CH 101

Huang Ze was stunned.

He did envision what would happen when he would meet Xing Conglian again. After all, Xing Conglian had just rescued him and would naturally appear to lead the investigation, so they would end up running into each other.

However, he thought Xing Conglian would either taunt or sneer, but among the things he thought would be said, they didn’t include: “What qualification do you have to talk to me like that?”

How dare Xing Conglian ask him about his qualifications!

The irritability that had been desperately suppressed during his encounter with Lin Chen had surged again.

He thought, ‘I have a higher police rank than you, a better family background than you, and I’m younger than you. Who you are and what you have done before doesn’t matter, as you are now just a small criminal police captain, so how dare he ask me about my “qualifications”. It should be me who should be asking this. How dare he treat me like this!’

Huan Ze laughed.

He really wanted to remind Xing Conglian that qualifications and strength didn’t come from the mouth or the words that were said. Those qualifications and strength came from identity and status.

And since his identity and status was higher, he wouldn’t verbally argue with Xing Conglian. Rather someone else would speak on his behalf.

“Captain Xing, what do you mean by this?”

Huang Wei dragged his fat body in front of Huang Ze and asked condescendingly.

Although Huang Wei was filthy and smelly, and always had been irresponsible like a soft-legged shrimp* in his career, when he questioned Xing Conglian, most of this stain had been completely erased in Huang Ze’s heart. Satisfied with his arrogance, Huang Ze began to consider if he should help him out.

*Also can be referred to as a soft-legged crab (软脚蟹/虾) It’s a derogatory term calling someone basically a wuss.

Xing Conglian, on the other hand, didn’t show any displeasure after being offended. He was still smoking a cigarette expressionlessly; his eyes weren’t even cold or sharp. He turned his head slightly and glanced at the police officer next to him.

What was strange was that, though the gaze looked calm, the police officer that was being stared at suddenly gritted his teeth, rushed forward, and twisted Huang Wei’s arm and pressed him against the wall. In the next second, he was neatly handcuffed.

“Mr. Huang Wei, you are under arrest in accordance with the law on suspicion of endangering public safety,” the police officer said in a businesslike tone.

Huang Wei was baffled for a while before he shouted, “What’s wrong with you?! Why are you arresting me?!”

“You’re under arrest in accordance with the law on suspicion of endangering public safety.”

The police officer mechanically repeated what he just said, then another person stepped forward and twisted the manager’s fat arm, preparing to drag him away from the scene and back to the police station.

“How is this any of my business? It’s not like I asked someone to kill Li Jingtian! Why are you arresting me?!” The fat manager’s legs became soft. He was sweating profusely, and his face started turning pale.

Huang Ze saw him stiffly twist his head and looked at him with an expression like a tourist on a sinking ship trying to grab the last life jacket. “Inspector Huang, help me. Help me!”

Huang Ze’s face suddenly turned blue.

He knew very well that the fact that Xing Conglian dared to detain Huang Wei meant that there was reason and justification. The incident that happened just now in Ansheng International could already be counted as a major public safety incident, so it was reasonable to detain the administrative person in charge of the mall.

However, Huang Ze didn’t expect Xing Conglian to be so merciless. This slap was not only a slap to his face but to the Huang family’s.

However, at this moment, he couldn’t think of any way to fight back. “You’re quite bold, Captain Xing.” In the end, he could only grit his teeth and respond like so.

“What does it matter to you?” Xing Conglian still didn’t bother to address him properly. He lowered his eyes slightly but looked at him with a gaze as if he were looking down at ants.

Huang Ze felt all the contempt, disdain, and all kinds of condescending emotions from that gaze. How could a person like Xing Conglian have such confidence to possess these emotions?

At that moment, Huang Ze felt that the person in front of him wasn’t Xing Conglian at all.

He stabilized his mind and then found that he seemed to have no means to crush Xing Conglian currently, which made it excruciatingly suffocating.

