As Shen Youchu stepped into the alley, four thugs quickly picked up their pace and surrounded her.
“Heh heh, this little bitch sure knows how to pick the place.”
The four men wore lewd, malicious smiles, each rubbing their hands together as they eyed Shen Youchu like prey.
Shen Youchu’s tone remained calm. “Robbery? Sexual assault? Or something else?”
The four thugs froze for a moment. This script didn’t seem to match what they had imagined.
The leader looked even more vicious. He pulled a contract from inside his jacket and pressed it in front of Shen Youchu.
“Cut the nonsense. If you want your father to be safe, sign this right now.”
A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he added, “Don’t ask stupid questions about who sent us. Just be quick about it. You and your father can avoid some suffering. Understand?”
Shen Youchu rolled her eyes so hard it looked like they might reach the sky. Even an idiot could tell they were sent by Fu Dongshou.
She wasn’t in a hurry to act. She took the document and flipped through it—it was a share transfer agreement for an electrical cable factory.
Zong Huanyu’s name was already signed on it. Seeing that the beneficiary field was still blank, Shen Youchu couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Ha, perfect timing.”
“???” The four thugs were confused. They seriously suspected this girl had been scared stupid.
Then, to their even greater confusion, Shen Youchu casually waved her hand and tossed out a single word: “Thanks,” as if she were about to leave.
The leader’s veins bulged in anger. He rolled up his sleeves and reached out brutally, trying to grab her long hair.
The motion was practiced—clearly he had done this to girls many times before.
Shen Youchu turned around and, in one smooth motion, twisted his reaching arm into a painful knot. She followed up with a chokehold so fluid he didn’t even have time to scream.
Looking down at him, her eyes were cold as millennia-old ice.
“Don’t make a sound.”
The man’s face turned green from the pressure. Terrified, he didn’t dare make a single noise, his gaze instantly clearing—obedient like a giant teddy bear.
The other three men were stunned, looking at each other in panic. None of them dared to move.
Just like that, the four burly men could only watch as Shen Youchu’s slender figure gradually walked away.
Only after she disappeared completely did the man clutching his arm finally let out a painful scream.
Shen Youchu looked at the contract in her hand and sneered.
“Ah, unexpected wealth really does come knocking.”
Fu Dongshou, that old bastard, had already been cleaned out of his warehouse, and now he was still generously delivering such a gift. She almost felt like giving him a “good person” award.
As expected, sometimes exhausting every scheme you have isn’t as good as a fool’s sudden inspiration.
When Shen Youchu pushed open the door and entered the small villa, Zong Sisi and Zong Xiaxia rushed toward her wailing like ghosts, blocking her at the entrance.
Each of them held an envelope, questioning in unison:
“Shen Youchu, is this your doing?”
Just moments ago, the local resettlement office had personally delivered notices assigning them to go down to the countryside. No matter how hard they argued, it was useless—they were almost even sent to the police station.
“Shen Youchu, you’re so vicious! You only want to harm my sister! I didn’t even offend you! Are you crazy? Are you crazy?!”
Zong Xiaxia’s frantic outburst made Zong Sisi, who had been furious, suddenly laugh in anger.
“Are you serious right now? Do you even hear yourself?”
Unable to touch Shen Youchu, Zong Xiaxia vented her rage on Zong Sisi instead, grabbing her hair.
“It’s all your fault! Why did you have to provoke that crazy woman? Now look what happened—I got dragged into this too!”
“You only know how to act in front of Dad all day! If you’re so good at acting, why don’t you turn yourself into a sack and go stuff garlic?!”
“Aah!” Zong Sisi flailed wildly, breaking free, then flipped over and pinned Zong Xiaxia down, choking her neck tightly.
“I told you to pull my hair! I told you to pull my hair!”
Shen Youchu watched the sisters fighting like dogs and felt utterly speechless.
“Idiots.”
Just as she was about to head upstairs, the two sisters grabbed her legs from left and right.
“Don’t go! You’re not allowed to leave!”
“…”
Shen Youchu slapped each of them once on the head.
“Go be crazy somewhere else. What do your countryside assignments have to do with me?”
“If you don’t want to go, talk to the resettlement office. Why are you clinging to me? What, do you think I’m a living Buddha granting wishes if you hug my legs?”
Zong Sisi sneered angrily, “No go? That’s sabotaging the movement—you’ll become a labor reform criminal!”
Zong Xiaxia, however, looked utterly shameless, refusing to care about anything anymore.
She hugged both of Shen Youchu’s legs this time, crying with snot running down her face.
“I don’t care! I’m not going! I refuse no matter what!”
“It’s your fault, you fix it! I know you’re more capable than my sister—you can do it!”
“As long as you keep me from going to the countryside, you’ll be my real sister from now on! I’ll listen to everything you say!”
“Do you even have any shame? Do you really think so highly of me?”
“What power do I even have to stop you from going to the countryside? Get off me!”
Shen Youchu kept pushing Zong Xiaxia away, but she clung on like a piece of chewing gum.
“You do, you do! Save me! Please save me…”
Zong Xiaxia went crazy, desperately latching onto her.
Shen Youchu finally couldn’t take it anymore. She forcefully shoved her away and quickly ran upstairs, locking the door.
Today she had really encountered someone who wasn’t afraid of death. She couldn’t actually beat them to death, so she could only hide and wait out the madness.
Zong Xiaxia kept banging on the door.
“Open it! Save me! Open the door…”
Shen Youchu rolled her eyes so far they nearly reached her brain, then grabbed some pastries and slipped into her spatial realm to enjoy some peace and quiet.
She brewed tea with spiritual spring water and leaned under a osmanthus tree beside the spring, eating pastries and drinking tea.
The osmanthus tree was strange—so large, yet it had only one lonely branch, bearing a single flower.
After eating and drinking her fill, Shen Youchu lay down in a relaxed posture under the tree and murmured with some regret:
“Ah… if only I had a bottle of iced cola.”
The moment she spoke, something miraculous happened—a bottle of iced cola suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of her.
At the same time, the only flower on the osmanthus tree withered and fell, drifting gently down before her.
Shen Youchu shot up instantly.
“What the—what’s going on? Is this… a spiritual tree?”
She looked at the fallen petal, then back at the tree, a bad premonition rising in her heart.
She lost all interest in the cola.
Turning toward the direction of the golden hall, she shouted:
“Daoist Niu Bi, get over here.”