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The wail of a police siren sounded in the far distance, and Lin Yi could see red and blue lights heading their way. It should be Song Lingshan and her men.
“You wait in the car, I’ll be back soon.” Lin Yi said to Tang Yin.
“Kay.” Tang Yin said, complying nicely.
Lin Yi went to the back of the van and dragged Heibao out with him.
Lingshan had come in a big police vehicle, unlike the SUV she’d been driving last time. It was evidently a car for containing criminals.
Spotting Lin Yi right away, Lingshan parked in front of him.
Lin Yi had mentioned that he’d disabled Heibao, but seeing the criminal in Lin Yi’s hand put a surprised ‘O’ on her lips.
“You came alone, right?” Lin Yi said after one look inside the car, relaxing himself after seeing that no one else was there. Lingshan knew some things about him, and Lin Yi didn’t want any more people knowing about him than necessary.
“You caught him just like that?” Lingshan nodded as she got out the car, still surprised at Lin Yi just manhandling Heibao like that.
“How else?” Lin Yi threw Heibao on the ground. “Alright, there you go. I’m going then.”
With that, Lin Yi started making his way back to the van.
“Wait, you still need to come with me for a testimony……” Lingshan called out.
“Make one up yourself.” Lin Yi said without even turning back. “I’m giving you all the credit, just say you caught him yourself. I’ve got nothing to do with this!”
“You……” Lingshan was irritated, but the credit…
She was aware of how much of a feat capturing Heibao was- with this and the robbers from last time, she now had two big contributions under her belt, and her reputation at the police department was at its best. It was a fine opening for her upcoming promotions.
“You want me to continue helping you, don’t you? Stop talking so much.” Lin Yi said as he got back in the van, driving away without paying more attention to Lingshan.
Lingshan stomped her feet on the ground in irritation before pulling Heibao off the ground and into her car, driving off in the opposite direction from Lin Yi…
“Ah, right, how’d they get you here? Where’s Kang Xiaobo?” Lin Yi said, remembering Heibao’s kidnapping of her.
“Kang Xiaobo… I don’t know…… I walked out the school with him, and he said we’re taking a taxi to the hospital, then he got in the taxi…” Tang Yin said. “I don’t know what happened after that, and when I woke up I was… I……”
Tang Yin started lowering her head again.
Lin Yi frowned, pulling out his phone to give Xiaobo a call.
It was quite a while before Xiaobo picked up, his voice hazy. “..Hm? Hello? Who is this?”
“Xiaobo? It’s me, where are you?” Lin Yi calmed down- Xiaobo seemed to have just woken up. It seemed that Heibao was only after him, and not Tang Yin or Xiaobo. He wouldn’t have left him his phone if he’d been one of his targets.
“I… Huh? Where am I? How come I’m sleeping in the middle of the street?” Xiaobo jumped up suddenly. “Shit, boss! Tang Yin, Tang Yin’s gone! Boss, I lost Tang Yin……”
“It’s fine, Tang Yin’s fine. She’s with me right now. Where are you? Want me to come get you?” Lin Yi asked.
“I’m at… I don’t know where this is, it’s a small street. Wait a sec, lemme get on a main road…” Xiaobo mumbled as he walked around. “I was in a taxi with Tang Yin, we were headed to the hospital, and I think I fell asleep… Or something. I just woke up.”
“......” Lin Yi didn’t know what to say. “Okay then. You get on a taxi and go home first, we’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
“Alright, I’m still a bit confused, but Tang Yin’s okay, right? I’ll see you tomorrow.” Xiaobo said, still half-awake.
Lin Yi hung the phone up, a bitter smile on his lips as he looked at Tang Yin. “You guys got drugged to sleep, probably. Xiaobo was tossed on some roadside and you were brought here.”
“Who……” Tang Yin wasn’t sure who’d been responsible for this, going as far as to drug her with _that_ type of drug… Just thinking about it scared her- what would have happened to her today if Lin Yi hadn’t showed up?
“It was Zou Ruoming.” Lin Yi said. “I’ll leave that guy alone for now.”
Lingshan should probably learn something from Heibao during interrogation, and Lin Yi couldn’t just kill Ruoming off… Not yet, at least. He could kill him anytime he wanted to after everything blew over.
“Zou Ruoming……” Tang Yin repeated the name blankly before lowering her head and started crying……
“Tang… Tang Yin, what’s wrong?” Lin Yi jumped at the abruptness of Tang Yin’s tears- there was no warning at all!
“It’s nothing… It’s not you… I just wanna cry, that’s all……” Tang Yin said, choking a bit. “Why do they keep bullying me? Why? Because I’m poor? Why……”
Lin Yi sighed softly as she listened to Tang Yin speak- these feelings must’ve been building up for a long time, finally released under the night sky tonight.
It was the same for her family as well- both Mrs. Tang and Tang Yin were even bullied at their barbeque stand… And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Why did Zou Ruoming go after Tang Yin, without so much as laying a hand on Chu Mengyao or Chen Yushu? Because he knew that bullying Tang Yin held no consequences- bullying either Chu Mengyao or Chen Yushu, however……
“It won’t happen again……” Lin Yi said, patting Tang Yin on the shoulder, hesitant whether he should pull her over for a hug.
In his hesitance, Tang Yin leaned into Lin Yi’s embrace herself, and continued sobbing…
_Ah……_ Lin Yi didn’t stop her this time around. Holding Tang Yin’s shoulder in his hands, he waited for the girl to finish crying her heart out in his arms… Maybe she just wanted a shoulder to lean on, that might be all there is to it…
It was true that Tang Yin wasn’t thinking about anything else at all- she just wanted to feel safer in Lin Yi’s embrace.
“I’ll drive you home?” Lin Yi said after Tang Yin had calmed down a bit.
Tang Yin’s eyes widened as she pulled herself out of Lin Yi’s arms all of a sudden, shyly turning her head away before giving a soft ‘yeah’ in response.
With a smile, Lin Yi started the car and headed to the slums.
The hearts of these two youths had gotten closer to each other that night…...
