Day: November 2, 2024

“Yes, he scammed over 300,000 yuan, and we were there to get the money back!” Qiangzi said.

Zhong Weishi nudged his arm, and Qiangzi, looking confused, whispered, “What is it?”

“We were there to persuade him to pay back the money as soon as possible,” Zhong Weishi said.

“Persuading someone to repay a debt involves scaling a wall in the dead of night?” The young officer, though still relatively new on the job, didn’t need much imagination to figure out what this group was really up to. “Who’s your leader? Which loan shark company do you work for? Ever heard the saying, ‘Confession leads to leniency, resistance leads to severity?’”

When Zhong Weishi heard the mention of a loan shark, he got nervous and quickly pointed to Gu Lizhou: “We really haven’t done anything illegal. The one who got scammed is his mom.”

A female officer approached quietly and said, “Old Li, I’ve checked all of them. None of them have criminal records. And back at the end of March, someone did file a report saying they were scammed out of over 300,000 yuan. The scammer’s name is Zhang Gou, but the case is being handled by the Zhongshan Police Station. I’m not sure about the current status.”

“It still hasn’t been resolved after all this time?” The officer called Old Li was surprised.

Though the situation had been clarified, a large group of demons and ghosts climbing over the gate of a residential complex late at night still seemed suspicious.

Old Li earnestly gave them all a lengthy legal lesson: “There’s a provision in the <Criminal Law> called the crime of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble.’ What does that mean? It refers to acts like assaulting others randomly, chasing, blocking, insulting, or threatening others, and causing serious disorder in public places through disturbances. This can result in a sentence of five to ten years in prison, along with a fine.”

A bunch of people were so scared that they shook their heads repeatedly, promising that they would never commit such offenses.

Since the police uncles remembered that everyone was a first-time offender and hadn’t caused any serious consequences, they gave them a warning and allowed them to go back to their own homes.

Regarding Zhang Gou’s case, the police said they would continue to investigate and follow up, thanking them for providing relevant information.

Zhong Weishi, feeling as if he had been granted a reprieve, was in high spirits. He went with Da Fei and the others to retrieve their electric scooters. After a brief chat, he felt like something was missing around him, so he turned back and saw Gu Lizhou squatting by the flowerbed, engrossed in his phone.

The sky was dark, and the glow from the phone illuminated his face in a faint outline.

Gu Lizhou’s hair was a bit messy from the wind, and his clothes were smudged with some dust, making him look a little disheveled against the night’s backdrop.

“Are you coming with us?” Zhong Weishi looked down and asked.

Gu Lizhou opened his mouth, about to say, ‘No, I’ve called a friend to pick me up,’ when Zhong Weishi grabbed his sleeve and said, “Go, go, go, let’s go grab a late-night snack. Qiangzi said we should celebrate.”

“Celebrate?!” Gu Lizhou was quite surprised, “Celebrate what?”

“We just made it out of the police station in one piece ah! Isn’t that something worth celebrating!” Zhong Weishi said, twirling his keychain and bouncing as he walked, relieved that they didn’t end up with criminal records.

Gu Lizhou couldn’t quite understand why they would want to celebrate after nearly landing themselves in trouble and being questioned at the police station until late at night. But still, there was a spot for him at the snack stand.

Although this late-night snack stand was quite small, it was bustling with business at this hour. The tables were almost spilling onto the sidewalk.

“Come, come, come,” Huangfu Qiang bit off the cap of a beer bottle with his teeth and placed it in the middle of the table. “Tonight we’re going AA! Eat and drink as much as you want!”

Gu Lizhou: “…”

Zhong Weishi stood by the fridge and handed Gu Lizhou a tray. “Don’t listen to Qiangzi’s nonsense. Order whatever you like, however much you want. That guy once ate half a tub of instant noodles with his bare hands. None of us here can match his appetite, going AA would be a blood loss.”

Gu Lizhou thought to himself that this wasn’t really about the money. There was a fly buzzing around in the fridge—could this food really be eaten?

He picked up a skewer of chicken wings and gave it a sniff, realizing that the ingredients had probably been sitting in the freezer for too long. They reeked of ice.

