Chapter 017: Another Merit
"Why are you so anxious? You are still unstable at this age. What can I say to you?" Du Hehua scolded softly, but her eyes were glued to the bundle.
"What do I think? They're just some gold and silver jewelry, not very good quality. Is it worth this?" Jiang Mancheng opened both bundles and curled his lips in disdain. "But it's true. The old lady of the Wei family is just a second-rate maid. She's not as good as you, mother. For her to have these things by her side, she's quite impressive."
"Exactly. Lamei is getting more and more confused as she gets older. How could she have spoiled her child like this?" Du Hehua rummaged through her bundle and picked up a pair of silver earrings from among them, a look of nostalgia in her eyes. "These were made for the maids in the room when the eldest daughter got married. One pair for each of them. I have them too. The master's family was actually quite good back then. Alas, there's nothing we can do about it. We've ruined their reputation over the years."
"Okay, Mom, don't think about it." Jiang Mancheng was afraid that the old lady would be sad, so he advised, "We don't want their things either. Let's hide them for now. If they change their ways later, we'll return them. But if they still find fault with us, we don't have to be polite. It's their fault for being such a scoundrel."
Du Hehua waved her hands, looking unhappy, obviously recalling the sad things from her youth.
The three of them stopped talking, put down their bags and left.
However, Du Hehua quickly recovered, waved to the three people, and took out a thin gold bracelet from her bag and handed it to Chen Jinhua: "Mancheng family, take it. I can't let your hard work be in vain. Mother knows that you have done the most work, so take this bracelet as your reward this time."
Chen Jinhua looked at Jiang Mancheng and saw him nod before taking the gold bracelet.
The three of them quietly returned to the house. As soon as they closed the door, Jiang Nan immediately asked excitedly, "Dad, what does grandma have? Have you seen it?"
"Of course I have. Your grandma never hides anything from me."
Jiang Mancheng held his head high and said in a sly tone, "It's just a large yellow croaker, two gold hairpins, a pair of gold bracelets, and some small items like rings and earrings. They're better quality than this, but most of them were acquired by your grandfather. Your grandfather is the manager of the front yard, and he has more money than your grandmother."
He looked up at the sky, very proud. Although he was used to seeing gold, silver and jewelry in his previous life, and looked down on the things in the old lady's hands, it did not prevent him from admiring his mother in this life, nor did it prevent him from fighting for his wife and daughter.
No matter what kind of life he lives, even if he is not rich, he must ensure that his wife and daughter have enough food and clothing.
What belongs to him, no one can take it away from him.
"Okay, I've been busy all night, go to sleep..."
Before Chen Jinhua could finish her words, she saw her daughter standing there with a blank expression, as if she had been struck by a needle. The couple exchanged a glance, realizing that the system had issued another task.
Sure enough, the electronic voice in Jiang Nan's head rang out, "Host, someone in the village has been found stealing oil from the oil well. The main system is issuing a reward of 1,500 melon coins for catching the oil thief."
"He's just an oil thief, how come the reward is bigger than reporting that domestic abuser, Old You? Is there some mistake?"
If they are not stopped, they will develop into oil theft gangs, which will later cause oil well fires, resulting in heavy casualties and property losses.
Jiang Nan understood, quickly came to his senses, and told his parents exactly what the system had said.
Jiang Mancheng pondered for a moment, looked at the bracelet in his wife's hand, and after weighing the pros and cons, he said, "I haven't spent the 500 melon coins from last time. I remember you said that 5,000 melon coins can be exchanged for a Xumi mustard seed, right?"
Xumi mustard seeds are commonly known as space. After the system was upgraded to 2.0, for the safety of the host, the space function was opened, but it needs to be exchanged with Chigua coins.
Jiang Nan nodded, and Jiang Mancheng immediately made the decision.
"Done. Space is very useful. It's much safer to hide things here than at home. Come on, pack up, grab some ropes and knives, and let's ride over to take a look."
Chen Jinhua hid the gold bracelet, and the three of them rode their bicycles to the oil well.
"Oh my god, I'm exhausted from working all day long."
On the way, Jiang Mancheng complained as he pedaled, panting heavily. He said, "Sometimes we can go to the old forest to dig some ginseng. It's good for nourishment. Otherwise, I'll die of exhaustion sooner or later."
"Hehe." Jiang Nan pedaled quickly, smiling apologetically, "Don't worry, Dad. Your daughter has a system. She's the daughter of destiny, and she'll definitely find ginseng to replenish you."
[Host, I don't have the ability to scan the surrounding environment.]
