Chapter 145 Cry for Help
Lin Baozhu deftly tied the unconscious spy up like a dumpling, her icy gaze sweeping across the crowd like a searchlight, precisely locking onto the woman with pigtails. She darted forward and grabbed the woman's wrist!
"Ah—!" the woman screamed in terror, struggling desperately. "What are you doing?! Let me go! My father is the town mayor! You dare touch me, he'll never forgive you!!"
"The town mayor?"
Lin Baozhu sneered and tightened her grip on her hand even more.
"That's perfect! I'd like to ask you properly, how could the daughter of a town mayor be on such good terms with a spy? And even incite the masses to obstruct the arrest?!" Her deliberately raised voice boomed like thunder in the silent corridor.
The onlookers' expressions changed drastically, and they scattered in a large circle as if avoiding a plague, their eyes shifting between Lin Baozhu and the woman with pigtails with suspicion.
The woman with pigtails lost all color in her face instantly, but she still stubbornly straightened her neck, her voice sharp and piercing: "You're spouting nonsense! Who would believe the words of a murderer like you?! You say he's a spy, so he's a spy? I think you're the capitalist's daughter, a reactionary!"
"Ha," Lin Baozhu scoffed, tugging at her faded, patched old plaid shirt. "This outfit of mine? You think I'm a capitalist? Did you get your brain slammed in a door or forget it in your mother's womb?"
Just then, Qin Haifeng, leading the man who had previously incited the chaos, pushed his way through the crowd. Seeing Lin Baozhu still holding a sobbing woman, he frowned: "Caught another one?"
Lin Baozhu gestured with her chin toward the spy lying on the ground, her tone icy: "This 'enthusiastic citizen' keeps saying that the person lying on the ground is her 'neighbor's older brother,' and she's been desperately inciting people to obstruct our investigation. Oh, and she even introduced herself as the mayor's precious daughter."
She paused meaningfully, "This relationship... tsk tsk, if they really investigate, it'll keep Commander Wei busy for a while."
"No! I didn't! I don't know him!" When the woman with pigtails saw the soldiers following behind Qin Haifeng, her face turned ashen, and she frantically shook her head in denial.
"Too late!" Lin Baozhu interrupted sharply. "What did you just say? Dozens of ears here could hear it clearly!" Her sharp gaze swept across the crowd.
Someone in the crowd immediately echoed in a low voice:
"Yes! She said it herself, the man on the ground is her neighbor's older brother!"
"That's right! They even tried to trick us into going to rescue people! Luckily, we didn't fall for it!"
"That's terrible! They almost killed us!"
Those who had previously hesitated to speak up for her now wished they could pounce on her and stomp on her feet. Associated with spies? Once you go in there, you won't come out unscathed!
"Take him away!" Qin Haifeng commanded in a deep voice.
"No—! You can't arrest me! I only did it because I felt sorry for him..." the woman screamed and struggled.
"Now you say you don't recognize me? What were you doing all this time!" Lin Baozhu disgustedly shook her off, letting the soldiers roughly drag her away.
Wei Mingrui led his men to quickly clear out the guesthouse, searching each room carefully. Finally, in the cramped storage room at the back, they found the target unconscious.
When the man's sleeve was rolled up, a vivid, scarlet scorpion tattoo was revealed to everyone!
Wei Mingrui took out the top-secret file photos he carried with him and excitedly compared every detail of the tattoo—it was exactly the same!
"This person is 'Scorpion'! Quick! Move him immediately! Keep a close watch on him!" Wei Mingrui's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement and relief.
Lin Baozhu leaned against the door frame, looking at Wei Mingrui's face, which was filled with undisguised joy. She nudged Qin Haifeng beside her with her elbow and whispered, "See? Another great achievement, all done."
Her eyes gleamed; the house was secured. Once the lathe was finished... a garden villa in Shanghai, a courtyard house in Beijing... Lin Baozhu would surely have a place on the real estate map of future developed cities!
Seeing the gleam in her eyes, Qin Haifeng chuckled softly and then said, "Now that we've caught him, I'll take you to the machinery factory first."