Or the frozen fishy smell!

Though he didn’t usually care much about fancy meals at home, at least he knew where his food came from and how clean it was. Out here, who could say what these things had been through…

While he was still hesitating, Zhong Weishi had already gone off to pay, carrying a tray full of food. He glanced back and saw Gu Lizhou holding just a single skewer of broccoli, picking at it with his fingernail. He immediately understood.

“Don’t like barbecue ah? Then why don’t I send you back first?”

“No, no, no need to trouble yourself,” Gu Lizhou didn’t want to inconvenience anyone because of him.

There were quite a few people joining the celebration. A’Wei brought over a large old-fashioned square table, pushing it together with the others.

“You guys squeeze in a bit, don’t take all my benches ah” The boss was fanning himself with one hand while flipping the skewers with the other.

The air was filled with the smell of grilled meat and cumin, which sparked everyone’s appetite.

Gu Lizhou felt a bit thirsty, so he went next door to buy a bottle of mineral water. By the time he returned, everyone had pretty much finished ordering.

His eyes circled around the empty seats at the table.

In the end, he chose to sit next to Zhong Weishi.

Huangfu Qiang and the others were still enthusiastically discussing their unusual experience that night, “Ai, honestly, the air conditioning at the police station was a bit too cold. While squatting there, I could feel an evil gust of wind blowing at the back of my head.”

Xiao Tian: We can now say we’ve been through the ropes. A day tour of the police station, can you believe it ah!

A’Wei: “The funniest part was Da Fei, when the police so gently asked him, ‘Little girl, are you okay?’ Hahahaha…”

Zhong Weishi had been laughing along for half day. Then he noticed that Gu Lizhou still hadn’t touched his food, so he picked up the best-looking roasted eggplant and handed it to him. “Try this roasted eggplant. It’s pretty good, trust me.”

Believe what ghost ah. We all just did a tour of the police station.

The eggplant was topped with minced meat and garlic paste in the middle, and it smelled really good.

Gu Lizhou didn’t usually like garlic paste, so he used his chopsticks to push the toppings aside and picked a small piece.

“How is it?” Zhong Weishi asked with anticipation in his eyes. “Isn’t it good?”

A layer of hot oil doused the minced meat sizzle, mixing with the eggplant’s natural flavor and the sweetness of the sauce. It was one of those dishes that was addictive after just one bite.

Gu Lizhou nodded, taking several more bites. Only after a while did he realize that his tongue had been slightly burned from the heat.

He didn’t have a big appetite, and he wasn’t used to eating late-night snacks. After eating a few bites, he rested his chin on his hand, watching Qiangzi and the others talk with pride, as if they were boasting about some great achievements.

In his eyes, they were just a bunch of idiots.

The cool night breeze lifted the torn fabric behind Zhong Weishi.

It was quite large with two slits.

The clothes looked like they had been rolled in mud, filthy and grimy.

He also didn’t wash his hands either.

It was unlucky that he had just taken the chicken wings from Zhong Weishi’s hand and ate them.

Gu Li Zhou mentally disliked it.

From his vantage point, he could clearly see Zhong Weishi’s slightly protruding shoulder blades.

Wrapped in a fairly pale skin, shifting as his arms moved, alternately rising and sinking…

Suddenly, an image of Zhong Weishi doing a flip on the balcony flashed through Gu Lizhou’s mind.

An orphan abandoned by his parents, who knows what kind of environment he grew up in.

Judging from the way he spoke before, it didn’t seem like he was ever adopted by a kind family.

When he first met him, his eyes were full of hostility, arrogant and wild, yet time and again he lowered his head for a small amount of money.

How in the world did he manage to take root and survive in this city’s corners?

“Cheers, cheers.” Zhong Weishi raised his glass to toast with everyone, but his elbow accidentally knocked a pile of skewers onto the floor.

He didn’t bother to bend down to pick them up and continued to drink.

The next second, the person beside him picked them up, one by one, and placed them back on the table.

Zhong Weishi froze.

“I’m full, I’m heading out first ah,” Gu Lizhou said as he stood up.

