Sister Zhou was very efficient. She took the time to wash and dry the clothes at noon on the day Su Ting gave them to her. The sun was good these two days, so she hung the clothes out in the sun for a whole day. By noon the next day, the clothes were completely dry.

After receiving the clothes on Tuesday, Su Ting went to the police station in the afternoon.

Although people no longer relied on cloth coupons to buy clothes after the reform and opening up, ordinary people did not have that many clothes. If each person had two or three sets of clothes to change and wash every quarter, the family was considered to live a good life.

The owner of the clothes was willing to lend them, and the police did not come to ask for them back, but they had to be aware of it and wash the clothes and return them to the owner as soon as possible.

When they arrived at the police station, there were quite a few people inside. Officer Fang was taking someone's statement. Su Ting was not sure whether it was convenient for Fang to go in, so she handed the clothes to the female police officer who was doing reception work and asked her to help pass it on.

The female police officer who received Su Ting this time was not the same one as before, and the two had never met before. The other party thought that Su Ting went to Fang Public Security Bureau to report a case, but she suddenly took out a bag of clothes and asked in surprise: "What is this?"

Su Ting quickly explained, "It's like this. My son was surrounded by a group of young people, and one of them escaped. My husband came to your police station on Sunday. I don't know the details, but the person who escaped was caught. This set of clothes was lent to my husband by someone during the arrest process."

The other party suddenly realized: "Your husband is Comrade He?"

Su Ting nodded: "Yes, he went back to the army yesterday morning and didn't have time, so I came to deliver the clothes. Please tell Fang Gongan that the clothes have been washed and he can just return them to his friend."

"Okay, don't worry, I will definitely pass it on." The other party agreed immediately and praised, "Your husband is so amazing. So many people in our police station have been investigating for a day and two nights, but we have no clues. He came here less than one morning and found a clue."

Su Ting was moved when she heard this, and said, "Do you know how he was caught? He had already left the night before yesterday, and he returned to the unit before dawn the next day. I only know that he was caught, but I haven't heard him talk about it. I'm curious."

"I don't know the details, but I know that after he learned about the arrest that night and questioned the four people, he told our captain that the fugitive had probably not left Shanghai, and he also circled a few places he might have gone to."

It was called an interrogation, but in reality it was equivalent to an trial. However, He Dongchuan was not from the public security system. He met the four people as the victim's parent, so it cannot be called an trial.

Su Ting asked: "Which places?"

The policewoman mentioned two places, frowned and said, "These are places where unscrupulous young people often gather. This time, it is thanks to Comrade He, otherwise we would not know that there are so many bad elements in our jurisdiction."

They arrested quite a few people in this operation, and each of them had several crimes on their shoulders, ranging from minor thefts to serious robberies and fights, and some even formed small gangs to seize territory.

Originally, only their police station was involved in the arrest operation, but in less than half a day, the public security bureaus in the district urgently dispatched personnel to directly eliminate one of the gathering points.

It's just that the matter is quite complicated, and there are some things that the policewoman is not clear about. Or maybe she knows but is not convenient to tell Su Ting, so she speaks vaguely.

Su Ting did not ask any further questions, but only asked: "Will those people who surrounded my son go to jail?"

"You will definitely go to jail. This matter has become a big deal and has been handed over to the Public Security Bureau for handling," said the policewoman. "But it's hard to say how many years he will be in jail. It depends on whether they have anything else to do with it. If not, it may be three to five years. If it's serious, it may be..."

She didn't finish her words, but Su Ting understood what she meant. Now is the severe punishment period, in order to deter criminals, the sentencing will be stricter than in the past. So if those people have nothing else to do, they may just spend a few years in prison, but if there are other things, they will probably have to eat peanuts.

But no matter what the outcome is, it is unlikely that they will come out to retaliate against them in the next few years.

Su Ting nodded and said, "Okay, thank you."

…

After returning from the police station, Su Ting was completely relieved. In the following time, she devoted all her attention to her graduation defense.

The day of the defense was Thursday and the weather was fine.

In the morning, Su Ting sent Manman to school as usual. After leaving the kindergarten, she rode her bike to school, and went to the classroom where they had classes to make final preparations before the defense.

Their classroom is always very busy this week. All the students who have already participated in work have taken leave and returned, and the classroom is rarely full again.

