The process of withdrawing the marriage application went smoother than anyone could have imagined.
Yesterday’s Xu family fiasco had already spread through the entire street.
Xu’s eldest uncle, a minor official at the street office, probably fearing trouble for himself, didn’t dare make a sound. His face was as dark as a pot bottom the entire time, yet he efficiently processed the paperwork.
Ruan An’an took the lightweight yet weighty proof of withdrawal, not even glancing at the uncle’s sullen expression.
In her past life, she’d been treated like a workhorse—bearing her superiors’ blame, colleagues’ knives, cold stares, and endless obstruction. A little sour look like this? Not worth a crumb in her eyes.
Pocketing the proof, she immediately began planning her next step.
How could she completely crush the Xu family’s nest of vipers and eliminate all future trouble?
As she stepped out of the old wooden door of the street office, a figure blocked her path.
A man in his thirties, with a buzz cut, wearing a faded work uniform with sleeves rolled up to reveal solid forearms, exuded a sharp, streetwise air.
“Miss Ruan?” His voice was low, carrying a bit of underworld grit. “Boss Zhou heard about your situation. He specifically instructed me to bring some brothers to ‘show support.’”
He gestured subtly toward a narrow alley.
Ruan An’an then noticed six or seven similarly formidable men standing in the dim alley, each standing straight, eyes sharp.
More strikingly, under the rolled-up sleeves of each man was a tattoo in strong, traditional clerical script: the character “Zhou.”
Seeing them, a surge of emotion hit her—conflicted, nostalgic, and heavy.
“No need to trouble Uncle Zhou! I’ve already withdrawn the marriage application,” she said, her voice slightly choking.
Upon hearing this, the man’s tense shoulders visibly relaxed, and he let out a long breath: “That’s good! That’s good! Boss Zhou isn’t in the best health, but he’s always thinking of you. He asked me to tell you: if the sky falls, Zhou’s got your back! No matter what happens, just say the word, and the brothers will go through fire and water for you!”
His words burned like hot iron, making Ruan An’an’s chest ache.
Boss Zhou—Zhou Huai’an.
The son of the old house steward of Ruan An’an’s grandfather, and childhood companion of her mother.
The Ruan family had been generous to the Zhou family, letting the brothers study and learn alongside Ruan’s mother.
When the times changed, a teenage Zhou Huai’an brought along his younger brother Zhou Huairen and, with sheer grit and loyalty, carved out the reputation of the “Zhou Gang” in the chaotic Bund area.
He remained single to protect Ruan’s mother and treated Ruan An’an as his own.
In the book, after the original Ruan An’an was in danger, this ailing underworld figure had run around tirelessly trying to seek justice for her…
But even a powerful hero could not overcome Su Qingyue’s female lead aura.
He failed to save the original Ruan An’an, became entangled himself, and in the end, the legendary man died humiliatingly in a cowshed.
Lost in thought, Ruan An’an only showed gratitude and concern on her face. She said earnestly to the man: “Uncle, thank you for coming all this way. Please tell Uncle Zhou to rest easy and focus on his health. I’ve got everything settled here. I’ll pay my respects in person later.”
“All right! Then I’ll take the men back first!”
With that, he waved toward the alley, and the seven or eight men silently dispersed…
Ruan An’an smiled as she watched them leave, but her eyes were icy cold.
She had always held grudges.
A drop of kindness deserves a fountain of return, and a grudge? Tenfold, a hundredfold revenge.
Now, armed with her space and mountains of supplies, the tragedies that had befallen the Zhou brothers in the past life had to be nipped in the bud.
As for Su Qingyue?
Hah, this white-lotus-faced girl had only added fuel to the fire regarding the Zhou family situation.
Fine. Old scores, new scores—they would all be settled together.
Deciding her course, Ruan An’an scanned around, ensured no one was watching, then slipped into the deepest shadows of the alley.
With a thought, she vanished in an instant.
[Green Plum Wine *10 prepared]
She quickly poured the amber liquid into empty glass bottles, then diluted it with pure, sweet Lingquan water at a 1:2 ratio.
Next, she precisely extracted a few blister packs of azithromycin—the nemesis of pneumonia—from the stash of medicines she “confiscated” yesterday.
Half an hour later, carrying an inconspicuous cloth bag, she knocked on the familiar, heavy door of the Zhou family villa.
Creak—
The door opened, revealing the fearsome Zhou Er Ye, Zhou Huaiquan, notorious on the Pujiang banks.
Tall and lean as bamboo, his face darkened and roughened by years of sea winds, a scar across his brow adding to his fierce appearance.
Yet upon seeing the modest girl at the door, he instinctively offered a rare smile, warm with a hint of elderly affection: “An’an?”
But the smile faded instantly, replaced by caution. His rough voice, tinged with helplessness and vigilance, said: “Girl… you’re not here to send Second Uncle after those bastards from the Xu family again, are you?”
Ruan An’an’s throat tightened, her face slightly flushed.
For the past three years, the Xu mother and son had used her as a “door-opener” to get into the Zhou family.
Leveraging the original Ruan An’an’s connection to the Zhou family and her infatuation, whenever she had gone before, it had always been to beg Second Uncle to deal with some trivial Xu family matter.
Textile factory openings, urban residence permits, Su Qingyue moving into the Xu house openly…
Which of these hadn’t relied on Zhou Huaiquan’s stern face to “settle” things?
No wonder Second Uncle reacted like he was seeing a debt collector the moment he saw her.
“Second Uncle!” Ruan An’an lifted her head, voice low but each word firm: “You misunderstand! I’m not here to save them—”
She paused, a cold, sharp curve lifting the corner of her mouth: “I’m here to send them on their way!”
Zhou Huaiquan’s hawk-like eyes narrowed sharply, scrutinizing Ruan An’an from head to toe.
“Girl… are you serious? You really intend to move against them?”
“I do!” Ruan An’an answered decisively, her gaze unwavering. “Truer than gold!”
The wrinkles on Zhou Huaiquan’s face instantly smoothed as he burst into a loud, hearty laugh: “Good! Excellent! You finally have some sense! Wait! Second Uncle will deal with them properly, avenge you!”
Ruan An’an laughed and cried at the same time, quickly grabbing Zhou Huaiquan before he could rush off: “Second Uncle! Wait! There’s no need to act in such haste!”
She pulled the impetuous man into the living room, where a strong scent of medicinal herbs mixed with stifled coughing hit her.
On the central sofa, slouched, was an elderly man in a faded black Tang suit—the true backbone of the Zhou family, Zhou Huai’an.
Leaning on a polished old dragon-head cane, his complexion ashen as if covered in dust, his cloudy, yellowed eyes.
Each cough shook his frail body violently, as if trying to cough out his lungs.