Chapter 24: Don’t Forget Me When You’re Rich And Noble!
Since he knew that Biao Ye was a man of Western Hegemon Fu Decheng, Cao Weida was even less polite to him.
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” He took the police baton and weighed it in his hand. It felt quite handy.
Most patrolmen were not issued service pistols, for a variety of reasons.
First, to prevent police forces from posing a threat to Japanese rule.
Although the city was already occupied, the people’s hearts were not so easily controlled.
Those armed with sharp weapons naturally harbored killing intent. China was not short of hot-blooded Chinese people. Once armed with guns and gathered together, they would form a formidable force of resistance.
To prevent fires in their own backyard, it was evidently necessary to prohibit most police from carrying guns.
Second, financial restrictions. The occupied area’s economy had been severely damaged by the war, making finances difficult. Purchasing and maintaining guns and ammunition required a large amount of funds.
The little devils were no fools. With that money, it would of course be prioritized for the army and other ruling institutions.
Third, strategic considerations. After all, in their view, the police’s daily duties were merely to assist in maintaining local public order, and firearms were not needed at all.
And the police baton that Cao Weida had borrowed became the standard equipment for patrolmen.
Police batons were mostly made of wood, with the head wrapped in metal, increasing durability and intimidation. They were not easy to break when used.
The length was about forty centimeters, engraved with police markings.
This length was convenient to carry and especially handy to swing.
With the police baton in hand, Cao Weida looked at Biao Ye and the others with ill intent. “Biao Ye, you must resist. Don’t be cowards! If you don’t fight back or talk back, it’ll be no fun.”
“????”
Was that human speech?!
If not for fear of provoking Cao Weida, Biao Ye and his men would have cursed him out. Put down the gun first!
Left hand police baton, right hand pistol, gun pointed at our heads, and then telling us not to be cowards?!
Was that something a human would say?!
Including Biao Ye, who had initially toughened up to save face, they all became unusually docile, heads down, staring at their toes as if there were flowers on them.
If he didn’t know their background, seeing them like this, Cao Weida might really hesitate to strike.
But now, he had no intention of letting these people off easily.
“Ah, hit!”
The commotion here naturally drew others’ attention.
Sure enough, a squad of puppet army led by little devils happened to patrol here and, seeing the situation, immediately wanted to bring men over to take control.
But they had barely taken two steps when they were stopped.
“Officer Fujita! Officer Duobian!” Beside a sedan, the leading little devil bowed respectfully.
“Mm.” Fujita let out a faint hum and waved his hand, ordering, “You don’t need to go over. Just pretend you saw nothing.”
“Hai!” The leading little devil naturally didn’t dare disobey. He didn’t even ask “why” and directly led his men away.
Once they were gone, Duobian Yi, sitting nearby, looked ahead and chuckled lightly. “Fujita-kun, look at him. Doesn’t he look like a fox borrowing the tiger’s might?”
“No, you should say he’s a dog relying on its master’s power.” Fujita Sosuke laughed heartily. Looking now at Cao Weida, who had been brothers with him just last night, it was full of sarcasm.
“Getting arrogant with just a bit of connection. People who seem clever but are actually stupid are exactly what we need.”
“Fujita-kun is more versed in Chinese knowledge,” Duobian Yi said with a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth. “Perhaps he still thinks he’s earned our favor and is smug about it even now.”
“Look at his smug and arrogant appearance. He really looks like a bouncing little clown.”
“China has an old saying: If not of our race, their hearts must differ. I very much agree with this view.” Fujita Sosuke leaned back in the car seat, hands casually on his belly, his eyes full of cold intent.
“Whether smug when successful or arrogant and overbearing, if he showed no change at all, I’d worry about his scheming depths instead.”
“He’s like this now, which is good. When we’ve made enough money and it’s time to leave, we can slaughter this fattened rabbit.”
Duobian Yi laughed along and nodded lightly. “Let him be smug for a bit. Consider it a sweet treat before we’ve fully exploited his value.”
“If we don’t give him even this much, he might think we’re not backing him up and slack off, which would delay our money-making.”
For a Chinese person, they never truly intended to make friends.
In their view, Cao Weida was just a dog they kept, a dog that made money for them.
When they felt the time was ripe, that money-making dog would be done for.
After all, such a major crime as smuggling needed someone to take the blame.
Then they could pin on him the title of a top Kuomintang or Communist Party agent. Not only would it make him take the blame for the smuggling crime, but it would also earn them great merit—a case of killing two birds with one stone.
They had previously said Cao Weida had a clean background, which meant he was clean and thus easy to handle cleanly.
“Right, urge the one playing Osaka Division to hurry. The sooner the better.”
Cao Weida, in their line of sight, naturally didn’t know that the two who had been brothers with him last night had seen everything he did. He handed the bloodied police baton back to Zong Xiangfang, panting as he flexed his arm.
“Whew, that really wore me out.”
