Chapter 72: A Battle of Wits

Night had fallen over Haixia City, and in an upscale private club, a group of the city's elite were enjoying massages.

"Weichao, I heard you got called out by your district's top official today?" Song Desheng said, lying on a massage table with his eyes closed.

"Yeah," replied a middle-aged man on the massage bed next to Song Desheng. This man, slightly balding and carrying the typical middle-aged paunch, was none other than Chen Weichao—the person Wu Zhiming had warned about earlier.

"He played it quite well," Song Desheng said with a slight smirk. "You sent those thugs from your village to cause trouble at his construction site. Knowing Wu Zhiming's temper, I thought for sure there'd be a fight. But instead, it turns out he had everything planned from the start. My friends at the police station told me it was Wu Zhiming himself who called them."

"Hmph!" Chen Weichao snorted, "That Wu Zhiming is clever. I had hoped that if the site got into a brawl, it would ruin his school district project. Unfortunately, he escalated the situation in another direction. Nearly a thousand villagers showed up, turning it into a case of our village extorting the construction site. The district leaders called me out and gave me a good scolding! I wanted to help you settle a score, but it backfired."

"Take your time, there's a long road ahead," Song Desheng said, eyes half-closed. "Wu Zhiming humiliated my grandfather and our Song family. I won't let him off easily. Does he really think the Wu family can dominate Haixia City?"

"If you need help, just call on me."

"Count me in too!" chimed in several others nearby.

Song Desheng nodded with a smile.

Wu Zhiming stayed at the construction site until evening, having dinner there before leaving. He then drove to Song Siqing's house to pick up Yao Jing. Together, they headed back to Jingyuan Community.

The Jingyuan Community was quiet at night. Yao Jing, sitting in the passenger seat, seemed lost in thought and remained silent throughout the drive.

Wu Zhiming parked the car and got out. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, noticing that Yao Jing was still sitting in the car.

"Nothing," Yao Jing shook her head, opened the door, and got out, joining Wu Zhiming as they walked toward the elevator.

"Do you think... all men cheat?" Yao Jing suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Wu Zhiming raised an eyebrow. This seemingly simple question was actually a trap. No answer was correct. Saying no would make a woman think you're lying because "all men cheat." Saying yes would prompt her to ask if you would cheat too.

So, Wu Zhiming chose not to answer directly and instead responded with a noncommittal "Hmm?"

After his "hmm," Yao Jing didn't pursue the question further but instead shared her own thoughts.

"I believe there's something that transcends physical desires: true love. When two people truly love each other, neither would stray. It's impossible," Yao Jing said.

"Hmm," Wu Zhiming nodded. Although Yao Jing had given an answer, he knew that it was best to simply agree without elaborating, avoiding the risk of the conversation turning back to him.

"Do you think we'll ever have that kind of love?" Yao Jing asked again.

"Hmm..." Wu Zhiming looked thoughtful.

"I'm just joking. How could we ever have that kind of love?" Yao Jing laughed, shaking her head. "As long as we help each other and live out our lives peacefully, that's enough for me."

"Hmm," Wu Zhiming nodded again.

Four "hmm"s, each ending with a different punctuation, each carrying its own subtle meaning. You have to interpret them carefully.

The elevator ascended slowly.

"Do you really think I'm old?" Yao Jing asked.

"You're very young," Wu Zhiming responded decisively. Unlike the previous question, this one had only one correct answer. You must respond quickly and firmly, saying, "You're very young." Saying "not old" isn't enough because it doesn't imply youth; it could mean mature. Most women don't like being called mature because maturity often implies age. They prefer to hear that they are young and fresh.

"Oh!" Yao Jing nodded, satisfied with the answer and didn't ask further. It was clear she appreciated the response.

Ding! The elevator arrived at their floor.

As the elevator door opened, a foul odor hit them.

Wu Zhiming frowned as he stepped out. The smell was from the garbage he had seen earlier that morning. He had assumed it would be cleaned up by now, but instead, the stench had only intensified.

Looking toward his apartment, he saw that a pile of trash had accumulated, almost as high as a door. 

In contrast, the area outside 1001 was spotless and clean.

"This is too much!" Yao Jing's face darkened as she marched towards 1001.

"Let me handle this," Wu Zhiming said with a cold smile, walking over to 1001 and knocking on the door.

After a moment, the door opened.

