With Xu Ze by her side, the frightened look on Lin Yumeng’s lovely face—caused by Yang Xiaoming’s appearance—slowly faded away.
She had actually started to feel a bit of goodwill toward Director Yang and Director Lin, who had come to apologize and check on her in person. She thought to herself that people in leadership really are different. Even though he hadn’t raised his son well, the way he came to apologize sounded sincere enough.
But she did find it a bit strange that Director Yang was so respectful to Xu Ze first. Although she didn’t fully understand how powerful the director of the Xingcheng City Police Bureau really was in the city, it was definitely no small position. Seeing him treat Xu Ze so politely, even deferentially, naturally made her very curious.
As a police chief, even if he was bringing his son to apologize, was it really necessary to be so polite to a student? And he even called Xu Ze “comrade”… For a young man in his early twenties, that kind of address coming from a police chief was indeed a bit odd.
Just as she was feeling puzzled about this, she saw Director Yang suddenly flip his attitude. While feeling nervous and worried, she got a good lesson in what they call “face-changing”—and how easy it is for a seasoned official to pull it off.
After Wang Xuebin finished answering, a faint, mocking smile appeared at the corner of Yang Li’s lips. He turned to look at Xu Ze and said, “Xu Ze… Captain Wang says this never happened. Could it be that you were… also hallucinating last night?”
Watching Yang Li’s smug expression, Xu Ze chuckled instead. His eyes were filled with genuine amusement as he looked at the few people in front of him. Suddenly, he let out a soft laugh, which made their hearts skip a beat nervously. Only then did he stop, under their anxious and puzzled gazes.
Lin Yumeng, who had been standing beside him, had been quite tense after the police chief suddenly changed his tune and said what he did. She could tell that Director Yang seemed very dissatisfied with Xu Ze’s attitude, which naturally made her worry.
But Xu Ze didn’t seem bothered. He said calmly with a faint smile, “I didn’t expect Director Yang to be such a doting father, willing to throw away all principles for the sake of your child… That really disappoints me.”
As soon as Xu Ze said this, a flash of embarrassment appeared on Yang Li’s face, though it was gone in an instant. Looking at Xu Ze, he sneered coldly, “I also thought you, Xu Ze, weren’t like other ordinary young people. But I didn’t expect you to be so shallow either. The respect I’ve shown you was only out of consideration for the old man. Don’t actually think you’re someone important. Give you an inch, and you take a mile.”
With that, he stood up and said to Yang Xiaoming beside him with a snort, “Let’s go… I’d like to see who can stir up trouble for me on Xingcheng turf.”
Yang Xiaoming, who had been watching from the side with a simmering anger, felt a sense of relief when he saw his father openly turn against Xu Ze. He’d long been fed up with Xu Ze. Without holding back, he glared at Xu Ze and cursed viciously, “Tch… who the hell do you think you are? You reject a gesture of goodwill. Next time, don’t let me get my hands on you. If you do, hmph…”
“Next time?” Watching the outrageously arrogant Yang Xiaoming, Xu Ze let out a cold laugh and said, “You won’t have a next time.”
“You—” Yang Xiaoming was about to continue when Yang Li waved him silent. Yang Li looked at Xu Ze’s still calm and smiling face, and couldn’t help but feel a leap in his heart. He turned to Xu Ze and said in a cold voice, “Are you really determined to make an enemy of me?”
“It’s not that I want to make an enemy of you… it’s that you want to make an enemy of me,” Xu Ze said, extending his index finger to point at Yang Xiaoming beside him, speaking calmly. “Do you really think you can protect this son of yours, who’s worse than an animal?”
“Hah…” Yang Xiaoming watched Xu Ze’s finger pointing at him and heard those harsh words. In an instant, his face turned pale with anger. He had never been insulted like this before. His eyes bloodshot and his mind boiling, he grabbed a nearby chair and swung it at Xu Ze.
Seeing his son make a move, Yang Li was startled and was about to stop him, but then Xu Ze suddenly moved. He stood up from his chair in a flash and appeared right in front of him, easily grabbing one of the chair legs with a wave of his hand. Yang Xiaoming held the chair with both hands, his face red as he struggled desperately to pull it back, shaking it several times, but the chair didn’t budge at all.
Seeing Xu Ze holding the chair leg with one hand and his son completely unable to take it back, Yang Li quickly spoke up, “Don’t do anything reckless!”
But before he could finish, Xu Ze gave the chair leg a sudden jerk. With a startled cry from Yang Xiaoming, Xu Ze snatched the chair away from him.
Before Yang Xiaoming could react, Xu Ze tossed the chair aside and reached out to grab Yang Xiaoming by the neck. With a sudden squeeze and lift, he hoisted Yang Xiaoming into the air.
