Chapter 14

Chapter 14 The Old Master Ma

The next morning.

Old Cat was woken up by a phone call at six and rushed back to the precinct because the team had an assignment. Meanwhile, Qin Yu was trying to figure out what cheap breakfast to eat when Lin Nianlei unexpectedly showed up at his door with a plate of hot youtiao.

“Just bought them, go ahead and eat.” Lin Nianlei hung the bag on the door and called out.

“Oh wow, I really appreciate it.” Qin Yu, who was in the middle of washing up, was caught off guard.

“No worries, neighbors help each other out.” Lin Nianlei wanted to thank him for the hot water the night before, so she quickly added, “I’m heading to work.”

“…This early?”

“Yeah, got a field assignment, need to go set up equipment early.” Lin Nianlei smiled brightly and waved at Qin Yu. “See you tonight.”

“Sure thing!”

“Bye, sis.” Lin Nianlei slung her shoulder bag on and turned to leave.

Qin Yu stood there puzzled for a while. “Sis? Where did that come from? Is she treating me like I’m a zero…?!”

Five minutes later.

Lin Nianlei met her female coworker at the entrance and as they walked toward the office, she gossiped away. “Let me tell you, that guy in our courtyard who seems pretty manly… might be gay…”

“Really? No way?”

“Pretty much confirmed, I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Oh my god, what a shame.”

“…!”

……

After finishing the breakfast Lin Nianlei had brought over, Qin Yu tidied up briefly and headed off to the precinct.

Due to limited resources and the fact that Songjiang City had only been established for a short time, basic transportation was extremely inconvenient. No subway, no buses, taxis were a rare sight, and ordinary people basically had to get around on foot or buy their own electric scooter. But the cost of charging an electric scooter was also quite steep, so only those with stable jobs and steady incomes, like merchants or minor officials in government agencies, could afford to use one.

Qin Yu was a pretty frugal person, and he also needed to save money for other goals, so he hadn’t bought an electric scooter. Outside of official duties, the team’s vehicles were available, but he’d have to cover the usage costs himself, so he had no choice but to walk to work.

After about five minutes of walking, just as Qin Yu was thinking about checking a shop for e-cigarettes, two burly men came straight at him and flanked him on either side.

Reading their posture and positioning, Qin Yu instinctively stepped back and pressed his right hand to his waist, pretending to reach for his gun, even though his service weapon wasn’t actually on him.

“No ill intentions, just want to have a chat.” The man in the lead said quietly, head lowered.

Qin Yu was silent for a few seconds. “Who are you guys?”

“No need to know me, just need to know this.” The lead man lifted the hem of his jacket, revealing the gun at his waist.

Qin Yu kept a cold expression and stood his ground without moving.

The lead man flicked off the safety. “Can we talk?”

Qin Yu quickly ran through everyone he might have offended since arriving in Songjiang, then nodded and replied, “Alright, let’s go.”

……

A few minutes later, inside an alley.

Four middle-aged men stood on either side of Qin Yu, while an old man sat inside an electric off-road vehicle without getting out.

Qin Yu studied the group carefully and noticed they were all plainly dressed, wearing thick heavy leather jackets and knit caps, their faces looking grimy, as if covered in grease stains.

In this kind of environment, Qin Yu wasn’t actually afraid of the type of so-called big shots who dressed slickly, spoke softly, and always put on an air of mystery. But he was somewhat wary of these rough-looking people of unknown origin. He felt a little tense inside, because the people in front of him reminded him of the violent criminal Matsushita who had been beaten to death just a few days ago.

“Were you the one who arrested Ma Laoer and Damin?” The old man inside the vehicle, arms crossed and wrapped in a large coat, asked.

The main reason Qin Yu had chosen not to fight back earlier and instead followed them in was that he had already roughly figured out these people were here about the case. The people he’d offended since coming to Songjiang were a known quantity, Lao San being one of them, but that conflict was nowhere near the point of violence. And if they were here about the case, it could only be about doing business or getting someone out, so Qin Yu figured there was no need for them to go hard against him.

Qin Yu hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I arrested them.”

“My surname is Ma, I’m Ma Laoer’s uncle.” The old man lowered his head and pulled out a pipe-style cigarette, lighting it with a lighter.

Qin Yu blinked, and his expression immediately shifted to something ingratiating and deferential. “Hello, hello, Mr. Ma.”

The old man turned to look out the window of the vehicle, his voice raspy. “Young man, just arrived in Songjiang?”

“That’s right, just arrived, bought my way into this job.” Qin Yu was completely candid. “Ha, anyone at the precinct can boss me around.”

“You must have some connections, to become a team leader right after arriving?” Old Man Ma took a drag of his cigarette.

“No connections at all.” Qin Yu said with a pained expression. “I just got lucky, stumbled onto a case by chance and happened to crack it, and the director was pleased and specifically promoted me.”

Old Man Ma exhaled smoke and after a long silence said, “Young man, you handled the case, think of a way to do me a favor and let the people go first.”

“Ha, well…” Qin Yu smiled with a face full of apprehension. “This… is hard for me to manage!”

“We won’t make you do it for nothing.”

With that, Old Man Ma waved to the burly man standing to Qin Yu’s left, who pulled out 20,000 yuan in cash from inside his jacket and held it out. “Take it.”

“This… doesn’t feel right.” Qin Yu smiled and waved it off.

“If you don’t want money, there are bullets,” the burly man said very plainly. “Which do you want?”

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Qin Yu’s forehead, and he was genuinely tense inside. He had a gut feeling that if these people got unhappy, they would really strike to kill without a second thought.

“Young man, you led the team on this case, you just need to quietly pull out a bit of evidence and my two family members get released, don’t they?” Old Man Ma said with a smile. “In this day and age, there are people who talk about eating and drinking, people who talk about survival, but I’ve never heard anyone talk about principles. This job as a police officer, who knows how long it’ll last, but money in your hand, you can spend it whenever you want.”

Qin Yu reached out and touched the 20,000 yuan in the burly man’s hand, then replied with a greasy smile, “Old man, I’ll speak from the heart, I dream about taking this money. 20,000 yuan, that’s enough for me to buy a promotion to sergeant and marry a few wives, but… I really do have my own difficulties.”

The old man said nothing in response.

“The precinct leadership promoted me and specifically called me out by name to crack the drug trafficking case.” Qin Yu said quietly. “If the people had been arrested but not yet brought back to the precinct, forget you offering me 20,000 yuan, Mr. Ma, even if you gave me nothing at all, I’d have let them go the moment I heard your name. But now they’ve already been brought in, the entire chain of evidence has been completed, and if I suddenly release them, isn’t that defying my superiors and making the precinct look bad? Old man, I’ve been scraping by in the unplanned zones for so many years, neither human nor ghost, and I’ve finally got a stable meal to eat. I really can’t afford to offend my superiors… so this matter, I truly can’t help with…”

“Damn it, you don’t know what’s good for you!”

The burly man on the right heard this and pulled out a Nepalese kukri, swung his arm in a wide arc, and brought it chopping straight down toward the back of Qin Yu’s head.

The sound of air splitting rang out, the blade coming down with tremendous speed.