Chapter Forty: Acting Separately

Officer Li lit a cigarette and stood by the window, pondering for a moment. Suddenly, a sly smile crept across his lips. “Xiao Li, throw him in prison. Assaulting a police officer is no laughing matter.”

Xiao Li looked bewildered. “Chief, that’s not what you told us in the plan!”

Officer Li exhaled a plume of smoke, squinting as he smiled. “Xiao Li, you have to learn to turn adversity from unexpected events into something beneficial for yourself. Seek progress in the midst of change.”

Xiao Li nodded thoughtfully. “Yes! I’ll take care of it right away!”

“Hold on.” Officer Li pulled a business card from his drawer. “Call this journalist and have him write an investigative report on Liang Lingzhi’s assault on a police officer. Make it a tough one. Assault on an officer? He must be out of his mind.”

Xiao Li couldn’t help but chuckle. “Chief, aren’t you afraid he’ll bear a grudge?”

Officer Li laughed heartily. “He won’t truly resent me. Go quickly and return just as fast.”

Officer Li already knew Liang Lingzhi had finally figured out his assignment. This mishap was nothing more than bad luck—he happened to strike Officer Li Xiaopang, an undercover cop, and now carried the charge of assaulting a police officer. Poor Li Xiaopang.

“Tsk tsk, he really went at you hard.” Xiao Li looked at Li Xiaopang’s bruised and swollen face. “What grudge do you have with him, anyway?”

Li Xiaopang was tearful and indignant. “Damn it, Liang Lingzhi is insane—he’s still hung up on something from twenty years ago! I was just a four-year-old kid then; how could I know right from wrong?”

His emotions ran high, and his voice grew louder, his swollen lips aching terribly. “Ow, my lips were the best-looking part of me, and now they’re ruined. The organization has to stand up for me and get justice!”

Xiao Li bit his tongue, suppressing his laughter. “Li Xiaopang, don’t worry, the organization will see you get a satisfactory outcome. Just sign your name on this document, and I’ll take him straight to prison!”

Li Xiaopang was taken aback. “Prison!?”

Xiao Li nodded. “That’s right, assaulting an officer, bro! Put simply, it’s bodily harm; taken seriously, it’s terrorism! He has to be locked up! And we’ll put him in a prison notorious for soap-dropping games!”

Li Xiaopang lowered his head and muttered, “How long do you think he’ll get?”

Xiao Li considered. “Ordinary assault on a police officer can get up to three years in prison, plus fines and mandatory education.”

Li Xiaopang sighed. “We were classmates once. He’s already hit me, so let’s just give him a few days of education. I don’t really want him to go to jail.”

Xiao Li smiled wryly to himself. “Who’d have thought Li Xiaopang still held some old feelings? If he doesn’t sign, I can’t detain Liang Lingzhi, and I won’t finish the task the chief gave me! I can’t bear this blame. Liang Lingzhi, on any other day, you’d have encountered a benefactor, but you’re unlucky today—you’ve run into Officer Li.”

He feigned surprise. “What? You’re defending him!? My goodness, do you know how he mocked you in the detention center!?”

Li Xiaopang was stunned and shook his head repeatedly. “What—what did he say?”

Seeing Li Xiaopang’s curiosity, Xiao Li quickly stopped himself, waving his hands apologetically. “No, no, sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Li Xiaopang’s curiosity was piqued. “Captain Li, I’m practically your junior—just tell me straight!”

Xiao Li hesitated, which only made Li Xiaopang more anxious. “Come on, I beg you, Captain Li!”

Xiao Li sighed. “He said you, Li Xiaopang, are a coward, that you didn’t dare fight back, and kept calling him ‘Daddy’!”

He imitated Liang Lingzhi’s tone, arrogantly saying, “‘Daddy, don’t hit me! Daddy, I was wrong!’ He also claimed you used to sneak into the girls’ bathroom in kindergarten, which he couldn’t tolerate. He said he hit you to uphold justice! Honestly, I wanted to punch Liang Lingzhi myself when I heard that.”

“Damn it! That idiot!” Li Xiaopang’s anger surged, and he slammed the table. “I never called him ‘Daddy!’ And I swear, I never snuck into the girls’ bathroom!”

Xiao Li was inwardly delighted.

He clenched his teeth to keep from laughing, forcefully slapped the document onto the table. “Li Xiaopang, sign now and the organization will lock him up immediately!”

Li Xiaopang, lips swollen like sausages, grabbed a pen and signed his name with painstaking care, as if carving it into Liang Lingzhi’s face. When finished, he handed the document to Xiao Li. “Add a charge for insulting a police officer, too. Can you do that!?”

Xiao Li nodded vigorously. “Leave it to me!”

Inside the detention center, Liang Lingzhi encountered the familiar faces once again.

“Brother Zhi!? You haven’t been out even four hours and you’re already back to see us!?” A tall, skinny middle-aged man with a lascivious look approached.

“Don’t even mention it, Old Wu. It’s infuriating,” Liang Lingzhi said sourly. “Just my rotten luck!”

Although Old Wu was much older, Liang Lingzhi was like a senior in his eyes. “Brother Zhi, what did you do this time?”

“Assaulted a police officer!” Liang Lingzhi blurted out in frustration.

Immediately, the twenty or so suspects in the room turned their heads to stare at him.

A few seconds later, one suspect walked up and gave him a thumbs up. “That’s impressive, Brother Zhi! You dared to hit a cop! I admire you!”

“Respect! Respect!”

The others crowded around, praising Liang Lingzhi for his boldness and fearlessness.

Liang Lingzhi scoffed inwardly. “What idiots, they have no sense of self-preservation!” He wasn’t in the mood for small talk and waved them away.

“Liang Lingzhi, step forward!” A police officer approached the cell with paperwork.

Liang Lingzhi’s eyes lit up. “Captain Li!?” He hurried over. “Captain Li, do you remember me? Liang Lingzhi!”

Xiao Li smirked. “Who doesn’t know Liang Lingzhi? A star in the world of escorts, and now, on your first day out, you assaulted an officer. You’re the city’s latest celebrity!”

“Celebrity!? Am I in real trouble?” Liang Lingzhi panicked.

Xiao Li sneered. “Assaulting a police officer, my friend, is a crime. Let’s go—off to prison!”

Liang Lingzhi was beside himself, pleading, “Captain Li, Captain Li! Help me, please help me!”

Xiao Li shook his head. “Sorry, get your family to hire a good lawyer.” He turned to the prison guard. “Take him away.”

Liang Lingzhi lamented inwardly, “This is real trouble! I’m doomed!”

Chen Yao took the file from Officer Li and murmured, “Who’d have thought Miaomiao and Huahua’s backgrounds were so tragic. Brother Li, you can leave this matter to me. I’ll entrust my four disciples to your care.”

He turned to his second disciple Wenxing and third disciple Hengxing. “Wenxing, Hengxing, go with Officer Li to the training ground and guide your junior in the arts of Daoist cultivation. Don’t make any mistakes.”

Wenxing and Hengxing nodded in agreement. Officer Li said, “Brother Chen, your uncle is still under the dry well. If you have time, go see the old man.”

Chen Yao gave a cold laugh. “That old codger always keeps to himself—it’s hard to find him. All right, I’ll go see him if I have time.”

He took the file and left, checking the time—10:20 p.m.

Chen Yao’s eldest disciple, Zilong, opened the car door and asked, “Master, where are we going?”

“To Star Orphanage.”