Chapter 240 Mind Your Own Business
“It’s our house! Our house is on fire!” After realizing where the smoke was coming from, Arnold immediately jumped out of the vehicle and made a dash for it.
“Dad!” called out Alice before chasing after her father.
It only took a few minutes before Arnold reached their house, which was already completely engulfed in flames.
The building was so badly damaged by the fire then that it was almost unrecognizable.
“Whoever it is that set my house on fire, you better show yourself this instant! Come face me, you coward!” roared Arnold in front of the burning house.
Having lived in that building for decades, Arnold was filled with rage when he saw it in that state.
With a brick in hand, Arnold had completely lost it and was ready to take on the person responsible.
When the other villagers saw how rage-induced the man was, they hurriedly grabbed him to prevent him from hurting himself. “What are you doing, Arnold? Are you trying to throw your life away? Please just calm down.”
“Without that house, what else do I have to live for? I would rather just die! Just let me go!” cried Arnold while he struggled to break free.
“Don’t be stupid, Arnold! There’s nothing you can do about it now. Or have you forgotten how you ended up hospitalized last time?” questioned one of the villagers holding Arnold before another chimed in, “He’s got a point, you know? Even if you don’t care about yourself, you have to think about your family. How would Alice feel if she loses you?”
After witnessing how Arnold and his wife got beat up and sent to the hospital last time, the villagers decided that they could not sit by and let the man be controlled by his emotions.
They could not help but let out a long sigh when they realized that Arnold had not learned his lessons.
“But I…” The elderly man was at a loss for words when the villagers mentioned his daughter. I don’t care about myself, but should my daughter suffer for my actions?
“Please just calm down, Arnold. Why don’t you just let it be?” suggested one of the villagers when he noticed that the elderly man was having second thoughts.
“Besides, you got paid quite an amount for it, so why not move somewhere else with that money? Those b*stards are not to be trifled with. If you confront them, you could seriously hurt yourself, if not get yourself killed. Do you really want that to happen?”
“You should listen to us. This is not worth throwing your life away for. Just take the money and go.”
“You can start over again and pretend as though nothing has happened.”
“Yeah, just look at us. We got forced out of our homes as you did. We know what you’re going through.”
Listening to everyone advising him to just forget about his home, Arnold clenched his fists tightly as the veins around his neck popped.
“Is that what you’re supposed to tell yourselves when somebody burns your house down? Just forget about it?” shouted Arnold, who decided that he could not just let the incident slide.
“Move aside! Get out of my way! Well, well. If it isn’t Arnold Renner! When did you get back? Have you recovered from the wound on your head already?” Just as Arnold finished speaking, a voice came from somewhere in the crowd before a middle-aged man in a mink coat emerged from it with a cigarette between his lips.
For some reason, Arnold got even more furious after realizing who the voice belonged to. “Derrick, you b*stard! Are you the one who hired goons to set my house on fire?”
“That’s right. I had my men put on the magnificent display. You left me no choice, Arnold. If you had just moved away after receiving your payment, none of this would have happened. You’re responsible for this because you forced my hand,” stated Derrick straightforwardly without any sign of remorse.
“You b*stard! I’ll kill you where you stand!” At that moment, Arnold was so mad that all he could think about was making his enemy pay, so he lifted the brick in his hand and charged forward senselessly.
“Do you think you can take me on, Arnold? You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” sneered Derrick before motioning to his men, “Teach him a lesson, boys. Make sure it’s one that he’ll never forget.”
“Yes, sir!”
At Derrick’s order, dozens of burly men armed with metal pipes quickly shielded him.
Smack! Before Arnold could even lay a finger on Derrick, one of the brutes swung at the angry man.
Instantly, blood sprayed out of Arnold’s head as he fell to the ground.
“Dad!” Alice was about to hurry over to check on her father when somebody grabbed her by the arm.
When she turned around to see who stopped her, it turned out to be Jonathan.
“You stay here. Let me handle this.” The man then patted her on the head assuringly before approaching the crowd.
Almost everyone at the scene stared at the man as he made his way over to them, apparently unsure of who he was.
“Stop!” commanded Jonathan.
Derrick glared impatiently at Jonathan when the young man issued an order. “And just who do you think you are? Get out of my sight, boy. This doesn’t concern you. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of my way.”
“I just told you to stop. Are you hard of hearing?” responded Jonathan coldly when Derrick refused to listen to him. Like a strike of lightning, Jonathan somehow managed to instantly close the distance between Derrick and himself.
Pow!
Before Derrick could even figure out what hit him, Jonathan landed a punch and sent the man flying like a ragdoll.
At that moment, the brutes immediately stopped whatever they were doing and shifted their attention to Jonathan.
“This is unforgivable! Take him down now! All of you!” roared Derrick, still lying on the ground and covering his bruised cheek.
Like soldiers following orders, the brutes all charged at Jonathan with their metallic weapons.
However, before they could follow through with the attack, they heard a loud gunshot. Before long, the brutes found themselves surrounded by a ring of heavily-armed officers.
“Put down your weapons and lift your hands where I can see them now!” commanded the leader before firing a second warning shot to show that he meant business.
Knowing that their weapons were far outmatched by the officers’, the brutes obediently dropped their steel pipes and lifted their hands high.
“Are you okay, Mr. Goldstein?” The leader quickly went to check on Jonathan after the brutes had surrendered.
“I’m fine.” Jonathan then approached Arnold to help the elderly man up.
Meanwhile, Derrick got back on his feet as well to stare curiously at Jonathan. “Just who the heck are you, really? And what makes you think you have the right to meddle in our business?”
