[DING...]
[Host, please make a choice within ten seconds.]
[One: Remain seated with Lin Xiaoman and keep a blank expression.]
[Two: Before the server arrives, quickly pull Lin Xiaoman up and back away to a safe distance.]
[Reward: Money Blessing bonus for today: 200 yuan/minute.]
In his peripheral vision, Lin Feng saw a server not far away, carefully carrying a basin of something toward them.
That’s right, a basin.
And it was the kind of wooden basin you’d see at a foot-massage parlor, the kind used for soaking customers’ feet.
For something like that to appear in such a high-end Western restaurant was truly bizarre.
Even before the system’s countdown began, Lin Feng was already moving.
He suddenly grabbed Lin Xiaoman’s hand and, without explanation, pulled her backward. She stumbled, utterly confused.
"What are you doing? Everything was fine!"
"Chen Guoqiao, go to hell!"
Lin Xiaoman was about to demand an explanation from Lin Feng when she suddenly heard a shrill female voice.
She turned her head to see a woman in a server’s uniform holding a foot basin and flinging its contents at Chen Guoqiao.
"AHHH!"
The boiling water, still BUBBLE BUBBLE-ing from the red-hot stones in the basin, splashed onto his face.
Chen Guoqiao let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell from his chair.
In an instant, everyone was stunned.
This was the most luxurious rooftop restaurant in the city, a place many considered an elegant venue.
Now, a fat man was on the floor, his hands hovering over his face as he shrieked at the top of his lungs.
Though the pain made it hard to breathe, he was still lucid enough to know he couldn’t touch his face.
The woman had thrown the water from top to bottom.
As a result, Chen Guoqiao’s face was the most severely injured.
His exposed skin turned bright red, and large and small blisters rapidly began to form. Some areas even started to fester, a gruesome sight to behold.
By the time everyone, including Lin Feng, had processed what happened, the woman had already dropped the wooden basin. She let out a few wild, crazed laughs and, still not satisfied, viciously stomped on Chen Guoqiao several times.
The pain from his burns was so much worse than her kicks that Chen Guoqiao didn’t even feel them.
"Grab her! Don’t let her get away!"
The restaurant manager finally snapped out of it, hurriedly telling his staff to seize the crazed woman—who was either too slow to run or had no intention of running in the first place—while he pulled out his phone to call an ambulance.
An incident like this had happened on his watch.
Forget Chen Guoqiao; even the big boss would never let him off the hook!
He had worked so hard to climb from a junior staff member to manager. Punishment was now inevitable, so all he could do was try to minimize his own liability.
Out of a sense of humanitarian duty, Lin Feng hesitated for a moment.
Then, he went ahead and called the police on behalf of the panicked manager, who had clearly forgotten to do so himself.
The ambulance arrived quickly. The doctors and nurses swiftly and methodically placed Chen Guoqiao on a stretcher, then sped off toward the hospital, sirens wailing.
Watching the ambulance disappear into the distance, Lin Feng couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
That dousing wouldn’t kill Chen Guoqiao, but there was no telling what would become of his face.
After the ambulance left, the police arrived. After getting a general idea of the situation, they took Lin Feng and Lin Xiaoman back with them as well.
As eyewitnesses, they needed to provide testimony.
Before being put into the police car, the woman shot the Lin siblings a venomous glare. In her eyes, since they were dining with Chen Guoqiao, they were just like him—people who deserved to die.
’All the rich people in the world are cut from the same cloth.’
By the time the two of them left the police station, it was already midnight.
Lin Xiaoman was in a daze. She nearly missed a step on the way down the stairs, but luckily Lin Feng caught her just in time, saving her from a fall.
Her mind was filled with the image of the woman’s crazed face and Chen Guoqiao, covered in burns, writhing on the ground and screaming endlessly.
Lin Feng held her hand and could feel her trembling.
"Don’t be scared. It’s over now."
Lin Feng sighed and comforted her in a low voice,
"Chen Guoqiao got what he deserved; he brought it all on himself. He’s done too many terrible things. That woman was just getting her revenge."
Lin Xiaoman had always been a law-abiding citizen, never doing anything illegal or bullying others. Besides, with a brother like Lin Feng, who would dare to cross her?
Forcing herself to pull it together, Lin Xiaoman nodded, her face still a little pale.
At the end of the day, she was just a teenage girl. It was impossible not to be scared after witnessing something like that.
To keep their parents from worrying, they didn’t tell them about the incident. They just said they were having so much fun that they lost track of time, which was why they came home so late.
With Chen Guoqiao hospitalized, Lin Feng’s life had become much more peaceful, one could say.
As for Little Broken Station, without Chen Guoqiao meddling, it also seemed to have become a bit more respectable.
Until one day, the system issued another mission.
[DING...]
[Host, please make a choice within ten seconds.]
[One: Carry on as you are and handle your own affairs.]
[Two: Go to the hospital where Chen Guoqiao is and visit him within one hour.]
[Reward: Money Blessing bonus for today: 300 yuan/minute.]
[Ten!]
Lin Feng didn’t quite catch what the system said at first. He only heard "300 yuan/minute" and immediately shot to his feet, decisively choosing the second option.
He could get the Money Blessing bonus just by visiting that Chen Guoqiao fellow.
It was only for today, but who would complain about having too much money?
It was just that the system had been issuing missions a bit frequently lately, and some of them were difficult for him to figure out. The system offered no explanations, so he could only rely on his own brain to guess.
On the way to the hospital, Lin Feng started to think, ’If I keep having to use my brain like this, am I going to go bald?’
’They say the most brilliant minds are bald. If I get too clever, does that mean I’m actually going to go bald?’
Lin Feng shuddered and tried to forget the word "bald."
Chen Guoqiao had indeed been scalded by boiling water, but according to the doctors, his burns weren’t so severe that he couldn’t take care of himself. It was just that his face would be ruined for good.
Lin Feng thought for a moment. ’"A dead pig isn’t afraid of boiling water," and "a scourge lasts a thousand years." I guess that about sums it up.’
Inside the sterile room, Chen Guoqiao’s entire upper body, including his large head, was wrapped in bandages. He was leaning back, carefully sipping the porridge a nurse was feeding him.
At a time like this, he didn’t even have the energy to check if the nurse by his side was attractive.
In the past, he would have started flirting with her long ago.
Lin Feng watched him with great interest from behind the glass and made a surprising discovery.
The man had only been hospitalized for a few days, but he had already lost a significant amount of weight.
Because his face was tightly wrapped in bandages, its contour was clearly visible, and it was obviously a bit thinner.
A wild thought suddenly occurred to Lin Feng: ’Could it be that he shrank from the heat, like thermal contraction?’
"Mr. Lin, long time no see."
A somewhat familiar voice came from behind him.
Lin Feng turned to see Bao An standing behind him, looking full of vigor. He showed none of the grief an assistant should have when their boss is injured and hospitalized.
In fact, he even looked a little excited.
Lin Feng raised an eyebrow. ’I knew it. This Bao An is far more complex than he appears.’

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