“Huh, you’re already full ah?” Qiangzi looked at him. “Why not stick around a bit? We’ll give you a ride back when we’re done.”

“No, you guys eat.” Gu Lizhou said.

Zhong Weishi bit into a chicken wing, watching as the man’s figure slowly faded into the night.

As soon as he left, Qiangzi clicked his tongue twice. “He’s really out of place.”

Zhong Weishi spat out the chicken bone in his mouth. “People flock together with their kind. He’s just not the same as us.”

The atmosphere became a little subtle after the phrase “flock together with their kind.”

No one felt particularly happy or sad, but everyone understood in their hearts that people like them couldn’t compare with people like him.

That was, until Da Fei’s wig got blown off the table by a gust of wind, and the group burst into laughter, unable to hold themselves up from laughing so hard.

So what if they couldn’t compare?

Poor people also have the happiness of poor people.

Zhong Weishi, borrowing Wi-Fi from A’Wei and the others’ phones, was trying to look for any new rental listings. Suddenly, something was thrown over his head, plunging his vision into darkness.

“fvck, which idiot ah.” Zhong Weishi yanked the object off his head, only to find that it was a brand-new piece of clothing—a men’s T-shirt, still with the tag attached.

He looked up to see Qiangzi and the others all staring wide-eyed at something behind him.

Zhong Weishi, holding the shirt, turned around. Under the dim streetlights, his eyes met Gu Lizhou’s deep, dark gaze.

In order not to disturb the surrounding residents, the police immediately stuffed the group of people into the car.

One of the officers, before getting into the car, kindly walked up to Da Fei and gently asked, “Little girl, did they bully you just now? If they did, you can tell us.”

The group of people, who had just been put into the police car, were dumbfounded.

Da Fei had already prepared himself to be questioned in the car, but this sudden gentleness left his brain dizzy. The words “Thank you, uncle police officer” were about to burst out of his throat, but he swallowed them back down.

Only to see him shyly waved his arm and shook his head to indicate that everything was fine.

“As long as you’re okay,” The policeman nodded. “It’s late at night, girls shouldn’t stay out; it’s not safe.”

Da Fei was truly touched, and with tears in his eyes, he looked over at Zhong Weishi and the others, showing a helpless expression as if to say, “Don’t blame this brother for not going through water and treading on fire.”

Helplessness is helplessness, but being treated as a girl sure had its perks!

Qiangzi was the last to be caught. As he was being taken away, he still had the look of “I’m the boss around here” on his face, showing no fear of authority, “I was just taking my girlfriend for a walk, what’s wrong with that? Which law says I can’t take a walk here?”

“Stop talking nonsense! Which girlfriend?!” the police asked.

“Her!” Qiangzi pointed at Da Fei.

The kind police just a moment ago, turned his head.

Da Fei: “…”

In the end, the Xicheng District’s Express Debt Collection Team was completely rounded up, not a single one left behind.

Ten minutes later.

Inside the brightly lit Nanxia City substation of Yucheng’s police department, shadows moved about in the distance.

A dozen members of the so-called “organized crime group” were squatting against the wall, waiting to be questioned by the authorities.

Zhong Weishi looked utterly dejected, praying that this incident wouldn’t end up being a major colorful mark on his record.

Gu Lizhou still hadn’t fully grasped what had just happened.

Whether it was that the bed wasn’t comfortable enough or the TV shows weren’t entertaining enough, they had to carry out some sort of plan to arrest Er’Gou and end up in the police station themselves.

He rubbed his tired cheeks and looked around.

On the white walls hung bright red banners: “Eradicate organized crime, benefit the nation and the people, everyone has a responsibility to report criminal activities” and “Fight organized crime to ensure peace, build a better home for the people”…

Then he turned to look at the group of slackers around him—unkempt youths, who looked like they’d drill holes in their noses if they could. He suddenly felt the police might have had a point in bringing them all in together…

What the fvck is this if not extorting protection money!

“Do I look like a gangster?” Zhong Weishi was genuinely puzzled. In his whole life, he’d done all sorts of things, but never anything truly immoral.

Gu Lizhou thought to himself, you don’t look like a gangster, you look like a lunatic.

