40: Chapter 40 Brother Long, Your Home is Gone

Outside the rusted iron gate of No. 19 Middle School, Brother Long stood in the middle of the road with seven or eight young thugs with dyed hair.

This arrogant formation scared off passersby and street vendors, and even the security guard Old Zhang was hiding in the guardroom, not daring to show his face, only daring to quietly grab the walkie-talkie on the table.

Brother Long had specially changed into a flashy short-sleeved shirt today, with the collar open to reveal a thick silver chain, and he tilted his head to puff out a few irregular smoke rings into the sky.

Seeing Fang Jiming leading the students out of the campus, he tilted his head back and laughed out loud, throwing the half-smoked cigarette in his hand onto the ground and crushing it hard.

"Yo, the tough teacher actually dares to bring these two little brats out to die."

Brother Long took two arrogant steps forward, his hands crossed, his knuckles cracking, and the few yellow-haired minions behind him also pressed forward, blocking the narrow school gate tightly.

"Did you bring the twenty thousand yuan? If you didn't bring the money, today, these two kids' legs and you, this meddlesome teacher, will all have to leave something behind here."

Ma Xiaotiao was so scared he shrank his neck and hid behind Fang Jiming, his hands gripping the teacher's hem tightly, refusing to let go.

Lu Zihao gritted his teeth, his fists clenched tight at his sides, making a creaking sound, his toes pointing, ready to rush past Fang Jiming at the hoodlums.

Lu Zihao: ( ꐦ ಠ dish ಠ )

Fang Jiming stretched out his left arm, steadily blocking Lu Zihao, who was about to lash out.

"It's okay, you little brats go back inside the school gate first; I'll handle the rest."

He ignored Brother Long's extremely arrogant attitude and leisurely took his phone out of his hoodie pocket to check the time on the screen; exactly twenty-four hours had passed since he gave Chen Jianhua his instructions.

Fang Jiming put his phone back in his pocket with a mocking smile on his face.

"Brother Long, right? Before you went out to collect debts, didn't you care whether your own base had been captured by someone?"

The arrogance on Brother Long's face froze for a moment, then was replaced by a look of contempt.

"Stop acting, who on that street in Qiaonan Old Street dares to touch Brother Long's territory?"

Just as he finished speaking, a black maybach drove quickly along the asphalt road from the old street side, braking steadily behind Brother Long's group.

The rear door was pushed open from the inside, and Chen Jianhua, wearing a crisp high-end suit, stepped out, followed by two bodyguard giants over 1.9 meters tall wearing sunglasses.

Chen Jianhua didn't even look at the hoodlums, walked straight through the crowd to Fang Jiming, took out an acquisition document with a bright red official seal from his leather briefcase, opened it, and shoved it right in front of Brother Long.

"The property rights for that three-story red brick building at 108 Qiaonan Old Street were transferred to the name of an overseas trust fund five minutes ago."

Chen Jianhua's voice was loud and resonant, possessing the aura of someone in a high position, and his cold gaze swept over Brother Long's face.

"Additionally, regarding the illegal lease contracts for the internet cafe on the first floor and the pool hall and card room on the second floor, we have already gone through legal procedures to unilaterally terminate them; the company's security team is currently on-site executing a forced clearance."

This statement landed, making the heads of Brother Long and the others buzz.

Brother Long: ( ꒪ Д ꒪ ) ノ

Brother Long's originally triumphant posture completely collapsed; he widened his bloodshot eyes, trembling as he pointed a finger at Chen Jianhua, his voice even fluttering as he spoke.

"You, what kind of bullshit are you talking about? That building belongs to Old Zhao; why would he sell it to someone else? I've rented it for five years."

Chen Jianhua calmly stuffed the document back into his bag.

"Old Zhao accepted a full payment of three times the market price and has already flown to Sanya for vacation. As for who the real buyer is, you don't need to know."

Fang Jiming, with his hands in his hoodie pockets, added lightly from the side.

"Anyway, the current owner of that building finds your crappy internet cafe quite an eyesore. The boss has already called a junk truck to haul it away as scrap, just as compensation for the emotional distress of you kicking my classroom door yesterday."

The yellow-haired minion following Brother Long was so anxious he was spinning in circles, running forward in a panic with his phone in his hands.

"Brother Long, it's bad! They called from the internet cafe saying the place has been sealed off, and all the brothers have been kicked out by a group of security guards in black suits."

Yellow-hair: ( ╥ ﹏ ╥ )

Brother Long's blood rushed to his head, his lips turning dark purple with rage, and he roared regardless of anything else.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

He swung his fist towards Fang Jiming's face.

