Lin Chuan could no longer stand by and do nothing. He squeezed his way out of the crowd with a chuckle: "Yo, Long Wu, bullying a young girl, are we?"

"You?" Long Wu was taken aback.

The few men following Long Wu all stared at Lin Chuan, and four or five of them encircled him in a siege-like manner. The young girl pushing the bicycle looked at Lin Chuan nervously, fearing that he might get involved because of sticking up for her.

"Tsk tsk, look at you grown men, bullying a young girl like this. How does that look?" Lin Chuan frowned.

"Kid, don't stick your nose into other people's business!" The punk with blonde hair knew he was no match for Lin Chuan, but in the Huainan Road area, he was considered a big shot, and he couldn't afford to lose face in front of so many people. He walked towards Lin Chuan, swinging the iron rod in his hand.

"Paying back debts is only natural." Long Wu sneered: "What? Do you want to play the savior? It's fine, just pay off her debt for her."

Lin Chuan frowned—this time, Long Wu didn't confront him head-on because he felt justified. It's not the unreasonable thugs that you fear, but those who start talking sense. Long Wu is now talking about reason, so how could Lin Chuan recklessly fight him? Even if he won, it wouldn't be a righteous victory. Lin Chuan smiled and said: "So, as long as the money is paid, you'll stop harassing her?"

"Exactly." Long Wu nodded and said: "Brother, I am a reasonable person after all."

Long Wu touched his smooth bald head. The cast on his arm had been removed, but the metal plate inside still needed at least three months to be taken out, and that depended on the bone healing process.

"Tell me, how much money?" Lin Chuan asked.

"Fifty thousand!" Long Wu held up five fingers.

"Nonsense." At this point, the girl became anxious: "I only borrowed twenty thousand from him."

"Little bitch. You don't want to pay interest?" Long Wu glared at her. The girl glared fiercely back at him as Long Wu sneered: "Borrowing money from me is compounded daily. Two percent daily compounded interest. Fifty thousand is actually a small amount."

Lin Chuan felt his pockets—forget about fifty thousand, he couldn't even pull out five hundred. That Porsche broke down in the morning because he couldn't afford to refill it.

Click...

Lin Chuan took a drag of his cigarette and said: "Your Porsche, against this fifty thousand, are you in or not?"

"Dammit, you're selling my car back to me?" Long Wu got furious.

"No, it's my car." Lin Chuan replied: "If you don't want it, I will have it towed away and sold outside the city."

"Want it, want it!" Long Wu quickly nodded his head.

"Alright, hand over the IOU." Lin Chuan stretched out his hand.

Long Wu hesitated for a moment, then handed over the IOU to Lin Chuan. He hurriedly asked: "Where are the car keys?"

"Here you go!" Lin Chuan tossed the Porsche keys to him.

Long Wu was thrilled. Having gotten his vehicle back, and it only cost him twenty thousand to redeem his own car, Long Wu was truly happy. He waved to his men and said: "Let's go bring the car back!"

Afterward, the men quickly scrambled into a Changhe van. The old van puffed out a cloud of black smoke as it sadly drove off.

Lin Chuan handed the IOU back to the girl: "What's your name?"

"Brother, my name is Nuo Xiaoxi." The girl stuffed the IOU into Lin Chuan's hand, saying: "I can't take your money, let's just say I'm borrowing it from you, and I will definitely work hard to pay you back."

The girl spoke with a resounding voice. It was clear that she was a child with backbone. Lin Chuan smiled, kept the IOU, and asked: "Xiaoxi, why... why did you borrow money from Long Wu?"

"Last year, my dad was in the late stage of liver cancer..." Nuo Xiaoxi hung her head, her eyes brimming with tears.

Another child with a tragic story. She lost her father in the second grade and had only her disabled mother left. Desperate in the hospital, Long Wu's underling took the opportunity to lend her twenty thousand to rush for emergency aid. Unfortunately, the twenty thousand still couldn't save Nuo Xiaoxi's father's life. In the end, he passed away, leaving behind more than a hundred thousand in debt for Nuo Xiaoxi to bear alone, for which she resolutely dropped out of school to work in food delivery.

"You dropped out of school?" Lin Chuan looked at her in surprise.

"Yes." Nuo Xiaoxi nodded and said: "I owed too much money, I... I had no choice."

"Sigh..." Lin Chuan was conflicted. How could he just watch a child who's suffered so much drop out of school? But he was also like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river, unable to help himself. Lin Chuan smiled and said: "Now you have one less debt, you can go back to school."

"I still owe a lot to relatives." Nuo Xiaoxi's voice wavered, her nose red as she said: "Brother, I know you are a good person."

Afterward, Nuo Xiaoxi took down Lin Chuan's number and then quietly pushed her bicycle away, leaving behind the scattered food. Lin Chuan watched Nuo Xiaoxi's back, feeling a tightness in his heart, always feeling that such a good girl's wonderful youth was being wasted, which was truly too pitiful.

"Sigh, such a hard-luck child." An old man exhaled a sigh.

