Jiang Qingqing panicked. Her eyes darted around, searching for something. She happened to glimpse shards of porcelain on the ground, and quickly crouched down, picking up a piece and holding it in front of her. Backing away, she threatened, "You're not allowed to come any closer."
Zhu Lao San ignored her, continuing to advance on Jiang Qingqing, intent on possessing her.
"Lie down obediently beneath me, and I'll give you everything you desire, be it status or money. Don't struggle in vain."
Wu Gudi, who had intended to leave, felt a surge of indignation upon hearing this. Why was it that she had given Zhu Lao San everything, only to receive nothing in return, while Jiang Qingqing, who had only just appeared, could effortlessly possess it all? She was unwilling to accept this.
With this thought, her gaze also swept over the broken porcelain shards on the ground. A wicked idea surfaced. If Jiang Qingqing lost her beautiful face, would Zhu Lao San and Zhang Liunian still like her?
Thinking of this, she involuntarily stepped forward and picked up a piece, approaching them.
"I don't want anything, I don't want anything! Go away!" Jiang Qingqing didn't care about these things; her only concern was Zhang Liunian.
"You refuse the toast and insist on a beating. Behave yourself." Zhu Lao San grew impatient. He strode to Jiang Qingqing and reached out a large hand to grab her.
But at that moment, Wu Gudi thrust the porcelain shard towards Jiang Qingqing's face with all her might. Zhu Lao San sensed her intention, blocked it with his hand, felt a sharp pain in his wrist, and then blood spurted out like an open faucet.
Zhu Lao San was stunned. Before he could even get angry, he hurriedly covered his wrist with his hand. His hand required immediate treatment, or it would be life-threatening.
"You just wait," Zhu Lao San declared, before turning and disappearing through the doorway, unsure if he was speaking to Wu Gudi or Jiang Qingqing.
"Little Zhu Zhu! I didn't mean to hurt you, believe me!" Wu Gudi stared blankly at the blood-dripping porcelain shard in her hand and then in a flustered state, dropped it and chased after him.
Jiang Qingqing blinked her eyes, realizing this was another chance to escape. Holding the shard, she bolted outside.
Zhu Lao San, standing at the main gate, saw Wu Gudi chasing after him. He turned and said menacingly, "Wait for me. If you don't see Jiang Qingqing when I return, you can go die."
Useless creature, only good for causing trouble. If it weren't for the fact that she was still useful, the events of today would be enough for him to throw Wu Gudi to the wolves.
Wu Gudi saw that he was serious and instinctively took two steps back. But when she saw the injury on Zhu Lao San's wrist, she didn't dare say anything more, only nodding, "I'll keep an eye on her."
"If anyone comes to rescue her, or if anything happens, take her to the secret room. Come here, and I'll tell you the location." Zhu Lao San, seeing that she was somewhat obedient, beckoned her over and told her the address of the secret room.
Wu Gudi nodded upon hearing this and then watched Zhu Lao San disappear through the main gate.
"Don't run!"
Just as Zhu Lao San left, Jiang Qingqing, holding the shard, also rushed out. The thugs guarding the entrance immediately surrounded her.
Meanwhile, Zhang Liunian was spending a considerable amount of money on the street, hiring loafers to help him find Zhu Lao San's residence.
"Brother Liunian, is this really effective?" Zhang Qian asked, perplexed, looking at the thousands of yuan Liunian had scattered.
"It's better than nothing for us newcomers." Zhang Liunian handed money to a few loafers and continued to wander around, waiting for someone to bring him good news.
"That makes sense." Zhang Qian thought about it and agreed.
After much effort, the two of them finally received some information before sunset.
"It seems Zhu Lao San has three residences. One is in the suburbs, a large house there. Another is at Hero Square, and the third is near the factory..."
Zhang Liunian was overjoyed. He immediately pulled out five hundred yuan and gave it to the informant, "This is the promised reward. Thank you, brother."
"Mr. Xue, what are you looking at?"
A middle-aged man dressed in red and green, barefoot, not far away, looked at Mr. Xue, who had suddenly stopped and was staring intently ahead.
Mr. Xue snapped back to attention and smiled, "We've agreed on the matter. I have something else to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."
With that, he, along with his assistant, had people follow Zhang Liunian's car.
At the same time, the South City Department Store also reached its closing time.
Du Ziteng, along with all thirty of his employees, prepared to close the department store and announced to everyone that they would not be opening the next day.
Everyone was puzzled. Why would they close the store when business was so good?
However, South City had supply and marketing cooperatives and various private shops besides the department store, so there wasn't a feeling of indispensable reliance on it.
Therefore, the people of South City accepted the closure of the department store very well.
Seeing that no one was causing trouble, Du Ziteng began to close the store with his employees.
The main doors of the department store were four wooden doors, heavy and large, requiring two people to close them. Once closed, it would not be easy to open them.
So, as they were about to act, Wang Dachui, along with over thirty other merchants and a group of helpers, rushed over and firmly held the doors, preventing them from being closed.
"What are you doing?" Du Ziteng, seeing the people who had emerged, stepped forward and shouted angrily.
Wang Dachui emerged from the crowd, radiating confidence, and declared, "Of course, we're stopping you from closing the store."
"We notified you to come and sign contracts, and repeatedly invited you, but you paid no attention. Hearing that we were closing, you came so quickly. Do you really think this department store belongs to you merchants? Let me tell you, this department store belongs to our Brother Liunian, and he can close it if he wants."
Du Ziteng had been notifying them by phone for the past few days to handle the contract matters, but these people had turned a deaf ear, all acting in defiance.
Now they had come out, wanting to prevent him from closing the department store. It was a pipe dream.
With this thought, Du Ziteng gave a look to Li Chunhua behind him. Li Chunhua, receiving the signal, quickly retreated from the crowd to find help.
Wang Dachui did not notice this. They were currently blocking the main entrance of the department store, preventing them from closing the heavy doors.
"We paid rent to do business here. What right does Zhang Liunian have to close the department store and prevent us from doing business? If he wants to monopolize, he has to see if we agree." Wang Dachui said loudly.
Those behind him immediately echoed, "Why should Zhang Liunian close it just like that? We are not satisfied, not satisfied."
"You can't close our shops."
"Cannot close."
"..."
As these people spoke, they jostled towards Du Ziteng and his group, and with double the number of people, they pushed Du Ziteng and his group out of the department store's main doors.
"Shameless! You say you paid rent, but you paid it to the Tang family. Now that they've fallen, the department store belongs to us. If you don't pay, we naturally have reason to close." Du Ziteng staggered back as they pushed him and turned to argue.
"We don't care who the boss is. We only know that we paid the rent two months ago, and we won't pay again." Wang Dachui stepped forward to speak on their behalf.
The other merchants echoed again.
"That's right, we did pay."
"It's their business what the Tang family took, it has nothing to do with us. Zhang Liunian can't just target us and harvest us like leeks."
"We refuse to pay rent again."
"Not paying rent."
"..."