Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 467: Chapter 457: Kudos to the Hardworking Public Security Comrades

The tall man glanced at his comrades on the ground, then at Shen Yunfang, who stood silent, and finally cast a menacing look towards Liu Jianjun and Li Xianglian. In a fit of embarrassed rage, he pulled a dagger from his pocket, "You dare to injure my brothers, today you’ll see the blade go in white and come out red."

As he spoke, he deftly flipped the dagger back and forth between his hands, obviously trying to show off his proficiency with the blade.

But to Shen Yunfang, this display was laughable, as if he were performing monkey tricks. If you’re going to fight, just fight, she thought, what’s the point in all this nonsense? Besides, a knife is meant for stabbing, not for juggling tricks.

"Yunfang, move back, quick, get out of the way," Li Xianglian urged as she saw the man draw a knife, her heart leaping to her throat. Yet, she didn’t forget to pull both Yunfang and her own man back. They had families and businesses to look after; they couldn’t afford to risk their lives with these street thugs.

"Sister-in-law, don’t be afraid, he wouldn’t dare, he’s just bluffing. This is the Capital, they wouldn’t let such criminals run amok here," Shen Yunfang assured her calmly, as she had already spotted several police officers approaching from the opposite direction.

"Humph, you country bumpkin, we are **, no one dares to mess with us around here. You sure are bold, I’ll let you see today what happens when you offend us," the man boasted, continuing to flip the knife in his hand, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"I wonder what sort of predicament you’ll find yourself in actually," she replied.

Suddenly, from behind, a large hand reached out, grabbed, pulled, and flung, snatching the dagger from the man’s hand and sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Oh my, officers, you’re finally here, we were about to lose our lives if you hadn’t come any sooner," Shen Yunfang immediately adopted a distressed look, lamenting to the arriving officers.

"Don’t worry, we have apprehended these criminals. We assure you, they will not bother you again," one of the officers stated earnestly.

Shen Yunfang and the others quickly bowed and expressed their gratitude, watching as the officers picked up the two ruffians from the ground, cuffed them, and prepared to take them away.

These men had been involved in armed assault and clearly had no good fate awaiting them once they were taken into custody.

"It’s unfair, officer, my brother was attacked by that woman, I was forced into this situation," the man protested, still screaming even as he was handcuffed.

"Shut up, how could someone as small as her possibly hurt you guys with all that fat? Even your lies aren’t well thought out. Let’s see how you’ll be dealt with back at the station," the officer was not about to let two rogues slander a good person.

So amidst the cries and wailing of the ruffians, they were escorted away by the officers.

Shen Yunfang thought it over and rolled up more than a dozen couplets, sending Shitou and Shuanzi to make another trip to the station to deliver the couplets to Mu Huazhen.

The gift wasn’t much or particularly valuable, but it was a gesture of goodwill from her end.

The incident hadn’t had much effect on Shen Yunfang, but she noticed that Li Xianglian seemed distressed.

Glancing at the clock, it was nearly three o’clock, so Shen Yunfang decided to call it a day and head home. Thus, they all busied themselves with packing up, taking out the couplets that had been trampled on and placing them on top; she would have to try to clean the footprints off when she got home, otherwise, they couldn’t be sold.

By the time the three of them finished tidying up, Shitou and Shuanzi ran back. Shitou said Aunt Mu had accepted those New Year’s couplets and told them not to worry, she would handle it.

After several people returned home and unloaded the truck, Shen Yunfang told Li Xianglian to lie down for a while, as she would cook.

But how could Li Xianglian let her sister-in-law cook alone? She insisted on helping despite feeling worn out.

"Yunfang, how could the Capital be so unsafe?" said Li Xianglian as she chopped vegetables.

"Big sister, it’s the same everywhere. Where there are good people, there are bad ones. The Capital might be relatively safer than other places in terms of public security, but there are still thugs and hooligans around," Shen Yunfang said with a smile.

"But, but should we continue to set up our stall? What if people like those come to make trouble again?" Li Xianglian was frightened by the two men today and was considering backing out.

"Big sister, as I said before, there are such people everywhere. If we give up our stall because of them, then we might as well not do anything in the future. Besides, if we’re unlucky, we could encounter such people even walking on the street, which has nothing to do with whether we set up our stall or not," Shen Yunfang said, blatantly lying. In reality, those people targeted them because they saw them making money from the stall. If it had been a passerby, then it wouldn’t be harassment but robbery.

"You’re right, but when I think of that man pulling out a knife today, I get really scared. If the police hadn’t arrived in time and he had hurt any of us, we would have regretted it too late," Li Xianglian sighed. She knew that it was impossible to stop selling couplets just because of this incident. Apart from anything else, what would they do with all the Spring Festival couplets at home? They had been printed for them, and they were not returnable. Besides, Yunfang had also invested quite a bit of money, and if they stopped setting up the stall now, Yunfang would lose out.

"Big sister, don’t worry. We’ve already notified the local police station, and that’s why I’ve had Shuanzi and Shitou accompany us to the stall every day. They can help watch the stall when it’s busy, and like today, they can go for help. We can hold out for a little while, can’t we? So, there’s definitely no problem," Shen Yunfang painted a rosy picture for Li Xianglian.

Li Xianglian thought about it and realized that it was indeed her own children who had brought the police to the scene today. Knowing they had to keep running the stall, she stopped worrying about it.

When dinner time came, Ma Liguo and his wife also came over.

Mu Huazhen, upon seeing them, immediately took out ten yuan and slapped it on the table.

"What are you doing?" Shen Yunfang asked, puzzled.

"This is what those two scoundrels compensated you with," Mu Huazhen explained.

Shen Yunfang was still confused. They had simply taken a set of couplets, which at most would merit a compensation of twenty cents, so why give so much? Could it be that they now recognized compensation for lost time and emotional distress?

Seeing her confusion, Mu Huazhen further explained, "Shitou went to the police station later to report the situation. Those two scoundrels pilfered quite a few of your couplets; we investigated and found it to be true, so I made them compensate you." That was the origin of the ten yuan.

Shen Yunfang finally understood. It turned out to be Shitou’s doing. She didn’t expect that the boy, who seemed honest and straightforward, had such acumen.

Shen Yunfang called Shitou over to ask about the matter. Scratching his hair, Shitou sheepishly said, "I just saw them messing with our family’s Spring Festival couplets, stepping on them and leaving footprints. How could we sell those? They had to pay for what they ruined."

Shen Yunfang patted his head and praised him, saying "Good boy," and even gave him twenty cents as a reward, telling him to buy some treats for his younger brother and sister.