134 As things stand.

The lobby was still filled with many beautiful women. Though there were fewer than when he had first entered, they remained dazzlingly radiant.

Zhang Pa, who was already dressed poorly to begin with, now looked utterly wretched after being given a severe beating. Dragging two laptop bags along, his appearance was as spectacular as it was disheveled; set against the backdrop of so many impeccably groomed beauties, he was truly an eyesore. A woman in a short skirt covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

The young woman in the red dress was, however, quite warm, providing attentive service and politely seeing him to the door.

The air in the outside world was entirely different from that inside. After taking a few deep breaths, he walked slowly toward where he had parked his bike.

His home had been torched. With something this major happening, he wondered what would become of Wang Baihe and her family. Even though the area was slated for demolition soon, they couldn't just burn it down now.

He pulled out his phone and dialed. When it connected, he said, "Some bad guys committed arson and burned your house down."

Wang Baihe let out a sharp cry: "What?"

Startled, Zhang Pa spoke in a low voice, "The house was burned by bad guys. I've already called the police."

Wang Baihe asked urgently, "What happened? Did you cause this?"

Zhang Pa certainly couldn't admit to that: "I don't know. I'm out, how the hell would I know what happened?"

Wang Baihe cursed him as a jerk and hung up.

Zhang Pa walked slowly to his bike, stood there for a moment in thought, and suddenly cursed, "When you die, you die, it's all the same!"

The feelings of being beaten, bullied, and forced into negotiations—all these unpleasant emotions vanished in an instant. Everything was bullshit as long as he was still alive... heh.

Having shifted his mood, Zhang Pa jumped onto his bicycle, holding a laptop bag in each hand while gripping the handlebars. But the moment he sat down, he let out an "Ouch," shifted his body for a moment, and exhaled softly: "That hurts like hell."

On the way home, he received a call from Fatty: "Damn, your place got burned down?"

It was inconvenient to hold the laptop bags, so Zhang Pa stopped to talk: "It's not my place, it's just where I was renting."

"Damn, who's that bold?" Fatty asked. "Are you okay? Did you piss someone off?"

"I wasn't home," Zhang Pa said. "Anyway, I have to go back and check."

"I'm coming too, wait for me." Fatty hung up.

It had taken him half an hour to bike there, but it took over forty minutes to get back. He was aching all over; Zhang Pa suspected he might have broken bones, as everything hurt terribly.

After much agony, he finally arrived home.

The fire trucks had just left. Two police officers were questioning people.

It was late at night, and it was obvious nothing could be determined right then. Lacking the manpower to survey the scene, the police said, "Don't stay here tonight. Come to the station tomorrow."

This was directed at Wang Baihe.

Wang Baihe was furious. She looked at her home being burned—mostly the upper half. The house had originally been a single-story structure with a second floor added, and the roof was made of concrete slabs. Since the source of the fire was on the second floor, the first floor wasn't too badly damaged.

As soon as she saw Zhang Pa return, Wang Baihe rushed over and cursed, "Go to hell! What have you done? Who did you offend to get my house burned down?"

Zhang Pa sighed. How could this person flip-flop so quickly? Had she forgotten about him helping her mother with medical care? He gave a bitter smile and replied, "I don't know."

The officer walked over and looked at him: "Did you get into a fight?"

Zhang Pa climbed off his bike and held up the two laptop bags: "I got robbed."

"What happened?" the officer asked, sounding suspicious.

"How should I know?" Zhang Pa looked up and saw Old Pi and his four cronies walking toward them.

Old Pi and Yun Zheng still had gauze on their heads, and another one was limping. Combined with Zhang Pa’s bruised face, they looked like a defeated army—utterly miserable.

The officer frowned at them and threw out a final instruction: "Come to the station tomorrow morning." He then added, "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," Zhang Pa said.

The officer mainly questioned Wang Baihe, who was seething with rage, pouring all her anger onto Zhang Pa. She gave a quick reply to the police, pointed at Zhang Pa and said, "Just you wait," before storming off.

The officer said, "That's it for now, just protect the scene." It was necessary to protect the scene, so they put a cordon around the burned-out house.

As the police were about to leave, the owners of the two adjacent rooms approached: "Officer, our houses were burned too."

They had been burned, but there was no real damage.

Many houses in this area were detached buildings with half a meter to a meter of space between neighbors. Xingfuli used to be the suburbs, and old houses were built that way. Even if there wasn't a courtyard, people would build a wall between properties to carve out a little space.

Later, when the government built roads, they tore down many illegal courtyard walls, leaving the houses facing the street directly.

Although Wang Baihe’s house had caught fire, the neighbors had brick walls, so only their roofs were singed. It was smoky and charred, which looked alarming.

The officer looked at the two people, then at the houses, and said, "We'll be back during the day tomorrow. Protect the scene; we'll talk about it tomorrow."

It was too late to see anything clearly, so they could only agree. The police left, and before long, the onlookers slowly dispersed, leaving only Zhang Pa’s group on the street.

Fatty, Turtle, Sissy, Old Meng... over a dozen people gathered around. Tiger asked, "Did you get into a fight?"

Zhang Pa, with his head covered in injuries, his face swollen, his eyes bruised, and blood still on his nostrils, couldn't help but let out a long sigh when he heard the question: "What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"If there's something wrong, just say it. We're all here," Fatty said. "Wang Kun wanted to come, but since you don't like him, he told me to tell you that if you need money, he has some."

