Dr. Xia and Mr. Xiang Were Too Tough

When questioned by the police at the hospital, the two thugs initially tried to shift the blame onto Xiang Kun and Xia Libing, claiming that they had been ambushed and beaten in an alley by the "cheating couple" for no reason.

But the police weren't so easily fooled. As soon as they were taken to the hospital, they had already identified the people by looking at their ID cards and seen their criminal records.

Then, based on the statements of Xiang Kun and Xia Libing, they checked the surveillance footage from the roads near the residential area and the area near the coffee shop to confirm the two people's unusual behavior.

Xiang Kun and Xia Libing gave the same story. Xiang Kun told the police that he noticed the man suspiciously following Xia Libing after leaving the coffee shop, so he followed him to check it out. Xia Libing, on the other hand, said that when she returned to the entrance of her residential area, she saw the masked man and thought he was a friend, so she greeted him. However, the man's reaction was strange, and he even cursed at her. She then casually took off his mask, but she didn't expect him to react so strongly and run away. She thought he must be a bad guy who might be stealing something, so she chased after him.

Next, the police also used WeChat chat records on the two perpetrators' phones to confirm that they were acting under someone else's orders.

So, after the police officers explained the facts and reasoned with them, the two suspects lying in the hospital finally confessed to their crimes.

According to their confessions, someone paid them to find incriminating evidence against Xia Libing, which could be used to coerce and bribe her if necessary.

As for the purpose of the coercion and bribery, the two of them naturally knew it as well.

A crime of passion occurred in the middle of last year. A girl felt that her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her with his current girlfriend while they were dating, so she was furious and attacked him with a weapon. Ultimately, her ex-boyfriend died from his injuries, and his current girlfriend was seriously injured.

The girl's family was quite powerful in the local area. Her mother managed to apply for a mental evaluation, and then used connections and spent a lot of money to bribe the doctor at the Third Hospital who was in charge of the evaluation.

The doctor was initially quite confident, but due to some unexpected events in the past few days, one of his assistants, who was originally responsible for assisting him with the assessment, was replaced by Xia Libing.

Xia Libing didn't care about the old doctor's authority or influence. If she felt there was a problem, then there was a problem, and she directly raised it with the doctor.

The doctor knew some of Xia Libing's background, how she got to the Third Hospital, and who her third uncle and aunt were. So he didn't dare to pressure or bribe her at all, and simply gave up on the matter, not planning to make any money from it.

The doctor also informed the parents of the suspect who bribed him about Xia Libing's condition, using this as a reason to show that he was powerless to help, hoping that the other party would give up.

Unexpectedly, the parents, desperate to "save" their daughter, still found someone to "arrange" for Xia Libing.

The parents found the man who had been stalking the child, discovered by Xiang Kun, and the tall man who had been discovered by Xia Libing.

Their original plan was to first collect Xia Libing's private information to see if there was anything they could use to blackmail or exploit her.

The original plan was to wait until Xia Libing left the house tomorrow before trying to sneak into her rented apartment. However, Xia Libing was picked up by her third aunt and taken to dinner after work tonight, and did not return, which gave them an opportunity to enter "early".

However, the lock cylinder of the apartment Xia Libing rented was rather unusual. The tall man spent a long time trying to fix it before realizing he had brought the wrong tools. So he asked his companion to go back and get the right tools. By the time they found the right tools, there were a lot of people coming and going on the floor where Xia Libing's apartment was located, making it difficult for them to find an opportunity to break in.

Finally, fewer people were coming and going, giving him a chance to strike. Then his lookout outside the complex told him that Xia Libing had returned...

Just when they thought their efforts had been in vain, the power went out again in the neighborhood. Xia Libing took her laptop and went out, so the tall man tried to unlock the door and get back in, while his companion followed Xia Libing out to monitor her movements and prevent her from suddenly returning. They also wanted to see if they could find anything; if they happened to see this beautiful female doctor on a date with a married man, or two-timing him, then taking photos might complete their mission.

Xia Libing returned a little earlier than they expected, but thanks to the advance warning from the man outside the coffee shop, the tall man had plenty of time to leave. So he continued his work, which he had only halfway through, installing the hidden camera, carefully cleaning up the traces, locking the door again, and leaving the residential area.

Unexpectedly, he was stopped by the female doctor at the entrance of the residential area.

At first, he thought Xia Libing had mistaken him for someone named "Xiang Kun," but after Xia Libing pulled off his mask and continued to pursue him, he knew that she hadn't mistaken him for someone else, but had been watching him closely. Although he couldn't understand why Xia Libing could tell that there was something wrong with him and dared to take off his mask directly.

As for what happened next in the alley, the two of them now realized that they had encountered a master. The bald man with glasses looked quite refined, but his skills were simply too strong. Even with their weapons, two against one, they were still crushed without any suspense.

However, what they didn't know was that, in order not to reveal power that was too far beyond the comprehension of normal people, or to accidentally kill them, Xiang Kun spent 80% of his attention restraining and controlling the strength of his attacks when fighting them, and another 19% of his attention observing Lao Xia's observation of him.

