Chapter 1

In September, although the weather was not as scorching as in July and August, it was far from the crisp and refreshing autumn. At this time of year, people preferred to stay indoors with air conditioning rather than endure the stifling heat outside. However, even with the air conditioning humming loudly, the Longsheng Shopping Plaza remained warm. As the Mid-Autumn Festival approached, men, women, and children all came to buy seasonal goods. The crowded and bustling environment, combined with the usual noise and clamor of the mall, was truly annoying.

Suddenly, a sharp siren sounded, and several public security officers burst in, heading straight for the escalator in the hall. Their serious demeanor clearly indicated that a serious crime had occurred! No one wanted to get involved in this unnecessary trouble, so the crowd automatically parted, making way for them.

The destination of the public security officers was a third-floor store with an antique and elegant decor. The wooden sign above the door read in bold and powerful characters: "Hongyi Antiques!" It was clearly a shop dealing in antiques and jade. The store was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, and from outside, one could clearly see a man lying on a makeshift bed made of several chairs in the hall.

The man was dressed in a well-tailored suit, but his face was severely deformed, and blood was flowing from his nose and mouth, staining his clothes with red, white, and black patches, a pity for his designer outfit. A few employees, dressed in store uniforms, were frantically wiping his face and calling his name, while others were on the phone, apparently urging for an ambulance.

At this moment, many onlookers had gathered in front of the store, including a television crew. A beautiful female reporter, after tidying up, was ready to broadcast. The cameraman said, "Start," and the reporter began her report: "Hello, everyone. I am reporter Xiaomin from the Urban Channel. Just now, we received a tip-off that a migrant worker, dissatisfied with his boss withholding his wages, severely injured his boss. We have now arrived at the scene, and we can see that someone is indeed injured, and the situation looks very critical... What exactly happened? Let's interview some of the eyewitnesses."

With that, the reporter named Xiaomin approached a female employee who was sobbing and asked, "Hello, I am a reporter from the Urban Channel. Could you tell me what happened? Is the man lying inside the boss of this store? Where is the person who attacked him?"

The female employee took a deep breath and, with a slightly choked voice, replied, "The man inside is our boss, Mr. Wang. The person who injured him is named Ma Le, a migrant worker who started working here two months ago. He left after the attack."

"What was the cause of the incident?" the reporter asked, following up.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it seems that Ma Le received a fake jade today. The boss found out and wanted to deduct his wages. They started fighting over this," the female employee answered, wiping her nose and tears.

"That's not the case, I saw it!" A bystander suddenly interjected, entering the frame. The reporter Xiaomin was delighted to hear this and quickly handed him the microphone.

The man who spoke was a young worker in a work uniform, looking honest, and with an accent indicating he was also a migrant worker: "I work next door to the antique shop. I was just delivering goods and happened to see it. Ma Le did receive a piece of jade, but he only paid a hundred yuan. The boss immediately said it was fake and wanted to deduct his wages for the past two months. Ma Le refused, saying he could afford to lose two hundred yuan. The boss wouldn't agree, and that's how the fight started... I think the boss was just bullying Ma Le because he's a migrant worker, trying to withhold his wages over a hundred yuan!" This statement was met with agreement from other onlookers, but the store employees, loyal to their boss, began to speak against Ma Le, leading to a heated debate.

"Alright, alright, who called the TV station?" Xiaomin interrupted the argument, changing the topic. To her surprise, this seemingly irrelevant question elicited an unexpected answer.

"It was Ma Le who called!" the crowd almost said in unison.

Xiaomin was taken aback by the answer: "What, what's going on?"

The young man who had defended Ma Le answered: "They were arguing outside the store, and the other employees were all siding with the boss, not speaking up for Ma Le. In a fit of anger, Ma Le took out his phone and called you, saying there was a fight. After hanging up, he pushed the boss to the ground and beat him up!"

"Calling the TV station before the attack... What does that mean?" Xiaomin asked, puzzled.

"To make a big deal out of it!" someone answered: "I think he wanted to beat up the boss and get him on TV, so the whole city would know the boss was untrustworthy. Ma Le left after the attack, but who would have thought the boss wouldn't get up again? Now he's barely breathing, waiting for medical help. This incident is bound to become a big deal!"

As they were talking, the police arrived, cleared the crowd, and began investigating the scene. Soon after, the ambulance arrived, and the critically injured Mr. Wang was carried away on a stretcher, his fate unknown.

...

At the same time, on a subway train heading to the outskirts of the city, a strange scene unfolded. It was evening, and the subway should have been crowded during the rush hour. However, the passengers on this train had made way for a clear space.

In the center of the space stood a tall young man, about 185 to 190 cm tall, with a strong build and an ordinary appearance. His short hair was neat, and his small eyes sparkled. He was whistling casually.

