiting for his son to get married and bring him great fortune.

Even today, once they sit down at the card table, they dare to play big games. Anyway, He Jiangchen has so much money in his hands that it will all be his in the future. So what if that short-lived guy has money?

A person's fate is predetermined. He's a typical case of having money in his hands but not being alive to enjoy it. Let him be smug for a few days, and once this period is over, we'll strangle that bastard dog and take the opportunity to completely confiscate his property!

"fry!"

The opponent, who had been looking serious the whole time, threw out his trump card and shouted, waving the only card he had left in his hand triumphantly, "Only one left!"

He Gousheng's face immediately darkened. "Damn it, your luck is just too good today!"

After losing three games in a row, he already owed his opponent two cents, and he started to feel uneasy.

Just as he was contemplating whether to go all out and see if he could turn the tide, he suddenly heard his wife wailing outside, "Gousheng, come quick and see your son! Help! Who the hell beat my son like this! If he dies, can you afford to pay for it?"

"Damn it! My son got beaten up?!" Upon hearing this, He Gousheng jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), slipped on his shoes, and ran outside.

Others followed suit to see what was going on.

Qian Shuandi cried and wailed, cursing incoherently. Beside her lay a motionless person covered in blood.

"Oh my god, was he beaten to death?"

"No, he's still breathing, but he looks pretty weak."

"What's going on? Why? That was pretty brutal. If someone dies, they'll definitely go to jail, right?"

"I heard that He Yongqiang attempted to rape the simple-minded girl at the east end of the village, but was caught in the act and dragged out for a severe beating!"

"Really? Is he that much of a beast? That silly girl is over forty, right? Even though she's mentally challenged, her parents raised her to be clean, healthy, and plump. Is he just going crazy because he can't find a wife?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, like father, like son. Look at this family, they'd be better off being bitten to death by dogs."

"How come such a person came from our Qilizhuang? No wonder even my own nephew doesn't want to mess with them..."

…………

The crowd of onlookers was three or four deep, but not a single person actually offered to help.

Even He Gousheng's mahjong partners hid behind him when they saw this, afraid that if something really happened, they would be unable to explain themselves and be extorted by this family.

"Hurry up and hitch a ride to the hospital!" He Gousheng wasn't completely bewildered. He went over to check on his son, whose face was bruised and swollen. His original wound had reopened and bled a lot, but his breathing was still relatively even. He then jumped up and down and shouted.

Qian Shuandi could only cry. It was only after her husband pulled her along that they carried their son to a neighbor's house to borrow a large truck.

Before the commotion had even died down, the village secretary, looking furious and accompanied by an old woman wiping away tears, stormed over, yelling, "Where's He Gousheng? I heard he was playing cards here! Where is he? Get out here right now!"

"What's wrong with the Party Secretary?"

"He Gousheng's son was beaten by someone, and it's still unknown whether he's dead or alive. He went to Lao Kou's house to borrow a mule to hitch a cart, saying he needed to go to the hospital."

"Grandma Zhang, why are you crying? What happened?"

Before the onlookers had dispersed, they hurriedly began asking questions all at once.

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it, because once it was brought up, the Party Secretary's face turned ashen, and he stood with his hands on his hips, cursing, "He Yongqiang, that beast, deserved to be beaten to death! He Gousheng, you get out here and kowtow to this old lady to apologize! Castrate that little beast of yours!"

Grandma Zhang was a thin, short old woman with a full head of white hair, wearing faded patched clothes. When she saw the villagers asking her questions out of concern, tears streamed down her face again. "It's such a tragedy," she said. "My poor little girl was born smart and clever. If it weren't for the fever that damaged her brain, she would have a large family by now."

Although she's like a five or six-year-old child, my wife and I couldn't bear to marry her off to a poor family and let her suffer, but the well-off families didn't want her, so we had to raise her ourselves.

But... but she can distinguish between good and bad people, and she can speak clearly.

He Gousheng's son bumped into my silly girl at the east end of the village, grabbed her hair and dragged her into the woodpile while saying... saying... Oh dear, what a terrible thing!

That shameless guy even said he wanted to rape her!

