Chapter 9: A Surprise Right Hook Kick!
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"Thieves! Someone, help!"
Gu Wenqin turned around, cupped her hands to her mouth, and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"You dare to cause trouble on my turf?"
Hearing the commotion, Elder Lin grabbed a wooden stick from behind the door and rushed towards the warehouse.
As he ran, you couldn't tell there was anything wrong with his leg.
The workers in the workshop were mostly women.
They crowded by the windows, their heads squeezed together.
"Did you see the thieves?"
"I saw them, there are several! Where are the men? If you're a real man, hurry downstairs and lend a hand!"
The few male workers found whatever tools they could and rushed downstairs.
"They dare to steal from our factory, they must be tired of living!"
"Catch them, beat them up first, then send them to the police station."
Although Pinghu Town had no mountains, it had a lake so deep you couldn't see the bottom.
The reeds rustled, and the local customs were fierce.
At this moment, Tang Ye had already rushed to the side of the wall!
The person on the wall had his hands on top of it, while the person below was pushing his rear end up.
Tang Ye flung away the pants he had pulled off, grabbed the ankle dangling in mid-air, and yanked it down hard.
"Get down here, you!"
"Aiyo."
The man's body was very thin.
Falling from a two-meter-high wall, he landed with his legs bare, clutching the small of his back and writhing in pain.
The person below the wall, seeing that their plan was exposed, steeled his heart and pulled a switchblade from his pocket.
"You've got some sense, kid. Scram now, or I'll waste you."
Tang Ye looked at the man warily, pressing his right hand down in a calming gesture.
"Don't be reckless. Originally, you were just stealing. If the amount isn't high, you might only be detained for a few days. But if you use a knife, the nature of the crime is different. It's robbery, and that's a ten-year minimum sentence. How about this: you leave the stuff, and I'll let you go. We'll pretend today never happened, and you don't come back again."
Hearing Tang Ye's words, the thief indeed hesitated slightly.
Tang Ye's left hand had long been gripping a brick.
He had flipped his wrist to hide it behind his back, and taking advantage of the thief's distraction, he threw it hard.
"I'll smash you, you bastard!"
Tang Ye was a good student, but he was also good at sports.
He had joined the traditional martial arts club in university and didn't take these petty thieves seriously.
The thief was hit in the head, felt dizzy, and clutched his forehead, howling in pain.
"You son of a bitch, you play dirty."
"This is called 'all's fair in war.'"
Tang Ye followed a right hook kick with a left front kick.
In a matter of seconds, the second thief was also knocked to the ground by Tang Ye.
But the crisis was not over.
A cry of alarm came from behind him.
Gu Wenqin's neck was being held by a tall man.
She tried to pull the man's arm away with both hands, but he was very strong.
With a slight exertion of force, he held her so tightly she couldn't breathe.
The men were wearing black hoods, so their faces couldn't be seen clearly.
"Anyone who comes over, I'll stab her."
Elder Lin, who had rushed over, was worried the man would harm Gu Wenqin.
He angrily jabbed a hole in the ground with his stick and cursed, "You won't take the right path, you insist on the crooked one. You have hands and feet, do you have to steal?"
Tang Ye stopped about two meters away from the man, his expression grave.
"What you're doing now is not as simple as robbery. It's robbery with intent to kill!"
"Don't give me that nonsense. I don't know the law. Let us go, and I can spare her life. Otherwise, we'll all perish together."
"To gamble your whole life for a few bags of rotten cloth scraps, I don't believe you're that stupid."
While trying to distract the man, Tang Ye considered how to get closer.
The tall man shot a look at the two on the ground, signaling them to escape while he bought time.
Gu Wenqin suddenly felt that the man's voice was somewhat familiar and tentatively asked, "Lao San, is that you?"
"What Lao San, who's Lao San!" The man's voice was clearly flustered.
Gu Wenqin's voice turned cold.
"I know it's you, Lao San. I don't blame you. Put down the knife quickly, and we can talk things over properly."
It happened in a flash!
While Gu Wenqin was distracting him, Tang Ye took a lunge step and flashed to Lao San's right side.
"Watch out, that kid is playing dirty tricks again, trying to sneak attack you," the accomplice whose head had been hit by the brick slowly climbed up from the ground and shouted a warning.
Lao San looked towards Tang Ye.
