Mind reading saves the whole family; I'm firmly in the role of a charlatan.

Chapter 179 Lack of Social Hardship

Jiang Younian and Du Bixiao subconsciously pricked up their ears, but Du Anrao only sighed once and then said nothing more.

Two people: "..."

Tell me exactly how it exploded! This is ridiculous – they just kill people and don't even bother to bury them!
Despite their anger, the two were helpless and had no choice but to suppress their curiosity for the time being.

Jiang Younian hadn't expected that Yu Chuhui, who seemed shrewd and capable, was actually a girl with a heart full of girlish infatuation. Thinking about her conversation with her best friend just now, he was still a little worried.

She decided to discuss it with her brother when she got back, just in case, whether or not to subtly reveal her boyfriend and half-sister's relationship to Brother Yu.

Du Bixiao glanced at the bags Jiang Yunian was carrying and asked, "Are you going to continue shopping?"

"No, no." After what happened, Du Anrao was no longer in the mood to shop. Besides, don't be fooled by her extravagant spending in the jewelry store and her seemingly powerful demeanor.

The money she just spent has already reduced her wallet's health bar by one-fifth. If she keeps shopping, her great-uncle might really have to come and redeem her tonight.

“Cousin, if you have other things to do, go ahead and work. We're fine here.” Du Anrao paused, then suddenly leaned closer to Du Bixiao and asked in a low voice, “But, could I ask you for a favor, cousin?”

Du Bixiao was somewhat surprised: "What kind of help? Tell me."

Do you remember the lady at the jewelry store who helped me pay by card?

"Yes, I remember." It was the one who got beaten up.

"Could you keep an eye on her for me lately? That Manager Zheng looks menacing and seems to know some criminals. He's always talking about killing someone. I'm worried that because of what happened today, he might hold a grudge against that young lady and secretly retaliate against her. She got into this mess because of me, and she was even slapped today. If she gets retaliated against because of this, I won't be able to rest easy."

Upon hearing this, Du Bixiao's expression softened even more: "No problem, I will arrange for someone to keep an eye on her, and I guarantee nothing will happen to her."

Du Anrao finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Then thank you, cousin."

[I feel much more at ease knowing what my cousin said. Otherwise, if something really happened to Miss Zhang, and Qiu Jichen, that love-struck fool, found out his wife was gone three years later, he'd probably come after me. Where would I find a wife that big to compensate him then?]

Jiang Younian: "..." This is the important point!
Du Bixiao couldn't help but smile more: "No need to thank me, protecting the safety of ordinary people is our duty."

Upon hearing Du Bixiao's words, Du Anrao's eyes shone like stars as he looked at her.

"That's so cool! My cousin seemed to be glowing when she said that."

"..." It looks like your eyes are glowing.

Du Bixiao felt a rare, subtle embarrassment. Just as she was about to say something, her expression suddenly changed: "Be careful."

"Huh?" Du Anrao was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, he felt a huge force hit him from behind, and then...

"Ouch!" The person who was hit remained as steady as a mountain, while the person who hit them bounced back and almost staged a fake fall.

"Don't you have eyes when you walk?" The woman, wearing bright red stilettos that were about ten centimeters high, finally managed to steady herself and shouted arrogantly in Du Anrao's direction.

Du Anrao: "???"

Sister, if I remember correctly, I was standing properly on the side of the road, and you bumped into me, right? I, the victim, am not hurt at all, but you, who bumped into me, are making a lot of noise. It's obvious that you haven't been through the harsh realities of life.

"You crazy woman..." Jiang Younian was furious. He had just seen off a few troublemakers, and now this one was trying to shift the blame. If he had known this would happen, he shouldn't have recommended this lousy place yesterday. "Who are you calling a crazy woman?" The woman raised her bag to hit him, but then paused when she saw Du Bixiao and her juniors behind her. A look of panic crossed her face, and she put the bag back down.

He then blustered but was actually quite cowardly, saying, "Don't you know a good dog doesn't block the way?" and ran away as if fleeing.

Du Anrao: "..."

Did I forget to check the almanac before going out today? Why do I keep running into such weirdos?

Jiang Younian wholeheartedly agreed and expressed his sympathy for his little cousin.

Du Bixiao also frowned, her face slightly darkening, but after a long while she suddenly said, "It's her."

"Cousin, do you know her?"

Jiang Younian also looked over in surprise.

Do you remember the bombing at Jiangyu Plaza?

"Sister Du?" The young man following behind Du Bixiao called out subconsciously, but then suddenly remembered that it was this girl who had helped him with that matter last time. He silently looked away, pretending to be blind and deaf, and that he knew nothing about it.

Du Anrao naturally noticed the other party's unusual behavior and quickly said, "If it's inconvenient to talk about it, then forget it."

"It's okay, Uncle Du said he can tell you."

Du Anrao blinked.

[Uncle Du? Who is that? Ah, I remember now, it's Du Qichang.]

When Du Desheng took Du Qichang to visit Du Anrao, Jiang Younian and Du Bixiao were not present. When they returned, Du Bixiao noticed something was wrong; Du Qichang seemed unable to hear his little cousin's thoughts.

Hearing Du Anrao's tone as he muttered about Du Qichang, Du Bixiao became even more certain of her guess. Her eyes flickered slightly, but she remained expressionless.

"The suspect who planned the Jiangyu Plaza bombing is surnamed Yao. He is from Y Province and came to B City for business. In his early years, his business was doing quite well, so he started his own company and brought his whole family over."

Y Province, the province where my fourth and fifth aunts live, was the place where Du Bixiao and the others needed to coordinate with the authorities after they caught the suspect. This task just happened to fall to my second cousin.

"Unexpectedly, the financial crisis in the past two years affected his company, causing its capital chain to break. He was also betrayed by his fellow townsman and business partner, who transferred a large amount of company assets. Afterwards, Yao went to his business partner to reason with him, but the other party refused to admit it, had his security guards beat him up and throw him out, and threatened him that if he dared to harass him again, they would take action against his family."

Du Anrao had never met this Mr. Yao, and could only roughly infer his situation from the report in the original work and Du Bixiao's description: "Did that Mr. Yao compromise?"

"Yes. After seeing the man's true colors, Mr. Yao had no choice but to find another way. Unfortunately, their company's financial loopholes were too large, and after struggling for a while, they still had to declare bankruptcy."

Du Anrao frowned, as if sensing something: "Then what does this have to do with that woman from earlier?"

Du Bixiao pursed her lips: "That woman just now... is the wife of the fellow villager who ran off with most of Yao's money."

"What?" Du Anrao and Jiang Younian exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

(End of this chapter)