45: Chapter 45 Why would someone who's not poor come here to stage an accident?

Xu Wanning lifted her slender arms, "Grandpa Zhou, you should leave it to someone with talent. Forget about us; that's forging we're talking about. How could we manage with our scrawny little limbs?!"

Lu Zhiyu and the others also lifted their arms in agreement.

Grandpa Zhou watched for a moment, "Fine, the Lu boy's physique is the only one that's suitable. Sigh."

His own grandson was frail and sickly too, so it seemed his legacy would go uninherited. His apprentices weren't up to the task either. Sigh, he would just have to try to live a few more years.

The four of them rested for a while, and after the sweat dried, they took showers and headed to the hospital, feeling fresh and clean.

They hadn't planned on getting in touch with Head Nurse Shen Ning, but it turned out Gu Xi's mother had fallen ill, undergone a liver resection, and was currently under observation in the ICU.

As soon as they went up, Lu Zhiyu spotted Head Nurse Shen Ning's name tag at a glance, "Look, that's Head Nurse Shen Ning."

Xu Wanning saw her too; she looked much younger than when she had met her in her previous life.

Noticing their gaze, Head Nurse Shen Ning looked over, "Who are you looking for?"

Xu Wanning composed her expression, "We are looking for Gu Xi. Her mother just had a liver resection."

Head Nurse Shen Ning replied with a professional demeanor, "Give her a call and have her come out. You can't just walk into the ICU."

"Okay." Song Yunqing called Gu Xi.

Not long after, Gu Xi came out. Her face was full of exhaustion, and she had huge dark circles under her eyes, "Why are you here?"

Song Yunqing handed over the things she had brought for her, "Sister Gu Xi, where is Dongdong?"

Mentioning Dongdong made Gu Xi want to cry again, "I sent him to Grandma Wang's next door. I really can't watch him, and it's not good for him to stay in the hospital. I gave Grandma Wang money to help look after him for two days."

Xu Wanning frowned. Leaving a child with a neighbor to look after didn't seem reliable at all.

"Sister Gu Xi, if you trust us, we can take Dongdong to my place. My mom and Second Aunt just happened to come to Jing City.

"The four of us don't have anything going on, so we can help take care of him and take him out to play. Grandma Wang must be quite old, and it might be too much for her to handle a child."

Tears welled up in Gu Xi's eyes, "This... wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?"

Song Yunqing patted her, "Don't worry. You don't need to worry about the shop either; I'll go open it."

If the flower shop didn't open every day, customers wouldn't come back after failing to buy anything twice.

Gu Xi handed the key to Song Yunqing, "Thank you, thank you all. I will definitely pay you back that 100,000 yuan."

Song Yunqing shook her head, "No rush. Go take care of your mother; we'll go pick up Dongdong now."

"Okay, okay." Gu Xi wiped away her tears and walked toward the ward.

Head Nurse Shen Ning had watched the whole thing. She hadn't expected these girls to be so kind-hearted, lending 100,000 yuan just like that. Whether Gu Xi would be able to pay it back was another matter entirely.

This illness wouldn't just stop at 100,000 yuan; the follow-up care would cost even more money. Sigh.

Xu Wanning and the others headed to the address Gu Xi mentioned as quickly as possible and knocked on the neighbor's door.

An impatient voice of a middle-aged man rang out, "Who is it? Stop wailing like ghosts, can't you let people take a nap?!"

Hmm? Wasn't Grandma Wang living alone? Who was this person?

The door was suddenly flung open. A pot-bellied man stood there shirtless with a fierce expression. When he saw the four beauties, his expression softened slightly, regretting that he had been too aggressive just now, "Who are you looking for?"

Lu Zhiyu spoke up boldly, showing no fear, "We are friends of Sister Gu Xi. She asked us to come pick up Dongdong."

"Oh, Gu Xi's friends. She told me about it just now." Grandma Wang led Dongdong out.

As soon as Dongdong saw them, he trotted over and hugged Xu Wanning's leg, "Big Sister."

Xu Wanning picked him up and checked him carefully. Only after confirming he was fine did she feel relieved, "Thank you for taking care of Dongdong, Grandma. We'll take him now."

Grandma Wang looked kind, "You're welcome, you're welcome."

The man scratched his head, "Sorry about that. I didn't scare you just now, did I?"

The four of them shook their heads in unison. Even if they had been scared, they couldn't admit it.

Grandma Wang pushed him aside, "Sorry about that. My son just came back today. He drives a big truck and doesn't come home often."

The four of them hurried downstairs, "No, no, we'll be going now. Goodbye, Grandma."

They hurried downstairs. Although Grandma Wang's son didn't seem like a bad person from what they just saw, they still felt uneasy about his reaction before opening the door.

Dongdong held tightly onto Xu Wanning's neck, "Big Sister, Dongdong is scared."

Xu Wanning patted his back, "It's okay now. From now on, you'll be with us big sisters."

"Okay." Dongdong clapped his hands happily.

The group went to the flower shop first. The shop hadn't been tended to for two days, and some of the flowers had wilted.

Song Yunqing had worked here for so many days that she knew how to take care of them to some extent. She tended to them diligently, while Xu Wanning and Lu Zhiyu were responsible for playing with Dongdong, and Wen Shuyang sat at the counter waiting for customers.

"Bang!"

The sound of a flowerpot shattering rang out from outside the shop. Song Yunqing and Wen Shuyang rushed out, and Lu Zhiyu quickly followed, leaving Xu Wanning to watch over Dongdong.

Before long, the sound of an argument broke out outside.

"Young ladies, your flowerpot was placed here and almost made me fall. Pay up!" the voice of a middle-aged man shouted.

Wen Shuyang spoke up angrily, "You weren't looking at the road while riding your motorcycle and knocked over the flowerpot. Instead of compensating us, you're trying to extort money from us?!"

The man glared, "What extortion? Who are you calling an extortionist? This place is a public road; anyone can use it. Pay up quickly, or I'm not leaving today. I'll make sure you can't run your business."

Xu Wanning immediately took out her phone to call the police; it was useless to reason with someone like this. After calling the police, she went to check the surveillance footage. It was very clear that the man had been looking around before finally choosing that flowerpot to stage a scam.

Wen Shuyang flicked her fingers, "This flowerpot is worth 2,000. Mister, you broke it, so compensate us first."

The man hadn't fallen or gotten hurt, yet he still wanted to extort her. In his dreams!

"You little wench, how could a flowerpot be that expensive! Are you picking on me because I'm alone? I asked you to compensate me, and you're turning around and asking me for money? Are you broke and gone crazy?!"

Lu Zhiyu shouted back, "You're the one who's broke and gone crazy! If you weren't broke, why would you come here to stage a scam?!"

They argued back and forth, attracting the whole street to come and watch.

When the man saw the crowd, he pushed his motorcycle to the side, sat on the ground, and started howling, "Oh my, my leg! It's broken! You put the flowers outside the shop and caused me to fall, and now you're being so aggressive! There's no justice in this world!"

Some passersby who didn't know the truth started pointing fingers at Wen Shuyang and the others.

"Yeah, that's right. This is a public road; why put flowers out there to hurt people!"

"Exactly. Not only do they refuse to compensate him, but they're also trying to extort him. Young girls these days, really no upbringing."

"Black-hearted. They were probably taught this way at home; their parents aren't people with any manners either."

Their voices grew louder and louder, making Wen Shuyang and the others so angry they wanted to scream.

How could someone be so shameless?!

And how could people just join in the commotion without knowing the truth?!

Xu Wanning put Dongdong down, "Dongdong, play by yourself for a while. Big Sister is going out to handle some business."