After understanding the reason, the injured man cried, "Brother, I'm sorry for you. Actually, I also have my reasons. Don't think I’m successfully and glamorously opening a shop. I owe a lot of debt. I can only eat the customers' daily leftovers and I only dare to smoke five yuan cigarettes. The compensation I gave you back then was the dowry I had planned to use to marry my wife. Because the money was given to you, I lost my fiancée. Who do I go to about that?!"

Chen Shi said, "Listen, you only lost one leg, but what he lost was love!"

Ouyang glanced at Chen Shi contemptuously. "Do you also want to get shot?"

"I’m just lightening up the atmosphere. Is that not okay?"

Ouyang sneered and continued to eat the meat in the hot pot.

"What are you talking about?!" Lin Qiupu's roar could be heard from the radio hanging on Chen Shi's neck.

Chen Shi picked up the radio and whispered, "Prepare for an ambulance and ask them to have more blood bags."

Chen Shi said to Ouyang, "Brother, I’ll help you do the math. Using a gun, holding someone hostage, and aggravated injury will start from 13 years. Although he’s impudent, shameless, and has a bad character and morals, he has no direct criminal responsibility. You said a leg for a leg is fair, but the judge won’t think so. You’ll go to jail, but although he won’t have his leg, he can still run his restaurant. Will it affect him?”

Ouyang waved his hand and said, "You don't need to say anything more. I will pay for my own behavior. After an hour, I will surrender my gun and turn myself in..." He looked around, "Everyone, if you want to go, just go. I won’t shoot."

The guests squatting under the table crawled out hesitantly and walked out slowly. When an old man walked past Chen Shi, he patted his shoulder and said, "This is indeed the fault of the store owner. If the police can spare him, they should!"

Then, the old man grabbed a bag of unopened fish balls from the side table and left.

When the hostages came out in batches, the police were shocked. They stepped forward and asked if they were injured. Through the hostage's mouth, they learned about the situation inside. Lin Dongxue said, "Chen Shi still has some skills up his sleeve."

Lin Qiupu shook his head. "The injured one is the key!"

Chen Shi said, "Mr. Ouyang. In fact, I think you’re quite reasonable. Just through the act of letting the hostages go just now would take off a few years of your sentence in court. Why don’t you add to your good deeds and turn a big incident into a small one?”

"Okay, you can go out too!" Ouyang swung his gun around.

"The prison is not a good place to stay at. You are a disabled person. When you go to prison, wouldn’t those jackals, wolves, tigers and jaguars[1] bully you to death? Do you think prison-life is easy? You have to work hard every day in order to get a bite. You’d only be able to stare at the high wall over the decade and everything in the outside world would no longer exist for you! You are only in your twenties. Anything you do would be better than this. Even if you start a stall to help people put on protective screens on their phones, get up early every day, and struggle to earn some money through blood, sweat and tears, it’s still better than being in jail. It’s really not worth it!”

Ouyang slammed on the table and shouted, "The matter has already been done and I’ve already shot the man. Do you want to say that I won't need to go to jail? Do you dare to slap your chest and guarantee it? Do you dare? Whether I get arrested for ten years or twenty, I’d still be going to jail. Since what’s done is done, I’ll let this resentment out! I don’t want his life. I want him crippled so he remembers this lesson his whole life!”

Chen Shi said, "Of course you have to go to jail, but it can be short or long. You might even be able to fight for probation. That all depends on your current actions." He pointed to the dishes on the table. "These are not vegetables, lamb slices, fish balls and shrimp balls. These are your future. If you eat one more bite, you may be sentenced to an additional year. When you’re really in prison, you will regret eating one more bite... Don’t struggle like this anymore. Hurry up and let him go!"

Ouyang picked up a piece of rolled-up lamb meat[2] with chopsticks, put it in the pot a few times, and ate it. "Don't bother. I’ve already said that as long as his leg is crippled, I will surrender!"

The injured man yelled, "I'm finished. I can’t feel my leg anymore. Nothing at all."

Ouyang grabbed a beer and poured it down on his gunshot wound. The injured man screamed even worse. Ouyang said disdainfully, "Pretend. Continue to pretend!"

Chen Shi sighed secretly. Negotiations were really a tricky business. This man had made up his mind to cripple the owner’s leg. He couldn’t convince him using a frontal offense. He walked to a table and said, "I think there are other means of retaliation. You don’t have to be so extreme. For example..."

Chen Shi kicked the table over. The pot on it as well as the dishes fell to the ground, clanging as they broke and scattered all over the ground. He exclaimed in an agitated fashion, "We can smash this shop up so he can’t run it anymore. He’ll go bankrupt!”

Ouyang looked at Chen Shi coldly.

Chen Shi overturned another table and asked, "Is this enough to compensate you?"

Ouyang still didn't speak. Lin Qiupu was going crazy shouting over on the radio, "What are you doing?!"

Chen Shi continued to overturn the tables. He did them one by one, and soon the store was in a state of chaos. The injured man yelled, "Don’t smash them. It’s all my hard-earned money!"

Ouyang pointed his gun at the pixiu[3] at the shop entrance and said, "Smash that toy over there as well."

"I’ll listen to you!"

Chen Shi walked over and pushed the pixiu to the ground. He picked up a chair and beat the pixiu like an enemy until the chair fell apart. Then, he asked Ouyang, "Is this enough? I don’t think he’d be able to open this place up again in at least half a year.”

"The row of wine behind the counter is valuable."

"I’ll listen to you!"

Chen Shi went behind the counter and smashed bottle after bottle of wine. Soon, the store was full of the sweet smell of wine. You’d get drunk just by smelling it. The injured man cried even more. "Just cripple my leg. Please."

Ouyang seemed to have already been shaken. He stood up limping, walked in front of Chen Shi, put a hand on Chen Shi's shoulder, and patted him. "I’ve relieved my hatred. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Chen Shi reached out to get his gun. During this process, he was very nervous, for fear of any changing variables.

This single moment seemed to be stretched to infinity. In the end, he snatched the gun away and put the safety on. Chen Shi said to the radio, "Hurry and come in to save him!"

Then, he said to Ouyang, "It’s good that your lost rationale has come back!"

"Thank you. I can see that you really came to help me."

Chen Shi patted his arm and smiled. The police rushed in and took the injured man out. Ouyang was also taken to the police car. The gun was successfully delivered to Lin Qiupu. Lin Qiupu hadn’t expected Chen Shi to be able to resolve it peacefully. He looked at the store that was in a mess and asked, "Who will pay for this?"

"The task force."

"Do you still have the face to say that?!"

"Isn't the point of negotiation to minimize loss? Isn’t it worthwhile to exchange a few tables and bottles of wine for a life?"

Lin Qiupu had to admit that what he said was correct. This guy who had not received professional training actually had such good adaptability and was successful using surprising means.

More importantly, he was more empathetic than deputy chief Yan and fully understood the needs of the other party.

However, Lin Qiupu said, "Don't do this next time. You almost scared us to death.”

1. Bad people of all sorts.

2. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSlZ8hMnbcWNi7fsjSUoctv1nj3-Y19A2WxA8EZd8vQ1TuTs5OP&usqp=CAU

3. People put these in their shops to bring wealth. Pixiu is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature and is considered a powerful protector in Feng Shui. It resembles a strong, winged lion. It’s auspicious creature for wealth.