Chapter 9: The Troublemakers

Qin Ruo chuckled and jumped straight into the pool by the edge, quickly swimming up to Xia Fei Xuan.

"Is that the landlord? The landlord?" Xia Fei Xuan hurriedly asked.

"It's me!"

Hearing the response, Xia Fei Xuan clung to Qin Ruo like an octopus, and Qin Ruo deeply inhaled the faint special fragrance coming from her body. But right away, he discovered something even more exciting.

Tonight's power outage was perfect! If it happened every night, he'd gladly pay extra electricity fees!

"Landlord, carry me out..." Xia Fei Xuan whispered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. If there had been light, one could have seen the stunning beauty Xia's face flushed bright red.

"Sure!" Qin Ruo agreed readily. The steps to get out were not far off, just over twenty meters away.

But that short distance took Qin Ruo a full half hour to cover.

Once on shore, the power suddenly came back on. Qin Ruo clearly saw Xia Fei Xuan's face was unbelievably red. She bolted from his arms like a startled rabbit, fleeing several meters away as if escaping for her life.

"Landlord, you're so shameless! That short distance and you took over half an hour!" Xia Fei Xuan said with disdain.

"Couldn't see clearly in the water!" Qin Ruo thought to himself, *Was it easy for me? I went back and forth ten whole laps!*

"Huh, Landlord, you have a tattoo? So cool! Are you in a gang?" Xia Fei Xuan, the curious little thing, scooted back over, her small hand touching the wolf head pattern on Qin Ruo's chest.

"Uh, in foreign countries, lots of people like getting these. It's fashionable."

"Oh, I'm off to bed. Good night!" Xia Fei Xuan slipped on her flip-flops and hurried toward her room. Qin Ruo chuckled, sat on the ground in a daze for a bit, a protective urge rising in his heart, before heading upstairs to sleep.

***

The next morning, Yanlai Guest Restaurant opened early. A few regular customers arrived, all young students from nearby schools. Spotting Qin Ruo, they politely greeted, "Boss Qin!"

"Haha, hey guys!" Qin Ruo greeted them while preparing dishes, bustling about happily.

At noon around twelve, the restaurant hit its first peak. Over twenty customers waited in the front hall, while Qin Ruo in the back kitchen juggled a wok in each hand. Anyone seeing this would surely exclaim at his culinary skill.

Just then, a crashing sound of things breaking came from outside, accompanied by the roars of several men. Qin Ruo curiously poked his head out.

At that moment, Xia Fei Xuan also ran over, anxiously saying to Qin Ruo, "Landlord, some guys showed up outside and they're fighting in our restaurant!"

Qin Ruo wiped his hands and hurriedly said, "Quick, take me to see!"

Not far off, several students were beaten bloody but didn't dare fight back at all.

At the door stood a group of social thugs with hair dyed in garish colors. Leading them was a tattooed man about 1.8 meters tall, a thick gold chain around his neck, wearing floral beach shorts and a blue shirt on top.

"Fuck, you dare talk back to me like that? Don't wanna hang around anymore, huh?!" The tattooed man finished speaking and grabbed a stool to smash at a student on the ground.

Bang! The student was struck, blood flowing freely as he curled up on the floor.

The surrounding students were furious but didn't dare speak up. These were off-campus gangsters—crossing them meant no good end.

Seeing this, Qin Ruo immediately stepped forward. "Sir, please stop hitting people. Otherwise, I'll call the police, and you'll bear the consequences!"

* * *

Proofreader & Editor: Fat Goose 🪶