Chapter 179 Ouch, my back! A plane crash caused by a shared bicycle.
That piercing scream abruptly shattered the tranquility of Nanluoguxiang in late autumn.
It's like a night owl having its tail stepped on.
His voice was filled with indescribable terror and real physical pain.
Outside the alley, separated by only one wall.
The cold wind whipped up the withered yellow leaves on the ground, swirling them around recklessly.
Jiang Jianguo, the richest man in Beijing, is currently experiencing the darkest and most turbulent moment of his life.
Just half a minute ago.
He clung to the brick wall of Lin's restaurant like a piece of cured meat hanging on a drying rack.
My legs, which were on that shared bicycle that looked like it could fall apart at any moment, had long since lost all feeling from the northwest wind of late autumn.
Two full hours.
He didn't even dare to change his position, for fear of making the slightest noise.
Finally, the dinner party in the courtyard ended.
He thought he could finally retire gracefully and find a secluded spot to massage his cramping calves.
As a result, Song Wan's final assessment, delivered in a low voice, drifted lightly into his ears through the crack in the wall.
"This kid has a lot going for him."
"I've made a note of this for you today."
These two sentences were more deafening than thunder from the heavens.
Jiang Jianguo felt a loud "buzz" in his head, and his rationality snapped instantly.
Did you write that down?
You've already memorized it?!
His wife, who was arrogant and shrewd her whole life, was so easily bought off by a meal and a few sarcastic remarks.
Doesn't this mean giving that brat Lin Mo a get-out-of-jail-free card from the Jiang family?
Then what about his father, who is in charge of the household?
Air?!
A strong sense of betrayal and an unventable bitterness surged through Jiang Jianguo's mind.
His chest heaved violently, and his eyes widened in shock.
He opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to stick his head over the wall and loudly protest this absurd decision.
He wanted to tell Song Wan loudly that he absolutely disagreed with this marriage!
However, at the very moment when he was tense and ready to exert his strength.
Tragedy struck without warning.
Because he had been standing on one leg for so long, his legs, which were usually not used to exercise, had long since become completely numb.
Poor blood circulation, coupled with the cold wind, caused him to completely lose control of his muscles.
He had just shifted all his weight onto his left leg, trying to use the momentum to jump upwards.
The rusty foot pedal, with half of its plastic shell missing, suddenly made a crisp cracking sound.
"Click."
The sound wasn't loud, but to Jiang Jianguo, it sounded like a death knell.
Followed by.
The shared bicycle, which had borne a burden far beyond its years, finally broke down completely.
With a loud crash, the car body tilted violently to one side and fell to the ground.
The foothold underfoot vanished instantly.
Jiang Jianguo felt a sudden lightness throughout his body, and a strong sense of weightlessness instantly enveloped him.
The blue brick wall in front of me receded rapidly.
The gray, overcast autumn sky churned and spun violently in his vision.
"It's over!"
Jiang Jianguo let out a mournful wail in his heart.
His slightly overweight body looked like an orange-red sack full of potatoes.
Completely out of control, it plummeted headfirst from mid-air, falling straight down.
The wind whistled in my ears.
next second.
*Smack!*
A dull thud that made your teeth ache echoed through the empty alley.
Jiang Jianguo used a perfectly executed "Wild Goose Descending on the Sand" move, landing face down and crashing heavily into the green belt at the base of the wall.
This green belt is rarely maintained and is filled with thick layers of dead branches and leaves, as well as mud that hasn't dried completely after the autumn rain.
Although the fallen leaves cushioned Jiang Jianguo's fall, he didn't end up with a bloody head.
But the immense impact still caused his old back to let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain.
Intense pain shot up my spine and into my brain.
It felt as if all the internal organs had been shaken out of place.
At that moment, he couldn't help but let out a shrill, distorted scream.
"Ouch, my back!"
The earthy smell and the musty odor of withered leaves instantly filled his nostrils.
He even found a mouthful of bitter, rotten mud in his mouth.
Jiang Jianguo was in so much pain that tears streamed down his face. He clutched his lower back tightly with both hands and writhed in agony in the pile of fallen leaves.