A slightly older policeman holding a teacup walked over, “What do you all do ah?”

The group instantly began squawking like parrots—shopping, taking a walk, going to the internet cafe, buying late-night snacks, there was a bit of everything…

Gu Lizhou was squatting next to Zhong Weishi when he suddenly heard him say, “Just passing by.”

“…” Did your IQ drop on the floor and you forgot to pick it up!

“One by one,” The one holding the teacup seemed ready for an all-night interrogation. He sat down slowly in a chair, smiling in an almost fatherly way.

A young officer at the side began taking notes.

“Let’s start with you.” The older officer pointed at Gu Lizhou. “What’s your name ah?”

“Gu Lizhou.”

“Where are you from ah?”

“Local.”

“And you?” The older officer gestured toward Zhong Weishi, firing off a string of questions.

Everyone except Zhong Weishi was local, all around 20 years old, the oldest being 26. Some were even students from nearby vocational schools who had skipped class.

By now, all the arrogance and hostility from earlier had vanished. Some of them were on the verge of kneeling down and kowtowing: “Please, please don’t tell my parents ah, uncle officer…”

“What about you? How old are you?” The police officer glanced at Gu Lizhou.

“32,” Gu Lizhou lowered his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” The older officer sighed. “At your age, you could technically be their guardian. So why are you causing trouble like this? Not sleeping in the middle of the night, running around someone else’s neighborhood—what were you planning to do? Were you the ringleader?”

“… Really wasn’t,” Gu Lizhou felt wronged but had no way to explain.

“Political affiliation?” The younger officer asked.

Gu Lizhou: “Party member.”

The older officer clicked his tongue several times in disappointment. “How dare you even say that.”

“Next, political affiliation,” The younger officer pointed at Zhong Weishi.

Zhong Weishi was still quietly conspiring with Qiangzi and the others when he caught the word “affiliation” and made brief eye contact with the officer. Brimming with confidence: “Extremely handsome.”

“Pffft—” The older police spit out a mouthful of liang cha.¹Chinese herbal tea

All the people in the room laughed their heads off.

When it was Qiangzi’s turn: “I think I’m pretty handsome too, just slightly less than him.”

The younger officer laughed so hard his stomach hurt.

Zhong Weishi saw that Gu Lizhou had buried his face in his arms, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

“Laughing your ass off ah!”

“He was asking about your political affiliation. Are you a party member?” Gu Lizhou was struggling to catch his breath.

“I don’t know,” Zhong Weishi was a bit speechless. He figured Gu Lizhou would understand, so he turned to him and explained seriously, “I guess not? I really don’t know much about that.”

The group of people couldn’t stop laughing even more.

It was like the classroom scenario where you give a wrong answer and everyone takes turns mocking you. With his ears turning red, Zhong Weishi quickly corrected himself, “Fine, I’m a party member, okay?”

Gu Lizhou held his forehead, “Please stop.”

The officer, who had been laughing like a goose, finally caught his breath and started questioning again, “The one with the peony tattoo on his hand! What do you do for a living?”

“It’s a rose!” Huangfu Qiang retorted, straining his neck.

The officer corrected himself: “Okay, rose tattoo—what do you do for a living?!”

“…” Huangfu Qiang sighed, “Network Administrator.”

The police pointed to Zhong Weishi.

Zhong Weishi didn’t hesitate, “My main job is acting. On the side… I’m a model, a waiter, a campus errand runner, a food critic, and an ambassador for promoting agricultural products…”

“Agricultural products… how do you promote those?” Gu Lizhou was genuinely puzzled.

“They said I make food look really appetizing… so they have me shoot commercials ah, just eating, eating, eating. You know Wuniang Rice? My face is printed on the bag!” Zhong Weishi said excitedly.

The officer stared blankly. “So much? And you still have time to be on TV?”

Zhong Weishi replied, “Mr. Lu Xun²Lu Xun – He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in vernacular and Literary Chinese, he was a short story writer, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, poet, and designer. once said, ‘Time is like water in a sponge; squeeze it, and you’ll have it.’”

“Next.” The police officer glanced at Gu Lizhou.

