Their stalls had been confiscated by the police station, and they couldn’t worry about getting them back now. The three of them returned empty-handed to Grandmother Yu’s house. On the way, Xia Xiaolan explained everything clearly.

No one had expected that a small grievance with Ding Aizhen would evolve into such a big conflict.

If Kang Wei and the others hadn’t happened to be there, would those security team members have just intimidated Xia Xiaolan, or did they really intend to label her as a “speculation and profiteering” criminal? Xia Xiaolan leaned toward the latter – at the very least, they had arranged “witnesses” in advance, deliberately came to buy clothes, and then damaged them.

What would happen to Xia Xiaolan then would depend on whether she was willing to “bleed” money, or rather, whether she could bow low enough to satisfy the Zhu family!

They could advance or retreat as needed, but they hadn’t counted on the variable of Kang Wei and his friends.

When Kang Wei and the others got involved in the dispute, they gave those security team members a severe beating. Now the opposition wouldn’t let go, launching a full attack on Xia Xiaolan. If Kang Wei and his friends hadn’t had someone protecting them, everyone would have suffered badly this time.

After hearing the whole story, Liu Yong’s feelings were complicated.

He had previously disapproved of Xia Xiaolan’s relationship with Zhou Cheng, but Zhou Cheng had helped their family several times. This time it was Kang Wei who stepped in, but wasn’t it also for Zhou Cheng’s sake? After hitting walls everywhere today, Liu Yong’s views on certain matters have changed.

Xia Xiaolan was smart and capable, but because she was too beautiful, inexplicable trouble always seemed to find her.

She had no relationship with Zhu Fang, yet his family had orchestrated this ridiculous but vicious revenge. Could their rural family alone protect Xia Xiaolan in the future?

Unless they hid her away, married her off early, and let her beauty fade through hard labor facing the yellow earth – then perhaps men wouldn’t covet her anymore. But why should they? His niece wasn’t stealing or robbing – why couldn’t she live with dignity?

To prevent others from daring to cause trouble, one had to be powerful themselves.

Now they could rely on Zhou Cheng’s connections, but what if his niece didn’t want to be with him anymore?

Though Liu Yong said “thanks to Kang Wei,” he still harbored frustration in his heart. His desire to rise above his station had never been stronger.

Liu Fen was as timid as a mouse. The three of them had agreed to keep this matter secret. Before leaving, Liu Yong quietly told Xia Xiaolan: “Zheng Zhongfu’s report letter is ready…”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

She estimated that by evening at the latest, Kang Wei would come to find her.

Liu Fen was puzzled: “Kang Wei came all the way here, I told him you were setting up stalls on Erqi Road, but he didn’t find you?”

She had even wrapped many dumplings to give to Kang Wei.

Xia Xiaolan lied without batting an eye, “He had something to do, he’ll come after he’s finished. Mom, you made dumplings? The two of us can’t finish them all, let’s give some to Uncle to take home and cook!”

Aunt Li Fengmei had been scared badly enough; she wouldn’t have the heart to cook tonight, so taking some dumplings home for a simple meal would do.

Secretary Hou was also helping Shao Guangrong calm down.

While Kang Wei was anxious to death, he still had to properly thank Uncle Shao for his concern. After finishing his meeting, Uncle Shao heard from Secretary Hou that Shao Guangrong and Kang Wei had just been retrieved from the police station. Secretary Hou briefly explained the situation, and Uncle Shao didn’t find it absurd at all.

He had worked at the grassroots level – what kind of hooligans and street ruffians hadn’t he seen?

Uncle Shao didn’t know about Xia Xiaolan’s relationship with Zhou Cheng.

But if Kang Wei was going to act as a “good Samaritan,” then this self-employed merchant should be protected as well.

Only if Xia Xiaolan was innocent would Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong’s actions be “helping the righteous” rather than “causing trouble and fighting.” Uncle Shao wouldn’t waste much thought on such a small matter; he left it all to Secretary Hou to handle.

Kang Wei didn’t know the Zhu family was behind all this. He hadn’t had time to exchange information with Xia Xiaolan and thought it was similar to what had happened in Anqing County.

Kang Wei was angry – taking advantage of Brother Cheng’s inability to get leave from work, everyone was coveting Brother Cheng’s future wife!

There was even some gang leader in Yangcheng.

Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong were planning to stay at the City Committee’s guesthouse that evening. While Secretary Hou was busy handling this matter, Kang Wei, along with the thick-skinned Shao Guangrong, made their way to Grandmother Yu’s house. Driver Old Xiao had been criticized by Secretary Hou, but the leader hadn’t said anything about him and still let him follow the two.

Xia Xiaolan repeatedly thanked Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong, saying to Kang Wei with emotion:

“You’ve saved me twice now!”

Kang Wei hadn’t realized the severity of the situation. When Xia Xiaolan explained about the Zhu family, Kang Wei nearly turned into a fire-breathing dragon.

Shao Guangrong also cursed under his breath, “Damn!” How ruthless – though he was supposedly a high-ranking cadre’s child, he had never heard of someone using power for revenge just because they liked a girl who didn’t reciprocate!

Forget about his family taking action – if he had such thoughts, his family would probably break his legs.

What was being the Shao family’s only seedling and precious darling worth if he brought shame to the family? Shao Guangrong would become a pitiful child picked up from the garbage heap.

“That old woman, where does her confidence come from? Isn’t my Brother Cheng a hundred times better than her son?”

Kang Wei was also glad he had arrived in time. Withholding the business license was a small matter – fortunately, nothing had happened to Xia Xiaolan herself. Then hearing Xia Xiaolan mention some report letter, Kang Wei chuckled:

“Now that will be interesting to watch.”

If the police station investigated, they could break through even the psychological defenses of fierce criminals, let alone a street scammer.

Zhuo Weiping was reassigned to handle this case. Under her methodical questioning, the woman who had claimed Xia Xiaolan’s clothes were defective confessed first. She was Guo Hao’s aunt from the security team, though it wasn’t Guo Hao who had instructed her – everything had been planned by Guo Hao’s father.

Guo Hao’s aunt didn’t understand why they needed to frame a small private merchant.

She had just followed her brother-in-law’s words – after all, he was capable.

Captain Guo wasn’t very loyal. Sensing they had hit a steel plate this time, he didn’t hesitate to sell out his cousin and cousin-in-law completely.

He wasn’t completely stupid either, only saying that his cousin’s wife had asked him to teach Xia Xiaolan a lesson.

“It was all just playing around, who knew they would beat up all the security team members? Comrade, both sides were wrong, I won’t ask them to pay medical expenses…”

Zhuo Weiping thought Captain Guo was too naive.

The old colleague who had helped Captain Guo at the station had been detained – things wouldn’t end so simply!