After finishing her sentence, Su Wan got out of the car and closed the door as quickly as possible, rushing towards the market. The whole process was smooth and seamless.
Qin Yi took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it slowly, and smiled as he recalled Su Wan's charming and coquettish appearance earlier.
They flirted and then ran away.
She knows fear too?
When Su Wan returned to the stall, there were quite a few customers, including individual customers and wholesale vendors. Liu Shuang was extremely busy.
"Don't rush, don't rush, everyone take turns."
Su Wan came over and helped Liu Shuang calculate the accounts one by one.
An hour later, the two finished their work.
Su Wan stretched and rubbed her sore arms. She felt tired, very tired.
Liu Shuang, who clearly hadn't slept well either, still asked Su Wan with concern, "Sister Su Wan, are you alright?"
As Su Wan tidied up the stall, she yawned and shook her head: "It's nothing, I'm just a little tired."
Liu Shuang opened her eyes wide. Although she was a young girl, she had heard about this kind of thing before.
Even if you've never eaten pork, haven't you at least seen a pig run?
She had seen some young wives whose walk changed after that incident.
Was Su Wan really messed up by her brother-in-law last night?
Seeing Liu Shuang's silent yet flushed face, Su Wan patted her shoulder and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Liu Shuang was startled.
He hurriedly waved his hand: "No, it's nothing."
Liu Shuang mentally cursed himself a few times.
Su Wan's eyes held a smile, tinged with teasing.
Liu Shuang blushed even more under her gaze, and hurriedly tidied up the rummaged cloth. "Sister Su Wan, you're so naughty."
Su Wan was about to say something more when suddenly a few young men who looked like troublemakers rushed in and, without warning, threw the cloths off Su Wan's stall onto the ground one by one.
Su Wan narrowed her eyes slightly, watching them throw the objects without showing any emotion.
Liu Shuang, a girl who was usually very well-behaved, had never seen anything like this before and was terrified.
Although frightened, seeing bolts of cloth being thrown around like that, Liu Shuang disregarded her fear and stepped forward to stop them, shouting, "What are you doing? Who are you? What right do you have to throw our things away?"
Liu Shuang stopped a young man from throwing down a piece of cloth, but he pushed her and she stumbled, falling to the ground with a cry of "Ouch!" The girl's eyes were red with anger.
Su stepped forward to support Liu Shuang, signaling her not to rush.
The young man in the lead threw things while shouting, "Did you pay protection money? How dare you open for business?"
The others echoed this sentiment, looking at Su Wan and her two young girls with disdain.
The men threw the items on the ground, then stomped on them several times, adding more filth to the already dirty cloth. They boasted, "When you've come to your senses and paid our boss the protection money, then we can reopen."
He left muttering curses after saying that.
As soon as the person walked away, the vendors who were familiar with Su Wan cautiously approached.
"Xiao Su, he's a notorious local bully in this area. Everyone who does business in our market has to pay him protection money."
"Yes, yes, otherwise we'll come and cause trouble, making it impossible for people to do business."
"Xiao Su, we're in business, it's better to avoid trouble. If you can back down, then back down. Business still needs to be done."
Aunt Zhou told Su Wan that the local tyrant was named Wang Bencai. He had no legitimate job and made a living by collecting protection money from the locals.
In the beginning, he was the only one, and he only accepted a token amount. If others didn't give him any, he would cause trouble, making it impossible for them to do business.
Adhering to the business principle of "spending money to avoid trouble," he didn't ask for much, so everyone gave him what he wanted.
Gradually, he gained a group of followers.
His appetite grew bigger and bigger.
They won't allow people to overturn things at the drop of a hat, or even resort to violence.
It's not that no one has reported him; Wang Bencai is quick-witted, he took money to bribe his superiors, and he has people backing him up.
Someone sued him, and his stall was smashed the very next day.
The losses outweighed the gains, and gradually everyone realized that it was Wang Bencai who had orchestrated things behind the scenes.
Everyone resigned themselves to their fate and, as Wang Bencai requested, squeezed out a portion of their hard-earned money from working from dawn till dusk to hand over to him.
Su Wan looked at Aunt Zhou gratefully, "Thank you, Auntie."
Aunt Zhou is a veteran of the market. She had encountered similar situations before. As she said, how can a business owner go up against petty thugs?
That would be asking for trouble.
She's just an ordinary citizen; who could she possibly offend?
Su Wan silently helped Liu Shuang up and let her sit on a small stool to rest.
She went to pick up the cloths that had been thrown all over the floor. Liu Shuang couldn't rest. She endured the pain in her waist, staggered, and together with Su Wan, brushed off the loose dirt from the cloths that could be brushed off and put the rest aside.
Liu Shuangbian packed up the items, tears welling up in her eyes with heartache.
"What kind of person is he! People like that should be arrested."
Su Wan gently wiped away her tears, comforting her, "Don't cry, there's always a way to solve things."
Liu Shuang wiped her face, her voice trembling with tears, "They're bullying us."
Liu Shuang looked extremely aggrieved at this moment, as if she had been bullied.
Running a business without offending anyone, only to have your stall overturned for no reason, would be upsetting for anyone.
Half the reason was that those men saw the two young girls and thought that if it were a young and strong man, they might not have dared to be so arrogant.
To put it bluntly, they also cater to different tastes.
By the time the two finished tidying up, it was already afternoon. Half of the cloth was dirty. Su Wan finished packing and told Liu Shuang to go home first.
Liu Shuang looked at her hesitantly: "Sister Su Wan, have you thought about what to do?"
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