Yingzi's face flushed red instantly; she was truly terrified. She flailed her arms wildly, but couldn't reach Chen Xihua. She tried to pry open the hand gripping her neck, but it was like an iron clamp, firmly fixed in place. The fear of death surged into her heart.

When Yingzi saw the young girl from the Chen family, she was filled with murderous intent. In fact, for a moment, she felt as if she was about to be killed.

Indeed, Chen Xihua had a growing murderous intent. She hated it most when people pointed at her face and spoke to her, especially with foul language.

Does she seem like a very kind person? Yes and no.

"Xi Hua, let go! Killing her isn't worth it." Li Shisheng had already dealt with the remaining thug. He turned around and saw Chen Xi Hua strangling the hateful woman until she was almost out of breath.

At this moment, Yingzi's hands slowly fell to her sides without moving. Chen Xihua actually knew what was going on, but Li Shisheng's words were just right, so she loosened her grip.

"You think I'm easy to mess with? You let you go three years ago because you thought we were afraid of you?"

Li Yumei took the two thousand yuan from you voluntarily, and my third sister also wanted to go. Do you really think that people like you can act lawlessly and do whatever you want?

"What a joke! Don't even mention you, even Brother Liu behind you is in dire straits."

After saying that, Chen Xihua threw Yingzi away from the truck with a strong shove, treating her like trash.

"Cough cough cough..." Yingzi was in pain all over from the fall, but she didn't care. She was panting heavily.

Chen Xihua simply didn't want to cause trouble, but she was never one to be afraid of trouble.

Moreover, the higher-ups haven't made any moves against these people yet; it's just that it hasn't been their turn yet, not that they've been left to their own devices.

Three years ago, even if she had called the police, there wouldn't have been enough evidence, and Yingzi would have been detained for a few days, and the Chen family might have been implicated.

Things are different now. First, her confidence is different, and the timing is different too; we're almost at the turn of the millennium. Society is becoming more and more governed by the rule of law.

Also, as soon as she saw the black van, a possibility suddenly flashed through her mind: it was the Tang family's son they had hit.

If it was caused by someone from Huishan City, it's impossible that the hit-and-run vehicle hasn't been found for so long.

All of these factors combined are enough to give Yingzi and her ilk a run for their money.

"I'm just a businessman. I believe in making money through harmony, I like to be kind to others, and I prefer to avoid trouble and bloodshed."

"But... I'm not some innocent little rabbit that you scum can bully so easily." Chen Xihua had regained her composure and spoke each word clearly, then suddenly changed her tone, becoming clear and sharp.

Yingzi had caught her breath, and the fear in her eyes slowly faded. However, she dared not have any other thoughts and whispered, "If you let us go, I can give you money, lots of money."

"How naive." Chen Xihua said lazily, clapping her hands vigorously as if swatting away something dirty, and then took her phone out of her bag.

"Hello, I need to call the police. Yes... it's on the latter half of the Hushan Highway, about 50 kilometers away. We were robbed by five people. There were over a million yuan worth of goods in the truck."

She wouldn't mind giving these people another charge.

Yingzi's eyes widened in disbelief. Robbery? Who would believe that? She glared fiercely at Chen Xihua, intending to walk back to the van and drive away, but was stopped by Li Shisheng.

"If you don't want your leg broken, just stay here and wait for the police." Chen Xihua glanced at Yingzi and said coldly. Then she climbed onto the truck to sit and rest, and took a steamed bun to eat. She hadn't even had breakfast yet.

Half an hour later, three police cars drove up from the road ahead and stopped next to the black van. Three or four people got out of each police car, and they all had uncertain and strange expressions on their faces.

Because the scene was indeed a bit strange, the four thugs were all injured to varying degrees and were lying on the ground groaning in pain.

A woman, pale and shaken, collapsed to the ground, as if she had just survived a calamity.

A man and a woman were standing nearby, arguing and refusing to let him leave.

This contrasted sharply with the calm and composed expression of a little girl who had just jumped off a large truck.

Who robbed whom?

"Who called the police?" the policeman at the front asked seriously.

"Officer, I'm the one who called the police." When asked the question, Chen Xihua remained calm and explained what had just happened. "I'm a bit strong, so injuring them isn't a crime, is it? I acted in self-defense."

"Hehe, the young girl even knows how to defend herself." One of the younger policemen chuckled.

