Chapter 442: Dealing with Petty Thieves

The two people on the wall listened for a long time, and upon realizing there were no dogs in the courtyard, they vaulted down as nimbly as cats, landing silently in the shadows of the wall corner.

Chen Qingshan felt a tightening in his heart and hurriedly reached out to nudge He Yuzhu beside him.

He Yuzhu woke up instantly and asked in a low voice, "Siqiang, did they really come?"

Chen Qingshan nodded slightly and pointed his finger toward the outside.

He Yuzhu held his breath and looked.

The two black shadows crouched in the shade for a moment, then hugged the base of the wall and inched toward the main room step by step.

One of the thin, tall ones felt his way to the door, pulled a slender knife from his bosom, and skillfully inserted it into the door crack to begin fiddling with the bolt.

Just at this moment, He Yuzhu bolted out from the side room door like a lightning strike!

Those two had extremely sharp ears; the moment He Yuzhu moved, they heard him, immediately stopped their work, and turned to surround He Yuzhu.

The thin, tall one reacted quickly; with a flick of his hand, a paper packet flew straight at He Yuzhu's face!

He Yuzhu had been prepared; he lowered his body, and the paper packet flew over his head, bursting open with a "poof" as a cloud of white powder diffused into the night air. It was lime powder; if that got into one's eyes, it would surely blind them.

Seeing how vicious the two were, He Yuzhu stopped being polite; he flicked his wrists, and two Flying Knives flew out with a whistling sound.

"Ah!" "Ah!"

Two short, sharp screams rang out almost simultaneously, and the two Flying Knives were already deeply embedded in their shoulders.

Not waiting for them to react, He Yuzhu stepped forward and swung both fists in a left-right combination.

With two "Bang! Bang!" sounds, both of their eyes were sealed shut. They clutched their faces and stumbled backward in pain.

"Still trying to play these low-down tricks on me? I think you're tired of living!" He Yuzhu cursed.

The thin, tall one knew he had run into a tough opponent; he knelt on the ground with a "thud" and kowtowed repeatedly: "Spare us, hero! Spare us, hero! We just got out of the lockup and don't have a single cent left on us. We really couldn't go on, so we just wanted to get some money to spend..."

He Yuzhu turned his head and waved toward the side room, signaling Chen Qingshan not to come out.

Chen Qingshan nodded and retreated.

He Yuzhu grabbed the two by their collars and dragged them out the front gate like chicks, heading deep into the alley.

Once they reached a secluded spot, He Yuzhu threw them onto the ground: "Speak! What are your names? Who sent you?"

"My name is Houzi."

"My name is Shadowless Sparrow!"

"I want to hear your real names!" He Yuzhu barked.

"My name is Wang Baosheng, and he is Zheng De," Wang Baosheng confessed honestly.

"Didn't you say you just got released from the lockup?" He Yuzhu sneered, "Then I'll send you back today!"

"Hero, don't! We didn't steal anything this time, just let us go!" Wang Baosheng pleaded.

"Do you know who Chen Qingshan is? He is someone who contributed to the cause of liberation. Trying to steal from him is going against the country. Move, I'm taking you to the police station right now!" He Yuzhu said, dragging them along.

Zheng De suddenly let out a whistle.

"Heh! You have accomplices?" A flash of coldness crossed He Yuzhu's eyes. He had thought they were petty thieves, but he hadn't expected them to be a gang.

Before long, footsteps could be heard in the alley.

Soon, four people appeared in front and behind, blocking He Yuzhu in the middle.

He Yuzhu laughed: "Wang Baosheng, you have quite a few hands. Then today, I'll show you a trick or two."

All four people held Daggers in their hands and slowly closed in.

He Yuzhu couldn't be bothered to play the game of disarming them barehanded; he flipped his wrist, and an iron rod appeared in his hand.

The four were stunned at the sight.

Wang Baosheng shouted: "Watch out, brothers, this kid knows Kung Fu!"

The four didn't seem to grasp the weight of Wang Baosheng's words; they brandished their Daggers and pressed toward He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu stepped forward quickly and swung the rod, the sound of breaking wind ringing out.

Two Daggers fell to the ground in response, and two people's arms were broken on the spot.

