Chapter 77: Just in Time

Shui Miao’s heart sank into chaos. Liu Hongmei was holding a knife, her face twisted with menace, clearly up to no good. Shui Miao silently thanked himself for latching the safety bolt when he shut the door; otherwise, if Liu Hongmei had entered the room and forced him at knifepoint, his innocence would have been in grave danger.

Filled with hatred toward this archenemy Liu Hongmei, Shui Miao refused to have anything to do with her, even under threat of her knife.

“Open the door! You little brat, open up!”

Liu Hongmei pounded on the door, waking up most of the tenants in the courtyard who had been sound asleep, all thinking it was the landlord coming to collect rent.

“What do you want?” Shui Miao instinctively felt his scalp prickle. This shrew was truly unreasonable. No wonder her husband had died young; any man would struggle to endure a woman who would pull a knife on him if he didn’t comply with her.

“What do I want? You dare ask me that? Did you take the talismans from my room, you little thief? If you don’t open up, I’ll call the police!” After returning to her room, Liu Hongmei had calmly considered Shui Miao’s motives, ruled out the possibility of affection, and then checked her room, finally realizing that several talismans were missing.

“You’re talking nonsense. I’m not going to bother with you anymore.”

Shui Miao waved dismissively at Liu Hongmei through the door and turned back into the room, switching off the lights.

Oh no! She had discovered it!

After entering the bedroom, Shui Miao immediately felt his heart tighten. He quickly pulled out his phone, uploaded the photos of the talismans he had previously taken to his email, and deleted them from his phone. Liu Hongmei kept knocking on the door, but seeing that Shui Miao wouldn’t open it, she really did call for help. While she was on the phone, Shui Miao quickly returned to the room in the dark, took out the talismans, threw them into the toilet, and flushed them away.

Ten minutes later, a police car arrived.

Liu Hongmei went downstairs to greet them, shouting from afar, “Nephew, you’re finally here! There’s a thief in my room!”

The police officer was actually her nephew!

Shui Miao opened the door and saw two young men enter the courtyard. Liu Hongmei was whispering something to one of them in a furtive manner. His heart sank immediately—he knew something was wrong. This officer was Liu Hongmei’s nephew, and he would surely take her side. If he was caught, he would surely suffer.

The wise course of action was to avoid immediate confrontation. Shui Miao quickly pushed a table against the door to block it and then called Chu Miaoyi.

Chu Miaoyi and Lin Xue were in a taxi when she saw the call from Shui Miao. She immediately pressed the answer button. As soon as the call connected, Shui Miao’s urgent voice came through: “It’s bad. The landlord Liu Hongmei is framing me for stealing her things and has called her nephew, who’s a cop, to cause trouble. Can you come help me? Her nephew is a police officer—he’ll definitely side with her, and I’ll be in serious trouble.”

“Okay! Tell me the address, we’ll be there right away.”

Chu Miaoyi trusted Shui Miao completely—he was not the type to steal. Seeing how urgent he was, she didn’t hesitate, immediately asking the taxi driver to turn around and head to Shui Miao’s residence.

After confirming the address over the phone, Chu Miaoyi asked for more details.

Shui Miao explained the situation truthfully. After listening, Chu Miaoyi said, “I understand,” and hung up.

In the car, Lin Xue asked curiously, “What’s going on exactly?”

“Shui Miao said that the female landlord is actually the nurse who stole him out of the hospital and sold him. To investigate his origins, Shui Miao rented her house to look for clues. But this landlord is a mentally disturbed widow who forced Shui Miao to have a relationship with her. When I called him earlier, she was at his door, but he ignored her, which enraged her so much that she called her nephew, a police officer, to cause trouble for Shui Miao.” Chu Miaoyi had already investigated Shui Miao, but she hadn’t expected that he had already uncovered Liu Hongmei on his own.

“Oh my God! Is that even possible?” Lin Xue’s eyes widened.

“Sigh! Looks like this time, only we can help him uncover his background. I hope he will cooperate with us later to solve the case of the Five-directional Disc.” One of the main reasons Chu Miaoyi had approached Shui Miao was because of the Five-directional Disc case. This case involved many people, and Wang Yong was as slippery as an eel. Shui Miao was the only accessible lead.