Yang Xiaoming’s neck was firmly held by Xu Ze, and his face and neck instantly turned bright red. His legs flailed wildly in the air as he struggled to pry Xu Ze’s hand away, but he couldn’t budge Xu Ze’s iron-like grip at all.
“How dare you touch him!” Seeing his son lifted up by the neck, Yang Li’s face changed. He roared in anger and swung his hand down toward Xu Ze’s wrist.
But as his hand struck, he felt as if he had hit a steel pipe. Xu Ze’s arm barely swayed, and contrary to his expectations, Xu Ze didn’t wince in pain and let his son go.
Xu Ze lightly held Yang Xiaoming by the neck, turned his head, and gave a cold glance to Officer Wang, who seemed ready to come and help. The psychic impact flashing through his eyes passed through his glasses and froze Captain Wang in place, not daring to move an inch.
Then he turned to look at Yang Li, who was fumbling and ready to continue attacking him. He casually tossed Yang Xiaoming, whose face was starting to turn blue from lack of air, forward.
With a dull thud, Yang Xiaoming flew backward and crashed into the door, making it shake violently twice before he fell to the ground. It took him a long while to get up, and he just lay there groaning miserably.
Yang Li’s face turned ashen. He glanced at his son lying by the door, his lips trembling with distress. Then he looked back at Xu Ze, at his indifferent expression. After clenching his teeth hard, he hurried over to help his son up, carefully asking where it hurt.
After confirming that it was only a couple of bruises, Yang Li turned around, his eyes bloodshot. Glaring at Xu Ze, he reached to his waist and pulled out a pistol. Pointing it at Xu Ze, he shouted angrily, “Do you really think I don’t dare to touch you?”
Looking at that very familiar, dull black Type 95 pistol, Xu Ze sneered disdainfully. Watching Yang Li, humiliated and furious, he said mockingly, “What’s wrong? Feeling sorry for him now?”
“Your son just got thrown to the ground, and you’re already upset? Now do you know how the parents of those girls your son bullied feel?” Xu Ze said calmly, his words laced with icy coldness.
“The father and son from the Yu family, seeking justice for their daughter and sister… were beaten into serious condition by people you and your son incited, and they couldn’t even stay in Xingcheng. That girl, seeing she had brought misfortune to her father and brother, finally jumped to her death… Did you know about that?”
“And the Zhang family’s child… sixteen years old, in the prime of her youth, now driven mad… Do you feel any guilt?”
“You… Director Yang, while covering up all these things for your precious son, have you ever placed a hand on your chest and thought about it? Have you ever touched the police badge on your forehead and reflected?” For once, Xu Ze’s eyes held a trace of genuine pain.
Before receiving the data that Xiao Dao had dug up, he hadn’t felt much. But after seeing all those things uncovered by the resourceful Xiao Dao… he was truly saddened. A heart that hadn’t been hurt in a long time was genuinely wounded.
A police bureau director… covering up for his son to do such things—harming the people, oppressing the people… It truly saddened him. Grieved him deeply. These positions were originally established to protect the people, but they had become an umbrella shielding the evil deeds of the next generation.
“Do you feel any guilt?” Xu Ze extended a finger, pointing at Yang Li from a distance, directly opposite the dark, gleaming pistol in Yang Li’s hand.
A finger… a pistol… pointing at each other from afar.
Their power to intimidate seemed to be going head to head.
Finally, compared to the firmness of that slender finger, the pistol began to tremble slowly.
Yang Li’s face turned pale. His hands, which had rarely trembled in the decades since he left the military, began to shake continuously. His throat dry, he looked at Xu Ze, and a flash of guilt appeared in his eyes. But it vanished quickly, and his gun-holding hand steadied again.
“You’re talking nonsense… I am a police officer. An officer with decades of service. How dare you slander me?” Yang Li tried to force himself to stay calm, repeatedly gesturing with the gun at Xu Ze. Then he shouted hoarsely at Wang Xuebin, “Captain Wang, cuff him for me! He’s slandered a public official and injured others arbitrarily. Take him back for detention!”
Watching Yang Li, who was already looking flustered, reveal this side of himself, Xu Ze couldn’t help but smile lightly. “Director Yang, are you really going to detain me? Could it be that you’re feeling guilty and panicking? Do you really think your position as police chief gives you authority over me? Have you lost your mind trying to challenge the Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff?”
“You—” Yang Li suddenly remembered this young man’s identity. The rank of major in the Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff was like a suit of soft armor covered in thorns—utterly untouchable.
The Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff… Even the disciplinary team of the Xingcheng Military District probably couldn’t do anything to him.
“You—” Yang Li’s eyes rolled back, his lips trembling. Finally, he reached down, grabbed Yang Xiaoming—who still looked at Xu Ze with venomous resentment—yanked open the door, and stumbled out, slamming it shut behind him.
