As Su Yanke spoke, the group of workers looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
One of them, a rather imposing - looking man, sized up Su Yanke and her group. Noticing that Su Yanke had no other companions, he grinned wickedly and said in a rascally tone,
"I'm not paying. What can you do to me?"
His words were so provocative that Su Yanke was so angry she laughed instead.
"So you guys are trying to threaten us, huh?"
When she said "huh" with a slight tail - end intonation, a person in the shadows had a momentary lapse in breathing, but quickly regained composure. This happened in less than a second, and since Su Yanke never thought anyone would be following her, she missed this strange occurrence.
The imposing - looking man was also captivated by that "huh". He felt as if an electric current had run through his body, and half of his body went numb.
His look at Su Yanke started to turn inappropriate.
Su Yanke naturally noticed this and slightly frowned.
"Little lady, your voice is so nice. How about you come to my room tonight and 'sing' for me? Then the matter of the work hand - over will be easy. What do you say, li—"
Before he could finish the word "lady", Uncle Lao Ji couldn't stand it anymore. He punched the man hard in the face. It was a full - force punch, and the man was knocked to the ground. His face swelled up instantly.
"Spit!"
The man rubbed his face and spat a bloody mouthful on the ground. Su Yanke was sharp - eyed and seemed to see a tooth in it.
Su Yanke looked at Uncle Lao Ji's tightly - clenched fist and gave him a mental thumbs - up. As expected of a master blacksmith, he was really powerful!
The man was enraged by the punch. He immediately called on his brothers to attack and teach them a good lesson.
There were more than a dozen of them, all strong and able - bodied men. On Su Yanke's side, Uncle Lao Ji was the only man. It seemed they had no chance of winning.
A person in the shadows approached the leader and said, "Boss, should we intervene?"
The man called the boss was silent for a while, then slightly shook his head, indicating to wait.
Since the leader didn't say anything, the others naturally didn't dare to move, even though they couldn't bear to see a 'weak' woman like Su Yanke about to be brutally treated.
It was quite difficult for Uncle Lao Ji to protect Su Yanke and Aunt Li. Su Yanke glanced at Uncle Lao Ji and said calmly, "Don't get hurt. I'll handle this."
The imposing man covered his face and stared at Uncle Lao Ji and the others with a vicious look. He never thought that Su Yanke knew martial arts, so he was off - guard. Su Yanke easily kicked him to the ground.
Su Yanke casually grabbed a small vest from the side. It seemed to be a spare piece of clothing prepared by the workers. It would be just right for her to use as a rope.
Su Yanke clumsily tied up the man, then grabbed his hair and forced him to look up. The man now had a look of panic and confusion on his face. He had no idea what Su Yanke was going to do next.
He had been threatened before, but they just beat him up and made him pay some money. But why was this woman tying him up?
Su Yanke looked down at the man with a cold look in her eyes and said, "Who told you to do this?"
"What?" The man's eyes flickered as he looked at Su Yanke.
Su Yanke tightened her grip on his hair. The man's face contorted instantly. The pain of having his hair pulled was too much even for this big man to bear.
"I don't have much patience. If you don't talk properly, I'll be kind enough to give you a hand - made haircut. How about that?"
Hearing Su Yanke's words, the man trembled involuntarily. At this moment, in the man's eyes, Su Yanke was no longer a delicate little flower but a poisonous ghost - faced flower!
"Hmm?"
This "hmm" had a completely different effect on the man this time. He was just about to say something when suddenly a bright light flashed in the air. Due to the angle, Su Yanke's eyes were temporarily blinded by the light.
Su Yanke quickly closed her eyes, but suddenly felt something was wrong. The man in her hand became much heavier all of a sudden!
Su Yanke quickly opened her eyes and was met with a pair of bulging eyes staring fixedly at her.
Su Yanke's breathing faltered for a moment. She suddenly realized something and immediately released her spiritual energy to sense who was around. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed anyone at all!
This person in the shadows was not to be underestimated.
But after Su Yanke scanned the area, she found nothing. Although she was mentally prepared, she still felt a bit disappointed.
Su Yanke shifted her attention back to the man in her hand. The fatal wound on the man was a very thin silver needle that had completely penetrated his throat. Only a tiny hole as small as a pore was visible. Thanks to Su Yanke's sharp eyes, she saw a bit of the needle's end.
Su Yanke couldn't help but marvel at the exquisite technique. It was a silent kill! As long as the body moved a little, the last bit of the needle would disappear completely. If one didn't touch it with their hands, they would never think that the cause of death was the silver needle itself.
