Chapter 284: The Lower City District Almost Exploded
Chapter 284: Chapter 284: The Lower City District Almost Exploded
Shen Lu finished cooking the last dish and had Xiao Lang take it out.
She changed out of her chef’s uniform, and as she walked out of the kitchen, she saw Xue Can walk through the door.
"Perfect timing. Time to eat."
Xue Can: "Thank you for your hard work, Boss Shen."
"It was no trouble. I had to make dinner for myself anyway."
The two of them walked side-by-side into the dining area. Cai Su, Huo Qian, and the others had already set the table, so all they had to do was sit down and eat.
Xiao Lang looked at the empty seats where Ye Fan and Lin Zhou used to sit and sighed like a little adult. "Are Brother Ye and Brother Lin not going to eat with us anymore?"
Ye Fan and Lin Zhou had stepped down from their security posts at Little Deer Cuisine. Under Xue Can’s arrangement, they had gone off to a new mission.
"If there’s a chance, we’ll still be able to eat together," said Cai Su.
"Brother Ye eats so much. Will he be able to get enough to eat elsewhere?" Xiao Lang asked worriedly.
"Don’t worry. Your Brother Ye is a capable man. He can get his fill no matter where he goes." Shen Lu scooped a spoonful of steamed egg for Xiao Lang, then habitually gave the second spoonful to Fu Cheng. Only on the third scoop did she serve herself.
A pang of bitterness shot through Xue Can’s heart as he watched. He shot Fu Cheng a disdainful sideways glance before picking up a piece of braised pork rib and placing it in Shen Lu’s bowl.
’He really didn’t know where Fu Cheng got the nerve to tell him he couldn’t pursue Shen Lu. Was it because he was shameless enough to live off a woman without a hint of guilt?’
’A grown man needing to be taken care of at every turn—didn’t he feel ashamed at all?’
"Thank you." Shen Lu glanced at the extra rib in her bowl, a little surprised. "You don’t have to do that, Mr. Xue."
Xue Can gave a soft "Mm" and buried his head in his food.
Fu Cheng raised his hand, ladled a bowl of spinach and egg soup, and quietly placed it by Shen Lu’s hand.
Shen Lu: ?
Shen Lu didn’t understand why, but she ate the rib and drank the soup anyway. After all, she liked both dishes.
’Mmm~ My cooking is so good. The ingredients are fresh, too. The dishes I make are absolutely delicious!’
After dinner, the dishwashing was left to Cai Su, and Shen Lu was called over by Xue Can.
"I’ve already taken care of Boss Jin." Xue Can paused. "And his illegitimate children and mistresses—I found all of them and cleaned up everything."
Shen Lu was slightly taken aback. ’He’s a professional mercenary, all right. Xue Can really earned his rank as leader.’
’Look at this thoroughness, this attention to detail. Xue Can had even thought of things she hadn’t.’
"I just wanted to save you some trouble down the line." Afraid Shen Lu would think him cold-blooded and ruthless, Xue Can quickly explained, "If I didn’t clean up properly, they might have tried to retaliate. It wouldn’t have been a serious threat to you, but..."
"Thank you. I hadn’t even thought of that." Shen Lu hadn’t given Boss Jin’s mistresses or illegitimate children a single thought; she’d just figured killing Boss Jin would solve everything.
Seeing that Shen Lu hadn’t misunderstood, Xue Can breathed a sigh of relief. This was what he had been busy with for the past two days, which was why he hadn’t had time to come for dinner.
He had come over immediately after finishing up today.
AHEM. ’It wasn’t because he wanted Shen Lu’s praise or thanks. He just wanted to make sure his paying client got their money’s worth!’
"Little Deer." Fu Cheng came up behind them. "The evening news is starting."
Shen Lu: "Hm?"
’She didn’t usually watch this. Why was Fu Cheng specifically reminding her about it?’
"Gong Tianhua is apologizing."
Shen Lu’s eyes widened. She immediately opened the evening news live broadcast on her Light Brain.