On Wednesday, Su Ting, Ma Yan, Zhang Jie, Yang Yu, and Li Ke had a meal together. Of course, the location was not the school cafeteria, but a newly opened private hotel outside the school.

After not seeing each other for nearly half a year, Zhang Jie and the other two have changed a lot: some of them got their hair permed, some learned how to put on makeup, and their eyes and brows reveal the confidence of professional women.

Of course, the biggest change is that the three of them have a lot more money. After all, they are graduates of Fudan University. The unit they are assigned to will not be bad, and their grade after entering the unit will not be low.

Although Su Ting did not participate in the work, she published one comic book after another, and everyone knew that she was rich. Even Ma Yan had written many articles and submitted them in the past two years. Her income could not be compared with Su Ting, but it was not bad compared with Zhang Jie and the other two.

So after arriving at the hotel, they didn't pick too many dishes, but they didn't choose expensive dishes either, and they chose according to their personal tastes. In addition to the dishes, they also ordered a bottle of white wine. They had never drunk it when they were in school, but now that they were about to graduate, they had to indulge themselves.

There is truth in the saying that drinking alcohol can easily lead to mistakes. Although they did not interfere with their work, Zhang Jie and the other two revealed a lot of their own sorrows that they did not want to be shared with others.

These people who have already started working, after returning, all act like successful people. When asked how their work is going, the answer is definitely very good. When asked how their leadership is, the answer is that they all think very highly of them. Finally, when asked whether the work is going well, the answer is again very consistent: it is going very well, and they are about to reach the peak of their lives.

In reality, it is not that easy in the workplace. Even if they are gifted, they cannot gain the respect of their leaders quickly after entering the company just by relying on their diploma.

But studying and working are two different things, and the school environment is relatively simple, while the workplace has many twists and turns. These young people have experienced setbacks to varying degrees after entering the workforce.

Zhang Jie and Yang Yu are slightly better off, as one has been to the countryside and the other has worked for several years. Li Ke is really a newcomer in the workplace, and he works in a government agency, so his interpersonal relationships are very complicated.

Although she had matured a lot in the past six months, that was when she was sober. After drinking a glass of white wine, she couldn't help it. She felt more and more aggrieved and even cried in the end.

Although Zhang Jie and Yang Yu did not lose their composure as much as she did, they also talked about a lot of difficulties. In fact, they were both doing well at work. They encountered some troubles when they first started working, but now they have all been resolved and are getting better and better.

Their difficulties mainly focused on life. When they took the college entrance examination, they were both in their twenties and had completed four years of college, making them definitely older women.

They didn't think it was a big deal in school, after all, many of their classmates were over 30, so they were considered young. Shanghai is a big city, so it is very tolerant in this regard, and people generally get married later.

But the customs in their hometown are relatively conservative. Even in the provincial capital, girls generally get married before the age of 23 or 24, and are considered old youth after 25.

What's more, both of them have already passed the age of 25.

The two of them are now introduced by their leaders at work and urged to get married by their parents after get off work. Their life is extremely difficult.

The three of them talked about their worries. Ma Yan and Su Ting seemed to be out of place if they didn't speak, so they also spoke out some of their thoughts.

Ma Yan's troubles were also related to her family. Her younger brother was getting married, and his parents didn't have enough money, so they asked her to help with the gift. The money wasn't much, only 50 yuan, which was more than a month's income for her.

If her parents needed the money, she might have taken it, but she was unwilling to do so because it was used to help her younger brother get married.

Among the five people present, Ma Yan's relationship with her parents can be said to be the worst.

It’s not that her parents treated her harshly. When she was young, her parents treated her brothers and sisters equally. They chose dark-colored clothes and passed them down to the eldest, then the second, and then to the youngest. They also divided the delicious food equally. Her parents never showed favoritism to anyone.

When we were old enough to go to school, all my brothers and sisters were sent to school. Those with good grades and willing to continue studying would be supported by their families. Those with poor grades at least had to finish elementary school so that they would be eligible to be recruited by state-owned factories.

Ma Yan once thought that compared with most girls in the compound, she was very lucky and lived a happy life.

But the sudden big movement broke this happiness.

When the news of going to the countryside to work came, three people in their family were going to go to the countryside, but before the matter was finalized, her mother quickly gave her job to her eldest brother, and then spent all the family savings to buy a job for her third brother.

