Chapter 172: Chapter 172: The Thugs Strike Back
An old neighborhood.
Zhao Ban returned home and shouted loudly, "Old woman, is the food ready yet? Are you trying to starve me to death?"
The woman he referred to as "old woman" had half-gray hair and looked older than she was.
Mrs. Zhao silently brought out a plate of greens and a bowl of peanuts.
Seeing these, Zhao Ban directly threw the remote control in his hand.
"Are you treating me like a beggar? Go, buy me some roasted duck and a case of beer!"
Mrs. Zhao wiped her apron and hesitantly said, "We have no money left at home."
Zhao Ban cursed and took out a bill, throwing it over.
"Hurry up and go!"
Mrs. Zhao picked up the money, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Did you go out again..."
The man squinted with a fierce look.
Mrs. Zhao eventually said nothing and left the house.
As soon as she left, Zhao Ban couldn’t help but kick the coffee table.
"Damn, I’ve had such bad luck recently!"
Recently, whenever he and his brothers went to other neighborhoods, they’d quickly be seen as suspicious by the security. Sometimes, even if they chose their targets well, they didn’t dare steal for fear the security would describe them to the police.
Trying to ask students near middle or high schools for pocket money often resulted in shop owners noticing, forcing them to flee in embarrassment.
"It seems like since I met that weird girl, my luck’s gone downhill!"
Thinking of the strange Tuanzi from that day, he couldn’t help but recall Gu Chi.
That was more than nine years ago.
Back then, he was just a young thug, often hanging around middle and high schools, asking students for pocket money, and harassing girls who were alone.
One day, he and three of his buddies cornered some students, took their money, and planned to beat one of the boys up. He also wanted to invite the two pretty girls to ’hang out’, then suddenly out of nowhere, a kid rushed in to save them.
Maybe no one had ever resisted before, so when that first person stood up, his mind went blank, and he instinctively pulled out a fruit knife he carried for threats and stabbed him.
After that, they were charged and sentenced to three years for assault with a knife.
Unluckily, that high school student turned out to be a campus heartthrob, and because he stopped attending classes, many people inquired about him. So, many people found out Gu Chi had resisted, and thus many of the bullied stood up.
Eventually, the four of them were sentenced to over six years; after being released, they couldn’t find jobs and went back to petty theft, changing cities to ask students for pocket money.
He found out by chance that Gu Chi had become an artist, and thinking how he was living such a tough life while that kid had become an artist, able to sell a painting for a lot of money, he couldn’t resist causing trouble for him.
In the end, they were beaten up by a little girl.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, so Zhao Ban simply called up a few of his brothers.
"We definitely need a plan to retaliate!"
One brother said, "Boss, I checked. That girl is named Gu Miaomiao. She’s Gu Chi’s cousin and a little star. Quite popular too."
Zhao Ban mused, "A little star? If she wants to be in the entertainment industry, she should be scared of negative news, right? I have an idea."
Haiwang Entertainment.
Agent Jin Tong had just finished a meeting and was rushing to leave when he received a call.
"What?"
Gu Mansion.
Gu Che was playing a game while Tuanzi cheered him on from the side when a call came in.
"Ah!" Gu Che screamed, "Oh no! My character’s definitely dead now!"
Tuanzi shook her head with her hands on her hips, "Second brother, luck is also a kind of strength, you weren’t destined to break the record today."
Gu Che, looking dejected, angrily answered the call, his anger slowly dissipating as the other party talked, with his expression turning unusual.
"Someone’s implying Miaomiao hit someone and wants us to pay them to keep quiet?"
Tuanzi: "!"
[Ancient Martial System: You now look like a cat being grabbed by the neck]
Tuanzi ignored the system’s teasing, nervously watching her second brother, perking her ears to eavesdrop.
Gu Che laughed, "Did they provide any evidence?"
Jin Tong: "No, they just mentioned the time and place. Miaomiao wouldn’t do such a thing, right?"
Gu Che firmly denied, "Impossible. My sister is obedient and cute; how could she go out and hit someone? This is slander; I want to sue them!"
Jin Tong: "... You better confirm with Miaomiao first."
Gu Che turned his head, about to speak, when he saw his sister suddenly pick up an apple, preparing to split it.
Noticing his gaze, Tuanzi smiled, "Second brother, do you want some? I’ll give you half."
Gu Che nodded reservedly, thinking, how could my sister, so understanding and considerate, possibly do such a thing?
He took the apple and casually asked,
"You didn’t hit anyone, right?"
"Of course not!"
Tuanzi quickly replied, and just as quickly added, "Miaomiao would never bully the innocent and weak, Miaomiao is a Little Heroine!"
Gu Che agreed with this, telling Jin Tong to tell those demanding hush money to get lost.
After hanging up, he wanted to play another game with his sister’s encouragement, but saw his sister running to her room with the other half of the apple.
In the room.
Tuanzi anxiously paced back and forth, still remembering to take a bite of the apple.
"What to do? What to do?"
[Ancient Martial System: They have no evidence. You wore shoes the whole time and used your feet and inner strength, leaving no complete footprints or fingerprints. There’s no surveillance in that area, and they, being guilty, wouldn’t dare to report it.]
Tuanzi calmed down.
"That’s good."
She finished the apple in a few bites, puffed her cheeks, and seriously thought, "I still need to keep an eye on them. As soon as they commit a crime, I’ll send them inside."
On the other side, seeing no response to their sent messages, Zhao Ban angrily sent a few more.
This time, the other side responded.
[Oh, go ahead and report it]
Zhao Ban directly threw his phone away!
A thug suggested, "Since that’s the case, why not sell the news to a gossip account? It seems to be common practice in the entertainment circle."
They quickly went online, contacted a few notorious gossip accounts, messaged them privately, saying they wanted to expose some dirt on the little star Gu Miaomiao for hitting someone in the street.
The gossip accounts replied quickly.
[Evidence?]
The group: "?"
[Photos, videos, without at least one picture of the person involved, how are we supposed to make up a story?]
The thugs didn’t have any photos or videos.
Out of frustration, they simply registered an account to post a thread and figured out a way to buy comment bots to blow the matter up.
Netizens gradually noticed this matter.
[Is this true?]
[It’s probably fake; even gossip accounts put a photo, but they didn’t provide any.]
[But a fly doesn’t sit on a seamless egg, they wouldn’t frame Gu Miaomiao for no reason, right?]
[The above, what kind of fool are you? Aren’t there plenty of people in this world who attack others without cause?]
[Gu Miaomiao doesn’t have an account; why don’t you @ her brother to ask what’s up?]
[Which one?]
[No need to @, seems like Gu Che already saw this message and replied directly]
[Gu Che v: You want to report to the police, or should I do it? Choose one]
Zhao Ban and company: "... If they dared to call the police, they wouldn’t have dragged it out till now. Are all people in the entertainment industry this tough?