“Hmph, I’ve caught you now!”
“Huh? Where did he go?”
Fu Xuejun suddenly lunged toward the corner, only to find it completely empty. There was no one there. Just as he was wondering what was going on and was about to turn around, a sharp gust of wind came rushing toward him.
Before he could even turn his head, a heavy blow landed on the back of his head. He staggered forward from the impact and fell to his knees, letting out a howl of pain.
His head was spinning as he cursed loudly, “Which bastard dares to sneak up on me from behind?”
He shook his head and prepared to get up.
Seeing that one brick hadn’t knocked him unconscious, Shu An was just about to give him another blow with the brick when—
“Bang!”
A brick came flying from a distance and struck Fu Xuejun directly on the back of the head.
“Thud!”
This time, the blow knocked him unconscious completely.
Shu An was stunned by what she had just witnessed, and her heart immediately tightened.
She turned around and saw her eldest male cousin standing in the corner, staring sternly in their direction. Her heart instantly relaxed.
Thank goodness, thank goodness. It was one of her own family.
She glanced at a wine bottle lying by the wall, picked it up, and smashed it against the side.
Crash!
The glass shattered all over the ground.
Holding the broken bottle, she walked over and looked at the scumbag’s legs. She raised her hand and was about to stab down when Shu Yong rushed over and wrapped his arms around her waist, stopping her.
“Brother Yong! Brother Yong! Let go of me!” Shu An struggled desperately.
Shu Yong looked down at his cousin, his brows tightly furrowed. “What are you trying to do? Are you planning to cripple him?”
“Brother Yong, that’s exactly what I’m going to do! You know what he did to me!”
“I know! But now is not the time to cripple him! If you cripple him, Fu Zhengyi won’t let this go. Calm down first!”
Did Shu Yong not hate this bastard?
Of course he did. He hated him just as much, but he knew very well that now was not the time to deal with him.
If they crippled Fu Xuejun now, Fu Zhengyi was still holding that position. Once something happened to his son, he would never let the matter rest.
After hearing her cousin’s words, Shu An finally calmed down.
Yes. Why had she known back then that calling the police would be useless?
Wasn’t it precisely because this beast’s father was still in that position?
Thinking of this, the impulse that had taken hold of Shu An immediately subsided.
Shu Yong hurried over to check Fu Xuejun’s condition. He felt for his pulse and confirmed that he was still breathing. After examining his head, he immediately searched him, taking all the money from his pockets.
He cleaned up any traces that the two of them had left behind at the scene, then grabbed his sister and left.
Only after they had gotten far away did Shu Yong look at Shu An and say, “An’an, you can’t be this reckless by yourself next time! Do you understand? If that brick hadn’t knocked him unconscious and he had seen you and called the police, you wouldn’t have been able to escape!”
“Back then, there were no witnesses when he was in the countryside. But in a place like the city, out in public, it would still be very easy for them to investigate and find you.”
After hearing this, Shu An had calmed down considerably.
He was right. She had been too impulsive. For that moment, anger had completely clouded her judgment.
Seeing that his sister had calmed down, Shu Yong finally asked, “Why did you come into the city? Did you have something to take care of?”
“I came to collect the money Jiang He sent me. I was also planning to go see my cousin.”
Zhao Ming?
Hearing this, Shu Yong gave his sister a suspicious look.
How had those two ended up getting together?
He then took out the money he had just found on Fu Xuejun and stuffed it into her hands.
“Take this money. It’s free money anyway, so why not? When you leave later, go straight to Xiao Ming and have him take you home at noon. Don’t walk back.”
“If he doesn’t have time to take you, come find your brother. I’ll take you home.”
“Okay, okay.” Shu An nodded, then glanced back toward the alley.
“You go on. I’ll take care of things here.”
“All right, Brother. I’m going.”
Once Shu An heard that he would handle things here, she immediately dashed toward the state-owned automobile factory.
“Oh, Comrade Shu, you’re here again?” Zhao Youhan, the gatekeeper, greeted her when he saw her.
“That’s right, Uncle. I’m here again. Same as before, I’m here to see my cousin. Here, have this. My husband sent it back. Give it a try.”
As she spoke, Shu An took a cigarette from her pocket and handed it to Zhao Youhan.
Zhao Youhan casually accepted it, smelled it, then tucked it behind his ear.
“Hmm, this cigarette looks pretty good. All right, wait here. I’ll go notify him.”
Since someone had gone to call her cousin, Shu An stood under a large tree to escape the sun. She kicked at the stones beneath her feet out of boredom and looked at the street outside, unable to help but sigh.
Her cousin really was lucky.
He was only two years older than her, yet his family had managed to get him into the state-owned automobile factory as an apprentice. She had heard that he was now learning how to drive heavy vehicles under a master mechanic and was working as a test driver.
When she had first transmigrated here, she had somehow ended up getting married. Her husband had also kept his word and sent money back every month—half for the household expenses and half for her personal use.
But she was used to having extra money in her own hands. Having to rely on a man and ask him for money made her feel uneasy and insecure.
After all, she and this man were essentially husband and wife halfway through life. But in this era, finding a job was not something you could simply decide to do.
At first, she had thought about following the path of those transmigrated female protagonists—writing articles and submitting them for publication to earn royalties.
But that road simply didn’t work.
She had never experienced the idea of shared prosperity and shared ruin that was so deeply ingrained in this era. She also didn’t understand the way people conducted themselves or the political climate of the time.
As a result, what she wrote was far too unconventional and obvious, completely inconsistent with the tone that publications of this era wanted.
Fortunately, she had once worked in an automobile research and development department, so she understood things like gears.
On top of that, her father had been an avid collector of mechanical watches, and the original owner herself had grown up watching her grandfather and father forge things and make objects by hand. She had inherited quite a bit of skill with her hands.
So when her cousin secretly came to her one day and quietly asked whether she could repair watches, she immediately thought of a business opportunity.
She had him collect those damaged or discarded watches, while she handled the repairs and disassembly.
After some tinkering, replacing the watchband, and putting everything back together, it would look like a brand-new watch.
And with her cousin using his automobile to transport the goods outside the factory for sale, the risk was reduced even further.
But there was only a limited supply of watches.
Once all the watches had been repaired, what would she repair next?
Just as she was pondering this, she suddenly heard someone call out—
“An’an!”
Shu An abruptly looked up and saw her cousin.
He was tall and burly, with an innocent, simple-looking face.
But in reality, he was a sweet-looking man with a ruthless heart.