"Be a cop?"Xiao Luo laughed out loud as if he had just heard a hilarious joke. Then, he put down his coffee and said contemplatively, "Do you know why I helped Luo"s Workshop win this lawsuit?"
Gu Qianlin blinked and asked, "Why?"
"Because I am now the boss of Luo"s Workshop," Xiao Luo answered somberly.
While Gu Qianlin was still in shock, he closed his laptop, put it in his bag, rose from the table, and walked out of the café. With a cop hanging around, he had lost any interest in drinking coffee.
Gu Qianlin stayed in her seat, stunned. For a good while, she was unable to accept that Xiao Luo was the boss of Luo"s Workshop. However, in the end, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. For the cops, Xiao Luo running a business was something relieving. She couldn"t imagine how difficult it would have been to deal with Xiao Luo if he were a criminal.
However, she would not give up her investigation into the "nine-one-two" incident. Xiao Luo was very suspicious, and anyone who had broken the law must be punished by the law, regardless of their ident.i.ty!
...
Chen Jianbai was convicted of defamation and sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of 20 thousand dollars. Fang Changlei of Taste Buds was led directly away from the courtroom by the Anti-Monopoly and Compet.i.tion Restoration Bureau for investigation purposes. There was concrete evidence, and he would be facing astronomical fines.
With a single public trial, the reputation of Luo"s Workshop was restored. Not only did the customers they had previously lost come back, but many new customers surged in as well. Taste Buds" reputation, meanwhile, had fallen to a new low. The company was spat upon and shamed by members of the public. In the blink of an eye, the landscape of Jiangcheng"s bakery industry changed drastically.
After a celebration feast, Xiao Luo and Zhang Dashan returned to the place where they were staying.
Feng Wuhen and the other five came up and brought along two six-packs of beer and some barbecued food. Even after the feast, they had yet to satisfy their cravings completely. They did not intend to return to their hostel at the factory tonight. Instead, they were determined to stay at Xiao Luo"s house, even though it only had a living room and a bedroom.
Since they could all just about squeeze into the living room, Xiao Luo, naturally, had no objections. However, he would never give up his bedroom.
"Heck, it is too exhilarating. Old Xiao, next time you must find me for occasions like this. The ones that require someone to show face!"
Zhang Dashan was still recollecting how he had eloquently represented Luo"s Workshop in court. The more he thought about it, the more excited and at ease he became, even feeling as if he hadn"t had enough lawyering.
Xiao Luo rolled his eyes at him. "Didn"t you say you were nervous?"
"Nervous, my a*s!"
Zhang Dashan showed Xiao Luo his phone. "See here? The number of fans on my Weibo has increased by 500 thousand in one go, and the number is still surging. Quotes of things I said in court are even circulating online. Now, I am more or less an internet celebrity."
Xiao Luo raised an eyebrow and said, "You"re acting so smug."
"Hehe. I feel that springtime has come for me at last. Many lady fans are asking for my contact on Weibo, and I can see a different one each day without repeating!" Zhang Dashan laughed.
Xiao Luo didn"t reply to this meaningless point.
To be honest, it was a good thing that he"d had Zhang Dashan to help him out at the trial. The latter could infuriate people with his words, whereas Xiao Luo"s speeches were more rational, and he could hardly curse. The two combined their strengths for the trial, forging an image for the representative that displayed both of their characteristics.
"Oh yeah, have you arranged a job for that old woman, Gao Qingfeng?" Xiao Luo suddenly asked.
"Of course I"ve arranged it. The finance head donated a sum of money to her in the company"s name. To prevent her son and daughter-in-law from robbing it from her, we"ve entrusted the money to a lawyer. It will be sent to her at the start of each month in the form of an allowance, ensuring that her daily needs will be met. Also, I"ve found a lawyer to represent her in court. As for what the outcome will be in this family matter, that I can"t say."
"Mmm, that"s good." Xiao Luo nodded. He would not treat anyone who had helped him unfairly.
"What about that, Zhang Donghai?"
