Just as the tension reached its boiling point, a clear, unwavering voice rose from the crowd.
"Enough."
Everyone turned to see Wang Zhenhua stepping forward, with fire in his eyes.
Despite his youthful face, the weight behind his words made the crowd fall silent.
"I’m Wang Zhenhua," he announced, lifting his chin. "Son of Wang Jian, the chairman of the Lianwu Street Comrce Association."
The Golden Earth punks froze.
So of the crowd whispered, recognizing his na. Others leaned forward, sensing sothing juicy was about to happen.
Zhenhua didn’t flinch as he faced the group. "These n, these so-called victims, aren’t here to shop, and they definitely didn’t co for noodles."
One of the thugs laughed nervously. "What’re you saying, kid? We just wanted to check the place out. This whole crowd thing? We had no idea!"
Zhenhua ignored him. His voice was calm but full of conviction.
"They’re thugs. They ca here in the past pretending to be businessn, but all they did was blackmail, threaten, and beat up our tenants."
"They drove away custors with their violent tactics, trashed stores, and then offered to buy the shops at dirt-cheap prices. They called it business. We called it what it really was extortion."
Gasps and murmurs filled the air.
The main Golden Earth lackey snarled. "That’s a damn lie! We never did anything illegal! You can’t just throw around accusations like that with no proof!"
Zhenhua’s lips curled into a smile. "Oh, I brought proof."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a tablet. With a few swipes, he turned the screen toward the crowd and tapped play. A video began.
It was grainy as it CCTV video but unmistakable.
Golden Earth n barging into a small herbal dicine shop, knocking down shelves and threatening an elderly store owner.
"Sign the damn contract, old man! Or next ti, we won’t be so nice!"
The voice on the recording matched the punk now standing red-faced by the archway.
The crowd erupted in gasps and shouts.
Even the influencer, still live-streaming, let out an audible, "Whoa..."
Zhenhua stepped up to her, showed the tablet directly to her cara, and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "This is what Golden Earth has done to us for months. This is what they’re trying to hide."
The livestream chat exploded with comnts.
"Wtf these guys are real gangsters???"
"Bro got caught in 4K lmaoo"
"Never shopping at any place tied to Golden Earth ever again."
"They should be arrested!"
The Golden Earth goons were pale now, their swagger gone. One of them tried to mumble sothing, but it was drowned out by a wave of boos and curse from the crowd.
Soone in the back shouted, "GET LOST, YOU LOWLIFE SCAMRS!"
Another threw a half-eaten bun at one of the thugs, hitting him square in the chest.
Red-faced, the Golden Earth n turned to leave.
But before they could retreat fully, Zhao Yiming stepped beside Wang Zhenhua, arms folded, his voice slicing the air.
"One more thing," Zhao said, casually pulling out a docunt folder.
"As I told you before and over and over again, I am the official owner of Lianwu street."
Zhao Yiming took out sothing from his pocket, it was a na card with big na of him and his company and throw it at them.
"If you tried to do sothing stupid like this again, I will report all of this to the police."
He let his sentence hang, then turned to the now-filming influencer and smiled. "and you’ll be going viral for all the wrong reasons."
The crowd cheered.
Luo Yanyu gave Zhao a thumbs up and clapped her hands slowly as Ruan Lihua who watching from far away nodded in proud.
Golden Earth had no coback, no power, no place here anymore.
With their heads down, they slunk away like roaches in daylight.
As the crowd returned to shopping, eating, and laughing, the once-chaotic square now buzzed with relief and victory.
Zhao Yiming sighed, stretching his arms. "Well, that was fun."
Wang Zhenhua grinned. "Think that’ll go on the news?"
"Hope so," Zhao smirked. "We can get free advertisent from it, you know?"
And with that, the celebration continued.
Zhao Yiming and Luo Yanyu made their way toward the center of the eating competition, weaving through the crowd until they spotted Su ilin already there—standing near the front, her eyes gleaming with excitent and a cara in hand.
She kept snapping pictures nonstop like a professional photographer on caffeine.
"Ah, ilin!" Zhao Yiming called out.
She turned and waved cheerfully, then imdiately raised her cara and took a picture of him and Yanyu. Click!
"Sister ilin finally found a new hobby besides knitting, huh?" Yanyu said with a teasing smile.
The two won had grown surprisingly close in a short amount of ti. Zhao Yiming often caught them laughing together in whispers, only to fall silent the mont he entered the room—as if they’d just been gossiping about him.
And honestly, he preferred it that way. It ant they were bonding.
ilin laughed without missing a beat. "Well, since Yanyu’s on security duty today, I thought I’d help out as the official docuntation staff!" She bead, lifting her cara with pride and snapping another photo of the crowd.
"Just don’t forget to get my good side," Zhao Yiming chuckled.
"Oh, don’t worry. I’ve got plenty of those already," ilin winked.
The host suddenly shouted into the mic with dramatic flair, "And next up... Officer Han Queying!"
The crowd erupted in surprise and amusent.
Zhao Yiming blinked. "Wait, she joined?! As expected... That woman spice tolerance is crazy." he shake his head.
After all, anyone who could eat his ex-wife Wen Qiao’s spicy noodles was basically superhuman in his book. That stuff was lethal.
And for this competition, he had taken Wen Qiao’s original recipe and doubled the spice—turning it into a true trial by fire. All part of a clever little sche to advertise their noodle shop, of course.
Banners featuring Wen Qiao and their daughter’s shop were plastered all over the venue, swaying proudly in the spring breeze.
Luo Yanyu whistled, clearly impressed. "Damn, she’s braver than I thought."
Su ilin nudged Zhao’s side with a playful grin. "You sure you want to keep flirting with a woman who can eat lava without blinking?"
He just laughed in awkwardness as they focused on the competition again.
The spotlight hit Han Queying as she casually walked up to the table, her long hair tied up with a calm expression on her face—as if she were about to handle paperwork instead of ten bowls of the spiciest noodles in the province.
The tir started and Han Queying dug in.
She didn’t blink, she didn’t sweat, and she didn’t even reach for her water.
One bowl down, two, three.
By the ti she finished the tenth, the crowd had gathered around in stunned silence, many holding their mouths and fanning themselves just from the sll of the spices.
Han Queying stood up, gave a crisp military-style thumbs-up to the crowd, and calmly dabbed her lips with a tissue.
"Justice burns hotter," she said coolly.
The audience went wild.
Zhao Yiming clapped the loudest, laughing in disbelief. "Okay, okay, I officially respect her now. That was terrifying and majestic at the sa ti."
"She could probably torture soone with just her cooking," Luo Yanyu snorted.
"You an her appetite," ilin added with a giggle.
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