The old man, his hair bristling with anger and his face flushed red, shouted, "Why don't you watch where you're going? You need to compensate me for my rare blue-and-white porcelain, and pay for my medical expenses!"

Grace Howard bit her lip timidly and said, "I'm sorry, sir, I'll compensate you, but could you please let go of me first?" It was the first time she had encountered such a situation, and she was at a complete loss.

"That's easy for you to say. Give me ten thousand yuan up front for my medical treatment!"

Although Grace Howard came from a wealthy family, she usually didn't carry much pocket money with her. Grace Howard said, "Sir, could you please let go of me first so I can get my wallet?"

More and more people gathered around to watch the commotion.

Grace Howard felt extremely embarrassed. She suddenly remembered what had happened at school—she really had been unlucky lately, always running into these awkward and humiliating situations. For a moment, she was both ashamed and anxious, her eyes turning red with grievance.

The old man said, "Pay up!"

Some busybodies nearby chimed in, "Yeah, pay up!"

Grace Howard reached into her handbag only to find her wallet missing. Grace Howard was so anxious she was about to cry: "Sir, I've lost my wallet!"

The old man sneered, "Trying to trick an old man at your age? You think I haven't seen it all before?"

"Grandpa! Grandpa, what's wrong?" an anxious voice called out.

The onlookers turned to look and saw a short, chubby boy squeezing through the crowd—it was David Bolton.

When Grace Howard saw it was David Bolton, her heart instantly sank.

Of all people, why did it have to be him? How unlucky could she get? This damned David Bolton turned out to be the old man's grandson—now things were even worse. No doubt about it, the two of them were in cahoots; it had to be a scam.

The old man stared blankly at his suddenly-appearing chubby grandson. Before he could react, that hefty body rushed over, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him with all his might, wailing, "Grandpa! Oh, my grandpa, what's wrong with you!"

The old man hadn't even figured out what was happening before he was shaken dizzy. To make matters worse, in the process, he bumped into David Bolton's face, seeing stars before his eyes—after all, that was a face with a defense rating of ten thousand.

In that moment of distraction, Grace Howard had already pulled her hand free.

While shaking the old man, David Bolton winked at Grace Howard and mouthed, "Run." Only then did Grace Howard snap out of it, and without thinking any further, she turned and fled.

When the old man saw Grace Howard leaving, he finally came to his senses and realized he'd forgotten to pretend to be injured. He scrambled up from the ground: "Don't go! Pay me!" But David Bolton blocked his way like a wall. The old man, extremely agile, tried to get around David Bolton, only to see David Bolton spread his arms, as if to hug him.

The old man was furious. The carefully planned scam for today had been ruined by this kid. Pointing at David Bolton's nose, he shouted, "Who the hell is your grandpa? Get out of my way, or I'll beat you to death!"

David Bolton grinned and pointed at his own big face: "Go ahead, hit me right here if you dare. If you don't, you're my grandson..."

The old man, fuming, landed a heavy punch right on that chubby face. David Bolton, having already scoped out the area, fell to the ground on cue. Practice makes perfect—when it comes to faking accidents, there's really not much skill involved.

The old man was actually just a con artist specializing in staged accidents. Seeing David Bolton fall to the ground, he immediately realized what was happening—he'd run into a fellow scammer. Today, instead of pulling off his scam, he'd been scammed himself. The best plan now was to make a run for it, so the old crook turned to slip away.

David Bolton's movements were slow, but he made up for it with quick thinking. Before the old crook could take a step, David Bolton spread his arms and grabbed his right leg: "You're not leaving until you pay up!"

The old crook was utterly frustrated. After so many years on the streets, to be outsmarted by a snot-nosed kid—what a disgrace!

At that moment, the local police officer Samuel Cooper hurried over, pointing at the two entangled men: "What's going on here? Disturbing public order will get you detained!"

The old crook pointed at David Bolton and complained with a wronged expression, "This kid faked an accident to extort me!" Of course, the best defense is a good offense.

Samuel Cooper recognized David Bolton as the one who had just caused trouble in Lily Brooks's shop. His thick eyebrows immediately furrowed: "You again?"

A figure rushed over before he could act, raising her hand and delivering a crisp slap to the old crook's face, leaving one side of his face swollen.

It was the proprietress of the Tianzhu shop, Lily Brooks. In fact, Lily Brooks had been watching from a distance the whole time. She had originally planned to step in to help her niece, but when David Bolton rushed in first, she decided to wait and see. She had thought the chubby boy was in cahoots with the old crook, but the way things unfolded was full of twists and turns, completely beyond her expectations.

When the old crook saw Lily Brooks appear, his expression changed.

Lily Brooks said, "Feng Laosan, you've really outdone yourself, bullying children now."

The old crook hung his head even lower.

Naturally, Samuel Cooper wouldn't miss this chance to curry favor with Lily Brooks. He said eagerly, "Chunli, leave this to me. I'll take both of them to the station for a proper interrogation."

Lily Brooks said coldly, "This has nothing to do with you. Everyone watching, disperse—it's just a misunderstanding."