"No need, I'll go myself." Lin Baozhu waved her hand, not forgetting to add before turning away, "Oh, and please remind Commander Wei that he shouldn't forget what he promised me!"
"Don't worry, I won't forget."
Lin Baozhu rushed to the machinery factory, quickly arranged the work at hand, answered some questions for several technicians, and then hurriedly rode her bicycle straight to Dageba Village!
As soon as I pushed open the gate to my own yard, a gloomy and sorrowful atmosphere hit me!
Lin's mother was kneeling on the ground, tightly embracing a thin, bony little girl. The child trembled all over, her face was sallow, her cheekbones protruded high, and her eyes were empty and timid. Lin's mother held her tightly, crying her heart out, her face covered in tears and snot.
Beside him, Lin Sanlang, like a raging lion, flared his nostrils, panting heavily, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and roared in a deep voice, "Mother! This can't be left like this! They don't treat Auntie like a human being at all! Grandpa is so proud he's willing to suffer for it, but we can't let that happen! I'm going to town right now to call my second brother! And I'll get my sworn brothers too! If the Li family doesn't send Da Ni back whole today, and doesn't kowtow and apologize to my aunt, I'll beat them all to a pulp!"
Seeing this scene of anger and grief, Lin Baozhu's heart sank. She quickly leaned her bicycle against the wall and hurried into the yard.
"Mother, Third Brother, what's wrong? Why are you so angry? This child..." Her gaze fell on the child in Lin's mother's arms, who was almost unrecognizable, and her brows furrowed.
Lin's mother raised her tear-streaked face, sobbing uncontrollably, "My dear child... this, this is your aunt... your Aunt Rongrong's second daughter..."
Aunt? Guo Rongrong? Lin Baozhu searched the corners of her memory with difficulty, only to find a blurry, gentle yet stubborn figure.
Lin Sanlang's eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, and he said hatefully, "Little sister, you don't know! Fourth and Fifth Brothers were raised by Auntie when they were little, and even you grew up with her for two years! Later, she... she went blind and insisted on marrying that bastard Li Xiaoxian from Li Family Village, a scoundrel with a head full of pus and feet sores! Grandpa and Grandma even fell out over her marriage..."
As Lin Sanlang continued his narration, Lin Baozhu's expression grew increasingly somber.
My aunt Guo Rongrong, for the sake of so-called "love," disregarded her family's objections and resolutely married Li Xiaoxian, who came from a poor family in Lijiazhuang and was not favored by his parents.
At first, the Li family was somewhat wary of the Guo family and dared not go too far with Guo Rongrong. But as time went on, seeing that the Guo family really ignored their married daughter, the Li family revealed their true nature—the mean mother-in-law, the greedy brother-in-law, the shrewish sister-in-law, and the domineering sister-in-law all bared their fangs! They robbed grain and money, beat and scolded them, and treated the aunt's family like livestock.
Today, that old hag from the Li family actually tried to sell thirteen-year-old Da Ni to a widower in his sixties from the neighboring village! Guo Rongrong desperately protected Da Ni and was surrounded and beaten unconscious by that bunch of beasts from the Li family. While Guo Rongrong was unconscious, Da Ni was forcibly dragged away by the old widower's family...
She's only thirteen years old!
Lin Baozhu felt a chill mixed with overwhelming anger rush straight to the top of her head!
You beasts! A whole litter of beasts!
"mother!"
Lin Baozhu's voice was frighteningly calm, and her eyes held a bottomless vortex.
"The most important thing now is to get Da Ni back from the old widower's house! It will be too late if we don't get through tonight! The situation with Auntie is unclear. You should quietly go to your uncles and tell them to take their weapons and head to Lijiazhuang immediately. We'll split up!"
She quickly pulled a thick wad of banknotes from her handbag and shoved it into Lin's mother's hand without a word: "If your uncles are worried about their reputation and don't want to step forward, then use money! Find those strong and willing-to-fight men in the village! Tell them that as long as they get the person out, there will be plenty of money! Remember—the bigger the commotion, the better! If the sky falls, our superiors will hold it up!"
She had just made a great contribution today, and Director Liao was very happy.
If I cause trouble at this time, as long as I don't kill or commit arson, he will most likely help me get away with it.
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