The fight at the small supermarket happened in the afternoon, so the impact wasn't huge.
By evening, the small supermarket was still bustling with a steady stream of customers.
Wu Jun acted as if nothing had happened, greeting everyone with a smile.
The three tons of rice he'd taken out on the first day had finally sold out, so he brought out another ton from the warehouse.
At ten o'clock at night, the new ton of rice had also sold out.
Seeing that there were hardly any people left, Wu Jun closed up shop.
His earnings for the day were a little higher than yesterday, setting a new record.
He was just a few dozen yuan short of breaking the 30,000-yuan-a-day mark.
After a hasty dinner, Wu Jun washed up and prepared for bed.
He had originally planned to go to the market during the afternoon lull to buy a new bed.
But after the whole commotion with Wang Hongliang, he was no longer in the mood.
Tonight, he would have to sleep on the floor again.
He opened the game, and it had produced another four tons of rice.
He had eight tons in stock before. After selling one ton this afternoon, he still had seven tons left.
With the newly produced rice, his inventory had reached a staggering eleven tons.
'This is all money!'
'When will I ever sell all this inventory?'
Wu Jun sighed helplessly.
He took out three tons of rice from the warehouse to stock up for tomorrow's sales.
He had spent the whole day weighing rice and had also gotten into a fight with Wang Hongliang.
After stocking up, Wu Jun couldn't be bothered to move anymore. He put his phone away and went to sleep.
「Shimen City, Alliance Road District.」
Inside a three-bedroom apartment.
A bruised and swollen Wang Hongliang was holding an ice pack to his face with his left hand, a cigarette dangling from his lips, while making a call with his right.
"Honam, my man, do a brother a favor... I need you to bring some guys and teach someone a lesson."
"Hey! Honam, don't hang up..."
"Chicken, it's your bro Wang. I need to talk to you about something..."
"Jun'er, this is Wang Hongliang..."
"Pah! What a bunch of losers!"
The recent crackdown on organized crime had been remarkably effective over the past two years.
The local hooligans had all started behaving themselves.
Public safety in Shimen City had also improved significantly.
Incidents of fighting and brawling had decreased, and vicious events like gang fights had been completely eradicated.
After a round of calls, not a single person was willing to stick their neck out for Wang Hongliang.
Wang Hongliang hung up the phone, his face contorted with rage.
CLICK!
The sound of a key turning in the lock came from outside the door.
The door swung open, and a woman entered, carrying a bag in her left hand and holding the hand of a seven- or eight-year-old boy with her right.
"Oh my god, honey! Who did you fight? That bastard really did a number on you!"
Seeing Wang Hongliang's pitiful state, Hu Yanmei cried out in alarm and hurried over to him.
"Quick, let me see. Maybe we should go to the hospital." Hu Yanmei sat down next to Wang Hongliang, feeling a pang of pain just looking at the wounds on his face.
"No need, no need. They're just minor injuries." Wang Hongliang waved his hand dismissively, pushing Hu Yanmei away with an impatient look.
"So what on earth happened, honey?"
Under Hu Yanmei's persistent questioning,
Wang Hongliang gave her an embellished account of his fight with Wu Jun.
He painted Wu Jun as a young hooligan and a drifter.
And himself? He was the honest man who had come to discuss a partnership in good faith, only to be beaten up for trying to bargain.
"These outsiders are infuriating! They're completely lawless!" Hu Yanmei stomped her foot in anger after hearing the story.
The little boy standing nearby was so frightened by his parents' furious expressions that he didn't dare to speak.
Wang Hongliang turned his head to his son and said, "Xiao Tao, it's not that your dad is weak. It's just that everyone there was an acquaintance of that bastard from his district. They were all taking his side. Otherwise, I would've beaten that bastard to death!"
"Yeah, I know Dad's the strongest," the little boy nodded, playing along.
"We can't just let this go!" Hu Yanmei suggested. "Let's go to the hospital, get your injuries certified, and report him to the police. Make him pay!"
Wang Hongliang said, "That won't work. Those people who took his side will definitely not testify for us."