Jiang Nan ignored the system's attempts to dissuade him and added, "At worst, we can buy some in the system's store. I remember they have ginseng wine. However, the ginseng in the system's ginseng wine is probably farmed. It might not be as effective as wild ginseng."
Jiang Mancheng: "It's better than nothing. When we have enough melon coins, we can give it a try."
The three of them pedaled their bikes with great effort. The oil well and their family compound were in two different directions, and the ride would take almost two hours. The three of them stopped talking and just focused on pedaling.
Grunt and grunt.
The three of them traveled through sparks and lightning and finally arrived at the oil well where the incident occurred.
The oil wells were manned, and not far away was the oilfield's fiberglass buildings, resembling shipping containers at the docks, where the stationed drillers lived and kept watch. However, it was already late at night, and the men on duty were exhausted and asleep.
The nodding machine is still pumping oil diligently day and night.
Not far away, several figures secretly climbed onto the oil tank. They were obviously the group of oil thieves.
[Host, these people are in cahoots with Erlaizi. He's in charge of monitoring the oil wells and checking who's on duty. If the person on duty is easy to deal with, this group will come and steal.]
"No wonder he was so sneaky last time." Jiang Nan sighed. "How many people are there? How old are they? Are they easy to deal with?"
[Six men, all between 23 and 33, are tough to deal with. Er Laizi isn't present; he's not very skilled, so the host doesn't have to worry about exposing his identity. Furthermore, I've connected with Officer Lan Qingshan and discovered he's at the scene. He's been waiting for an hour, ready to capture them. Your safety is now more assured.]
Jiang Nan quickly told his parents the good news, and the three of them became more confident in catching the oil thief.
It’s 1,500 melon coins, you can’t miss it.
The three of them quietly came up behind Officer Lan. Jiang Nan patted Officer Lan on the shoulder. Under Officer Lan's astonished gaze, he spoke firmly: "Uncle Lan, my family went back to our hometown today. I saw the village idiot acting suspiciously last night, so I secretly followed him and heard what this group of people were planning. We discussed it with our family and decided that as oil field workers, we should be brave enough to take action when encountering such things. So our family stayed up all night and quietly followed them to the oil well. But when we saw you coming from afar, we thought of partnering with you to catch them all in one fell swoop. What do you think?"
She didn't lie. These people had a discussion in the woods in the evening, but the system had just scanned it.
"Nonsense!" Officer Lan was incredulous. After a moment, he sternly scolded them, "How dare you! You know where this group of people came from, and you dare to follow them?"
He pointed at the three people, his head smoking with anger. "How dare you! Go back now! Don't think you're so great just because you've seen a few lively events and received a letter of praise. You guys are really something, Lao Jiang. You're such a grown-up, and you're acting like a fool just because your daughter is acting like a fool. Tell me how you act as a father."
"Old Lan, calm down." His partner, Xiao Xu, gave the three of them a long look and advised, "Don't get excited. It would be bad if we startled anyone again. We're closing in soon, don't rush."
"How can I not be anxious?" Lan Qingshan exhaled and inhaled, inhaled and exhaled, but it was all in vain. He still growled with anger in his eyes, "If you hadn't met me, would you have been able to explain it clearly? Who would have known if you were here to steal oil or catch thieves?! How could you be so confused!"
"Old Lan, the director's signaled, let's go!" Xiao Xu had just finished speaking when he dashed out. Lan Qingshan also rushed forward reflexively, followed closely by Jiang Nan and Chen Jinhua.
This was a collective arrest operation arranged by the Oilfield Police Station after an overnight interrogation of You Aiqian.
You Aiqian not only used his position to secretly sell oil, but also leaked information to others.
To be more precise, he started by selling information and then developed into selling oil secretly.
He knew who was on duty at the oil well and how strong they were.
According to You Aiqian, he's making money quite smoothly, but he's just had a competitor lately. This untrustworthy guy is actually trying to bypass him and secretly get information. He just raised the price a little, and everyone is disgusted with him.
After being arrested, You Aiqian confessed this first. After all, selling information is much less serious than secretly selling oil. You Aiqian still stubbornly refused to admit the accusation of selling oil, but I believe Officer Lan and the others will be able to pry this old man's mouth open soon.
Nearly twenty police officers responded, rushing out in a swarm, some with guns drawn, frightening the oil thieves to death. They had barely begun to act when they were caught red-handed, catching the thieves red-handed!
The oil thieves threw away the empty oil drums and fled in all directions.
These people were also very cunning. Six of them fled in six different directions. They knew that they were at the oil well and the police did not dare to shoot easily. They ran faster than rabbits and soon disappeared into the night.
