Chapter 148 Should Indeed Compensate (Part 1)

Chapter 148: 148 Should Indeed Compensate (Part 1)No sooner had Su Xiaofeng begun to speak than Liao Xianghe had already removed his disguise, walked up to Captain Hong, and stretched out his hand enthusiastically to shake hands, "Captain Hong, I presume? I’m Liao Xianghe. I heard the factory was hiring, so some fellow villagers and I decided to come for an interview. We had no idea until we came—a real shocker." Seeing that Captain Hong did not take his hand, Liao Xianghe pointed toward a large vat of chili sauce, trying to get Captain Hong to see clearly: "Captain Hong, you may not know, but when we were observing their production just now, there were loads of flies. Flies were falling in, and they seemed to just ignore them, mixing them straight in." "Captain Hong, this is food we’re talking about, meant to be ingested. If they are so lax with hygiene, what happens if someone gets sick from eating this?" Captain Hong glanced at Su Xiaofeng and saw that she was calm and composed in the face of the police. His curiosity about her grew. No wonder she had caught the old man’s special attention. She indeed had something unique about her. Listening to Liao Xianghe’s words and following his gaze: "Where are these flies you speak of?" If there really were flies, it would indeed indicate a problem with hygiene here. Liao Xianghe pointed to the spot where he had tampered earlier, only to find nothing there. He had clearly thrown three or four dead flies in there just now; how could they disappear? No one had moved since then, nor had anyone come forward. It couldn’t be that they flew away—those were dead flies. It was definitely impossible for them to fly off. Captain Hong took a look inside the vat, saw nothing, and looked at Liao Xianghe: "What thing? Where is it? I don’t see anything." Liao Xianghe was anxious. He wanted to know where those dead flies had gone; how they could just vanish completely. He leaned in closer and closer, but still nothing. In his desperation, he could only pick up a pair of chopsticks from the side: "Maybe they sank in. I’ll look for them." How could there be nothing? Xiaofeng slightly curled her lips: "Brother, you’ve got some sharp eyes. None of us saw anything, but you did from standing there. You say our factory has flies all over—where are they? I didn’t see any." The factory’s hygiene had been meticulously managed by her. Not just flies, not a single insect existed. Everyone wore white gowns, masks, and hats while working, and all operations followed modern production standards to the letter. No problem could be found even if the police or the business inspection department came for a check. Sёarᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Captain Hong didn’t see the flies Liao Xianghe had mentioned. Straightening up, he said to the other two officers: "Come, join him in looking. Where could the flies be?" Captain Hong headed straight for Xiaofeng without looking back, extending his hand: "Miss Su, hello, I am Hong Wu." Su Xiaofeng extended her hand as well: "Captain Hong, hello, I’m Su Xiaofeng." The last time they crossed paths at the teahouse, and this was their formal introduction. "Why did you call for us, Miss Su?" Captain Hong kept a respectful distance, speaking in a very pleasant tone. The jaws of the two officers beneath dropped; something was off with the captain. The captain was known in the station for his fiery temper; it wouldn’t matter whether it was a young lady or his superior officer standing in front of him. Su Xiaofeng glanced at him, wondering inwardly if captains in this era were so amiable, so gentle in asking questions. She cleared her throat: "Captain Hong, it’s like this. These guys, they wanted protection money from me. Out of curiosity, I called you all in. Is there really such a rule in our county, Captain Hong?" Liao Xianghe’s sidekick watched as his brother continued searching for the flies, then stepped forward with a sheepish smile: "Captain Hong, it’s not like that. We were just here for an interview." "An interview?" Su Xiaofeng chuckled and looked at Factory Director Zhou: "Director Zhou, did we say we were hiring male workers?" Director Zhou tore off the red paper from outside and brought it in, speaking earnestly: "I didn’t write that. I only wrote we’re hiring female operators aged 18-45. I never said anything about hiring male employees." Liao Xianghe stopped searching for flies and approached with an embarrassed smile: "Then it’s our mistake. A misunderstanding, Captain Hong, just a misunderstanding." "Right, Captain Hong?" Liu An, clutching his broken left hand, pale-faced, moved forward: "This Su Xiaofeng, she’s just a female hooligan. Look at my hand, it was she who broke it. You must seek justice for the people, Captain Hong. Such a woman should be thrown in jail to eat prison food." Liu An’s unexpected appearance caused Captain Hong to narrow his eyes. "Captain Hong, I was here to interview too, but after just a few exchanges with them, they