1994: Starting with unpaid leave

Chapter 165 I Won't Implicate You (Part 2)

The train roared south across the Northeast Plain, its clattering rhythm like tireless drumbeats.

Dong Jianguo's swift and decisive punches, while relieving the immediate crisis, also dropped a bombshell on the other three.

Zhao Hongquan's gaze at Dong Jianguo, a complex mix of awe and fear, completely shattered what had been a relatively relaxed card game.

Li Wan's face is still somewhat pale.

Although she comes from a well-off family, her uncle is a leader in an airline, and she herself has a sinecure in the system, she usually associates with gentle and respectable people.

This is the first time I've ever witnessed someone take down four strong men in a narrow passageway like swatting flies.

Especially after Dong Jianguo finished beating someone, he looked so nonchalant, as if he had just brushed off some dust.

That ruthlessness beneath the calm made her feel both unfamiliar and inexplicably at ease.

"Jianguo, you—you've trained before?"

Shang Chunyan broke the silence, and while fiddling with the playing cards in her hand, she asked cautiously.

Without even looking up when asked, Dong Jianguo replied, "I've never seriously practiced it, it's purely a hobby—"

His words were ambiguous.

"That's amazing!" Shang Chunyan exclaimed sincerely. "I think Jet Li in the movies is just like that."

Zhao Hongquan huddled in the opposite corner, clutching a half-empty bottle of Beibingyang soda, his eyes darting around.

He was quite frightened just now, and although he didn't say anything, he was already thinking about other things.

"Jianguo, I don't think this is over yet."

Zhao Hongquan lowered his voice and glanced furtively at both sides of the aisle.

"Didn't you guys notice? The guy in the baseball cap looked at us like he wanted to tear us apart. People like that definitely have accomplices on long-distance buses like this."

His words immediately turned the atmosphere cold again.

Upon hearing this, Li Wan instinctively clutched her purse, which was made of crocodile skin and had been brought back for her by her uncle from a business trip to the south. It contained her travel expenses and living expenses for her trip to Beijing.

Shang Chunyan was similar; upon hearing Zhao Hongquan's words, she couldn't help but look around.

Every time I make eye contact with someone, I feel like they have ulterior motives and will jump out to steal my wallet the next second.

"So—I'm just supposed to watch them do nothing?"

"this----"

Zhao Hongquan felt a little uneasy.

"Jianguo, that's not what I meant," Zhao Hongquan chuckled awkwardly. "I meant we need to be careful. This train journey takes over twenty hours; who knows what kind of trouble might arise in the middle of the night?"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Shang Chunyan asked.

"How about we don't sleep too soundly tonight?" Zhao Hongquan suggested. "The four of us can take turns keeping watch. Each person can keep watch for four hours, that way even if there's a thief, they'll have to think twice."

The suggestion was approved by Li Wan and Shang Chunyan. Women are naturally insecure, and having someone keep watch at night makes them feel much more at ease.

Dong Jianguo didn't speak, but simply leaned against the hard seat by the window and closed his eyes to rest.

He knew perfectly well that Zhao Hongquan was trying to save face.

However, since everyone has brought it up, he doesn't need to object.

"Okay, it's settled then." Li Wan made the decision. "Jianguo just got into a fight, he must be tired. You go to sleep first when it gets dark. I'll be the first to keep watch."

"No, no, no!" Zhao Hongquan hurriedly waved his hands. "Li Wan, you're a girl, how can I let you keep watch in the middle of the night? Let me do it! I'm young, I can handle it!"

Seeing Zhao Hongquan's "heroic sacrifice" appearance, Dong Jianguo didn't even raise his eyelids and said indifferently, "Whatever."

However, a word of caution: the thieves on this train are most likely a gang that travels on the same train. They have informants and a set routine. They generally don't commit crimes repeatedly in the same carriage. Tonight is most likely safe, so don't scare yourselves unnecessarily.

"Hey, Jianguo, the way you're talking makes it sound like you know everything about thieves." Zhao Hongquan chuckled twice, but in his heart he was even more convinced that Dong Jianguo's background was not clean.

Dong Jianguo was too lazy to explain.

Seeing that Dong Jianguo ignored him, Zhao Hongquan was rebuffed and somewhat sullen.

Soon, it was evening.

As night falls, the hard-seat carriages of the old green train are dimly lit.

Some passengers were snoring, some were chatting quietly, and many more were resting with their eyes closed in the dim light.

Li Wan insisted on taking the first shift, and Zhao Hongquan couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he had to compromise and say that he would take the second shift.

