As soon as the shop door closed, Wang Xiulan rushed to the counter, frantically searching for gauze and scissors.

"Jianjun, quickly fetch a basin of clean water!"

Her voice was trembling uncontrollably.

"Good heavens, this wound needs to be treated immediately..."

Su Jianjun didn't move, but instead suddenly burst out laughing.

"You're still laughing!"

Wang Xiulan turned around abruptly, her face covered in tears and snot.

"Your brother is in this state!"

"Sister-in-law."

Su Jianjun suppressed a laugh and pointed to Su Jianguo's "wound".

"Could you take a closer look?"

Su Jianguo stopped pretending. He steadied himself by holding onto the counter, and the "painful" expression on his face vanished, replaced by a sly smile.

In front of his wife, he ripped open the trouser leg that was soaked in "blood".

A punctured plastic bag was stuck to the outside of her thigh, and bright red liquid was dripping from it.

What wound is there?

That "blood" was clearly thick tomato juice!

"This...this..."

Wang Xiulan stared wide-eyed, speechless for a moment.

Su Jianguo laughed heartily and explained to his wife.

"On the way into town, I had Jianjun squeeze the remaining half basket of tomatoes into juice and put it in this plastic bag."

He slapped his thigh triumphantly.

"How is it? Does it look real?"

Wang Xiulan froze for three seconds, then suddenly grabbed a rag from the counter and threw it at Su Jianguo.

"You little devil! You scared me to death!"

She cried as she hit him, but her tears had turned into tears of laughter.

"You actually came up with such a dirty trick!"

Su Jianjun was laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight.

"Sister-in-law, you didn't see that blond guy's expression! He looked like he'd seen a ghost! He probably won't dare come to our shop again!"

Su Jianguo dodged his wife's "attacks" with a victorious smile on his face.

"To deal with these thugs, you have to be even more ruthless than them. If they want to play tough, I'll play even tougher."

He blinked.

"But would I really stab myself in the back? I'm not stupid!"

Wang Xiulan finally stopped, glaring at her husband with a mixture of anger and amusement.

"So what do we do now? Will it be open this afternoon?"

"Of course I'll open it!"

Su Jianguo took off his pants, which were stained with "blood," and put on a spare pair.

"Jianjun, go tell those onlookers outside that I'm not seriously injured and we'll open for business as usual this afternoon."

Su Jianjun nodded, pushed open the door, and went out.

A number of neighbors who had gathered outside to watch the spectacle surrounded him when he came out.

"Is Mr. Su alright?"

"Should we call a doctor?"

"Those thugs are awful!"

Su Jianjun waved his hand and announced loudly.

"Dear neighbors, my brother's injury isn't serious; he's already been bandaged up. We'll be closed for half a day this morning, but will resume normal business this afternoon! Thank you for your concern!"

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, some praising Su Jianguo's toughness, while others worried that the thugs would come back to cause trouble.

Su Jianjun gave a few perfunctory replies and returned to the shop, where he saw his brother had already changed his pants and was discussing the afternoon's business arrangements with his sister-in-law.

"Those three girls must be terrified."

Wang Xiulan said this while tidying up the counter.

"I need to comfort them properly this afternoon."

Su Jianguo nodded.

"Give each of them two yuan as a consolation prize."

He turned to Su Jianjun.

"When no one's around, take me back to the village. I need to pretend to rest for a few days."

Su Jianjun responded, and before leaving, he couldn't help but smile again.

"Bro, that was a brilliant move! I reckon it won't be long before the whole Dongdan market is buzzing with the story of how you 'stabbed yourself to scare away the thugs'!"

Su Jianguo smiled but remained silent.

He knew that in the business world, sometimes strategy was more useful than force.

Today's performance not only resolved the immediate problem, but also established a prestigious reputation for his "Su's Vegetable Shop" in Beijing.

...

The hustle and bustle of Dongdan Market gradually faded into the distance as Su Jianguo sat in the back of a tractor and secretly left Beijing.

He specifically asked Su Jianjun to take a side road to avoid pedestrians he might encounter on the main road.

"Brother, are we just going to leave like this? Will the shop be okay?"

Su Jianjun gripped the steering wheel, his voice tinged with worry.

Su Jianguo patted his younger brother on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, your sister-in-law can handle calming people down. Those thugs were terrified today and won't dare come back anytime soon."

The tractor bumped along the country road.

Su Jianguo took out a cigarette case from his pocket, handed one to Su Jianjun, and lit one for himself.

The pungent taste of tobacco spread in his mouth, slightly relaxing his tense nerves.

"But this isn't over yet."

Su Jianguo exhaled a smoke ring and squinted his eyes.

"That 'local tyrant' from Caishikou suffered such a huge loss; he'll find a chance to retaliate sooner or later."

Su Jianjun slammed on the brakes, and the tractor screeched to a halt by the roadside.

"So we're just leaving like this? My sister-in-law is all alone..."

"What's the rush?"

Su Jianguo pressed down on his younger brother's shoulder.

"I'll have Li Hongmei go see Old Wang at the market management office this afternoon and ask if there's anything we can do. Besides, the more nonchalant we act, the less those thugs will be able to figure out what's going on."

The tractor restarted.

"Brother, the more I think about it, the more brilliant your move was!"

Su Jianjun said with a look of admiration.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​using tomato juice to hold the blood?

Su Jianguo's lips curled up slightly.

"When I was a kid, I watched the old folks in the village perform shadow puppet shows. They used this method to fake injuries and bleeding, but..."

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