Lyü Qingqing's escape was unexpected by Tong Meng, but within Tong Hua's expectations. After all, he had competed with Hu Jia and understood Hu Jia's capabilities.
What neither of them expected was that only Chen Xi died, and the captured hat-man was just a temporary hire. Yuan Hua Yi's brothers, however, did not appear in the police's sight.
This made the two of them a little flustered. They had originally planned to use someone else's hand to kill Lian Xianhai's three subordinates in one fell swoop, but they didn't expect those two troublemakers to be so cautious and not show up at the kidnapping scene.
"We can only take it one step at a time. Their boss is dead, what are we afraid of them for?" Despite saying this, the Tong siblings knew very well that those two still held their weaknesses, like time bombs ready to detonate at any moment.
Across the Yangtze River, two people had just disembarked from a ferry, as they had received a secret order to lie low for the time being.
...
At Ouyang Wen's insistence, the temporary hire from the kidnapping industry was brought to the criminal investigation team for interrogation.
The reason was simple: they were afraid that Hu Jia would know that the incident stemmed from him.
An hour later, Ouyang Wen walked out, disappointed.
As expected, a temporary hire was just a scapegoat. He could only answer two out of ten questions.
According to his confession, Chen Xi had been with Lian Xianhai since childhood and had a deep relationship with him. As for what they had done behind the scenes or why they were tracking Hu Jia, he knew nothing.
After all, he was just an employee.
Gao Liang had also found some information about Lian Xianhai's identity.
On the surface, he was the owner of a trading company, not a very large one. Behind the scenes, Lian Xianhai was involved in protection rackets, but nothing too outrageous.
There were people like him in every place; they ruled their territories and existed in a gray area of illegality within the city.
As long as they didn't engage in arson, murder, or robbery, the police generally wouldn't intervene. In simple terms, he was a minor figure, a third-rate character.
After hearing Ouyang Wen's words, Lyü Qingqing also found it puzzling.
"I don't even know Lian Xianhai. Why would Chen Xi come after me?"
"He probably thought he had been exposed, and that you had found Lian Xianhai through him, so he mistakenly thought you had captured him."
Lyü Qingqing inwardly cursed her bad luck, trying to get rid of a flea but ending up with a bite.
Because she rolled on the ground, Lyü Qingqing's foot had a slight scrape.
"Do you need me to take you back?"
"Oh, no. Hu Jia is here."
Ouyang Wen looked at the figure waiting by the guardhouse. "Don't you think Hu Er Gou seems a bit different?"
"What difference?" Lyü Qingqing followed his gaze and happened to see Hu Jia looking over. He waved, a smile all over his face.
"Before, when there was a case, he couldn't wait to get his hands on it. But this time, when you were kidnapped, he didn't try to grab the case."
That's right.
After Ouyang Wen mentioned it, Lyü Qingqing finally remembered. "Has he become lazy?"
"He's probably become busy."
Busy?
With no cases at hand, what was he busy with?
Not understanding what Ouyang Wen was hinting at, Lyü Qingqing couldn't be bothered to care. She waved back at Hu Jia and walked towards him.
"How is it?"
"Cough, I didn't get anything out of him."
"I was asking about your foot?"
"My foot?" Lyü Qingqing moved it. "It seems like it's time to change the dressing."
"I estimated the time and it's about right to change the dressing." As he spoke, Hu Jia took out a medicinal solution, cotton swabs, and gauze from his backpack. "I just bought them, in case you forgot to change your dressing."
Uh...
Seeing Hu Jia squatting in front of her, carefully peeling off the gauze, his meticulousness was as if he were handling a priceless treasure.
His thick eyebrows, blinking eyes, and the pouting lips as he blew on the wound.
Lyü Qingqing felt her heart race, especially when his hand gently lifted her right foot and placed it on his half-kneeling knee.
The touch of his fingertips made her leg instinctively want to retract.
"Ouch... pain..." The sting of the medicinal solution on the wound jolted Lyü Qingqing back to reality from her reverie.