Before she went to the countryside, her mother hugged her and cried, saying that they had no choice as they were really poor at home, and asked her to be understanding.

She didn't know what to say and left home in silence.

During the first two years after she went to the countryside, she couldn't get over the hurdle in her heart, so she didn't contact her family. Later, after experiencing more things and becoming indifferent to many things, she resumed contact with her family.

In the third year after they resumed contact, her fourth brother graduated from junior high school, and her parents again used their connections to find him a job. This time she was not too sad, she just felt it was expected.

In the fifth year, her younger sister graduated from junior high school and had the same fate as her. She packed her bags and went to the frontier to join the team.

Ma Yan thought she had let it go a long time ago, but when the news came, she still felt heartbroken. After that, she cut off contact with her parents again and only kept in touch with her sister who lived far away in the border area.

It was not until her sophomore year that her parents learned from her younger sister that she had been admitted to Fudan University, and then they wrote to her again.

This time, the letters from her parents were filled with warmth that had not been there in the past ten years. It was funny to say that in the past years, the place where she had been sent to work in the countryside had never changed, but as long as she didn't write to her family, they would lose contact.

In fact, the person I can't let go of has always been her.

But this time Ma Yan really let it go, and she did not reply to her parents' letter.

But they did not give up and would send her a letter every two or three months. Later, when they saw that she did not reply, the content of the letters changed from asking about her well-being to complaining.

Eventually she relented.

Although she had accumulated too many disappointments during those years, her parents had never treated her unfairly while she was growing up. She could be cruel enough to not contact them, but she could not ignore their pain.

They resumed their mild relationship.

Sometimes Ma Yan thinks it's good this way. After all the things she's been through, she can't rely on her parents like she did when she was a child. But she can contact them occasionally, and when they retire, she will take on the responsibility of supporting them, and there will be no more.

But it was obvious that her parents didn't think so. Their purpose in playing the emotional card was just to gain something.

And in their eyes, now is the time to make demands.

But on what basis?

…

Sometimes, the development of things really catches us off guard.

Who could have imagined it.

When they entered the private room to order food, they were all in high spirits. However, after two sips of white wine, each one became more depressed than the other, and the atmosphere took a sharp turn for the worse.

For a moment, Su Ting didn't know how to react.

After they finished complaining, they all looked at Su Ting, waiting for her to speak.

Su Ting moved her lips, not knowing what to say.

To be honest, compared to them, Su Ting really has no worries.

First of all, she is a freelancer and does not have the worries that a newcomer like Li Ke would have;

Secondly, she is married and her children are grown up, so no one is urging her to get married. But there are people urging her to have children. Her parents have always hoped that she would have another child, preferably a son.

But that was a few years ago. Family planning has been strictly enforced in the past two years. For the sake of He Dongchuan's future, they have given up the idea of ​​letting Su Ting have another child.

In the end, her parents may have valued their son more, but they also tried to treat them equally and never thought of asking her to help her brothers. And because she was a dresser, she didn't expect too much from them, so they always got along well.

After thinking for a while, Su Ting said, "Something happened in our family last week..."

She briefly told the story of how He Yan was surrounded in retaliation for his heroic act, and how he took the people to the police station and worked with the police to arrest them, but someone escaped.

No matter what, Su Ting is a best-selling comic book artist. Her ability to tell stories is unquestionable. Even if she is concise, she can still make the stories full of ups and downs.

Ma Yan and the other three were too upset to care about what they heard. They were so nervous that they held their breath and kept asking, "Then what?" It was not until Su Ting said that the person who escaped was also arrested that they breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately! How is Xiao Yan?"

Although four years have passed, Yang Yu and her friends' favorite comic strip has changed, and their favorite comic strip protagonist is no longer Sanhuo, but whether because they once liked Sanhuo or from a realistic perspective, they are all concerned about He Yan's safety.

Su Ting smiled and said, "He is very good. He said he can beat any more people like him."

"As expected, she is the person I once loved..." Yang Yu blurted out. Before he finished speaking, he noticed the expression on Su Ting's face and quickly added the rest of the words, "The prototype of the object."

Su Ting: “Haha.”

Although Su Ting was also talking about her troubles, the result was already very clear. After listening to it, the mood of several people also improved a lot.

