Chapter 248: Sealed with Love (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The officer stood up and answered firmly, “Of course we’re teaching him a lesson. What else could it be? Ms. An, you don’t have to get so worked up. We can’t go easy on criminals like him.”
“Criminal? Have you got any evidence to prove that he had indeed committed theft?”
“Ms. An, could it be that he’s your friend or relative? Is that why…” said the police officer, seemingly hinting at something.
“Sorry, but I don’t know him at all. I just happened to know of his birth characters a little while ago. I’m asking you a question. Bring me the evidence,” An Xiaoning snapped angrily.
“Someone reported him and even provided a surveillance camera footage. Take a look yourself,” said the police officer, handing her the surveillance camera footage.
The footage playing on the computer screen showed that the youth had indeed taken away a mobile phone from the table.
“Who was the one who reported him?”
“The person who reported him is right outside.”
Without hesitation, An Xiaoning ordered, “Bring him in.”
“Although evidence is key in our country’s judiciary system, some things may not always be like what they seem on the surface,” An Xiaoning added.
Staring at the person inside, she instructed, “Open the door.”
The police officer opened the metal door from inside, allowing An Xiaoning to enter. She squatted down beside the youth and questioned, “Could you tell me what happened in the footage?”
With a nod, he answered, “I’m a service staff at the bathhouse. After getting into an argument with the owner, he decided to sack me. Thus, I told him to tabulate my wages, after which he instructed me to bring him his phone which was sitting on the counter.”
“You must be in a lot of pain,” An Xiaoning said with a look of pity in her eyes.
“Yes. Thank you, Sis.”
“Bear with it for a little bit more,” said An Xiaoning, giving him a light pat on his head before standing up. The man who reported the youth was then brought into the interrogations room. An Xiaoning could not help but get reminded of Bai Duocai at the sight of him.
“May I ask, are you his employer?” asked An Xiaoning.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you want to pay him his wages if you decided to sack him? You even tried to punish a 16-year-old with such an unscrupulous method, do you really think you’re being smart?”
The owner of the bathhouse was taken aback by An Xiaoning’s words. Failing to recognize who she was, he retorted, “Aren’t you being a little unreasonable and inappropriate, female police officer?”
“Compared to what you’ve done, I don’t think I’m being very inappropriate. What’s your name?” asked An Xiaoning.
“Ma Yuelun.”
“And your birthdate?”
“10th of June, year XX. Why do you need my birthdate for investigations?” Ma Yuelun asked in puzzlement.
“What is the exact timing you were born?”
“I’m not quite sure, but my mother said it was ten something at night.”
“Where do you live?”
“Are you doing a background check?” he snapped, getting a little impatient and frustrated.
“I can’t be bothered to look up the details of your household register. Cut the nonsense and answer my question.”
“Ma family home in Dongpo District.”
“I suppose you must be rather affluent to be able to open a bathhouse. I’m not sure if you regret trying to harm others since you’ve ended up landing yourself in trouble instead, but what I want to say is, I absolutely detest despicable and dishonest people like you. Forget about causing others harm,” An Xiaoning said with a scowl.
“What evidence have you got? Let me tell you, don’t think you can go around spouting nonsense just because you’re a police officer,” Ma Yuelun retorted haughtily.
“You dropped out of school at the age of thirteen and became wayward after getting yourself involved in gangs and triads. Your parents run a business and you’re their only son, thus, they’ve never been too strict with you or even taken you in hand. In fact, they spoil and shower you with love. Perhaps they thought that you would finally have something to occupy yourself with by giving you the money to set up this bathhouse. Yet, little did they expect that you’d push all the responsibilities of operating the bathhouse to your wife. You never had the intention to settle down and run a proper business. You’ve already been to prison twice and the rehabilitation center thrice. Seems like a leopard really never changes its spots.”
Ma Yuelun was at a complete loss for words as the shock robbed him of his speech. As soon as he regained his senses, the first thing he said was, “You checked up on me?”
“This is my first time meeting you. How could I have checked up on you beforehand?” An Xiaoning then turned to the police officers and ordered, “What are you waiting for? Arrest him and charge him for slander.”
“Do you have any evidence at all!?! Touch me if you dare,” Ma Yuelun threatened as he whipped a knife out and pointed it at the police officers.
An Xiaoning reached into her chest to retrieve her silencer, causing everyone in the room to be dumbfounded.
What is she trying to do?
“Let’s see if your knife is faster than my bullet. Put it down,” An Xiaoning demanded, pointing her gun at Ma Yuelun.
Ma Yuelun remained still and did not put down his knife. An Xiaoning aimed the gun at a spot beside his ear and pulled the trigger.
The bullet brushed past his head, missing him by less than an inch. Frightened beyond his senses, he dropped his knife and got onto his knees immediately.
The police officers hurriedly rushed forward to put him in handcuffs.
Just as they were about to bring him inside the interrogations room, they discovered that Ma Yuelun had peed in his pants out of fear and shock.
An Xiaoning glared at the officer carrying out interrogations and said, “What are you waiting for? Hurry and send the victim to the hospital for emergency treatment.”
“Yes, yes, right away.”
An Xiaoning then returned to her office together with Ma Jianguo, who was bewildered.
“Your brother is being sent to the hospital now. Make your way there, quick,” An Xiaoning said to the woman sitting in her office.
Dumbfounded and teary-eyed, the woman asked, “The hospital?”
“It’s nothing too serious, I managed to intervene in the nick of time. You need not worry about the medical bills, we’ll be taking care of that. Just to inform you, your brother has also a.s.saulted one of our police officers. I hope you’ll remember what I asked you to do. Hurry and go.”
“Thank you, Ms. An”
“Hurry along.”
An Xiaoning took a seat and took two big gulps of tea.
“Team Leader…” Ma Jianguo swallowed his spit before continuing, “You weren’t given a gun from the police station. Where did you get that silencer?”
“Do I owe you an explanation?” she said as she shot him a glance.
Waving his hand frantically, Ma Jianguo answered, “Of course not, it’s just, what a place to keep your gun…”
“Well, to me, my bosom is the safest place to keep it.” As soon as An Xiaoning finished speaking, Pan Zhenghui entered the room, appearing to be in a hurry.
“Oh gosh, how dare you open fire within the police station? What if you strike…”
“I’m confident I won’t.”
Taking a seat beside her, Pan Zhenghui said, “Ms. An, I don’t know if you were frightened by that incident or not, but I just want to say, good job.”
“Drop the act, Chief Pan. I don’t believe that you’re not aware of the fact that they had been abusing their authority.”
“I don’t know much about it. But you have no idea, those criminals have to be dealt with forcefully before they’ll actually speak the truth.”
“That’s called using torture to extort a confession. I really think we have to find a way to make them confess without having to resort to such violent and extreme means. Besides, you guys were forcing the victim to admit to a crime he did not commit. You shall settle the medical bills later. We can’t allow the victim to pay for it. Although the youth was wrong to have a.s.saulted the police officer, we should still avoid letting this piece of news continue to circulate around the internet. Thus, we ought to compensate his family with some money.”
“I’ve already instructed them to settle the bills. By the way, are there any new clues for the murder case?”
“Yes, Zu Dong and Gong Le have gone to retrieve the information. They should be back soon.”
Giving her a thumbs-up, Pan Zhenghui praised, “Marvellous. If only we had more police officers as capable as you, Ms. An. But, how did you know that the youth was framed?”
“Because it says so in his fortune. I doubt you’d understand even if I told you in detail.”