Because of the fight, which had a negative impact, the police finally arrived to control the scene, asking about what had happened and how the damaged property would be compensated for.
Du Jun appeared indifferent for two reasons. First, the owner of the shop was a friend of his father's, and secondly, he could afford to pay for the damages. His current concern was how to handle the compensation Gu Fan and Lu Yi should pay.
It wasn't friendship that made Du Jun bring his classmates to aid Gu Fan and Lu Yi in the fight, but rather, he wanted to show Lin Xi his courage as a man. In fact, he had deliberately waited for a while, only stepping in after Gu Fan and Lu Yi had been badly beaten.
The rowdy youths who started the trouble were shocked when they heard the costly fee for compensation. They immediately protested, "We fought, sure, but most of the stuff was broken by them, not by us!"
The police's stance was that it was difficult to determine who broke what, so it was best for everyone involved in the fight to contribute to the compensation in equal shares. This could also serve as a lesson for them all.
Resigned to their fate, everyone accepted the ruling. But when they discovered that each of them had to pay ten thousand yuan, they were all stunned. It was like robbery.
The shop's owner self-righteously justified the high cost. The damaged items were expensive to begin with, and the wine, tables, and chairs were all good quality. It would take time and effort to replace them, adding up extra costs of time and labor. Today's chaos had also put his business on hold; not only had it interrupted his income, it might even damage the shop's reputation and repel future customers.
Actually, Du Jun had spoken in advance with the shop owner and inflated the compensation fee, hoping to teach those rowdy youths a lesson. He was also curious to see the reaction of Gu Fan and Lu Yi when they learned about the ten thousand yuan compensation.
Sure enough, Gu Fan and Lu Yi were overwhelmed with worry. Lu Yi sighed, "Oh my God, how many months will it take me to save up this much money? I can't let my family know about this."
Lin Xi also felt guilty. After all, Gu Fan and Lu Yi all started fighting to defend her honor. If the compensation was required, she was willing to chip in within her means.
Seeing his classmates worry, Du Jun knew it was his time to step forward. He immediately assured them, "Don't worry, everyone. I led us into this fight and I should bear the primary responsibility. I will cover all the compensation."
Upon hearing this, all the boys involved in the fight regained their spirits, and their faces instantly relaxed. Even Lu Yi started to pin his hopes on Du Jun.
However, Gu Fan interjected at this point, "The original fight started because I was protecting Lin Xi. Lu Yi, Du Jun, you guys came to help me as I was outnumbered, right? It's not like I followed you guys into the fight. The nature of it is different and it's not right for you both to bear the responsibility I should have. I will take care of my responsibility."
"Really?" Lu Yi muttered, "The total cost is twenty thousand yuan for the two of us, and we can't ask our families for help."
"Don't worry, I have a plan," Gu Fan said confidently, as if he could really handle this.
"All right," Du Jun shrugged. "Since you're so insistent, I will cover the costs other classmates are responsible for. You guys will pay your own share."
Du Jun thought Gu Fan was just showing off. As a typical college student, even if Gu Fan could spend twenty thousand yuan, it would likely drain his savings. The thought of it was sad indeed. Appealing to his family wasn't an issue, but every student felt uncomfortable and frightened when facing their parents after getting into trouble.
"Alright, it's settled then." Gu Fan didn't show an ounce of hesitation. But as soon as he finished his sentence, Lu Yi pulled him aside.
"Don't be stubborn just for the sake of pride, Gu Fan," Lu Yi urged anxiously. "We don't have that much money. If someone is willing to help us out, why not make things easy for ourselves? If my dad finds out about this, he will surely break my legs."
"Don't worry, your legs won't be broken." Gu Fan patted Lu Yi on his shoulder, portraying a sense of reassuring confidence that made Lu Yi unsure.
Lin Xi was still a bit worried. "Are you sure you're okay, Gu Fan? I can at most come up with two thousand yuan."
"Save your money to buy new clothes and make yourself pretty," Gu Fan responded with a smile. "I've said I have a plan and I don't need your help. Do I look like the type to boast?"
Unable to curb his curiosity, Lu Yi asked, "What plan exactly? You're not thinking about the same thing I am, are you? You're not planning to donate something, right?"
After hearing this, Gu Fan was somewhat incredulous, shaking his head, he added, "It's a secret scheme."