Overall, this party was a complete success.

…

The defense process went smoothly, and no one in their class failed to keep up. However, there were still many things to do afterwards, and the graduation certificates would not be issued for a few days.

Those who worked far away did not go back home, but took a long vacation and waited in school. Those who worked nearby went back to work because it was more convenient to take leave and come back.

Compared to others, Su Ting is much freer because she can work anywhere. However, apart from getting her diploma, she has no plans to go to school in the near future.

She is going to take a vacation.

But she had to paint during the holidays. She had promised Wang Jingfang that she would start serializing new stories after the New Year. So although Su Ting did not go to school on Fridays and Saturdays, she still had a lot of work to do.

On Saturday night, He Dongchuan came over.

He Yan was still thinking about the incident of being arrested for having a short haircut. Although Su Ting told him what the female police officer had told her after she came back from the police station on Tuesday, he still wanted to hear the details.

So as soon as He Dongchuan entered the room, he heard He Yan ask three questions in a row: How did you find out that the man with the short hair did not leave, how did you determine where he was, and how did you catch him in the end.

He Dongchuan, who was unbuttoning his military coat, stopped and turned his head to ask, "Want to hear the details?"

He Yan said without hesitation: "Yes!"

"But I didn't eat dinner, so I don't have the energy to talk," said He Dongchuan.

Su Ting asked: "Shall I go and make noodles for you?"

"I was busy last week and we didn't talk much. Please sit with me for a while." He Dongchuan took Su Ting's hand, asked her to sit down on the sofa, and looked up at He Yan.

He Yanchi asked doubtfully: "Shall I get you an egg cake?"

He Dongchuan said: "I don't want to eat so many sweets at night."

"So what would you like to eat?"

"Noodles." He Dongchuan made a request.

He Yan looked embarrassed. He was considered hardworking at home and never failed to please Su Ting when she asked him to do something, but he had never cooked.

Take noodles for example. In theory, he knows how to cook them, but he has never tried it, so he doesn’t know whether they will taste good or not.

Seeing his embarrassment, He Dongchuan said sympathetically, "It's OK if you don't know how to cook. It's OK if you skip a meal and feel hungry. I can bear it. At most, I won't have the energy to speak."

He Yan understood that his father said so much because he wanted to eat the noodles he cooked. He asked hesitantly, "Can I try cooking noodles?"

"Cook it up and it will taste good. I can't swallow it if it tastes too bad." He Dongchuan said as he looked at his back, perfectly interpreting the art of pressing for more.

He Yan: “…”

…

The process of He Yan cooking noodles can be described as hectic.

Either I forgot to add oil or I forgot to add salt. When I remembered to add salt, my hands shook and I added too much salt, making the noodle soup taste salty and bitter.

Adhering to the principle of adding water when there is too much salt, He Yan hurriedly poured the water into the pot. As a result, there was more water and the noodles could not be seen without chopsticks, so he had to add more noodles.

When the noodles were cooked, the soup was too bland and tasteless, so I had to add more salt. But He Yan had learned his lesson this time, and instead of pouring the salt directly into the pot from the bag, he poured it onto a spatula first. It seemed like there was too much, so he shook out a little, then a little more, and added salt three times before the soup was just the right amount of salty.

Although it was his first time cooking, He Yan felt good about himself. He thought that there was nothing wrong with this pot of noodles except that there were a few too many.

Because there were too many noodles, and also to show their support for He Yan, Su Ting and Man Man decided to have an extra meal, and each had half a bowl of noodles.

I gradually learned that this was my brother's first time cooking, and I was very supportive, praising the food as it was delicious. Su Ting also gave a good review, saying, "It tastes very good."

He Dongchuan was doubtful about the taste after hearing this. It was not that he was picky. Although this pot of noodles was not bad, it had a lot of problems. The noodles were cooked in two batches, so the taste was completely different. Some were soft and broken into pieces, while others were a bit hard. They were not cooked thoroughly because the time was too short, and it was obvious as soon as you ate it.

But considering that it was his son's first time cooking, He Dongchuan didn't complain and bought all the remaining noodles.

Su Ting and Man Man also finished the noodles. In fact, they were not exaggerating. Although this pot of noodles was not delicious, it was certainly not bad.

Anyway, Su Ting felt that He Yan was much better than the first time she cooked.

