Han Shixu rested one hand on the car window, his gaze fixed on the taxi approaching from outside.
Two people hurriedly got out of the car parked right next to the luxury vehicle—a middle-aged woman with a limp, carrying a dusty large backpack and holding two small bags, and a young girl dragging two suitcases.
Both looked anxious, fumbling to pay the fare like refugees fleeing for their lives.
“Hmm… maybe…”
“Maybe? You’re not planning to come back tonight either?”
“Not necessarily, depends on my mood…”
Han Shixu responded half-heartedly, but his eyes were curiously glued to the mother and daughter.
He watched so intently that he could no longer make out what Li Chengshuo was saying on the other end of the call.
After they paid the fare, another taxi pulled up. A middle-aged man stormed out of the car and rushed straight toward the mother and daughter, who were frantically trying to escape toward the airport.
The middle-aged woman, with her bad leg, couldn’t run fast.
“You think you can just run off and leave me behind? After all these years I’ve raised you, is this how you repay me?”
The man grabbed the suitcase and yanked it away, ignoring the girl’s struggles.
The suitcase crashed heavily to the ground with a loud thud.
Perhaps it was too cheaply made, as the impact caused everything inside to spill out.
A few pairs of black pants, some T-shirts, and other miscellaneous, worthless items.
The commotion was quite loud, but it was nighttime, and only a handful of people watched from a distance.
The girl’s face darkened. She didn’t bother with the suitcase he had snatched and turned to leave, but the man wouldn’t let it go. He rushed over and threw the other suitcase to the ground, trying to search for a wallet inside.
The loud noise and the humiliating scene before her frayed the girl’s nerves, pushing her toward a breaking point.
“What more do you want from us? We’ve already given you all our money.”
“You still had money for plane tickets, didn’t you? You’re trying to get rid of me, aren’t you? The money must still be on you. Hand it over now!”
“I told you, we don’t have any money.”
The man ignored her completely and turned to snatch the bag from the middle-aged woman’s back. The girl hurried over to stop him.
The three of them tussled and argued in full public view, shouts and curses mingling with cries and sobs, creating utter chaos.
“Shixu… are you fighting someone?” Li Chengshuo’s uncertain voice came through the phone.
Han Shixu gave the phone a puzzled look. “Hanging up.”
“Hey… you…”
After ending the call, he glanced at the three people grappling and fighting right in front of his car and had no choice but to drive out from the side.
“This is money, isn’t it? How dare you lie to me? Do you think I’m a fool? Two worthless burdens, damn you! Eating my food, drinking my drinks, living under my roof, and now you dare to run away?”
The man viciously grabbed the middle-aged woman’s hair, dragging her fully to the ground and paying no heed to her wails.
“Don’t hit my mom! Let her go, please let her go, I’m begging you.”
The girl cried as she chased after him and tried to intervene, but the disparity in strength was too great. The man shoved her hard, sending her flying toward the road.
“Ah—”
“Screech—”
Sparks flew as the tires scraped against the pavement, and the piercing sound of brakes rang out abruptly.
Han Shixu rubbed his forehead in frustration. He could feel the car had hit something.
“Enya, my Enya…” The middle-aged woman, disheveled and unkempt, knelt on the ground, weeping loudly.
Han Shixu stepped out of the car and looked ahead. The girl was sitting on the ground, asking the middle-aged woman for a phone to call an ambulance. The pain in her leg made cold sweat bead on her forehead.
“Hey, you hit someone, and you think you can just walk away like that?”
The man strode over aggressively, sizing up the other side with a glance before turning his gaze to the luxury car that had hit the girl, his eyes filled with greed.
Han Shixu sneered repeatedly, “I’ve already called the police.”
He even suspected that these three people were deliberately putting on a show here to extort money.
“What do you mean? You think we did this on purpose? You hit my daughter, so you have to pay!” the man shouted relentlessly.
“You hit someone and still dare to turn the tables? Do rich people think they can ignore the law? If you don’t come up with the money today, don’t even think about leaving!”
The other side was completely unreasonable, shouting and screaming incessantly, even lying down on his car.
Han Shixu felt like killing someone right then.
Fortunately, they were close to the police station, and the patrol car arrived quickly.
As soon as he saw the police, the man immediately jumped off the car.
“This man hit my daughter with his car. Look, her leg is broken, and he even suspects we’re trying to extort him! You tell me, is this fair? The medical bills, hospitalization fees, food expenses… it’s all money! I’m just a laborer, how can I afford all this? He’s trying to drive my family to ruin!”
Han Shixu’s face turned cold. “If you hadn’t been pulling and shoving here, would I have hit anyone? I was driving on the road, and you suddenly rushed out.”
“Look at his attitude! My poor daughter just turned eighteen, and now her leg is broken!”
The man acted like a scoundrel, sitting on the ground and wailing.
Han Shixu was utterly astonished, his anger boiling over.
One police officer patiently mediated in the middle, while two others quickly went to check the surveillance footage, and another examined the girl’s injuries.
Soon, the results came back.
“Sorry, the surveillance camera doesn’t cover this angle,” the officer said awkwardly.
“Huh?”
Han Shixu laughed in disbelief.
“You should have surveillance cameras covering every angle at the airport. Now you’re telling me there’s no footage?”
Hearing that there was no surveillance footage, the man became even more aggressive. “So what if there’s no footage? You hit someone, that’s a fact. Look, all our luggage is scattered everywhere! You have to pay for all of this! And I’m going to send you to jail, you know that? Hurry up and arrest him! He’s trying to kill someone!”
Han Shixu was so furious he couldn’t even speak. He had never encountered such a scoundrel in his life.
He was wealthy, but he wasn’t a fool!
“Can we check the dashcam in your car? Just the footage from today,” the officer asked.
Han Shixu glanced at the car behind him. “That’s not my car.”
He just wanted to get away from Zhongdu, so he randomly chose a city to relax in, and he might never come back.
The car and house were, of course, temporary.
The officer gave him a strange look, taking in his attire, and nodded in understanding.
Han Shixu noticed their expressions but couldn’t be bothered to explain.
When the man heard that the person in front of him was a fake, he became even more emboldened, throwing a tantrum and making a scene until the police officers were at their wits’ end.
Han Shixu’s expression darkened to the extreme. Just as he was about to speak again, he suddenly heard a woman’s voice from behind the crowd: “He didn’t hit her.”
Several police officers turned around, uncertainly asking, “Wasn’t it him who hit you?”
The girl on the ground looked pale. She glanced at Han Shixu, lowered her head, and said, “We spilled these things ourselves. He did bump into me, but it was because my dad pushed me. I lost my balance and accidentally collided with the front of his car.”
“What nonsense are you spouting, you brat?”
The man pushed past the police and rushed toward the person on the ground. The middle-aged woman was terrified, tears streaming down her face as she clung tightly to the girl.
“I’m telling you, if you act all high and mighty here, I won’t have money to treat your broken leg!”
The girl wiped her tears, sniffled, and said, “I’m telling the truth!”
Slap—
No one expected the man to suddenly lose his temper, raising his hand and slapping her hard across the face.