My silly girl was so scared that she cried and screamed but couldn't get away. Luckily, someone passed by and pulled He Yongqiang away, telling my silly girl to run away quickly, and that's how it happened...

Party Secretary, fellow villagers, we beg you to stand up for us!

My husband is almost eighty years old. When he heard about this, he was so angry that he trembled all over and collapsed on the bed, unable to move. I'm over seventy myself, and I'm really at my wit's end. What will happen to my silly daughter after we both die...?

Grandma Zhang spoke while crying, and finally, feeling desolate, she sat on the ground and cried.

The onlookers were heartbroken and wept upon hearing the story, and they all stepped forward to offer kind words of comfort.

The matchmaker, who had been watching the commotion from the crowd, immediately stepped forward, slapped her thigh, and exclaimed, "He Yongqiang is such a scoundrel! I've run myself ragged trying to arrange a marriage for him, spent a lot of money and talked myself hoarse, and this is the result!"

That damned wretch! I dare not try to arrange another marriage for him.

No wonder his mother came running over this afternoon to ask me where that young lady lived. It turns out He Yongqiang wanted to force himself on her and ruin her life!

Oh dear, thank goodness I didn't explain it to her in detail.

He doesn't even know where the girl lives. He's got nowhere else to vent his frustrations, so he's even trying to seduce a silly girl. We can't let him off so easily, or who knows what he might do in the future.

If you have a daughter or a wife, please make sure to lock the door properly.

Yesterday he stole things, today he's trying to steal people. That bastard from the He family is something else...

Chapter Thirty-One: Doing One's Best

The little white cat, perched on her shoulder, listened in utter astonishment. "My goodness, you're quite the talker! You immediately distanced yourself completely. Are you abandoning the darkness and formally pledging allegiance to my host?"

"Don't worry, auntie, I'll stand up for you and your daughter!" The village secretary was furious, his face turning ashen. He called his men and prepared to confront He Gousheng's family.

Ribs Girl tiptoed and carefully examined the noisy crowd. She lowered her voice and whispered to Yellow Hair, who was sitting under the big willow tree, "We've already alerted the village secretary. Do you think it would be too ruthless for us to take action?"

"Ruthless? I think I went too far. This kind of person should be beaten to death!" The blond-haired man was furious.

The original plan was to find a tattered sack to put over He Yongqiang, drag him to a secluded place, beat him up and break his arms or legs, and make his whole family go to the county hospital for a check-up so they wouldn't be able to come back the next day, so as not to spoil the eldest son's wedding.

They had prepared sacks and sticks, but after searching around, they still couldn't find He Yongqiang.

Just as the four were pondering whether to change their strategy, they heard someone crying and screaming in the distance. The blond-haired guy and his friends rushed over and were immediately furious!

He Yongqiang was pulling the hair of a mentally challenged woman in her forties from the village, dragging her towards the woodpile while kicking her, all the while cursing her.

Although Huang Mao and his gang were known for bullying the weak and fearing the strong, they at least had a moral bottom line and wouldn't provoke the elderly, weak, sick, or disabled. Silly Girl was a notorious idiot in Qilizhuang; it was fine if someone teased her lightly occasionally, but to actually hit or verbally abuse an idiot would be worse than being an animal.

What's more, He Yongqiang's foul language, including things like "female rape," enraged Huang Mao. He waved his hand and ordered his brothers to put a sack over He Yongqiang, rescue the silly girl, and tell her to go home quickly. Then they dragged her into a woodpile and beat her mercilessly. Only when they were afraid of causing a real death did they drag her out and throw her on the roadside.

Silly girl has the mental capacity of a young child, but she can still describe what happened in simple terms. She was terrified and ran home crying, where she gave her elderly mother a tearful account of what had happened.

The old father was so angry that he trembled all over, while the old mother went to the village secretary in tears to seek justice.

"The village secretary and his men couldn't stop He Gousheng and his family," Green Eyes reported from the treetop. "He Gousheng drove them out of the village and headed for the county town."

Huang Mao pondered for a moment and waved his hand, "No matter what, we're the ones who caused this trouble. If someone dies, we'll have to take responsibility. Let's tell the boss now so he can be prepared."