From his appearance, he seemed like an ordinary young man. What made people avoid him? The answer was the bloodstains on his clothes, which had already turned dark!

This young man's surname was Ma, and his given name was Le, the very person who had injured Mr. Wang!

At this point, Ma Le was not yet aware of the serious trouble he had caused, or that the police had been alerted! He had only wanted to teach Mr. Wang a lesson and called the reporters on a whim, hoping to embarrass the "iron rooster" on TV.

The incident was simple: a customer came to the store to sell a jade pendant. Ma Le, being an intern, had no qualifications to authenticate jade. However, the person in charge of authentication, Mr. Zhang, was busy, so Ma Le took the customer to the living room to wait until Mr. Zhang was free.

The customer seemed nervous and kept drinking tea, making the atmosphere awkward. To break the ice, Ma Le asked to see the jade pendant and, to his surprise, he really liked it! Ma Le didn't know why, but he had never been interested in such things before. He asked the price, and the customer said he wanted ten thousand yuan. Ma Le laughed and joked, "If it were a hundred yuan, I'd buy it without asking the boss!" To his surprise, the customer bit his lip and handed the jade to Ma Le, saying he would sell it for a hundred yuan.

This left Ma Le puzzled. He thought, "What's going on? When did I become such a good bargainer?" He knew the jade was fake and probably not worth ten yuan, but for some reason, he really liked it. People often have a special psychology where they don't want something they like to be too cheap. So, Ma Le bit the bullet and decided to buy it for a hundred yuan. However, he only had twenty yuan in his pocket. He went to borrow money from Mr. Zhang, who was busy and gave him a hundred yuan without much thought. Thus, Ma Le bought the jade for a hundred yuan.

So, in fact, Ma Le had bought the jade with his own money, intending to wear it for fun.

The problem arose because he had borrowed the hundred yuan from Mr. Zhang! Ma Le was an intern with a three-month contract, and wages were paid at the end of the period. He had worked for two months but had decided to leave due to personal matters. When he informed Mr. Wang, the boss had promised to pay him for the days he had worked. However, this was just a pretext to attract workers. Now that Ma Le wanted to leave, Mr. Wang had other plans.

Coincidentally, Ma Le had borrowed a hundred yuan from Mr. Zhang to buy the jade, and Mr. Zhang had the authority to use the store's money to purchase antiques when the boss was not around. The jade was initially intended to be sold to the store. When Mr. Wang found out, he claimed that Ma Le had taken the store's money without permission, causing a loss, and demanded to deduct Ma Le's wages for the past two months.

Ma Le, of course, refused, arguing that he had bought the jade himself and that Mr. Zhang could vouch for him. However, Mr. Zhang, who was in cahoots with the boss, claimed he was too busy and didn't pay attention to what Ma Le said, thinking Ma Le had the skills to authenticate the jade and that the hundred yuan was the store's money.

Ma Le, unable to defend himself, compromised and said that even if there was a loss, it was at most a hundred yuan, and deducting two hundred yuan would be fair. However, Mr. Wang, seeing Ma Le's concession, decided to bully the young migrant worker, saying it wasn't about the money but about the attitude. He claimed that if Ma Le could take a hundred yuan today, he could take ten thousand tomorrow, implying a serious threat.

Ma Le had long been dissatisfied with Mr. Wang. The boss had hired him for his strength and assigned him all the dirty and tiring jobs, making him do the work of two people. He was promised food and lodging, but received only a monthly allowance of two hundred yuan. Moreover, the boss often fined the employees and withheld wages.

With new and old grievances, Ma Le decided to confront the boss directly: "Stop talking nonsense. Are you going to pay my wages or not?"

Mr. Wang, intimidated by Ma Le's气势, was initially afraid but, seeing the dozen employees present, regained his confidence: "No, I won't pay!"

Without a word, Ma Le took out his phone and dialed a number: "Hello, is this the TV station? I want to report that at the Hongyi Antiques store on the third floor of Longsheng Plaza, the boss is withholding wages and has been beaten. Oh my, it's terrible, his face is covered in blood. Please come quickly!" After hanging up, he lunged at the still-dazed Mr. Wang. The male employees initially tried to intervene but were intimidated by Ma Le's threat: "Whoever dares to stop me, I'll kill them!" They watched helplessly as the boss was beaten.

At the time, Ma Le was driven by anger and acted impulsively. Now, on the subway, he had calmed down and reflected on his actions, thinking he might have been a bit too harsh. However, he did not regret it. After all, the boss was not a good person, and he had only given him a beating, which was a small price to pay.

Ma Le no longer cared about his wages. He had beaten the boss and vented his anger. He planned to buy a train ticket the next day to return home for the Mid-Autumn Festival, rather than stay in this unfamiliar place and endure the humiliation. Thinking about this, he felt a sense of relief, as if a two-week constipation had finally been cured.

Just then, Ma Le's phone rang...