Farce

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Liu Yu was a star athlete in his junior year of high school, so as soon as he spoke up, quite a few students from that grade began to make a ruckus, and the mood quickly spread to the entire crowd. Though the students didn’t shout in unison, the boisterous discussions and occasional snide remarks were inevitable.

“Calling yourself a cop? How bold!”

“Exactly! Didn’t even flash a badge, yet wants to take people away. Ridiculous!”

“Could these guys be fakes?”

“Who knows!”

“Let them show their badges! If they don’t, they’re not leaving.”

“That’s right. If they can randomly arrest a senior today, tomorrow it could be any of us!”

“Agreed! Show your badge, show your badge, show your badge!”

Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Lu Yin hurriedly pulled out her police identification and held it high. “We are indeed officers from the High-Tech District Branch. We’re here to speak with Yang Tang about some matters.”

Before Yang Tang could respond, Bai Keqing, who had been drawn by the commotion, stepped forward with poise and spoke crisply, “Can you detain someone just to ‘clarify a matter’? Don’t you need other procedures, like a summons?”

“Heh, as long as we show our credentials, we can issue an oral summons,” Lu Yin replied.

“Is that so?” Bai Keqing’s smile was cold. “As far as I know, only if the person summoned has violated the law can the police issue an oral summons. Has Yang Tang broken the law?”

“This…” Lu Yin found herself at a loss for words.

“Can’t answer?” Bai Keqing arched her willow-like brows. “No matter. Even if it’s a summons, a lawyer can be present. I can have my lawyer accompany Yang Tang to your station.”

Lu Yin silently cursed—this was not good. The other students, however, exploded in a buzz.

“What’s going on?”

“She’s just a girl, and she has her own lawyer?!”

“No way! Isn’t that over the top?”

“Who is she? Why’s she sticking up for Yang Tang?”

“I know, I know! She’s surnamed Bai, and it seems Wei Jiadi picks her up every day.”

“Who’s Wei Jiadi?”

“You don’t even know Wei Jiadi? Get out of here!”

Amid the chatter, Lu Yin managed to regain her composure, though her tone remained stubborn. “A lawyer can be present during a summons, but only if the person summoned approves that lawyer’s presence.” She hadn’t finished speaking when Yang Tang called out from the crowd, “Officer Lu, enough talk. I approve of Bai’s private lawyer, and I’ll hire him right now.”

Hearing this, Bai Keqing felt secretly pleased, though she betrayed nothing on her face. She pressed Lu Yin further, “Officer, I think we can head to the police station now, can’t we?”

Lu Yin was inwardly groaning. If it were just a matter of dragging Yang Tang to the station, locking him up in some random office for twenty-four hours to teach him a lesson, and then letting him go, that would be no issue—no need to alert anyone else. But now, with a lawyer involved, she was sure to get reprimanded, especially since this entire operation was her own initiative—no orders had been given, and there was, in fact, no case. She’d just wanted to give Yang Tang a scare, but this was a textbook example of one bad apple spoiling the whole barrel.

Just as Lu Yin was sinking into despair, “Panda” Li and the dean, along with four or five school security guards, arrived on the scene.

The guards dispersed the surrounding students, clearing a wide space in the middle. “Panda” Li and the dean quickly conferred with Lu Yin and her two colleagues and got a rough idea—at least, what they thought was the police’s purpose.

For days, “Panda” Li had been looking for a reason to trouble Yang Tang. Now, she finally had her chance. “Yang Tang, come out here. Hiding among the underclassmen—what’s that about?”

Hearing such a one-sided accusation, Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the lawyer crisis was resolved. Bai Keqing’s brows knitted slightly, but she stood by, watching the situation unfold without immediately cutting in.

“Ms. Cen, Dean, you’ve come at just the right time,” Yang Tang stepped out from the crowd. “These three officers want to detain me for no reason.”

“What do you mean, for no reason?” Lu Yin retorted. “We’re summoning you for questioning over an assault case!”

Yang Tang glared, “When did I assault anyone?”

Lu Yin gave a sly smile, “Whether you did or not needs investigating. This isn’t the place for it!”

“Officer Lu is right. Yang Tang, just go with the officers,” “Panda” Li said with ill intent.

The dean echoed, “Exactly. If there’s no problem, the police will be fair.”

These few words basically represented the school’s stance. The students who had been sympathetic to Yang Tang immediately fell silent.