"You know it hurts now? I told you not to come. The case was being handled by them. You insisted on coming." Hu Jia held Lyü Qingqing's leg firmly, his words harsh, but his hands were the gentlest.
If it weren't to find out who was trying to harm you, do you think I would have come? Lyü Qingqing grumbled inwardly.
Seeing Lyü Qingqing remain silent, Hu Jia thought his tone was too harsh. "Alright, blow on the wound, and it won't hurt anymore. Fortunately, it didn't affect the bone, and the wound isn't inflamed. Eat less spicy and greasy food recently."
"Okay." As soon as the dressing was done, Lyü Qingqing couldn't wait to pull her leg back. "I'm going to the training institute."
"There's only half a day of class left this afternoon. Can't you skip it? Besides, your leg is still injured."
"No, we're about to have field training. If the training institute has any important instructions and I miss them, it would be a loss." Lyü Qingqing pushed Hu Jia a few steps in the opposite direction. "I'll leave dinner to you."
After speaking, Lyü Qingqing walked towards the training institute without looking back, her steps getting faster and faster. Anyone who didn't know would think she was in a hurry.
But only Lyü Qingqing knew that her face was burning and her heart was pounding.
Could I have fallen for that guy?
This was the first time Lyü Qingqing had faced her emotions directly.
Then, she shook her head vigorously. Impossible, it must be because there had been too much happening these past two days, coupled with the leg injury, that her heart was in turmoil.
That guy, apart from being handsome, meticulous, considerate to her, and responsible, was completely useless!
All the way, Lyü Qingqing was talking to herself, constantly denying and denying, and even after returning to the training institute, she hadn't reached a conclusion.
Her classmates were also surprised to see Lyü Qingqing return. Led by Zhan Ruo Xuan and Cai Xiao Juan, they dug into every detail of her going out and eventual rescue, as if excavating an old grave.
"Sister, you're amazing! You actually managed to escape. Aren't you afraid your head would explode like a watermelon, splashing juice everywhere?" Cai Xiao Juan's exaggerated expression made Lyü Qingqing want to press her forehead.
I've received your admiration, but listen to what you're saying, is it appropriate?
"Tch, it was just a lucky break from acting on your own initiative." Amidst the harmonious atmosphere, a discordant voice emerged.
"Wang Xue, what do you mean?" Cai Xiao Juan, hearing someone speaking sarcastically, was the first to object.
"You, without the consent of the rescuers, deliberately headbutted the robber's chin. What if the operation failed? It wouldn't matter if you died, but what about Captain Hu and Gao Liang who were rescuing you? You could have implicated them." Wang Xue looked indignant.
Lyü Qingqing smiled slightly. "Yes, you're right. Next time you're held hostage, I'll remind the rescuers to give you a loudspeaker so that your communication with the rescue team is clear and smooth."
Hahaha...
A burst of laughter erupted from everyone.
Seeing everyone so interested in her ordeal, Lyü Qingqing had an idea. Wasn't this a good opportunity to build her reputation?
"We're about to have field training soon, and there's always a competition during the annual field training. If any of us are captured, then everyone must have a tacit understanding and know how to communicate with their companions. We won't be a burden to our companions, but we also won't abandon them."
"Like this time, how I secretly communicated with Captain Hu, it all started with a code word..."
Lyü Qingqing directly passed on the code word technique that Hu Jia had taught her to the people in front of her.
Simply put, when communicating, both parties would suddenly discuss something that only they understood, and the opponent did not.
This was the trigger for initiating a code word. Once the other party received your signal, then everything you subsequently discussed would need to be interpreted and processed twice.
In fact, the training institute would also teach coordination with code words in the future, but with the field training imminent, if Lyü Qingqing shared some relevant knowledge with everyone in advance, she would surely gain their favor.
"Then what if we encounter those stubborn ones who lack tacit understanding?" Cai Xiao Juan said this while glancing at Wang Xue.
Lyü Qingqing smiled. "Grind your teeth and move forward, no abandonment!"