Pushing through the crowd, I could see a long police tape encircling a public restroom in the middle of the square, marking off a huge circle.
Inside the tape, there stood numerous police officers and armed SWAT members. Among them was a chubby third-level police supervisor with a six-month beer belly, bearing two stripes and one star on his shoulder. He was holding a loudspeaker and shouting toward the restroom, spittle flying, "People inside, listen up! I am the Deputy Chief of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, Huang Wei. State your demands, and as long as it's within our power, we can satisfy them. But, you must not harm the children!"
Huang Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a breath, and was about to continue shouting when suddenly a voice interrupted.
"Hey! Big bro, isn't that line a bit too cliché? Who wrote that?" The speaker was Ye Wutian.
"How would I know who wrote it? Isn't this what everyone shouts?" Since the hostage negotiator hadn't arrived yet, all Huang Wei could do was keep shouting into the loudspeaker. He had been at it for quite a while, his throat almost burning, yet there was no response from inside.
"So, where's the director? I'd like to be an extra, playing a dead body or a passerby A—it's all fine with me," Ye Wutian added.
"What director? You think this is a movie shoot?" Huang Wei scolded, exasperated after toiling away all morning just to have someone show up wanting to be an extra; it made him furious!
"Hey! Big bro, aren't you guys shooting a cops-and-robbers film?" Ye Wutian asked, puzzled.
Huang Wei glared at Ye Wutian and suddenly realized who he was dealing with. He immediately barked, "Kid! How did you get in here? Didn't you see the tape around the area?" Then he yelled at a young policeman with black-framed glasses, who was maintaining order near the distant tape, "Hey, four-eyes, come here and take this kid out of here. Can't even maintain order—what a bunch of loafers."
The policeman scurried over and then led Ye Wutian away.
After being led outside the tape, Ye Wutian asked curiously, "Hey, bro, if you're not shooting a movie, could it be a drill?"
"What drill? Director Zhao's daughter has been taken hostage," the officer whispered to Ye Wutian, motioning towards a weeping woman being held by a middle-aged man not too far away.
"Isn't this a scene you'd only find on TV?" Ye Wutian mumbled to himself, glancing at the woman. Although he couldn't see her face, her figure was certainly enticing, so he inquired, "Not a bad figure, from which dance hall does she come?"
The officer was speechless for a moment before saying, "What dance hall? That's Director Zhao from the Provincial Education Department."
"Oh! ~" Ye Wutian nodded in understanding, then continued to ask, "So, why did the culprit take Director Zhao's daughter? Could it be due to a love triangle?"
"Of course, it's for extorting money," the policeman replied, feeling a surge of frustration at Ye Wutian's bizarre questions.
"I see, I heard officials in our country are quite rich these days, looks like that's true," Ye Wutian muttered to himself.
The officer clarified, "It's not that Director Zhao is rich, but her husband is rich."
"Oh? So her husband owns a bank?" Ye Wutian's eyes lit up with golden light, as he was currently hungry and particularly sensitive about money.
"Well, almost. Her husband, Tang Weiwen, is the CEO of Tangxing Holdings, one of the top three financial tycoons in Cangnan Province. See, it's that man holding her right now," the officer said with envy. As a low-level cop, with neither wealth nor connections, even if he worked half a lifetime, he would barely make it to a senior rank—and a year's salary wouldn't come close to what people like that make in a day.
"Tangxing Company? Why does that sound so familiar." Ye Wutian pondered for a moment, then his eyes brightened, "Right, Lin Shiyue is supposed to have an interview at Tangxing Company tomorrow." Ye Wutian didn't think much of it; his main concern still lay with his own hunger. He turned to the officer again and asked, "Hey! Bro, since they're so rich, how much do you think they'd give me if I help rescue their daughter?"
The officer looked Ye Wutian up and down and sneered, "Don't daydream, you think you're Spider-Man or something?"
"Spider-Man, Cockroach-Man—I think you're just a four-eyed frog," Ye Wutian retorted.
"You! Hmph! Just stand still outside this line. If you dare to run in again... Huh? Where'd he go?" The officer turned away for just a second and Ye Wutian had already vanished.
Inside the cordon, Zhao Lihong leaned into Tang Weiwen's arms and wept bitterly for a while, then she stepped back, wiped her tears, and sobbed to the man bearing two stripes and three stars on his shoulder, "Xuhui, you must save my daughter at any cost." This man was Liang Xuhui, a standing committee member of the Jiangling Municipal Party Committee, the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and the Chief of the Public Security Bureau.