"Bureau Chief Liu, I can only blame my dullness, I still don’t quite understand what you’re saying!"

Wang Hao was being honest and straightforwardly expressed his confusion.

"Today, I’ll leave you with some suspense, but I think that you’re already more capable than Cheng Yin."

Liu Songlin smiled mysteriously.

The more Wang Hao heard, the more puzzled he became. Thinking carefully, he realized he only knew a few people. Even Wen Yonglin, a member of one of Zao City’s three great families, wouldn’t dare to confront Cheng Yin easily. So, who would help Wang Hao now?

Could it be Elder Wei? That shouldn’t be the case! Elder Wei had made it clear earlier that he would not take sides with anyone. After mulling it over, Wang Hao still couldn’t guess who Liu Songlin was referring to.

"Don’t waste your effort guessing, just wait quietly for him to show up, and you’ll be greatly surprised when the time comes!"

Leaving behind this enigma, Liu Songlin laughed and left the place.

After Liu Songlin left, Wang Hao instantly felt that this little old man was really wicked, clearly knowing who it was but still teasing him with this mystery.

Was he making fun of Wang Hao, or was it a deception?

Wang Hao quickly rejected his own speculation, because if Liu Songlin’s intention was to deceive Wang Hao, he wouldn’t take the risk of offending Cheng Yin to help Wang Hao.

Regrettably, he truly couldn’t think of anyone whose backing would be stronger than Cheng Yin’s.

"Could it be my dad is a general from some hidden army unit, keeping his identity secret from me?"

Wang Hao couldn’t help but let his thoughts run wild, even imagining some rather unrealistic scenarios.

"Haha, if that’s the case, you should get your dad to use his connections right away, call in an army, and then you’ll be invincible in Zao City!"

Seeing Wang Hao muttering to himself, Elder Sun couldn’t help but tease him.

Wang Hao smiled sheepishly because such an eventuality was utterly impossible; his father had never left Chen Village for many years, how could he possibly be a military officer?

Unable to think of anyone, Wang Hao decided not to dwell on it anymore and focus on analyzing the current situation instead.

"Cheng Yin is really despicable, he’s somehow omnipresent. Elder Gao, you all need to be extra careful in the future!"

Wang Hao cautioned Elder Gao.

"We haven’t had much trouble, but it’s you who should be careful. Cheng Yin seems to be targeting whatever he does now. After suffering a loss in silence this time, I doubt he will let it go. Who knows how he’ll try to deal with you next!"

Elder Gao was even more concerned for Wang Hao’s safety, knowing that Cheng Yin was a sly individual who always liked to stab people in the back.

As the saying goes, a visible spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is tough to guard against. The Sun Family brothers were always worried for Wang Hao’s safety.

However, Wang Hao didn’t like having someone follow him around all the time, so they were helpless.

"You don’t have to worry about that; the entire underground force of Zao City is now under our control. Unless they use military power, they won’t be able to touch me."

After Cheng Yin secretly sent a top female assassin to kill Wang Hao and failed, he hadn’t sent anyone else. This was enough proof that the female assassin was Cheng Yin’s trump card.

Now that even Cheng Yin’s trump card couldn’t do anything against Wang Hao, it was unlikely that Cheng Yin would send another assassin any time soon.

The herbal medicine in the greenhouses of Chen Village was about to mature, and the peak season for herbal medicine trade was approaching. Wang Hao knew that Cheng Yin would definitely try something during this process, so he had to handle it personally.

Wang Hao had intended to return to Chen Village the next day, but early in the morning, he received a call from Zhou Yingying.

"Why so early? Didn’t you sleep at all last night?"

Wang Hao was still half asleep, continually yawning.

"Cut the nonsense. What exactly happened yesterday?"

Zhou Yingying’s tone was very unfriendly, clearly coming at him with an accusatory attitude.

"What happened?"

Wang Hao was still playing dumb.

"Quit the act and tell me straight, why were you there last night, and what’s the deal with those pills you were selling?"

Zhou Yingying was totally intimidating, not giving Wang Hao any chance to retort.

"This... um..."

Wang Hao stammered, fully aware that Zhou Yingying was not just a police officer but the iron-faced, ruthless type.

But, would she get angry if she knew about Wang Hao’s multiple identities?

"Spit it out already!"

Seeing Wang Hao hesitate, Zhou Yingying urged him on the other end of the phone.

"This... Our greenhouse herbs are about to ripen, and I need to go back and check on them. Can you wait until I’m done with that to discuss whatever you need?"

Out of options, Wang Hao could only use his business as a shield.

"Is that so?"

Zhou Yingying sneered coldly on the other end of the phone.

Wang Hao shivered, suddenly feeling a bad premonition.

"I’m off work today and don’t have to go in. Why don’t I join you and check on Aunt Dong as well?"

Hearing this, Wang Hao couldn’t help but shudder internally—his bad feeling had come true. On the phone, he could still make excuses, even pretend there was a bad signal and he couldn’t hear.

But how could he escape when facing her directly?

"Fine, I’m near Xiangtan University right now, so hurry up and pick me up!"

Zhou Yingying gave Wang Hao no chance to refuse and hung up the phone after saying this.

Though Wang Hao was very reluctant, he could never stand someone up, especially not a girl.

Since taking the bus was too slow, he found a car to drive from Deshan Game Hall. Even though he didn’t have a driver’s license, he had watched others drive often enough to be quite familiar with it.

And Wang Hao’s driving skills were no worse than those of a decade-experienced driver. As long as nothing went wrong, he believed the traffic police wouldn’t catch him.

By the time he reached Xiangtan University, students had started classes, conveniently avoiding the awkwardness of Zhou Yingying and Qi Shihan meeting.

Each time these two met, they clashed as if mortal enemies—one with an invincible close-range combat style, and the other with a full-blown princess syndrome. Both were uncompromising characters, and meeting each other would surely lead to an unavoidable battle of words. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Yo, when did our Ying Ying become so pretty? If I hadn’t come closer, I might not have recognized you."

Seeing Zhou Yingying standing at the school gate, Wang Hao was genuinely surprised—usually, he saw her either in a tight-fitting uniform or in casual clothes, which looked very relaxed.

Moreover, he had never seen her wearing makeup; she always seemed to be bare-faced.

Despite this, her perfect figure and stunning features had attracted countless wolfish gazes.

"Since when did you get a driver’s license?"

Seeing Wang Hao driving up, Zhou Yingying was taken aback.

"I haven’t taken the test yet!"

Wang Hao responded truthfully.

"You actually dare admit to unlicensed driving right to a cop’s face, don’t you think you’re being a bit too arrogant?"

Zhou Yingying’s professional instincts kicked in and within three minutes, she broke her demure façade—she opened the driver’s door and shouted.

"Get out, I’ll drive!"