Police sirens wailed as they approached from a distance.
With his hands in his pockets, Xi Siyuan quietly shifted closer to Ning An and asked, "Are we going to the police station too?"
Ning An turned off her recording and nodded. "To make a formal statement."
"Is making a statement scary?"
Apprehensive, Xi Siyuan leaned closer to Ning An, earnestly seeking guidance. "I've never been to a police station in my life. Do you know what we're supposed to do in there?"
Ning An looked at him, words hanging on the tip of her tongue, swallowed them, then brought them up again. With an awkward turn of her head, she said, "Just listen to the police."
The way Xi Siyuan spoke as if he was certain she knew the procedure... Could it be that he knew she was brought into a police station last year?
"Hearing you say that gives me peace of mind."
Xi Siyuan smiled with reassurance, his clear, luminous pupils reflecting her image.
His low, rich voice was gentle and pleasant as he whispered in her ear, "I only got into a fight because of you. If I accidentally say the wrong thing in there, you have to protect me."
Ning An: "..."
The police car stopped right at the entrance of the police station.
After getting out, Ning An instinctively stepped forward, shielding the two young girls behind her.
A young officer came over to lead them in for their statements.
"We were bullied by drunkards!"
Placing himself in a chair with the air of a pampered young master, Xi Siyuan seized the initiative. "Four grown men bullying two young girls—we stepped in to do the right thing, and then they tried to beat us up!"
Ning An glanced at him and quietly started recording on her phone. "That's right, we were bullied by thugs, and I have it on video."
The two young victims were high school students who had been harassed by drunk men on their way home from cram school. With Ning An's video as proof, they only needed to sign their statements before they could leave.
The drunk men in the neighboring room had already sobered up. The moment they heard the others were allowed to leave, they instantly threw a fit.
"Ow, it hurts so bad, my hand hurts! My hand is fractured!"
"My chest hurts, my ribs must be broken!"
"What's happening, I can't see clearly."
"Injury assessment! We want an injury assessment!"
Why should they be the ones with bruised and battered faces and face detention, while the ones who beat them got to walk away?
It wasn't fair!
They wanted compensation!
Ning An gave the men a look of sheer disbelief before thoughtfully turning her gaze to Xi Siyuan.
Would this young master simply swallow this kind of grievance?
Young Master Xi couldn't stomach even the slightest grievance. He swept a cold, sharp gaze over them. "It's not out of the question for me to take responsibility."
Leaning back in his chair, he leisurely turned toward them.
His posture was languid, his aristocratic bearing undiminished, like a young master waiting to be served.
Thinking they were about to get paid, the drunkards were overjoyed, rubbing their hands together as they waited to count the money.
"Your injuries are too minor. The pittance you'd get as compensation isn't even enough for a single meal of mine—it would be embarrassing for me if word got out."
Xi Siyuan said indifferently, "Shall I help upgrade your injuries for you?"
Money was the last thing he lacked. If they wanted it, he would give it to them.
Provided they could handle it.
The drunkards: ?
What was that supposed to mean?
Why was someone offering to give them *more* money?
This was the first time the police had ever encountered someone so brazen, making threats right in front of them. An officer immediately tapped the desk as a warning. "Threats and coercion are prohibited."
"..."
Ning An didn't actually object to Xi Siyuan's handling of the situation.
However, threatening people inside a police station would turn even a justified case into a losing one. Getting dragged into a pointless dispute would just waste time and energy, which was hardly worth it.
Struck by a sudden inspiration, she imitated a scoundrel and raised her voice. "We want an injury assessment too!"
Everyone stared at her in utter astonishment.
The four drunkards were completely baffled. They were the ones who had taken a beating from start to finish—what kind of injuries was *she* trying to assess?
Only Xi Siyuan, after a momentary freeze, let his fierce expression fade. His gaze shifted, overflowing with gentleness, as he chimed in, "That's right, I need an injury assessment too."
"..."
Ning An gave him a somewhat surprised look.
She hadn't explained anything yet—wasn't Xi Siyuan worried she might be playing him?
With everyone watching them, Ning An cleared her throat, pointed at Xi Siyuan's right hand, and announced, "His hand is injured."
Keeping his eyes locked on her with a smile at the corner of his lips, Xi Siyuan cooperatively raised his right hand.