"What do you mean by secret scheme? This matter concerns my life; you have to give me some peace of mind." Lu Yi showed a determined stance of getting to the bottom of things, and Lin Xi also kept pressing, also very curious about her boyfriend's abilities.
Having no other choice due to the annoyance, Gu Fan finally said, "How do you think the location of our old house is?"
"It's good, downtown, just a bit old." Having finished that, Lu Yi and Lin Xi came to the underlying point, they could not help but exclaim, "No way. Are you planning to rent your old house? Would your parents agree to it?"
With this, Gu Fan shrugged his shoulders, "So, I have to keep it from my parents. I plan to put it up for short-term rent, just like the current chain hotels. Guests come and go. The most important thing is that they make sure to notify me before my parents arrive. Whenever they come, I cancel the reservations for that day."
Hearing Gu Fan's plan, Lin Xi and Lu Yi thought it was viable, but they also thought that ideas are always beautiful, not knowing whether it would encounter various problems during actual operation.
At this time, Lin Xi's cell phone rang, it turned out that Li Xiaoyan's parents were worried that their daughter hadn't come home so late, so they called to ask.
Everyone was taken aback as they had not seen Li Xiaoyan after the fight ended. They thought she had been scared and had already gone home first, but several hours later, she still hadn't arrived home.
So, Lin Xi called Li Xiaoyan's cell phone, and after calling three times with nobody answering, even the fourth time it was turned off. In an instant, a bad premonition came.
Out of concern, and with the police around, Lin Xi plucked up the courage to report it, "Officer, it seems that one of my female schoolmates has disappeared. She hasn't returned home yet."
Lin Xi explained the events leading up to the report, hearing this, the policeman frowned, because according to what Lin Xi described, coupled with many years of case-handling experience, this might not be coincidental.
Li Xiaoyan was there when the fight broke out, chaos ensued, and by the time the fight was over, she had disappeared. It had already been three hours, and she should be home by now, but she wasn't. Three phone calls unanswered, the fourth call resulted in a shutdown. Was her cell-phone out of power? Or maybe she was in a situation where she couldn't pick up, or was it deliberately turned off?
However, since Li Xiaoyan was an adult, they had to wait until she had been missing for twenty-four hours before they could report it, unless there was evidence to prove Li Xiaoyan was in danger now.
Lin Xi didn't care about that, she asked the police to find Li Xiaoyan immediately, for some reason, Lin Xi had an extremely bad feeling.
Gu Fan was standing there, his face grave and his arms crossed over his chest, he was more worried about Li Xiaoyan than anyone. If Li Xiaoyan had really disappeared, then his previous terrible speculation might be true.
The policeman was about to leave, but Lin Xi, and the others wanted to argue their case, then a cool voice rang out, "What's the matter? Has the issue not been resolved yet? Why is it still so noisy here?" In the midst of this, a tall figure walked in with brisk steps. Her beautiful face, paired with her compelling charisma, truly gave a sense of strength and boldness.
Many people were stunned when they saw the female police officer, Du Jun, and others were immediately taken aback. They seemed to have never seen such a beautiful police officer. Lin Xi looked at her closely and felt somewhat uncomfortable. She always seemed to be the center of attention wherever she was, but today, she felt somewhat overshadowed; everyone seemed to be paying attention to this female police officer.
As for Gu Fan and Lu Yi, they were just a bit surprised; they didn't expect to encounter Su Hui here.
Seeing these two, Su Hui was slightly surprised. She couldn't help but laugh, "It's you guys again. During the day you were heroically chasing thieves for us, only to cause trouble at night. It seems I might not need to write that commendation letter."
Lu Yi quickly responded, hurriedly saying, "No, no, it's not like that. Someone was bullying a female classmate; we male students were just upholding justice to protect her. We did not cause trouble, we are still friends of justice, we and the police are still one family."
Hearing these nonsensical words, many were speechless. Gu Fan quickly came out to mediate, "That's really it, officer. Trust that your colleague would have told you the cause and progress of the incident. We really did not create trouble. Our essence is good, perhaps our youth just keeps us from better judgement. But, there's a more important matter now, one of our classmates has disappeared."
Lin Xi immediately agreed, "Yes, officer. Officer, Li Xiaoyan never stays out this late. Her parents have called multiple times. I have also called, left several messages and she hasn't replied any of them. She should know her parents would worry if she's not home this late, she didn't even return one call, I think something really happened."