Chapter 487: Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger

Tian Dan suddenly remembered that He Yuzhu's younger sister, He Yushui, also attended this school. She had promised Zhuzi to look after her, but had been too busy to get around to it; since she was here today, it was the perfect time to check on her.

She asked Xiao Zhao to go to Daoxiangcun to buy some snacks, then instructed Xiao Qian: "You take Yan Jiefang to wait at the school gate to meet up with Li Xiangxiu's Second Team."

"Yes."

Tian Dan walked toward the teaching building alone, stopped a female student on the way, and asked gently: "Classmate, may I ask if you know He Yushui?"

"Who in the whole school doesn't know her!" The girl smiled and pointed to the north, "Grade Four, Class One, it's right over there."

"Thank you."

Just as Tian Dan headed north, she was spotted by Xu Xingfu, who was coming out of a classroom. He panicked instantly—why were the police at the school? Could it be that the incident yesterday involving the robbery of He Yushui had been exposed?

He took off running toward the Grade Four classroom and found Xu Xinghai, who was wrestling with two boys.

Xu Xinghai was holding one person with his arm while another hung on his back; he was like a wild bull, tossing the two of them around until they were stumbling in all directions.

"Big Brother!" Xu Xingfu leaned into his ear, his voice trembling slightly, "The police are here to arrest us!"

Xu Xinghai released the person he was holding by the arm and threw the boy on his back over his shoulder onto the ground: "Where are they?"

"It looks like they went to Class One to find He Yushui... her family must have called the police!"

"Run!" Xu Xinghai grabbed his younger brother and prepared to bolt.

"Wait, Brother." Xu Xingfu pulled him back, "Let's see if they really went to find that dead girl first, don't run for nothing."

The two hunched over and crept to the corner of a corridor, poking out half their heads to stare intently at the entrance of Class One.

Tian Dan had called He Yushui out, with Xiaomi, Dahua, and Xiaoqi following along.

She gently touched Yushui's head: "Yushui, how have you been lately?"

"It's alright, I guess." He Yushui kept her head down, her voice muffled.

Ever since she arrived at school today, she had heard the Xu Xinghai brothers bragging everywhere about how they had beaten them to a pulp yesterday; the injuries on Xiaomi and Dahua's faces were plain to see, making her feel incredibly humiliated.

Xiaoqi suddenly spoke up: "Sister Tian Dan, there are bad people in our school! Xu Xinghai from Class Four and his younger brother Xu Xingfu blocked our way and beat us yesterday. Look at Xiaomi and Dahua's eyes—"

Tian Dan looked closely and saw that the corners of the two children's eyes were indeed bruised. Her expression turned stern immediately: "This is outrageous! I'm taking you to see the Principal."

He Yushui had been holding it together, but seeing Tian Dan truly standing up for her, her nose soured and tears fell.

She hadn't felt it much during the fight yesterday, but now, looking at her little friends' injured faces, she felt both aggrieved and guilty.

In the distance, Xu Xinghai saw the female police officer touching He Yushui's head, and his heart skipped a beat: This dead girl was actually so close with the police! He yanked Xu Xingfu: "Let's go, fast!"

The two rushed out of the school gate, and Xu Xingfu asked while panting: "Brother, where are we going?"

Xu Xinghai gritted his teeth: "Spend all the money we got from Yan Jiefang! Otherwise, if we get caught, we won't get to keep a single cent."

"Brother is the smart one!"

Ma Shouyi had spent the afternoon at the shelter, and after much thought, he decided he couldn't just wait around. He had to find that kid and keep an eye on the medical clinic—if the watch incident went sideways, the police would definitely come to investigate.

He disguised himself as a beggar, huddled in a street corner, and watched the entrance of the medical clinic from afar.

Tian Dan brought the children to find the Principal, Zhang Yuzhuo, and showed her credentials.

Principal Zhang was startled: "Police Officer Tian, what is this about..."

"Principal Zhang, my friend's younger sister was robbed and beaten by male students from your school after class yesterday. How do you intend to handle this?"

Upon hearing it was a student dispute, Principal Zhang breathed a sigh of relief: "I will call their parents in tomorrow; I will certainly handle it strictly!"

Xiaoqi curled her lip from the side: "Principal, it's useless. Xu Xinghai's dad is a drunkard; he's been to the school so many times and only knows how to throw drunken tantrums. If you ask me, just expel him! He's already fifteen, big and strong, he could go out and find work. Keeping him in school to bully classmates all day is just a waste of food."

Principal Zhang felt a bit awkward after hearing this and hurriedly promised: "Comrade Tian, I've only been in office for a week, and there are some situations I don't understand as well as this student... I will call the Dean of Academic Affairs to handle this right now."

