Chapter 537 - 249: Awesome, My Little Junior Brother (Part 3)
Chapter 537: Chapter 249: Awesome, My Little Junior Brother (Part 3)
"That’s old news. He’s a legitimate Animal Expert now. I heard he’s a special consultant for the Donghua City Public Security Bureau and has cracked a bunch of major cases! Even the city leaders are rubbing shoulders with him."
"What? An Animal Expert? A consultant for the Public Security Bureau? You’ve got to be kidding me! Someone like Yang Qi can be an expert? And he’s rubbing shoulders with the leaders?"
"How could it be fake? Isn’t today living proof? A troublemaker like Jiang Dafu, the local police station usually can’t even be bothered with him. This time, they came right to his door to arrest him. You think that could happen without some serious connections?"
"Wow, I never would have thought..."
"That’s why they say you can’t judge a book by its cover. That kid, Yang Qi, has been making big moves on the quiet!"
"..."
Amid the various discussions, some were in disbelief, some were amazed and envious, and some were secretly glad they had never gotten on Yang Qi’s bad side.
As the New Year approached, the name Yang Qi became the center of all conversation in the village.
At Yang Bo’s house.
Yang Bo’s Mother returned from outside, her expression still grave.
She closed the door and said to Yang Bo, who was sitting on the sofa playing on his phone, "Bo, did you see that? The commotion just now... Jiang Dafu was taken away!"
Without looking up, Yang Bo slid his finger across the screen and grunted impatiently.
"Bo!"
Yang Bo’s Mother’s tone sharpened as she walked in front of him. "I’m telling you, from now on, don’t you go picking fights with Yang Qi, you hear me? He’s different now. You saw what happened today. Jiang Dafu is so unruly, and they arrested him just like that."
"We’re in the same village, we’re bound to run into each other. All that stuff you did in the past... find a chance to apologize to him. Say a few humble words, there’s no shame in it! Do you hear me?"
The finger sliding across the screen stopped. Yang Bo’s expression soured, and he mumbled, "Mom, what are you talking about? What’s there to pick a fight with him over? That was all just childish stuff from when we were kids. Besides, I have a job in the county seat now. He can be his expert; we’ll stay out of each other’s way!"
"You child..." Yang Bo’s Mother started to say more.
Yang Bo’s father, who had been sitting to the side smoking without saying much, now flicked the ash from his cigarette and spoke slowly, his voice steady.
"Your mother’s right. You have to face reality. That kid, Yang Qi, he’s clearly made it big. We don’t have to suck up to him, but we absolutely can’t afford to offend him."
"What happened today, it’s obvious the Jiang father and son dug their own graves and walked right into the line of fire. But the fact that Yang Qi can get the county police to come and arrest someone with a single phone call... you need to think about the kind of clout that represents."
Yang Bo opened his mouth to argue, but then he thought of the police cars with their wailing sirens that afternoon. He remembered the miserable state Jiang Dafu was in when they cuffed him. And he recalled all the snide remarks he himself had made behind Yang Qi’s back...
A wave of anxiety washed over him. In the end, he said nothing, just irritably tossed his phone aside and flopped onto the sofa, burying his head in the cushions.
He knew his parents were right.
Some things... had changed.
...
「Evening.」
Yang Dalin returned from the hospital.
The moment he entered the village, he was surrounded by villagers waiting for news.
"Uncle Da Lin, how’d it go? Did you give Jiang the Miser the money for the medical bills?"
"I heard the police went to the hospital too?"
"What exactly happened? How did the police get involved?"
"..."
Yang Dalin’s expression was complicated. He waved his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet, then said in a low voice, "The medical expenses... Yang Qi had me deliver them. Five thousand, the full amount. But..."
He paused, his voice dropping to a whisper filled with disbelief, "At the hospital, Jiang Fugui was arrested by the police from the narcotics division!"
"What? The narcotics division?"
"They arrested Jiang the Miser? Why?"
"Didn’t he just get bitten by a dog? Why would the drug squad arrest him?"
The villagers were in an uproar, all talking at once.
Yang Dalin took a deep breath and said gravely.
"The police said they suspect he’s involved in drug trafficking! A police dog smelled drugs on him, and they took him away on the spot!"
"Drug trafficking?"
"Jiang the Miser is a drug trafficker?"
"That... how is that possible? He’s just a stingy old man from the countryside. Trafficking drugs? Maybe hiding them!"
"Transporting drugs, hiding drugs, it’s all a serious crime!"
"No wonder, no wonder the police got here so fast!"
"No wonder Bai Wan bit him! I heard Bai Wan is a police dog. He must have sniffed something out."
"That’s what I’m saying! Bai Wan is such a good dog, why would he bite someone for no reason!"
"The Jiang Family is completely finished now. The father’s a drug trafficker, the son’s a troublemaker..."
"..."
The news spread, setting the entire village ablaze with gossip.
Shock, disbelief, lingering fear, endless discussion...
Who would have thought that a seemingly ordinary dispute over a dog bite would turn out to involve drugs?
Although the villagers didn’t know about the drugs discovered in the abandoned sweet potato cave on the back hill, the mere fact that Jiang Fugui had been arrested was enough to send their imaginations running wild.
Just as the village was in an uproar with speculation, Yang Qi walked out of his house carrying several exquisite gift bags.
He first went to the house of the village chief, Yang Dalin, followed by Uncle Guoqing’s house. Then he visited the homes of the other men who had stood guard at his door, and finally, he went to the homes of Yang Bo’s Mother and the other women who had stayed with his grandmother that afternoon to comfort her.
At each house, Yang Qi presented the gifts under the pretext of "wishing you an early New Year and thanking you for your help today."
The gifts were high-quality leftovers from a bulk purchase the Xianlai Zoo had made to use as New Year’s bonuses for its employees.
There were beautifully packaged gift boxes of nuts, brand-name cooking oil, organic rice, and milk and snacks suitable for the elderly and children—all in all, a selection of high-end New Year’s goods.
"Uncle Da Lin, I can’t thank you enough for today. Here are a few New Year’s goods, please accept them as an early New Year’s greeting for you and your wife."
"Uncle Guoqing, thank you for taking the trouble to go to the hospital. It’s just a small token of my appreciation."
"Aunty, here’s a little something for the kids at home to enjoy."