The young policeman, having heard it was a robbery and that there were many officers responding, was also asked to join the call, even though he had only reported to the station that morning. He initially thought he was going to have to fight the robbers, but unexpectedly, they all ended up being beaten to the ground.

"Oh, and this lady, it seems she was kidnapped. I don't know anything about what happened before. There were also three kidnapped girls in that van. I also suspect they hit people and fled the scene." Chen Xihua pretended not to understand the police officer's meaning and continued to speak very cooperatively.

Actually, Chen Xihua was a little embarrassed at this moment. She didn't expect that calling the police to report a robbery would result in more than ten police officers being dispatched.

Upon hearing Chen Xihua's words, several policemen quickly opened the van's door, and indeed, there were three girls with their hands and feet bound in the back seat.

Half an hour later, the group was taken to a police station in a nearby county for questioning.

Chen Xihua and Li Shisheng only left a statement and could leave in less than an hour.

At the police station, she overheard someone say, "It's Hu Ying from the Golden Club."

Chen Xihua guessed that the higher-ups might have been aware of that club for a long time, but hadn't taken any action yet, so she wasn't worried about being retaliated against by that Brother Liu.

...

A few days later, Chen Xihua had been strolling around Yincheng for two days. She had also met with the employees of the two Fanghua stores, number six and seven, in the east and west districts of the city, and treated them to meals.

Chen Xihua also wandered to the entrance of the Golden Club Hotel. Two days ago, a large number of police officers came to the hotel to take people in for questioning, but none of this concerned her.

Business in Ontario is a bit better than in Hunan Province. Seeing that there's nothing much to do, Chen Xihua plans to return to the provincial capital of Hunan Province at noon today.

Today is July 19th, and she has been out for a week.

...

Yincheng Special Task Force Office

"Captain Liang, Hu Ying from the Golden Club has been caught red-handed for forcibly abducting people."

In the past few days, colleagues from the South District Police Station in the city have taken everyone from the Golden Club back for questioning, but Liu Bo has directly exonerated himself. A middle-aged man in plain clothes entered the office with a document in his hand.

“This ‘Brother Liu’ is a smart man,” said Team Leader Liang, sitting at his desk, with a serious expression.

The waiters at the Golden Club started out washing dishes and cleaning—doing the hardest and most tiring work—but received the least pay.

Then they were shown how much other hostesses earned, how they wore beautiful and expensive clothes every day, and how they could easily earn a lot of money.

Those girls who were initially unwilling eventually became voluntary. The Golden Club never forced them, and Liu Bo himself remained completely celibate; even though he had a somewhat ambiguous relationship with Hu Ying, there were no actual intimate actions between them.

The reason Liang's task force is paying attention to these matters is because they are secretly investigating Liu Bo, and the higher-ups believe that this person has problems.

However, Liu Bo is a branch of the Liu family, one of the three major families in Beijing. Without concrete evidence, arresting him would only result in a few days of detention, which would alert the suspects. Further investigation would be needed.

Liu Bo's Golden Club was just for show; the kind of "waiters" found in hotels and clubs are common in other clubs to varying degrees. The methods used weren't particularly clever or discreet.

However, they also needed to seize existing evidence, and since many of the girls voluntarily went out with the customers, the task force didn't bother with these matters and had their colleagues from the city's police station handle it.

...

At the same time, in the top-floor private suite of the Golden Club.

"I told you not to cause trouble! Why did you still manage to make such a mess? Now the Golden Club is under investigation, thankfully you weren't involved." The man's voice on the phone was angry, with a hint of sarcasm.

"You don't still want to save Na Yingzi's woman, do you? You seem quite sentimental."

"No, it has nothing to do with me. It was all Yingzi's doing, and even if she tried to pin it on me, it wouldn't work. I kept telling her not to resort to underhanded tactics, and that we're a legitimate hotel/club." Liu Bo was a smart man. He usually played the role of the good guy and would deliberately remind Yingzi not to do anything illegal. But he didn't forcefully stop her; he just pretended not to know.

He was confident that even if Yingzi was arrested, she wouldn't be able to confess anything about herself, and besides, she really didn't know anything about him.

"Fine, whatever. Even if you get arrested, I'm not worried you'll betray me, right? Haha... You definitely won't." The man's voice on the phone was both ruthless and confidently smug.

"...Yes, I won't betray you." Liu Bo said sullenly after a moment of silence.