Chapter 181: Chapter 177: Smash Him with the Package

“Really?” Lin Lan quickly squeezed the brakes. Looking back, she saw a middle-aged man in a blue work uniform fleeing from a dilapidated house, clutching a bleeding wrist.

It reminded her of a scene from a movie. A scene like this usually meant the villain’s weapon had been knocked away by the police or his opponent. Both she and Yang Liying were used to hard work, and she herself knew a little bit of self-defense. The two of them dealing with one injured man should be no problem.

The middle-aged man who had escaped the dilapidated house saw the two women standing in front of him and immediately had an idea. ’I’ll steal the bicycle and run. If I can’t, I’ll take one of them hostage and force the police to let me go.’

Before Yang Liying could shout for Yang Dingbang, she saw the criminal running toward them and cried out, “He’s coming for us!”

Lin Lan said in a low voice, “Hit him with the packages!”

Yang Liying let go of one package, lifted the other, and hurled it with all her might at the charging criminal. The man raised his arm to block it, but not expecting the package’s weight, he staggered and fell to the ground.

Lin Lan rammed her bicycle into his side, then slammed the heavy Dajinlu down on him with a CLANG. She picked up the package from the ground and smashed it on his head. “Die!”

The criminal’s head rang with a BUZZ. Ignoring the bicycle on top of him, he hastily pushed the package away, only for Lin Lan to stomp on his shin. With a sharp CRACK, she broke his leg.

“I’ll kill you!” Yang Liying picked up a broken brick from the ground and smashed it against his head, leaving a bloody hole.

Before the middle-aged man passed out, he glared at the two women, feeling this was a fate worse than death. ’If I’d known it would be like this, I’d rather have been caught by the police than get beaten up by two women.’

Yang Dingbang limped out of the dilapidated house and saw Lin Lan and Yang Liying, panting with their hands on their hips, staring at the unconscious criminal. “Third Sister, Sister-in-law, what are you two doing here?”

He looked at the two of them and thought, ’No wonder the great leader said women can hold up half the sky. Who would have thought this vicious and cunning bastard would be captured by two unarmed country women?’

Lin Lan saw he was in plain clothes and figured he must be on a secret mission, so she didn’t ask any questions. She just pointed to the packages on the ground. “We went to buy fabric.”

Yang Liying saw his leg, rushed forward to support him, and asked worriedly, “Dingbang, are you hurt?”

“I’m fine! First, let’s cuff him.” Yang Dingbang took out a pair of handcuffs. The two women helped him drag the criminal to the roadside and cuff him to a tree. He looked at them. “Are either of you hurt?”

“No!” Yang Liying helped him sit down by the road and looked at his leg. “Dingbang, your leg is bleeding. We should take you to the hospital.”

Lin Lan also glanced at his leg. She opened a package, found a strip of white cotton cloth inside, and handed it to him. “You need to stop the bleeding. You two wait here. I’ll ride to the nearby police station to report this!”

Yang Dingbang took it and wrapped it around the wound. “No need. My colleagues are right behind me; they’ll be here any second.” He thought for a moment, worried there might be other enemy agents lurking about who might seek revenge if they found out. He then said to the two women, “You two should head back first. Don’t tell anyone about what happened today for now.”

Thinking about his line of work, Lin Lan and Yang Liying nodded. “We’ll head back then.”

Yang Dingbang nodded. “Okay. Be careful.”

Sitting on the back of the bicycle behind Lin Lan, Yang Liying said, still shaken, “We spend all our days either at home or in the Eucalyptus Forest, and we hardly ever go out. I never knew criminals out here were so tough they aren’t even afraid of guns.”

Lin Lan suspected the man from earlier wasn’t an ordinary criminal. Recalling the spy movies she’d seen, she thought he might have been a spy. “It’s a good thing we have heroes like Dingbang and his colleagues to get rid of the bad guys for us. That’s the only way people can live and work in peace.”

As she spoke, a saying suddenly came to mind: ’The so-called peace and prosperity only exist because someone is carrying the weight for you.’

