After the divorce, he took care of his child and sold fried rice; his ex-wife was filled with regret

He sized up Lin Fan for a couple of seconds. His years of experience as a police officer told him that the young man who ran the restaurant had deep eyes and didn't seem like the type to impulsively go looking for a fight to vent his anger.

Officer Zhang pondered for a moment, then nodded:

"Okay, according to legal procedures, if both parties involved in a public security dispute are willing to mediate, it is indeed possible to arrange face-to-face communication."

Officer Zhang stood up, his tone both formal and cautionary: "However, Boss Lin, let me make this clear from the start."

"This is a police station. We can only discuss compensation and responsibility. We must never resort to violence, let alone make any threatening or intimidating remarks."

"Understood, let's chat for a bit," Lin Fan replied casually.

Officer Zhang didn't say anything more and led Lin Fan down the corridor on the second floor.

Su Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and followed Lin Fan downstairs.

……

The small meeting room on the east side of the ground floor is not large, only about ten square meters.

Inside the room was a worn-out iron table and two long wooden chairs. The walls were whitewashed and smelled of cold medicine.

Zhao San'er was sitting crookedly on a long bench opposite the iron bar table.

Although the bloodstains on his face had been wiped clean with hydrogen peroxide by the hospital nurses.

However, his nose was covered with thick white medical tape and splints, and his eye sockets were bruised and swollen, leaving only a thin slit.

The stains on his rain jacket, stained with rotten eggs and mud, had dried completely, forming dark yellow scabs. He huddled inside the oversized jacket, looking as disheveled as a beggar just pulled from a ditch.

A young police officer was sitting at a desk by the door, sorting through documents.

"Squeak—"

Officer Zhang pushed open the door.

Zhao San'er subconsciously lifted his swollen eyelids to look over.

However, when he saw the tall figure walking behind Officer Zhang, Zhao San'er felt as if he had been pricked by a needle, and his fat body trembled violently!

He instinctively pulled his legs under the bench, his back pressed tightly against the cold, white wall, his hands and feet trembling.

The scene he witnessed in the old alley of Jin Street that early morning still sends chills down his spine when he thinks about it.

The man in front of him caught the solid red brick that he was throwing with all his might with one hand, and with a backhand flick, smashed it into the opposite blue brick and earthen wall, creating a two-inch deep dent!

If that brick hadn't been slightly off-center, his head would have been smashed into a pulp on the spot!

"Zhang... Captain Zhang... How could it be him?!" Zhao San'er's voice was hoarse, filled with heavy sobs, and even his breathing was trembling.

Officer Zhang walked to the door, pulled up a wooden chair, sat down, and said in a businesslike manner:

"Zhao San'er, weren't you yelling at the police at the hospital that you wanted to settle this privately and talk face-to-face? Boss Lin is here. Tell me your thoughts yourself."

After speaking, Officer Zhang turned to look at Lin Fan and Su Xiaoxiao, and instructed them:

"You two talk first. Mediation is a voluntary matter for both parties, but let's get this straight: this is a police station. If there's something to discuss, then discuss it directly. No one is allowed to resort to violence."

Lin Fan nodded: "Understood."

Officer Zhang didn't linger any longer. He turned and walked out of the small meeting room, closing the sturdy wooden door behind him with a soft "click."

Suddenly, only three people remained in the room.

As Officer Zhang's footsteps faded into the distance, a brief silence fell over the small meeting room.

Zhao San'er's tense body slowly relaxed, and her swollen eyes glanced at Lin Fan and Su Xiaoxiao twice.

Su Xiaoxiao stood half a step to Lin Fan's side, coldly staring at the rogue across the table.

Lin Fan looked directly into Zhao San'er's swollen, purple eyes, his voice calm:

"Want to settle this privately?"

Zhao San'er swallowed hard; the calm and oppressive aura emanating from Lin Fan made him afraid to even breathe.

He sniffed the cotton swabs stuck in his nose, his lips trembling, trying to regain some leverage with the kind of persistent, cajoling talk typical of street thugs:

"Mr. Lin...we're all just trying to make a living in Jiangcheng, we'll run into each other all the time..."

"This whole thing started early this morning and it's been really unpleasant."

"But it's a fact that I broke my nose. If it were anyone else, they definitely wouldn't be able to get through this without at least 100,000 or 200,000 yuan in medical expenses..."

Zhao San'er secretly glanced at Lin Fan, and seeing that Lin Fan's expression remained unchanged, she boldly continued to probe:

"But I, Zhao San'er, am a man of principle. I know that you business people value your reputation."

"If you just pay my medical bills at the hospital and give me 20,000 yuan for nutrition expenses, I'll completely admit defeat, tell the police I fell on my own, and I won't involve your little girl. Is that alright?"

"You're dreaming!!"

Standing to the side, Su Xiaoxiao could no longer hold back. Her eyebrows shot up, and she angrily rebuked:

"Throwing rotten eggs at an elderly person, committing murder with bricks, and now you actually have the nerve to ask for 20,000 yuan?! Do you really think the public funds are your private property?!"

Zhao San'er shrank back after being scolded, but his eyes still held a stubborn, unyielding air.

"Little girl, don't be so arrogant! You're the one who broke my nose! If I don't drop the case, you're committing intentional assault! Do you even want to go to university?!"

Lin Fan raised his hand, signaling Su Xiaoxiao not to get angry.

Lin Fan pulled out the metal chair opposite him, sat down calmly, and said directly, "I'll give you two hundred thousand."

The room fell silent.

Su Xiaoxiao turned her head abruptly, completely stunned: "Brother Lin?! You…"

Zhao San'er's bruised and swollen face stiffened violently, his mouth half-open, and even his breathing paused for half a second.

"How much...how much?!"

Zhao San'er thought he had misheard because he had cotton wool in his ears, so he stretched his neck and struggled to open his swollen eyelids.

He had been faking accidents around the train station for five or six years, and usually extorting a few hundred or a thousand yuan was considered a big deal. Just now at the hospital, he was thinking of settling things privately, and he figured that if he could extort 20,000 yuan, he would be incredibly lucky.

Two hundred thousand?!

It increased tenfold!

Lin Fan remained expressionless, took out his phone from his pocket and placed it on the table, his tone flat and decisive:

"Two hundred thousand, bank transfer in real time. Want it?"

Zhao San'er swallowed hard, his heart pounding like a drum.

Two hundred thousand is a huge sum of money that can dazzle a small-time hoodlum who doesn't know where his next meal is coming from!

Greed momentarily overwhelmed the excruciating pain on his face. Zhao San'er rubbed his knees together violently and stammered, "Yes! Of course...of course I want it! Boss Lin, you mean what you say?!"

Upon hearing this answer, Lin Fan reached into the pen holder in the center of the table, pulled out a ballpoint pen, grabbed the stack of manuscript paper that was on the table, and pushed it directly in front of Zhao San'er:

"Two hundred thousand wasn't taken for nothing."

Three things.