Miss Elbow-Strikes the President, Are We That Close The Genius's Shady Deal

"Hmm?"

Shen Qinghan looked slightly puzzled as she gazed at an open window of the hospital. The window was empty, with no one in sight.

Withdrawing her gaze, she focused on what was ahead. Beside her, the dorm auntie who was leading the charge got to work, smashing the Xia family hospital's sign with a wrench.

Immediately after.

Several men in black carrying briefcases stepped forward. Click. Moving in unison, they opened the cases to reveal dense stacks of cash.

This money was for compensation. It was also a message to the other side: the Du family were not unreasonable, nor were they some "underworld syndicate." It was just a simple "physical altercation," and they wouldn't short them a single cent of the compensation.

After all, in today's society, everyone is civilized... Forget it, I can't keep up this lie. Go talk to my medical bills!

Standing to the side, Dongfang Zhixia frowned at the massive crowd of "underlings" before her. After all these years, the Du family's way of handling problems was still as simple and brutal as ever.

However... being simple and brutal right now didn't seem like a bad thing.

Sometimes, it was better not to be too reasonable. Dongfang Zhixia nodded in approval and looked at Shen Qinghan beside her. "Good job."

Shen Qinghan remained calm and completely ignored the "brawn-over-brains female gorilla" next to her. She turned to the dorm auntie and said, "Just pin them down. Don't hit anyone."

"Wa-tah... huh?" The dorm auntie, who was excitedly holding a steel pipe ready to bash some heads, hurriedly stopped when she heard her Young Master's order. An invisible question mark popped up over her head.

The steel pipe halted right above the head of a Xia family bodyguard, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

The bodyguards assigned to Xia Tongxin were no ordinary men. They were all retired military personnel who had to pass rigorous selections to earn their spot beside her. Their combat quality was absurdly high.

While they might not all be legendary soldier kings, taking on several opponents at once was no problem for them. Even faced with such a massive crowd, the bodyguards blocking the entrance showed no intention of stepping aside.

They were absolutely worth every penny of their salary!

The dorm auntie blinked, her aging eyes widening as she looked at her Young Master in confusion. "Uh... well, Young Master, since we're already here..."

Shen Qinghan furrowed her brows slightly.

The dorm auntie hastily tossed the steel pipe aside, her face breaking into an obsequious smile. "Hehe, whatever the Young Master says."

She turned her head and roared at the subordinates below, "Put your weapons away! No hitting! Keep it clean!"

"Keep it clean"... was essentially industry jargon. Simply put, it meant no blood and no weapons. Just restraining the targets was enough. It was considered a relatively civilized approach.

Logically speaking, since the Young Master of the Du family had been disrespected, they absolutely had to spend the "medical bills" they brought today. But now that their Young Master had spoken, they obviously couldn't proceed as planned.

The massive crowd stowed away their weapons. The crisp sound of clashing metal echoed continuously through the area. Anyone unaware of the situation would wonder what on earth was going on.

With their weapons put away, they began to "work" under the dorm auntie's command, moving to pin down all the Xia family bodyguards in front of them. Of course, this would take some time, though no more than three minutes.

If they could use their weapons, it wouldn't even take half a minute... But they couldn't. They were civilized people now and couldn't use such nasty things.

While completely restraining everyone posed a slight challenge, clearing a small path for someone to walk through was easy enough. Soon, a human wall formed, creating a passage wide enough for two people.

"Young Master, this way, this way." The principal, who had been cowering on the sidelines for ages, finally popped out. He wore the same fawning smile as the dorm auntie. They were practically cut from the same cloth—truly mother and son.

Shen Qinghan nodded and walked toward this makeshift "passage." Then, as if remembering something, she suddenly stopped.

She turned her head and looked at Dongfang Zhixia, who was following right behind her.

"Are we close?" Shen Qinghan asked calmly.

Dongfang Zhixia: "..."

"Shen Qinghan, I suggest you don't push it!" Dongfang Zhixia gritted her teeth. However, she glanced around... These were all Shen Qinghan's underlings. It was better to lay low for now. How did the saying go? Circumstances are stronger than men.

Dongfang Zhixia wasn't stubborn either. She quickly swallowed her indignation and spoke politely to the eldest miss in front of her.

"Let me in, and I won't pursue the previous matter," Dongfang Zhixia said, crossing her arms as she laid out her bargaining chip.