On the screen, a slightly disheveled Gong Tianhua sat in an interrogation room, holding a script and reading from it with an apologetic expression.
"...I have failed the trust of the government and the trust of the people. My thinking has gone astray, and I have made erroneous decisions that have hurt everyone who believed in me. Here, I wish to once again sincerely apologize, and I hope to receive everyone’s forgiveness..."
If one looked closely, one could see Gong Tianhua’s fingers trembling from the force of his grip, and there was a hint of gritted teeth in his tone as he spoke.
’He wasn’t wrong.’
’He wasn’t wrong at all!’
But he had no choice but to admit fault.
If he didn’t, he would be sentenced to death.
Gong Tianhua had no other option. He could only agree to a public apology to save his own life.
The video of his apology was also broadcast live throughout the entire Imperial City. It could be seen anywhere with a screen.
The reaction in the Upper City District was muted. After all, those illegal agents had nothing to do with them and had no impact on their lives.
But the Lower City District was practically in an uproar.
In the previous one or two months, the death toll had surged. The explanation given by the relevant government departments was that people were dying from eating unregulated Insect Cakes.
The residents of the Lower City District didn’t believe it, because almost everyone had eaten unregulated Insect Cakes. If there was really a problem with them, wouldn’t the entire Lower City District be wiped out?
But afterward, the government took no further action and offered no other explanation. The people were unconvinced but had no way to appeal, so they were all holding in their resentment.
It wasn’t until Gong Tianhua’s live video came out yesterday that some residents of the Lower City District saw it, and it spread with incredible speed.
Although the video was later forcibly blocked, they couldn’t stop the power of rumor. After being passed around multiple times, the story became more and more distorted.
Some radicals were even entertaining thoughts of an uprising and had already begun to secretly rally support.
Now, Gong Tianhua’s public apology served as an explanation. Many details didn’t need to be stated explicitly; people would fill in the blanks themselves.
"So the mutant beasts that have been appearing in the Lower City District recently didn’t sneak in from outside the city at all, but were created by this Gong Tianhua guy?!"
"That’s right! No wonder there’s a 100,000 Star Coin reward for catching one. It never used to be that expensive to catch a mutant beast—a few tens of thousands of Star Coins at most. Turns out he was using public funds for his own private mess. No wonder he was being so generous."
"And the thing about the unregulated Insect Cakes, that must have been a lie made up by this Gong Tianhua!"
"How could he be so evil! Using our lives for experiments, isn’t he afraid of retribution?"
...
Not only did Gong Tianhua publicly apologize and get removed from office and imprisoned, but the government would also soon distribute extra relief supplies in the Lower City District as compensation.
Once this news was released, any remaining discontent among the common folk of the Lower City District vanished.
They were just that easy to satisfy.
But some people were not so happy.
「The Fu Family, The Study」
Fu Haiting, the Fu Family Head, chain-smoked half a pack of cigarettes before another urgent message from Zhao Changjiang came in.
Zhao Changjiang: This situation blew up in our faces, which nobody wanted. Having Gong Tianhua take all the blame is the best possible outcome now. As for the compensation that follows, you’re not just going to stand by and do nothing, are you, my friend? After all, you were involved in this transformation agent business too.
Fu Haiting crushed his cigarette butt: How did this get discovered? Didn’t you say it was completely safe?
Zhao Changjiang: You’re asking me? How should I know? Even Gong Tianhua himself doesn’t know!
Zhao Changjiang: To make sure the experiment went smoothly, I even came up with an excuse to send Gao Weineng on a business trip to Shanghai. Who knows where he got his information from, but he didn’t notify anyone and just came storming back.
Zhao Changjiang: You know as well as I do, Gao Weineng is one of the Royal Family’s people. And just like that, everything was exposed.
Fu Haiting cracked his knuckles, fighting the urge to retort, ’You government people are a bunch of useless idiots. No wonder the Royal Family has kept you under their thumb for so many years.’