148: Chapter 147 A Happy Ending

"Please, make way!"

At this moment, the organizers of the expo finally arrived. A woman in her thirties, dressed in a blazer, appeared on the scene with several expo staff members. In fact, the expo security personnel had been here maintaining order, but they found it difficult to intervene in such a matter.

"President Fang, what is going on here? And this young man, is there anything that can't be discussed properly? Why must it come to this!"

"Manager Wu, this is a private matter between us. I will give you an explanation later!" Fang Yongchang said with a forced smile.

"President Fang, this is not just your private matter. Look at what a mess it's become on the internet! If you keep this up, how is this expo supposed to continue? I don't care what grievances you have, but you've caused a very bad influence on this year's expo. This cannot go on. This place must be cleaned up immediately, and then all of you will come with me." Seeing that Cao Xiao was indifferent to her arrival, Manager Wu's tone became even harsher, with the last few sentences directed straight at him.

"Yueyou, take the sisters back to the car and wait for me." Cao Xiao handed An Ni and Li Lanshan over to He Yueyou.

"You are all involved; no one is allowed to leave! I've already called the police, and they'll be here soon. Security, stop them!" Seeing He Yueyou and the others about to leave, Manager Wu immediately shouted for them to stop.

"Brother Duan, stay. The rest of you, escort them directly back to the villa. If anyone blocks you, you are permitted to use any weapon to attack." Hearing Manager Wu's words, Cao Xiao was no longer calm. His gaze was like a sword as he stared fixedly at Manager Wu and gave the order to the bodyguards.

"Yes!"

Duan Hong threw the hammer in his hand to Niu Zhen and reached a hand toward his waist, standing guard behind Cao Xiao. Li Quanshuo and the other two held their metal hammers, guarding the girls and clearing a path for them.

"You..."

"Shut up!"

Manager Wu was so unnerved by Cao Xiao's stare that she was interrupted as soon as she spoke.

"Manager Wu, I said I would give your Management Committee an explanation later, so don't interfere anymore! What you need to do now is quickly have people disperse the onlookers; we will resolve the matter here immediately." Fang Yongchang was also startled by Manager Wu's words, and his heart skipped a beat when he heard Cao Xiao mention using weapons. Cao Xiao was currently in a fit of rage, like a powder keg ready to explode at any moment. Manager Wu didn't know the situation and was speaking so arrogantly; if she frightened that little girl again, things would get even worse. With Cao Xiao's fiery temper, he might just smash the entire Exhibition Center. With so many people gathered here, any accident could cause a riot, and no one could bear the responsibility if something happened. Thus, he quickly pulled Manager Wu aside and spoke to her seriously.

"Cao Xiao, you should have calmed down a bit by now. I didn't know about the little girl Shanshan's matter earlier, so I won't try to persuade you anymore. Alan is at your disposal today. Let's move to another place to handle this; there are too many people here. If a riot is triggered and leads to a stampede, none of us can handle the consequences!" Fang Yongchang walked back to Cao Xiao and spoke sincerely.

Cao Xiao gave Fang Yongchang a deep look, then glanced at the surrounding crowd. Being pointed at by so many phones felt a bit awkward. In truth, his anger had subsided quite a bit. Fang Yongchang was responsible for today's events for failing to discipline his son, but as a father, Alan's actions weren't something he wanted to see either. Now that the man had promised to hand over his son for disposal, he had no reason to target him further.

"President Fang, I won't make things difficult for you today. I have no obligation to help you discipline your son, but I want to see if he can survive after leaving your side. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

"I would have done that even without you saying so. I bear a great responsibility for him turning out like this. Rest assured, from now on he will have nothing. I will no longer look after him, and no one will provide for him. Whether he becomes an ordinary person or a beggar depends entirely on his own fate! Even if he starves to death on the street one day, I won't care." Fang Yongchang looked delighted; this outcome couldn't be better. He had realized that this was for his son's own good—to let him learn to survive independently and experience the life of an ordinary person. In a few years, when Cao Xiao's anger had completely faded, perhaps his son would have truly matured. To love him was to be hard on him.

"Madam, I came here to spend money and buy things. If I'm in a good mood and smash them just to hear the sound, what does that have to do with you? So many people have been gathered here for so long and you were nowhere to be seen, yet now you come here shouting at me. Does it give you a sense of accomplishment? What are you trying to prove? Hah! You even called the police! Which law did I break by smashing my own things? Hah! You told them to stop those girls; go ahead and try to stop them now!" Cao Xiao rolled up his sleeves and glared at Manager Wu, berating her head-on as he approached.

