Chapter 578: I’m Just a Bystander

“What are you talking about? You clearly bumped into me and made me drop my stuff! Why are you blaming me? This is outrageous!”

Liu Rushuang, who was about to apologize after seeing the broken items, instantly became furious upon hearing that.

“What do you mean by that? You don’t want to admit you damaged my stuff, huh? I’ll tell you what, you’re not getting away with this! Everyone, come and help me prove it—wasn’t it her who broke my stuff!”

The young man grabbed Liu Rushuang’s clothes, and raising his voice, he shouted to the surrounding bystanders.

“Young lady, I clearly saw with my own eyes that you knocked his stuff to the ground. If you ask me, you should just pay for it.”

“That’s right. How shameful at such a young age! You broke his stuff, shouldn’t you pay for it?”

“Don’t worry, Brother. We all can testify for you. We won’t let her just walk away!”

One of the onlookers, a middle-aged man in a red short-sleeved shirt, was the first to speak up, accusing Liu Rushuang of breaking the young man’s laptop. The other bystanders quickly agreed.

“Wha… what? Did you really see that? If not, don’t spew nonsense!”

Seeing this group of people misrepresenting the truth, Liu Rushuang became incredibly angry.

“Alright, don’t get angry. Let me handle this.”

Xu Shaochen patted Liu Rushuang’s hand, signaling her to stay calm. Then he looked at the young man and asked:

“Did you just buy this laptop?”

“Of course, it’s brand new! Just look at the screen—it’s flawless! Do you think I’d lie?”

The young man glanced at Xu Shaochen, subconsciously stepping back as he pointed at the broken screen.

“Really? It’s a bit too far, I can’t see clearly. Let me take a closer look. If it’s indeed new, I’ll certainly pay you back.”

Xu Shaochen said with a friendly smile.

Hearing this, the young man hesitated, seemingly unwilling to hand over the laptop. He glanced uneasily at the crowd.

“Bro, just let him take a look. If it’s new like you said, what are you afraid of? It’s not like he can magically transform a new laptop into an old one.”

The same middle-aged man in the red short-sleeved shirt spoke up again.

Hearing this, the young man handed the laptop to Xu Shaochen: “Fine, I’ll let you see it. I just bought it this afternoon.”

Xu Shaochen took the laptop, looked at it, touched it, and then asked the young man with a serious expression: “Are you sure it’s brand new? If it is, I’ll pay you back in full. But if you’re trying to con me, I’m not someone to mess with.”

“What do you mean by that? Are you trying to back out of paying? I’m telling you, this laptop is brand new!”

The young man looked at Xu Shaochen and said decisively.

“Bang!”

Right before everyone’s eyes, Xu Shaochen lifted the laptop and slammed it hard onto the ground. The screen was cracked before, but now the entire laptop was completely smashed.

Sand spilled out from inside the laptop.

“There’s sand in it! Look, the laptop’s full of sand. That guy is a scammer!”

Suddenly, someone in the crowd cried out in surprise, and everyone turned to the young man with hostile gazes.

“Wha… what? I bought the laptop as a second-hand item from someone else. I… I didn’t know there was sand inside. Damn it, I got scammed too!”

The young man awkwardly swallowed and stammered out.

“Didn’t you just swear it was brand new? How did it suddenly become second-hand?”

Xu Shaochen asked with an icy smile, glaring coldly at the young man.

He actually tried to scam me? He must have a death wish.

This kind of scam is common at train stations, airports, and bus stations.

If it were a young person just starting out in society, they’d likely fall for this trick.

But Xu Shaochen is a seasoned veteran. There’s no way he’d be fooled by such a clumsy scam.

Usually, in these scam attempts, expensive electronics are hollowed out, with chips and memory strips removed. Instead, they’re filled with sand and other materials to add weight.

Xu Shaochen had just smashed open the laptop; sure enough, it was filled with sand.

Even on the off chance he was wrong, and the young man wasn’t a scammer, he could always just buy another laptop to compensate him.

In the crowd, the middle-aged man in the red shirt tried to sneak away upon seeing what had happened.

“Grab him.”

Xu Shaochen said coldly.

Then, Long Yi stepped forward a few paces and immediately restrained the man in the red shirt.

“What are you doing? Let go of me! Let me go! What are you trying to do? Do you want me to call the police?”

The middle-aged man in the red shirt struggled wildly, but it was all in vain.

“Your accomplice is still here, yet you’re already thinking of running away? You’re worse than disloyal.”

Xu Shaochen reached out and patted the red-shirted man’s face, giving him a mocking smile.

He was the first to start causing a commotion, leading everyone else astray.

And when the young man glanced uneasily at the crowd earlier, it was towards this middle-aged man.

This guy was also part of the con. He’s a shill, blending into the crowd to agitate people and increase psychological pressure on the victim, raising the chances of the scam succeeding.

“What accomplice? Don’t talk nonsense. I’m just a bystander. At most, I made a mistake. I apologize to your girlfriend, alright?”

The man in the red shirt, his face changing colors, pursed his lips and said with a twitch in his expression.

The onlookers also looked at Xu Shaochen skeptically, wondering if he had guessed wrong.

Xu Shaochen ignored him and turned his attention to the young man holding the laptop: “Look at that, your accomplice doesn’t seem to want to admit it. Seems like the police will only catch you then.”

“He Lao Six, you disloyal bastard! Don’t blame me, then.” The young man’s expression shifted as he cursed venomously before loudly confessing: “He’s my partner! We often run scams at the train station using phones. He suggested we try our luck at the airport today.”

The crowd erupted in an uproar as the scammer publicly confessed.

Especially those who had sided with the man in the red shirt earlier. Now, their faces turned red and pale with shame.

“These scammers are despicable. Let’s call the police!”

“Yeah, lock them up so they can’t hurt anyone else.”

The middle-aged man in the red shirt panicked upon hearing that the police were being called. He glared at his accomplice and started cursing: “You son of a bitch, what are you talking about? I don’t even know you!”

After cursing, the red-shirted man looked anxiously at the bystanders and shouted:

“Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to frame me and drag me down with him. I’m just a bystander.”