In the mediation room, the Yellow-Haired Man and Long Hair Man walked in with their heads wrapped in bandages.
Upon seeing Hoshino Kannon, both men's eyes flashed with hostility and they opened their mouths to speak, but Officer Yang gestured and said, "Sit down first, let's talk while seated."
"Hmph!"
The two men snorted coldly and sat down opposite Gu Chenan and Hoshino Kannon.
"Are you her family member?" the Yellow-Haired Man looked at Gu Chenan with crossed arms and spoke condescendingly, "Let me be clear, reconciliation is impossible."
The Long Hair Man immediately nodded and said, "Right, there's no possibility, don't delude yourselves."
"I sincerely apologize to both of you..."
Gu Chenan stood up and bowed slightly to the two men, "This incident was indeed our fault. On behalf of my girlfriend, I apologize to you both and hope you can forgive us..."
Before he could finish, the Yellow-Haired Man slammed the table with a "bang" and said, "Forgive? Are you kidding me? Your girlfriend split our heads open without a word, and you think a simple 'hope you can forgive us' will make it go away?"
"Don't slam the table, let's talk properly."
Officer Yang warned, and the Yellow-Haired Man's attitude softened slightly, though his tone remained firm: "Officer, I'll be honest, if you hadn't asked me to come, I wouldn't be here at all. I'm here out of respect for the police officers' hard work."
Then, turning his gaze to Gu Chenan, he added, "Not because we agreed to reconcile."
"Ah, about that."
Officer Yang gathered his thoughts and said, "Gentlemen, your injury assessment results are out. They're classified as minor injuries. Of course, I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone, but I think this matter can be resolved peacefully."
"There's no need to have this young lady deported over this incident. Studying abroad is already challenging enough."
Then, Officer Yang turned to Hoshino Kannon and said, "Young lady, I've told you everything I needed to. Your actions have violated the law, and you need to be prepared for the possibility that they won't forgive you."
"But if you sincerely wish to obtain their forgiveness, you should be prepared to compensate them for medical expenses and lost wages."
"Of course."
Gu Chenan immediately nodded, "Not just medical expenses and lost wages, we can cover all costs including emotional damages and any other related expenses. We just hope you both can forgive my girlfriend."
"You think I care about your dirty money?"
The Yellow-Haired Man suddenly burst out angrily, "Let me tell you, I make twenty to thirty thousand a month, I don't need your compensation. What I want is to see your girlfriend in jail!"
"That's right, you weren't afraid of deportation when you were hitting us, why are you afraid now?" The Long Hair Man showed no sign of wanting to forgive either.
Seeing their firm stance, Gu Chenan pressed his lips together, then put on another gentle smile.
"Brothers, let's talk this through calmly, don't say things in anger. I understand my girlfriend was wrong, and she knows her mistake. I can meet all your demands, I just hope you can put this behind us and forgive my girlfriend."
Then, looking at Hoshino Kannon, he said, "She means a lot to me."
Seeing Gu Chenan like this, Hoshino Kannon's heart felt struck, and she froze in place.
When had Gu Chenan ever been so humble to others?
In the novel world, he was always the center of attention wherever he went, not just the focus of all eyes, but treated like royalty.
In Hoshino Kannon's memory, Gu Chenan had never spoken to others in such a tone.
Yet now he was being so humble to these two men for her sake?
The guilt in Hoshino Kannon's heart crystallized and exploded, finally turning into hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
The next moment, a warm hand reached out to wipe away the tears on her face, and an even warmer voice spoke in her ear: "It's alright, don't worry, I'm here."
"Crying? Now you know how to cry? We didn't see you crying when you were hitting us!"
"Didn't you say you were going to kill us? How come now you want us to forgive you? I think you're just putting on an act in front of the officer!"
The Yellow-Haired Man and Long Hair Man continued their harsh words, their eyes full of contempt.
Hearing these words, Gu Chenan was instantly furious, but given the current situation, he couldn't express it. He could only suppress his anger and say, "Gentlemen, we're here for mediation to solve the problem, not for you to be aggressive."
"Solve the problem? You're the one who wants to solve the problem, not us."
"You talk about compensating us for various fees, do we need your compensation? What's the point of compensating us a few thousand each? Is that all getting beaten up is worth? Ridiculous!"
Hearing this, Gu Chenan's lips curved slightly upward.
As long as they mentioned money, it meant they were open to reconciliation; they just instinctively thought they could only get a few thousand in compensation.
It wasn't a problem if they asked for too much; the worry would be if they didn't mention money at all.
"Gentlemen, I never said I would only compensate you a few thousand. Name your price, as long as it's reasonable, I can agree to it."
"Well..."
The Yellow-Haired Man didn't know how to respond and looked at the Long Hair Man, who cleared his throat and thought for a moment before saying, "Fine, you said it. If you don't agree, we absolutely won't forgive you."
"Please, go ahead," Gu Chenan gestured.
"Umm, your girlfriend beat us up like this, we can't work for a month or two, and since we were injured in the head, we'll need additional nutrition. Moreover, your girlfriend was very violent and caused us significant psychological trauma, so emotional damages can't be left out, and also..."
The Long Hair Man counted on his fingers for a while, then held up one finger and said, "One hundred thousand each. Agree, and we'll sign the reconciliation agreement right now. If not, we absolutely won't sign."
"A hundred thousand each? Young man, are you joking?"
Before Gu Chenan could speak, Officer Yang couldn't sit still anymore.
Usually in similar cases, the victims would ask for ten or twenty thousand in compensation at most. This was outrageous - asking for a hundred thousand. Why not just ask him to support you for life while you're at it?
The Yellow-Haired Man and Long Hair Man spoke in unison, "Officer, this is our demand. If he doesn't agree, we absolutely won't sign the reconciliation agreement."
Officer Yang was speechless, helplessly shaking his head as he looked at Gu Chenan.
He didn't know Gu Chenan's identity or what he did for a living, but seeing how young Gu Chenan was, he didn't seem like someone who could produce two hundred thousand at once. Such a large amount was really asking too much.
"Young men, I could understand if you each asked for ten or twenty thousand, but a hundred thousand each is too excessive. Why don't you lower it?"
"Not a penny less," the Yellow-Haired Man said firmly. "He said we could make any reasonable demand and he would definitely agree. We've made our demand now, whether he agrees or not is his business, it has nothing to do with us."
"Officer, you know we never intended to reconcile. Whether he can afford this money or not isn't our concern, we just hope..."
"I agree. A hundred thousand each, right? I'll transfer it to you right away."
Just as the Yellow-Haired Man and Long Hair Man were trying to make their position clear to Officer Yang, Gu Chenan suddenly spoke up.
At this statement, the Yellow-Haired Man, Long Hair Man, and Officer Yang all froze, their surprised faces turning simultaneously to look at Gu Chenan.