To be grateful, you must repay the favor.
Gu Fangfei was a very polite and cultured girl. She knew Xu Hang must have helped her, so she sent gifts to Jinyan Tang several times, but she was never able to get in. Xu Hang’s reply was simple: “No need.”
But Gu Fangfei couldn’t get over it.
So a few days later, Gu Fangfei got a chance to listen to a good opera, so she copied an invitation to Xu Hang, and Xu Hang accepted it.
That invitation was very important. It was from the Governor’s Office, where the Lihua Group was invited to perform on the Governor’s 50th birthday. The Governor and the Pengyun Chamber of Commerce had a close relationship. They helped each other in the early years and made a lot of money. Naturally, it was not difficult for Gu Fangfei to bring someone in.
When Xu Hang mentioned the Lihua Group earlier, Gu Fangfei had it in mind, which showed that she was very thoughtful.
On the other hand, the temperature in Xiaotong Guan dropped sharply today. It was clearly spring, but it felt as cold as winter.
All exits were tightly guarded, and everyone had a look of fear on their faces.
Duan Yelin stood in front of his office, looking at the heavy yellow wooden door that was pierced by several fierce bullet holes, his eyes as ferocious as a beast.
A few minutes ago, if he hadn’t had his extraordinary hearing to hear the slight sound of the safety pin being pulled, his head would have exploded already.
Killing over Tai Sui’s head[mfn]I’m sorry, I’m not too sure how to put it into words, so basically it’s meant to express dissatisfaction with the actions of others, to provoke or offend the most powerful.[/mfn].
They immediately issued a ban to the guard room, blocked off all sides, and immediately surrounded Xiaotong Guan like an iron tunnel, they were already trapped but still could not find who it was.
There were two knocks on the door, and Qiao Song walked in and saluted: “Commander, everyone has been checked, and nothing unusual is found! There are a few footprints on the dirt ground in the backyard. It seemed that they had no chance to escape, they didn’t run far and turned back. At least, the person must be hiding inside!”
“If it’s not the thieves outside, then it must be the ungrateful wolves in our family?” Duan Yelin leaned over and touched the bullet hole. “With this specification and lethality, it must be the No. 2 rifle used by our army.”
“Yes, I’ve checked. There was shooting training this morning, and everyone’s gun had been fired, so we couldn’t find out. When we were chasing them just now, everyone was trampling on the grass, so…”
Duan Yelin put on his military cap and said, “Call everyone to the front hall!”
A large group of people was standing in the front hall, but there were not many people either. Today is Xiaotong Guan’s rest day. Apart from two teams of patrol guards, the rest were clerks in charge of clerical work.
Duan Yelin’s eyes were like an eagle’s, cutting across everyone’s face. Even those who were honest and upright were frightened by his stare.
Qiao Song asked everyone questions one by one, wrote them down in a notebook, and handed them to Duan Yelin. Duan Yelin flipped through it and said, “This is interesting. No one was present. So I shot it myself? Huh!”
The last word he used had a strong nasal tone, like a hammer hitting everyone’s heart. Everyone knew that this lord was a ruthless person, and if the real murderer was not found, they were afraid no one would be at peace.
Sure enough, Duan Yelin said, “Very good, then let’s put everyone in jail first and we will try slowly.”
“Commander… Commander, how can this be possible…”
“It’s not me! It’s not us…”
“Let me go! I’m the mayor’s nephew! You guys can’t do this…”
For a moment, the crowd burst into panicked screams, insults and complaints. Duan Yelin’s eyes were fixed on the commotion, trying to find some clues.
Panic, anger, fear. There were all kinds of expressions, but what he wanted to see was guilt.
At this time, a high-pitched voice stood out: “Wait a minute! Commander, I have a way to find the assassin!”
The lobby suddenly became very quiet.
Everyone turned their heads to look over and saw a tall man in a white suit raising one hand. He walked out and stood in front of the crowd, repeating, “I can find it.”