The police were no pushovers and immediately split up to pursue the suspects. Jiang Nan immediately fell behind Lan Qingshan, while Chen Jinhua fell behind Chief Shen. Both of them ran wildly in the direction of the oil thief.
Jiang Mancheng, of course, was waiting there. The noise had woken up the drillers on duty, and they were pulling Jiang Mancheng aside to question him.
Perhaps because they have done too much farm work, the oil thieves look very strong and run very vigorously.
On Jiang Nan's side, Lan Qingshan was old after all, and he couldn't catch up after running two kilometers. Xiao Xu also gradually slowed down. Only Jiang Nan continued to chase as if nothing had happened.
The oil thief saw that the police were left behind, and there was a little girl chasing him, so he didn't rush to escape. He stopped and wanted to beat her up. Although he ran fast, he was tired. The little girl was not even breathing. It was safer to beat her down.
"Little girl, I see you're not a police officer. What, you want to be a hero? Get out of here if you know what's best for you! Otherwise, I'll kill you without mercy."
These days, stealing collective property is a serious crime. The people who came to do this were no pushovers, and they were quite skilled in martial arts. But he had miscalculated today; he hadn't expected Jiang Nan to also know martial arts, and to be much better than him.
"Stop talking nonsense. If you can move a finger on me today, I'll take your last name."
Jiang Nan imitated the gangsters in Hong Kong movies, with his hands on his hips, shaking his legs, holding his head high, and shaking his chin.
Her character tonight is that of a top bully!
The oil thief had never suffered such humiliation before. He was so angry that he didn't say anything else and raised his fist to hit Jiang Nan in the face.
When you hit a snake, hit it at its most vulnerable part; when you hit a person, hit him in the face!
Jiang Nan dodged, her lips etched, and she turned with a powerful kick, landing five meters away. She smirked like a movie villain and stepped forward, her arrogance evident in her pride. She ducked down and thrust her leg hard into the man's waist. With her right hand, she restrained the oil thief's hands, and with her left, she pulled out a rope and tied him up behind his back.
Hehehe.
At this moment, in Jiang Nan's mind, she was no longer herself, but a chivalrous and powerful female hero.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, in just a few rounds, all the bad guys were defeated. Not only did she win a great victory, but she also got a golden treasure as a reward!
Hehehehe.
When Lan Qingshan and Xiao Xu caught up, they saw the oil thief tied up on the ground, yelling obscenities. Meanwhile, Jiang Nan, standing nearby, was watching with his arms crossed, grinning strangely. The expression on his face made him look like he was asking for a beating.
I don’t know what this grown-up girl was thinking about. She acted like a madman in the middle of the night.
Lan Qingshan and Xiao Xu shook off goosebumps on their bodies, took three or two steps forward, handcuffed the oil thief who was spewing shit, and then untied him.
Although he had subdued the criminal, Lan Qingshan maintained a serious expression and said in a cold voice, "Don't think you can show off just because you've accomplished something today. Your mediocre skills may be enough to deal with these oil thieves, but if you encounter a vicious one, you'll be in for a real fight. Besides, you're not a police officer, and if you hurt someone, you won't be able to explain yourself. Don't act impulsively, okay?"
Blah blah, they talked for a full twenty minutes on the way back.
Jiang Nan held his head high at first, but then he almost let his ears droop. On the way, whether it was good luck or bad luck, he encountered another fleeing oil thief. He didn't know how he ran, but he took a roundabout way and bumped into Jiang Nan and the others.
She shouted, leaped forward, and with a lift of her right leg, the oil thief fell to the ground. She turned around and saw the person panting heavily chasing after her. Who else could it be but Director Shen Mingguang?
Shen Mingguang was in good physical condition, but it was late at night and the area was a wasteland with lots of broken rocks and small tree branches. Unfortunately, Director Shen sprained his ankle. Chen Jinhua, having to help someone, delayed the pursuit of the thief, allowing Jiang Nan to take the credit.
Everyone worked together to handcuff the thief and return to the oil well to reunite with the rest of the team. The other pursuit teams also returned, and all six oil thieves were apprehended. Several officers also sprained their ankles, but none sustained more serious injuries, a blessing in disguise.
Shen Mingguang patted Jiang Nan and Chen Jinhua on the shoulders and laughed heartily. "Comrade Jiang Nan, you've done a great job again. Good, good. Chen Jinhua, you've done a great job too. You're an outstanding employee of our oilfield. We will definitely report this incident to our superiors and commend you."
After saying that, he looked Jiang Nan up and down, then limped around and looked at him for a while, and suddenly asked, "You graduated from high school, right?"
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