My Little Pink Crocodile - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Trashing the Shop

While Qi Yan and Jiang Yu were sitting and waiting, Qi Yan’s phone vibrated. A series of messages from Fang Fang popped up.

The person on the other end seemed extremely anxious, sending a flurry of messages. Jiang Yu, who was currently stuffing snacks into her mouth like a little hamster, noticed as well.

Jiang Yu leaned against her shoulder, affectionately pressing a cool, soft kiss onto Qi Yan’s cheek. She asked, “What is that making noise? It’s so loud.”

As those soft lips touched her skin, a flicker of something unknown passed through Qi Yan’s eyes, but she ultimately let the girl be. She gave a helpless smile and said, “It must be something urgent.”

She hadn’t gone to work today and had given the staff the day off. Logically, there shouldn’t have been any trouble.

But before Qi Yan could even tap on the messages, the person on the other end—unable to wait any longer—called her directly.

“What’s wrong? Why the rush?” Qi Yan asked.

Fang Fang’s voice was tearful and trembling with fear. Hearing Qi Yan’s voice felt like finding a pillar of support. She sobbed, “Boss, come quickly. Someone is trashing the shop.”

At those words, Qi Yan’s eyes instantly turned cold. “What happened?”

She already realized who had orchestrated this. Because of her public “outburst,” her father was clearly disappointed to the point of retaliation. A dark shadow clouded her eyes as she knit her brows, calmly soothing Fang Fang on the phone. “Did they say anything?”

Fang Fang let out a shaky sob and hesitated before speaking. “They… they said… they said they want to make it impossible for you to keep going… Boss, what do we do?”

Qi Yan sneered inwardly. She hadn’t expected her father to think society was still so lawless that he could act with such impunity.

“Did they threaten you?”

Fang Fang cast a timid glance at the thugs smashing things in the store. “They did.”

“Find a safe place to hide. I’ll be there with the police soon,” Qi Yan instructed.

“Ah? Boss, did you call the police? I just called them too.”

“Mhm. Just stay hidden,” Qi Yan said.

Beside her, Jiang Yu watched Qi Yan hang up. Seeing the gloom on her face, Jiang Yu keenly sensed that she was unhappy. “What’s wrong?”

Qi Yan didn’t want to worry her, so she didn’t explain in detail. She adjusted her mood slightly and said, “It’s nothing, just a minor issue.”

Jiang Yu reached up to smooth out Qi Yan’s furrowed brow and pouted. “Don’t lie to me. You wouldn’t be this worried over a minor issue.”

Jiang Yu’s movements were gentle, mimicking the way Qi Yan usually comforted her. Qi Yan was dazed for a moment; she didn’t know how the usually silly Jiang Yu had seen through her, but she felt a sudden warmth in her heart. She helplessly took the girl’s hand, letting their fingers interlace. A hint of doting—one she didn’t even realize she had—crept into her voice.

“Then let’s go see it together.”

Qi Yan led Jiang Yu to find Officer Tian. “I’m sorry, Officer Tian, but your team should have just received a report from my shop assistant.”

“Is it your shop? A crowd disturbance?” Officer Tian frowned.

Qi Yan nodded, worry flashing in her eyes. “My assistant is still there. I can’t be sure if she’s been harmed, so I’d like to go with you.”

Officer Tian thought for a moment. Seeing Qi Yan’s urgency, she said, “Alright. Since it’s your shop, let’s go together.”

Qi Yan and Jiang Yu sat in the back of the police car. Officer Tian asked, “Have you offended someone?” Given the country’s strict crackdown on organized crime, someone like Qi Yan usually wouldn’t have a reason to get involved with such people.

Qi Yan lowered her gaze, hiding her emotions. “I know who it is. It’s likely from my parents’ side.”

Jiang Yu gripped Qi Yan’s hand tightly, looking furious as she “reported” the situation with righteous indignation. “You have no idea how awful they are! They broke into our house and were so mean to me and Qi Yan!”

Seeing how worked up she was, Officer Tian asked Qi Yan to calm her down. Having heard the gist of it, the officer noted, “Family matters, but we still have to handle it. This counts as a breach of public security.”

Qi Yan fed Jiang Yu a snack to keep her quiet and nodded seriously at Officer Tian. “The officer is right.”

By the time they arrived, a dense crowd of onlookers had already gathered. Fang Fang was hiding among the people and ran over the moment she saw Qi Yan. “Boss, they… they’ve gone too far.”

Qi Yan glanced inside. A flash of chill crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a gentle smile. “Don’t worry. Professional people will handle this.”

Inside, several thugs were sitting arrogantly on the front counter, shouting loudly. “No one is allowed to call the police! We’re just looking for someone named Qi Yan!”

Officer Tian felt a headache coming on as she watched them. She had her colleagues disperse the crowd, then led her team inside with a sharp expression. She flashed her badge at the stunned thugs. “We received a report of a public disturbance. Come with us.”

A man who was clearly the leader of the punks—sporting yellow-dyed hair with black roots showing—spoke up provocatively. “Which ‘member of the public’ dared to call the cops?!”

Seeing his defiance, Officer Tian knit her brows. Before she could speak, Qi Yan stepped forward and said coldly, “It’s my shop. I called the police. You will pay every cent for the damages. Even if you go to jail for ‘re-education,’ I will hire a lawyer to sue you until every loss in my shop is compensated.”

The thugs weren’t well-educated; they only dared to cause trouble because someone had paid them. Society had plenty of these “rat droppings”—if you got rid of one batch, another would pop up. Most people would just pay them off to keep the peace. They had come today thinking the owner was an easy target because she was a woman, not expecting to hit a stone wall.

