Chapter 100: The Old House Is on Fire
In the Sawar Kingdom, after Qi Yuan hung up the video call, the corners of his mouth wouldn't come down for a long time.
It was enough to make Qi Jin click his tongue involuntarily: "Looks like this old house of yours is about to catch fire!"
Given Qi Yuan's usual temperament, if he'd heard that, he would've fired back with all kinds of nasty remarks.
But today, Dr. Qi hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Am I old?"
He'd started school two years earlier than most, and after graduating with his medical doctorate at twenty-six, he'd done another two years of residency.
This year he was thirty — still considered a rookie doctor at the hospital.
But thinking of that young face in the video, he did seem a bit old by comparison.
Hearing him ask that, Qi Jin didn't dare joke around anymore.
Damn! The old house really was on fire!
At his age, he was out here trying online dating — did he even know what he was getting into?
Qi Jin grabbed a pillow and headed for the bathroom: "Old or not, that's one thing — you'd better first find out whether she's got a boyfriend or not, right?"
Otherwise, if she already had someone, he wouldn't even get a number to stand in line as the side piece.
But there was really no way to tell. He Huanhuan's moments were all silly daily posts, nothing about romance at all.
Qi Yuan scrolled through her feed for ages, getting to know this lively girl through each post.
She loved malatang, loved riding her electric scooter around town, loved colorful hair, loved flashy tattoos.
In every photo, there was a big, beaming smile — clean and pure.
Like a flower carefully raised in a greenhouse, one that had never seen the hardships of the world, which was why she could smile so purely.
But a flower like that had almost been tricked into coming to Sawar to be abducted.
His eyes suddenly darkened, and he turned to Qi Jin: "You can't even get a few minnows to talk, and you call yourself a cop?"
Qi Jin was half asleep and completely confused: "Bro, I'm in economic crime!"
After graduating, he'd joined the economic crimes unit, which handled capital flow antitrust, anti-money laundering, and telecom fraud.
Criminal interrogation wasn't his specialty at all!
But his brother didn't care. His brother just laid down the law.
And it made him afraid to even close his eyes — what could he do? The guy was born half an hour earlier.
Such was fate!
He sat in the bathroom until around one in the morning, when a click finally came from the door.
Qi Jin snapped back to attention, his whole body tensing up.
The door was pushed open softly, and two figures slipped in.
They made a beeline for the two big beds, pressing the people in them down hard!
Three seconds later, the bedside lamp clicked on, and Sang Biao grinned wide: "Little Qian, I'm good!"
He'd always known he was worth more than Xiao Zuo and Xiao You!
Five hundred had its reasons — naturally, because he deserved it.
"Mmph mmph mmph..."
Xiao You thrashed beneath him: "Good my ass! You're pressing down on my stomach! My guts haven't even been stuffed back in yet!"
The kid had been tied up all day and couldn't see his own injuries. He thought his intestines had been hanging out the whole time, worried sick inside.
But his mouth was stuffed so full he couldn't get out a single coherent word.
Sang Biao was still sitting on the blanket, laughing: "It's so funny when women get scared, all that mmph mmph mmph... like their mouths are stuffed."
The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. Xiao Qian's face changed drastically. He yanked the blanket open, and Xiao Zuo's pale, starving face was exposed in an instant.
"Xiao Zuo!"
Xiao Qian cried out in shock and turned to defend himself — but he was too late!
A massive figure loomed over him!
Ten minutes later, there were two more Captains Kang on the bed.
When the stinky sock was shoved into Sang Biao's mouth, he was gagging from the smell: "Bro, let's talk this out. Don't do this. I'm not into this, bleh..."
Qi Yuan asked, "Who sent you?"
The stinky sock was right at his lips — as long as he didn't answer properly, it'd be shoved right in.
Without hesitation, he sold out Brother Hu: "Brother Hu gave me five hundred bucks to come tie up two people."
Qi Yuan glanced at Xiao Qian, who was rolling his eyes from the stench: "And him?"
Sang Biao answered even faster: "He's Brother Hu's underling. Real close with Brother Hu. Interrogate him well — he knows a lot!"
The sock was pulled out of Xiao Qian's mouth, and he cursed Sang Biao in fury: "Traitor! Brother Hu treated you well!"
Sang Biao subtly turned his head away: "Man, you just don't appreciate a good deed. If I hadn't talked, you'd still be eating that sock. What, you into that?"
"Traitor!"
No sooner had he cursed than the sock went back in.
Qi Yuan lay down on the bed: "Let him cool off for the night."
These young punks were the most stubborn. The more you interrogate them, the more their hero complex swells.
Let him suffer a couple of days first.
He'd predicted right — by the middle of the night, Xiao Qian was full of regret.
Damn!
He'd followed Brother Hu and couldn't even make five thousand a month — what loyalty was he trying to prove?
That sock was disgustingly stinky. Hopefully it didn't give him a fungal infection.
If he got a fungal infection, he couldn't even afford to see a doctor...
"Mmph mmph mmph..."
He rolled his eyes and tried to yell, hoping to wake Qi Yuan. He was ready to confess — ask him anything, quick!
"Mmph mmph mmph..."
"Shut up!"
A foot stinkier than the socks stomped onto his face, and his eyes rolled back as he nearly passed out from the odor!
God! He'd never been to Hong Kong, but he'd just experienced a proper Hong Kong foot!
Qi Jin said this little smell was nothing — wait till they got a chance to visit his squad.
Now that was the real deal.
He slept until broad daylight, his eyes rolled back so far he couldn't even blink properly.
Qi Yuan finally rose unhurriedly. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the sock in Xiao Qian's mouth: "Ready to talk?"
Xiao Qian nodded frantically. Yes! He'd say anything!
Back when he was a kid watching TV, when he saw villains cave under torture, he used to mock them for being spineless.
Who knew that when it happened to him...
It stank. It hurt. It was unbearable!
Seeing him nod without hesitation, Qi Yuan reached out.
His hand approached the mouth, then suddenly stopped. Xiao Qian's heart leapt into his throat.
He wasn't lying, he really was ready to confess — please take it out!
The hand pulled back, and Qi Yuan kicked the neighboring bed: "Come take your sock off."
The sock was too stinky — the brother refused to touch it himself.
Qi Jin casually pulled the sock out, brought it to his nose, and sniffed: "It's not even that bad. Why does everyone hate it so much?"
He and Qi Yuan were fraternal twins. Qi Yuan was lean, with a scholarly air.
Qi Jin, on the other hand, was built like a typical North Chinese man — broad shoulders, thick back, sturdy and strong.
Standing there, you could tell he was a man with character.
He nudged Xiao Qian with his foot: "Are you faking it? It's really not that smelly."
The four Captains Kang all widened their eyes — it was practically burning their eyes, and he said it wasn't smelly?!
"Talk. Who's Brother Hu's buyer?"
Qi Yuan asked Xiao Qian coldly. Xiao Qian hesitated for a second, and the stench instantly loomed in front of his face. He jolted and came clean: "It's Brother Bao! Brother Bao runs telecom fraud in Mianbei, and Brother Hu sends people to Mianbei for him every year to work the scams!"
Telecom fraud?
What would she have to do with telecom fraud?