There was no need for Fang Jiming or Lu Zihao to counterattack; the two black-clad bodyguards behind Chen Jianhua stepped across simultaneously. One of them easily caught Brother Long's swinging wrist and used a counter-grappling move, pressing the hoodlum directly onto the dusty concrete ground.

The bodyguards' movements were extremely clean and efficient, without any unnecessary flashy moves, yet carried absolute overwhelming power.

Brother Long screamed in pain as his arm was twisted, beads of sweat the size of beans hitting the ground from his forehead, and his previous arrogance as a local bully vanished completely.

Fang Jiming bent his knees and squatted down, looking squarely at the painfully twisted Brother Long.

"I'm an educator, and I believe in teaching students according to their aptitude."

He reached out his right hand and gently patted Brother Long's dusty face; the action was neither heavy nor light, but carried extreme insult.

"You like using violence to collect usurious loans, so I'll let you see what real power is. However, the boss who bought the building has a bad temper. He entrusted me to give you a message: from now on, as long as he sees you harassing the students of No. 19 Middle School in this jurisdiction, it won't be as simple as just taking the building; he will directly smash your rice bowl."

Fang Jiming stood up, brushing the dust off his hands, and looked down at the shivering group of hoodlums.

"I'll give you ten minutes to take your people and get out of Qiaonan Old Street."

He pointed to Ma Xiaotiao and Zhang Chi, who were shrinking inside the school gate.

"As for those rotten debts they owe you, you go directly to coordinate with this Mr. Chen's legal team and see how much of it is illegal high interest. Once the accounts are settled, I'll burn every cent of it for you."

The bodyguard let go and stepped back half a step. Brother Long climbed up from the ground, clutching his arm as if it were dislocated, not daring to let out a peep.

His street-smart intuition told him he had kicked an iron plate today.

The other party was not only wealthy and powerful, but could also resolve the most complex property disputes in Qiaonan Old Street within a day; this was definitely not something an ordinary high school substitute teacher could easily do.

But the man in the high-end suit driving the maybach treated Fang Jiming with a level of respect that was clearly excessive.

"Just you wait, brothers, retreat."

Brother Long gritted his teeth and left a hollow threat, quickly disappearing around the corner of the old street with his terrified minions.

It became so quiet inside the school gate that one could only hear the sound of wind blowing through fallen leaves.

Ma Xiaotiao stared blankly at Fang Jiming with his mouth wide open.

Teacher Wen Ruyan hugged the stack of homework books tightly, her beautiful eyes behind her lenses filled with shock and suspicion.

She stared fixedly at Fang Jiming's profile, her mind turning over various possibilities.

Why did Chen Jianhua, with such a powerful aura, specifically come to report the situation to Fang Jiming?

By what right could Fang Jiming represent that mysterious buyer to pass on a message?

What kind of unknown relationship was hidden between them?

Teacher Wen Ruyan: ( ✧ _ ✧ )

Qian Duoduo rubbed his chubby eyes hard, ran over, grabbed Fang Jiming's hand, and blurted out a swear word.

"Holy shit, Brother Fang, you actually know a big shot of this level? The guy in the suit just now was driving a maybach! Could it be that you bought that building?"

As soon as Qian Duoduo said this, several students nearby who were watching the drama pricked up their ears, waiting for the follow-up.

Fang Jiming brushed away Qian Duoduo's sweaty hand with an expression of disgust, straightened the hem of his hoodie that had been pulled out of shape, and laughed nonchalantly.

"I'm just a poor teacher living on a substitute salary; where would I get the spare money to buy a building? The boss behind the scenes is relatively low-key and just entrusted me to help pass a message to these hoodlums."

He turned around, swept a glance at the students who were still whispering, and forcibly changed the subject.

"Alright, alright, since the show is over, all of you get home and review the material for tomorrow's class. I'll draw lots for roll call tomorrow in math class. Whoever can't answer, I'll stuff their head into the men's room toilet to sober them up."

The students shrank their necks in fear and scattered in twos and threes, but the private murmurs never stopped.

"Brother Fang is definitely not simple. Did you notice that President Chen, who drives a maybach, was nodding and bowing to him?"

"Stop guessing. If Brother Fang doesn't let us ask, we won't ask. Anyway, at least we don't have to hide and walk away from now on."

Teacher Wen Ruyan stood frozen in place, hugging her homework books, watching the back of Fang Jiming as he unlocked a shared bike and wobbled away, biting her lower lip hard.

A woman's intuition told her that this seemingly sloppy substitute teacher definitely hid layer upon layer of secrets.