"You are going to have to ask Brother Feng for that," Zhang Dashan said. Then, he shouted at Feng Wuhen, who was eating barbecue by the door, "Brother Feng, come over here for a minute. Old Xiao wants to ask you about Zhang Donghai."
"Okay!"
Feng Wuhen put down the skewered meat and ran over like a gust of wind. He wiped away the grease on his mouth and reported to Xiao Luo, "As per your instructions, Brother Feng, we took Zhang Donghai and his family to the airport and did not leave until we saw them board the plane."
"Did you see any suspicious people following you?" Xiao Luo asked again.
Feng Wuhen shook his head. "No, and the Little Five were all secretly overseeing the situation all the time. We didn"t discover anyone else suspicious."
"Alright, you may go," replied Xiao Luo.
"Brother Xiao, come and enjoy the barbecue with us. We bought too much food," entreated Feng Wuhen.
"Heck, it is very shameful to waste food. Let me help solve this problem."
Zhang Dashan rolled up his sleeves and prepared to dig in. With one hand on Feng Wuhen"s shoulder, he walked over to the food. They ate, drank, munched on the meat, and bragged to each other. Their rough laughter and shouts rang out in the vast s.p.a.ce of the top floor.
Xiao Luo inhaled deeply, turned to look the outside, and stood fast against the wind. In this rural part of Jiangcheng, the night seemed extremely quiet.
This time, other than the fact that Luo"s Workshop had won a complete victory, the outcome was rather fruitful for him as well. His points in the system had surged by 200 thousand points, all because of the trial. He had been an indirect influence, and the system had automatically identified and collected his points. As the hearing had been live-streamed on various significant platforms, many people were affected by it, earning him 200 thousand points.
He was much closer to the 500 thousand points required for obtaining the life-extension ability!
Furthermore, the system had unlocked a high-level shop. To his surprise, Xiao Luo discovered that the shop sold the various martial arts abilities commonly seen in wuxia television shows, such as Yijin Jing [1], the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, and Wave-like Subtle Steps, and so on. The points required to redeem them were much more than those needed to redeem the Const.i.tution of King of Mercenaries. For example, to redeem Yijin Jing, he would need to spend a surprisingly high amount of 100 thousand points.
"System, how can this be?" Xiao Luo was puzzled.
"Ding! The Const.i.tution of King of Mercenaries changes the exterior conditions of the body, while the Yijin Jing is a high-level martial arts ability that increases one"s inner power. Once redeemed, the host obtains an extraordinary amount of inner fort.i.tude. Be it power, speed, or endurance. All of these attributes are permanently strengthened."
"So, both of them are for increasing one"s capabilities. But one is internal, while the other is external?"
"Ding! Correct!"
"Why does the Const.i.tution of King of Mercenaries require only 1000 points while Yijin Jing requires 100 thousand points?"
This was what puzzled Xiao Luo the most. Wasn"t the difference between 1000 and 100 thousand too big? If one went by the rule that the more expensive something was, the better it was, didn"t that mean that Yijin Jing was much more powerful than the Const.i.tution of King of Mercenaries?
"Ding! Even 100 people with the Const.i.tution of King of Mercenaries would be no match for someone who has obtained the top level of the martial art of Yijin Jing!" The system"s emotionless voice rang out in his mind.
Xiao Luo inhaled deeply. He"d thought the Const.i.tution of King of Mercenaries was already powerful enough, and he hadn"t expected that something even more powerful even existed. Since the system had the martial arts known as Yijin Jing, did that mean that there were a bunch of martial arts pract.i.tioners loose somewhere in the world? A wuxia Jianghu [2]?
"It seems that the world is quite interesting, after all!"
After his initial shock wore off, instead of being worried, Xiao Luo was filled with antic.i.p.ation for this new world he was entering. A world of martial arts pract.i.tioners, jianghu, would indeed suffice in bringing out one"s pa.s.sions.
[1] A martial arts technique that translates as "The Cla.s.sics of Tendon Changing."
[2] A concept in wuxia novels. Essentially, a society where martial arts pract.i.tioners live and are governed by their own rules and a strict code of honor.