But the last shred of reason left in his mind was still frantically sounding the alarm.
You can't show your face!
Absolutely no showing your face!
If Song Wan and her daughter saw her in this extremely disheveled state...
His reputation as the richest man in Beijing is about to be completely shattered in the mud of Nanluoguxiang!
Ignoring his back pain, Jiang Jianguo frantically reached for his old straw hat.
The straw hat flew to the side when it fell.
He was like a giant, wriggling caterpillar, sticking his rear end out and desperately trying to push forward in the green belt.
He grabbed the straw hat and slammed it onto his head.
He then pulled the large, cheap mask up a bit more to make sure only his eyes were showing.
Just as he finished this series of cover actions.
"Squeak—"
The heavy wooden door of the courtyard was quickly pulled open from the inside.
They heard screams and the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground outside the door.
Song Wan and Jiang Ruoyun had no time to continue their heartwarming mother-daughter conversation.
The two exchanged a glance, then immediately turned and pushed open the door to leave.
A cold wind blew in from outside the door.
Jiang Ruoyun spotted the dilapidated shared bicycle lying at the base of the wall at a glance.
And in the green belt next to the bicycle, a figure wearing an orange sanitation worker vest was lying down.
The man was wearing a tattered straw hat, and a large mask covered half of his face.
With its rear end sticking out and its back to them, it was groaning in pain in the pile of dead leaves, its body still trembling uncontrollably.
He looked like a poor, lonely old man who had accidentally fallen down.
Jiang Ruoyun is kind-hearted by nature.
He usually acts like a cold-faced CEO at the company.
But seeing these working-class people fall and suffer immediately touched the soft spot in my heart.
She didn't think much of it, and didn't even notice how ill-fitting the sanitation worker's vest looked on him.
"uncle!"
Jiang Ruoyun exclaimed in surprise, her face full of worry.
Wearing flat shoes, she quickly walked down the bluestone steps, intending to reach out and help the elderly person in the green belt up.
"Are you alright? Did you break any bones?"
"Should I call an ambulance for you?"
I heard my daughter's concerned voice ringing in my ears.
Lying in the mud, Jiang Jianguo felt like dying.
He buried his head deep between his arms, wishing he could learn the art of earth-遁 (earth-遁术, a type of magic that allows one to escape into the ground) on the spot.
He shook his head, which was covered by a straw hat, frantically, making muffled noises in his throat to indicate that he was alright.
His body, however, resembled that of a frightened ostrich, constantly shrinking deeper into the green belt.
"Please don't move around, it would be troublesome if you hurt your spine."
Seeing the other person writhing in pain, Jiang Ruoyun became even more anxious.
She was about to bend down when her hand was already halfway up in the air.
Sudden.
A fair hand, slightly cool in temperature, firmly grasped her wrist.
Jiang Ruoyun paused for a moment, then turned around to look.
It is her own mother.
Song Wan had already stepped down the stairs and was standing quietly beside her.
Unlike Jiang Ruoyun's anxiety and worry.
At this moment, Song Wan's face showed no trace of "sympathy".
Her beautiful eyes, which had seen countless people and possessed a keen insight, were slightly narrowed.
The gaze was like a high-precision X-ray scanner, coldly sweeping back and forth across the "sanitation worker."
Although the person was covered up completely and had their back to them.
Although the orange vest was covered in mud and smelled strange.
but.
Song Wan's gaze finally landed precisely on the man's feet, which were dangling in mid-air.
Those were a pair of leather shoes covered in mud and dust.
Even ordinary sanitation workers, when wearing old leather shoes, mostly wear-resistant and protective ones.
But these shoes are different.
That's top-quality leather, hand-stitched.
The texture of the shoe's upper is an extremely rare and expensive custom design.
There is only one pair of these shoes in the whole world.
Because she had personally commissioned someone to order it from a top leather goods workshop in Italy, spending a six-figure sum!
Even with her eyes closed, Song Wan could feel every subtle pattern on the shoe's surface.
Then look at that familiar figure, bent over in the mud, slightly overweight, desperately trying to hide himself.
Considering his behavior this morning—getting jealous and throwing tantrums for no reason at home.