Seeing that this method wouldn't work, Hu Yanmei had a sudden idea. She lifted the bag in her hand and said, "Honey, look what this is."
Wang Hongliang took the bag and looked inside.
It contained a few small, hand-held cans of spray paint.
Hu Yanmei said, "When I was bringing Xiao Tao back, I rode an unlocked shared bike home. I was planning to find some time tomorrow to spray paint it, put my own lock on it, and let Xiao Tao use it to learn how to ride. That way I won't feel bad if he crashes or scratches it."
"Why are you telling me this now? Are you crazy?" Wang Hongliang was completely baffled by his wife's random comment.
"For now, you can use this spray paint," Hu Yanmei said. "If we can't get him out in the open, we'll do it from the shadows. Since we can't sue for compensation, let's just make that little hooligan's life miserable. Go and spray paint his supermarket."
"What a great idea!" Wang Hongliang's eyes lit up. He gave her a thumbs-up and praised her, "You really are my brilliant strategist."
'That son of a bitch Wu. So I can't beat you in a fight and can't find anyone to help me. Fine, then I'll just make your life a living hell!'
'You paint over it, I'll spray it again.'
'You paint it again, and I'll spray it again!'
'Let's see if you can paint faster than I can spray!'
'It'll cost you hundreds, even thousands, to repaint the wall each time. A few cans of spray paint only cost me a few bucks.'
'You'll be supporting a whole renovation company, while I'll be supporting a spray paint factory. Let's see who gives up first!'
'I'll disgust you until you're driven away, until you can't run your business anymore!'
The more Wang Hongliang thought about it, the more satisfied he felt.
He was a man of action.
Bidding farewell to his wife and son like a soldier heading off to battle, he went downstairs with the bag of spray paint.
Alliance Road District and Tianyuan District weren't far from each other.
At night, there were few cars on the road.
Wang Hongliang drove for less than twenty minutes before entering Tianyuan District. He parked his car more than a hundred meters away from Wu Jun's small supermarket and got out.
It was almost eleven o'clock at night.
There were no longer any pedestrians in the residential district.
In each apartment building, no more than three units had their lights on.
The building where Wu Jun's small supermarket was located was completely dark from top to bottom; all the lights were out.
Wang Hongliang had already shaken the spray paint cans in the bag ahead of time.
Looking left and right, he approached the entrance of Wu Jun's supermarket with the guilty conscience of a thief.
SHHHHH...
Wang Hongliang began to spray words on the supermarket's door and walls.
It took him a little over five minutes.
After emptying all three cans of spray paint, Wang Hongliang didn't forget to light up a post-deed cigarette.
He got back in his car, started the engine, turned on some music, and hummed a tune as he drove away from Tianyuan District.
「The next morning.」
After washing up, Wu Jun opened the door for business.
The moment he opened the door, his face darkened at the sight of the large words spray-painted in red on the outer wall.
Pingshan dog, get out of Shimen!
Crooked merchant, selling fakes!
Short-changer, die a horrible death!
Orphan Wu, may your whole family die!
Seeing the insulting and even family-cursing words spray-painted on the walls and door...
Wu Jun trembled with rage.
Without a second thought, his first suspect was Wang Hongliang.
Wu Jun had run his supermarket in Tianyuan District for three years. He had always been friendly and hadn't offended anyone.
The only person he had a grudge with was Wang Hongliang, whom he had just recently encountered.
'It must be that bastard!'
This glaring red graffiti on his walls and door would definitely affect his business.
His regular customers would be fine; they would know it was all fabricated nonsense.
But new customers who came for the famous rice would surely have second thoughts upon seeing those words.
In the morning, there was a rush hour for customer traffic.
Wu Jun didn't want this bastard Wang Hongliang's dirty trick to interfere with his business—that would be giving him exactly what he wanted.
"Wang, you really are a son of a bitch!" Wu Jun cursed, turning back into the supermarket.
He found a few large promotional posters from a dairy supplier and used clear tape to cover up the red-painted words.
Just as he finished covering the wall, a customer arrived.
Wu Jun adjusted his emotions and greeted them with a smile.