After satisfying his appetite, He Dongchuan finally became interested in telling He Yan a story.

In fact, the reason why he judged that the buzz cut did not leave Shanghai was very simple. The buzz cut only packed two sets of clothes when he left.

It was the early 1980s, and you needed a letter of introduction and your household registration information to take a bus, stay in a guesthouse, or rent a house in a new city. Even though the southern coastal cities had relaxed the restrictions on letters of introduction in the past two years, I didn't plan to buy a ticket or take a bus. If I wanted to settle down in the south, I couldn't do without my household registration book.

Although in his situation, going to the street office to get a letter of introduction would be like walking into a trap, and he didn't have time to look for his household registration book, but if he really wanted to escape, he would definitely have to take money with him.

But according to the information obtained by the police station, the man with a short hair likes to play cards when he has nothing to do. He has no savings and owes a lot of foreign debts. And before leaving home, he did not borrow money from his parents or relatives.

This may be because his parents and relatives know his character and will not give him money, and he knows this very well. But a person with nothing will try to get some money no matter what if he wants to run away to a strange place, but the buzz cut did not take any action at all.

And after the man with the buzz cut left, no money was lost in his house. From this, it can be seen that he had no plans to go out of town, but only planned to hide outside for a few days.

And this "outside" must be a place he often goes to. Maybe there are a few good brothers there who can lend him money or take care of his food and drink for a period of time.

Although among the four arrested men, the man in the flowered shirt and the man in the bell-bottom pants were not that close to him, the other two had always been hanging out with him and must have known the places he frequented.

Even if one of them cares about the so-called brotherhood and is unwilling to speak out, it is impossible for the two to be completely of one mind and betray each other.

At this point, He Dongchuan spread his hands and said, "We went to two places and caught the man."

He Yan was not satisfied and asked immediately: "Which two places did you run to? How did you catch the person? What are the details?"

Slowly nodding beside him: "Yes, yes, what are the details?"

"No details. I was just assisting. The man was arrested by the police. If you want to know the details, go to the police station to ask." He Dongchuan said, glancing at the wall clock, "It's already nine o'clock. Isn't it time for you to go to bed?"

He Yan said: "Tomorrow is Sunday."

He slowly raised his chest and added: "Yes, yes, we don't have to go to school tomorrow, so we can sleep in."

"If you don't want to sleep, I'll go to bed with your mother." He Dongchuan said as he pulled Su Ting up, "Let's go back to the room and let them play downstairs. Xiaoyan, when you've had enough fun, remember to send your sister back to the room to sleep."

The couple left cleanly, and the remaining siblings were dumbfounded. How could this happen?

Also, the dad who only tells half of the story and keeps the other half is so abominable!

…

Su Ting, who had gone up to the second floor, was also asking, "Are you just going to leave them there like this?"

"Otherwise?" He Dongchuan asked back, with no guilt on his face.

Su Ting said: "Xiao Yan will definitely not be able to sleep tonight."

He Dongchuan explained the reason why the two children blocked him just now: "Tomorrow is Sunday anyway, they don't have to go to school, so it doesn't matter if they stay up late."

As they talked, the two entered the master bedroom. He Dongchuan closed the door and turned to hug his wife. But before the kiss ended, he heard Su Ting say, "What if I'm curious too?"

He Dongchuan stopped what he was doing and whispered, "I won't tell you the details, not to whet your appetite, but because this matter is too complicated and it's better if you don't know."

This time, not only the guy with the buzz cut was arrested, but also the entire gang.

Although he did not reveal anything during the scouting process, nor did he show up during the arrest process, and his name will be hidden in the police's public notice later, for the safety of his family, the fewer people who know about the process, the better, so as to prevent the arrested person from harboring resentment and coming back for revenge in the future.

Su Ting had watched a lot of police and gangster dramas in her previous life, so she understood what He Dongchuan meant as soon as she heard it, and her expression became serious: "Then I won't ask anymore."

After thinking about it, he said, "I will tell the two children tomorrow and ask them not to tell anyone about this."

Seeing Su Ting's nervous face, He Dongchuan lowered his head and pecked her lips, then said with a smile: "Don't worry, everything I can say is unimportant. It doesn't matter even if they tell others."

Su Ting felt relieved, snuggled in his arms and nodded: "Yes."