"Ah—" the scream tore through the night sky.

The two behind took the opportunity to lunge, but He Yuzhu dodged easily with a sidestep and struck back with another swing of the rod.

"Ah! Ah!" Two more screams followed, and their arms were broken too.

The four lay on the ground rolling in pain.

He Yuzhu stepped forward and let loose with a flurry of punches and kicks.

"I originally thought you were just petty thieves, but I didn't expect you to be a gang. Then don't blame me for being impolite today."

Wang Baosheng had originally thought that with four people and weapons, they could take this kid down, but he hadn't expected them all to be floored in the blink of an eye.

He started acting pitiful again, kneeling and kowtowing: "Spare us, hero! We know we were wrong!"

"Too late." He Yuzhu's voice was grim, "If you hadn't attacked me, I might have just given you a beating and called it a day. But now... you need a bath."

Wang Baosheng immediately understood that he meant to throw them into the ice hole and begged for mercy repeatedly: "Grandpa Hero, it's too cold, we'll really freeze to death if we go into the water!"

"What were you thinking earlier! You even wanted to stab me? All of you, come with me, or I'll break your legs!" He Yuzhu shouted.

The group was still hesitating, so He Yuzhu landed a few more punches on their stomachs.

The six of them wailed and howled again, and only then did they behave.

"Let's go, we're going..." Wang Baosheng led the group and followed He Yuzhu onto the ice of Shichahai.

"Spare us! The water is too cold! We'll freeze to death!" Wang Baosheng started kowtowing on the ice again.

He Yuzhu turned a deaf ear, found a large ice hole that a fisherman had chiseled during the day, and used his rod to knock away the thin ice.

"Each of you stay in for five minutes. Once you've finished your bath, I'll let you go," He Yuzhu said.

"I'll fight you to the death!" A short, sturdy man suddenly lunged at He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu dodged, hooked his foot, and the man fell onto the ice with a "thud."

He Yuzhu picked him up and threw him straight into the ice hole.

The man struggled incessantly in the water; because one of his arms had been broken, he simply could not climb out.

Wang Baosheng knelt on the ice and wailed, "Staying in this icy water for five minutes will kill a person!"

He Yuzhu smiled, "It's a new society now; I don't want to kill you, it would dirty my hands. If it were in the past, and you wanted to kill me, I would never have left you alive."

He Yuzhu watched until the short, sturdy man was nearly done for, then pulled him up.

"Whose turn is it?" He Yuzhu asked.

A young man took off his clothes, gritted his teeth, and said, "Sticking my head out gets me a knife, pulling it back gets me a knife too; I'll go first."

"That's the spirit. Once you're done washing, you can put on warm clothes again." He Yuzhu nodded.

Forty minutes later, all six people had finished their "bath."

He Yuzhu even took photos of them one by one and recorded their names and addresses.

The six petty thieves were all frozen with blue-purple faces, black lips, and their entire bodies trembling like chaff-sifters.

He Yuzhu stared into their terrified eyes and said word by word, "In the future, if you dare to come within half a step of Chen Qingshan's house again, I will stuff you inside and freeze you into icicles."

Wang Baosheng's teeth chattered "clack-clack," and he couldn't even speak clearly, "Never... never again... even if you beat me to death, I wouldn't dare..."

In the Municipal Bureau interrogation room, several aluminum lunch boxes of dumplings were set on the table.

Zhou Hao picked up his enamel mug and said, "I'll toast you with tea instead of wine. Today's matter has finally... passed without any danger. Deputy Bureau Chief Zuo was quite helpful this time, arranging for me and Tian Dan to be stationed separately. From now on, there won't be so many entanglements."

Mei Feng picked up a dumpling and chewed it slowly, "Actually, it wouldn't be hard to catch those people who escaped from Mentougou."

"Really!" Zhou Hao's eyes lit up.

"You just need to bring me every daily newspaper—every single kind—and let me read them. I will be able to find their tracks from within them," Mei Feng said with great confidence.

"Good! If we can catch those secret agents who escaped from Mentougou, I can find a way to get you bailed out," Zhou Hao said with absolute certainty.

"Team Leader Zhou, I will not let you down!" Mei Feng said calmly.