Chapter 56: Apology and Compensation

  The owner of this hardware store is called Huo Liang. When he was young, he was also a hoodlum who liked to fight and cause trouble. Later, he made a name for himself in the underworld of Xiang City and met the director of the Xiang City Industrial and Commercial Bureau by chance. He then started doing hardware business and coincided with several construction projects in the city. Relying on his relationship with the director, he took over all the hardware materials for these projects and made a fortune. In Xiang City, he owns four hardware stores. This one opened in front of Yuning Middle School is also because Yuning Middle School needs a large amount of hardware materials to build new dormitories and gymnasiums in recent years.

  The dormitory building of Yunnan Middle School has been completed, and the gymnasium is almost finished. There are no new construction projects nearby, so Ho Liang wants to sell this store.

  Huo Liang's forehead was still bandaged, yesterday he led a group to that restaurant for revenge, but couldn't find Zhou Hao, making him angry and regretful all night, wondering when he could vent his anger. Unexpectedly, Zhou Hao delivered himself today.

  "Alright, you little brat, this time you're really asking for it." Huo Liang sneered, just about to call his three employees to teach Zhou Hao a lesson, but suddenly remembered that yesterday the five of them couldn't even take him down, and now it would be even harder to subdue him. So he suppressed the urge in his heart and narrowed his already small eyes, "So you think you can take over this store?"

  As soon as Zhou Hao saw Huo Liang, he felt a headache. He didn't expect the owner of this hardware store to be that guy from yesterday. Hearing him ask like that, he directly replied: "That's right, it's me. Do you still want to transfer now?"

  "Think, how can I not think?" Huo Liang chuckled and put his hands behind his waist, secretly making a hand gesture to the store clerk behind him. The clerk had followed Huo Liang for several years and naturally knew what this meant, so he immediately walked into the inner room to make a phone call.

  Huo Liang thought he was being stealthy, but Zhou Hao saw the store employee's unusual expression and knew what Huo Liang was up to. He turned around and said to Yan Tong and Lu Shi Ping: "Mom, Aunt Lu, you two go back first, I'll handle this. This boss is someone I know."

  Yan Tong and Lu Shi Ping also saw that Huo Liang recognized Zhou Hao, but they didn't think the two had a deep grudge, and thought Huo Liang's words to Zhou Hao earlier were just a joke between ordinary friends. Yan Tong said to Zhou Hao: "This store is great, if it wasn't so expensive, we'd take it over."

  "Got it, mom." Zhou Hao nodded, "You can rest assured that I'll take care of things. By the way, you guys can go check out the area around No. 2 Middle School and see if there are any good storefronts available. We might even open a branch there in the future."

  "Whatever." And so, Yan Tong and Lu Shi Ping left together.

  Huo Liang wasn't very concerned about their departure, as long as Zhou Hao was still there. At this time, he heard Zhou Hao smile and say to him: "Alright, how much do you want for the transfer fee of this store?"

  Huo Liang stretched out his ten fingers and smiled at Zhou Hao, "One million, not a cent less."

  Zhou Hao immediately furrowed his brow, "100,000? Are you kidding me? Although the area is not small, the transfer fee is at most 10,000 to 20,000. You're really opening your mouth big." He snorted at Huo Liang, "I think you never intended to transfer it to me in the first place."

  "It's not expensive at all, 100,000 yuan." Huo Liang saw that over ten people were walking towards them from the other side, each holding iron pipes and whatnot. The smile on his face grew even thicker. "Originally, I had set the transfer fee at 250,000, but look at my injury, don't you have any sense of paying for medical expenses?" He pointed at the bandage on his head and scolded Zhou Hao.

  At this time, more than a dozen people had already arrived at the front of Huo Liang's store, surrounding Zhou Hao. Huo Liang also sneered at Zhou Hao and said: "Now you can't not give it up, either leave 100,000 yuan or leave one hand."

  Zhou Hao glanced at the people around him who were eyeing him covetously, a cold smile spreading across his face. He had let Yan Tong and Lu Shi Ping leave first earlier precisely to prevent this situation from happening, so that he could deal with them without any worries.

  Huo Liang saw that Zhou Hao didn't respond, so he slowly backed away to avoid being affected later. Then he shouted at the people around him: "Brothers, teach this kid a lesson!"

  De's command, those dozen or so people immediately raised the iron pipes in their hands and rushed towards Zhou Hao. However, Zhou Hao dodged a few times with his quick movements and skillfully avoided several iron pipes that were swung at him. At the same time, he launched a flurry of punches and kicks, sending the thugs around him flying, causing them to cry out in pain.

  These people usually just fight and bully others, but to Zhou Hao, they were nothing. Although he didn't kill anyone, those who were hit by Zhou Hao all had broken bones and couldn't get up again. More than a dozen of them lay on the ground in front of Huo Liang's store. The area was originally crowded with people and cars, so the commotion naturally attracted many onlookers. However, they also knew not to get involved in such matters, and many of them knew what kind of background the owner of this hardware store had, so they only dared to watch from a distance.

  Huo Liang, who was hiding behind the counter, was stunned. He didn't expect that more than ten people couldn't do anything to Zhou Hao and were even beaten to the ground by him. At this time, Zhou Hao also walked towards him with big strides, making Huo Liang even more flustered. However, there was no back door in this hardware store, so he couldn't escape at all. He could only watch as Zhou Hao came straight to the counter and grabbed his collar, pulling him out from behind the counter.