“Freelance.”

Zhong Weishi curiously perked up his ears.

The young officer was taken aback. “What kind of freelance work? There’s got to be some sort of range, right?”

“It’s undecided for now.” Gu Lizhou said.

Sure enough, he’s really some pretty boy being kept by someone?

Zhong Weishi sidled up to him with a grin, “So you’re unemployed ah? You should’ve told me earlier ah, I could have shared one of my jobs with you.”

Gu Lizhou felt it was laughable, “Thanks ah.”

“What are you laughing at! What’s so funny! You’re 32 years old, and still don’t even have a proper job. How dare you laugh?” The older officer, seeing how hopeless he seemed, couldn’t help but start lecturing him.

Everyone was snickering, even the female officer on duty pursed her lips and tried to hold back a smile.

Gu Lizhou really wanted to smugly fire back with, ‘One day of your salary doesn’t even match the interest I earn from my bank account, so what’s so NB about you’ But as the words reached the tip of his tongue, he swallowed them back down.

There is no need, really, no need to be angry.

Stay calm.

Keep your manners.

With so many people to question, and each person giving different stories, they weren’t making much progress after all this time.

Gu Lizhou’s legs were getting numb from squatting. He didn’t care whether the floor was clean or not and, like everyone else, sat down on the tile. Sneakily, he pulled out his phone and searched for that Wuniang Rice.

God knows why he was so curious.

When the images loaded, his shoulder shook as he laughed again, burying his head in the crook of his arm.

The boy squatting across from him inquired in a low voice, “What are you laughing at?”

Gu Lizhou put up his cell phone.

On the screen was a large yellow agricultural sack, with a poorly printed image in the center of a young boy with his mouth wide open, eating. Behind him, an old lady smiled contentedly as she looked at him.

Although Zhong Weishi had been quite young when he shot this ad, and the printing was fuzzy and difficult to recognize. Gu Lizhou recognized him right away by his eyes.

Several bowls of rice were P³Photoshopped in front of him.

The slogan was striking: “Kid won’t eat? Give them a beating? No! Get Wuniang!”

As he scrolled down, he discovered that the company had gone out of business two years ago.

Gu Lizhou took a screenshot of this photo and saved it.

Zhong Weishi’s ridiculous antics had become Gu Lizhou’s daily source of spiritual sustenance.

It was only after nine o’clock that the conversation finally turned to the climax.

“Scaling the wall and snuck into the neighborhood in the middle of the night just to find this Zhang Gou?”

Zhong Weishi was momentarily dazed by the words “be careful.”

He watched as the figure in front of him moved forward, bit by bit. In the darkness, Gu Lizhou looked around, his arm half-lowered, shielding Zhong Weishi in front of him.

It was as if he was… protecting him.

This feeling was something Zhong Weishi had never experienced growing up.

It was so strange, so strange that… for a moment, he forgot what they were even doing.

Until a low bark suddenly came from one of the walkways: “Woof!—”

Their first reaction was that Er’Gou had encountered a real dog.¹His name was ‘二狗’ which is Er’Gou and the ‘狗’ here meant dog.

The barking sounded a bit distant, and based on the direction, it seemed to come from one of the houses on the right.

Zhong Weishi quickened his pace, but at the same time, he was worried that Er’Gou might suddenly jump out from one of the dark alleys and ambush them unexpectedly. So, he turned around and moved backward, back-to-back with Gu Lizhou.

Gu Lizhou was inexplicably bumped into and his right hand trembled. He glanced back, shocked. “What are you doing ah?!”

“Don’t you watch TV dramas?” Zhong Weishi clasped his hands together, making a finger-gun gesture. “You can’t leave your back exposed to the enemy.”

Even in this tense and thrilling atmosphere, with them hidden in the shadows while the enemy could see in plain sight, Gu Lizhou couldn’t help but retort, “Are you retarded!”

Zhong Weishi couldn’t quite figure him out. Just a moment ago, he raised his hand to protect him like a mother hen shielding her chick, full of devotion, and now he was cursing at him again.

He was also protecting him ah!