And just now, while eating in the courtyard, she occasionally noticed a strange noise outside the wall.
An absurd yet plausible truth was instantly pieced together in Song Wan's mind.
The chairman of a large corporation with assets exceeding 100 billion yuan.
He even wore a stolen sanitation worker's uniform in order to spy on his wife and daughter.
It hung on a shared bicycle at the base of someone's wall for a full two hours!
And now he's even broken his back!
Song Wan first felt amused, then a sense of speechless frustration and annoyance welled up inside her.
That old man, he can't stand not making a fool of himself for a day.
"mom?"
Jiang Ruoyun looked at her mother who had inexplicably grabbed her and called out in confusion.
"This old man seems to have fallen quite hard, shouldn't we help him up?"
Song Wan withdrew her gaze and slowly loosened her grip on her daughter's wrist.
She switched her handbag to her other hand.
A slow, elegant, cold smile, as if he had seen through everything, curled up at the corners of his lips.
That smile carried three parts mockery, three parts domineering, and four parts the absolute crushing power of the matriarch.
"Why are you helping me?"
Song Wan's voice wasn't loud, but it sounded exceptionally clear and resonant in the empty alley.
"That old man is very healthy; he's practicing Toad Kung Fu here."
Jiang Ruoyun was completely confused and had no idea what her mother was talking about.
But Jiang Jianguo was lying in the green belt.
Upon hearing Song Wan's casual remark, he instantly froze like a board.
His scalp tingled, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his silk shirt.
I've been recognized!
They've definitely been recognized!
What's the structure of this woman's eyes? How can I recognize her even with a mask on?!
Jiang Jianguo was so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe, only wishing that the mud in the green belt was deep enough to bury him completely.
Song Wan ignored her daughter's question.
She took half a step forward, looking down at the orange-red figure that seemed to have shrunk into a ball.
The autumn wind lifted the hem of her cashmere shawl.
She crossed her arms over her chest, speaking casually, yet every word she uttered was piercing.
"That 'sanitation worker' outside."
Song Wan deliberately dragged out the last syllable, each word precisely hitting Jiang Jianguo's nerves.
"It's late autumn, and the ground is freezing cold with a cold wind blowing."
"You old bones, don't bother eavesdropping here."
Song Wan paused, her eyes flashing with mockery.
"If you have so much free time, go home early."
"Eat more of the white truffle and king crab cooked by your Michelin-starred chef, and give your aching back a good boost!"
The voice just fell.
A gust of wind blew through the room, stirring up a few fallen leaves on the ground.
The entire alley fell into a deathly silence.
Jiang Ruoyun's eyes widened, and she finally realized what was happening.
She glanced at the figure bent over in the mud, then at the ambiguous smile on her mother's face.
Then I think of "white truffle king crab," a nouveau riche recipe that only one's own father would talk about every day.
An incredible thought exploded in my mind.
"dad……?!"
Jiang Ruoyun covered her mouth, almost screaming out in surprise.
At this time.
Upon hearing the words "king crab".
The orange-red figure that had been pretending to be dead in the green belt suddenly shuddered.
Like a mouse whose tail has been stepped on, or a clown whose last fig leaf has been completely torn away.
That was the ultimate breakdown of defense, a state of social death to the extreme, where dignity was shattered into pieces.
Jiang Jianguo could no longer feel the excruciating pain in his lower back.
The will to survive triumphed over all physical harm at that moment.
He didn't even bother to brush off the rotten leaves and mud on his body.
He pressed his hands firmly against the tattered straw hat on his head and the large mask on his face.
They scrambled and crawled out of the green belt.
"Aww—"
A miserable scream, the meaning of which was unclear, escaped from its mouth.
With his head down and back hunched, Jiang Jianguo unleashed the fastest running speed a billionaire could ever achieve in his life.
The two legs, which had just recovered from numbness, felt as if they were riding on wheels of fire.
Stumbling and staggering, yet moving with lightning speed.
Following the bluestone path of the alley, it disappeared like an orange-red whirlwind at the end of the corner in an instant.
Only a dilapidated shared bicycle remained, lying at the base of the wall.
It made a faint creaking sound in the cold wind.