Chapter 126 – If You Start Dating, I’ll Break Your Legs!

The aerobics performance didn’t end until much later.

Even then, Little Qi was still giving Miss Jiang the cold shoulder, barely acknowledging her.

Jiang Ning found it pretty amusing.

She couldn’t help teasing her.

“Jealous?”

“Mad?”

With just those two sentences, Little Qi’s cheeks turned bright red. She threw down a single line—

“Jiang Ning, you’re so annoying!”

Then ran off on her own.

Seeing this, Old Man Jiang didn’t bother to chase her.

Instead, she stayed where she was, rubbing her chin while quietly watching that graceful figure disappear into the crowd.

Based on her years of experience, Little Qi was clearly pouting and being jealous.

If she chased after her now, she’d probably get hit with a wave of emotional outburst.

She had no interest in walking into that.

So Jiang Ning just followed the crowd and walked off in another direction.

After a while—

A voice suddenly called out to her.

“Jiang Ning.”

Startled, she turned to look.

It was a middle-aged man with a stern face and a serious expression, dressed in a patrol officer’s uniform. He leaned against the wall, calmly watching her.

Jiang Ning instinctively glanced around.

After confirming he was indeed talking to her, she hesitated for a moment, then walked a few steps forward.

“Uncle Patrol, you called me?”

“I’m Yao Qirong.”

Uh…

Nuomici’s dad?

What’s he doing here?

Jiang Ning’s mental CPU started running at lightning speed, but outwardly she put on a sweet smile.

“So it’s Uncle Yao!”

“Are you here to see Senior Yao Yao?”

“I just saw her head backstage—probably went to change clothes?”

“I know,” Yao Qirong said calmly, then frowned slightly at her.

“There’s something I’m curious about. I’d like to have a chat.”

“Of course, Uncle Yao, go ahead.”

Although Jiang Ning was on high alert, her expression was perfectly composed, looking polite and attentive.

“Three months ago, we made a deal.”

“We helped get your mom’s boyfriend sent inside.”

“Later I looked into it.”

“Chen Zhenguo had a police report for assaulting you. At the time, he was already a low-level gang figure, so locking him up didn’t go against our rules.”

Jiang Ning had no idea why the head of Qinghu District’s patrol bureau would say these things out here in such a public place.

She paused, then nodded lightly.

“Uncle Yao, are you wondering how I got that information?”

She had anticipated that Yao Qirong would come knocking sooner or later.

So she’d prepared a cover story in advance: that she stumbled across the information accidentally while picking up a batch of stuffed animals.

Nine parts truth, one part lie—impossible to verify.

However—

What caught Jiang Ning off guard was that Yao Qirong wasn’t interested in how she got that info.

He continued, still frowning:

“A month ago, the Jiangzhou Catering Enterprise Association invited your shop to join.”

“You refused.”

“Half a month ago, they invited you again. You refused again.”

“Then they colluded with a few of your suppliers, like Wang Quanming and the others, using price hikes to suppress you.”

“A week ago, they invited you once more. You still refused.”

“After that, all sorts of negative rumors started spreading about your shop, and most of your suppliers cut you off.”

“But you still kept refusing.”

“Then yesterday, the second-in-command of Jiangzhou, along with eight people linked to him, were all taken away.”

“Among them, the only one not from the official compound—was the Catering Association.”

At this point, Yao Qirong’s stiff face actually showed a rare trace of expression.

“Yesterday, Li Mingyu even called me to ask some questions.”

“That made me start having some strange thoughts.”

“It seems like anyone who crosses you… ends up mysteriously sent away.”

That wretched woman Li Mingyu!

Is this how you screw someone over?

Out of all the people you could’ve called, you chose this old criminal investigator?

Don’t you know that guys who’ve spent years digging into cases are super sensitive to this kind of stuff?

MMP!

She’s really gonna get me killed one day!

Jiang Ning was silently cursing her to hell, but on her face, she still wore a pure and innocent expression.

“Uncle Yao, I’m not really sure what you mean.”

Thankfully, Miss Jiang had a naturally beautiful and well-trained poker face. Yao Qirong stared at her for a long moment, then shook his head with a touch of self-mockery.

“Alright.”

“I guess I’m just being paranoid.”

“What am I doing discussing this kind of thing with a high school student?”

At that moment—

A soft, sweet voice came from nearby.

“Daddy~”

Then, a graceful figure came bouncing over and wrapped herself around Yao Qirong’s arm.

“Daddy~ what were you and Jiang Ning talking about?”

