Chapter 134

Chapter 134

Her aggravating ex-boyfriend had come to Yunlan.

To Qin Ying, the news wasn’t serious. It was just deeply unpleasant.

Even Yin Minmin, who had her neck in a brace, could see that much.

Knocking them out had been easy for Han Lie at the time, but not everyone could withstand that kind of force.

Nor had everyone been treated with medicine the way Qin Ying had.

Yin Minmin had suffered soft tissue damage in her neck and ended up in a cervical collar.

When Qin Ying came by with a fruit basket, Yin Minmin was watching a drama while her hands were busy making needle-felted crafts.

Seeing Qin Ying’s poor expression, she assumed her injuries weren’t recovering well and asked after her with concern.

Only then did Qin Ying force a smile. She set down the fruit basket and pressed a cup of milk tea into Yin Minmin’s hands.

“How are you doing? What about the Water Park?”

Yin Minmin snuck a glance toward the door before a sly look appeared on her face. “I’m fine. I’m just trying to claim the injured employee allowance.”

The Cultural Preservation Bureau couldn’t keep any intelligence secret, and it looked dirt-poor on the surface, but the benefits that ought to be there were all there.

After the dogfighting ring incident, Qin Ying had also been given a week’s leave.

Yin Minmin didn’t want to go back to work, so she was still squatting in the hospital, making handicrafts and filming videos.

She was fully enjoying the pleasure of milking the system.

At the mention of the Water Park, her face turned bitter. “It all burned. Burned clean through.”

“Wen Hao and Zhang Lang were both dragged off to clean up the fire scene and assist with the investigation.”

“But forget tracking the Huodou: there wasn’t even anything useful left there.”

Yin Minmin rubbed her neck and said miserably, “Right now Zong Li and the others are searching the whole city for the Huodou, but they don’t have a single lead.”

“I don’t know if it was taken away by the mysterious Shadowy Figure that saved us.”

“The thought that Yunlan City is still hiding weird things like that gives me the creeps.”

Yin Minmin poured out her complaints like bitter water.

Qin Ying, wearing disposable gloves as she peeled an apple for her, only smiled without saying anything.

After taking a sip of milk tea, Yin Minmin added, “Old Miao and Old Dao both resigned.”

“I heard from Zong Li that the new director still hasn’t been decided.” She covered her mouth and quickly lowered her voice. “No one wants to take over this mess.”

“Now it’s just a matter of which unlucky bastard it lands on.”

She suddenly hugged Qin Ying’s arm. “Sister Ying, for the next while, we may only have each other to rely on.”

Qin Ying already knew Old Miao and Old Dao had resigned, so there was nothing for her to be surprised about.

While Yin Minmin was gnawing on the apple and easy to pump for information, Qin Ying asked a few more questions.

But all Yin Minmin knew was that the deputy director who had come down was currently taking Zong Li, Zhang Lang, and the others everywhere to search for the Huodou.

As for the mastermind behind the genetic experiments on dogs, they had already asked Headquarters to assist in the investigation. But when it came to any concrete progress, Yin Minmin couldn’t find out a thing.

She flopped backward like she had completely given up. “Who knows what the new director will be like? I’m afraid our good old days of clocking in at three in the afternoon and getting paid to coast are over.”

Qin Ying hadn’t enjoyed those good old days for long, so she didn’t feel it too deeply. Just as she was about to reply, her phone suddenly rang.

It was a call from Granny Shi.

Qin Ying answered, and Granny Shi’s lowered voice came through the phone. “Qin Ying, someone’s here looking for you. Looks like that boyfriend of yours from before.”

When Qin Ying’s grandmother had passed away, Qin Ying had once brought Feng Mu back with her.

So whether he had found his way to her door or Granny Shi had recognized him, Qin Ying wasn’t surprised. She was just very irritated.

She stayed silent. Granny Shi, however, seemed to pick up on something and asked, “Tell me the truth. Do you still have feelings for him?”

“Why?”

On the other end of the line, Granny Shi took charge without hesitation. “Don’t worry about it. Just give me a straight answer. Do you still have feelings for him or not?”