Biao Ye and his bunch of younger brothers, lying on the ground, heard this and cursed inwardly, covering everything from their ancestors eighteen generations back.
Biao Ye swore to himself that once this was over, he’d find a chance to kill this damn black-skinned dog!
Today, he had lost face big time!
Zong Xiangfang looked at the police baton in his hand, almost wrapped in blood, and shook his head helplessly.
Fine, this guy was the boss. His words went in one ear and out the other!
He shouted at the onlookers who were excitedly watching the spectacle:
“Alright, alright, step back, don’t watch. What’s there to see? Don’t you need to make money to feed your families?”
The crowd dispersed reluctantly, whispering excitedly. Clearly, they had gossip material for the next few days’ chats.
Biao Ye, beaten and lying on the ground, already had blood all over his head. After this clubbing lesson, he felt pain everywhere on his body.
He only felt pain everywhere, his body weak. He should hurry to the hospital now, or he suspected he’d bleed to death!
He struggled to get up. “Cao Ye, Kui Biao admits defeat today. Can we go now?”
Cao Weida nodded. In broad daylight, beating them was fine, but killing them after they submitted wouldn’t look good.
So, he hadn’t intended to kill them anyway.
“You can go, of course, but leave the money for cigarettes.”
“I didn’t buy any cigarettes. Why should I…” He started to argue but thought better of it, endured the pain, pulled out a handful of bills from his pocket and threw them to him, then spat a harsh warning:
“The green mountains won’t change, the green waters will flow forever. We’ll meet again!”
Planning revenge later?
Cao Weida smiled. They planned revenge on him later, but he similarly had no intention of letting them off!
Not just Kui Biao, he also had no plans to let Western Hegemon Fu Decheng go!
“Get lost.” He waved them off like swatting flies, didn’t count the bills, and handed them all to Mohe.
“Here, your money for cigarettes.”
“No, no, no, Big Brother, I can’t take it.” Mohe waved her hands hurriedly. “I didn’t give any cigarettes. How can I take the money? Big Brother, you keep it.”
“Also, thank you. I’m Mohe. I sell cigarettes around here. If you want to smoke, find me. I’ll give you cost price.”
“Take it. They messed up your cigarettes like trash. This is compensation.” Cao Weida stuffed the money into her small hand without another word.
It had to be said, this little hand was quite soft.
Mohe’s little face reddened, and she immediately lowered her head shyly.
Tsk, the good girls these days were really bashful.
“Alright, it’s not safe here. Be careful from now on. If there’s trouble, come to the Fifth Branch Bureau police station to find me. If I’m not there, find a patrol captain named Duomen. He’ll help you.”
“You mean Master Duo? I know him. He’s a top-notch patrolman.” No wonder he had such a strong sense of justice. He was friends with Master Duo.
Yo, Master Duo’s reputation was pretty widespread. “Yes, Master Duo. If you know him, that’s best. If you run into difficulty in the future, find us. We’re police, here to protect the people.”
“Ahem.” Zong Xiangfang coughed, awkwardly tugging at him. “Alright, let’s go quickly. Don’t wait for Kui Biao to come back.”
“That is, Mohe girl, right? You should hide for a couple days too. Kui Biao isn’t one to swallow a loss easily. Wait a bit first.”
This was why ordinary folks didn’t want to mess with local thugs. These people held grudges and, after suffering a loss, whether openly or covertly, had to get revenge no matter what.
“Mm, indeed, a couple more days.” Cao Weida rubbed his chin. “Like this: rest at home for two days first. Two days later, go back to the street as usual. I’m off.”
Zong Xiangfang caught up, muttering, “Kid, why are you so bold now? You dare stir up this kind of thing?”
“Also, what do you mean ‘two days later as usual’? I said two days as an estimate. You really think it’ll be fine after two days?”
“I’m telling you, you shouldn’t have provoked Kui Biao so badly. Now look, who knows how Kui Biao will take revenge on you and that girl.”
“You, be careful from now on. Don’t get bludgeoned.”
Cao Weida smiled faintly and walked ahead without turning. “That depends on whether he can survive these two days first.”
“What do you mean?” Zong Xiangfang’s heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t very familiar with Cao Weida, but not strangers either.
After all, they were all patrolmen in this area, unlike Zheng Chaoyang sitting in the office. They saw each other often.
Plus their Rat’s Gallbladder Three Cowards nickname, they naturally paid extra attention to each other.
But now he felt that the Cao Weida in his eyes seemed very different from before.
What gave this Cao Weida the confidence to act like this even to the death?
Could it be the little devils?!
“Brother, tell me honestly. Did you latch onto some big thigh? If there’s good fortune like this, don’t eat alone. Don’t forget me when you’re rich!”
Had this guy become a traitor?!
Vigilance rose in Zong Xiangfang’s heart. If so, he’d better keep his distance from now on, lest any flaw be discovered.