However, they clearly weren’t afraid. Even with the police there, they acted as if they were untouchable. With a shifty look, the leader squinted at them, a cigarette hanging from his mouth, acting like a big shot in front of his underlings. “What if I just don’t have any money?! What are you going to do about it?”

“Then you can spend the rest of your life in prison,” Qi Yan said.

She knew they didn’t know the law, and she knew that even if they went in, they’d likely be out in a few days or months. She was saying it purely to scare them.

Perhaps finally recognizing Qi Yan, the leader seemed to realize something. He pulled out a photo that had been singed by a cigarette butt, looked at it, then at her, and shouted, “You are Qi Yan! We’ve been trashing this place for ages and you just showed up? You really don’t care about your shop!”

Officer Tian didn’t want to waste any more words. “You dare to threaten a citizen? Take them away!” she said coldly.

As the thugs were being led out, they continued to hurl foul insults. “You motherf***er, wait until we get out, we’ll trash your shop so bad your own father won’t recognize it…”

The thugs had to pass Qi Yan, who was standing by the door. She stepped aside to let them through, pulling Jiang Yu with her to avoid them. But she couldn’t move the person behind her. She frowned. “Jiang Yu.”

As she spoke, a scream of pain erupted from one of the punks, followed by swearing. “Which blind bastard tripped me?!”

“Shut up,” the officer holding him said. He had seen Jiang Yu do it, but fearing the thug might target her later, he simply shoved him out.

Qi Yan had seen it too. She rubbed her temples with a sigh. “Don’t do that next time. It doesn’t matter if I offend people like that, but you should stay away from them.”

Jiang Yu withdrew her foot and leaned into Qi Yan’s arms. “If they dare come back, just tell me and I’ll hit them back,” she muttered.

Qi Yan stroked her head. “They won’t come back. And you don’t need to hit anyone.”

Once the police had taken the thugs away, Fang Fang dared to come out, her eyes red. “Boss, what now?”

Qi Yan looked at the wreckage of her shop. “Close for business for now. Go inform everyone that until we can reopen properly, wages will be paid as usual.”

As she spoke, Officer Tian walked over. “Miss Qi, I’m afraid I’ll need you and your assistant to come with us to give a statement.”

“Of course,” Qi Yan replied.

Jiang Yu, who had already been to the station several times, had lost all interest in the place. Perhaps to be considerate, Officer Tian didn’t make Jiang Yu give a statement; she let her wait outside while Qi Yan went in.

Grace had just accepted Jiang Yao’s friend request when she received Qi Yan’s message about the incident. As a friend—and fearing Jiang Yao might worry about her “cousin”—she rushed over immediately.

Jiang Yu sat alone on a chair, boredly swinging her legs. Beside her were snacks others had given her, but she didn’t touch them, seemingly lost in thought.

“Is Qi Yan inside?” Grace sat down next to Jiang Yu, speaking softly so as not to startle her.

Jiang Yu turned to look at Grace. Instead of answering, she asked, “Why are you here?”

Grace had thought Jiang Yu was looking down because she was sad, but now she saw the girl was actually smiling quite happily. She felt relieved. “Qi Yan asked me to come. And President Jiang is worried about you too, so I came to check. As long as you’re okay.”

She held up her phone. “Come on, give me a smile so I can show President Jiang you’re fine.”

Hearing Jiang Yao’s name, Jiang Yu immediately looked displeased. “How does she know already?”

Grace snapped a photo and sent it. “How else? If she doesn’t know, how is she supposed to reimburse the losses? Qi Yan isn’t short of money, but since she offered to pay, you should just take it.”

With Qi Yan gone, Grace leaned in to ask the question she had been curious about for a long time. “If your parents are abroad, how did you end up here? And how were you so sure Qi Yan was the person you were looking for?”

Grace hadn’t forgotten that Qi Yan told her Jiang Yu had found her by following her dog, with a very clear goal. She had even run back to Qi Yan after being taken to the police station.

Faced with the question, Jiang Yu looked at Grace as if she were a fool. She tilted her head and said, “I just knew.”

Grace: …That is basically a non-answer.

Jiang Yu lowered her head and frowned. “How did I get here… I got lost in the mountains. It took me three days to find my way out.”

Grace went silent again. She felt like she couldn’t understand the girl’s logic. Did Jiang Yu have a fight with her family on a private jet, jump out with a parachute in a fit of rage to start her runaway plan, and happen to land in the forest?

Grace’s imagination was getting wilder by the second. Her dazed expression made Jiang Yu wonder if she had actually turned stupid, so she mercifully waved a hand in front of Grace’s face. “What are you thinking about? Qi Yan is out.”

With that, Jiang Yu ran to Qi Yan’s side, pointing at Grace. “I think she’s gone stupid.”

Qi Yan looked at Grace, who was sitting there with a deep frown, lost in thought. “She’s fine. She’ll snap out of it in a moment.”

Sure enough, Grace came back to her senses, but the look she gave Jiang Yu was inexplicable. She asked a cryptic question: “Did you parachute down?”

Jiang Yu looked confused. She asked Qi Yan, “What is parachuting? Is it a game?”

Seeing the spark of interest in Jiang Yu’s eyes, Qi Yan nodded on a whim. “I’ll take you to try it sometime.”

Officer Tian came out then, looking serious. “We got it out of them. Your father put them up to it.”

She was being cautious; since it was Qi Yan’s father, she wanted to ask for the victim’s opinion. Qi Yan’s eyes still held a smile, and she spoke with complete indifference. “Just handle it as usual. You don’t need to consider my feelings. I can’t let my family get away with associating with those kinds of people, can I?”

In any case, Qi Ming was the one running the family business now. Even if Father Qi was summoned for questioning and “education,” it wouldn’t affect the company at all.