Electronic Nezha

Chapter 39 Ma Chaoran

The next part of the video shows Zhang Biao shoving Aunt Xu, sending her tumbling over.

"Oh dear." The two policemen, along with the crowd at the scene, exclaimed, and their gazes toward Old Wang softened.

The girl paused the lesson and explained like a teacher lecturing to her students: "This is Aunt Xu, and the one next to her is her mentally challenged son, Hao Hao."

"Oh—" the two policemen exclaimed in realization.

"Let's continue." The girl resumed playback.

I was sitting directly in front of the girl, and from my angle, I could see that she was looking down and watching the video intently. Her long eyelashes were spread down and almost covered her eyelids, making her look like she was asleep. She was originally a very capable girl, but this made her look a little dazed. I wondered why she would wear false eyelashes when she was already so beautiful.

Then the video took an unexpected turn: Hao Hao hugged Zhang Biao, Zhang Biao kicked him, and Lao Wang stumbled backward, accidentally hitting a durian.

Zhang Biao pointed at the video and shouted, "The murder weapon! That's the murder weapon he used!"

The third-level superintendent asked in bewilderment, "You guys used weapons in your fight?"

The following is about Lao Wang lunging forward and getting a durian on his face!
Duang——

As this scene unfolded, the two police officers suddenly changed their demeanor. The third-level superintendent pinched his mouth shut, while the auxiliary police officer desperately lowered his head and silently slapped the table twice.

Zhang Biao shouted angrily, "Hey! You two!"

I quickly spoke up for the two policemen, saying, "They've been rigorously trained; they won't laugh no matter how funny it is."

"Hahahaha, oh my god!" A burst of laughter erupted from behind the mediation room; it was the market manager who had come along.

Seeing that we all turned around and glared at him, he innocently said, "I haven't been trained, I couldn't help it."

Zhang Biao was a little weak. He regained his composure and continued, "This is the evidence. He hit me with a weapon!"

The third-level superintendent, his face flushed, covered half his face with his hand and asked, "Where is this 'murder weapon' now?"

I spread my hands and said, "Let the audience eat it."

"Pfft—" The two policemen pinched each other's mouths and lowered their heads, each doing their job with practiced ease.

The market manager stroked his chin as he reviewed the incident: "Oh, so that's why someone's fist had a sharp point; it was a durian that hit them!"

Zhang Biao shouted, "Aren't you going to do anything about him destroying evidence?"

Honestly, I didn't think of this aspect when I treated everyone to durian. I simply felt that selling durian that had been poked with a mop was unethical, just like Bai Jingqi burning fake medicine in public.

No one sees the process of preparation, but Heaven knows the intention behind it.

The girl suppressed a laugh and played the video to the end, and everyone watched the rest of the video intently.

Zhang Biao started throwing a tantrum: "Is there no law anymore? If you don't do anything, I'll go to your superiors!"

The third-level police superintendent rubbed his face vigorously to regain his composure and said, "No matter what, you shouldn't have hit that old lady."

Zhang Biao said, "That was me enforcing the law!"

The auxiliary police officer said, "What law are you enforcing by being a security guard?" Zhang Biao was still wearing his security guard uniform.

"I'm not a security guard, I'm a market inspector!"

The third-level police superintendent said, "Then you don't have law enforcement authority either."

Zhang Biao said, "I don't care. Today, the vice mayor led a team to inspect the cold storage. Shouldn't everything be investigated and dealt with strictly?"

The girl suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no, I forgot about that!"

The third-level superintendent said, "What's it to you?"

The girl didn't bother to reply; she picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello, Director Xu, this is Ma Chaoran. Have the vice mayor and the others arrived at the cold storage? What, they've already left? Uh, yes, something came up and I was delayed. See you next time."

Everyone in the room was watching her, speculating about what this girl named Ma Chaoran had to do with the deputy mayor's inspection of the cold storage. Ma Chaoran hung up the phone, then took out an ID and handed it to a third-level police superintendent: "I'm a reporter from the integrated media, this is my ID."

Everyone understood that Ma Chaoran, as a reporter, was originally supposed to accompany the deputy mayor's entourage for the interview, but she forgot about this matter because she was busy filming Lao Wang and Zhang Biao's fight...

"So you're a friend from the media," said the third-level superintendent. "Did our business interfere with your work?"

Ma Chaoran said, "It's alright. One of the duties of a reporter is to uncover the truth."

Everyone in the room was looking at her with eyes that said, "You clearly forgot about the deputy mayor because you were watching the show, didn't you?"

Ma Chaoran calmly took back her identification and said to the two policemen, "You can continue."

The auxiliary police officer asked, "Aren't you going to follow the inspection team?"

"I'll wait until this matter is resolved before I leave."

Zhang Biao said impatiently, "No matter what, he started it first. I demand that you first detain him, then reimburse my medical expenses, and issue a public apology!"

Old Wang said, "You hit Hao Hao first—" He told the police, "That child looks tall and big, but his mental age is less than three years old."

Zhang Biao raised his chin and shouted, "Who saw it?"

Ma Chaoran raised her hand and said, "I saw it." Then she honestly told the police, "But I didn't get a picture."

Zhang Biao said, "That means there's no evidence!"

Old Wang said, "Aunt Xu can be our witness."

Zhang Biao sneered, "It doesn't count that you're in cahoots, unless you get Hao Hao to say for himself that I hit him first, then I'll admit it."

This is where things get complicated. No one can prove that Zhang Biao started it. The fact that the streets were deserted was a later phenomenon. When the fight happened, there were no other witnesses besides Ma Chaoran. There was really nothing we could do about Zhang Biao's shameless behavior.

Ma Chaoran suddenly said, "How about this, I'll post the video on our integrated media WeChat account and let everyone comment—" She said to the two policemen, "Of course, it won't interfere with your normal work. I will definitely adhere to the principles of fairness and impartiality, without making any edits or preconceived notions. You can handle it however you see fit."

This official's jargon was so eloquent that even the police were at a loss for words.

I asked, "Does your WeChat official account have many readers?"

“Not many.” Ma Chaoran answered decisively without the slightest hesitation.

That's normal. Official WeChat accounts are nowhere near as good as those random video accounts. Any random girl using beauty filters and suggestive content can easily outshine them.

“But—” Ma Chaoran said with a smile, “once this issue has enough material, all we need is an attractive title.”

I raised my hand and said, "I'm good at humanities, so I'll contribute one."

Ma Chaoran said, "Go ahead."

"Shocking! Mother and child scavenging for recyclables beaten at market; Alas! Righteous vendor who helped was extorted."

The third-level superintendent waved his hand and said, "The matter is not yet concluded, so don't use words like 'beaten' or 'helped out'."

Ma Chaoran said, "Besides, you didn't show that Hao Hao is an intellectually disabled person. You need to make the audience mentally prepared before they click in."

"Okay, I'll repeat it again: 'Why did the market inspector kick a three-year-old child? Fruit vendors were extorted after paying money to avoid trouble.'"

Zhang Biao said, "When did I ever kick a three-year-old child?"

I said, "Hao Hao is right, I'm on your side—actually, his mental age is less than three years old."

The auxiliary police officer asked, "What do you mean by 'spending money to avoid disaster'?"

"We lost a durian."

Zhang Biao shouted, "You're destroying evidence! Yes, the durian pulp is gone, but the peel is still there!"

I thought to myself that it was probably almost time. It only just dawned on me the look Li Ping gave me as she left. Surely the "Apple Beauty" wouldn't be so lacking in common sense…

(End of this chapter)