The two men’s backs were pressed against each other without a gap, and through the thin fabric, they could even feel each other’s rising body heat.

Gu Lizhou frowned uncomfortably and muttered, “Are you a heater! It’s so damn hot. Can you move away from me a bit?”

The other party didn’t appreciate it. Zhong Weishi pouted and reluctantly turned back around. Just then, a dark figure suddenly shot out of the house at an incredible speed, accompanied by heavy panting and the faint sound of chains dragging on the ground.

Under the phone’s light, their pupils dilated instantly, and they sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

A massive black dog with a bulky body was charging at them.

Its messy and long fur almost covered half of its face. It looked so fierce that from a distance, it resembled a lion—a lion with an exaggerated, edgy hairstyle.

“fvck! What the hell is that…” Zhong Weishi saw its bared teeth, drool dripping from its mouth…

He had a bad feeling.

“Tibetan mastiff.” Gu Lizhou replied.

The killer Tibetan mastiff barked twice at them, its voice deep and heavy like a boulder, rooting Zhong Weishi’s feet to the ground.

When he was young, he wanted to have fun and teased a stray dog by the roadside. As he joyfully petted the stray dog’s head, it suddenly let out an ‘ao wu’ and bit down on his forearm.

The sharp teeth pierced his flesh, and blood flowed profusely. No matter how much he cried and screamed, the stray dog wouldn’t let go, even violently shaking its head.

Until now there was still a clear scar on his arm.

Once bitten by a snake, you’ll be afraid of a rope for ten years.

The imposing presence of the Tibetan mastiff made Zhong Weishi’s legs tremble, and in his mind, he could already picture the dog tearing him apart.

“Why are you stepping on a sewing machine now?! Run ah!” Gu Lizhou grabbed his wrist and took off.

Zhong Weishi’s legs were slow to react, and at first, he was practically being dragged by Gu Lizhou. However, he quickly broke into the fastest sprint of his life, shouting as he ran, “‘ll distract it! You run that way!”

Gu Lizhou really wanted to retort, ‘Distract, my ass ah! Have you watched too many fvcking anti-Japanese war dramas?’ But he didn’t have the energy for nonsense.

“Run back!” Gu Li Zhou’s legs moved while he felt the words bursting out of his throat.

His mind was a complete mess, like a tangled ball of mush—chaos, panic, fear, all sorts of emotions flooding over him.

Whose dog was that?

Why wasn’t it leashed?

Would it bite?

Would tomorrow’s headlines read: Tibetan Mastiff Mauls Resident in Neighborhood, Scene Too Horrific to Witness…

The clearest thought he had was: What kind of sin did I commit to promise Zhong Weishi to watch some square dance performance? Otherwise, I’d be lying in bed asleep right now!

The barking continued right behind them.

Zhong Weishi didn’t dare look back. What shocked him the most was that the same total noob who hesitated to climb the fence just a few minutes ago had already grabbed the bars and jumped over ahead of him.

His posture was wretched but his momentum was lightning fast!

Zhong Weishi followed quickly, grabbing the bars and flipping himself over with all his strength.

There was a light at the door, bright and glaring.

Stepping on the horizontal bar of the fence, Zhong Weishi panted heavily, his throat unbearably dry.

The huge Tibetan mastiff was staring up at them, growling defiantly, “Woof, woof!—”

The fence shook with its impact.

“fvck you!” Zhong Weishi steadied himself and pointed at the dog’s nose. “If you’ve got the guts, come up here and fight me one-on-one ah!”

The Tibetan mastiff raised its heavy front paws, pressing them against the fence.

Zhong Weishi let out an “Oh yo” and climbed a bit higher in fear, his toes desperately pressing against the fence to prevent himself from slipping.

“Idiot,” Gu Lizhou muttered. He picked up something from the ground and tossed it inside, making the Tibetan mastiff pounce towards it.

Hanging on the fence, Zhong Weishi watched the Tibetan mastiff sniffing around the ground. Zhong Weishi didn’t dare say anything.

The Tibetan mastiff didn’t find anything and circled back to pace around beneath them.

“Hurry down already,” Gu Lizhou said, frowning, holding back a laugh. “I’ve seen cowards before, but never one as cowardly as you.”

