Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Ah—" Jia Siwen froze on the spot, on the verge of tears. What kind of eyes did he have, to have leered at a policewoman and threatened her with his big brother being a murderer? How was that any different from turning himself in? On the surface it looked the same, but the nature of it was vastly different. The bodyguards and waiters had never been die-hard loyalists of Jia Zhengjing—they were just drawing a wage. Seeing now that Xia Xue was police, they all raised their hands one after another, and the two bodyguards who had been propping Jia Siwen up let go as well and put their hands in the air.

Poor Jia Siwen—his footing had never been steady to begin with. With no one holding him up on either side, he immediately toppled over and hit the ground.

Surveying the wreckage strewn across the room, Yang Ce could not help but sigh: if only they had known this day would come, why had they acted as they did?

Still, no one was more excited at this moment than Xia Xue. The haunting case had dragged on with no leads, leaving her utterly stuck and thoroughly dejected. Who would have thought that a casual trip to a bar to unwind would stumble her into cracking a major case?

Jia Zhengjing's illegal possession of firearms and unlawful organization of men for brawling—those charges scarcely needed mentioning. Most important was that he might well be a fugitive wanted for murder.

If that turned out to be true, then Xia Xue could not have dodged the credit for this even if she tried. Thus, though the haunting case remained unsolved, she had nonetheless broken another major case—hardly the record of someone idling her days away.

At that thought, Xia Xue's spirits lifted at once. She was even beginning to believe what her old girlfriend had told her: go to bars more often, and sure enough, you can crack cases.

By now, Yang Duoran had no intention of getting involved any further. With Xia Xue here, the follow-up work should all be left to the police anyway.

Fearing Jia Siwen might try something, Xia Xue deftly snapped the handcuffs on him—only to discover that he had already wet his pants in fright and was in no state to struggle at all.

That done, Xia Xue took out her phone and began calling her team, telling them to bring men to Night Dance Bar at once—a major case had broken out here.

With Deputy Captain Xia personally giving the order over the phone, who would dare dawdle? The criminal investigation team members on duty at the bureau immediately sped toward Night Dance Bar, sirens wailing all the way.

Meanwhile, while Xia Xue was on the phone, Yang Ce quietly made a call to Bao Lin. The last thing he needed was for those two to have any connection to Bao Lin—otherwise things would get genuinely awkward.

Though on reflection, that seemed unlikely. Bao Lin had his own way of keeping his men in line; there was no way they would be so brazen. Moreover, the security company men under Bao Lin were only responsible for watching over the premises—there was no way they would supply firearms. Especially since these guns had been produced by the owner of Night Dance Bar himself, which made any connection to Bao Lin even less likely.

Still, to be on the safe side, Yang Ce made the call.

"Baozi, you know Night Dance Bar?" Yang Ce asked tersely.

"I know it. What's wrong, Brother Yang—did their people offend you? I'll bring my men over right now and level the place," Bao Lin asked at once.

To be continued.

904. Lovable Xia Xue

904. Lovable Xia Xue "No need. I just want to know—do you have any connection to the people at Night Dance Bar?" Yang Ce asked in a low voice.

"Connection? I wouldn't even call it an acquaintance—barely know them by sight," Bao Lin said. "Night Dance Bar is in the North District. It used to be Yu Xiangde's turf. After I took over, I did some investigating. This bar was supposedly opened by an out-of-town boss who washed his hands of the underworld and retired. He never gets involved in Songjiang underworld affairs—just operates within his own little patch. Since we were all in the same line of work once, I didn't give them any trouble. They've kept a low profile too, not daring to stir things up."

"That's all I needed." Yang Linyue said calmly, "He doesn't dare provoke you—but he's provoked me."

"Ah?" Bao Lin was taken aback, then cursed, "Damn it, I always figured he was a sensible one. Never thought he'd have the nerve to cross even Brother Yang. Do you want me to—"

"I said no need. The Jia brothers will probably be thrown in prison by tomorrow. But the location of this bar of his is good—find a way to buy it out. I don't need to teach you how to handle that, do I?" Yang Yanzhou said.

"Don't worry, Brother Yang. That's small stuff," Bao Lin said with a laugh. These days Bao Lin walked the line between the lawful and the lawless. Though he wielded considerable influence, he did not lightly engage in anything illegal or disorderly, nor did he leave anyone any leverage over him. This caution, of course, had been cultivated under Hou Lin's influence.

And so, whether in Songjiang's official circles or elsewhere, Bao Lin got along swimmingly.

Before long, police arrived at Night Dance Bar. The bar's main doors were thrown open and more than a dozen officers surged in, pistols raised and at the ready.

"Captain Xia!" The speaker was Ye Qiang, a squadron leader in the criminal investigation team. "Fifth Squadron has the whole bar surrounded."

Xia Xue pointed at Jia Siwen, lying on the ground in a puddle of his own filth, and at Jia Zhengjing over there, unconscious with his face covered in blood. "Secure these two first. The rest—send whoever needs a hospital to a hospital. I suspect someone in here is a fugitive wanted for murder."

Having received his instructions, Ye Qiang hurried to carry out Xia Xue's orders, beginning to sweep and clear the scene—arresting those who needed arresting, sending those who needed hospitals to hospitals. Soon Night Dance Bar returned to calm. Aside from Yang Ce, everyone left in the place was police. Even the bar's waiters had been taken back to assist with the investigation.

But because of Xia Xue, Yang Juehuan's statement was taken right there on the spot.

"Leave the interrogation to you lot—I'm not going back," Xia Xue told Ye Qiang.

"Don't worry, Captain Xia," Ye Qiang said. He knew Xia Xue was currently handling the haunting case, and had probably just come off the night shift not long ago; she was surely worn out. Besides, Captain Xia was a normal young woman—she needed to go on dates with her boyfriend outside of work too. Ye Qiang belonged to a criminal investigation squadron and did not usually work in the municipal bureau building but in the duty room next door, so although Yang Ce had been to the bureau several times to see Chen Fei, Ye Qiang had never seen him. At this moment, he subconsciously assumed Yang Ce was Xia Xue's boyfriend.

Hearing that Yang Ce had single-handedly taken down a whole group of black-suited bodyguards earlier, Ye Qiang was filled with boundless admiration. He thought to himself: Captain Xia is formidable, and her boyfriend is no slouch either—so ferocious, fiercer than the SWAT teams. Who knew what line of work he was in? If there was a chance to spar with him sometime, that would be something.

Still, even without Xia Xue present, the lion's share of the credit for this case would go to her and no one else. Chen Fei was not the type to hog the glory, and at his age he truly had no need to. Judging by seniority, in a few years he would smoothly step into the top post, so Chen Fei yielded all the credit to the younger generation—their road was long, after all.

Outside the bar, under Ye Qiang's astonished gaze, Xia Xue climbed into the passenger seat of the Dongfeng heavy truck. No way—Captain Xia's boyfriend is a truck driver? Doesn't quite fit, does it? If a truck driver had skills like that, there'd be no more highway robbers left in the world.