To please others? It's better to please yourself.

It's mid-November now, and it's already dark in the north at this time.

The road leading out of the factory was lined with streetlights, and a huge crowd of people were packed together.

After passing the factory area, the road gradually became dark. Xu Jing'an turned on the flashlight strapped to the handlebars. The road conditions were poor, and there were no streetlights everywhere. Many people suffered from night blindness and had to travel in the dark.

It was rush hour, and there were quite a lot of people. Xu Jing'an slowed down and rode slowly, mainly because she was afraid of exhausting herself.

As they approached the city center, they could see the streetlights again in the distance. Just as Xu Jing'an was about to relax, she heard a series of hurried footsteps coming from a nearby alley.

Wei Cuilian had been working in the countryside for three years, and as she got older, her family finally found her a job this year, allowing her to be transferred back to the countryside for arranged marriages. However, shortly after her return, she heard about the upcoming college entrance exams, followed by a murder. The wedding was postponed because of this!

Hearing that the criminal had been caught, she couldn't wait to put on her new red coat and visit her old friends.

She left in a sorry state, but now she has a good office job and is the partner of a high-ranking official's son. If she doesn't let her friends see it, wouldn't it be like "wearing fine clothes in the dark"?

One in the morning, two in the afternoon, I visited three places in one day. I finally experienced what it means to feel triumphant!

On her way home, Wei Cuilian happily sang a song. But gradually she began to feel uneasy, as if someone was following her.

She walked quickly, and the people behind her followed closely. Suddenly, she turned around and ran towards the nearest intersection. She saw a light source about ten meters away.

The pursuers were getting closer and closer, so she could only run desperately towards the passersby.

……

Wei Cuilian saw Xu Jing'an riding a bicycle. Although she was a woman, she didn't look down on her.

"Help! Help!"

"Comrade, save me, save me!" Wei Cuilian screamed as she rushed over.

Xu Jing'an calmly stopped the car and parked it. From the moment she heard footsteps, the spatial search function automatically displayed information about the two of them.

Without even looking, I knew this matter involved her and wouldn't end well.

When Wei Cuilian saw Xu Jing'an stop, she reached out to pull her behind her.

Xu Jing'an looked at Wei Cuilian approaching and swung the club hard at her face.

With a "bang," Wei Cuilian didn't even have time to scream before she collapsed onto the bicycle and passed out.

Xu Jing'an continued hammering, giving it two more blows with the mallet. As she hammered, she cursed inwardly, "You've got the guts to wear a red coat, but you've got the guts to carry it! Why are you dragging others down with you?" How pathetic was she herself?

Turning around, she saw the man chasing after Wei Cuilian. He was about 1.7 meters tall, wore glasses, and looked thin and not strong.

Xu Jing'an looked at the man walking towards her, one hand on her hip and the other holding a stick, pointing at him menacingly: "What? You two are trying to scam me here?"

The man opposite him looked at Xu Jing'an, whose aura was even more imposing than his own, and was momentarily unsure of what to do.

"Pah! Don't think you can get away with this by staying silent and pretending to be mute. Let me tell you, this isn't over!"

"Damn it, I was riding along perfectly fine and they just snatched my bike. And they were yelling for help? What a load of crap, I could hear them from way over. If you're a man, would it really take you this long to catch her?"

The man, who had initially intended to enjoy the pleasure of toying with his prey, fell even more silent.

"Look at your two 'couple-like' faces! Isn't it obvious that you two have set up a trap? Who are you trying to fool? Do you think I'm stupid?" Xu Jing'an pointed at herself and loudly questioned the other party.

He'd been following her all day, and he didn't know if the woman in the red coat resembled him. But he could clearly sense the woman's disdain for his intelligence, even though it was dark and he couldn't see clearly.

Not wanting to cause any more trouble. "What do you want?" the man asked.

"Are you blind? Do you even need to ask? Pay up! Your wife's still lying on my bicycle, did I smash this heirloom for nothing?"

"What if it breaks? How will my son get married? Have I let you two fool me for nothing? All that talking and wasting my breath?" Xu Jing'an said as she walked towards the other person, occasionally waving the stick in her hand at them.

"Go visit the surrounding villages and towns, everyone knows me, Li Haitang. I'm the kind of person who can handle an egg with ease, and even a sparrow flying by will have its feathers pulled out. You two think you can take advantage of me?" Xu Jing'an leaned to the side, raised her eyebrows, held a club in one hand on her hip, and patted her chest with the other, looking at the other person with a mocking expression.

"How much did you say?"

"How much? Minimum 10 yuan!"

The man was silent for a moment, then took out a bunch of loose change from his pocket and began counting it.

Xu Jing'an tossed the mallet aside and moved closer to him. The man relaxed upon seeing this: "Eight mao, nine mao..."

With a "bang," the man fell to the ground. Xu Jing'an picked up a brick and smashed it twice on his face and head.

After realizing that the man was completely unable to make a sound, she took out a hammer from her spatial storage and began to smash his kneecaps and elbows.

The man in the middle woke up and fainted several times. While he was opening his mouth, Xu Jing'an stuffed a dirty rag she had stored in her spatial storage into his mouth. She was certain that even if he accidentally woke up again, he wouldn't be able to move. She dragged him further into the shadows.

With trembling hands, he stuffed a piece of milk candy into his mouth, took a breath, and stood up, not daring to relax.

Someone is coming.

Xu Jing'an put away her bricks, mallet, and sledgehammer, then turned and went to her bicycle. Holding the mallet, she placed the bricks and sledgehammer on the back seat.

The flashlight beam wasn't very bright. A man in a light green uniform was seen walking towards them.

Before 66, police uniforms were white on top and blue on the bottom; after 66, they were green on top and blue on the bottom. The grass-green police uniforms were very similar to military uniforms. The difference was that the People's Liberation Army's cap badge had a five-pointed star, while the police uniform had the national emblem.

Therefore, you can't tell whether someone is a soldier or a police officer just by looking at their shirt.

"Comrade, what's the situation? Is there anything I can help you with?" The man opposite her took out his ID and handed it to Xu Jing'an. "I'm from the Criminal Investigation Team, my name is Ren Jiahua."

"Officer, you've come at the right time. There's nothing else, just that a couple tried to steal my bicycle, and I took them down."

"Trying to take advantage of me without even asking around? Do you think my reputation as 'Iron Hand Tang' came from nowhere?"

"I've never lost a fight or when it comes to taking advantage!"

The police officer opposite Xu Jing'an, looking at her smug expression, said, "Comrade, we need to understand the specifics first. You'll need to come with me to the police station now to give a statement."

"I'll go check on their injuries first; if they're serious, they'll need to be taken to the hospital."

"That's impossible, I know what I'm doing. I just knocked her unconscious." Xu Jing'an waved her hand.

The police officer opposite glanced at the "tools of the crime" in Xu Jing'an's hand but said nothing.

"Officer, after all this talk, you're not trying to get me to pay up, are you?" Xu Jing'an glared at him.

"Show me your work ID!"

The police officer was getting impatient and handed over his identification.

Xu Jing'an threw away the mallet she had been holding and reached out with her left hand to catch it.

The man opposite her suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her sharply into his arms as if to strangle her.

At the same time, Xu Jing'an held a blackened dagger in her right hand and stabbed it fiercely between his legs.