got her dim-witted brother to beat me up and even broke my hand. Look at it, all of you, just look." Liu An’s left hand hung limply, clearly dislocated. "You said it yourself; my brother doesn’t have all his faculties. Under these circumstances, even if Captain Hong wanted to deal with it, it would be impossible." His brother was an imbecile, lacking independent willpower. Liu An met Su Xiaofeng’s sinister gaze and suddenly fell silent, not wanting to say anything more, afraid that if he continued, Xiaofeng would have the fool feed him chili powder. Captain Hong looked at Liu An, "Was it he who laid hands on you?" he asked, pointing at Su Peng. Liu An nodded woodenly, no longer speaking. "His IQ is still that of a child. If it was him who made the move, there’s nothing I can do," Captain Hong said with a look of regret on his face. "Captain, we haven’t found a single fly." "Captain, not even a dead one, let alone a live one." Captain Hong nodded. "I know where there are some," Xiaofeng said, pointing at Liao Xianghe, "I just saw him take something out of his pocket and put it into our pile of food without saying a word. I don’t know what he put in, but to be safe, we definitely can’t use this batch of chili sauce. Captain Hong, we are a legitimate business, you must stand up for us." No sooner had Su Xiaofeng finished speaking than Captain Hong had already approached Liao Xianghe and began searching him, indeed finding several dead flies in his pocket. Looking at the dead flies in Captain Hong’s palm, Liao Xianghe felt like dying. He had never anticipated that the police would come, which is why the evidence of his crime had been caught red-handed. "Captain Hong, as you can see, our factory is very clean; there are no flies at all. Yet this person, as soon as he came in, started throwing things into our products and then had the audacity to accuse us first," Su Xiaofeng’s red lips curved, "This batch could have packed about two hundred bottles, each at one yuan fifty, and he’s ruined nearly three hundred yuan worth of goods in one go." So, should there not be compensation? Listening to Su Xiaofeng’s words, Liao Xianghe started sweating profusely. She, she— Captain Hong nodded earnestly, "Intentionally destroying other people’s property indeed requires compensation." Liao Xianghe felt like dying. His initial intention was to throw a few flies to scare the young lady, but he didn’t know where the flies ended up and even found the evidence on himself. Now, he was being asked to pay compensation. Three hundred yuan? He didn’t even have a hundred yuan on him, let alone three hundred. With this thought, Liao Xianghe’s demeanor immediately softened, "Captain Hong, Su Xiaofeng, this is all a misunderstanding." As he spoke, Liao Xianghe kicked Liao Bang, "Liao Bang, didn’t you say—what’s going on? They clearly aren’t hiring here; why did you call me over?" Liao Bang sneered inwardly and replied, "Fifth Brother, you can’t blame me for this. If you blame anyone, blame him." Liao Bang pointed with both hands at Liu An, "This guy has a grudge against Su Xiaofeng, wanted to cause trouble for her, so he hired us to play a part, claiming Su Xiaofeng’s factory didn’t meet hygiene standards. We were just paid to do a job." Hearing this, Liao Xianghe realized Liao Bang was relatively smart and said to Captain Hong with a smile, "Captain Hong, that’s the situation. We were just doing a job for money. That guy has a beef with someone and asked us to act out a scene to intimidate them. We thought we could scare them off, but instead, it brought you here. It’s all a misunderstanding, not a big deal, right?" "How so? You think you can call the shots here and not take us seriously?" Captain Hong was equally displeased. Liu An, listening to the words of Liao Xianghe and the others, quickly defended himself, "Comrade, it’s not like that. They weren’t called here by me." Liao Bang turned and looked at him, his eyes carrying a threat that clearly said, dare to deny it, and you can kiss your right hand goodbye. Liu An felt like collapsing inside; this truly was a terrible day. He had wanted to find fault with Su Xiaofeng but ended up implicating himself. "Captain Hong, what about my chili sauce?" Su Xiaofeng was only concerned with whether her compensation would be secured and did not care about what these people were doing looking for her in the first place. Captain Hong’s gaze lingered on Liao Xianghe and his gang before he asked in a deep voice, "Miss Su demands three hundred yuan in compensation. Who will pay it?" Liao Xianghe looked at Liao Bang, his narrow eyes narrowing further. Laughing, Liao Bang stepped back and took out the money from his pocket, "Fifth Brother, I’ve only got thirty yuan left on me, all for you." Liao Xianghe disdainfully glanced at the meager thirty yuan—still over two hundred short. His gaze then turned to Liu An. Liu An, upon meeting Liao Xianghe’s scrutinizing look, almost ran out the door. He was so poor all he had left were gambling debts; where would he find any money?