Everybody's gaze landed on Lihua. Mrs. Lu found her and stomped to her side angrily. Before anybody could stop her, her palm already landed on her cheek, resounding a loud slap.

Everybody took a sharp gasp. Lihua's head tilted to the side. The burning pain in her cheek made her eyes water. She was too shocked to say anything.

"Lihua!"

Meng Ya was horrified as she just saw what happened. She rushed to her side and saw her cheek turning red.

She glared at Mrs. Lu. "Are you nuts? How dare you hit my friend?"

The principal was just as furious. "Mrs. Lu! Don't forget that this is my college campus. You cannot be violent towards any of my students!"

Mrs. Lu shouted. "My daughter is missing and you expect me to be calm? If anything then this girl is responsible! She is the only one who could have a grudge against my Jie."

She tightly grabbed Lihua's arm, making her yelp in pain. "Tell me! Where is Jie? What did you do to her?"

Mr. Lu towered over her. "If anything happens to my Jie, then you are dead! It's in your best interests that you come out with the truth!"

The principal shook off Mrs. Lu's hand. "Enough! If you would be any more violent here, I will call the police! I understand your pain, but that doesn't give you the license to cross your limits!"

Meng Ya gritted her teeth. "You two oldies have lost it."

"Hah! Of course, you would say that!"

Lihua clenched her fist and shot a deadly glare at them with her tearful eyes, feeling wronged. "You know, I was feeling horrible for you two for going through this. But chuck that out! How could you slap me? How could you blame without any evidence? Did anybody see me with Lu Jie? Did anybody see me harm her?"

Mrs. Lu flared in anger. "Who else could it be than you? Jie was just having some harmless fun but-"

"Harmless?" Lihua snapped and cut her off. "She spread rumors about me, triggered the students to mock and bully me, she was embarrassing me in front of the whole college and you call this harmless? I don't care what others think about me, but if it had been any other student, do you know how it could have seriously hurt her? You are just shrugging it off as some harmless fun? You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Their faces were distorted in an ugly expression. Mrs. Lu raised her hand to slap again. But this time she caught it and threw it away.

"Only the first time because you took me by shock. I am not a pushover!" Lihua declared.

"You!"

From afar, they heard the sound of police sirens loud and clear.

Mrs. Lu said, "Let me see your attitude now! Once they arrest you, you wouldn't be so arrogant anymore!"

Lihua and Meng Ya were stunned and so was the principal. "You called the police!?"

Mrs. Lu smirked. "Of course! Why delay when we have the culprit?"

The lead officer stepped out and Mr. Lu quickly said, "Please arrest this woman! She admitted it herself how she was so angry at Jie for bullying her. We are sure she did something to our Jie to take her revenge!"

Meng Ya yelled. "You fools! How could you do that? You don't have any evidence!"

The principal was now seriously furious at the couple rather than feeling sorry for them.

The officer said, "Please calm down. Tell me everything."

When Mrs. Lu reiterated the incident, his expression turned grave. Lihua said, "Sir, I am innocent!"

"I understand that we don't have any witness or proof against you, but unfortunately, you are still the prime suspect who has got a motive. Almost forty-eight hours have passed since Lu Jie's disappearance. I am sorry, but I have to bring you for questioning."

She was stunned.

Meng Ya protested. "How could you do that?"

The principal urgently said, "Sir, this is too much…"

The officer-in-charge shook his head. "We are not arresting her or pressing any charges against her. But we will have to do the routine questioning and I hope for cooperation."

Lihua bit her lip hard.

If she resisted, then the suspicion on her would grow even more instead of lessening.

"I will go…"

"What?" Meng Ya shook her arm. "Don't be crazy. Why should you suffer like this?"

"I don't have any choice. I will just make things harder for me if I don't cooperate."

"You…" she felt helpless. "Wait!" She whispered. "We will ask Mr. Jiang for help!"

She hesitated. "No, Yaya. That is not right. I cannot bother him about my problems all the time…"

From across the road, as a group of four thugs settled at their usual spot at the tea stall, one of them noticed the commotion.

"What is going on there?" One of them asked.

The second one widened his eyes. "Police! We should get out of here before they see us!"

"Damn it! Let's go!"

While they were ready to run away, the fourth guy squinted his gaze. He gasped in shock. "You three, stop! Look over there!"

"We don't have time. They will catch us! Let's escape!"

"Shut up. Just calm down and watch that woman. Isn't she the same woman whose photo leader Chang Fang had showed us yesterday?"

The three of them took a closer look at Lihua. They blinked their eyes rapidly. "Oh oh oh! She is the same woman the Mafia King has ordered all the gangs to help her if we see her anywhere! She is the Mafia King's woman!"

"She is getting arrested for some reason. Isn't she in trouble? That means she needs help!"

The four of them looked at each other.

We ourselves are wanted criminals! How are we supposed to help her!?

On one side there was the police.

On the other side was the Mafia King.

Either way, they were going to sacrifice themselves.

.

.

.

"Fuck let's go and help her!"

If they turned a blind eye to the Mafia King's woman, Wei would personally gauge their eyes out and make them blind himself.

Just like them, there was another person who was observing Lihua from a distance. Mo Huojin narrowed his eyes and started walking towards Lihua.