For both of them, seeing the police appear in the alley brought a moment of relief and joy—they preferred facing the police to being tormented by that bald man any longer.

With the two men's testimonies, the police naturally mobilized overnight, arresting the instigator and also bringing back the doctor from the Third Hospital to assist in the investigation.

The case is basically clear: Xia Libing is the victim, and Xiang Kun is a Good Samaritan—although, in the end, the two suspects were more badly injured and seemed more like victims.

So after they finished giving their statements to the police, they left the police station with Xia Libing's third uncle and aunt.

After all that trouble, it was already past 2 a. m.

After seeing Xiang Kun and his group off, the two police officers, one older and one younger, yawned and walked back, talking in hushed tones. Although it was past midnight and today was New Year's Eve, they had no chance of getting a day off, let alone going home at the normal time.

"Old Xu, according to the statements of the two suspects at the hospital, when Dr. Xia 'mistakenly' identified someone at the entrance of the residential area, she called out 'Xiang Kun'? Isn't Xiang Kun the bald Mr. Xiang was with her? Didn't she just see Mr. Xiang at the coffee shop before returning to the residential area? Moreover, although the suspect was wearing a mask, he wasn't wearing a hat or glasses, and his hair was still very noticeable. How could he have mistaken her for Mr. Xiang?" The younger officer said, somewhat puzzled.

The older officer casually remarked, "It's probably because of poor lighting that they didn't notice. It's nothing serious."

The young police officer nodded, then couldn't help but say, "According to Dr. Xia's report, Mr. Xiang description, and what we saw at the scene in the alley, Mr. Xiang against two suspects. Although Mr. Xiang looked tall and strong, both suspects had multiple records of intentional assault; they were not easy to deal with, their physiques weren't that different, and both were armed. Under these circumstances, Mr. Xiang not only emerged unscathed, without even getting his clothes dirty, but he also single-handedly beat both suspects so badly they couldn't even run away, even forcing one of the suspects to stab his partner in the butt in his panic... Honestly, this is a bit beyond my comprehension."

The older officer said, "Oh? You think Mr. Xiang or Dr. Xia are lying?"

"No, that's not what I meant. What they said is basically consistent with our investigation of nearby surveillance footage, traces at the scene, various pieces of evidence, and the confessions we obtained from the two suspects. Moreover, they had no motive to lie. It should be said that Mr. Xiang's skills are really that good."

The young police officer shook his head, his brow furrowed slightly, and said with a somewhat strange expression, "But when I was taking statements from Dr. Xia and Mr. Xiang just now, I felt something was off... Their demeanor was a bit too calm. Think about it, what would a normal person do if they found their friend being followed? What would they do if they saw a suspicious person coming out of their neighborhood? I listened to the recording of Dr. Xia's call to the police, and her tone was just too calm. As a young woman, seeing her companion fighting two armed thugs with her bare hands, she didn't seem flustered at all. These two... they were acting too tough..."

For some inexplicable reason, he had a ridiculous thought: he vaguely felt that the situation in the alley was exactly what Dr. Xia and Mr. Xiang wanted to see.

Deliberately placing himself in a narrow alley to confront two armed thugs with ill intentions? It sounded too far-fetched and had no basis whatsoever, so he didn't voice the thought.

The older police officer chuckled, "Perhaps it's because Dr. Xia is a doctor at the Third Hospital; she has a strong mental fortitude."

"What about Mr. Xiang. Xiang? He said he's a freelancer now, but from graduation until last year, he worked in software development. How could someone like that have such good skills?" The young police officer still found it strange.

"If you're curious, go ahead and look it up, but let's get this case sorted out first. There's still a lot to do, let's take it one step at a time," the older officer said casually.

Back at his seat in the office, the young officer didn't immediately organize the written record. Instead, he logged into the police's internal network system and checked Xiang Kun's information.

Xiang Kun has no criminal record, but he has information related to several cases and has even received a reward from the police.

After leaving the branch office, Xia Libing's third uncle first drove Xiang Kun to his doorstep before returning to their own home.

Although Xia Libing herself was quite calm and didn't think there was anything wrong with what happened that night, her third aunt wouldn't allow her to go back to her rented house to sleep alone that night and insisted on taking her back to her own home.

Indeed, for a normal girl, not to mention what she might have encountered in the alley, just the fact that the police found several hidden cameras in Xia Libing's rented house half an hour ago based on the statements of the two suspects would make her reluctant to go back to that house alone at night.

But Xia Libing was certain that even without the police investigating first and obtaining confessions from the two suspects, she would be able to find those cameras herself when she got home today. As far as she was concerned, since the two suspects had already been arrested, and the masterminds and related personnel behind them had been taken into custody by the police overnight, there was nothing to worry about.

On the contrary, she received a lot of information today, and she wants to organize and think about it carefully.

