"I get it!" Li Kang said with a wry smile, tapping his temples. "You're really something else, Mr. Zhu. You've always got one scheme after another!"
As he spoke, Li Kang suddenly remembered the description he'd always heard about Chu Bamboo: 'He leaves nothing to chance.'
"I'll go talk to Old Lu when I get back. Maybe I can open... an opportunity for you on that front!" Halfway through his sentence, police sirens blared again in the distance.
"The patrol officers are here!" Ning Linglong sighed in relief, then grumbled indignantly, "Took them long enough! How long have we been here? Is it just like in the movies, where the cops only show up to clean up the mess after everything is already over?"
"Um, ma'am," Wall Announcements said, having finally lost all patience, "we're patrol officers, too!"
'We might be a special unit, but we're still cops.'
"Oh... are, are we?" Ning Linglong asked, looking completely lost.
The corner of Wall Announcements's mouth twitched in frustration. He could only fume silently and get back to work.
With a peculiar expression, Li Kang watched Wall Announcements drag a few unconscious robbers over to the patrol officers in the distance to brief them and hand over the suspects.
'Li Kang really wanted to interrogate these guys himself, but the sensitive nature of the Captain's Office meant he couldn't just haul them away. The most he could do was have his people "supervise" while the Police Chief Bureau conducted the interrogation, and perhaps add a few extra... methods.'
Once he was sure everything over there was under control, Li Kang turned back. His gaze shifted between Chu Bamboo and Lu Muxue, and he said meaningfully, "There's a lot more I'd like to discuss... but it seems you have some urgent business to take care of right now!"
And with that, he departed.
The scene fell quiet.
"You..." Lu Muxue opened and closed her mouth a few times. 'What am I supposed to say?'
'This was a first for Lu Muxue. Usually, it was some well-to-do man materializing out of thin air, using any and every excuse to strike up a conversation with her.'
"You should go back to your dad and put in a good word for me! Try to talk some sense into that stubborn old coot." Chu Bamboo gestured as he spoke. "I mean, seriously, if your old man hadn't been acting like some feudal patriarch and driven you to run away, would you have needed to sneak out to meet your mom just to unlock a black card and pull out a ton of cash? And if you hadn't, would you have gotten into this mess in the first place?"
"When you look at it that way, this whole mess is your dad's fault! Aren't you going to go back and give him a piece of your mind?"
Chu Bamboo knew Lu Muxue quite well. She might be older than him, but perhaps because her family had spoiled her rotten, she still had the naivete and cluelessness of a college student from his previous life. Right now, she was even going through a rebellious phase.
'Yup... the kind of naive thinking that goes, "I'm going to run away from home! If something bad happens to me, my father will definitely regret giving me the cold shoulder!" It was that sort of childish idea.'
"...You have a point!" With a flash of insight, Lu Muxue smacked her fist into her palm. She shot Chu Bamboo an appreciative glance. The distraction had completely dispelled her awkwardness and reserve, revealing her true, adorkable self. She strode forward breezily and clapped him on the shoulder. "I can't believe you get me so well!"
"Hey, you want to come work for me... er, that's not what I mean. I mean, you know, like in those popular Kung Fu novels! Like that one, *The President's Personal Supreme Expert*! I might not be a president just yet, but I will be someday. So, how about you..."
"*The President's Personal Supreme Expert* is nowhere near as good as *Dragon King's Son-in-law*!" Chu Bamboo recommended with a solemn expression. He was screaming internally. 'While those two are technically Kung Fu novels, they're really more of a sub-genre... a very, very niche one.'
'Besides, among the middle and upper classes in this day and age, this kind of novel was a hobby at the very bottom of the cultural food chain... kind of like being an anime fan back around 2010? It's not like you'd be a social pariah, but it was definitely...'
"You read them too?" Lu Muxue's eyes lit up, and she grew even more excited. "Wow! I thought I was the only one who liked this stuff... I always have to be super sneaky whenever I go buy the books..."
Chu Bamboo: "..."
'No, no, no, plenty of people like to read them! But for someone of your status and gender... the number of people you'd meet in your social circles who are into this kind of stuff is, well, I wouldn't say nonexistent, but it's as rare as finding a unicorn.'
'With your background, you must've been a guy for several past lives and only just reincarnated as a woman! How else could you have a hobby like this?'
...
"Vice Captain Ning!" Li Kang called out, watching the scene with great amusement from the sidelines. His hearing was naturally sharp, but he was deliberately not eavesdropping, choosing instead to enjoy the silent film and provide his own running commentary. "I might have withdrawn, but what are you withdrawing for? Get in there, already! That's the blind date your father set up for you. Doesn't watching this make you feel the least bit bitter?"
"..." Ning Linglong remained stone-faced, suppressing the urge to curse him out. 'Have you been watching too many primetime soap operas?'
"He's too good!" Wall Announcements muttered, watching Chu Bamboo with an envious pout. "It's not fair! How did he get on her good side so fast with just a few words? Seriously, what's his secret...?"
"Shut your mouth!" Guan Fei's expression changed in a flash. He balled his fists, pressed them to either side of Wall Announcements's temples, and unleashed the Double Poison Dragon Drill, roaring, "I will not allow you to speak ill of Father Bamboo!"
"AGH? NGH-AAAAAAAGH, Brother Guan, have mercy! Mercy, Brother Guan!!!"
Li Kang's smile slowly vanished. He was finding it hard to keep his composure. 'This team is impossible to lead.'
'My team is made up of a devout "Bamboo Filial Piety," a "Ning Fengxian" who wants to usurp my position as captain, and a clueless rookie who's permanently out of the loop and always asking, "What's going on?" or "Why'd you guys leave me behind again?"'
Suddenly, an alarm on Li Kang's person went off. His expression flickered, and he shouted to Chu Bamboo in the distance, "Something's come up, I have to go! If you need anything, head to the Third District Police Chief Bureau! We should be back there in a little while... You can wait for us there..."
Ning Linglong was even faster. The moment the alarm sounded, she dove into their steam car and slammed her foot on the accelerator.
Li Kang was lightning-fast. Guan Fei, despite his bulk, moved with an agility that defied his massive frame. That just left...
"Wait for me! I'm not on yet!" Wall Announcements cried, barely managing to grab the door handle as the steam car roared to life. He yelped as he was dragged along with it.
"PFFT!" Lu Muxue watched them speed away. She tried her best to hold it in, but finally let out a laugh. "Are those guys comedians or something?"