The Capture of Cuntoucao

A flash of light flickered outside the door. A sharp snap rang out in the alley. Tong Haojing turned his head and saw a shadow sway at the mouth of the alley some ten meters away before disappearing.

"Maybe it was my dad. If he doesn't come back, I won't sleep!" Xiao Yanni was being a little willful. She walked to the doorway, leaned playfully against the frame, and poked her head out to look, but saw nothing.

Tong Haojing waited a while longer. When Cuntoucao still did not return, he finally left the alley.

In fact, Cuntoucao had gone out to buy his daughter's favorite bread. When he reached the intersection of Hongdu Street in the west of the city, he suddenly thought of checking on what had happened with the fight from a few days earlier.

For the past few days, he had hardly dared to leave home. Though no one had reported the fight at Hongdu Plaza, he had made a small mistake that night—his ID card had fallen out—and it left him terrified and unable to sleep. He had not told anyone about it, afraid Long Wen would blame him and expose the whole group of thugs. By coincidence, Cuntoucao's ID card had been picked up by an elderly woman dancing in Hongdu Plaza and handed over to Jiang Hongde, the community police officer there.

Dream Tea House outside Hongdu Entertainment City was a place where the thugs often gathered. Cuntoucao unconsciously headed there. He truly could not hold it in anymore. After going days without seeing sunlight, his heart itched as though cats were clawing at it, and his entire body felt miserable. In truth, this was Cuntoucao's physical withdrawal reaction from drugs.

Cuntoucao had lost his parents as a child and had grown up eating meals from a hundred households. By chance, he met Long Wen. Long Wen treated him exceptionally "well." All of a sudden, he discovered that there was actually a friend in this world, closer than "family," who cared about him. His heartfelt gratitude overflowed, and he became the most diligent person in helping Long Wen with his affairs.

One day several years ago, Long Wen said someone had openly "bullied" him and stolen his business. Without another word, Cuntoucao hailed a taxi and rushed over. He was not the only one at the scene. There were several young men of varying ages, their leader dressed in bizarre fashion. Only then did Cuntoucao learn that Long Wen ran a labor export company.

Each of the young men held a shining iron rod as long as a thick chopstick, knocking them against the desk with eager clinks and clatters.

Cuntoucao sat coldly on the sofa, but Long Wen was nowhere to be seen.

A moment later, Long Wen came in. The young men lined up neatly as if they had seen a general, silently staring at Long Wen, who held two pebbles in his hands. Long Wen habitually sat in the boss's chair, spun halfway around, and put on a show of searching the computer for information related to Hedong Province.

Cuntoucao hesitated awkwardly, then stiffly took his place in the line and unexpectedly shouted, "Hello, Brother Long!"

Everyone looked at him and could not help laughing. Even someone called thug let out a snort of laughter.

Long Wen suddenly turned around. His icy gaze darkened in an instant. As if shocked by electricity, thug immediately wiped away his wild grin and lowered his head.

"Brother Long, what do you need me to do?" Cuntoucao suddenly asked.

Long Wen calmly glanced at the watch on his wrist. A glint of ferocity showed in his dark eyes. "We leave at ten. Cuntoucao, just follow us."

The sun hid behind the clouds. The sky darkened, with drifting black clouds overhead.

Cuntoucao and the gang of hooligans waited anxiously and impatiently until ten. Long Wen led thug and several young men in black, with Cuntoucao following behind, to a rural three-way intersection not far from Hedao Station in Tangdu City.

The wind whipped up dust and fallen leaves from the ground, sending them flying everywhere and making it impossible to keep one's eyes open.

A chartered passenger bus bound for Hedong Province arrived. Thug stepped forward, blocked the bus, and roared, "Stop!"

A young man in black swiftly leaped onto the step, yanked open the door, grabbed the driver by the hair, and dragged him out of the vehicle. Caught completely off guard, the driver was hauled out violently and slammed heavily onto the ground.

Long Wen sat in a BMW car nearby, gritting his teeth as he cursed, "That fool doesn't know his place. He dares steal my livelihood? He's courting death!"

After hearing Long Wen's words, Cuntoucao found courage from nowhere. He rushed over and began punching and kicking the driver on the ground. The driver clutched his head and howled in pain, but Cuntoucao was still not satisfied. He pulled off his belt and lashed him repeatedly. The passengers could no longer stand it. Filled with righteous indignation, they shouted that it was a gang of thugs, and one of them decisively called the police.

Long Wen gave a whistle. Thug and the black-clad hooligans immediately withdrew. Cuntoucao did not understand the signal and kicked the driver several more times before hurriedly fleeing the scene.

In the car, several black-clad hooligans, flushed with the joy of victory, said to Cuntoucao in unison, "Brother Fang, you're really vicious!"

Long Wen held the steering wheel with one hand and raised a thumbs-up with the other.

That evening, Long Wen treated everyone to Longteng Hotpot as a reward. After eating and drinking their fill, they went to Hongdu Entertainment City to have fun for the night.

What Cuntoucao remembered most was Long Wen praising him in front of everyone and specially rewarding him with a "bun." Cuntoucao had no idea what it was, so he copied the others and smoked in the private room. Seeing his short hair, everyone gave him the name Cuntoucao.

The next day, the Public Security Bureau came knocking and arrested everyone involved in the fight except Long Wen. Cuntoucao and several young men in black kept their mouths shut and did not reveal Long Wen or the drug use. In the end, after Long Wen pulled some strings, they paid compensation and were released.

