A Viral Comeback

She quickly set up her tables and chairs, inviting everyone to sit and then swiftly began serving bowls of tofu pudding to the waiting customers.

Among the crowd were some of Rong Xuelan's regulars, who, knowing they could enjoy her delicious tofu pudding for free tonight, had no interest in visiting other stalls.

There were also passersby who, tempted by the free offer, decided to stay.

As more and more people gathered, the line in front of her stall grew longer.

Rong Xuelan barely finished making one bowl before someone eagerly reached out to take it from her hands.

The growing crowd prompted a regular customer to call out, "Boss, I can't get a free one in time! Can I just pay for a bowl instead?"

For most people, 10 yuan wasn't much.

The regulars, knowing how tasty and hard-to-get her tofu pudding was, quickly chimed in.

"Boss, I'll pay too—please make mine first!"

"Me too! I'll pay!"

Rong Xuelan shook her head and smiled. "I said it's free, so it's free. Don't worry; I'll be here tomorrow night too!"

Half an hour later, the three large tubs of tofu pudding that Rong Xuelan had prepared were completely empty.

She saved a few bowls, giving two to the couple running the cold noodle stall next door to apologize for disrupting their business.

The rest, she handed to Tang Xueba.

"Without you and your friends, I'd have been falsely accused today. I really can't thank you enough. From now on, whenever you and your friends come to eat tofu pudding, it's on the house!" Rong Xuelan said.

Tang Xueba whose his face turned red because of embarrassment tried to refuse, but Rong Xuelan insisted and pushed the bowls into his hands.

As they were talking, a customer eating tofu pudding suddenly exclaimed, "Hey! Why are those two police officers back?"

Rong Xuelan followed his gaze and saw the two officers from earlier stopping in front of the milk tea stall.

"You're Cai Xukun, aren't you?" the male officer asked sternly.

The silver-haired young man lowered his gaze and nodded slightly.

"Your accomplices already confessed. I'm taking you to the station on suspicion of public disturbance," the officer announced.

Rong Xuelan's instincts had told her that the boy at the milk tea stall was involved, but she hadn't expected his accomplices to turn on him so quickly at the station.

The customers eating tofu pudding understood what was happening and curiously asked the officers, "So he's in cahoots with those two troublemakers from earlier?"

"Yes," the male officer replied curtly.

When the crowd tried to ask more questions, the officer dismissed them, saying, "The case is still under investigation."

Rong Xuelan kept her eyes on Cai Xukun, but his face showed no trace of guilt or remorse.

Instead, Cai Xukun arrogantly tilted his chin at her, his expression full of provocation.

The female officer, noticing this, immediately pressed his head down forcefully. "What are you so smug about? Doing bad things and still acting cocky?"

The two police officers escorted Cai Xukun and his milk tea stall away.

The owner of the neighboring cold noodle stall leaned in and whispered to Rong Xuelan, "Before you, this stall was rented by a young girl who is selling sweet soups. Her business was doing really well, but one day, she just disappeared."

"Looking back now, it's very likely that guy had something to do with it," he added.

Rong Xuelan nodded, thinking it was entirely possible that Cai Xukun had a habit of pulling such stunts.

With the commotion finally over, Rong Xuelan packed up her things and headed home with Dou Dou on her back.

Running a business always came with minor troubles like this, so Rong Xuelan didn't dwell too much on the events of the evening.

The next morning, she got up early as usual, went to the market to buy ingredients and prepared to make her tofu pudding.

However, when she arrived at the night market that evening, she found an even longer line waiting at her stall.

Wang Hei spotted Rong Xuelan and ran from the back of the line to greet her enthusiastically, "Tofu pudding sister, you're finally here!"

Rong Xuelan smiled and glanced at the long line. "What's going on? Did you help me advertise on your school forum again?"

She still remembered how effective Wang Hei's last round of promotions had been.

"Hahaha, how'd you guess it was me!" Wang Hei widened his eyes in surprise before breaking into a sly grin. "But you guessed wrong this time! I didn't post on the school forum—I posted on Weibo."

As they chatted, Rong Xuelan set up her tables and chairs.

The first customer in line stepped forward and said, "Boss, I'd like two bowls of savory tofu pudding and two bowls of sweet to-go."

"You get busy! I'll talk to you again when it's my turn!" Wang Hei said with a laugh before dashing back to his spot in line like the wind.

...

"Weibo?" Qi Yu's pen paused mid-signature as he looked up and asked, "So, you found her?"

"Yes," Secretary Tang replied. "He's at the night market near the university town in Daguanyuan District, selling tofu pudding. Apparently, some troublemakers tried to cause a scene at her stall last night, but someone posted a video and an account of the incident on Weibo today, and it's gone viral."

Qi Yu gripped his Montblanc pen tightly, unable to focus on the document in front of him.

"Let me see the Weibo post," he said.

Secretary Tang handed over his phone, which displayed a Weibo post:

...

[ MrFoodieHaveSomethingToSay ]: Last night, at the university night market in Daguanyuan District, the tofu pudding vendor got framed by someone who claimed there were flies in the pudding. Luckily, there was video evidence proving it was a staged setup by some thugs! Big thanks to the police for handling it swiftly. Also attaching some tofu pudding pics and a few photos of the beautiful tofu pudding sister. If you want to try it, hurry up and come quickly! @TianxingCityFreshNews @WondefulTianxingCity @TianxingCityStreetBuzz

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