Outside Bai Niao Ju, a portly man in his fifties, adorned with a string of emerald Buddhist beads around his neck, jade thumb rings on his fingers, and a high-end Rolex on his wrist, loudly demanded, "Miss He, my time is limited. Open the door quickly and hand over my cockatiel." He gave the immediate impression of a nouveau riche. His name was Liu Jun, the owner of the cockatiel. Behind him, four high-end SUVs were parked, surrounded by a throng of about twenty subordinates.
He Shuqin nervously opened the shop door and said to Liu Jun, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Liu, but something unexpected happened to your cockatiel."
Liu Jun's face changed drastically. "Miss He, what do you mean by that? I'll have you know we signed a contract. My bird was entrusted to your care. If any accident were to happen, you would have to compensate me at twice the market price."
He Shuqin, her face pale with anxiety, replied, "I am also very regretful that this has happened, but I will abide by our agreement and compensate you for your losses." She knew this was a setup orchestrated by Liu Jun and Meng Yunyang. However, she was powerless. Rather than escalate the situation, it would be better to promptly compensate them for one million in damages. It was a way to cut her losses.
As for Chen Nan's assurance that the cockatiel would wake up by noon... she had given up all hope. The bird's body was already stiff. It was clearly dead. How could a dead bird possibly come back to life? It was sheer fantasy.
Liu Jun's expression darkened further. "What do you mean? You really let my cockatiel die?" he exclaimed. "That was like my son for over ten years! Give me justice! No! I'm going to call the TV station to expose your actions!" He feigned a look of grief, as if he had truly lost a son. His subordinates immediately took out their phones and called the television station. He Shuqin felt her vision darken. Her willingness to compensate was to avoid further trouble, but she hadn't expected them to push her to the brink.
Just then, an elderly man, close to sixty, idly twirling a sandalwood bracelet, walked over with a look of curiosity. Upon seeing Liu Jun, he appeared surprised. "Brother Liu? What's going on? Why are you so angry?"
"Elder Meng?" Liu Jun feigned surprise and then, with feigned anger, turned to He Shuqin. "I had to go on a business trip, so I entrusted my cockatiel to Bai Niao Ju. Who would have thought that my cockatiel would die at Bai Niao Ju?"
"Oh? Is that so?" Meng Yunyang exclaimed, then turned to the helpless He Shuqin with disappointment in his eyes. "Miss He, you've been in this industry for years. How could such a mistake happen? Do you know what that cockatiel meant to Mr. Liu? It's a bond of over ten years! No matter how much money you offer, it's useless. Does Mr. Liu look like someone who lacks money? Can it mend the pain in his heart?"
Chen Nan, unable to watch any longer, spoke with a cigarette in his mouth, "Two people whose ages add up to over a hundred years, colluding to set up a young girl in her twenties. Isn't that shameful?"
"Young man, who are you calling a colluder?" Meng Yunyang retorted angrily. "I'm telling you, you need to be responsible for your words, or I'll sue you for defamation."
Liu Jun's gaze also turned sinister as he looked at Chen Nan. "Young man, you can eat anything, but you can't say anything. Otherwise, you might bring trouble upon yourself!"
*Pa!* Chen Nan lit his cigarette and said nonchalantly, "Heaven is watching what people do. Whether this was a setup or not, you should know better than I do, right?"
Upon hearing this, a flicker of apprehension crossed the eyes of Meng Yunyang and Liu Jun. This was indeed a setup they had orchestrated. However, they had believed their plan was flawless. They never expected this young man to see through it at a glance. Recovering himself, Liu Jun, in a fit of pique, snarled, "You have no business here. If you interfere, don't blame me for being ruthless!" Two burly, scowling middle-aged men emerged from behind him.
Just then, a news interview vehicle approached from a distance. The car stopped, and a reporter with a microphone, accompanied by a cameraman, emerged. "Is there a dispute happening here?"
Chen Nan had already started a Douyin live stream. This was an account with a million followers, named "I'm Not a Simp." The account had never posted any content or gone live before. Yet, online, it possessed an extraordinary buzz. Many people knew that its owner was a true tycoon. He pointed his phone camera at the approaching reporter and cameraman, smiling. "Oh my, these people just called the TV station, and you've arrived at the scene in less than three minutes. I must admire your outdoor filming speed. Truly faster than an ambulance!"
"I have a question that puzzles me," he continued. "Why are you so fast? Could it be that you've been waiting outside the entire time? Why have you been waiting outside? Could it be that you already knew the cockatiel had died? Why did you know the cockatiel had died beforehand? Premonition?"
The TV reporter and cameraman were taken aback. They hadn't even begun their interview, and someone was already firing off a barrage of questions. Just as the female reporter was about to ask a question, Chen Nan said, "You'd better choose your words carefully and mind your image. The reason is simple: I'm live streaming online!"
The female reporter, Meng Lan, was a distant niece of Meng Yunyang. Although Chen Nan's mention of a live stream made her a little nervous, she sneered upon seeing his old-fashioned attire. "Even if you're live streaming, so what? Who do you think you are? How many fans do you have in your stream?"
Chen Nan glanced at the real-time viewer count on his phone. "There are already five hundred, no, thirty thousand now!" He was surprised. In just half a minute, so many netizens had flooded into his live stream. Of course, thirty thousand was not the peak. The numbers were still climbing rapidly.
Meng Lan scoffed, "Thirty thousand? Ha, why don't you say your fans have reached 100k+?"
Chen Nan looked down at his phone, a hint of embarrassment on his face. "It's already 100k+!" He had to admire Qinglong's financial prowess. If Qinglong hadn't created this Douyin account and spent lavishly online, how could it have such high popularity?
Meng Lan said disdainfully, "Put away your two-thousand-dollar broken phone! Even if you have fans in your stream, so what? We're a legitimate television station. Why should we be afraid of you?"