Zhang Pa couldn't be bothered to respond. He looked at his blackened home. Was he homeless now?

He handed his things to Old Pi and the others, took off his shirt in the middle of the street, bared his torso, and looked down: "Help me check my back."

Fatty asked what he was checking for.

"See if there's any blood, if it's seeping," Zhang Pa said.

"How the hell can I tell? Go to the hospital," Fatty said.

Zhang Pa didn't speak. He moved his limbs, jumped in place a few times, and pressed on his bones. Many places hurt with the slightest bit of pressure, like his ribs, shoulders, and neck.

He clenched his fists twice, took back his clothes, and said while putting them on, "Find a place to sleep. You guys go ahead." He had Yun Zheng push his bicycle, while Old Pi and the others carried the laptops.

The fire had wiped everything out; this was all Zhang Pa had left.

Fatty said, "Where are you going? Come sleep at my place."

Zhang Pa looked at him and said there was no need. He led Old Pi and the other four away.

Old Pi caught up and said, "Boss, our books were all burned."

Zhang Pa replied offhandedly: "Buy new ones."

Old Pi asked again, "Where are we staying tonight?"

Zhang Pa looked at him: "You five, be honest with me—are you still looking for revenge?" He was referring to the four of them being severely beaten and hospitalized outside the school gate, followed by Yun Zheng and Old Pi getting their heads smashed.

Yun Zheng replied, "Boss, put yourself in our shoes. If you got beaten up, wouldn't you want to pay them back?"

Zhang Pa was silent for a moment: "Wanting revenge is fine, just wait until you've healed. And one more thing: you have to tell me."

Old Pi laughed: "Are you going to be our support?"

As they walked, Fatty and the others consulted among themselves and followed: "Where are you going?"

Zhang Pa replied, "We're going to a motel. You guys go home."

"A motel? I've got some money, let's all go together," Fatty said, then told Turtle and the others, "You guys go home, I'll stay at the motel with them."

Zhang Pa said, "Don't go through the trouble. Everyone go home."

Fatty asked, "Then where are you going to stay tomorrow?"

"I have to go to the police station tomorrow."

"I'll go with you," Fatty said.

Zhang Pa smiled: "Go home, thanks."

That night, the six of them stayed at a small nearby motel. They bought some food on the way, and the six of them chatted and watched TV, which was actually quite pleasant.

Yun Zheng and the others were at that age where they didn't know what worry was. If the house was burned, it was burned; as long as they had a place to stay, it was fine.

Zhang Pa leaned against the pillows with a bottle of beer, listening to the five monkeys babbling away, while he pondered the situation with Wang Baihe's house. If it came down to it, he would take 100,000 out of the 200,000 Long Jianjun had given him. Whether or not the house was being demolished, he had to settle the trouble he had caused.

Thinking this, he called Wang Baihe. As soon as she picked up, he was bombarded with insults. Zhang Pa waited until she was done before speaking softly: "Let's discuss something. Regarding the house—the lower part wasn't burned, and it was going to be demolished anyway. What if I pay you 100,000 in compensation?"

That single sentence left Wang Baihe speechless. After a while, she asked, "Where did you get the money?"

"Where I got it doesn't matter. Let's just talk about this. Since the house is being demolished anyway, is 100,000 in compensation okay?"

Wang Baihe was silent for a moment before saying, "I'll ask my mom," and hung up.

Zhang Pa exhaled softly. Was that too much or too little?

If this were a righteous, heroic movie, a brave police officer would surely appear, find clues, track down the group of people Wang Zhongxing paid to commit arson, and bring them to justice. Unfortunately, reality is not a movie; the police are also afraid of trouble.

Arson had occurred, but no one was hurt, no major property was lost, and it happened in a place like Xingfuli that was about to be demolished. It was better to avoid unnecessary complications, and it might even make future demolition work easier... In short, that was how it would end: no one would be caught, and no one would pay any compensation.

Zhang Pa lay there for a while before Wang Baihe called back: "Um, actually, I feel quite embarrassed."

Zhang Pa said, "It's fine, you can be direct. We can discuss the amount again."

Wang Baihe said, "First, let me ask you a question. Does the house being burned have anything to do with you?"

Zhang Pa said, "You could say it does, since they came to burn the place I was staying; you could also say it doesn't, since I wasn't there. But it was the room I lived in. If you don't want too much, I'll pay what I can. I’m just one person with nowhere to spend money, I can just save up."

"So does it have anything to do with you or not?" Wang Baihe pressed.

Zhang Pa said, "Let's say it does, since I'm already offering to pay you."

"Does it have anything to do with you or not?" Wang Baihe asked for the third time.

Zhang Pa thought for a moment and said, "Is 100,000 not enough?"

If it were the housing prices in Xingfuli from before, 100,000 would have been enough. But the first problem was that no one wanted to buy houses in this area. What does a person look for when buying a house? Price isn't actually the most important thing; the most important thing is the environment. Especially for families with children. That’s how the legend of "Meng's mother moving three times" came to be, and that’s why school-district housing costs hundreds of thousands per square meter.

Even if you don't have children, you still want good public security where you live, right? That’s part of the environment. You don't want piles of trash at your doorstep, people fighting every day, frequent thefts, or even issues with the sewers... Are you looking for a cozy home, or are you looking to invite a pile of trouble?