“And I wonder who it was earlier that climbed faster than me…” Before he could finish, he froze.

When he let go of the bars, he realized he couldn’t get down.

The top of the fence had anti-theft spikes, and his clothes had gotten caught on something. He was stuck, unable to move up or down.

He was left hanging to dry on the fence!

“fvck.” Zhong Weishi looked up at the top of the fence and cursed repeatedly. “What to do ah? What the fvck do I do? My clothes are caught.”

In his panic, he heard a certain someone burst into laughter.

Zhong Weishi had been feeling tense and embarrassed, but when Gu Lizhou laughed, he couldn’t help but laugh too. “Stop laughing already and help me down ah. My neck’s hurting.”

Gu Lizhou said, “Alright,” but he quickly pulled out his phone, afraid that this person might get down any second.

Zhong Weishi pointed at the camera with one hand, but before he could say anything, he heard a rapid “click, click, click, click, click, click—”

A passionate continuous photo taking.

The laughter was unbridled.

“…” Zhong Weishi expletives were stuck. This old man’s childishness was beyond anything he could have imagined.

Just as Gu Lizhou put his phone away, several beams of light shone from a distance. Qiangzi shouted at the top of his lungs, “Ge! What are you doing hanging up there?!”

At critical moments like this, you could only rely on your own brothers—this was what Zhong Weishi thought as he stepped down onto Qiangzi’s shoulders.

Once he landed, he didn’t forget to mock a certain someone. “All you know how to do is watch the spectacle.”

Unfortunately, Gu Lizhou was shameless. “And it was quite the spectacle.”

The fabric of Zhong Weishi’s clothes was of poor quality, so when he came down, there were already two large holes in the back, and his shoulder blades felt a chill.

15 yuan, and he had only worn it twice before it was ruined.

Zhong Weishi sighed.

What surprised Gu Lizhou was that Huangfu Qiang had brought along a bunch of monkeys.

Five or six electric scooters gradually pulled up to the entrance, and about a dozen men, all looking c0cky and sporting outrageous hairstyles, got off.

One of them, with yellow rooster-comb hair, asked, “Where’s the guy? Where is he?”

Zhong Weishi turned and pointed. “In there, but there’s a dog.”

“Dog?”

Since they had lost sight of their target, Gu Lizhou figured that tonight’s operation to catch Er’Gou was probably a bust. Just as he was thinking about heading home to shower and sleep, he saw the group of men, who just arrived, jump over the fence one by one.

The boy leading them fearlessly beckoned the Tibetan mastiff with a finger. “Here, here, here, sit down!”

The Tibetan mastiff stared at him, not moving.

“Then stay standing.” The man said.

“This Tibetan mastiff might’ve been set loose by him to scare people,” Zhong Weishi said. “Look at its chain—it’s unfastened, not broken.”

“Today, we’re gonna beat him so bad his head comes out of his ass,” Said a man wearing a big gold chain around his neck.

Gu Lizhou saw Zhong Weishi chatting with them cheerfully and hesitated about whether to go in again.

“I’m wearing a skirt…” Da Fei said, clutching his upper thigh, also hesitating. Unlike a girl, he didn’t have safety shorts underneath. Shi-ge had lent him an ultra-short skirt, and it was already a struggle considering his height.

“You stay outside and keep watch,” Zhong Weishi said, glancing at Gu Lizhou without saying anything further.

With their current numbers, they didn’t really need one more person, especially if he might just slow them down. The main thing was that he suspected Gu Lizhou might not want to climb the fence again.

However, Gu Lizhou’s thought was: Since I’m already here…

A cold breeze swept past his ears as Zhong Weishi watched the man once again climb over the fence.

Having learned from his earlier experience, Gu Lizhou’s movements this time were swift and smooth.

This time, he truly felt that the man’s legs were indeed long.

When Gu Lizhou landed in front of him, a few loose strands of hair fell, partially covering his eyes, which still showed a hint of weariness and impatience.

“Let’s go, together.”

Zhong Weishi felt a wave of emotion he couldn’t quite express.