Su Yanke put the man down with a complicated mood. The surrounding suddenly fell silent. When Su Yanke turned around, she saw a group of terrified faces looking at her, as if she were a female murderess.
"A, Ayan, are you okay?"
Although Uncle Lao Ji was also shocked by the man's death, he firmly believed that Su Yanke didn't kill him. So although he was surprised by the man's death, he still cared about Su Yanke first.
Hearing Uncle Lao Ji's words, Su Yanke was touched. There were indeed advantages to being an honest person. They were especially trustworthy.
In contrast, Su Yanke noticed that Aunt Li's eyes showed a hint of caution when looking at her. Although it was just a fleeting look, Su Yanke still caught it.
Su Yanke now had a lot of questions in her mind. She didn't want to discuss with them whether she was the murderer or not. She just wanted to figure out what was going on.
Su Yanke glanced at the workers beside her and said, "Clean up. I want to see the results tonight. Can you do it? Hmm?"
Almost the second after Su Yanke said "hmm", everyone's faces turned pale. The crowd immediately got busy. Some were painting the walls, some were pasting the windows. Everything was in an orderly manner, if one ignored their trembling hands and feet.
After that, Su Yanke didn't bother with the matter anymore. She left it all to Uncle Lao Ji and the others to handle.
Su Yanke went back to the restaurant where she had lunch and ordered afternoon tea. While drinking tea, she thought about the people she had met since she came to this world.
Su Yanke screened through them one by one in her mind and finally identified a few candidates. The top candidate was Qiu Xu. Su Yanke always felt that he was mysterious. There was an aura about him that she couldn't figure out. Subconsciously, she didn't like this kind of aura, so she was still a bit on guard against Qiu Xu.
Secondly, it was the Chen family, Chen Yonggui's clan. The Chen family was in great trouble now. If the person who framed the Chen family wanted to wipe them out completely, it was possible that they would target her for helping Chen Yonggui.
But if that was the case, the target for Su Yanke to look for would be even bigger!
Su Yanke drank her tea dejectedly. Time passed quickly as she let her mind wander.
Su Yanke returned to the shop. The shop had changed greatly. Everything that should be there was there, and everything that shouldn't be there was gone.
Su Yanke looked around and thought it was pretty good, so she let the workers leave.
The workers didn't even dare to breathe loudly, afraid that they had done something wrong and would be dealt with by Su Yanke. When they heard that Su Yanke was satisfied, they were overjoyed and quickly fled the shop as if there were a flood or a wild beast chasing them.
"Uncle Lao Ji, Aunt Li, we can open the shop tomorrow! You'll have to work hard tonight!"
Uncle Lao Ji waved his hand and said, "Ayan, what are you saying? Everything we have now is thanks to you. What we're doing now is what we should do. There's no need to talk about hard work."
Su Yanke smiled but didn't say anything.
The next day, the hot - pot restaurant officially opened.
Su Yanke had already explained the detailed process of the shop to Uncle Lao Ji. Chen Yonggui also came to the hot - pot restaurant today to help Uncle Lao Ji with the promotion.
For example, customers would get free drinks when they entered the store, and the first few customers would get new dishes. People had a mentality of taking advantage, no matter in which world. Soon, the hot - pot restaurant became crowded. Su Yanke watched for a while and left after seeing that everything was on the right track.
Su Yanke estimated that the time was almost up. She wanted to meet Xiaobao one last time before leaving this county. She now had too little information. If it was really the person who framed the Chen family who was targeting her, her situation was not good. She had to go to the capital to find out who the person who framed the Chen family was.
Su Yanke walked into Yunmo School with the wooden token again. She wanted someone to inform Xiaobao to come out and see her, but the person looked very embarrassed.
"What's wrong? Is the school schedule very tight? Then I can come back after they finish class." Su Yanke didn't want to make things difficult for the doorkeeper.
But the doorkeeper looked even more embarrassed when he heard Su Yanke's words.
"N, no, it's not because of the tight schedule. It's, it's that Ji Yicheng is now under detention and can't come out."
"Under detention!" Su Yanke exclaimed in surprise.
"What's going on? Why is he under detention?"
But the doorkeeper stammered and couldn't explain clearly. Su Yanke didn't have the patience to listen to him anymore. She walked straight in. Seeing Su Yanke walking into the school with a bad look on her face, the doorkeeper, out of fear of the power of the wooden token, quickly went to inform the dean.
The school was very big. Su Yanke felt a bit lost when she walked in. She couldn't even find anyone to ask for directions.
Looking around the huge school, she didn't see a single person. Su Yanke intuitively felt that something was wrong.