Lu Fan didn’t return to Jinling that night. After all, the whole affair had run too late.

He chose to stay at a manor in Yangcheng.

Although it wasn’t as large as his manor in Jinling, it would do for a night.

After all, no matter how luxurious a place was, a bed didn’t need to take up eighty square meters.

Now that he was sleeping alone, just having enough space to turn over was more than enough.

After he finished his shower, Jiali came over and whispered, "Boss, I’ve already put in a word with the deputy director of the Bai Mountain District Public Security Bureau in Yangcheng."

"Good. You’ve worked hard, Jiali," Lu Fan nodded.

In truth, he usually couldn’t be bothered with such minor things.

He wouldn’t even bother calling on his connections.

But this time, the drunk had messed with Jiang Yixia.

One could mess with anyone, but never with Jiang Yixia or Lu Fan’s two children.

As for the severe punishment awaiting the drunkard, Lu Fan had no desire to follow up on the details.

He just knew that given his influence, whoever handled this case would not dare to treat it lightly.

Lu Fan looked at Jiali. "That place—will it be ready to move into tomorrow?"

Of course, Jiali knew which place Lu Fan was referring to.

She explained, "I’ll have my team rush it tomorrow. It shouldn’t be a problem. Then, Boss, you can be neighbors with the missus."

"Actually, there’s no need for furnishings like a TV or a fridge. I don’t need them anyway," Lu Fan said with a smile. "A bed is all I need."

"That won’t do. Boss, given your status, we can’t possibly cut corners," Jiali said. Although she was Lu Fan’s subordinate, she was always concerned about his health and well-being.

If she were to do a shoddy job and something happened, as a being from the System, she would be consumed by guilt.

Lu Fan understood Jiali’s intentions. He gave an affirmative nod and went back to his room to rest.

Meanwhile...

「At the Xiashan Police Station in Yangcheng’s Bai Mountain District.」

Deputy Director Huang Yu hurried back to the station.

Half an hour earlier, he had received a call from a superior at the district Public Security Bureau.

"Huang! How the hell are you running public safety in your district? Someone was publicly harassing a decent woman—an attempted assault, no less!" the leader had fumed over the phone.

Director Huang immediately knew this was bad news.

’A superior would never personally call to demand answers about a simple public disturbance case like this.’

’Besides, it was already ten at night. Even for something earth-shattering, they’d usually wait until the next morning to ask questions.’

The fact that his superior was calling him in such a hurry, demanding he follow up immediately...

It could only mean one thing.

This was no ordinary woman!

A hornet’s nest had been kicked.

So Director Huang scrambled to get dressed, promising his superior, "Sir, I’m going back to handle it right now. Rest assured, the report will be on your desk first thing tomorrow."

"Huang, I don’t want this to happen again. And I don’t want to hear about any more lapses in public order in our Bai Mountain District!"

"Yes, sir, of course. You get some rest, sir. I’m on my way to handle it now."

A short while later, Director Huang stormed into the station, fuming.

He rapped on the desk and demanded of the two subordinates on duty, "Tonight—was there a case with a drunk harassing a woman?"

One of the subordinates shot to his feet. "Director Huang, yes, sir. There was a drunk harassing a woman over on the commercial street. I handled that call."

"Bring me the report." Director Huang sat down and, without even pausing for a cup of tea, dove straight into the documents.

The two subordinates standing by exchanged puzzled glances.

’For such a minor public disturbance case, the Director actually rushed over in the middle of the night to handle it personally.’

They found it utterly baffling.

Just as the two were sharing a look of confusion, Director Huang slammed his hand on the table. "This Li Weidong has some nerve, harassing a woman on my turf! Where is he?"

"He’s in the holding cell. It was late, so we figured we’d transfer him to the detention center in the morning," the subordinate explained.

"Given the circumstances, he’s not going to the detention center. He’s going to the remand center," Director Huang snorted.

The subordinates were stunned by this.

’From administrative detention to criminal charges?!’

Of course, they didn’t dare ask any more questions.

After all, it was best not to make trouble for themselves.

...

After Jiang Yixia left the police station, she didn’t go back to the flower shop.

Instead, she went straight home.

Dragging her exhausted body, she opened the door to her home.

She fumbled for the switch on the wall, and her simple yet tastefully decorated little home came into view.

Jiang Yixia’s eyes swept around the room before she finally collapsed onto the sofa.

Her heart had yet to settle.

The drunkard’s arrogant expression was still fresh in her mind.

At the thought, Jiang Yixia couldn’t stop her body from trembling.

She hugged her knees and began to sob.

In truth, she had encountered things like this more than a few times over the past decade or so.

Especially in the early years, when she was alone in her hometown raising two kids.

All sorts of vicious rumors had spread through the village.

On top of that, the village had plenty of older bachelors who couldn’t find wives. Seeing a pretty single mother like her, they frequently made lewd comments.

Although her younger brother and parents did their best to protect her, to escape those crass people, Jiang Yixia ultimately chose to leave for a big city to start a new life selling from a street stall.

Somehow, she had made it through all these years.

She had not only managed to put both her children through university, but her flower shop was also starting to take off.

Even though expenses ate up more than half of her monthly earnings.

But Jiang Yixia felt she was finally nearing the end of these hard times. Once her children graduated and found jobs, things might finally get easier.

And yet, today’s incident with the drunk harassing her was the final straw that broke her.

Jiang Yixia cried her heart out.

She didn’t understand why her life for the past decade had been so hard, so exhausting.

Her thoughts drifted back to that bastard.

’If...’ she thought. ’If that bastard hadn’t been such a scumbag, if he hadn’t cheated... maybe Jiang Yixia would have a good husband, a lovely son and daughter, and a life of blissful happiness.’

But there were no ifs in life.

But then, Jiang Yixia also remembered the look on Lu Fan’s face when the drunk was about to harass her—how angry he’d been.

’If I hadn’t done everything to stop him, he might have actually beaten that man to death.’

Jiang Yixia didn’t want to feel grateful to him, but she couldn’t deny that what happened today had warmed her heart, just a little.

"You bastard... where were you all those years ago? You should have protected me like you did today..."

"You’re such a bastard..."

"Don’t think I’ll forgive you just because you protected me today. That’s impossible..."

As she cried, Jiang Yixia eventually turned onto her side on the sofa.

Wiping her tears as she wept, it was as if she was finally releasing all the pain and injustice she had bottled up over the years.

Before long, she had cried herself to sleep.

And she dreamt a dream in which her life was the complete opposite of her reality.