Tang Ye suddenly flew out with a kick, accurately hitting his wrist.
"Kid, not bad moves!"
As soon as his voice fell, Elder Lin rolled on the ground and smashed his stick on Lao San's knee.
Lao San felt as if his knee had shattered.
He clutched his knee in pain, rolling on the ground and letting out a pig-like squeal.
In the chaos, someone tore off the black hood.
It was indeed Lao San, his face now swollen.
He gritted his teeth and quietly moved his hand to his waist.
"You jinx of a woman, you've driven me to a dead end. Either you kill me, or I'm not finished with you."
Tang Ye was on his guard.
He pressed his knee on the man's elbow and found a switchblade at his waist.
The others gasped.
This guy was too cunning!
If Tang Ye hadn't been so alert, he might have been unexpectedly "bitten" back.
"Don't even think about revenge! Get ready to rot in prison..."
Tang Ye hadn't finished his sentence.
"Beat this kid to death."
"That'll teach you to steal."
The workers swarmed forward, punching and kicking him until he was on the verge of death.
"Stop hitting him, if you keep going someone's going to die," Gu Wenqin said, finally coming to her senses and gently urging the crowd to stop.
Her feelings were a mix of emotions.
There was an insider at the factory.
Lao San was the brother of her late husband's sister-in-law.
When her husband was alive, he had been arranged to work at the factory.
Because he was lazy, gluttonous, and had sticky fingers, things often went missing from the warehouse.
It was later discovered that he was involved.
Although it was never brought out into the open, they found an excuse to fire him.
She never expected that he would betray them and collude with outsiders to rob the warehouse.
A police car arrived outside the factory.
Wan Ming personally led the team, his face ashen, and ordered his subordinates to escort the men into the car.
"There are still accomplices who haven't been caught. We'll have to ask the public security comrades to work overtime," Tang Ye said in a low voice.
"I suspect this is not a simple theft."
Wan Ming understood Tang Ye's meaning instantly.
"I will personally interrogate them and not let a single one slip through the net."
Although he hadn't been at the scene from the beginning, he knew from everyone's descriptions that Tang Ye had performed outstandingly in catching the thieves.
Wan Ming rarely admired people, but at this moment, he was truly impressed by Tang Ye's sense of justice and courage.
The police car left.
Gu Wenqin's heart was filled with complex emotions.
She looked at Tang Ye's arm and saw that his white sleeve was stained red.
"Town Chief Tang, you're injured!"
Only then did Tang Ye realize he had been grazed by the switchblade.
The adrenaline had been working, and he hadn't noticed.
Seeing Gu Wenqin's red eyes, he comforted her softly, "It's a superficial wound, nothing serious."
Gu Wenqin wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, took a deep breath, and urged, "Hurry to the hospital, it's still bleeding!"
Gu Wenqin called for a driver and sent Tang Ye to the hospital in a truck.
The crowd was abuzz with discussion.
"Who was that man Wenqin brought today? He's like a little tiger."
"He's the new vice town chief of our town!"
"Ah? So young? I thought he was Gu's..."
"Shh, don't gossip! We have to thank him. Otherwise, the goods would have been lost, we couldn't have made the delivery, and the factory would be finished."
In the guardhouse, Elder Lin picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"Old Hong, it's me, Old Lin!"
Hong Ruilin was studying a chess manual.
He took off his black-framed glasses, surprised.
"What's the matter so late?"
Elder Lin described what had happened that night, not stingy with his praise.
"This kid has guts."
"It's not easy to get a compliment from you!" Hong Ruilin frowned.
"Is that kid injured again?"
Elder Lin waved his hand dismissively.
"Just a scratch. He looks too gentle. A little blood isn't a bad thing."
***
Tang Ye went to the town hospital accompanied by Gu Wenqin.
The doctor looked at the wound.
It wasn't deep, but it would require anesthesia and seven or eight stitches.
He had been plagued by bad luck recently, constantly dealing with hospitals.
When Gu Wenqin saw the needle pierce his skin, she kept clutching her chest, her eyebrows tightly furrowed.
Tang Ye couldn't help but feel a little moved.
She was clearly afraid of bloody scenes, but she still forced herself to stand by his side calmly, gently holding his healthy arm.
'She probably doesn't want me to feel alone…'
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