ECG -Chapter 197 Looking at Your Haircut, You Don’t Look Like a Student

The plainclothes officer who had opened the car door earlier pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it in front of Li Lang.

“Li Lang, you’re under arrest. Come with us.”

Li Lang had no idea what was going on. How had he suddenly been arrested?

He immediately shouted at the two 110 officers who had arrived later:

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“Help me! Help me! Who are these people? Why are they taking me away? Help! Help!”

The two 110 officers acted as though they hadn’t heard him. Instead, they walked straight up to Wu Xiaozhou. One of them reached out and pulled him to his feet.

“You! Come with us.”

The other officer took out a pair of handcuffs and yanked Hou Biao and the other guy up from the ground.

The two of them were already regretting everything. Although getting smashed by a shovel had hurt badly, they still could have run away earlier if they had wanted to. But now it was too late for regrets.

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Lin Hao finally understood.

Li Lang must have called the police from inside the car earlier, which was why the 110 officers had shown up. But what was the deal with these three officers who had arrived first?

He turned and looked into the distance. The other two troublemakers had already disappeared. They had probably slipped away as soon as they saw the police arrive.

Walking over, he asked the plainclothes officer who was handcuffing Li Lang, “Hello, my name is Lin Hao. I’m a student at the Arts Academy. May I ask what’s going on here?”

The officer shot him a sideways glance and ignored him. Instead, he turned to the two 110 officers and said, “We’ll leave this side to you.”

Then the three officers escorted Li Lang away.

Li Lang twisted his head around with all his strength. His eyes, fixed on Lin Hao, were filled with fear and rage.

If looks could kill, Lin Hao would have already been roasted inside and out.

Lin Hao rubbed his chin and thought, I’m confused too, buddy. Why are you glaring at me?

The most likely explanation was that Li Lang had committed some crime and the police had come specifically to arrest him.

What a coincidence.

He turned back toward the two 110 officers.

“Officer, this is my classmate…”

One of the officers—a young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes—said, “He damaged someone else’s vehicle. Even though the other party has been taken away, your classmate still violated public security regulations. He’ll have to come to the station with us first.”

Lin Hao knew the officer was right.

So he turned to Fatty Meng and the others.

“You guys head back first. I’ll accompany Xiaowu to the station.”

None of the four moved.

They watched as Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou got into the police car. Then the four quickly hailed a taxi and followed behind.

---

At the police station.

The officers brought Wu Xiaozhou into an interrogation room to take his statement.

Standing outside, Lin Hao immediately took out his phone and called Zhou Dongbing.

Wu Xiaozhou sat in the middle of the interrogation room on a large iron chair.

The officers hadn’t handcuffed him.

He looked around curiously, touching this and that.

The provincial capital really is nice, he thought. Even the chairs here are more impressive than the ones at Chunhe Police Station.

Seeing that both officers had lit cigarettes, he grinned and asked, “Brothers, can I smoke one too?”

When neither officer responded, he didn’t bother waiting. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it himself.

“Put it out!”

The thick-browed officer’s eyebrows shot up.

“You think you’re at home? Acting however you want!”

Wu Xiaozhou quickly took two deep drags, then casually tossed the cigarette onto the floor and crushed it under his foot.

“Why are you getting mad? You guys didn’t say anything, so I thought that meant you were okay with it…”

The officer slammed the notebook in his hand onto the table.

“Let’s hear it.”

Wu Xiaozhou looked puzzled.

“I already explained everything in the car. Those hooligans came to the school to cause trouble, so I stepped in and eliminated a public menace.”

“So you’re a hero now?”

“Yep!”

Wu Xiaozhou answered with a broad grin.

Bang!

The young officer with the big eyes slammed the table in anger.

“Wipe that smirk off your face! Just looking at your haircut, you don’t seem like a student!”

Wu Xiaozhou immediately dropped his smile.

First he rubbed his shaved head, then the corners of his mouth twitched upward briefly.

After that, he sat up straight, expressionless, and stared solemnly at the two officers.

The older policeman exhaled a puff of smoke and said in a deep voice, “Regardless of what those people were doing at the university, you did smash their windshield. That involves compensation. Furthermore, according to the Public Security Regulations…”

Before he could finish, the interrogation room door was pushed open. A short, chubby policeman in his forties walked in and whispered something into his ear.

