Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 403 Reunion with Wan Ying
Lin Ge squatted down a short distance away and watched for a while, and found that the stall was indeed doing good business.

Because this area is next to the urban management enforcement station, no one dares to set up a stall there. However, Nguza and Kasong, taking advantage of their foreign status, managed to get leniency from the urban management officers.

The pancakes they made might not taste very good, but as a unique business, they had no competitors and weren't worried about making money. Even if only everyone in Zhang City came out of curiosity to join in, they could still make a fortune.

Lin Ge could clearly see that Nguza's dark face had turned into a wide smile. In just the half hour that Lin Ge had stayed, he had already earned nearly a hundred yuan. That meant his daily income would be quite good. Meanwhile, Kasong, standing nearby, seemed impatient from beginning to end, muttering to himself as if reciting some knowledge points. He urged Nguza to pack up several times, but Nguza refused, leaving him no choice but to continue hammering dough with resignation.

Judging from their appearance, this probably wasn't their first day setting up a stall. Just by looking at Nguza's skillful handling of the money, you could tell he was in a particularly good mood.

"That's right! Working hard for a few days can bring you the same annual income as the average person in the Democratic Republic of Congo. What could be happier than that?"

Lin Ge looked up and judged the time by the sun, confirming that the university students had been in class for quite some time. But judging from Nguza's enthusiastic appearance, he didn't seem to have any intention of packing up?
Carson, on the other hand, finally lost his patience after being reminded twice more. He slammed the biscuit in his hand on the small table and turned away angrily.

"I'm sorry! I'll be right there, please wait a moment!"

Nguza didn't stop them, but apologized to the customers in increasingly fluent yet deliberately strange Chinese, and then took over the whole process by himself.

He was a bit flustered trying to do both the work and collect the money all by himself, which made the people around him laugh.

Nobody was angry; after all, the interaction between the two Black men was quite interesting, wasn't it? As for eating that pancake, to be honest, it was just something new and exciting. Two yuan to watch a foreigner perform wasn't expensive for the people of Zhangzhou.

"Nguza, has this meant you've given up on the dream of changing the Democratic Republic of Congo?"

Seeing Nguza's enthusiastic expression, Lingo was somewhat puzzled. Of course, he had no right to argue that Nguza's change was wrong; after all, it was all for the sake of making a living, and one's personal aspirations were not for others to interfere with.

It's good that Nguza is willing to settle down in Zhangzhou. Of course, he should still marry a foreigner, so she doesn't come here to harm the Chinese people.

Over the next two days, Lin Ge curiously came over for a stroll twice more.

On the first day, Kasong stayed with Nguza while he worked until it was almost time for class before rushing back home.

The next day, Kasson was nowhere to be seen. After several days of getting acquainted with the business, Nguza was now able to run it on his own, so Kasson's presence or absence seemed to have no impact on him.

From that day on, the pancake stall, which originally only did business in the morning and evening, was opened by Nguza all day long.

He was smart enough to know that constantly provoking the city management officers would eventually push them to their breaking point. So, the following week, his mobile stall transformed into a small storefront of three or four square meters near an alley, and the "Congolese Cuisine" sign changed from a handwritten cardboard sign to a formal one, prominently displaying Chinese, French, Congolese, and Democratic Republic of Congo characters. Lin Ge even saw the industry and commerce bureau come to his door once, and a few days later, they even issued him a legal business license.

Nguza completely gave up his dream of pursuing education, since it couldn't possibly bring him a wealthy life. But with this unassuming little stall, he could live a comfortable life in China.

Kasson never returned to the shop after that. However, about two weeks later, another Black girl who looked to be only a teenager started working there. Nguza told everyone she met that this was his wife, generating a lot of buzz and making the shop even more popular.

Lin Ge quickly put him out of his mind.

The sharp, unexpected cold snap arrived as predicted. After enjoying over twenty days of warm weather, this cold wind seemed even colder than winter. To be honest, last year was considered a mild winter, and Lin Ge had thought that was the end of winter, but unexpectedly, spring had defeated him.

"Mimi, time to go out and do chores!"

Nie Guoqiang endured Ling Ge for three days, but finally couldn't resist barging into the cat house.

