Chapter 67
"BB! Big sister!" Upon hearing that Iris and Zhuang Zhuohua had both been attacked by gunmen, Zhuang Zhuoyuan's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. After receiving the news, he rushed to the hospital immediately, only feeling slightly relieved when he saw both of them sitting outside the operating room.
"Husband!" Iris hugged him and cried as soon as they met, which made Zhuang Zhuoyuan's tension rise again. He hurriedly checked her for injuries and was even more frightened when he saw the blood on her hands: "Baby, don't cry. Are you hurt somewhere? Or is it your stomach? Does your stomach hurt? Dr. Yip said you can't have too many emotional fluctuations, right? Don't cry, take a deep breath with me, okay?"
Zhuang Zhuohua gave an "OK" sign to her brother, indicating that they were both alright. Zhuang Zhuoyuan glanced at the operating room, then at Zhuang Zhuohua, and quickly understood what was going on. He wanted to get Iris out of the way, and after a moment of consideration, he said to Zhuang Zhuohua, "Sister, I'll take Iris to the OB-GYN first. Derek just made an appointment for her there."
Chong Cheuk-wah readily agreed: "It's fine to check, you guys go ahead, I'll wait for Ben. May and Bo-zai are here too, we're all OK."
She spoke calmly, but her expression remained unpleasant. Fortunately, Zhan Hantao arrived at that moment. As soon as they met, Zhuang Zhuoyuan gave him a wink, and then he could finally leave with Iris with peace of mind.
"What exactly happened? Do you know who hurt you?"
Both sides were asking the same question. Iris went to the restroom to wash the blood off her hands, while Zhuang Zhuoyuan waited outside to get information from Derek. While the police were working on their tasks, Derek also sent his men to investigate. A review of the parking lot surveillance footage revealed that although the faces of the masked shooter's accomplices weren't clearly captured, the vehicle information was readily available. Unfortunately, the vehicle they found was a stolen car, and the license plate was fake. However, there was one thing to be thankful for: "The shooter accidentally dropped an Octopus card while escaping, which, upon investigation, belonged to a man named Deng Fuqi."
"Deng Fuqi?" Zhan Hantao asked in surprise. "How could it be him?"
Zhuang Zhuohua perked up a bit: "You know this person?"
“He’s a bit of a fool, there’s a little problem here.” Zhuang Zhuoyuan replied to Derek as well. He pointed to his head, then lowered his hand but couldn’t help frowning. “But although Aqi is a bit stubborn, he’s simple-minded. He still wants to be a policeman.”
Derek ignored everything else: "I think he's after your sister. If he doesn't have any grudge against your sister, then he's probably being used. Anyway, he attacked Miss Zhuang, and the young lady happened to be there. Ed is very unhappy. He has instructed us to do everything we can to help the police catch the culprit, and he will also discuss upgrading security with AK. You can rest assured."
It was only this time that Zhuang Zhuoyuan realized Iris had so many bodyguards. One in the open and five in the shadows already made for a large force, but he hadn't expected his father-in-law to want to add more. Derek saw what he was thinking and smiled, "Consider it creating job opportunities for my brothers. There's no other way; after what happened to the young lady, Ed is now extremely worried about his only daughter."
Jennie, who was in England, was also worried. She made the first call to her daughter, and then hurriedly contacted Chong Cheuk-wah. They were all family, and she couldn't sit still if anything happened to any of them. After handing over the wedding arrangements to Gloria, Jennie immediately prepared to fly back to Hong Kong. If she weren't worried about disturbing Chong Cheuk-wah and Chong Cheuk-yuen's work, she would have really wanted AK to send more people from his security company to protect the siblings.
“Edward is already arranging the follow-up treatment and recuperation for the colleague who took the bullet for you,” Jennie said quickly, the rustling sounds in the background like someone instructing someone to pack their luggage. “Don’t worry, Ah Hua, we will take good care of him. I’ll be on a plane back to Hong Kong in three hours. You can focus on reporting the crime and won’t have any worries.”
One phone call was enough, and Zhuang Zhuohua didn't expect Jennie to come all the way back for this. She subconsciously didn't want to trouble her, so she said, "Aunty, I can manage on my own."
Jennie refused quickly too: "I can't feel at ease until I see you both. Someone's trying to kill you, Ah-hua, how can we, as elders, sit idly by? I treat Ah-yuan like a son, and you like a daughter. I can't rest easy until I see you both safe and sound. Okay, I'll handle things here as soon as possible. Don't worry too much about your colleague; he'll definitely be alright. We'll talk about the rest tomorrow when we meet. Good luck, honey!"
"Goodbye, aunty." Hearing her hang up, Zhan Hantao stood up from his chair. Zhuang Zhuohua seemed lost in thought. He went over to her and asked, "Was that Iris's mother?"
"Mm." Zhuang Zhuohua nodded. Her nerves, still highly tense since the incident, coupled with the long hours of intense work she had been doing, inevitably showed signs of fatigue in her eyes. Zhan Hantao gestured for her to sit down for a while longer. He knew that once Ben's surgery was over, Zhuang Zhuohua would definitely devote herself to thoroughly investigating this case; for her now, conserving her energy was paramount.
