Urban Martial Saint

Just as Ye Qing had guessed, that captain was indeed in cahoots with those scam artists. When he learned the girl was a journalist, he was immediately dumbfounded.

What does it mean to be a journalist? They wield the power of public media discourse. If this journalist were to go back and write a report about today’s incident, his reputation throughout Eastern Province would be ruined, and he would meet an ugly end.

Ye Qing hadn’t expected the girl to have such an identity, and knew the matter was essentially over.

As expected, the captain’s face turned beet red as he waved his hands, ”This... This matter is not within our jurisdiction. I’ll contact the traffic police for you in a minute, just wait a moment...”

Having said that, without waiting for the girl to respond, the three officers scrambled away like homeless dogs, not even turning their heads back once.

Seeing the three officers running off, the people at the scene were dumbfounded. Are they still going to follow through with the scam or not? A group of people looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

The girl also heaved a sigh of relief, but still looked somewhat at a loss as she watched the trishaw rider behind her. She walked over to Ye Qing’s side and whispered, ”Look, should we... take him to the hospital first?”

”No need!” Ye Qing waved his hand, he could tell the trishaw rider was just faking it.

At this moment, Old Wang Ba walked up to the trishaw rider. The old woman was extremely flustered and said with a trembling voice, ”You... what are you going to do?”

Old Wang Ba looked at the rider on the ground, ”Get up. The blood has dried, and I don’t see any wound on you. Next time you come out to swindle people, can you at least make it professional and put on your makeup properly?”

The trishaw rider still didn’t move, but Ye Qing could clearly see the man’s eyeballs rolling wildly under his eyelids, not at all the behavior of an injured person.

”Still pretending, huh!” Old Wang Ba squatted down, pressing the butt of his cigarette against the trishaw rider’s hand, ”I want to see how long you can last!”

”What are you doing?” A few onlookers immediately rushed up, shouting. Ye Qing stood up, blocking them. After two days of rest, his condition had greatly improved and he was certain he could take these men on.

”Damn, you want to act tough, don’t you?” The man leading them cursed loudly and swung at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing frowned and threw a punch, hitting the man in the nose before the man’s hand reached him. The man crouched on the ground, covering his face. After Ye Qing knocked down three more who came at him, the rest backed off.

Meanwhile, Old Wang Ba’s cigarette butt slowly burned down to the trishaw rider’s hand. The rider managed to endure it for a while but eventually couldn’t take it anymore and cried out in pain as he jumped up, full of life and without any sign of injury. Dry clumps of blood fell from his head, revealing no wounds, and his wig fell off, exposing his black hair.

This so-called elderly trishaw rider was just a young man in disguise, not injured in the slightest.

By now, these scammers were completely exposed. Moreover, having suffered at Ye Qing’s hands, they knew he wasn’t someone to trifle with. They quickly got up and scattered in all directions, not daring to linger a moment longer.

Watching the crowd disperse, the girl let out a long sigh of relief. She had thought this matter was a big deal but didn’t expect it to be resolved so easily.

”Big brother, thank you!” the girl approached Ye Qing and sincerely said.

Old Wang Ba shamelessly said, ”Don’t mention it, stepping forward to help in the face of injustice is our duty!”

The girl smiled lightly and reached out her hand to Ye Qing, ”I’m Su Nuoyan, and you are?”

”My last name is Wang, I’m the eighth in my family, I’m called...” Old Wang Ba reached for the girl’s fair hand, but Ye Qing pulled him back abruptly.

Ye Qing gave the girl an awkward smile, ”It was nothing, no need to mention it. If there’s nothing else, you should head into the city quickly. This suburban area doesn’t look very safe, we’re going to take off now!”

After speaking, Ye Qing grabbed Old Wang Ba and got on the vehicle, leaving the girl behind looking puzzled. He had just helped her with such a big favor and didn’t even leave his name. Are there still such good people in the world?

”Little Ye, what are you playing at?” Old Wang Ba sat in the vehicle, glaring at Ye Qing, ”What a great opportunity, the classic hero saves the beauty story. Tonight could have been the night! Let me tell you, with a situation like this, if you had made a little more effort, you likely could’ve won her over tonight, why’d you run off?”

”What are we here for?” Ye Qing said impatiently.

Old Wang Ba said, ”It’s not like doing whatever will delay this, really, when you were helping her out, you didn’t think it was a waste of time, and now you remember you have important things to do, huh? After doing such a big favor, I’ll give you the night off tonight, let you enjoy some pleasure—how fitting! You’re really wasting it!”

Ye Qing couldn’t be bothered with him. This old guy was sleazy enough in appearance, but to think his mind was even dirtier, that was truly beyond understanding. How had he managed to live so long without being beaten to death? It was a miracle indeed!

Driving away from that troublesome spot, Ye Qing had intended to find a place to eat and ask for directions. But after driving five or six kilometers, a few traffic officers stepped out to the side of the road and stopped Ye Qing’s car.