"To think, with Old Nuo sick like that, going to that hospital…" Another middle-aged man said with a bitter smile: "Couldn't save the person, and it even dragged down his daughter, sigh…"

"Honestly, it's also because our country's medical system isn't robust."

Passers-by started discussing among themselves. If the medical care of a country was well-established, how could such tragedies occur? Out of curiosity, Lin Chuan asked: "Where is this girl from?"

"Where else could it be?" the middle-aged man laughed, "It's from Changlin Factory. Old Nuo was once a labor role model there, endured hardships when he was young, and suffered a lifetime of illness. He passed away before even getting old. After the factory collapsed, he got a few tens of thousands when laid off; that's not even enough to cover medical treatments."

A group of people were discussing this.

For Lin Chuan, it felt within the realm of reason; it seemed he hadn't done anything wrong this time.

Beep beep beep…

As Lin Chuan was puzzling over the situation, his phone started ringing. He quickly answered, "Hello, Secretary Tang."

"Come to the City Committee immediately," Tang Yumeng's voice sounded urgent.

"Alright, I... I'll be right there." Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan immediately realized something important had happened.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chuan hurried out to hail a cab. Forget the lack of taxis; even if one was available, considering the current traffic congestion, he would likely get to the City Committee faster on foot. Lin Chuan became panicked: "Damn it, are they forcing me to run there?"

The distance from this intersection to the City Committee was estimated to be about eight kilometers. Even under slightly congested driving conditions, it would take half an hour. Today, he would have to run it. Lin Chuan gritted his teeth and dashed towards the direction of the City Committee. He controlled his pace to avoid drawing astonishing attention.

Boss Zhang was a local tycoon in Jiangbei City. In his early years, he collected scraps, later opened several recycling centers, and made quite a bit of money. He bought a Mercedes and kept a mistress. Every morning, driving his Mercedes to the company with his mistress in tow, he occasionally amused himself by squeezing her ample bosom, eliciting coquettish giggles from her, which greatly pleased him.

In the morning, the trip to the company had been relatively smooth. After being held up by a few traffic lights, he sped up to fifty miles per hour.

Whoosh...

Suddenly, a figure appeared from behind, chasing and running past the car.

"A penniless nobody without a car," Boss Zhang displayed both rows of his yellow-stained teeth, showing chive bits caught between them from last night's chive pockets.

"Wow, he's so fast!" the mistress beside him exclaimed, covering her red lips.

This remark reminded Boss Zhang. Looking down at his speedometer, his eyes bulged at the sight: the car was going fifty miles per hour. Rolling down the window, he shouted, "Hey kid, let's race. If you can catch up with me in one minute, I'll give you ten thousand yuan!"

Lin Chuan glanced over and suddenly accelerated.

"Oh, not too shabby," Boss Zhang said with delight. He pressed the accelerator, speeding up his car. However, traffic soon became congested ahead, preventing him from going any faster than fifty miles per hour.

One minute later, Boss Zhang thought Lin Chuan had disappeared, driving on in annoyance.

Thump, thump, thump...

Suddenly, a figure appeared beside his car and knocked on the window. Boss Zhang jumped, rolling down the glass: "Kid, you've got quite the stamina."

"The money!" Lin Chuan demanded, extending his hand.

"What money?" Boss Zhang feigned ignorance.

"Do you know who I am?" Lin Chuan asked.

"No idea," Boss Zhang shook his head.

Clang...

Lin Chuan threw a punch, and the car's windshield cracked on the spot. Lin Chuan said with a laugh, "Looks like ten thousand won't be enough now, eh?"

With that, Lin Chuan took off running.

"Damn it!" Boss Zhang exploded in fury. He pushed open the car door in pursuit of Lin Chuan but, with his physique, he quickly ran out of steam after a few steps.

…

City Committee, emergency situation.

A chemical plant explosion occurred in Jiangdong District of Jiangbei City, causing a large spread of pollutants. As the Secretary of Jiangbei City, Tang Yumeng had to rush to the scene to investigate immediately and took charge of assessing the situation, including evacuating the nearby residents.

An emergency meeting had already been convened early this morning at the City Committee for this matter; however, the incident had led to significant disagreements.

"I disagree," said Deputy Secretary Song at this moment, waving his hand. "The most important thing now is not to investigate the situation, nor to evacuate residents, but to contain the news to prevent widespread panic."

"How can we withhold information at a time like this?" Tang Yumeng said anxiously, "We must evacuate the public immediately and hold a press conference to promptly disclose the latest information. We absolutely cannot conceal or cover it up."

"Secretary Tang, you haven't been an official for long," said Deputy Secretary Song anxiously, "This incident involves a wide scope. Once it draws the attention of higher authorities, neither of us can escape the responsibility. Therefore, the top priority now is to suppress the news and then investigate."

Tang Yumeng replied, "Secretary Song, we are Communists first and foremost. We must prioritize the safety of the people. The most critical issue now is evacuating the public and providing prompt medical rescue. Concealment is not an option. We, as leaders, should have the courage to accept responsibility, instead of shirking it."

The discussion continued without a final resolution, but Tang Yumeng stood by her principles. When an incident occurred, saving lives was the foremost priority.

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