The arrest warrant for Deng Fuqi was issued and reported in the news and newspapers. Su Wenqiang called Qi's mother's house repeatedly, becoming increasingly anxious: "What should we do? Even Aqi isn't answering. Things have gotten so big now, he must be terrified."
Upon hearing this, Yu Xueli stepped on the gas and drove the car even faster. He was also worried about Deng Fuqi. Inspector Lek never did bad things on his own initiative, and with that real gun, he was afraid that Su Wenqiang's friend would be silenced by real bad guys in a short time.
If they could casually hand over a gun, Shanji and his men naturally had many more. The Deng family's simpleton was originally just a pawn; now, failing to sacrifice him and instead letting him escape, it truly disrupted their plans. They figured Deng Fuqi would only return to the walled village, so they had laid an ambush at the village entrance early on. However, they hadn't expected that under pressure, the simpleton would actually develop some intelligence, knowing to circle around to the village from the back mountain.
His trail was discovered when he fled hastily from an old woman's house in the village. His men didn't have time to call for backup and could only chase after him alone while making phone calls. When they finally caught Deng Fuqi, he turned on them and almost tore off a piece of his flesh. Taking advantage of the bad guy's pain, Deng Fuqi hurriedly ran up the mountain and hid under the bridge where he used to play as a child.
Su Wenqiang finally got through on the phone. Sir was flustered and his speech was unclear; only a few broken words could be heard: "Someone's chasing me...they're here!" The call was then disconnected. Seeing Su Wenqiang's anxiety, Yu Xueli hurriedly asked what was wrong, but after calling out twice more without response, she immediately urged him to speed up. She heard the sound of flowing water during the call, so she guessed that Deng Fuqi was currently under the bridge.
As the two men got out of the car and ran towards the location, AK's men, having received the news, also grabbed their weapons and headed towards the walled village. Derek, having heard their report, relayed the information to Zhuang Zhuoyuan. Zhuang Zhuoyuan was immediately alarmed: "These matters should be handled by the police."
“Your EU should be on their way to the scene as well,” Derek simply nodded to him. “Don’t worry, we won’t interfere with your work. We just need to make sure no criminal gets away. All the guns we’re using are legal in Hong Kong, and we’re using plastic bullets. We will not break the law.”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan frowned: "You conducted an investigation into the walled village?"
“Finding a stranger, an outsider, shouldn’t be that difficult.” Derek rubbed his fingers together, implying the power of money. Since Deng Fuqi was being used, as long as his area of activity was determined, the target shouldn’t be too hard to pinpoint. “Right now, we only know that the target is called Shanji. Once we’ve caught him, we’ll give Miss Zhuang more detailed information.”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan immediately called his older sister, but before she answered, he shook his head, indicating his disapproval of Derek and his group's actions. However, he also knew that to prevent this from happening again in the future, they had to start with Edward and AK, which could only be done after Ben's surgery was over and he brought Iris home.
Meanwhile, Chong Cheuk-wah also received news that Tang Fuk-chi had appeared in the walled village. After the villagers reported the incident, headquarters first dispatched the nearest EU patrol car to the scene, then relayed the information to the responsible Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB). A call from Chong Cheuk-yuen provided Chong Cheuk-wah with more clues; the mention of Chicken immediately revealed that today's troubles were entirely due to revenge. The operating room light was still on. Bo-zai and Ah May initially wanted Chong Cheuk-wah to stay, but Madam had already discussed the division of labor with her brother on the phone. She turned to her subordinates and instructed, "Get the car from the parking lot. We're going to the walled village immediately. Ah Yuen and Iris will be here right away."
Zhan Hantao hesitated for a moment, then decided to follow Zhuang Zhuohua and her group. When they were still halfway there, they spotted an SDU car speeding past. He quickly called Liang Sir, only to learn that Yu Xueli had called for backup. He immediately dialed Zhuang Zhuohua's number and gave a brief explanation: "The suspect went to the tofu skin factory, took hostages, and has heavy weapons, including explosives."
The abandoned tofu skin factory behind the village was an excellent hiding place. Su Wenqiang was thankful that Deng Fuqi had chosen to hide there and had sent her a message in time. She and Yu Xueli split up; she quietly climbed in through a window and saw a group of thugs scattered throughout the factory, searching for Deng Fuqi. Hidden in the shadows, she had a commanding view of the factory. With this advantage, in a split second, she leaped and tackled the thug who was about to shoot Deng Fuqi to the ground. She then disarmed him in one swift motion.
Unfortunately, Yu Xueli's situation didn't go smoothly; Shanji quickly spotted him. Several gunshots rang out, bullets whizzing past Yu Xueli's hands and feet. With reinforcements arriving from Shanji's men, the unarmed Yu Xueli was at a further disadvantage. Fortunately, shortly after he found cover, Su Wenqiang finally arrived…
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