"..." The old man was completely speechless.
Chen Shu strode away, leaving behind only a devastatingly handsome silhouette.
"Interesting..." The old man shook his head and went back to sleep.
...
Chen Shu made a trip to the herbal medicine shop and bought all the remaining ingredients, completely draining his little treasury in the process.
Talk about "back to square one overnight."
He returned to the apartment complex, planning to finish brewing his potions.
"Huh? What's all the commotion about?"
There were more than ten people gathered at the entrance to the complex. Chen Shu's natural instinct for rubbernecking kicked in, and he pushed through to get a better look.
"Excuse me, but why is there a thousand yuan missing from my purse? And how exactly did my phone get broken?"
A girl with elaborate makeup but a thoroughly unpleasant expression was interrogating someone.
Facing her was a little girl with red-rimmed eyes, on the verge of tears, stammering and not knowing what to say.
The surrounding crowd was buzzing with discussion, but nobody stepped forward to help.
Chen Shu pushed through the crowd and positioned himself in front of the little girl.
"Niu Niu, what's going on here?"
Chen Shu picked up the little girl, recognizing her as his downstairs neighbor's daughter.
"Big Brother Chen Shu..."
The little girl's chubby cheeks instantly crumpled with grievance. Having found her protector, she burst into tears.
"Are you her guardian?" The girl across from them frowned with impatience.
"Tell big brother what happened, okay?"
Chen Shu completely ignored the other girl and asked gently.
Only then did Niu Niu stop crying and tell him exactly what had happened.
She had been playing near the complex entrance when she found a small purse. Not knowing who had dropped it, she waited at the same spot for two whole hours until the owner finally showed up.
What should have been a happy moment for doing a good deed turned into a nightmare when the owner decided to bite the hand that fed her.
Not only did she not thank Niu Niu, but she immediately accused the little girl of stealing money from the purse and breaking her phone.
"Big Brother Chen Shu, did I do something wrong?" The little girl's eyes were full of confusion.
In a child's mind, she simply couldn't understand why doing a good deed would lead to this kind of result.
What the fuck? There's actually this kind of bullshit?
Chen Shu clenched his fists, fighting the urge to beat the absolute shit out of this woman.
Just then, the girl looked extremely impatient and said, "So how are you going to handle this? I don't have all day!"
Chen Shu's expression darkened with anger, and suddenly options appeared before his eyes.
[Option 1: Compensate her for the alleged losses]
Completion Reward: Obtain the title Legendary Big Sucker⁸
Equipped Effect: Increased probability of encountering unlucky situations
[Option 2: Ignore her completely and leave with Niu Niu]
Completion Reward: Mid-grade Ice Potion
[Option 3: Fight back with logic and use special measures if necessary to make her apologize]
Completion Reward: Large amount of Beast Taming Power
What is there to even think about?
Chen Shu picked up Niu Niu and asked with a cold smile, "What exactly do you want?"
The girl's impatient expression gained a hint of greed as she said, "Give me back the missing yuan, and replace both the phone and purse with new ones."
Chen Shu grinned wickedly. "Heh, you're ugly but your dreams sure are pretty."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! Are you going to pay or not? If you don't, I'm calling the police right now!" The girl's expression turned cold as she pulled out her phone, threatening to call for backup.
Chen Shu looked at her with complete disdain. "You said yourself that your purse contained a thousand yuan plus a good phone. This purse has nothing in it, so obviously it's not your purse. What exactly am I supposed to compensate you for?"
Upon hearing this logic, the surrounding crowd nodded in agreement. That actually made sense!
With that, Chen Shu suddenly shot out his right hand and forcefully snatched the purse away.
Your purse? Hand it over!
The girl had no way to defend against Chen Shu's sudden snatch attack.
Seeing her purse stolen, her anger shot through the roof as she shrieked, "Bullshit! If the purse isn't mine, then whose is it? Yours?"
Chen Shu waved the purse in his hand. "How can you prove it? Right now none of the contents match your story."
"There's my ID card inside! My name is Hao Meili², you can take it out and check!"
Chen Shu pulled out an ID card and compared it carefully.
"Ma'am, are you serious? Are you sure this isn't your mother's ID?"
The photo on the ID card and the person in front of him were like two completely different people, okay?
Hao Meili's face flushed red, knowing he was mocking her.
"Just look at the name!"
"What can a name prove? You can be called Hao Meili, he can be called Hao Meili, I can also... cough cough, well, of course I would never use that name."
Chen Shu maintained his composure, then suddenly thought of something.
"How about this—I'll ask you one more question. If you get it right, I'll admit the purse is yours."
"What question?"
Chen Shu pulled out her ID card, covered it with both hands, then held it out flat and asked, "Which side is the front—top or bottom?"
"..." Hao Meili was so frustrated her teeth were itching. What kind of question was this? What did it have to do with proving her identity?
"Not answering? Then there's nothing I can do."
Chen Shu shrugged and prepared to leave with the purse.
"Wait!" Hao Meili gritted her teeth and randomly guessed, "The top side is the front!"
Chen Shu nodded, flipped both hands over, and revealed the back of the ID card.
"You're messing with me, aren't you?!" Hao Meili's eyes went wide, feeling completely toyed with.
With this kind of setup, the answer was entirely up to him!
But Chen Shu nodded seriously. "Very smart! You figured it out!"
The rest of the crowd burst into laughter. When it came to driving people absolutely insane, Chen Shu had extensive experience.
Looking at all of Nanjiang City, if he claimed to be second place, who would dare claim first?
Hao Meili: "You're a grown man picking on a helpless little girl—is that really meaningful?"
"Auntie, please, I'm just a student." Chen Shu waved his hand with false modesty. "When I saw you bullying others, you didn't seem this weak and pitiful."
"What exactly do you want?" Hao Meili was starting to soften, not expecting Chen Shu to be this difficult to deal with.
Chen Shu said with a relaxed, carefree expression, "Very simple. First apologize, then we can discuss other matters!"
Hao Meili lowered her head and fell into silence. After a long moment, she said quietly, "Sor... sorry..."
"Niu Niu didn't bring her glasses today—she can't hear clearly."
"You?!" Hao Meili felt like she was about to explode with rage. She took a deep breath and said, "I'M SORRY!"
"That's more like it." Chen Shu looked down at Niu Niu in his arms and asked, "Do you forgive auntie?"
"I... I forgive her."
Niu Niu was just a child after all, with a kind heart, and didn't want to make things too difficult.
"Reward obtained: Large amount of Beast Taming Power!"
Chen Shu nodded and said, "Did you hear that? Niu Niu didn't forgive you, so I'll be keeping this purse for now."
With that, he walked straight into the complex carrying Niu Niu.
"???" Hao Meili felt like the anger in her chest was shooting straight to her brain. The discomfort was unbearable!
"Are you fucking deaf or what? She already said she forgave me!"
Hao Meili pointed at Chen Shu with a trembling hand, clearly furious beyond belief.
"You can't prove the purse is yours, so go call the police yourself! Let them prove it for you!"
Chen Shu didn't care at all and left with the purse and Niu Niu.
"Damn you to hell!!" Hao Meili kept gasping for air, her body even trembling slightly like she was having some kind of episode.
The surrounding crowd pointed and whispered among themselves. Chen Shu's actions made them feel extremely satisfied.
It really proved the old saying: Evil people have evil people to grind them down!