“Is this your attitude towards your superior, Captain Xing?” He raised his head and sneered at Xing Conglian. “Xing Conglian, prepare to receive a letter of reprimand.”

“Superior? So Huang Ze, are you attending the opening ceremony of your family’s mall in a capacity as an Inspector?” Xing Conglian asked slowly.

This was not only a threat but a rebuke; not vicious but extremely lethal.

Huang Ze thought about all the written reprimands he had given. After all, it was his job to find problems and point them out. However, among them, none were as severe as the one he had just received.

What Xing Conglian brutally pointed out was his shamelessness in protecting his family business. How could he still think of himself as an Inspector?

Huang Ze clenched his fists tightly. His nails embedded into the palm of his hand, giving him pain so he could stay sober.

Every word Xing Conglian spoke was scolding him, but it didn’t seem like it. If he reprimanded Xing Conglian for inappropriate behavior, it would prove that he was participating in his family’s property ceremony in the capacity of an Inspector. But if he were to participate in the ceremony as a private citizen, then he wasn’t an Inspector right now, so what qualification did he have to accuse Xing Conglian?

Thinking of this, Huang Ze was livid, but because of it, he didn’t have a reason to be angry. He could only grit his teeth and swallow back the blood.

Without looking into a mirror, Huang Ze knew that his face was probably extremely ugly. He took a deep breath and wanted to speak, but Xing Conglian beat him to it.

He saw Xing Conglian take a puff of his cigarette and added calmly, “I said you aren’t qualified, which means you aren’t qualified.”

Again, it was qualifications, and he wasn’t qualified.

At that moment, Huang Ze felt that it was too ridiculous. Indeed, Xing Conglian had the upper hand now, but did he intend to keep taking advantage of his words and tear his face apart?

A slap in the face already hurts, and now there was another slap. At this point, Huang Ze realized that no matter what he said, it would be a useless counterattack. He took one last look at Xing Conglian, fighting back the anger in his heart, and said coldly, “Xing Conglian, it’s rare to see people like you who like to court death.”

After speaking, he took a step forward. The moment he passed by Xing Conglian, he heard the other party say his name.

“Huang Ze…” Xing Conglian stretched his tone. “Leave and don’t let me see you again.”

……

Although it was a few minutes, to Huang Ze, it was like a few years. In fact, the conversation between him and Xing Conglian was short; so short that Lin Chen was still standing in front of the milk tea shop. Before he could move, he saw Xing Conglian coming out of the sightseeing elevator.

Lin Chen leaned on the railing and looked at Xing Conglian from head to toe, because Xing Conglian also did the same thing.

Wang Chao came out of the elevator cautiously, stood behind Xing Conglian, and gave Lin Chen a wink.

When Lin Chen received the signal, he couldn’t help but observe the expression on Xing Conglian’s face again.

The face of Wang Chao’s captain at the moment was extremely calm, as if it were a lake in complete stillness, or a more appropriate metaphor would be an ancient well without waves*. Therefore, even if he reluctantly used all micro-expression analysis methods, he couldn’t guess what Xing Conglian was thinking about.

*(古井无波) Metaphor referring to inner tranquility.

Although he couldn’t guess it, he could reason it out. Since Xing Conglian was downstairs just now, he probably bumped into someone.

“Did you run into Huang Ze?” he asked tentatively.

As soon as he spoke, Wang Chao shook his head desperately from behind Xing Conglian.

Was it just a simple encounter, or did they have a fight?

They didn’t really fight, right?

He thought about it for a while and couldn’t help asking, “Huang Ze didn’t give you a hard time, did he?”

After hearing this, Xing Conglian’s face finally changed. Although he still couldn’t guess what Xing Conglian was thinking, fortunately, Xing Conglian finally moved.

He was holding a cigarette as he walked towards Lin Chen in great strides. He then stopped, crushed the cigarette with one hand, and lightly said, “Come here.”