The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

"Holy crap, run! The police are really here!"

The thugs were immediately terrified and scattered in all directions.

When Zhao Lin's henchmen saw the thugs run away, they also fled the scene.

Zhao Lin was left lying on the cold ground, her eyes glazed over as she gazed at the sky.

Ha, I'm going to be arrested and sent to the Six Doors again.

She smiled dismissively.

I'm going to have to wait for that old man to come and bail me out, then he'll scold me again and cut off my allowance.

What a pity, I should have spent less money these past few days.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the police to come and handcuff her.

Are you alright?

Instead of the expected stern voice of the police, a young man's handsome voice rang out.

Zhao Lin opened her eyes and saw a boy about her age, wearing glasses, looking at her with concern.

"Where are the police?"

She asked.

The boy shook his head, raised his phone, and pressed play.

A police siren came through the phone.

"I saw you were beaten too badly, so I thought I'd release some of this to scare those people away."

Zhao Lin laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Thanks."

"You're injured, let me take you to the hospital."

"unnecessary."

Zhao Lin struggled to her feet, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and limped forward.

Before long, she couldn't hold on any longer and fell to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a strong arm carried her on its back.

The boy's body temperature warmed Zhao Lin's body, gradually calming her angry and helpless heartbeat.

"What's your name?"

"Song Jiayi".

......

"Sizzle!"

Zhao Lin picked up the wok and poured the oil evenly over the sea bass sprinkled with chopped scallions.

A rich aroma immediately filled the room.

"Wow, it smells so good!"

Xu Xi leaned forward and sniffed it, unable to resist praising it.

She had been observing Zhao Lin the whole time while she was preparing the fish.

I thought Zhao Lin would braise the sea bass or put it in soup.

But I never expected her to put it directly into the steamer to steam it.

Although Xu Xi didn't know how to cook fish, she knew that for ingredients like fish with a strong fishy smell, simply cooking them like this wouldn't completely remove the fishy smell.

Finally, Zhao Lin heated oil in a wok and poured the boiling oil over the fish. The expected fishy smell did not come out; instead, it emitted a fresh and fragrant aroma.

"Is it time to eat?"

After washing her hands, Wen Yao smelled the fragrance and skipped happily into the kitchen.

Zhao Lin nodded: "The fish is ready."

"The other dishes are ready too, we can eat now."

Xu Xi then served the other dishes she had prepared.

Wen Yao examined the plate of fish. A layer of oil floated on the dark soy sauce and vinegar, and the fish was sprinkled with chopped green onions. She exclaimed in surprise, feeling quite puzzled.

She had never seen fish prepared this way before.

Wen Yao picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks, put it in her mouth, and savored it carefully.

The fish is incredibly tender, and the oil film on its surface locks in the original flavor of the fish. The aroma of scallions, released by the hot oil, bursts out, making it absolutely delicious.

This tastes even better than the fish and meat served at wedding banquets in hotels.

Unlike using heavy seasonings to suppress the fishy smell, this method preserves the natural freshness and aroma of the fish.

In addition, the time from slaughter to cooking is no more than ten minutes, which further preserves the fresh taste.

This is definitely the best plate of fish Wen Yao has ever eaten.

"Great! The taste is amazing!"

She couldn't help but give Zhao Lin a thumbs up and praise her.

"It tastes even better if you dip it in the soy sauce and vinegar at the bottom of the plate."

Zhao Lin was wiping the fish scales stuck to her hair with a wet wipe.

This fish is incredibly resilient; even after all its blood has been drained, it still struggles from time to time.

Many of the scales that were scraped off flew onto her head.

"Really? I'll give it a try."

Following Zhao Lin's instructions, Wen Yao picked up a piece of fish and dipped it in soy sauce and vinegar.

"Seriously! It tastes amazing!"

Xu Xi tasted it and agreed.

"I never expected that drizzling it with scallion oil would taste so good."

"This is how my mother used to cook fish."

When her mother was mentioned, a barely perceptible hint of longing flashed in Zhao Lin's eyes.

"My cooking isn't as good as hers; I just don't quite get the hang of it."

"It's okay, it tastes great already."

At the dinner table, Wen Yao, unusually, did not criticize Zhao Lin. Instead, noticing that Zhao Lin was only eating the vegetables in front of her, she put a lot of food on her plate.

Just as we were finishing our meal, there was a knock on the downstairs roller shutter door.

"You guys eat first, I'll go check on things."

Wen Yao wiped the grease from the corner of her mouth, put down her chopsticks, and went downstairs.

A man stood outside the roller shutter door.

"Sorry, we're closed today. You'll have to go buy it next door."

She thought they were just customers who came to buy things.

The other person pulled out an ID from their pocket and showed it to Wen Yao.

A string of police sirens was written on it.

Yuncheng City Public Security Bureau: Zhang Feng.

"Is Zhao Lin here?"

He asked in a low voice.

Wen Yao tensed up instantly.

"Uncle Zhang!"

Xu Xi heard the noise and came downstairs. She was quite surprised to see Officer Zhang and greeted him.

"Xu Xi? Long time no see, how are your studies going?"

Officer Zhang was taken aback when he saw Xu Xi.

"That's great, Uncle Zhang. I'm slowly catching up. I even got 15th in the class on the last exam!"

"That's great! I heard from Jidong that your class has the best grades in the high school. Your class ranking should be in the top 100 in the whole grade."

"Yes, yes! He's ranked 80th in the grade!"

Officer Zhang smiled and patted Xu Xi's head.

"Xi Bao, do you know her?"

Wen Yao leaned close to Xu Xi's ear and whispered a question.

"I know him. Uncle Zhang isn't a bad person."

"Don't be nervous, I'm not here to take Zhao Lin back, although this girl used to be a regular here."

Wen Yao breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought Zhao Lin had done something wrong and was going to be arrested by the police for investigation.

In this way, her act of taking Zhao Lin in appears to be an act of covering up for her.

"Then wait a moment."

Wen Yao walked to the top of the stairs and called upstairs.

"Zhao Lin, someone is looking for you."

Upon seeing Officer Zhang in his police uniform, Zhao Lin instinctively shrank back.

"Don't be afraid, we're not here to arrest you."

Wen Yao took her hand.

"Hello... Is there anything I can help you with?"

She avoided eye contact, not daring to look at Officer Zhang.

"Zhao Lin, according to our investigation, your father, Zhao Ruilong, is suspected of illegal fundraising to fill the gap in the Zhao Group's capital chain, and the amount involved is huge."

"Since Zhao Ruilong is deceased, he will not be held criminally liable, but all his assets have been seized."

"Currently, the Zhao Group still owes tens of millions of yuan in back pay. We have investigated and found that Zhao Ruilong sold off group assets to pay back pay before his death, but the funds were intercepted by the finance department and several vice presidents and fled abroad. We are still investigating."

As he spoke, Officer Zhang took an envelope out of his bag and handed it to Zhao Lin.

"This is the suicide note we found on your father's body, left for you."