Chapter 228: "You’re a pretty scary boss.
Chapter 228: Chapter 228: "You’re a pretty scary boss.
The Liu Family was dead set on leeching off her.
Shen Lu felt a massive headache coming on.
She composed herself and said in the calmest tone she could manage, "You can’t stay with me in the employee dorms. How about this? I’ll take you somewhere else to stay."
"I’m not going," Liu Yaozu declared. "I’m staying in your dorm."
Other places wouldn’t be as nice as the employee dorms. The Lower City District was full of tin shacks that were freezing in the winter and scorching in the summer—hardly fit for human habitation.
’Shen Lu’s dorm has to be better than a tin shack. I’m not an idiot. Why would I pass up a good place to go live in one of those?’
Shen Lu shot Liu Yaozu an icy glare. "If I offend my boss, are you going to be the one to pay the price?"
"You can fool Mom and Dad, but you can’t fool me. You don’t have a boss. You’re the owner of this shop."
Liu Yaozu said it with absolute certainty, as if he had gotten some inside scoop.
"On the surface, it looks like my shop, but the real owner is someone else. As for why I’m the public face... well, if you don’t mind waiting, you can find out when he gets back."
"Fine, then we’ll wait," Liu Yaozu said from his stretcher, looking like he wouldn’t leave until he got to the bottom of things.
Luckily, there weren’t many customers at the moment, so it wouldn’t affect business. Shen Lu told them to wait in one of the booths.
Cai Su came over to Shen Lu and asked if she should bring them some water.
"Don’t. Let them be thirsty." Shen Lu was seething inwardly. ’There was no way she was giving the Liu Family water.’
Around five-thirty in the afternoon, the Wang sisters and Fang Ming arrived to deliver some materials. After Shen Lu paid them, Wang Daguo led the three of them away.
Song Zhigao and the others also left for the day one after another. Soon, Fu Cheng and Ye Fan returned.
Long before they got back, Shen Lu had already explained the situation to Fu Cheng via her Light Brain. So when Fu Cheng returned, his face was grim, his expression as frosty as ice.
Because he had been going out frequently lately, Fu Cheng had bought a wheelchair from the hospital to make getting around easier.
The wheelchair could connect to his Light Brain and execute his commands. It wasn’t just for flat surfaces, either; it could transform its wheels, making it easy to go up and down stairs.
Fu Cheng piloted his wheelchair into the shop, acting as if he hadn’t noticed the Liu Family in the booth area, and went straight to the second floor.
Shen Lu walked over to the Liu Family. "You wanted to see my boss, right? That was him, the one in the wheelchair."
Liu Qiang stammered, "But... isn’t he a cripple?"
’Who uses a wheelchair for no reason?’ And he had seen it clearly—the man didn’t just have a severed arm; he was missing a leg, too.
"Dad, how can you say that?" Shen Lu frowned. She hated that Liu Qiang had used the word "cripple" to describe Fu Cheng.
"Dad’s not wrong," Liu Yaozu chimed in to support him.
Shen Lu shot back, "You have some nerve talking. Look at the state you’re in."
"How is it the same? My arms and legs are still attached! I just need to rest for a bit, and I’ll be as good as new!"
"Enough. I’m not wasting my breath on you. You’ve seen him. Now come with me, and I’ll get you settled somewhere else." Shen Lu had no patience for arguing in circles with them. The only thing that mattered was getting them out of her shop.
’She did not want these three eyesores hanging around her little shop.’
"Stop trying to fool me! I’m staying right here!" Liu Yaozu started making a scene. It was a tactic he often used with family, and it usually worked.
Unfortunately for him, Shen Lu didn’t consider him real family, so she certainly wasn’t going to indulge him.
Yang Jing, feeling sorry for her son, also spoke up for him. "Little Deer, your brother just had surgery. A clean place would be better for his recovery. Why don’t you plead with your boss for him?"
"No." Fu Cheng had come back downstairs at some point. Though he was shorter than everyone else while sitting in his wheelchair, the powerful aura he exuded made it impossible to underestimate him. "I don’t welcome outsiders in my establishment."
As long as Fu Cheng was careful not to speak too quickly or in long sentences, he sounded perfectly normal. In fact, the deep, deliberate cadence of his voice was incredibly intimidating.
Never mind the Liu Family; even Shen Lu couldn’t help but do a double-take.
’Is this the same Fu Cheng I know?’
’He spoke so coldly, and his gaze was so sharp it could kill, crushing any thought of defiance.’
’Then again,’ Shen Lu thought, ’it made sense.’
Fu Cheng had been the eldest son of the Fu Family, the one they had poured all their resources into grooming. He was also a top cadet at the Imperial Military Academy. It was only natural that he would have developed such an extraordinary presence.
He might be disabled and down on his luck now, but putting on an intimidating front to scare the likes of the Liu Family was a piece of cake for him.
Liu Yaozu was a classic bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. Even though the man facing him was a "cripple" in a wheelchair, Liu Yaozu couldn’t bring himself to speak, let alone make eye contact.
Yang Jing was the same. The two of them were as quiet as mice, leaving Liu Qiang to face the pressure alone.
Liu Qiang shot a desperate, pleading look at Shen Lu, but she just stared at the floor, feigning complete indifference.
He had no choice but to muster his courage and speak up for his family. "B-Boss, we’re not troublemakers. We’re Little Deer’s family. We were just reunited after so long and wanted to stay together. Please, have a heart, do us this one kindness."
Fu Cheng turned to Shen Lu. "This is your family?"
Shen Lu, looking properly terrified, replied, "Yes."
"I told you. No outsiders are allowed to loiter in the shop. The penalty for violating that rule is 200 Star Coins." Fu Cheng was cold and ruthless. "It’s coming out of your next month’s pay."
Shen Lu gave Fu Cheng a mental thumbs-up for his performance. Outwardly, she forced a pained smile and said pitifully, "It’s my fault."
"Get them out of here now. If anything like this happens again, it won’t be a simple 200 Star Coin fine."
With that, Fu Cheng maneuvered his wheelchair and left without a backward glance.
The moment he was gone, the tense atmosphere in the room finally dissipated.
Yang Jing clutched her chest and whispered, "That boss of yours is terrifying."
Shen Lu said, "You saw it for yourselves. It’s not that I don’t want you here, it’s that my boss doesn’t."
Liu Yaozu was still sullen. "Tch, he’s just a cripple."
He muttered that last word under his breath. He tried to sound dismissive, but he was still terrified of Fu Cheng.
’He’s that intimidating in a wheelchair... How terrifying would he be if he weren’t injured?’
"I’d advise you not to say things like that again." He had said it quietly, but Shen Lu had still heard him. "My boss is a Superpower User, a high-level one. If you actually make him angry, he could take your life in a heartbeat."
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy her anger, so Shen Lu added, "It would be as easy as killing a dog, and he wouldn’t even face any legal repercussions."
Liu Yaozu was indignant. ’What does she mean, "like killing a dog"? I’m not a dog!’
But all he did was shoot Shen Lu an angry glare, not daring to say another word.
Seeing that he had finally been cowed, Shen Lu immediately led the Liu Family out of the shop.