Second reply

"Boom! Whoosh!"

The thunder roared again, bringing a torrential downpour. The wind and rain outside only amplified the silence inside the classroom.

After taking a few deep breaths, Fei Nan hurriedly left a few words of advice, such as to be careful with his words and actions and to be friendly to his classmates, before departing.

What's going on? Are kids these days so intimidating? Even her, their homeroom teacher, was stunned.

Wang Yao, however, returned to her seat as if nothing had happened and continued doing her homework.

Just then, a note was pushed over from the side. Wang Yao saw that it read: "You're amazing! Even Sister Fei was scared away by you. You're my idol."

Wang Yao: ? ? ? If I remember correctly, not long ago your idol was my mom, and now it's me?

Niu Ling's former idol, Liu Xiangmei, is indeed no longer worthy of the title of idol, because she has broken down.

"Who is it? Which bastard did this? Get out here! Huh? Come out here in person if you dare! What kind of person are you to do such despicable things behind people's backs?" Liu Xiangmei shouted at the main road. "You're a real rat in the gutter! You wait, wait until I drag you out of your rat hole and tear you to pieces..."

Even though she was surrounded by onlookers and being pointed at, Liu Xiangmei continued to spew her anger; she simply couldn't take it anymore.

How could they bully her like this? At noon, they falsely accused her of putting something bad in her food, and at night they even came to throw paint in front of her shop. How could people be so vicious?

Liu Xiangmei was completely unaware of this; she was at home preparing a late-night snack for Wang Yao.

It wasn't until Liu Xiangqiu and Sun Dong heard about what happened at noon that evening that they rushed over to find out more. They discovered several people gathered in front of Liu Xiangmei's restaurant, and upon approaching, they were horrified to see the glaring scarlet stain on the door. They hurriedly went upstairs to find Liu Xiangmei.

When Liu Xiangmei went downstairs, she was instantly frozen in place by the sight before her: a whole bucket of scarlet paint had been splashed down from the doorway, and the crookedly written character for "poison" was grotesquely menacing, looking shocking under the dim streetlights.

I asked the onlookers and found out that it was done by two thugs who were completely covered up. They were very quick and rode away on their bicycles before I could even react and arrest them.

"Mr. Liu, what deity have you offended? Shouldn't you find a place to pray to them?"

This is such an obvious targeting; anyone can see it clearly. She must have offended someone. From noon to night, wave after wave of attacks have been coming. If Liu Xiangmei doesn't resolve this matter, she definitely won't be able to continue doing business.

Everyone advised Liu Xiangmei that if she knew who she had offended, she shouldn't confront them. After all, she was a woman struggling in the county without any helpers or backers, so she should have to bow her head when necessary.

Liu Xiangmei, who had just vented her frustrations, didn't think so.

Hasn't she been tolerant enough? How much more do she need to back down? Her business is being stolen, is she supposed to apologize instead? What kind of world is this?

Liu Xiangmei glanced again at the badly damaged gate. She did need to find a place to pray, but not at a temple; she wanted to go to the police station.

Liu Xiangqiu and Sun Dong quickly caught up with her. Seeing her murderous look, Liu Xiangqiu asked, "Little sister, where are you going?"

"Call the police."

They truly are mother and daughter; in different places and facing different situations, Liu Xiangmei and Wang Yao both thought of calling the police.

Because they had no other recourse but to call the police, with no one to rely on and no power to depend on, they could only resort to legal means.

However, the police were unable to catch the bad guys immediately, so Liu Xiangmei could only wait.

After Zhang Wei finished inspecting the scene and returned to the office with his colleagues on duty, he immediately called Li Jin.

But they couldn't find him; Li Jin had gone on a mission.

Zhang Wei hung up the phone, shook his head, and muttered to himself: "Can't find anyone when it matters? You think you can chase girls? Dream on."

"Brother Wei, what did you say?" The colleague next to him didn't hear him clearly.

Zhang Wei: "I told him to quickly find a way to solve this case for me."

"Alright, I'll go to River Street and ask my buddy about it in a bit."

River Street and the train station are home to 80 percent of the thugs in Zhou County. It's a mixed bag, and news travels fast there. Although they are police officers, they also have acquaintances in that area and often rely on information from those acquaintances to solve cases.

Zhang Wei instructed: "Drink less, get more things done."

"Yes, sir!" The man gave a stern salute with a grin and left.

Zhang Wei was left sitting in the office, daydreaming about how he could squeeze money out of Li Jin once he resolved the matter.

After finishing her evening self-study, Wang Yao walked out of the back gate of the county's No. 1 Middle School and saw a large crowd gathered in front of her family's restaurant.

She quickened her pace, pushed through the crowd, and saw the door covered in scarlet paint. In an instant, fear gripped her, and she ran upstairs.

"Mom~" Wang Yao pushed open the door and saw her mother sitting peacefully on the cool bed. She breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't hold on any longer, so she slid down the door and sat on the ground.

She felt like her heart was about to jump out of her throat. Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness her mother was alright.

Liu Xiangmei was shocked and rushed to the door. "Yaoyao, what happened?"

Wang Yao waved her hand weakly, "Mom, I'm fine, I just suddenly felt weak."

Liu Xiangmei touched Wang Yao's face with heartache; the child must have been frightened by the red paint on the downstairs door.

