Xia Ying snorted and lowered her head, continuing to work on her calculations.
Seeing that she was ignoring him, Gouzi became anxious. He stepped closer and asked in a low voice,
"Are you Xia Ying?"
Hearing this, Xia Ying looked up again, her brows tightly furrowed.
"How do you know my name? Who are you?"
After confirming that she was indeed Xia Ying, Gouzi relaxed slightly and let out a breath. He reached into his clothes as he spoke,
"I'm here to deliver something to you. There are two—"
Before he could finish, Xia Ying suddenly screamed,
"Why are you taking off your clothes? How dare you act like a hooligan in a department store?"
"Help! Someone is being indecent here!"
Gouzi: "???"
He looked down and realized that, in his hurry, his movements had been too forceful. He had accidentally undone two buttons on his patched shirt, exposing part of his firm chest.
Just as he was about to explain, customers and sales clerks nearby had already gathered around him, all pointing fingers and accusing him:
"What's wrong with you? Where did this thug come from, causing trouble in our store?"
"Look! He's even unbuttoned his shirt—he must be a hooligan!"
"In broad daylight, how disgraceful! We can't tolerate this kind of behavior! Beat him!"
Encouraged by a self-righteous old man, the crowd surged forward and started hitting Gouzi!
Gouzi quickly crouched down, protecting the watches hidden in his clothes while shouting loudly,
"I'm not a hooligan! I came to find Xia Ying! Su Yun sent me!"
The moment Xia Ying heard the name "Su Yun," she immediately fell silent.
The next second, she hurriedly pushed through the crowd, grabbed Gouzi by the collar, and asked,
"What did you say? Su Yun sent you?"
Gouzi looked up with a bruised face and replied bitterly,
"That's right! Su Yun asked me to come find you and bring you two boxes of goods!"
Hearing this, Xia Ying finally understood—it had all been a misunderstanding.
She quickly stopped the crowd.
"Everyone, stop! It's a misunderstanding! He's my friend—we were just joking around! Please stop!"
The agitated crowd gradually calmed down. After hearing that it was just a misunderstanding, they scolded both of them a bit more before finally dispersing.
---
A moment later, Gouzi was squatting behind the watch counter, holding his face. He took out the two intact watch boxes from inside his clothes and handed them to Xia Ying without a word.
Xia Ying took the watches and opened the boxes. The gleaming metallic shine of the mechanical watches immediately stunned her.
After putting them away, she said awkwardly to Gouzi,
"You really should've just said you were looking for me. Earlier, you were whistling and making strange noises—I thought something was wrong with you."
Gouzi didn't want to say another word. He covered his face, stood up, and left.
"I've delivered the goods. Let's part ways here—we won't meet again!"
---
That evening, Su Yun returned home in a good mood. She noticed that her father, Su Wenshan, had come back early and was sitting on the kang, smoking his pipe.
Her mother, Chen Xiue, sat beside him on a stool, picking water spinach while saying,
"Don't be too upset. Even though there were rumors in the factory about making you the model worker, there was never any official notice. Now that someone else got the position, there's nothing we can do."
"To be honest, I never wanted you to be in the spotlight anyway. Those thieves acted in groups—who knows if they were all caught? If some accomplices are still out there, whoever becomes the model worker could become a target. Don't you think?"
Su Wenshan understood the reasoning, but he still felt uneasy.
After exhaling a puff of smoke, he said gloomily,
"I just didn't expect Section Chief Wei to be that kind of person."
Chen Xiue curled her lips.
"What's so surprising? There's a saying—'You can know a person's face but not their heart.' Some people act like brothers to your face but stab you in the back. That's perfectly normal."
Just then, she noticed Su Yun entering and greeted her,
"Xiao Yun, you're back. Come and talk some sense into your father. At his age, he's still brooding over this—he even skipped work this afternoon!"
Hearing this, Su Yun walked over in surprise and asked,
"Dad, what happened? You've always been a model worker at the steel factory—you've never skipped work before! You were even praised for working while sick!"
Chen Xiue shot her a look.
"Don't mention praise. The factory originally planned to make your father a model worker, but when they made the announcement today, Section Chief Wei from the security department replaced him."
"Your father got upset, didn't even eat lunch, and came home early."
Su Yun was shocked.
"How could that happen? Didn't Uncle Xia say the factory had already decided on Dad? How could they suddenly change their minds? That's too much!"
Chen Xiue nodded in agreement.
"Exactly! If they didn't want him to be the model, they should've said so from the start. Why give him hope first and then disappoint him?"
Su Yun continued,
"Did you ask Uncle Xia? Maybe he knows something?"
Su Wenshan replied in a low voice,
"Your Uncle Xia said that Section Chief Wei gave a gift to Deputy Director Jiang a few days ago. After that, the model position went to Wei."
"Deputy Director Jiang?" Su Yun was even more surprised.
That didn't make sense!
In her memory, although Deputy Director Jiang was somewhat smooth in dealing with people, he was still fair. Otherwise, in her previous life, he wouldn't have spoken up for Su Wenshan and saved his life.
Su Wenshan sighed and knocked out his pipe.
"Forget it. It's already settled. There's no point talking about it now."
Even so, he clearly felt dejected.
He had devoted half his life to the steel factory—this incident had truly hurt him.
Seeing this, Su Yun tried to comfort him,
"Dad, not being chosen as the model worker might not be a bad thing. Gu Hai said that the thieves caught last time were desperate criminals from the capital. Mom is right—there might still be accomplices out there. Whoever becomes the model worker could very likely be targeted for revenge!"
Chen Xiue, who had just gone to the kitchen with the vegetables, came back in and immediately asked nervously upon hearing this,
"Xiao Yun, is that true? Did Gu Hai really say that?"
Before Su Yun could answer, she already believed it.
Turning to Su Wenshan, she said firmly,
"You hear that? Whoever becomes the model worker is the unlucky one. Good thing it wasn't you!"
Su Wenshan held his pipe, his face suddenly filled with worry.
Instead of thinking about himself, he immediately looked at Su Yun.
"Xiao Yun, if those thieves find out that you reported them, won't they come after you?"
Su Yun reassured him,
"No, they won't. Gu Hai has already arranged things with the police—no one will know it was me who reported them…"
"What?"
Chen Xiue suddenly raised her voice and cut in, staring sharply at Su Yun.
"So it was you who reported it?"
"You reckless girl! How dare you lie to me and say it was your father's idea!"
"Where do you think you're going? Stop right there—see how I deal with you today!"
Su Yun didn't dare explain. She turned and ran straight back into her room. No matter how hard Chen Xiue knocked on the door, she refused to open it.
Sure enough, what goes around comes around—no one escapes it!