“Nonsense! Who stole your wallet…”

The young man wailed on the ground. Who the hell would bother stealing a poor wretch’s wallet? He hadn’t even accepted the gratitude money from Li Feng Mei, fearing it would complicate matters and mess things up.

Though the young man talked tough, the police officers at the station did find two wallets on him. One was his own, and the other belonged to Li Dong Liang and even contained Li Dong Liang’s letter of introduction. Li Dong Liang appeared honest and straightforward, so his story should be true, but Zhuo Wei Ping felt something was oddly amiss.

How could a mere collision cause such injuries?

Zhuo Wei Ping still had to bring people back to the police station. When it came to Ge Jian’s turn, he firmly denied using any violence.

“I just came to retrieve my senior brother’s wallet. I didn’t hit them.”

They couldn’t both be taken to the police station – someone needed to remain free to protect Miss Xia. It must be said that although Li Dong Liang and Ge Jian hadn’t been bodyguards for long and were only part-time, they already possessed the qualities of proper guards. They consistently put their employer’s interests and safety first – that’s how you keep such a job.

If both were arrested, who would protect ‘Miss Xia’?

Zhuo Wei Ping glanced at Ge Jian.

Neither man was local to Shangdu, and their connection to Lan Feng Huang was unclear. Zhuo Wei Ping sided with Lan Feng Huang, not for Director Yang’s sake, but because she sympathized with Xia Xiao Lan. Even when Li Dong Liang was taken away, Ge Jian remained calm. Though others wailed that Ge Jian had also hit people, the police officers ignored these claims, deliberately leaving Ge Jian behind.

“He’s been taken to the police station – what should we do?”

Li Feng Mei had been to the police station before and was terrified by the experience. The police station wasn’t a place for normal people, and although Officer Zhuo was fair, could her word be counted on?

Li Feng Mei didn’t understand what it meant that Director Yang had cut the ribbon for Lan Feng Huang.

Ge Jian was confident in his and his senior brother Li Dong Liang’s martial arts skills. Being strangers in this city, they needed to prove their loyalty without causing trouble for their employer.

“Don’t worry, they may be in pain, but I guarantee no injuries will be found.”

They had learned their skills at the Bai Martial Arts School, where Ge Jian and Li Dong Liang had been among the core disciples. Though their talent didn’t match Bai Zhi Yong’s, they couldn’t even control their striking power properly – their master would probably be furious enough to come back to life.

When practicing punches, they used leather coverings – the leather remained undamaged while the pork inside was beaten to mush. They started with leather-wrapped pork, then gradually used thinner and thinner leather, increasing the difficulty… That’s why they say the poor study literature while the rich study martial arts. When most people couldn’t even fill their stomachs, others practiced with sandbags, but the Bai Martial Arts School used pork for training – it was extravagant and challenging to master.

Later, the martial arts school closed, partly due to social conditions but more due to economic difficulties.

Despite Ge Jian’s assurances, Li Feng Mei remained worried and decided to leave Liu Fen watching the store while she went to the police station for news. Was she afraid to enter the police station again? Li Feng Mei was terrified, growing nervous just approaching the place, her psychological trauma still fresh.

But what choice did she have? Li Dong Liang had been arrested while driving away thugs from the store.

Ge Jian remained calm. After learning that Liu Fen watching the store was ‘Miss Xia’s’ mother, he stood guard nearby, neither disturbing business nor failing to protect Liu Fen. Running into troublemakers right away – no wonder Miss Xia had telegraphed them to arrive in Shangdu early.

Liu Fang quietly left the department store with Liang Huan.

With Li Feng Mei gone, only Liu Fen and Ma Wei remained in the store. Liu Fang wanted to pick on this easy target – if nothing else, to get their family’s ten thousand yuan back. Weren’t they acting noble? If they didn’t agree to the marriage, why take their money?

“Don’t mention anything else, just ask your Second Aunt for the money.”

Fearing Liang Huan might slip up, she made her daughter promise repeatedly, “I’ll just ask Second Aunt to return the money, I won’t mention anything else!”

Her aunt’s affection was fake, and her Second Aunt was Xia Xiao Lan’s birth mother, so of course she sided with Xia Xiao Lan. Liang Huan saw it. It was because of Xia Xiao Lan that no matter how big her uncle’s clothing store grew, it had nothing to do with her… Besides, with ten thousand yuan, she could buy so many clothes elsewhere. Liang Huan no longer cared for clothes from ‘Lan Feng Huang’ – this place had cost her face!

Liu Fang entered the store with her daughter.

Ge Jian saw they were just two women and paid little attention. He and Li Dong Liang had just arrived in Shangdu and weren’t clear about the grudges between Xia Xiao Lan and her relatives – how could they imagine that nearly all of Xia Xiao Lan’s relatives were troublemakers?

Two women posed little threat!

Liu Fang walked into the store and slammed her bag on the counter:

“Second Sister, business is booming, eh? I believe we have ten thousand yuan at your place. Did you bring it? If not, go home and get it now. I urgently need it.”

Liu Fang still dared to come.

Though Liu Fen was usually easy to bully, she felt unprecedented anger toward Liu Fang. The Xia family was excessive, but they had always been that way. Liu Fen never had any expectations of them – she had married into the Xia family, and if they treated her as an outsider, she simply wouldn’t treat them as family! Divorce could sever all ties, how refreshing.

But Liu Fang was different – she was her sister, born of the same parents, her own blood!

When Liu Fang bullied her, Liu Fen would just get angry and then forgive her sister.

But Liu Fang was trying to push her daughter into a fire pit, and Liu Fen couldn’t forgive that. Even a bucket of rotten water couldn’t drive them away. Now Liu Fang came demanding money – Liu Fen was the type to blush over owing someone even a dime, let alone keeping the Liang family’s ten thousand yuan – but since Xia Xiao Lan said this money didn’t need to be returned, Liu Fen wouldn’t acknowledge it.

Remembering Grandmother Yu’s teachings, she countered Liu Fang:

“How would your family’s money be with me?”

Liu Fang sneered, “Second Sister, stop playing dumb. I’m only holding back from reporting your daughter for theft because we’re sisters.”

“Second Aunt, that was the tuition money that mom saved for me, please return it to us?”

Mother and daughter played off each other, even confusing Ma Wei.

This wouldn’t do – how could they demand money in the store? Ma Wei had received basic employee training and knew they couldn’t allow disturbances in the store. Ge Jian paced outside the door a couple of times, sensing something was wrong, and beckoned to Ma Wei.

“Are these two here to cause trouble?”

Ma Wei nodded then shook her head, “They’re relatives of the young boss, here to ask Liu Auntie to return the money.”

Ge Jian didn’t care why they came – knowing they were against Liu Fen meant they needed to be dealt with. Before Ge Jian could act, a young man approached. He was extremely handsome and walked casually yet purposefully.

This was the stance of someone ready for battle at any moment.

Could this be the person they were meant to confront in Shangdu?

Ge Jian grew alert, and the young man seemed to share similar thoughts. No, they couldn’t fight at the store entrance.

Zhou Cheng stared at Ge Jian, their eyes engaged in silent confrontation.

Zhou Cheng stepped into the store with a sidestep, “Aunt Liu, are you alone? Let me treat you and Aunt to lunch?”