After leaving the Public Security Bureau, everyone thought Long Wen was capable. Cuntoucao began following Long Wen into nightlife. It was not until one day, when he realized he could no longer live without those demon-like buns, that Cuntoucao suddenly understood: the buns were drugs that harmed both others and himself. But by then, it was too late to turn back.

When Cuntoucao reached the stairs of Dream Tea House, he ran into thug coming out, followed by two young men dressed in black. Seeing Cuntoucao, thug immediately ducked into a corner and stuffed two small foil-wrapped buns into his hands.

"Take them. They're your reward!"

"Brother Hu, aren't we getting high together?" Cuntoucao asked.

"Getting high, my ass! The police station is looking for you. Why aren't you gone yet?" Thug put on quite an air. In truth, he was only a small-time group leader. He had heard from a supervisor at Hongdu Entertainment City that the police station was looking for Cuntoucao, and even the party they had planned that night for his friend A'si's birthday had been ruined.

"You'd better keep your mouth shut. Whoever talks will lose fingers and feet!" Thug warned Cuntoucao again, as though he had already been caught by the police and was being interrogated.

Could it really be the missing ID card causing trouble? Fortunately, Long Wen's group still did not know how he had been exposed, but an ominous feeling hung over him.

A Volkswagen Phaeton drove up. Thug and the two young men in black got in and sped away.

Seeing this, Cuntoucao no longer dared to go to Dream Tea House. He turned and jogged a few steps, looked around, bought some food at a bakery, and hurried home. But the moment he reached the alley entrance on the first floor of the Agricultural Machinery Company, he heard someone talking to his daughter. Cuntoucao crept to the door and peeked through the crack. Inside stood an unfamiliar uniformed police officer. He sucked in a sharp breath, pulled back his foot, turned around, and ran out of the alley like smoke. By chance, he stepped on a drink bottle, making a strange noise.

Cuntoucao ran out of the Agricultural Machinery Company and hid around a corner, watching the community police officer's movements in the darkness. Before long, a tall police officer came out and disappeared into the night.

Cuntoucao slipped furtively into the house. His daughter was wolfing down bread. Just as he was about to ask her what the police officer had come for, the door opened with a thud.

Tong Haojing rushed inside and shouted, "Don't move! Get against the wall!" In fact, Tong Haojing had not gone far. He too had hidden in the shadows to watch the alley entrance on the first floor of the Agricultural Machinery Company. He had called Old Jiang, who was resting at home, to ask about Cuntoucao. He learned that Cuntoucao was the fugitive involved in the fight outside Hongdu Entertainment City a few days earlier. Old Jiang said they should not make a fuss of it and should wait until they found Cuntoucao and clarified the situation. Tong Haojing was extremely excited. If he did not act immediately, Cuntoucao might flee. So Tong Haojing decided to follow Cuntoucao into the house and cut off his escape route.

Hearing the command, Cuntoucao's guilty conscience took over. Seeing nowhere in the room to hide, he instinctively backed into a corner and grabbed a fruit knife to resist. Tong Haojing advanced step by step with handcuffs in hand. Seeing that the police officer stood a head taller and was clearly more than a match for him, Cuntoucao waved the fruit knife, trying to force Tong Haojing back. Tong Haojing feinted an attack, causing Cuntoucao to miss. Seizing the chance, Tong Haojing smoothly disarmed him of the fruit knife, and Cuntoucao fell facedown on the floor. Tong Haojing immediately stepped forward, pinning Cuntoucao's upper body with both knees and cuffing him securely. Terrified by the fight before her, Xiao Yanni curled up beneath the dining table and wailed. Three more police officers entered from outside: Old Jiang, Officer Lan, and Lu Tong.

"Did you search him?" The older police officer, highly conscious of safety, asked alertly.

Officer Lan and Lu Tong stood guard nearby while Tong Haojing carefully searched Cuntoucao from head to toe. Two small white foil packets were found.

"What is this?" Tong Haojing demanded loudly.

"Dr... drugs," Cuntoucao stammered.

Officer Lan and Lu Tong finished collecting the physical evidence of Cuntoucao's drug use and prepared to take him back to the police station. Cuntoucao struggled fiercely. "What about my daughter?"

Old Jiang said firmly, "Take him away!" Officer Lan and Lu Tong then forcibly took Cuntoucao out of the house and put him into the police car.

Tong Haojing asked, "What about Xiao Yanni?"

Old Jiang said, "Contact the community women's association!" Old Jiang called Sister Feng, the head of the Women's Federation. About half an hour later, Sister Feng arrived. Old Jiang briefed her on the case, and Sister Feng took Xiao Yanni away.

Old Jiang and Tong Haojing walked out of the alley.

Old Jiang asked, "How did you know Cuntoucao used drugs?" They spoke as they walked.

Tong Haojing said, "There was a little packet folded from foil on his sofa. I judged that it was probably drugs."

Old Jiang asked, "Wasn't it dangerous for you to arrest Cuntoucao alone?"

Tong Haojing said, "I didn't think that much about it!"

At that moment, Tong Haojing felt a faint pain in his arm. He touched it and found that the sleeve was wet. Only then did he realize that his arm had been injured and was bleeding, soaking through his clothes.

Old Jiang said, "That was close. Are you all right?" Old Jiang looked deeply worried. He had wanted to criticize Tong Haojing for acting alone. If something had happened to him, Old Jiang, as his teacher, would have had a hard time answering for it. But Old Jiang did not say it aloud. He wanted to find a suitable opportunity later to speak with him. He did not want to spoil the mood of this victorious moment.

"I'm fine," Tong Haojing said. He moved his arm and felt that it was nothing serious, but Old Jiang still took Tong Haojing to a nearby clinic to see a doctor before they went to the police station.