At one o'clock in the morning, most people in the carriage were already asleep.

Zhao Hongquan had confidently declared that he could handle it, but alcohol and drowsiness are the two hardest things to resist in the world.

He drank a few sips of wine in the evening to bolster his courage, and now, with the effects of the alcohol kicking in, his eyelids felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

"Hong Quan, I'm sleepy, it's your turn now—"

"Li Wan, I—I'm going to take a nap, just a little while." Zhao Hongquan yawned, his head nodding slightly. "If there's any movement, wake me up quickly—Jianguo is good at fighting, he'll definitely wake up fast—"

Before he could finish speaking, snoring began.

Li Wan had no choice but to force herself to stay awake.

But how could a girl like her endure such a long night? By three in the morning, her eyelids began to droop.

In the instant her consciousness blurred, several dark figures, like ghosts, silently slid into carriage number 9.

This time, it wasn't those greenhorns from earlier in the day, but real "veterans."

The leader was a man as thin as a bamboo pole, nicknamed "Old Monkey".

He was the "big brother" in the baseball cap from earlier that day. The arrest of those people during the day had caused him to lose face in front of his peers, and he directly blamed Dong Jianguo for it.

"That's the table." The cunning monkey pointed to the four people who were still fast asleep. "That guy is the one who beat up our brothers."

"Monkey, are we still going to make a move? That kid looks like he knows his stuff." One of the henchmen next to him was a little wary.

"Practice my ass!" the old monkey spat. "That's a green train, not a boxing ring! No matter how good he is, can he withstand our 'Bewitching Incense'?"

As he spoke, he pulled a small bamboo tube from his pocket, which contained spices mixed with ether.

Their plan was simple:

Under the cover of night, they used sleeping potion to knock the people unconscious, and then stole all the valuables from these four people.

Even if it's to vent his anger for his apprentice.

Old Monkey made a gesture, and one of his underlings took a pipe from his waist and lit the specially made "incense" inside.

A wisp of smoke, carrying a faint, sweet aroma, drifted slowly down the passageway.

At this moment, Li Wan's head was nodding off, and she had completely fallen asleep.

Zhao Hongquan, on the other hand, was sleeping like a log, with drool still hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Shang Chunyan was fast asleep, her head resting on the table.

The monkey-like group crept closer, their movements as practiced as if they were strolling in their own living room.

They didn't even glance at Dong Jianguo, reaching directly for Li Wan's crocodile skin bag on her lap and Shang Chunyan's coat hanging on the coat hook.

The entire process was conducted without making a sound.

Just as the old monkey's hand touched Li Wan's bag strap, a large hand, like an iron clamp, suddenly emerged from the darkness and gripped his wrist tightly.

"Ouch!"

The monkey was in so much pain it almost cried out.

He looked up and saw that Dong Jianguo had sat up straight at some point, his eyes, which looked particularly deep in the dim light, were staring intently at him.

"You still dare to steal?!"

Dong Jianguo's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a thunderclap, instantly waking up several lightly sleeping passengers in the carriage.

The monkey spirit's expression changed drastically. He suddenly pushed the bamboo tube in his hand, and a thick smoke rushed straight towards Dong Jianguo's face!

"court death!"

Dong Jianguo snorted coldly, and instead of retreating, he advanced, tilting his head to dodge the smoke, and grabbing the monkey's face with his other hand.

"withdraw!"

The monkey shrew was a ruthless character; seeing things were going badly, he immediately lashed out with a razor blade!

But Dong Jianguo was faster. In the narrow aisle, Dong Jianguo moved like a nimble fish, crouching down and slamming his shoulder into the monkey's chest.

With a crisp "crack," it was unclear whether a rib had broken or something else.

The monkey spirit screamed and flew backward, crashing into the small table in the middle of the aisle with a loud bang.

This completely jolted Zhao Hongquan and the other two awake.

"What happened? An earthquake?!"

Zhao Hongquan suddenly woke up, rubbing his eyes, still not understanding what was going on.

Then you see Dong Jianguo standing in the aisle, holding a skinny man whose torso is hanging under a seat.

The henchmen brought by the monkey spirit were so frightened by their leader's capture that they turned and ran away, disappearing instantly at the end of the carriage.

"Jianguo? What—what's going on?" Li Wan was terrified and grabbed Shang Chunyan's hand tightly.

"It's nothing, just a few rats." Dong Jianguo tossed the half-conscious monkey on the ground like a dead dog. "Awake?"

"Once you're awake, come with me to find the train police."

Zhao Hongquan then realized that he had been sleeping like a log, and that Dong Jianguo had single-handedly resolved the crisis.