Lin Ge, curled up in the woolen mat with only one ear showing, trembled slightly upon hearing this, but continued to pretend to be asleep and refused to get up.

"Mimi?"

Nie Guoqiang frowned, annoyed that this guy was the laziest one in the cattery. All three kittens and three adult cats had already left the warm cattery, but this bastard still had the nerve to sleep in there?
"Ouch!"

Lin Ge reluctantly raised his head and yawned widely. His sharp teeth made Nie Guoqiang's eye twitch, but before he knew it, the bastard buried his head and fell asleep again after yawning.

Nie Guoqiang stormed in, fuming.

Although Lin Ge was pretending to be asleep, he was already on guard. Sure enough, the bastard came closer and raised his leg to kick, but Lin Ge quickly jumped up and dodged it precisely.

"Are you serious?"

Glaring at Nie Guoqiang, Lin Ge could feel the force of the bastard's kick. If that kick had landed on him, he would have been in pain for a long time.

"You dare to slack off when I tell you to do something?"

Nie Guoqiang didn't indulge Lin Ge, or rather, as long as Lin Ge didn't slack off on important matters, he could tolerate all of Lin Ge's willfulness. But right now, the police station had something to do and needed to dispatch officers, so it would be really inappropriate for him to be sleeping.

"I curse you to be called to a parent-teacher conference again next week!"

Lin Ge glared fiercely at Nie Guoqiang, but still stretched and got up, helplessly following Nie Guoqiang out of the cat shelter.

As soon as he stepped outside, the drizzling freezing rain made Lin Ge shiver. Heaven knows why the late spring cold snap was so cold; this freezing rain felt even more bone-chilling to the cat than heavy snow, and his fur seemed to have lost all its protective function against the cold.

"Meow!"

The little tabby cat darted past Lingo and disappeared into the stairwell next to the cat house in an instant. This little guy inexplicably loved this damp weather; his fur was already soaked with water droplets, yet he still played happily in the drizzle.

Outside the cattery window, the little tortoiseshell cat quietly lay there grooming itself. It was becoming more and more like its mother, both in its composed demeanor and its disdainful gaze. Sometimes, when its mother wasn't home, the task of disciplining its two brothers fell entirely on the little tortoiseshell's shoulders. Neither the tabby nor the snowclaw tabby were a match for the little tortoiseshell at this point. It wasn't that they couldn't win, but one glare from the little tortoiseshell was enough to make the two weaklings instantly back down.

Seeing Lin Ge leave, the little hawksbill turtle nimbly jumped down from the window. It slowly walked up to Lin Ge, rubbed against him a couple of times, and then looked at him with questioning eyes: Why isn't Daddy sleeping in anymore?

"Time to get back to work! After so many days of rest, we need to put in some effort to make our wages worthwhile."

Lin Ge plucked the little hawksbill turtle's head with his paw.

Ignoring where the other cats were, Lin Ge followed the impatient Nie Guoqiang into the police car. Seeing that Nie Guoqiang was in the passenger seat instead of the driver's, Lin Ge knew his leg problem had flared up again. Rainy days were always a time of suffering for him.

The driver was a newly recruited auxiliary police officer from the police station named Huo Guangping. He was over thirty years old, just barely making it into the job, and there was nothing particularly special about him.

So far, the only noticeable advantage he has is his exceptionally smooth driving; there's no jerking or hesitation when starting or braking. Frankly, this guy is better suited to be a boss's driver than a menial auxiliary police officer at a local police station.

Lin Ge looked around boredly the whole way, and soon the police car brought him to Zhanghe Wanda Plaza. Huo Guangping smoothly reversed into the parking space, with the distance between the two sides almost exactly the same, which once again confirmed Lin Ge's identity as his driver.

"Hmm! That guy surnamed Nie has a problem with his legs, so he's using public resources for personal gain by hiring a private driver for himself. No problem with that!"

Lin Ge secretly slandered Nie Guoqiang.

Then the two people and the cat came out of the underground parking lot and went straight to the gold market on the first floor.

