After the new store was renovated, Yu Yin and Liang Chao made adjustments to all the stores.

The gift box counter has moved to a new shop, and another shop is used to sell specialties from Inner Mongolia and Northeast China. The Northeast specialties won't arrive until after the New Year; for now, only Inner Mongolian specialties are available. As soon as you enter, you can smell the distinctive aroma of beef jerky.

Now, the entire second floor, besides the office area and storage area, has been partitioned off into a room to serve as employee dormitory, which contains two bunk beds.

Changqing applied to live in the dormitory for some reasons.

Before the Lunar New Year, there was a lot of cargo, so Liang Chao and two other men took turns staying in the dormitory, just in case.

There are too many idle people on the streets now, a large number of educated youth have returned to the cities, and very few recent high school graduates can pass the college entrance examination, leaving the rest to wait for employment. However, job opportunities are limited, and unless parents retire early and transfer their jobs to their children, finding a job is extremely difficult.

Yu Yin and her friends' dried goods store has been open for several months and is quite well-known in the area. To avoid attracting the attention of these idle people, they specially left two men on duty.

During the day, Yu Yin checks the bills on the second floor, while Liang Chao coordinates all the work. Huang Shan is now in charge of Yunnan Province's specialty products with the newly arrived Chang Qing, and Yu Kang is also helping out.

Yu Yin had no choice but to talk about her younger brother.

During the holidays, Yu Kang refused to go home. He didn't want to be scolded by his mother, nor did he want to see her and Yu Qing causing trouble for no reason, acting cute and charming with Yu Yin, and pulling in a few other children as allies. In the end, he stayed.

Yu Yin asked him to help out at the store so he could learn about the business model in advance. Yu Kang was studying economics, so he considered it an early internship.

The Inner Mongolian specialties were handed over to He Dong and Lü Ping. Wei Sanmei originally wanted to come and help, but her children were on holiday and didn't get along with her mother-in-law's or her brothers' children, and were always bullied, so Wei Sanmei stayed home to take care of the children.

Zhao Tong was in charge of the gift box counter, and Shu Yun came over to do a holiday job to train herself, and Yu Yin agreed.

Each person was doing their job, working enthusiastically and without a moment's rest.

Yu Yin ordered a boxed lunch from a nearby snack shop as a lunch perk, as she was too busy to go out to eat.

Comrade Lu Shurui, who was in charge of logistical support, was also very busy.

An'an is learning martial arts, Pingping has chosen piano, Manman is continuing to draw, and Kuaikuai likes math. Fortunately, except for Manman, all the other extracurricular classes are at the Cultural Palace; otherwise, Lu Shurui would be too busy to manage them all.

Comrade Lu Shuqi is said to have found a girlfriend and has been busy dating throughout the holiday, rarely showing his face in public.

Yu Yin recently noticed that many idlers were loitering outside her shop. She specifically reported the situation to Director Ma of the neighborhood committee and also filed a report with the local police station.

Yu Yin made thorough preparations, but what was bound to happen still happened, and she couldn't avoid it.

That night, it was Liang Chao's turn to be on duty. After making one last inspection of the shop and confirming that the doors and windows were intact, Liang Chao and Changshan prepared to lock the door and go back upstairs to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Changshan and Liang Chao both suddenly opened their eyes. Both of them had served in the army for many years, especially Liang Chao, whose hearing was more acute than that of ordinary people, not to mention his physical skills.

"Brother Liang, I think I hear some kind of prying noise outside."

"It's not just a feeling, there are definitely people here, and quite a few, no less than five."

The two quickly dressed, and carrying wooden sticks and flashlights, quietly went downstairs.

The sound came from the gift box counter. Although they were moving very quietly, the sound of them prying open the door was still quite clear in the quiet night.

"Brother Liang, let's go out in a bit. I'll stop them, and you go to the police station to report it."

"No, we don't know how many people are coming. We can't leave you here alone to take risks. One fist can't fight four hands. We can't be careless. Let's check the situation first."

Although Liang Chao lost his left hand, his right hand is still quite powerful in combat.

"Changqing, bring your washbasin over. If we see a lot of people when we go out, let's bang on the basin to make a loud noise and see if we can scare some people away and wake up the neighbors."

"Okay, Brother Liang, I'll go get it right away."

Changqing used a copper basin to wash his face, and when he banged on it, the sound was quite loud.

Liang Chao and Chang Qing carefully opened the shop door and quietly walked out.

Good heavens, there were about six or seven people outside, all of them looking to be young men. And the door to the gift box room had been pried open; they were about to enter the store.

What are you doing?

Liang Chao suddenly shouted, his voice standing out in the quiet night, startling the thieves who were focused on breaking into the store.

The group turned around and saw Liang Chao and Changshan standing there. The darkness made it impossible to see their faces, only that there were two people. They felt a sense of relief; there were seven of them in total, and seven against two should be easy.

"What kind of behavior is this? Get out of here before it causes serious consequences, or you will be in serious trouble if you are caught by the police."

Liang Chao wanted to scare the group away to avoid a potential conflict.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you don't want to die, hurry back to your room and pretend you didn't see anything, or don't blame me for being rough."

The people over there are very arrogant, and the things they say are very savvy. I don't know if they are repeat offenders or just bluffing.

"Have you thought this through? Once you push open the door, it will be considered burglary. You all have parents and siblings. If you are convicted, not only will your families be implicated, but your children will also be implicated. Do you think it's worth it?"

"Shut up. What parents, brothers, crimes? We're all starving, what's the point of thinking about those things? Brothers, stop wasting your breath on them. There are only two of them. If we beat them down, we can take the money and live a carefree life anywhere. Why should we stay here and suffer their contempt and live on charity?"

The person in charge was very emotional, and I don't know what he had been through, but he seemed to have some hatred towards society.

Incited by this person, the others also became emotional and rushed towards Liang Chao and his group.

"Changqing, bang the basin."

Liang Chao made a defensive gesture and quickly instructed Chang Qing to bang on the washbasin to see if he could wake up the surrounding residents.

Chang Qing reacted quickly, holding a wooden stick in one hand and a copper basin in the other, the clanging sound especially noticeable in the quiet night.

The group of people rushing towards them were startled by the clanging sound. After a brief moment of hesitation, they quickly charged forward again. Liang Chao began to defend himself with a stick in his right hand, while Chang Qing, holding a copper basin in one hand and a stick in the other, joined the fight.

The copper basin was hit by a wooden stick, and the sound was deafening!

The surrounding residents woke up when they heard the noise.

"What's going on outside? What's that noise?"

"It looks like a thief has broken in. Whose house is it, or where? Get up and take a look."

"I'm a neighbor, see if I can help."

...

The lights came on one by one!

Liang Chao and Chang Qing were both rigorously trained, and dealing with these petty thugs was more than enough for them. Of the seven men, three had already been taken down, leaving four still holding on.

Chang Qing and Liang Chao stood back to back, forming a defensive posture, preventing the boys from getting close.

They never expected the shop assistants to be so capable; they miscalculated. Now they're in a dilemma, with no choice but to take a desperate gamble.

A fierce battle is about to begin!