The "previous matter" she mentioned naturally referred to the video recordings. They were both school board directors, yet the Dongfang family inexplicably lacked access permissions. There was clearly something fishy going on, but she just hadn't noticed it before.

If she investigated it, she would definitely uncover something.

Shen Qinghan remained completely unfazed. "Oh, then go ahead and pursue it."

With that, she walked into the hospital without looking back. She also instructed her subordinates to keep watch and not let "outsiders" in, placing heavy emphasis on the word "outsiders." The target of her remark was quite clear.

Dongfang Zhixia: "..."

"Shen Qinghan!!!"

"Let me in!" Seeing Shen Qinghan's figure drifting further away, Dongfang Zhixia's tone grew increasingly agitated. Her gaze suddenly snapped toward Niu Fen, who was quietly trying to slip away!

The principal: "..."

For some reason, he had a bad premonition.

"Niu Fen, isn't it!" Dongfang Zhixia said through gritted teeth.

Gulp. The principal swallowed hard and offered a rather awkward smile. "Well, you see... Eldest Miss, there's nothing I can do about this. You know how it is. My hands are tied..."

The principal was a middleman, sure, but he undoubtedly had his biases. The fact that he belonged to a branch of the Du family couldn't be changed, so he would naturally favor his own people. His claim that his "hands were tied" was nothing more than a stalling tactic.

Intellectuals were best at passing the buck. After all, he had made it to this position; if he didn't know how to pass the buck, wouldn't he have lived in vain?

Besides, his Young Master had already given the order. If he went over and let someone in now, wouldn't he just be asking for a beating?

"Your hands are tied? Heh, fine. What a great excuse. Your time as principal has come to an end. The recent restroom expansion is short on manpower, so it's the perfect opportunity for you to get some exercise." Dongfang Zhixia wore a devilish smile.

The principal: "..."

Just like that, the principal's future fate was sealed: cleaning toilets...

Of course, his official title would still be principal, but he would be a principal moonlighting as a janitor. Dongfang Zhixia would send people to keep an eye on him. If he slacked off in the restrooms, he would be in for a world of suffering!

The principal let out a pained, forced smile reminiscent of a certain tragic manga character, squatting on the ground in utter despair.

"Woo-woo!"

Sirens wailed as red and blue lights flashed. A large fleet of police cars drove over from the end of the road. Dongfang Zhixia's eyes lit up—she had a way in!

...

Upstairs, in the hospital ward.

The room was inexplicably quiet. Ye Cheng and the head maid had fallen onto the floor in a "rather delicate" position, looking exactly like a classic CG scene from a galgame where the male and female leads bump into each other at a corner and find love.

This was the price of dodging the Eldest Miss's top-tier Observation Haki just now—dropping to the floor and quickly pinning the head maid down so they both disappeared from the window, avoiding the Eldest Miss's detection.

In short... well, it wasn't too bad.

The head maid: "..."

The head maid's face turned visibly red at a rapid pace, her ears burning with embarrassment. Her reason fought to keep her from screaming as Ye Cheng struggled a bit to climb off her.

Because of his Teletubby-like bandaged hands, well... it made things a bit rough for the head maid. From her perspective, they had turned into sinful groping hands.

Boing, boing~~~

After getting up from the floor, Ye Cheng remained very calm, rubbing his smooth chin with his Teletubby hand.

"You know I didn't do it on purpose. It was an emergency just now. If I hadn't pulled you down, we both would have been done for." Ye Cheng defended himself reasonably, recalling the danger they had just faced.

He never expected that besides her exaggerated Conqueror's Haki, the Eldest Miss also possessed top-tier Observation Haki. From over a hundred meters away, without any anomalies, she had locked right onto his head!

Whether she was using hacks or not, she knew best!

Ye Cheng felt that his sharp eyes and keen ears were like those of a greenhorn in front of the Eldest Miss—completely redundant, like a free gift that came with a phone plan.

A layer of mist covered the head maid's eyes. Her hand twitched, itching to slap him, her face full of shame and indignation.

Seeing that he was about to get elbowed again, Ye Cheng decisively chose to accept his fate, though he made one last struggle. "How about this? Let me owe you for now. You can slap me when my body recovers a bit. Of course, I won't make you wait for nothing. I'll give you interest—three percent a day..."

"In about 23.45 days, you'll earn an extra slap. How about it? Pretty good deal, right?"