“Nothing.” The old cop’s eternally stern face even managed a rare smile—though it still looked serious as hell.

“How was your performance?”

“It was okay, but the training period was too short. Some moves weren’t as smooth as I’d like.”

With that, Yao Yao turned her gaze toward Jiang Ning.

A sly glint flashed through those bright eyes.

“Jiang Ning, let’s have dinner tonight?”

Dinner?

We only talked for ten minutes and I almost got stripped clean. If we have dinner, who knows what kind of chaos will go down?

So Miss Jiang instantly declined:

“No, no, I’ve got something to do later.”

Saying this, she didn’t wait for Yao Yao to persuade her—she quickly waved and ran off.

Once she got far enough away, out of sight—

Jiang Ning leaned against a wall, panting in lingering fear.

Thinking back on everything that was just said…

Although Yao Qirong seemed to be speaking in a joking tone, who could say for sure that it wasn’t some kind of test?

The thought of being watched by an old criminal investigator like that made Jiang Ning feel deeply uncomfortable.

This wouldn’t do.

She would have to keep a lower profile going forward.

Skills like writing anonymous tip-offs—she had better use them as little as possible.

Once or twice might still leave people uncertain, but if she did it too many times, no matter how perfect her excuses were, there would always be someone willing to take a “better safe than sorry” approach.

After all, this move was basically no different from flipping the table.

In the next few days, the news about the “Number Two” being taken away gradually died down, and the rest of those undergoing promotion audits appeared to be in the clear.

What Jiang Ning really paid attention to was Li Mingyu’s father.

District Chief Li Zhengsheng of Qinghu District had unexpectedly taken over the “Number Two” position.

In Jiang Ning’s previous life, she remembered that while Li had indeed become Jiangzhou’s second-in-command, that wasn’t until five or six years later.

Now it had happened this early—who knew what kind of effect it might have on the future?

——————

Saturday.

Jiang Ning didn’t get to sleep in again.

Before dawn, her mom dragged her out of bed.

And she didn’t dare complain—because today was the grand opening of her mom’s store.

Bright and early, Jiang Ning was made to put on a very festive outfit:

A bright red cotton coat, light pink straight-leg pants, and red-striped sneakers. Even her hair had a red headband stuck in it.

She looked like a modern girl straight out of a 70s or 80s magazine.

Luckily, Jiang Ning was naturally beautiful—no matter what she wore, she still gave off the elegant air of a goddess descended to earth.

“Tsk tsk, my daughter is just too pretty.”

Her mom praised her, but then her face showed a hint of melancholy.

Jiang Ning knew what she was thinking.

She bumped her mom lightly on the shoulder.

“Mom, don’t worry.”

“Your daughter’s going to stay with you for life.”

In return, she got a dramatic eye-roll.

But Jiang Ning didn’t mind—she just giggled and threw an arm around her mom’s shoulder as the two of them headed out the door.

When the mother and daughter arrived at No. 374, North National Day Road, the street was still quiet with few people around.

Jiang Ning went to open the shop’s rolling shutter door, but her mom stopped her.

“This is my store—I’ll do it myself.”

A sense of ceremony?

Jiang Ning instantly understood and stepped back.

She watched her mom awkwardly insert the key into the lock of the shutter door.

With a loud “whoosh,” a carefully decorated women’s clothing store appeared before her eyes.

Over the next hour, Jiang Ning helped her mom clean up, sort the clothes by size, and arrange everything neatly.

By around nine o’clock, her mom’s friends arrived.

They brought flower baskets and firecrackers with them.

No wonder her mom had told her not to buy any earlier—so that’s why…

“Guolan! Hengcui! Baofen! You’re here!?”

Her mom happily rushed up to greet her longtime friends.

After a round of chatter, she finally remembered Jiang Ning, who was still folding clothes beside them.

“Cuilan, Ningning’s so pretty now. So? Is she dating anyone?” asked one of the friends.

“No, no. This girl’s just in her first year of high school. School is more important,” her mom replied.

“But first year means she’s almost an adult already. Cuilan, your daughter’s so beautiful—she must be getting chased by all the boys at school, right?” asked another.

“No way. If she dares to date, I’ll break her legs,” her mom said with full confidence.

???

Jiang Ning didn’t even have the intention of dating, but those words were harsh no matter how you heard them.

Wait a minute…

Did that “dating” have a gender implication?

If she accidentally brought home a girlfriend someday, would her mom actually commit murder?

(End of chapter)