  "What do you want?" Huo Liang lost his earlier arrogance and looked at Zhou Hao with fear.

  Zhou Hao didn't say a word, but instead slapped Huo Liang's face with his backhand, instantly swelling it up. Then, he opened his arms wide and gave Huo Liang several loud slaps, "slap slap slap".

  "H... spare my life..." Huo Liang was beaten by Zhou Hao until he begged for mercy repeatedly.

  At this time, the sound of police cars came from outside, and then several policemen shouted, "What's going on! Who is fighting and making trouble!"

  Zhou Hao dragged Huo Liang out of the hardware store, only to see over a dozen uniformed police officers outside. Upon seeing them, Huo Liang seemed to have found his savior and hastily shouted, "Officer Huang, Officer Huang! Help!"

  The police officer in charge was startled to see He Liang being dragged by Zhou Hao like a chicken, and it was clear that he knew He Liang. However, Huang also recognized Zhou Hao and couldn't help but sigh, "How is it you again? I said Comrade Zhou, what our director said is true, wherever you go, trouble follows."

  "He shrugged his shoulders, 'It's not that I'm looking for trouble, it's trouble that's looking for me, and I'm also quite helpless.'"

  Huo Liang saw that Huang Dui actually knew Zhou Hao, and his heart was also shocked. He rolled his eyes and shouted at Huang Dui: "Huang Dui, this kid injured my staff member and brutally beat me up. You have to help me uphold justice!"

  But Huang shook his head, "This time I can't help you." He knew Ho Liang's tricks, those so-called employees were actually his thugs.

  Huang's words shocked Huo Liang, who thought to himself: "Could it be that I've kicked an iron plate?"

  At this time, Zhou Hao also let go of Huo Liang and threw him to the ground. Huang's team patted Zhou Hao on the shoulder, "You're quite capable, you've rescued Miss Zhao."

  Yesterday's rescue of Zhao Yuqin was not handled by the Public Security Bureau of Xiangcheng City, and all the people involved were Zhao Dingzhou's own men. Therefore, the Public Security Bureau of Xiangcheng City knew nothing about Zhao Yuqin's case until yesterday when Zhao Dingzhou's deputy came to them to take away the two henchmen who were injured by Zhou Hao and caught by Situ Li two days ago. Situ Li only learned about this matter then. Originally, Situ Li wanted to use the two henchmen of the Top Father to uncover the drug trafficking group behind and accumulate his own political achievements, but as a mere Public Security Bureau director, he did not dare to confront Zhao Dingzhou. Moreover, Zhao Dingzhou's deputy also said that if they could successfully eliminate the Han family's drug trafficking group, it would also be counted as Situ Li's achievement. Therefore, Situ Li had no choice but to hand over the two men obediently.

  But the news that Zhou Hao helped Zhao Dingzhou successfully rescue Zhao Yuqin also spread in the Public Security Bureau, however, Si Tu Li gave them a gag order, ordering anyone not to say it out loud, otherwise, whoever angered Zhao Dingzhou would be unable to bear the consequences.

  "Huang Team, look at these people..." Zhou Hao glanced at those henchmen who had been knocked to the ground by himself.

  The yellow team smiled and said to the other police officers, "Take these guys back, uh... wait, let's send them to the hospital first." After finishing speaking, he glanced at Zhou Hao, "How come you hit so hard?"

  Zhou Hao spread his hands, "My martial arts skills are not refined, so I naturally can't grasp the subtleties of light and heavy."

  Finally, Huo Liang was also taken back to the Public Security Bureau, and Zhou Hao followed him back to make a statement.

  He went to the Public Security Bureau and Xiū Lì immediately came out, smiling and scolding Zhou Hao: "It's really every time I see you, nothing good happens."

  Huo Liang was shocked to see that Situ Li had personally come out to meet Zhou Hao. Situ Li had always been someone he wanted to get close to, but had never succeeded in doing so. Now, seeing how good Zhou Hao's relationship with Situ Li was, he couldn't help but feel extremely regretful.

  Situ Li listened to Zhou Hao's account of the events and then coldly looked at Huo Liang, "I've heard someone report you for monopolizing the market before, today is a good opportunity to take care of you." In fact, what Huo Liang did was not that serious, at most it was just instigating others to fight, he didn't get involved in prostitution or drugs, and didn't have any homicide cases on his back, in the underworld he was considered a clean person. Situ Li said this just to scare him, after all, he knew Huo Liang had good relations with people from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, although the Public Security Bureau and the Industrial and Commercial Bureau didn't have much conflict, it's hard to guarantee that they won't ask for help in the future, so Situ Li didn't want to finish off Huo Liang completely.

  "Director Sito, spare my life. I...I..." Seeing Director Sito ignoring him, Huo Liang immediately turned to Zhou Hao, "Big brother, it's not that I'm ungrateful, but please spare my little brother. That store, I'll give it to you, and I'll also compensate you with 100,000 yuan for your losses."

  "Isn't that shop supposed to be transferred to you? How can it be given to me?" Zhou Hao asked.

  "In fact, I had already bought that store, so I'm in charge." Huo Liang hastily explained.