Bai Keqing grew anxious and was about to speak up for Yang Tang when he beat her to it. “Ms. Cen, Dean, if you want me to go to the station, that’s no problem. But by our country’s law, a minor must have a guardian present for police questioning. Shouldn’t I call my parents first?” As he spoke, he pulled out the phone he’d “borrowed” earlier and started dialing, muttering, “We’re all adults here—can’t break the law knowingly.”

Both “Panda” Li and the dean, having taught high school for years, were well aware of the law protecting minors. With so many eyes on them, though they wondered where Yang Tang had gotten his phone, they didn’t stop him from calling home.

Lu Yin, on the other hand, was losing her composure. If Yang Tang’s parents got involved, things would definitely get messy. Fortunately, she’d prepared one last trick before coming: the “golden cicada sheds its shell.” She shot a glance at one of her male colleagues. He immediately stuck his hand in his pocket, unlocked his phone, and pressed a speed dial.

Across the street from the school’s main gate, at the corner shop, Lu Yin’s brother Lu Ying—the same arrogant guy who’d tried to slap Yang Tang the other day—was squatting outside, smoking, when the phone in his shirt pocket suddenly rang.

“Huh? A call from Brother Dong? Wait, sis told me this morning if Dong calls, just hang up and call her back.” Remembering this, Lu Ying quickly did as instructed—never expecting that as soon as he dialed Lu Yin’s number, she’d pick up immediately.

At the same time, Lu Yin answered her brother’s call, turned her back so “Panda” Li and the dean couldn’t overhear, and spoke into the phone with a mismatched greeting, “Hello, Chief Tao? I’m at the school right now! What? No need to question Yang Tang anymore? All right, I understand. We’ll withdraw immediately!”

She hung up and turned back to “Panda” Li and the dean with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, both of you. My superior has told me to wrap things up. We don’t need to question Yang Tang for now.”

“Panda” Li was momentarily confused, but the dean, a shrewd man, stole a glance at Yang Tang—who had just ended his own call—and grew suspicious, his attitude toward Lu Yin turning ambiguous. “Officer Lu, of course the school will cooperate with police work, but some things need to be clarified. Next time, please remember to inform us in advance.”

Lu Yin could only muster an awkward smile before gathering her two colleagues to leave. At that moment, Yang Tang blocked their path, saying coldly, “Officer Lu, you really gave me a fright today. I’ll be sure to return the favor.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Lu Yin, convinced nothing had truly gone wrong today, snorted and dismissed Yang Tang’s threat, leading her colleagues out of the school with calm indifference.

Watching Lu Yin disappear, Yang Tang’s heart seethed with loathing. If this had happened to someone like his parents or any ordinary person, they’d have had no choice but to endure it. While it might not have ended in disaster, the fright alone would take more than a dozen ginseng roots to remedy.

Noticing Yang Tang’s dark mood, Bai Keqing nudged him. “Hey, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing!” Yang Tang waved it off, then looked at Bai Keqing with sincerity. “Bai, thank you so much for today. Without you, who knows what that Lu woman would have done!”

“I didn’t do much, just spoke up. But you—how did you offend such a rude woman, and she’s a cop on top of that!”

Yang Tang was about to explain the trouble at the school gate when a timid female voice interrupted, “Yang Tang, could you return my phone?”

“Oh—right!”

After lunch, Yang Tang didn’t bother asking “Panda” Li for leave. He hopped on his scooter and headed straight home.

He went online, bounced his connection through several proxies around the world, and finally linked back to the country to download the video he’d recorded that morning using Wen Yuhan’s phone from the 113 cloud drive.

Yes, Wen Yuhan was the sophomore girl whose phone Yang Tang had “borrowed.” She was quite pretty, but Yang Tang, preoccupied with his own troubles, hadn’t thought much about getting to know her.

The video was excellent.

Yang Tang immediately called his father, who, being a university professor, didn’t have to work until 2:30 in the afternoon. “Come and watch this!”

Yang Jixue quickly watched the video, frowning. “What’s this about?”

Yang Tang hurriedly recounted everything that had happened at school that morning. Yang Jixue stared at him for several seconds before asking, “Can you guarantee you didn’t hurt anyone?”

“Absolutely not!” Yang Tang cried out in protest. “It was two classmates who did it, and they started the fight themselves. I never asked them to help!”

“In that case, since we have justice on our side, we can’t let this go.” With that, Yang Jixue logged into his faculty account and submitted the video, along with a detailed account of the incident, to the city government and police department complaint websites, using his real name.

But he didn’t stop there. After posting the complaint, he called several old classmates and two protégés working at the city government, asking them to keep an eye on the matter.

…