Everyone's gaze followed the movement, landing on his hand.
Xi Siyuan had fair skin; against his black shirt, his arm looked like white jade. His fingers were slender with distinct knuckles—such "delicate jade fingers" were a feast for the eyes, easily rivaling a professional hand model.
Where was the injury?
Was he actually just trying to show off his hands?
Having studied art since childhood, Ning An was already immune to all sorts of ridiculously attractive "reference material."
Taking advantage of the moment everyone's attention was hooked by Xi Siyuan's hand, Ning An pointed to a patch of scraped skin on his middle finger joint and a scratch on the back of his hand.
They were still tinged with red—the wounds were brand new.
"Did you see that?"
"These two injuries were caused by you lot."
"..."
The entire police station fell silent for a few seconds before the drunkards reacted with boiling rage.
"Bulls—t!"
"That's just a little scraped skin, call that an injury?!"
"Exactly, I reckon you're deliberately trying to shake us down!"
"Who says those aren't injuries?"
Giving them a cool glance, Ning An said with absolute seriousness, "Do you know who he is?"
"He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth."
"Pampered and spoiled since childhood, the apple of his family's eye, guarded so carefully they were afraid he'd break if held or melt if kept in their mouths—our precious darling."
"Are his hands nice?"
"Are they pretty?"
"Then do you know how much his hand insurance costs every year?"
"A hand worth millions, and you actually claim it's just a bit of scraped skin?"
Everyone: "..."
Xi Siyuan gazed steadily at Ning An, his amber eyes sparkling brilliantly, a smile even touching his voice. "That's right."
"I insure this pair of hands for five million every year."
Ning An wanted to play along.
Then he would play and go crazy right beside her.
Whether it was inside a police station or out on the street, he was more than happy to do so.
With one looking calm and serious and the other exuding a refined, noble temperament, they clearly came from an extraordinary, wealthy background and were not the sort to throw tantrums.
Combined with their straight faces and resolute tone, they managed to make a complete lie sound like absolute truth.
Everyone exchanged glances.
"F-Five million in insurance?"
The drunkard's voice trembled, and his knees shook.
Ning An glanced at him, her eyes curving slightly as a flash of amusement flickered in their depths. "That's right, five million a year in insurance."
If you're going to put on a show, you have to commit.
Xi Siyuan took out his phone, his fingers pretending to swipe across the screen. "I'll have my insurance company and my lawyer come talk to you about the compensation."
Ning An played along, asking, "With a five-million policy, the payout should be quite substantial, right?"
Xi Siyuan answered every prompt. "For injuries like this, not too much. Just a few hundred thousand."
Watching him slice into a watermelon without changing his expression, Ning An picked up the cue. "...That really isn't much."
The souls of the four drunkards were practically frightened out of their bodies.
Meeting each other's eyes, they suddenly sobered up and became very smart.
"Ah, you know what, I suddenly feel like it doesn't hurt as much anymore."
"Right, right, I must have been hallucinating earlier and couldn't see clearly."
Someone slapped his own chest hard. "My ribs are completely fine!"
They hadn't gotten any money, and instead stood to lose hundreds of thousands—only an idiot would keep tangling with them!
The corners of Ning An's lips curved upward.
You can't reason with thugs and scoundrels; you have to fight fire with fire and let them experience what it's like to have someone demand compensation from *them*.
If they still didn't know what was good for them, she wouldn't object to Xi Siyuan using brute force.
Xi Siyuan took in every reaction of hers, a smile finally reaching his own face.
"How was that?"
Bending down, Xi Siyuan lowered his head, pressed close to Ning An's ear, and asked softly, "Did I do a pretty good job?"
Feeling an itch in her ear, Ning An instinctively shrank away to the side.
Yet she was genuinely curious about how Xi Siyuan had figured out her plan.
Quietly shifting back, Ning An lowered her voice and asked, "How did you know what I was going to do?"
The corners of Xi Siyuan's lips curled slightly. With his deep amber eyes fixed unblinkingly on hers, his voice dropped low as he gave a half-true, half-false reply, "Because I have superpowers. I know everything about you."
Ning An: "..."
She never would have imagined that the dignified new head of the Xi family was actually a hardcore, delusional chuunibyou.