"I don't care who you are. This is a national Jadeite Expo. If you disrupt the order of the convention, you will be severely punished. If you continue to make a scene, I'll have the Armed Police outside come in!" Manager Wu was completely unafraid of Cao Xiao's threats and berating, facing him with an air of righteous indignation.

"Cao Xiao, don't get excited. Let me handle this!" Fang Yongchang stepped forward to hold Cao Xiao back, then turned to Manager Wu with a look of anger and said bluntly, "Manager Wu, you are just a manager. You have no right to boss us around here. As a seller, I am willing to engage in interactive entertainment with a customer; that doesn't violate any laws. As for disrupting order, does me holding an activity to attract customers count as disrupting order? You are the one making a scene! If you don't disappear immediately, then wait to be collectively complained about by all the exhibitors in this expo!"

Now that things had finally taken a turn for the better, how could Fang Yongchang allow Manager Wu to ruin it? Besides, this was a matter of mutual consent and hadn't caused any loss to the expo. Even if there were some negative impacts, they were mostly directed at Haolai Jewelry, and it had even indirectly increased the popularity of the Jadeite Expo. Therefore, he wasn't going to give Manager Wu any face. His jewelry company had managed to hold on until now even after its main source of raw materials was cut off for over a year because he knew how to handle people and had a very wide network in the jewelry industry; even his competitors would give him some face. If he were truly provoked and decided to make a fuss, this expo would definitely become a laughingstock. Dealing with a Manager Wu was naturally no trouble at all. As for the police and Armed Police, he was even less afraid because their behavior had not broken any laws nor endangered public safety.

"Fine! Fine! I'll report this to the leadership right now and see who's the unlucky one then! Do you think you can just settle this by colluding together? It serves you right that your showroom was smashed, and don't even think about continuing to exhibit here! We'll see about that!" To Manager Wu, Cao Xiao smashing the Haolai showroom was also a sign of disrespect toward their Management Committee. She had originally intended to help Fang Yongchang, but with him speaking like this, she felt caught in the middle and blamed by both sides. She was almost laughing from anger, and after speaking through gritted teeth, she flung her hand and left with her people.

Fang Yongchang watched coldly as Manager Wu disappeared into the crowd, then scanned the surrounding onlookers. Suddenly, with a face full of joy, he cupped his fists and said loudly, "Dear customers and friends, welcome to the sales event hosted by Haolai Jewelry! I announce that this event has been a complete success! To celebrate that all our exhibited jewelry has been sold out today, our company has decided to give back to our customers tomorrow. All exhibited jewelry will be sold at a 20% discount. We welcome everyone to visit the Haolai Jewelry showroom tomorrow! We at Haolai Jewelry will do our best to satisfy the wishes of our customers. Just like today, as long as you can afford it, you can smash any precious piece of jewelry you don't like, and we will provide the hardest hammer for you!"

"Tsk!"

"Haha! This boss is actually quite interesting!"

"Only someone sick would smash jewelry! Even if I were sick, I wouldn't have the money!"

"I'll come back tomorrow to take a look. Maybe I'll even see the spectacular scene of diamonds being smashed!"

"Boss, look here, Cheese!"

"Haha! That was really satisfying to watch! Tomorrow I'll bring my girlfriend to watch diamonds being smashed, so she knows that diamonds are meant for smashing. No matter how many carats it is, one hammer blow and it's no different from glass!"

"Boss, have your best diamond jewelry ready tomorrow! I'll help you contact the TV station for a live broadcast!"

"If only all jewelry companies smashed things like this, the price of diamonds would drop eventually!"

"I love hearing the sound of gems shattering. Especially when expensive gems like diamonds, jadeite, or mutton-fat white jade shatter—the sound is just too enchanting. It reminds me of my first love!"

...

Fang Yongchang's performance caused the crowd to erupt. Listening to the people's discussions, Fang Yongchang almost wanted to cry, and his body couldn't help but tremble. What kind of talk was this! Do diamonds cost nothing? And a live broadcast of smashing the best diamond jewelry? I want to smash your head! First love, my foot!

"Pfft! Haha!"