Yang Liying agreed. “Exactly. Dingbang’s job is too dangerous. If Grand-aunt finds out, there’s no telling how worried she’ll be!”

Lin Lan nodded. “Let’s not tell Grand-aunt for now, so she won’t worry.”

****

Li Xiangyang rode his bicycle over to Lin Lan’s house to drop off her street-vending equipment. Seeing the courtyard gate was open, he rode straight in.

Wu Shufen heard the noise and came out of the kitchen, beaming at him. “Xiangyang, you’re here!”

“Auntie!” Li Xiangyang said with a smiling nod. “Little Lan went shopping with Sister Zhou. They’ll be back later.”

Wu Shufen’s face crinkled into a smile. “It’s fine. Come in and rest for a bit.”

“I’m not tired!” Li Xiangyang took the equipment off his bike and set it on the steps. He took out the pork belly Lin Lan had asked for, along with two bottles of liquor, and handed them to Wu Shufen. “Where are Big Brother and the others?”

Wu Shufen took them, placed them on a small table, and said with a smile, pointing to the private plot outside, “They’re out digging in the field!”

Li Xiangyang nodded. “I’ll go meet Little Lan.”

“Alright! We’ll eat as soon as you get back.” Wu Shufen carried the pork belly into the kitchen. She felt the steamer; it was already hot. Then she went to check on the duck stew with dried mushrooms in the clay pot.

She scooped some pickled chili and pickled ginger out of a pickle jar, preparing to make a fish dish with pickled vegetables and broad bean paste.

Just as Li Xiangyang was about to reach the entrance of the alley on his bike, he saw Lin Lan riding out. He stopped and looked at the packages Yang Liying was holding, quickly getting off his bike to take them. They were quite heavy. “You bought so much. Was it a good deal?”

“Mhm!” Lin Lan nodded with a smile. “Much cheaper than the department store.”

Yang Liying smiled. “I’ve already looked. The stains on them aren’t bad. We can just wash them when we get back and they’ll be ready to use. I’ve never bought such nice fabric for so cheap.”

“As long as you like it!” Seeing their triumphant expressions, as if they’d found a treasure, Li Xiangyang smiled, placed the packages on the back of his bike, and tied them down with a rope. “Let’s go!”

Lin Lan nodded and patted the back seat of her bike. “Third Sister, hop on.”

The three of them rode back to Lin Lan’s home. Yang Liying greeted Wu Shufen but, despite her insistence to stay, hurriedly left with her packages.

Wu Shufen saw that the packages Li Xiangyang was carrying were much larger than Yang Liying’s. She gave Lin Lan a light tap. “It’s not easy to earn money. You shouldn’t spend it like this, buying so much fabric, even if you have it!”

“They’re all defective goods. It didn’t cost much,” Lin Lan said, glancing at the kitchen. “Where are Douzi and Big Brother?”

“In the private plot. I’ll go call them back for dinner,” Wu Shufen said, heading out of the courtyard.

Lin Lan opened the door to the main hall. As she watched Li Xiangyang put the bicycle inside and place the packages on the Eight Immortals table, she thought about Yang Dingbang’s injury. ’The old lady probably doesn’t know yet.’ “Xiangyang, I’m going to call Grand-aunt and Dandan over for dinner.”

“I’ll go. I’m faster,” Li Xiangyang said, striding off.

Lin Lan took the packages from the Eight Immortals table to her room to put them away. She dragged the table closer to the door, then took down the long benches stacked against the wall and set them up. After that, she went to the kitchen to bring out the dishes.

Arranged on the stove around the edge of the wok were fish with pickled chili and broad bean paste, old duck soup with mushrooms, a basin of braised duck with taro, a large plate of dry-fried pork intestines, cold-dressed celtuce shreds, and stir-fried celtuce leaves.

She swallowed hard. ’Wow, it looks, smells, and tastes amazing. Mom’s cooking is good enough to open a restaurant selling farmhouse cuisine.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep