The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

The transport station fell silent for a moment.

Director Xie stared at Sun Yingjun's departing figure with a gloomy face, without saying a word.

The members of the surrounding transport team felt the oppressive atmosphere and stood still, not daring to even breathe loudly.

After a while, Director Xie's anger had subsided considerably. He waved to everyone and said, "Alright, those who are going to leave work can leave now. Don't stand here anymore."

After saying that, he turned around and walked quickly back to his office.

The members of the transport team breathed a sigh of relief, whispering among themselves as they packed up their belongings and went home.

In the office, Director Xie called Li Hong again, and the two talked for a long time before hanging up.

......

After saying goodbye to Zhou Zhiming and Master Chen, Li Kaixin rode his bicycle home from the transportation station.

As soon as I arrived at the entrance of No. 94 courtyard, I immediately saw Yang Houping, Zhu Xiaohua and Yang Wei, a family of three, standing in the middle of the front yard, as if they were waiting for someone.

This unusual behavior immediately aroused the curiosity of the surrounding neighbors.

They all peeked out from behind their doors and windows, eager to see what was going on.

When Li Kaixin parked the car inside the house and came out, Yang Houping and his family of three had already crowded under the eaves of his house, blocking his way.

Anger immediately flashed across Li Kaixin's face. He hadn't even gone looking for trouble with them yet, but they had come knocking on his door first.

Seeing Li Kaixin's unfriendly expression, Yang Houping knew he had misunderstood and quickly said, "Brother Li, we're not here to cause you any trouble today."

Li Kaixin didn't believe Yang Houping's nonsense, assuming he was up to some trick again. His face turned cold, and he said sternly, "Get out of the way, or I'll have to take action."

After saying that, he made a gesture as if he was about to take action.

"No, no!" Yang Houping hurriedly explained, "Brother Li, I've come to apologize to you."

As he spoke, he took out a hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it over with both hands: "This is a hundred yuan, a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will accept it."

This surprised the neighbors who were peeking out, and they became even more curious about what had happened that made Yang Houping's family take out money again.

Li Kaixin glanced at the money handed to him but didn't take it. He then casually remarked, "Those thugs from early this morning, were they the ones you called?"

Yang Houping, sitting opposite him, broke out in a cold sweat instantly.

Yang Wei and Zhu Xiaohua behind him were so shocked that they trembled and involuntarily shrank back.

Looking at their reactions, Li Kaixin realized that if he was only 80% sure before, he was now 100% certain.

After a while, Yang Houping finally managed to calm himself down, a bitter look on his face: "Brother Li, that's right! I did call those people early this morning."

Li Kaixin was somewhat taken aback. He thought Yang Houping would try to argue, but unexpectedly, he admitted it himself.

"D-Dad, how could you say that out loud!" Zhu Xiaohua exclaimed anxiously, reaching out to grab his arm.

Yang Houping immediately raised his hand to shake off his wife's hand, looked at Li Kaixin, and said in a very sincere tone, "I'm sorry, Brother Li, I really know I was wrong. I hope you can forgive me this time."

Before he finished speaking, he bowed deeply to Li Kaixin.

"Not enough." Li Kaixin crossed his arms, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

"I heard from those thugs that you wanted to break my arm. You think you can just apologize and pay some money and be done with it? There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

Yang Houping bent down even lower, his voice strained: "Then tell me, how can I appease you? I'll do anything you can to make you feel better."

"I'm a person who values ​​fairness above all else. I want to repay whatever others do to me in return." Li Kaixin said with a half-smile, reaching out to help Yang Houping up.

Yang Houping's expression changed repeatedly. After a moment of inner struggle, he turned to his son and called out, "Xiaowei, go and get that firewood stick from the house."

"Okay!" Yang Wei replied and jogged towards his house.

Then, Yang Houping pushed the money forward a little further: "Brother Li, please accept this money first, consider it an extra compensation from us."

Li Kaixin accepted the money this time, and he became quite interested, wanting to see what the other party was going to do.

When Yang Wei took out the stick, his face still showed confusion: "Dad, why did you ask me to take this?"

Yang Houping ignored his son, stared into Li Kaixin's eyes, and said earnestly, "Brother Li, it was my decision to find someone. I take responsibility for my actions. It has nothing to do with my wife and children."

Li Kaixin nodded subconsciously.

Seeing this, Yang Houping breathed a sigh of relief, turned to face his son, and stretched out his right arm: "Xiaowei, hit my arm with the stick, and hit it hard."

Upon hearing this, Yang Wei's face drained of color, and his voice trembled with tears: "Dad, I...I dare not."

"Hurry up! Think about what happened early this morning!" Yang Houping's tone left no room for argument.

Startled by his father's shout, Yang Wei closed his eyes and raised the wooden stick to strike.

With a muffled "smack," a bloody mark appeared on Yang Houping's arm.

The pain made him furrow his brow, but he didn't utter a sound, gritting his teeth as he continued, "Xiao...Xiao Wei, give me...give me a little more force!"

Yang Wei regretted hitting his father as soon as he did it, and now when his father told him to hit him again, he just kept shaking his head.

The neighbors who were watching the commotion were also stunned by what they saw. Some wanted to come forward and offer advice, but they didn't dare to approach because of the situation.

Seeing that his son couldn't bring himself to do it, Yang Houping turned to his wife and said, "Xiaohua, you do it!"

"No, no, sir..." Zhu Xiaohua waved her hands frantically, completely losing her usual fierceness.

Yang Wei immediately realized something, and knelt down in front of Li Kaixin with a thud, his voice trembling:

"Brother Li, Brother Li, we really know we were wrong. We were blinded by greed. Please forgive my father! I... I'll kowtow to you!"

Immediately afterwards, two loud "bangs" rang out in the front yard.

Although Yang Houping felt bad, he did not stop it, because he was also afraid that his arm would really be ruined.

"Alright, get up!" Li Kaixin finally spoke.

Yang Wei stopped moving but still didn't dare to get up. He looked up at Li Ge with pleading eyes and asked, "Brother Li, what about my dad's arm...?"

"Let's let this matter, along with the two hundred dollars from last time, go together and move on."

Li Kaixin spoke calmly, then changed the subject, warning, "However, if you provoke me again in the future, it won't be as easy as it is today."

"Definitely, definitely!" Yang Houping immediately responded, quickly assuring everyone, "From now on, we will definitely keep a low profile and never cause trouble again."