"Host, that's what happened." The little white cat, perched on his shoulder, licked its paws and briefly recounted what it had witnessed, casually pointing to its almost invisible neck. "Hehe, I managed to steal a bit of the protagonist's aura. Isn't the little kitty awesome?"

Jiang Chen was slightly taken aback. "Didn't you say that the protagonist's halo was shining brightly this time? How come you're suddenly so unlucky? Who exactly beat up He Yongqiang?"

The fluffy dumpling shook its head, looking completely bewildered. "I don't know, I've been following the matchmaker the whole time to prevent her from being fooled by the protagonist's halo. I didn't see who did it."

"What you're saying, host, is indeed strange. Logically, mission worlds should revolve around the protagonist; no one should be able to sabotage him. Could it be that some new setting has been added to the unreleased script?"

"Go and keep an eye on He Yongqiang now, just in case anything unexpected happens." He thought for a moment and then instructed, "If things don't look right, use the props to stall for time, then come back and tell me."

"Okay, meow~" The fluffy ball, having received its new task, hopped and skipped away into the field.

Jiang Chen was completely baffled. Who could have done it?

"Boss! We have something to tell you." Just as he was wondering, the four thugs came running into the yard, panting, wiping the sweat from their foreheads and whispering, "Come on, let's go inside and talk."

Two minutes later, he was a little confused as he looked at the four-man group who, despite being blessed with the protagonist's aura, had beaten He Yongqiang half to death.

"You encountered He Yongqiang committing violence, and you just beat him up? It's that simple? Nothing else happened?"

"Boss, that beast is trying to harm people in broad daylight! Should we just applaud and cheer for him instead of hitting him?"

"That's right, we're just helping out when we see injustice!"

"I'm telling you this in case He Yongqiang really dies and they come after us four."

"The four of us agreed to share the good times and the bad, and we would never drag the boss down with us..."

…………

Jiang Chen waved his hand to interrupt their chaotic chatter, and lowered his voice to warn them: "There's a high chance that your beating won't kill anyone, especially since you were doing a good deed and acting bravely."

However, to prevent disputes, I suggest you split into two groups and go to Erchahe and Baogu Village.

Grandma Zhang's one son and two daughters live there. Now that such a big thing has happened in the family, Grandpa Zhang might even get sick from the stress. They need a strong laborer to keep things in order.

"Huang Mao, you go to Erchahe, it's quite far, take my bicycle there. I'll go to Grandma Zhang's house and see if I can help."

After receiving He Jiangchen's affirmation and guidance, they felt reassured. Among the four, Huang Mao was the fastest learner of bicycles. He was now riding his bicycle wobbling along the country road all the way south. The other three also put in their best effort to deliver the message as soon as possible.

Jiang Chen then followed the crowd of people who had come to watch the spectacle after hearing the news to Grandma Zhang's house.

The silly girl was clearly terrified and huddled at the back of the earthen bed, too scared to come out; the village secretary was sitting on the bed comforting the elderly couple.

"Let's send someone to call Da Niu, Da Ni'er, and Er Ni'er back. At least they'll have someone to rely on!"

"Luckily, a kind person saved the silly girl, otherwise...tsk tsk..."

“Secretary, this matter can’t be let go so easily. Otherwise, families like ours with daughters will not only have to guard against thieves but also against rapists. How are we supposed to live like this?”

"If the village can't deal with that family, we'll call the police and make a scene at the police station to see how they can still act up..."

…………

The villagers huddled inside the house were all talking at once, and Jiang Chen frowned as he listened to the various messy rumors, becoming even more confused.

Where exactly did things go wrong?

How did He Yongqiang, whose halo hadn't been worn down much, suddenly become a pariah?

He's already back down before he's even started his many scenes targeting the main character?

Just as he was filled with questions, in a simple Taoist temple deep in the mountains, a Taoist priest who had been sitting upright and looked to be about thirty years old suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and his back slumped.

"Phew... I really did my best." He slowly got up, walked to the door, looked at the darkening sky, and sighed to himself with a worried expression: "A calamity star has descended to harm others. I finally managed to get his birth date and time, but I still can't completely erase him."