Tian Dan nodded.

The Xu Xinghai brothers strolled past the medical clinic, saw the notice on the door, and stopped to read it aloud: "Due to returning to hometown to visit relatives, the medical clinic is temporarily closed starting today... The old swindler ran away?"

Xu Xingfu was dismissive: "So he ran, so what? Why bother with him?"

"Who's bothering with him?" Xu Xinghai grinned triumphantly, "Everyone says I'm stupid, but I didn't just swindle Yan Jiefang, I even fooled this old swindler! He was originally trying to scam us out of our money!"

"Big Brother is amazing, you're always playing the pig to eat the tiger!"

Hiding in the distance, Ma Shouyi was so excited he almost jumped up—he had searched all day without finding him, and the kid had actually delivered himself to his doorstep! Just wait, I will definitely catch you.

The two walked into He Ji Restaurant in high spirits, and Xu Xinghai ordered loudly: "A large portion of Twice Cooked Pork, Boiled Fish, Kung Pao Chicken, and Spicy Blood Curd, and bring ten steamed buns!"

The waiter noted down the order and looked at them hesitantly: "You two... are there any parents coming with you?"

Xu Xinghai slapped fifty thousand yuan onto the table with a "slap": "No parents! Can't I afford to eat without a parent?"

The waiter immediately apologized with a smile: "I'm sorry, no offense intended!"

After finishing the school business, Tian Dan met up with Li Xiangxiu and took Yan Jiefang to the residence of Zheng De.

This area was full of private courtyards and quiet alleys, considered a wealthy neighborhood.

Yan Jiefang pointed to a house in the middle: "Number 18 is my Siqiang's house; he usually goes out around six in the evening."

After observing the environment and setting up the surveillance mission, Tian Dan sat in the car to wait quietly.

At 5:48 PM, Zheng De walked out of the courtyard wearing a neat Zhongshan suit.

Tian Dan gave a hand signal, and the tailing began.

Zheng De walked all the way to the Xi'an Restaurant.

Tian Dan parked the car in front of the Xinhua Bookstore across the street and watched silently.

Not long after, a tall, thin man also entered the restaurant.

Yan Jiefang whispered: "That's Wang Baosheng, Liu Guangtian from our courtyard is his Apprentice."

Tian Dan immediately remembered the photo He Yuzhu had given her—this was the same group that had tried to steal from Chen Qingshan's house last time and had been thrown into an ice hole by Zhuzi. It seemed they hadn't changed their thieving ways.

She felt a bit disappointed: It seemed the pocket watch was just stolen goods, and these people were not secret agents.

Li Xiangxiu walked over and asked in a low voice: "Deputy Bureau Chief Tian, when do we make our move?"

"Wait a little longer, see if anyone else is coming."

Ten minutes later, a short, stout middle-aged man walked into the restaurant.

Yan Jiefang pointed at him and said, "It was him who framed me! He held a big bottle and made me bump into it, making me pay over 2 million, and in the end, they forced me to join them... I was doing quite well in my studies, I might have even been able to get into university! But they insisted on making me learn how to steal..." As he spoke, he wiped away tears again.

Tian Dan was also deceived by his "good student forced to turn bad" appearance and said gently, "If no one comes after waiting a while longer, you should go home first. We won't tell anyone about your situation."

Yan Jiefang's eyes lit up, and he said with a sobbing tone, "Thank you, sister!"

Another half hour passed, and no one else came.

Tian Dan waved her hand, and over a dozen Police officers rushed into the He Ji Restaurant with guns drawn.

She waved at Yan Jiefang, "Go back, and study hard in the future."

Yan Jiefang felt as if he had been granted a pardon; after getting out of the car, he trotted away.

But he didn't go home; instead, he secretly circled back to the residence of Siqiang—he wanted to sneak in during the chaos to fish for some benefits.

Just as he reached the entrance of the alley, he saw it was full of Police, and only then did he realize he had been too Tianzhen.

He hung his head low and slowly walked back.

Inside He Ji Restaurant, Xu Xinghai and Xu Xingfu had eaten and drunk their fill, picking their teeth with toothpicks.

Xu Xingfu rubbed his round belly and sighed, "How good it would be if days like this happened every day..."

"Stop dreaming." Xu Xinghai curled his lip, "If the school calls Dad to a meeting tomorrow, both of us will get beaten again. You say... can we just... Dad..."

Xu Xingfu hurriedly shook his head, "It's wrong for him to drink and hit people every day, but he can earn money. If he dies, who will support us?"

Xu Xinghai sighed, "I don't want to go to school anymore, I want to go out and earn money... and I don't want to get beaten at home anymore."