However, based on her observations, given the attitude her third uncle and aunt were currently displaying, it was indeed impossible for her to go back to the rented room alone. Dawn would break in a few hours, so she might as well go to her third uncle's house and get some sleep first.

"Xiao Bing, are you close to that Mr. Xiang? Why did you go to the coffee shop to see him so late?" Auntie, who was sitting in the back seat with Xia Libing, asked tentatively. She had briefly asked Xiang Kun when he was in the car and learned that Xia Libing had gone to the coffee shop to see Xiang Kun after dinner. That's how she discovered that someone was following Xiang Kun.

"The power went out at home, so I went to work at a coffee shop. He brought over the clothes my cousin gave me; he's a friend of hers," Xia Libing said simply, gently patting the backpack containing clothes, chopsticks, and a laptop that was placed at her feet.

"Oh, I see. This Mr. Xiang seems to be quite a fighter. Has he trained in martial arts or something? Officer Xu said he beat up those two suspects all by himself. That's really impressive," Auntie asked again.

Xia Libing also pictured Xiang Kun dodging and weaving through the alley, using exaggerated movements to deal with the two thugs, and said aloud, "He said he hadn't practiced."

"How could he not have trained? Looking at his physique, I can tell he definitely has. Or... was he in the army?" Uncle San, who was driving, couldn't help but ask.

"I've never served in the military," Xia Libing said.

"Xiao Bing, if you encounter suspicious people at the entrance of the community, you should notify the community security guards, or call the police, or just call me or your uncle. How could you run after them yourself? If it weren't for Mr. Xiang today, I don't even want to think what might have happened. It was too dangerous!" Auntie said with some concern.

Xia Libing nodded. "I won't chase after them next time."

"Anyway, we should thank Mr. Xiang. Xiang for what happened today. We'll invite him to dinner together during the first month of the lunar calendar to properly express our gratitude," Auntie said thoughtfully.

Xia Libing: "No need, I'll treat." She thought about the five meals she had "lost" and had already planned what to eat for the first meal. Before going to her shift at the hospital tomorrow afternoon, she needed to check what ingredients she could prepare in advance—it seemed like things would be hard to buy on New Year's Eve.

Auntie was taken aback by what she heard. She looked at her niece with some surprise, thought for a moment, but didn't say anything more. Instead, she continued to ask questions about Xiang Kun's background.

After returning home, Auntie San didn't chat much. She helped Xia Libing get new bedding and put it in the guest room before going to rest.

Xia Libing had just put down her bag and taken off her coat when she heard her phone vibrate on the bedside table. She picked it up and saw it was WeChat from Xiang Kun, asking if she had arrived home yet.

"We've arrived at Third Aunt's house," Xia Libing replied.

A few seconds later, Xiang Kun sent another message: "How can you be sure that the person who came out of your neighborhood was suspicious?"

Although Xiang Kun was some distance away at the time, with his hearing, he clearly heard what Xia Libing said and did, and naturally knew that she had not mistaken him for someone else, but was deliberately testing him.

Xia Libing held her phone in both hands, her thumbs rapidly tapping the screen, and soon sent back a long message:

"You can see my building directly from the main gate of the complex. Although I didn't see him come out of that building, the direction he came from could only be that building. I know the information of all the residents in our building, and there's no one whose build matches his. I've never seen him come in or out of the complex before. So he doesn't live here; he could only be visiting a friend and is about to leave. But when he got to the complex gate, he clearly saw me, but immediately lowered his head, and his body language showed a tendency to avoid me, which is different from a normal person's reaction. When I tested him by pretending to mistake him for someone else, his tone of voice and body language showed that he was a little nervous and guilty, rather than surprised and confused, which further proved that there was something wrong with him. When I tugged at his sleeve, his reaction also proved this. When I took off my mask when he wasn't paying attention, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he recognized me. Connecting this with the person outside the coffee shop, I deduced that the two of them were working together. He was here because he had just broken into my house and was about to leave. If I take them both down, I can figure out their purpose. With you here, there shouldn't be any problems."

Xiang Kun, who had also returned home and was lying in bed, looked at the long reply he received on WeChat. The first thing he noticed was the sentence, "His reaction was different from that of ordinary people."

Xiang Kun couldn't help but laugh. Lao Xia's way of praising his own beauty was so refreshing and natural, as if he were simply stating an objective fact.

Thanks to book friend AT2001, Befriend the Tuhao*, Qianzi, Weirdness in the World, Book Friend 20190805183341158, , Qidian Reading iOS, Sigh of Death, Book Friends 20190704102437382, There are Oranges in the North Ming Dynasty, _Sleep Another Summer_, Book Friends 20190704102437382, Weirdness in the World, Small and Stable Among them, Happy Clan, I listen to nature but not fate, I listen to nature but not fate, Snow Rabbit is Mine, Mr. Yang's Literary Life, Zhuge Dadao, Mo Wansheng, Book Friends 20170214115203794, Qidian Reading iOS tipping.