The man who opened it was the owner of 1001. Seeing Wu Zhiming, he asked coldly, "What do you want at this hour?"

"Are you Liu Ning?" Wu Zhiming asked.

"That's me. What do you want?" Liu Ning replied.

"Just wanted to ask if you dumped that trash in front of my door," Wu Zhiming inquired.

"You can't go around accusing people. Why would I dump trash randomly? I'm a person with manners. Looks like you've upset someone. Otherwise, why would there be trash in front of your door for no reason?" Liu Ning responded smugly.

"Since it wasn't you who dumped it, then there's nothing more to discuss," Wu Zhiming said with a smile, turning towards the elevator and telling Yao Jing, "Let's go, we'll go downstairs first."

Yao Jing looked somewhat puzzled, but Wu Zhiming didn't elaborate. He simply took Yao Jing's hand and led her into the elevator.

"Hmph, I thought a month apart would change him, but turns out he's still useless. Daring to dump trash at our doorstep, I'll make sure he regrets it!" Liu Ning sneered disdainfully.

Inside the elevator, Yao Jing asked, "Why?"

"Why what?" Wu Zhiming responded.

"Why didn't you confront them since it was their trash?" Yao Jing asked.

"I'm not one for confrontation. Either I fight or find a way to deal with them. You don't like me fighting, so this is the only way I know," Wu Zhiming shrugged.

"What do you plan to do then?" Yao Jing asked.

"Let's go to the ninth floor first," Wu Zhiming pressed the button for the ninth floor in the elevator and soon arrived.

There were two units on the ninth floor, 902 and 901.

Wu Zhiming knocked on the door of 902.

A middle-aged man opened the door.

"Xiao Wu? What's up?" the man recognized Wu Zhiming and asked.

"Lao Zhou, are you interested in selling this apartment?" Wu Zhiming asked with a smile.

"Selling? I haven't thought about it!" the man called Lao Zhou shook his head.

"Our apartment is valued at 430,000 yuan. Our unit upstairs and downstairs are the same. Our unit is about 120 square meters. The total price is around 5 million yuan. I'll give you 10 million yuan, and you can sell the house to me. You can take away the furniture and you have an overnight time to move," Wu Zhiming said.

"What?!"

Ten minutes later.

Looking at the advance payment of 5 million yuan on the card, Lao Zhou felt that he must have done something good recently and let the old god see him. Otherwise, how could a house worth about 5 million yuan be sold for 10 million yuan?

Lao Zhou happily woke up his wife who had gone to bed early.

"Wife, I sold the house," Lao Zhou said excitedly.

Lao Zhou's wife was also confused. After sleeping for a while, her husband had sold the house. Which kind of heart disease is this?

"Where did you get so much money?" Lao Zhou's wife asked in surprise, seeing the more than 5 million cash displayed on the phone handed over by Lao Zhou.

"The house sold for 10 million yuan, this is the deposit, we will vacate the house immediately, and they will come tomorrow! We will make a big profit, buy a nearby apartment, and we will not live in the same way? Ha ha ha!" Lao Zhou said excitedly.

In the room, laughter turned into laughter, and more than 50-year-old Lao Zhou came to interest, and the wife also came to the last one. Later, the two called the moving company overnight.

On the other hand, Wu Zhiming and Yao Jing were sitting downstairs in the car.

"You go to your mother for the night, I go to the hotel, we will come and see them tomorrow morning, they should be moving," Wu Zhiming said.

"Then what do you plan to do?" Yao Jing asked.

"Connect upstairs and downstairs and make a duplex," Wu Zhiming smiled.

After listening to Yao Jing, she laughed for a long time and suddenly could not help but ask, "You... is it necessary to do this?"

"Play, we will compete with them in literature and see who can defeat who," Wu Zhiming grinned.

"Well... these days I will live in my mother's house," Yao Jing said.

"Well, okay!" Wu Zhiming nodded and drove Yao Jing to Zhou Yanqiu, and then found a hotel room.

The next day, Liu Ning got up early and specifically touched the door and looked out through the cat's eye.

At a glance, Liu Ning hurriedly opened the door.

A foul smell came from outside the door.

Liu Ning's face became extremely ugly, and he thought that Wu Zhiming would not have come back to clean up the trash at night, but the trash in front of their house had not been cleaned up, and the corridor was filled with garbage!

Because of the summer, flies flew everywhere in the corridor, and sewage flowed to Liu Ning's door, making it look disgusting.