It was just past eight in the morning when I got up.
I had only slept for a few hours, but was still full of energy.
I planned that after delivering the packages today, I needed to make a trip to the herbal market.
First, I had to buy several more batches of materials for the Nourishing Spirit Liquid, and secondly, the materials for weight loss tea, vitality supplements, and the beauty cream.
Besides that, I also needed to buy some other herbs to prepare various potions, including health drugs and hair growth treatments.
"Health drugs, hair growth treatments... these two should have quite a promising market."
I muttered as I opened the door, pushing my little electric tricycle, and walked out.
After locking the door, just as I was about to hop on the tricycle, a loud voice came from next door.
"Hey! Charlie, off to deliver packages again?"
The voice was somewhat jarring, with a mocking tone.
I frowned, turned my face, and saw a burly middle-aged woman coming out, holding a bowl of rice in her hand, looking at me with disdain.
I clicked my tongue, feeling unlucky.
I immediately turned around, pushing the tricycle towards the road.
"Hey! You little brat, how can you be so rude? Don't you know to greet your elders when you see them? Hmph! Just as expected from a punk with no upbringing!"
The woman persisted, shouting.
"My Bogdan is much better! A university student, knowledgeable, well-mannered, how excellent! Someone like you, no wonder you have no prospects and can only deliver packages."
"Ah! It's all because your dad died early and didn't raise you well."
She kept rambling on.
"Enough! Shut up!"
I finally couldn't take it anymore. I could tolerate her insults towards me, since they were relatives and my uncle had helped me before, but I couldn't allow her to talk about my father like that.
"Oh wow! You little punk, you've got some guts to talk to me like this."
The woman exploded, putting down her bowl and chopsticks, hands on her hips, eyes glaring wide, looking like a complete shrew.
"Everyone, come see this! Judge for yourselves, this little brat actually dared to yell at me, curse at me, truly heartless!"
Hearing the ruckus, quite a few people came out from the neighboring houses, looking over, and a few kids ran over, glancing curiously.
"You kids, look closely, don't be like him, going down the wrong path, becoming a punk. Look at him, all he can do is deliver packages, such lowly work."
"You all should learn from my Bogdan, study hard, go to college, become an official, that's what success looks like."
The kids seemed to somewhat understand, glancing at her, then at me.
"Alright, alright, stop it, can't you say fewer words?" Uncle came out, scolding.
"Oh, you're taking his side now? Why are you helping someone so heartless and useless?"
The woman shouted, and Uncle lost all his temper immediately, apologetically, not daring to speak.
I took a deep breath, only then suppressing my anger, pushing the tricycle towards the road.
Just then, I saw a police car driving down the road.
In Thompson Village, police cars were rare, and their appearance attracted a lot of attention.
"Which family's kid got into trouble?"
The villagers whispered among themselves.
The police car drove straight over, stopping not far from me. Then, the door opened, and two police officers got out, one about fifty years old, the other just in his twenties.
The middle-aged officer looked around and shouted, "Who's Charlie Thompson?"
This shout caused an immediate uproar.
All the villagers looked at me, their eyes showing some sort of strange look.
"How could it be Charlie? What did he do?"
"This Charlie, always getting into trouble, just recently got into a fight, ended up in the hospital for half a month, and now again, the police have come."
The villagers discussed among themselves.
The woman was gleeful, feeling overjoyed.
"See, like I said, this kid would get into trouble sooner or later, end up in jail, and here it is. Such a shame for us at Thompson Village to have someone like this!"
"Indeed, truly a disgrace for Thompson Village!" Many people echoed, their gazes turning scornful.
My face changed, looking at the two police officers, confusion filling my heart.
I couldn't recall doing anything illegal.
Could it be about last night?
But no! How could that group of hooligans dare to call the police?
At this point, the two police officers noticed me.
The middle-aged officer came up, glanced at me, and said with an unfriendly tone, "Are you Charlie Thompson? Come with us!"
I asked, "Officer, could you tell me what I did wrong?"
The middle-aged officer coldly replied, "Someone reported that you're involved in a theft case, please come with us for further investigation."
With that, people around started buzzing again.
"Whoa! A theft, truly can't judge a book by its cover! This kid looks decent, but who knew he's a thief, truly bringing shame to Thompson Village."
The woman shouted loudly.
The villagers' expressions turned more disdainful.
"Really never thought, Charlie would be such a person!"
"No wonder! His dad died early, no one to manage him, sooner or later he was bound to be in trouble." The villagers whispered among themselves.
My face changed again, anger rising in my heart.
Theft?
How could this be! It's entirely baseless!
Was someone framing me? A false accusation!
In an instant, I thought of Jason Martinez.
"Officers, there must be some mistake, even if someone reported me, you need to verify it first!" I said.
"Of course, we've checked!" The middle-aged officer said expressionlessly, "We found out your bank account has over 800,000 in it, and we know you work as a courier. You tell me, how can a courier have such a large amount of money?"
With a whoosh, the people around were in an uproar again.
"Over 800,000, my god! Where did Charlie get so much money, it must be stolen!"
"Stealing over 800,000, how many years will he spend in jail for that?"
I held back my rage, saying, "This 800,000 was earned by me, it's not stolen money. As for theft, it's purely made up, someone is framing me."
"Oh!"
The middle-aged officer laughed, coldly saying, "Still stubborn, you a courier, how could you earn 800,000, even selling you wouldn't be worth that much."
At the end, his expression turned fierce, telling the young officer behind him, "Handcuff him! Take him back for interrogation."
At this moment, I finally realized something was wrong.
This middle-aged officer seemed to be intentionally targeting me.
A thought crossed my mind, suddenly remembering that Jason Martinez had mentioned having an uncle who was a police officer. Could it be this guy?
If that's the case, then reasoning might be impossible because this guy was deliberately out to get me; even if framing failed, they wanted to ruin my reputation.