Duan Yelin looked at him for a while and felt that this man was a little different from others. He squinted his eyes and looked at Qiao Song. Qiao Song understood and stepped forward to whisper, “This is Yuan Ye, the son of the lord of the Military Control Commissioner.”
Oh, so it’s him ah.
Duan Yelin retracted his gaze and stroked the buttons on his military uniform: “What can you do?”
Yuan Ye smiled and said, “Commander, please take me to the weapons storage area.”
Duan Yelin warned him, “Let me tell you first, the first bird to stick its head out gets shot. At times like this, the real murderer is more likely to be desperate. If you are just trying to be cunning, haha… the son of the Military Control Commissioner, if you break the law, Laozi will still shoot you.”
When execution was mentioned, everyone shuddered.
But Yuan Ye smiles calmly.
Opening the door of the weapons storage, Yuan Ye walked to the rack of No. 2 rifles. This place is where the patrol soldiers on duty everyday hand over their weapons. The No. 1 rifle is what they carry with them, and the No. 2 rifle is used for field missions. There is a fixed number of each type of rifle, and the soldiers assigned to each are also fixed. They are locked with their own padlocks to prevent them from being used indiscriminately.
Yuan Ye looked at the No. 2 rifles in a row, then took out an exquisite foreign lighter from his pocket and burned the bayonet in front of each gun.
No one could understand why he did this, and they were all confused.
When Yuan Ye burned the No. 5 rifle, the flame flashed, and the surface of the blade gradually turned blue. Qiao Song quickly leaned over and thought that this was like a Western magic trick.
“Found it,” Yuan Ye smiled and glanced at the name on the rifle, “…Liu Fuyu?”
Suddenly, a soldier in military uniform rushed out from the crowd with a panicked look on his face. He ran away like a rabbit escaping for his life, a typical guilty thief.
Seeing this, Qiao Song hurriedly ordered, “Chase!”
So with a bang, the remaining soldiers rushed out like arrows. Duan Yelin took the rifle from the rack without haste, loaded it neatly, pulled the bolt, held it steady, narrowed his eyes, and bang!
There was a deafening sound.
“Ah—!!!” Liu Fuyu covered his knees and screamed heartbreakingly on the ground, blood spurting out. Qiao Song grabbed him and ordered his men to drag him to the prison for interrogation.
After doing all this, Duan Yelin waved his hand naturally: “You all can go away.” Then he looked at Yuan Ye: “What kind of trick is this?”
Yuan Ye flashed his lighter: “This? This is not a magic trick, this is chemistry. The No. 2 rifles has been kept here. This room is very cold, while the Commander’s floor is very warm. So the cold and hot will cause moisture on the blade. Iron plus water, when burned by fire, will produce ferroferric oxide, which naturally appears blue.”
He spoke with great interest, and although Duan Yelin did not understand those strange names, but he still understood most of them.
“A person of culture who studied abroad?”
“I dare not, I dare not, I just learned a little bit of chemistry.”
At this time, Qiao Song came back, nodded to Duan Yelin, and whispered a few words: “That person just now confessed in a short while, but he didn’t know much either. He just said that someone secretly gave him money to do it. He didn’t know who it was, but he just said that he followed the man once and saw him enter the Governor’s mansion.”
The Governor?
Capable, Laozi didn’t touch you, and you just treat Laozi as a clay Buddha?
Duan Yelin raised his lips and said, “I remember a message was sent a few days ago saying that the Governor was going to celebrate his birthday?”
“Yes.”
“Go cut off that traitor’s head and put it in a nice brocade box. Then we go celebrate his birthday.” Duan Yelin flicked the dirt off his gloves, took two steps out, then turned his head and said to Yuan Ye, “If Young Master Yuan is fine with it, why don’t you go with us?”
Yuan Ye nodded slightly: “Then, it’s better to obey than to be respectful.”