Lin Xue clenched her fists, cracking her knuckles, “I’ve fought all kinds of people, but never a mentally disturbed old widow. Today, I’m going to see exactly what kind of person this Liu Hongmei is.”

Lin Xue was already warming up for a fight.

Chu Miaoyi, however, looked outside the car. This matter was both simple and complicated—it all depended on what kind of person Liu Hongmei’s nephew really was.

※※※

“Bang!”

A piece of glass on Shui Miao’s door was smashed. Liu Hongmei’s nephew, Liu Qiang, reached his hand inside to undo the safety bolt, but Shui Miao struck his hand with a mop, forcing him to pull it back in pain.

“You damn brat! Just wait until I get inside—I’ll kill you for this!” Wang Qiang, furious and in pain, cursed loudly.

The other officer who had come with Wang Qiang was named Zhao Liang, also in uniform. Seeing Wang Qiang’s misfortune, he kicked the door hard. Unfortunately, his kick left a hole in the wooden door. Shui Miao seized the opportunity and struck his foot repeatedly with the mop, causing him to scream in pain and quickly retract his leg.

“You bastard! You dare attack a police officer? You want to die?!” Zhao Liang shouted angrily.

“Pfft! You’re not even real police officers—you didn’t show your credentials. Breaking into someone’s home like this—you’re just bandits!” Initially, Shui Miao had asked Liu Qiang and the others to show their credentials, but the two refused and instead started cursing and threatening to kill him if he didn’t open the door. From this, Shui Miao concluded that these two were definitely not real officers—most likely just neighborhood security officers.

“Kick it harder—we can definitely break it down. This kid stole several thousand yuan from me. If you catch him, the money is yours,” Liu Hongmei shouted advice from the side, her tone full of hatred, as if she wanted to devour Shui Miao alive.

Hearing this, Liu Qiang and Zhao Liang became excited and immediately began kicking the door together.

Realizing the danger, Shui Miao quickly ran to the kitchen to grab a cleaver. Just as he picked it up, the door was kicked open with a loud “crack!” As Liu Qiang and Zhao Liang were about to rush inside, they saw Shui Miao charging out with the cleaver, shouting, “I’ll kill you!” Both were startled and immediately turned to run. Liu Hongmei, also frightened, tried to turn but tripped and fell hard.

Shui Miao stepped on Liu Hongmei’s back and jumped over her, chasing after Liu Qiang and Zhao Liang.

Liu Qiang and Zhao Liang were not real police officers but just local security officers. They had obtained two police uniforms and often impersonated officers to extort money from migrant workers in the area. Accustomed to bullying others, they were terrified when they saw Shui Miao wielding a cleaver and ready to fight for his life. The two immediately fled downstairs.

Shui Miao stopped at the staircase when he saw a taxi pull up outside. Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi simultaneously opened the left and right car doors.

“Clang!”

Perfect timing. Shui Miao quickly threw the cleaver downstairs.

Seeing that Shui Miao no longer had the cleaver, Liu Qiang immediately picked it up and charged back upstairs. Zhao Liang also grabbed a brick and rushed toward Shui Miao.

Shui Miao turned to run but was suddenly grabbed around the waist by Liu Hongmei, who had sneaked up behind him. “I’ve got him! I’ve got him!”

Liu Hongmei shouted excitedly.

“You little brat, now I’m going to kill you!”

“Damn it! He hit my leg…”

Liu Qiang and Zhao Liang, now excited, charged up the stairs—one with a cleaver, the other with a brick.

“Stop!”

Suddenly, a sharp, commanding voice rang out.

Everyone turned to see two beautiful women rushing in through the door. One woman was taking rapid photos with a camera, while the other held up a police badge and shouted again, “I’m a police officer. You are all under arrest. From this moment on, anything you say can be used in court. If you don’t drop your weapons immediately, I will shoot!”

Lin Xue’s other hand swiftly drew a dark-colored handgun from her waist.