A familiar laugh reached Cao Xiao's ears. He turned back toward the sound and saw that the girls hadn't left yet. Li Lanshan's previously tear-stained face had blossomed into a smile at some point. This smile swept away all the gloom in his heart, and he couldn't help but smile too.

"Come to your uncle, Shanshan!"

Cao Xiao happily pulled the bashful Li Lanshan over, took out a tissue to wipe the tear tracks from her face, and said tenderly, "Shanshan, when we get back, I'll give you a pile of beautiful jewelry. Your uncle has so many I can't even count them. You could wear a different set every day for all 36,500 days of your life without repeating. And I guarantee they'll be more beautiful than all the jewelry here. We'll come back tomorrow and make them die of envy!"

"Pfft! Uncle, stop bragging! I don't want jewelry! Just don't be angry anymore, okay? I was afraid something would happen to you!" Li Lanshan was made to laugh by Cao Xiao again, but she immediately restrained her smile and looked at him seriously with a plea.

"Alright! As long as Shanshan is happy, I won't be angry! But your uncle isn't lying to you; you'll know when we get back!" He gave Li Lanshan a head pat and spoke mysteriously.

"An Ni, next time anyone dares to be mean to you, just tell me. I'll go beat them into braised pig's head! When we get back, I'll make your favorite braised pig's head for you! Come on, give me a smile! Haha! Don't be shy!" Cao Xiao's mood was incredibly pleasant now. Seeing that An Ni was no longer crying and was looking at him somewhat adorably, he teased her.

"Xinmeng, Kexin, in a bit I'll give you each a set of beautiful jewelry to soothe your nerves. You should learn from Xiao Chang—if anyone dares to yell at you, yell right back. I'll back you up if anything happens!" Cao Xiao felt a bit guilty toward the girls. If not for him, they wouldn't have suffered this undeserved misfortune today. After all, Alan's words were very hurtful to them, so he wanted to compensate them, not just with jewelry, but with care.

"Alright, now that it's resolved, let's go. I've been wandering around with you for half the day and I'm hungry," He Yueyou said, giving Cao Xiao a sidelong glance.

"Cao Xiao, I won't take your money. I still have to clean up here today; I'll visit you another day to apologize!" Seeing Cao Xiao and the others about to leave, Fang Yongchang ran over and tore the check to shreds in front of him, speaking sincerely.

"Whew! Alright! I won't worry about the matters here then. If the Management Committee still has an issue, tell them to come find me. My little niece just had an accident yesterday and can't suffer any more harm, so I couldn't control my emotions today. My apologies! These pieces of jewelry of yours must have cost at least two or three hundred million at cost price, right?" Cao Xiao said with some apology after letting out a breath.

"This little loss is nothing; we still have stock. We can exhibit normally tomorrow just the same," Fang Yongchang said, somewhat insincerely.

Upon hearing this, Cao Xiao took a sheet of A4 paper from his pocket and handed it to Fang Yongchang. It recorded information on jadeite raw materials from stalls at the trade fair—about two hundred pieces in total—along with rough estimates. Of course, not every piece contained jadeite; only about two-thirds did, and some were of average quality. As long as Fang Yongchang followed the information and prices to buy all those raw stones, he would have no problem making three or four hundred million after opening them all. If he processed them into jewelry for sale, the profit would be even greater. "If you won't say it, fine, I won't give you the money. But the promise I made today still stands. Buy those things according to the information on this paper; it should be enough to compensate for all your losses today. You've done what you should, so there's no need for an apology. We'll take our leave!"

"Good! That Manager Wu won't be able to stir up much trouble; I'll handle it. I won't see you out! Thank you!" Fang Yongchang looked at the dense information on the paper and was instantly overjoyed. Since Cao Xiao said so, he must be very confident, meaning this batch of raw stones would be profitable. Making money was secondary; what his company lacked was precisely jadeite raw materials. As long as half of these hundred-plus stones yielded jadeite, he wouldn't have to worry about raw materials for at least half a year. If this hadn't happened, Cao Xiao wouldn't have given him so much at once; at most, he would have picked out a few pieces for him. He couldn't help but feel that fortune and misfortune were indeed intertwined! For things to end like this could be considered a happy ending for all.

However, looking at the dispersing crowd and the police rushing over from a distance, then seeing that Cao Xiao's group hadn't gone far, the smile on his face vanished. He sighed and strode quickly toward the police...