Chen Xiu also stepped forward to help, and the two of them together helped Wang Yao up. "Why did you run so fast? Are you tired? Are you hungry? Mom made you something delicious."

Wang Yao stopped her mother, who was in a hurry to go to the kitchen, and asked, "Mom, what's with the red paint on the door downstairs?"

Liu Xiangmei really wanted to tell her daughter not to worry, that her mother was there for her, but she had also noticed that her daughter was a worrier, so she just gave her a brief explanation.

Hearing her mother say they were waiting for news from the police station, Wang Yao laughed. She didn't want to wait any longer. Time and time again, they were really treating her and her mother like pushovers. She wished she could drag the couple out and beat them to death right then and there.

That's right. Although there is no concrete evidence to prove that Yu Daqiang and his wife did it, Wang Yao has already unilaterally convicted the couple.

Calm down, calm down, don't act impulsively, I need to think of a solution, Wang Yao kept telling herself.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiangmei immediately walked towards the kitchen, saying, "Mom will heat up your food for you, just wait a moment."

Liu Xiangqiu and Sun Dong were a little worried when they saw that Wang Yao seemed to be fine. When something like this happens, it's good to let it out, but the worst thing is to keep it bottled up inside.

"Yaoyao, don't take these trivial matters to heart. The police will investigate everything. Let's just wait and see," Liu Xiangqiu advised.

Although Sun Dong had always had some issues with Liu Xiangmei, he quite liked Wang Yao. Instead of trying to persuade her like his wife did, he said in a nonchalant tone, "Once we find out who did it, we'll put him in a sack and beat him up."

Wang Yao smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble my second aunt's husband to help me find someone."

Well, Sun Dong was just saying it casually, but he didn't expect his niece to actually agree. Well, it's not a big deal anyway.

Liu Xiangmei came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of noodles. Hearing this, she glared at Sun Dong and said to Wang Yao, "What nonsense are you talking about? We can't do anything illegal. Right now, you need to focus on your studies, understand?"

Following behind her, Chen Xiu came out of the kitchen carrying a large tray containing noodles for Liu Xiangqiu and his wife.

Late at night, Liu Xiangmei didn't make too many elaborate dishes. Since she couldn't sell barbecue tonight, she braised a piece of beef she bought in the morning and made a big pot of beef noodles.

They managed to eat there, but when Sun Min returned home from school, she was met with darkness, an empty stove, and no sign of her parents.

Halfway through her meal, Wang Yao remembered Sun Min and asked, "Second Aunt, did you leave a key for Xiao Min?"

"Ah~" Liu Xiangqiu exclaimed, "It's over, it's over! As soon as I heard that something happened here, I rushed over to find you and forgot about Xiaomin."

Seeing Sun Dong still eating noodles, she snatched his chopsticks away and said, "Go away, go away, what are you still eating? Hurry up and go home."

Wang Yao was speechless for Sun Min. How did she end up with such parents? Luckily it's summer now. If it were winter, she would have to stand outside in the cold waiting for these two irresponsible parents to come home.

Sun Dong pulled his impatient wife aside and said, "I took her to get a key made last weekend, so she can get into the house by herself."

Liu Xiangqiu asked, "When was last weekend? How come I didn't know?"

Sun Dong scoffed, "Why do I have to tell you about what's going on between my daughter and me? Hurry up and eat. After you're done, bring a bowl for Xiaomin too. Cough cough, little sister, is there any left?"

One sentence made Liu Xiangqiu and Liu Xiangmei, the two sisters, very unhappy.

Liu Xiangqiu: Why didn't you tell me? This father and daughter actually went on a solo trip without my knowledge, it's outrageous!

Liu Xiangmei: This person is really shameless, taking food and gifts at the same time.

But could Liu Xiangmei really let her niece go hungry? She packed up the remaining beef and beef broth and had her second sister take it back to cook noodles for Xiaomin, so the noodles wouldn't get soggy on the way back.

After seeing the two off, Liu Xiangmei told Wang Yao and Chen Xiu to quickly wash up and go to bed.

Wang Yao lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. She didn't know how to quickly punish Yu Daqiang and his wife.

The next day arrived.

There were even more rumors circulating at school, and some students in Class 3 of Grade 1 were also updating and reporting the latest news about the Hao Zai Lai Restaurant.

The paint-splashing incident last night seems to corroborate the poisoning incident yesterday noon, making those who believe in the poisoning incident even more certain of its authenticity.

However, because Wang Yao's presence during last night's self-study session was so intimidating, no one dared to approach her yet.

When Niu Ling saw Wang Yao safely appear in the classroom, she finally felt relieved, but then she started to worry again, afraid that Wang Yao would hear those unpleasant words.

In fact, Wang Yao had already heard about it as soon as she stepped into the school gate. After all, the two things that happened at the Haozailai Restaurant yesterday were the biggest hot topics near the school recently.

But she didn't care. Let them say what they want, what can they do? All she wanted now was to get revenge on Yu Daqiang and his wife.

"Niu Ling, I remember you said that you had eaten at all the restaurants around here by the time you were in junior high school?"

Niu Ling didn't know why Wang Yao still cared about what she had said, but when Wang Yao asked, she replied, "Yes, I know where to buy whatever you want to eat, and I know what each restaurant specializes in."

"Do you still remember Yu's Sichuan Restaurant on Dingyuan Road?"