"Not only that, I can even round it for you. Instead of rounding down, I'll just make it 23 days!"

Ye Cheng put on a 'you're getting a huge bargain' expression as he calculated the debt for the head maid—oh wait, calculating the slaps—using a shady loan shark algorithm that required a specialized formula.

However, Ye Cheng completed the calculation in his head and gave the head maid the final answer. The head maid was also a top student. After Ye Cheng calculated the answer and provided the solution, she belatedly realized what was going on.

Following Ye Cheng's logic, she was surprised to find... it was actually quite solid!

So that meant... she was making a profit?

Given Ye Cheng's stingy, penny-pinching personality, being able to take advantage of him and make him voluntarily yield profits meant the head maid was, in a sense, the first of her kind.

"Fine." The head maid took a deep breath and agreed.

Ye Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could celebrate, the head maid continued her calculations. "Since you said it can be stored at three percent a day, I have the right not to withdraw it later. I can keep it in there, letting the interest compound on the growing principal..."

"You're too ruthless! Who calculates like that!" Ye Cheng was filled with righteous indignation!

The head maid's slapping hand twitched again.

Ye Cheng: "..."

"Alright, we'll do it your way." Ye Cheng backed down at the speed of light. Sigh, what a massive loss. He was always the one extorting others; he never expected the day would come when he'd be extorted himself. Public morals were degenerating with each passing day. Alas...

The two geniuses reached an agreement, and the room returned to peace.

Ye Cheng and the head maid began to get their stories straight.

"I told you it would be troublesome. If this medical record is seen, it'll be even more troublesome." Ye Cheng sighed, feeling somewhat helpless.

The head maid frowned. "Then what is your solution?"

Ye Cheng blinked, pinched the medical record the head maid had just handed him, and then... riiip, tore it in half.

"The solution is to pretend this never happened. We both go our separate ways, go back to our own homes, eat what we want, drink what we want..."

"No!"

Before Ye Cheng could finish, the head maid's resolute voice came from the side, flatly rejecting Ye Cheng's proposal.

Ye Cheng: "..."

"Why not?" Ye Cheng asked in return.

The head maid choked up, unable to give a reason for a long time. Ye Cheng struck while the iron was hot and spoke as if it were a matter of course: "Look, look, am I right? A plan that benefits us both has nothing wrong with it. It's happily decided then!"

The head maid: "..."

The head maid narrowed her eyes. "You will come to the hospital regularly for treatment. When I tell you to come over, you must come over."

"Don't be silly, lady. Who do you think you are?" Ye Cheng put on a cocky look, staring at the head maid with a face full of disdain, showing off his ugly side.

"In that case, I have no obligation to keep your secret. This matter..." the head maid said calmly.

"Sis, I was a bit too loud just now. I hope your esteemed self won't hold the faults of a lowly person against me. Onegai, Watashi will work like a horse or an ox in my next life to repay you!" Ye Cheng dropped to his knees at the speed of light, hugging the head maid and constantly blinking his big, sparkly eyes.

The head maid: "..."

And so, the two got their stories straight and completed their handover ceremony. For the days to come, Ye Cheng's body no longer belonged to himself, but to the head maid. When the head maid told him to come, he had to come; if he didn't, he could just wait for death!

The hospital room quieted down.

"My name is Xia Yu," the head maid suddenly spoke, her somewhat calm voice echoing in the room as she introduced herself.

Ye Cheng blinked. "Xia Yu? Sister Yu? Do you live in Dadong City?"

The head maid: "???"

"Damn, that's so cool, Sister Yu!" Ye Cheng gasped, declaring it awesome!

The head maid: "???"

Visibly, the head maid was turning red with anger, her hands trembling with rage...

A moment later.

"Xia Xia, what are you doing? Knives are so dangerous. Put it down. If you accidentally cut yourself later, my heart will ache." Ye Cheng's tone was cheesy, and he wore an affectionate expression.

Of course, it would have been even better if the head maid didn't have a knife pressed against his neck.

"Hmph," the head maid snorted coldly, but her expression softened quite a bit when she heard Ye Cheng call her Xia Xia.

Tap, tap...

Without any warning, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor... getting closer step by step!

Ye Cheng's expression changed. "She's here!"

The footsteps were light, slightly hurried, and accompanied by the panting of excessive exercise... It was the Eldest Miss!