His face flushed red and then turned pale. Instead of feeling grateful, he felt a surge of anger rising within him.

"Jianguo, you've been far too reckless!" Zhao Hongquan suddenly spoke up, his tone accusatory. "Look at the state you've left him in! If someone had died, none of us would be able to go to Beijing!"

Dong Jianguo was about to pinch the monkey's arm when he heard this and stopped in his tracks.

He slowly turned his head and looked at Zhao Hongquan, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Zhao Hongquan, are you still half asleep?"

"I'm not confused!" Zhao Hongquan retorted, his voice rising and falling, perhaps out of guilt or jealousy. "I'm saying, we're respectable people going to the capital to study! Not to fight! Look at you, you started hitting someone on the very first day we got on the train, and now you've seriously injured someone in the middle of the night. Are you trying to drag us down with you?"

"Damage me?" Dong Jianguo asked as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

He pointed to Li Wan's bag, which had been cut open. If he hadn't woken up early, the money inside would have been stolen long ago.

"If I hadn't woken up, they would have stolen even your underwear by now. And you're going to blame me for meddling?"

"You—you're just making excuses!" Zhao Hongquan was speechless, only able to point at the old monkey on the ground with a fierce but weak expression. "Anyway, you're the one who hit this person, it has nothing to do with us! When the police come, you can explain yourself!"

Upon hearing this, Li Wan frowned immediately: "Zhao Hongquan, how can you say that? If it weren't for Jianguo, we would have been robbed clean by now!"

"Li Wan, you've been deceived by him!"

Zhao Hongquan became anxious: "Think about what he did in Hechengqian—"

"Snapped!"

A crisp slap echoed throughout the carriage.

Everyone was stunned.

It wasn't Dong Jianguo who hit him, but Li Wan.

Li Wan was trembling with rage. Pointing at Zhao Hongquan, her voice shaking, she cried, "Zhao Hongquan, you bastard! Jian Guo helped us! How can you blame him?! You—you're so ungrateful!!"

Zhao Hongquan covered his face, looking at Li Wan in disbelief, then at Dong Jianguo.

Dong Jianguo merely glanced at him coldly, his gaze as if he were looking at a pile of garbage.

He ignored Zhao Hongquan and dragged the half-dead old monkey like a dead dog to the train police room.

When the train police officers saw him arrest another thief in the middle of the night, they began to doubt Dong Jianguo's identity.

"Bro, you're not some anti-pickpocketing operation sent to the car for backup, are you? —"

"You wouldn't believe it, there are sometimes more thieves on this train than we are the train police. One group gets off at each stop, and another group gets on, like flies, you can't shoo them away—"

"I'm just an ordinary citizen—by the way, could you get me a sleeper berth?! Just enough so I can rest until dawn—"

""

Upon hearing Dong Jianguo's words, the train police officer didn't hesitate and immediately offered to take him to his berth.

Back then, trains weren't strictly regulated. You could always find a seat halfway through the journey; you just had to ask the train attendant.

"Just when you ask the flight attendant, you have to give them something in return."

"Officer, I need to get my luggage—"

When Dong Jianguo returned, he saw Li Wan still sulking with Zhao Hongquan and smiled, "Forget it, you're all colleagues, why get angry over an outsider like me?"

"Jianguo, that's a bit of an overstatement. You're still my high school classmate!"

Li Wan said dejectedly.

Seeing Lin Yuan reach for his travel bag on the overhead rack, he was immediately taken aback: "Jianguo, what are you doing? Aren't you going to Beijing?!"

"I'll find another place to sit, so I don't cause you any trouble—"

"Ugh!"

After hearing this, Li Wan glared at Zhao Hongquan again, and then got up to get her suitcase.

"What are you trying to do now?!"

"I'm not staying here either! I'll move with you!"

"Oh dear, Wanwan, we're supposed to go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau together for training when we get to Beijing. Now that we're separated, what will we do for the reporting process?"

Shang Chunyan was somewhat worried.

"Don't worry, I'm a grown man, I won't get lost! We'll meet at the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce!"

"Well—okay—then be careful and come back to us if anything happens."

At first, she thought Dong Jianguo was a good person, especially when she first caught the group in baseball caps. She thought Dong Jianguo was a perfect knight-errant.

The events that just happened made him suddenly realize that while being a chivalrous knight-errant is cool and righteous, it also means being surrounded by all sorts of trouble.

It's best to mind your own business when you're out and about, otherwise, with waves of pickpockets on the bus, who can withstand it?