The seemingly peaceful shopping mall was suddenly surrounded by a large crowd around a small shop called "Ten Goldsmiths," with a barrier erected at the entrance. Lin Ge unexpectedly spotted Xie Hua's wife, Wan Ying, there. She was wearing a "Ten Goldsmiths" work uniform blazer, accompanied by Xie Hua, wiping away tears at the counter. At another counter, someone who appeared to be the shop owner or a craftsman was angrily speaking to Feng Yi.

Behind him were three female saleswomen, also dressed in uniforms, who were all busy wiping the counter over and over again with their heads down.

Outside the barrier, a female manager of the mall and two security guards were talking to each other while preventing others from getting close.

"Director Nie!"

"Officer Nie!" Nie Guoqiang seemed to be quite famous here. As soon as he arrived, the female manager and the shop owner greeted him together.

"what's going on?"

Nie Guoqiang didn't waste any time. Seeing that Xie Hua was still troubled, he directly asked the shop owner, "You called the police saying that the gold was stolen. How exactly was it stolen? You have so many security cameras in your shop, haven't you found any suspects?"

"It was precisely because the suspect couldn't be found that I had no choice but to call the police for help!"

The shop owner's surname was Gu, and he owned the Ten Goldsmiths shop. Hearing Nie Guoqiang's words, Mr. Gu said helplessly, "To be honest, I was mentally prepared for things to be stolen from my shop. But Officer Nie, you know, gold isn't cheap! If you steal a tiny bead weighing a fraction of a gram, I'd just consider it bad luck and not bother the police station. But this time it's not a large quantity; it would be too stupid of me to just accept my bad luck, wouldn't it?"

"Large shipment?"

Nie Guoqiang raised an eyebrow.

"It is... a gold bracelet weighing over eighty grams."

Wan Ying wiped away her tears, choking back sobs as she said, "I was helping a customer try on a bracelet, and then she took a fancy to another one. So I put the bracelet on the tray, right in front of her. But when I took the other bracelet out from behind the counter, the bracelet on the tray was gone! It was an 80-gram bracelet! At the current gold price of 426, it would cost me over 36,000 yuan to compensate for it. How could I afford that? So I quickly told the boss to stop the other customers next to me and check the security camera footage. But the camera was blocked by my customer, so we couldn't see who took the item from the table. Everyone said they didn't take it, so we had to call the police."

When Nie Guoqiang saw Xie Hua comforting Wan Ying again, he turned to look at Boss Gu.

That's basically it.

Boss Gu wanted to say something, but seeing Nie Guoqiang's expressionless face, he swallowed back what he wanted to say.

"So, what about the suspects?"

Nie Guoqiang looked around and realized that the three customers Wan Ying had mentioned were no longer there. He turned to look at Feng Yi, who shook his head with a helpless smile.

"They were all regular customers, so I couldn't force them to stay. Besides, I scanned them with the store's metal detector and found no gold on them, so I let them go."

Boss Gu quickly offered an explanation.

Upon hearing this, Lin Ge raised an eyebrow.

Nie Guoqiang was also taken aback for a moment. He looked around, giving a special look to the female sales staff, and then glanced at Wan Ying before saying in a deep voice, "So you think this was an inside job? Since the customer didn't take it, it must have been taken by one of our own, right?"

Upon hearing this, the four sales staff, including Wan Ying, were all taken aback.

"I...I didn't say that!"

Mr. Gu turned his head away awkwardly.

Xie Hua suddenly spoke up: "Chief Nie! I rushed over immediately after receiving the report and my wife's call. I also used the store's scanner to scan the four sales staff, and there was no sign of any gold being stolen from them."

Nie Guoqiang remained silent, simply watching Boss Gu quietly.

"But...it might be hidden."

Boss Gu gave an awkward explanation, then stubbornly retorted, "I'm not a policeman. Why are you asking me this? As the boss, it's not wrong for me to have some doubts, is it? Or is it illegal for me to have any doubts, and you want to arrest me first?"

As he spoke, Boss Gu glared fiercely at Wan Ying. This woman had done something stupid, and yet she dared to ask her policeman husband for support?

Nie Guoqiang ignored the scheming gold shop owner, Mr. Gu, and simply walked past him, slowly and patiently inspecting the shop.