The three officers immediately huddled together and began discussing something quietly.

Wu Xiaozhou was completely baffled. He had no idea what was happening. Surely they weren’t actually going to sentence him, were they? This wasn’t that serious, was it?

The three men separated. The short, fat officer who had just arrived turned and left the room.

The older policeman sighed. He was confused himself and couldn’t figure out what the station chief was thinking. But since the order came from above, there had to be a reason for it.

He glared at Wu Xiaozhou and waved his hand.

“You can go.”

Wu Xiaozhou froze for a moment before asking suspiciously, “This isn’t some trick to lure me in before arresting me again, is it?”

The younger officer’s eyebrows twisted together.

“Are you leaving or not? If you don’t, we’ll put you on the tiger bench!”

“Leaving! I’m leaving!”

Wu Xiaozhou sprang to his feet and hurried toward the exit. No decent person wanted to stay in a place like this any longer than necessary.

As soon as he stepped out of the police station, he spotted Lin Hao and the others standing by a flower bed smoking cigarettes. The moment they saw him, all five rushed over.

Lin Hao asked, “They didn’t hit you, did they?”

Scratching his shaved head, Wu Xiaozhou burst out laughing.

“How could they? Lord Wu comes in and out of places like this as casually as going home…”

“Can you stop bragging for once?” Lin Hao snapped. “Let’s go. Back to school.”

Lin Hao recalled the phone call he had made to Zhou Dongbing earlier.

After hearing the whole story, Zhou Dongbing had said:

“Don’t worry. Xiaowu will be out soon. Ma Daya, some of his men, and Li Lang were arrested because of several old cases they were involved in.”

Lin Hao had already suspected something. Hearing Zhou Dongbing say it without the slightest surprise sent shockwaves through him. A chill ran down his spine.

So it really was Zhou Dongbing behind this.

But how?

He was all the way in Chunhe. How could he wield such influence that he could take down Ma Daya’s entire group in one sweep?

“Haozi, this matter ends here. Don’t get involved anymore. Li Lang won’t be getting out for at least three to five years. And if his sentence ends up being too short, I’ll add the pirated-music case to the list. If the police contact you for testimony, just cooperate.”

Less than ten minutes after Lin Hao hung up, Wu Xiaozhou walked out of the police station.

The six of them didn’t bother taking a taxi. The station wasn’t far from the university, so they walked back together.

Meng Pangzi and the others kept asking Wu Xiaozhou what had happened inside, and Wu Xiaozhou enthusiastically launched into an exaggerated retelling, spraying spit everywhere as he spoke.

Meanwhile, Lin Hao kept thinking about everything that had happened.

Logically speaking, this matter wasn’t a big deal. If Zhou Dongbing had simply spoken to Ma Daya, Li Lang would have stopped bothering him.

So why had Li Lang still come looking for trouble?

And why had Zhou Dongbing gone to such lengths to have them all arrested?

Unless…

He felt as though he had grasped the edge of some truth, but it remained frustratingly vague.

Then he heard Gao Laoda say to Wu Xiaozhou:

“You got lucky, kid. That Toyota Reiz isn’t cheap. Replacing a windshield would cost over a thousand yuan. Strange that they let you go without making you pay.”

Wu Xiaozhou curled his lips.

“Hell, the guy’s locked up now. You think he’d still dare ask me for compensation?”

Yan Xiaoqi said, “I wonder what Li Lang actually did. If he doesn’t get locked up for long, he’ll still be a problem later.”

“Exactly,” Meng Pangzi agreed. “That guy only cares about money. Once he’s out, he’ll definitely…”

“Wait!”

Lin Hao suddenly interrupted him.

“Huh?” Meng Pangzi looked confused.

“What did you just say?”

“What?”

“‘Only cares about money.’ That’s it! Only cares about money!”

Lin Hao slapped Meng Pangzi’s broad shoulder so hard that the big man bared his teeth in pain.

“I get it now! I finally get it!”

Everyone exchanged bewildered looks.

None of them had any idea what he had just figured out…