A Valiant Life

Qiao Fei felt relieved after destroying the shop. It was a unique experience that nobody would know how it felt unless they tried it themselves. He thought that this fella would definitely be infuriated. But now, he looked so calm and he was even smiling. Qiao Fei didn’t understand what was happening.

Lin Fan looked at him calmly. “How was it? Did it feel good smashing my shop?”

“You still have the cheek to laugh,” Qiao Fei said. He wanted to leave the shop but the other shop owners were blocking the entrance. He was so angry that he shouted, “Get lost!”

“Wow, you think you can just leave like that after smashing the shop? Are you joking?”

“I’ve already made a police report. Let the police decide if you can be released.”

“You actually dared to destroy a shop in broad daylight. It’s such a nasty act and you’re thinking of leaving this place? You must be dreaming!”

“We’re blocking the entrance. You can continue dreaming about leaving this place.”

“We are all righteous individuals and we will definitely not back down after witnessing your act of violence.”

The shop owners were discussing among themselves. How could they let someone like him escape?

Qiao Fei was stunned. What? Where did this bunch of nosy people come from? This was unlike how normal people behaved. Usually, people would gather just to look at the show. But these people actually blocked the entrance to prevent him from escaping. Where did such a sense of justice come from?

Fraud Tian looked at the destroyed state of the shop and how it had been destroyed in mere minutes. He thought to himself that times had changed and people were so different from before.

Lin Fan looked at the destroyed shop and then turned to Qiao Fei. “How was it? Are you satisfied? If you think that’s not enough, you can smash other shops too. I assure you that you’ll definitely be satisfied with all the smashing today.”

Elder Zhang added, “Yeah, if you think that’s not enough, you can destroy my shop too. My shop’s just beside his. There is definitely more than enough for you to smash in there.”

“My shop too. I can let you destroy it. I promise to not retaliate.”

“Although my shop isn’t big, it has a lot of things inside. Hurling stools and tables isn’t going to satisfy you. You can use the hammer instead.”

…

“Lunatics. You are all lunatics,” Qiao Fei said angrily, “All of you, get lost. I want to leave now.”

He realized that these people were all crazy and he didn’t want to stay there any longer.

“Please, excuse me.”

Then, sounds could be heard coming from outside.

“The policemen are here. Let them handle it.” The shop owners immediately made a path for them to walk through.

Master Lin’s shop was well known among the policemen. Master Lin had provided essential information for them to crack the human trafficking case. Thus, when they heard that someone had destroyed Master Lin’s shop, they had immediately contacted Liu Xiao Tian.

They knew that Liu Xiao Tian was close to Master Lin. Therefore, they told him everything that had happened.

Liu Xiao Tian walked into the shop and saw that everything had been completely destroyed. He was stunned. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

The two police officers beside him were also stunned. They wondered who was the impressive one that dared to destroy Master Lin’s shop.

As they were handling an official case, Liu Xiao Tian didn’t act like he knew Lin Fan very well to prevent others from gossiping about them.

“What happened?” Liu Xiao Tian asked.

Lin Fan pointed at Qiao Fei. “This person destroyed my shop.”

The other shop owners added, “This person is too cocky. He immediately destroyed the shop when he came here.”

“He even wanted to escape but he was blocked by all of us. We definitely won’t back down from someone who did something like that.”

Master Lin’s shop had been destroyed and this caused Liu Xiao Tian’s first impression of Qiao Fei to be extremely bad. Then, he pointed at Qiao Fei. “Did you destroy this shop?”

Seeing that the police officers were there, Qiao Fei naturally nodded without knowing what was going to happen to him. Then, he answered, “Yeah, I destroyed it.”

“That was a swift confession.” Liu Xiao Tian nodded. Then, he waved his hands. “Bring him back to the police station.”

Qiao Fei laughed and pointed at Lin Fan. “Remember this. Today’s just a lesson for you. Next time, open your eyes wider and don’t think so highly of yourself. There are people in this world that you can’t afford to offend.”

Lin Fan looked at the two police officers and said, “He just threatened me again. You can record that down.”

The two assisting officers had already heard of Master Lin and especially since this person was behaving so arrogantly, they didn’t like him at all. Then, they nodded. “We have recorded that down.”

“I have to go to the police station to register this too. Although my shop is small, the stuff that’s in here isn’t simple at all. I can’t just let him off like this,” Lin Fan said. Then, he pointed at Fraud Tian. “Don’t pack up anything. These things can serve as evidence.”

Qiao Fei sneered, “Evidence? These things are only worth twenty thousand dollars. Haha.”

Lin Fan chuckled but said helplessly, “Twenty thousand dollars isn’t enough. But don’t be anxious. We can go to the police station and count slowly. I can guarantee that you won’t find anything wrong with the sum.”

Qiao Fei glared at Lin Fan unhappily. “Alright, I’ll accompany you to calculate it slowly. Let me tell you that since I dared to destroy your shop, it means that I can afford to pay you. Also, don’t think of making me pay you a single cent. I am more familiar with this than you. I’ll give you the nett renovation costs, are you happy with that?”

Liu Xiao Tian was infuriated but as a police officer, he couldn’t take sides. He had to handle the case professionally but as he witnessed Qiao Fei’s overly arrogant attitude, he had to warn him, “Please be wary of your language. How can you be right after destroying a shop? Bring him away.”

The assisting police officers replied, “Yes.”

When they prepared to enter the vehicle, Fraud Tian came over and said, “Let me follow you guys.”

Lin Fan waved his hand. “There’s no need for that. I can settle it on my own. This is a small issue. Also, please contact the company for our renovation and have them come take a look. We have to re-design the shop and make it look better.”

Fraud Tian chuckled, “Don’t worry. Consider that done.”

After the police car left.

The surrounding shop owners talked among themselves.

“Hey, this guy is dead meat. He has to pay at least a few hundred thousand dollars.”

“You guys previously said more than ten thousand dollars but Master Lin’s shop is so small. There’s no need for so much money, right?”

“You guys don’t know this. Lin Fan could lodge a case just for this man’s wrongdoing. He has to beg for mercy if he wants to be free. Furthermore, there is also a fee for private settlement, along with the costs for repair and renovation. The things in this shop aren’t worth much but after they’ve been destroyed by him, Master Lin would lose so much money from not being able to open his shop.”

“But Master Lin only sells ten scallion pancakes daily. That isn’t worth much anyway.”

“Who said he only sells ten pieces a day? His queue can be long enough to reach the end of the street. There are at least a few hundred people everyday and it could even reach a thousand people. If it costs fifty dollars for a piece, that would be fifty thousand dollars. Furthermore, the renovation would also take time. It would definitely cost a few hundred thousand dollars. This guy can forget about escaping.”

“Huh… That’s ruthless.”

“Ruthless? Master Lin wouldn’t be considered ruthless for doing that. Things are indeed like this. The fella that destroyed his shop is so arrogant. He will definitely be scared to tears later.”

“Haha, that’s true.”

…

The shop owners weren’t jealous of Master Lin’s business at all because they all benefited from his flow of customers. Furthermore, Master Lin was courteous to them. Over time, they had forged good relationships with one another.

They gradually felt that the people at Cloud Street were like one big community. They had to be united. Furthermore, Master Lin had led them to the children’s welfare agency to be volunteers and that had literally changed their perspective on life.