He believed Xie Hua and Feng Yi had definitely reviewed the surveillance footage, and he probably wouldn't find any clues from it for the time being. Moreover, since the criminal dared to steal right in front of the surveillance cameras, they must have some means of evading monitoring and detection devices.

After carefully circling the store twice without finding anything amiss, Nie Guoqiang turned to the female manager of the mall outside and said, "Make me a copy of the mall's surveillance footage, including all entrances and exits, and footage from each floor. Huo Guangping, go with me to the monitoring room and see where those three customers went after leaving the jewelry store. Did they leave the mall directly or linger there? If possible, quickly identify them and then call them to come to the scene immediately."

"Hey!"

Upon hearing this, Boss Gu couldn't help but speak up.

Nie Guoqiang looked over, and Boss Gu trembled but still stubbornly said, "They didn't take any gold with them when they left, which proves their innocence, so why bother them? To be honest, Officer Nie, these three are my regular customers, and I have their contact information. But it's precisely because they are regular customers that I can't wrong them! If I ruin our relationship, they won't come back, and I'll be at a huge loss."

"Even if I lose money, can it be as bad as a loss of 36,000 yuan?"

Nie Guoqiang glared coldly, then suddenly realized what was going on and said, "Are you planning to make Wan Ying pay this money? Or are you planning to have your four salesmen pay it too? So, regardless of whether the item is found or not, your losses and customer base can't be affected, is that what you mean?"

"If you do something wrong, you should pay compensation. What's wrong with that?"

Boss Gu muttered something under his breath.

"Ha ha……"

Xie Hua couldn't help but laugh. He broke free from Wan Ying's obstruction and went to Boss Gu, saying, "My wife works here for you, working eleven or twelve hours a day without any overtime pay. Her workload far exceeds that of other employees in this mall, yet she only earns about four thousand yuan a month. Oh! Right, and there's no insurance either. You're asking her to pay thirty-six thousand yuan right off the bat. So, it's only the beginning of the year, and she'll be working for you for free for the next six months?"

"It's not like I lost the things! My loss is real, is it my fault? She did something wrong, why shouldn't she compensate me? Otherwise, you find the things for me! If there's no loss, she doesn't have to compensate, right? To put it bluntly, isn't it because you police officers are useless? Did I call the police just to have you cause me trouble? Huh! I'm the victim here, okay? My things are missing, and you're blaming me?"

Boss Gu argued loudly and forcefully, trying to justify his position.

Upon hearing this, Wan Ying cried even harder.

Lin Ge watched quietly from the side, knowing that the old man's excuses were actually quite unreasonable. But from another perspective, what he said wasn't wrong either; he was just a victim trying to make up for his losses.

Of course, the method is not very ethical.

Moreover, regardless of whether Wan Ying was unlucky or negligent, she did bear some responsibility. If the gold bracelet truly cannot be found, she will certainly have to compensate for some of the loss.

Lin Ge curiously approached Wan Ying.

"Didn't you used to sell clothes on Zhangshi's commercial street? When did you come here to sell gold?"

“Selling clothes only earns three thousand yuan a month, that's too low. Xie Zaiqi is growing up, and it's time to need money. Tutoring classes are expensive, and I wanted to enroll him in a computer class since he's interested, but all of that costs money. But I never expected…”

Whether Wan Ying heard Lin Ge's question or was lost in her own regret, she was heartbroken at that moment.

Soon, the three female customers who had just fled were called back by Feng Yi with a phone call. Seeing that they didn't dare to talk back to the police, and considering that their clothes didn't seem to indicate that they were short of money, Nie Guoqiang had to admit that they were probably not suspects.

Even more angrily, Boss Gu took a receipt from his desk. These three customers had spent nearly 200,000 yuan on gold jewelry from him over the past six months. There was really no need for them to steal for a few tens of thousands of yuan.

"Mimi, do you have any clues?"

Nie Guoqiang could only look at Lin Ge.

There's really no ordinary way to resolve this quickly. It's not that he's helpless, but tracking down the bracelet's whereabouts and figuring out its potential resale won't be something that can be done in a day or two.

(End of this chapter)