Since he was young, he had always believed that there was strength in numbers, and with enough people, anything could be accomplished. Those commissions seemed almost within his grasp.

“Er’Gou is dead meat tonight. We’ll dig him out, even if we dig three feet into the ground!”

Gu Lizhou heard his impassioned words and added casually, “En, let’s hope so.”

But just as they finished planning their strategy and were about to move forward, the sound of blaring sirens roared from a distance, rapidly approaching.

Zhong Weishi felt a chill down his spine, and his eyelid twitched violently.

As they turned, a bright beam of light shone on all of them, casting red and blue hues that illuminated the entire night sky.

It was blinding.

Gu Lizhou raised his hand to cover the light.

Two police cars pulled up at the entrance, followed by several police motorcycles.

A man in uniform leaned out from the passenger seat, holding a megaphone. “What are you doing?! I’m talking to you guys! Get out here, now!”

Gu Lizhou didn’t understand what was going on. When he turned around, he realized that the once intimidating, swaggering group of men beside him had already taken off, sprinting away.

Zhong Weishi patted him on the arm. “Retreat!”

Retreat, what retreat? Where to retreat ah!

They hadn’t done anything illegal, so why retreat ah?!

Gu Lizhou froze, completely at a loss.

Just a few minutes earlier, a concerned resident had reported suspicious individuals climbing the fence into the neighborhood. Before the caller could hang up, they frantically shouted, “Ah, ya, ya, ya, another big group of thugs just arrived! It’s the mafia! The mafia! Ai ya, ya, ya, ya… This is terrifying la!!”

“Hello? Hello, which neighborhood is this?!” The operator kept asking.

“Ah, ya, ya, ya… they’ve climbed over ya! We’re doomed!”

Yucheng had recently launched a special crackdown on gang activity, with banners promoting anti-crime initiatives hanging everywhere. Hearing the terrified screams over the phone, the police sensed this could be the biggest bust of the year.

They immediately dispatched a large force, determined to capture the criminal group in one fell swoop.

Every officer’s heart surged with passion, as if they were back to that time when they just stepped into the police station.

“Stop! Don’t run!—” The loud warning tore through the hot, humid air.

As Gu Lizhou watched a large group of officers vault over the fence, he felt like he was dreaming and needed someone to slap him awake.

“Are you with them?” A police officer came over and snapped Gu Lizhou out of his daze.

“No.” Gu Lizhou shook his head firmly without hesitation. “I don’t know them.”

The officer looked him over—his refined appearance and tidy clothing didn’t fit the image of a gangster. The officer nodded, “If you have nothing to do, don’t wander around aimlessly. Go home and get some rest.”

“He’s lying!” A woman suddenly appeared.

She was the enthusiastic citizen who had called the police earlier. Now that the officers were there, she stood straighter with newfound confidence. “I saw him climb in, then climb out! And then he climbed back in again! He’s clearly with them!”

Gu Lizhou: “…”

The officer gave him a scrutinizing look, his expression shifting subtly. “You’ll have to come with me.”

No matter how many people there were, they couldn’t outnumber the police. No matter how fast a rabbit jumps, it can’t outrun well-trained cheetahs. Both the front and back exits were blocked, and the group was trapped like fish in a net—none of them managed to escape.

In less than ten minutes, the police arrested all of them.

What they couldn’t see clearly in the dark earlier was now visible: the group was full of people with tattoos, earrings, wild hairstyles, and flamboyant outfits—none of them gave the impression of being upstanding citizens.

The lead officer’s face lit up with satisfaction as if it was harvest time. “What are you all doing here so late at night ah?”

“We came to fix a water pipe la, really didn’t do anything wrong… Believe me ah, ah sir.” Zhong Weishi’s imitation of a Hong Kong accent was spot on.

Gu Lizhou’s mouth twitched.

This person is engaged in what?!

“If you didn’t do anything wrong, why did you run?” One officer asked, “Speak properly! We treat our compatriots from Hong Kong and Taiwan equally!”

“I, that…” Zhong Weishi stammered, “Well, everyone else was running, so I thought not running would make me stand out.”

Gu Lizhou: “…”

Policemen: “…”