The officers looked very official, saluted Ye Qing, and then asked him to show his driver’s license and vehicle registration. Lucky for him, he had a driver’s license which Zhao Chengshuang had helped him obtain, making it more convenient to be on the road. Handing all these documents over, Ye Qing was about to ask the officers for directions to Erhe Village. Little did he know, before even finishing checking his documents, a traffic officer suddenly cried out, ”What’s with this license plate?”

”What about it?” Ye Qing got out of the car to look and saw that, at some point, a patch of mud had splattered onto the rear license plate, covering most of it and making the numbers obscure.

Ye Qing was taken aback. Everything had been fine when he left Dongzhou, and he hadn’t traveled on any muddy roads, so how could it be obscured? Moreover, Ye Qing had just left the highway smoothly, and there had been no issue then. So why was there mud on the license plate now?

The officer holding Ye Qing’s license spoke sternly, ”Obscuring the license plate is a violation of the rules–a fine of five hundred and the vehicle will be impounded!”

”What?” Ye Qing was stunned. He knew the traffic rules: if the license plate was obscured, a fine or points deduction was the usual penalty, but where did they come up with impounding the vehicle?

The officer didn’t engage with Ye Qing, but went straight to the driver’s seat, pulled out the keys, and coldly said to Ye Qing, ”Come with your ID and driving license to pick up the car from the traffic police station this afternoon. You can go now!”

”Obscuring the license plate doesn’t require impounding the vehicle, right?” Ye Qing frowned and said, ”I accept the fine and points deduction, but where does it say you have to impound the vehicle?”

”This is the rule in Xishan City. What, you have a problem with that?” The officer glared, ”If you have complaints, you can take them to the traffic police station, but the vehicle must be impounded!”

Ye Qing hadn’t expected these traffic officers to be so domineering and was slightly angered. However, being in Xishan City with more important things to attend to, he saw no point in getting into a dispute with the local officers right upon arrival. Making a scene would only complicate his ability to move around, wouldn’t it?

Ye Qing said, ”If you impound my car, at least give me a receipt or something. How am I supposed to pick it up this afternoon without one?”

The officer ignored Ye Qing, but someone else gave him a receipt. Ye Qing carefully checked the heading on the receipt and the officer’s badge to make sure they weren’t fake, then let it be.

After kicking Old Wang Ba out of the car, the officers drove off with Ye Qing’s car, leaving Ye Qing and Old Wang Ba standing by the side of the road.

Old Wang Ba indignantly said, ”I’ve long heard that the cops in Xishan City are the most overbearing. Damn it, encountering both the police and traffic police today and neither were any good!”

Ye Qing didn’t speak, feeling that the obscured license plate situation was quite suspicious. But he really didn’t want to clash with these traffic officers, as he was on a tight schedule and decided to swallow his anger for now.

”Let’s go,” Ye Qing called to Old Wang Ba.

”How are we supposed to go?” Old Wang Ba said, ”Who knows how far it is from the city center? Walking there, we might not even make it before lunch!”

Ye Qing’s brow furrowed slightly, and as he looked around, a tricycle came driving up from behind. The driver was a man in his thirties, looking honest and simple.

The man called out to them, ”Hey, need a ride on the trike? Twenty yuan to the city center!”

Ye Qing and Old Wang Ba exchanged glances. Twenty yuan seemed reasonable, so they simply hopped on the tricycle. Wobbling along, they covered six or seven kilometers before finally reaching the city center, making Old Wang Ba exclaim that the twenty yuan was well spent.

Surprised that the six or seven-kilometer trip only cost twenty yuan, Ye Qing was bewildered. Upon arriving in Xishan City, he had encountered back-to-back extortion from police and traffic officers, as well as scams. This tricycle driver seemed to be the first decent person he’d met!

After handing twenty yuan to the tricycle driver, Ye Qing took the opportunity to ask about the situation in Erhe Village.

”Erhe Village?” The tricycle driver glanced at the two of them and said, ”That place doesn’t exist anymore. Near the seaport, it’s been transformed into a harbor, now called Erhe Harbor. The name Erhe Village hasn’t been used for over a decade. By the looks of it, you two haven’t been to Xishan City in a while, have you?”

”Can it really be gone?” Old Wang Ba’s eyes widened. He’d planned to inquire about the surrounding villages in Erhe Village for some clues. But now, learning that the village no longer existed, how was he supposed to search?

”What are you doing in Erhe Village?” asked the tricycle driver curiously. ”Visiting friends or family? You two haven’t been to Xishan City in many years, have you? Over twenty years ago, the entire Erhe Village was swept into the sea, most of the villagers died in that accident, and nobody has lived there for a long time. If you’re visiting friends or family, I advise you to give up the idea. It’s possible that the people are no longer around!”