Chapter Seventy-two Protection Fee

  The next morning, Luo Lijing got up early and prepared breakfast, neatly placing it on the dining table, waiting for everyone to get up. Since Kong Yuemei and Lin Junyun moved in, she had changed a lot, not only reducing her mahjong time but also studying cooking skills. She knew that to control a man's heart, she must first control his stomach, a principle she hadn't implemented before but now was urgent. If she didn't take good care of the man's stomach, who knows when his heart would run to someone else? Kong Yuemei was a woman from the pleasure quarters, and now she was at her doorstep; Luo Lijing had to be careful!

  "Where's Pang Guang?" After finishing his grooming, when Pang Da Hu sat down at the dinner table, he saw that everyone was already waiting for him. His eyes scanned around and didn't see Pang Guang anywhere, so his face immediately darkened and he stood up: "What time is it? This little brat is still sleeping? I'm going to beat him to death!"

  "Get up early, don't make a sound, I'll go call him." Lu Liqing quickly pressed him down and went to knock on Pang Guang's door: "Pang Guang, get up for breakfast!" After calling out several times without hearing any response inside, Lu Liqing turned the handle and opened the door.

  Pang Da Hu scolded and counted, while warmly inviting Luo Liqing mother and daughter to have breakfast: "Relatives, that kid loves to sleep in, especially in winter, don't mind, let's eat first."

  "Big Tiger, something's happened!" Luo Lijiang's panicked voice came from inside Pang Guang's room.

  Due to professional habit, as soon as Pong Datou heard the words "something's happened", he slammed down his chopsticks and rushed over in big strides.

  Luo Lianqing pointed at the bed and stuttered to Pang Dahu: "Dahu, P...Pang Guang is gone!"

  "What?" Pang Dahu was shocked, and he lifted the quilt with a swoop. Inside, it was indeed empty. He suddenly had his eyes wide open, bigger than copper coins: "Didn't this kid come home last night? How could such a big thing happen without you telling me a word?"

  "He's back! I was the one who saw him go to sleep in his room, how could he have vanished into thin air overnight?" Luo Lijing was even more shocked than Pang Datou.

  "Yes, Pang Guang was indeed in the room last night. I came in after 9 o'clock and he was holding a book, saying that not only did he want to pass the final exam, but also score better than me! Lin Junyun and Kong Yuemei heard the commotion and had already arrived. Seeing this situation, Lin Junyun quickly said: "I felt something was off when he said that."

  "What's going on?!" Luo Lijiang stamped her foot and paced back and forth in the room: "Dahu, it's all your fault, if anything happens to our son, I'll never forgive you."

  "Calm down a bit." Pang Datou let out a loud belch, then pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket and dialed Pang Guang's number. The call was quickly answered.

  Pang Dahu listened for a while, suddenly "ah" sound, his face immediately showed a very strange expression. Luo Lijing looked at Pang Dahu and felt her heart was about to jump out. She snatched the phone from Pang Dahu's hand and asked loudly: "Pang Guang, where are you?" The voice on the other end of the line came through clearly, with a relaxed and cheerful tone: "Mom, I'll be arriving at school soon."

  After a warm conversation, Luo Lijiang hung up the phone with a shocked expression, her eyes wide open and her face pale. "Dahuzi, he said he's already at school! What time is it now? He's actually already at school?" After a moment of silence, she suddenly grabbed Dahuzi's clothes like a madwoman: "Pang Dahu, you're driving our son crazy! I'm not done with you!"

  Pang Da Hu finally managed to hold down Luo Li Qing: "Wife, calm down, think about it, our baby boy has already gone to school so early, what does that prove?" He suddenly smiled: "It proves that our baby boy is sensible and knows the importance of hard work."

  "But he hasn't even had breakfast yet." Luo Lijiang felt that Pang Datou's words made sense, and she finally calmed down, plopping herself down in a chair: "We can't let him go hungry, can we?"

  "He's so strong, missing a meal or two is no problem for him." Pang Dahu saw that Luo Lijiang had stopped making a fuss and felt relieved. He started eating his breakfast with a smile: "Wife, I think your cooking skills have improved greatly recently. Could it be that you've been receiving guidance from the gods in your sleep?"

  "Really?" Luo Lijiang was overjoyed, and her earlier unpleasantness had been thrown far away: "Tomorrow I'll get up a bit earlier, let my darling son finish breakfast before going to school, so he won't go hungry."

  Luo Lianqing said this when Pang Guang was facing off with a group of people, about 100 meters away from school. There were over ten people, both male and female, all dressed strangely and eccentrically. Some had hair like watermelon rinds, some wore earrings on only one ear, and one person even had a large silver hoop through their nose, looking bizarre and eerie.

  "What protection fee?" Pang Guang rubbed his head, "I don't need anyone's protection."

  "Protection fee", a term Guang had heard of since his junior high school days, but no one had ever dared to ask him for it, so although he had heard of the term "protection fee", he didn't quite understand how to collect it, and asked.

  The man with a pierced nose, apparently the leader of these people, heard Pang Guang's words and suddenly let out a strange laugh "Hmmm... Hmmm...", turned around and said to his younger brother beside him: "Ergou, this kid is pretending to be ignorant, take good care of him for me."

  "Alright, loser dog, watch my prowess." The little brother called Second Dog said, and immediately roared "You little brat looking for death", and then pounced on him with a whoosh, swinging his fists.