Chapter 153: Holding a Grudge

Chapter 153: Chapter 153: Holding a Grudge

Hua Buwan sat down and spoke. "Two yuan."

The man picked up his phone, scanned the QR code, and paid. "Done."

The supermarket’s automated notification chimed loudly. "WHATSAPP PAYMENT RECEIVED: TWO YUAN."

Hua Buwan nodded. She felt a bit apprehensive, wondering if this man was here just to buy something or for another reason entirely. After all, their two families had a feud.

Sure enough, the man didn’t leave after finishing his purchase. He remained standing right where he was.

Hua Buwan’s heart instantly leaped into her throat. She glanced around the counter for any makeshift weapons she could use for self-defense, just in case...

Just as she was looking, the man finally spoke up. "My name is Zhou Qingcheng. I’m the son of the pawnshop owner next door. You should know the owner of the shop next door, right?"

"Here it comes," Hua Buwan thought. "Is he trying to get revenge for his dad? Or did he just come here to curse me out?"

She pondered for a moment and discreetly turned on her phone’s recording feature. It couldn’t hurt to have this on tape.

"Uh, yeah," she replied. It would be too fake to pretend ignorance at this point, so it was better to just be direct.

Right after Hua Buwan answered, the man suddenly dropped to his knees in front of her.

He knelt down?! Terrified, Hua Buwan immediately jumped up from her seat and stared at the kneeling man in confusion. What was he doing? This was completely off script; the situation was the exact opposite of what she had imagined.

"Wh-what are you doing? Hurry up and get up! Why are you kneeling to me?" Hua Buwan said hastily, trying to pull him up.

But the kneeling man shook his head, his words earnest. "I am apologizing to you on behalf of my father. He did things he shouldn’t have and caused you to suffer.

"In the past, when I found out he was raiding tombs, I urged him to stop, but he never listened to me. He even smuggled the stolen artifacts out of the country to sell. I couldn’t believe he was selling them abroad! We had a massive argument over it back then.

"After that incident, I packed my bags and ran away from home. I never expected that the next time I saw him, he would be locked up in jail.

"At first, I hated him. I felt that since he refused to listen to my advice and insisted on having his own way, he had brought this upon himself and deserved his punishment.

"But after I came back home and listened to my family, I started to hate you. If it wasn’t for you, my father wouldn’t have been arrested."

Hearing the first half of his speech, Hua Buwan had thought this guy possessed a strong moral compass, vastly different from his father. However, the moment she heard his last sentence, she broke out in goosebumps and instinctively took a step back, gripping her phone tightly.

"Oh my God, talk about a plot twist," she thought frantically. "At first he knew it was his dad’s fault, and now he’s blaming me? Is he seriously busting out the victim-blaming logic right now?"

Hua Buwan swallowed hard, her breathing growing ragged. Her mind raced, desperately searching for a way out of this. The man was currently blocking the space in front of the counter, which would make it difficult for her to even escape. Maybe she could do this... or that...

At that moment, the man continued, "However, after spending the last two days at home, I reflected on myself. My thoughts were completely wrong; I was being totally irrational. So, I came here to apologize to you. I was wrong, and my father was even more wrong. I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive us."

With that, the man bowed deeply to apologize to her, though thankfully he didn’t go as far as to kowtow.

Hua Buwan breathed a sigh of relief at this. If he had actually kowtowed, she wouldn’t have known what to do. After all, they lived in a modern society governed by the rule of law. That kind of dramatic display simply wasn’t acceptable anymore.