To that question, Qin Ying’s answer was extremely decisive.

“No.”
Did she like Feng Mu? Of course she did. But that affection had been rationally withdrawn the moment Feng Mu, while dating her, started preparing for a marriage alliance with someone else.

Someone worthy of Qin Ying’s affection had to be a truly good person.

There was nothing wrong with Feng Mu wanting to expand his business empire.

But his success should not be built on Qin Ying’s sacrifice.

If he had broken up with her openly and decisively, she might even have praised him for being straightforward.

But wavering back and forth, wanting to have it both ways? Who did he think he was?

Qin Ying said, “Granny Shi, don’t do anything. That man isn’t a good person.”

Feng Mu was a businessman through and through, putting profit above all else, and he was hardly broad-minded.

His company’s legal team had quite the record.

“You little kid, stay out of it. Come back after we’ve chased him off.”

“We’re a bunch of unruly old folks here in the Old City District. You think we’d let a girl we watched grow up get bullied?”

Granny Shi dropped those two lines and hung up with a snap.

Afraid that Granny Shi and the others would do something reckless, Qin Ying let Yin Minmin know, then left the hospital and hurried home.

But she was still one step too late.

The area in front of her house was packed so tightly with onlookers that not even water could get through.

Qin Ying squeezed her way in and couldn’t help covering her forehead.

The street was already narrow to begin with, and Feng Mu’s car had blocked off most of it.

Granny Shi was leading several old men and old ladies from the street, jabbing their fingers and spitting as they cursed.

They were very measured and didn’t do anything illegal. They simply launched a verbal offensive of cursing the mulberry tree while pointing at the locust tree.

A handful of seniors, all over seventy and the sort even the police wouldn’t dare arrest lightly, had taken up positions all around the car and were pointing at it while letting loose.

Their curses were filthy enough that Qin Ying could already imagine how furious Feng Mu must look sitting inside the car.

Just then, the crowd across the way stirred, and two plump middle-aged aunties carrying folding stools squeezed in.

Under Granny Shi’s direction, they opened the stools, one sitting at the front of the car and the other at the rear.

Once seated, they looked at Granny Shi and asked, “Ma’am, who are we doing Villain Hitting on?”

Granny Shi swiped on her phone and said domineeringly, “I transferred fifty to each of you. Do a trilingual Villain Hitting right here for me. The nastier, the better.”

The old lady had clearly done this before; she was very practiced with both the transfer and the service requirements.

The two plump aunties looked like seasoned veterans. Each pulled a paper figure from her clothes and set it on the ground. “If it isn’t nasty, you don’t pay.”

With that, the two took off their shoes and slapped them down on the little paper figures with loud smacks.

Hit the villain’s hands, may he lose his money. Hit the villain’s crotch, may he never get it up.

They did it once in dialect, once in Mandarin, then even went international with an English version thick with accent.

Everyone on the street listened to this folk-ritual rap for a laugh. Qin Ying was the only one who truly laughed.

If she’d known the hometown aunties’ Villain Hitting business had improved this quickly, she would have spent that money ages ago.

She laughed far too arrogantly and was spotted by the person in the car.

The man sitting in the car with his arms folded and his face livid opened the door and got out.

To be fair, Feng Mu belonged in the very handsome category.

But no one present fell for that. The moment he got out, one of the old men who had been surrounding the car and cursing suddenly stopped.

Changing completely from his earlier sharp-tongued manner, he charged toward Feng Mu with the momentum of someone who couldn’t have moved like that without twenty years’ worth of old blood clots.

Feng Mu had truly never encountered anything like this before and dodged to the side in a sorry state.

Yet the old man had already stopped just as he was about to ram into him.

Under Feng Mu’s furious stare, the old man pointed his thumb at the tip of his own nose.

“When I was young, I was a famous little bastard for miles around. What are you showing off here for with that crappy car of yours?”

Feng Mu choked so hard he nearly tipped backward. He wiped the spittle from his face, veins bulging at his temples, and said to Qin Ying, who was watching the show with her arms folded, “I’ll leave after saying just a few words.”

“The last few words, Ah Ying.”