Hear this life

Three days later, at a dock in Ningbo.

Wen Tingli sat on a bench, occasionally casting a vigilant glance at the crowd opposite.

A few days ago, as soon as she arrived in Ningbo, she went to deliver something according to the address given to her by Head Nurse Liu, but she came back empty-handed. Later, she learned from Head Nurse Liu that her companions in Ningbo were being targeted and they had to change their residence overnight.

The situation has changed, and she can only continue to wait for an opportunity. Last night, Head Nurse Liu contacted her again, saying that the meeting place was changed to near the pier, but there seemed to be a few "tails" following the other party. Head Nurse Liu repeatedly reminded her to be extremely careful during the handover, and if there is any change, she can cancel the plan at any time. After all, Wen Tingli's personal safety is the most important.

Wen Tingli knew that the things in the suitcase must be very important to them. Since she had agreed to help, she had to deliver the things to the other party intact no matter what.

So she discussed countermeasures with Head Nurse Liu overnight.

At dusk today, she arrived at the dock on time and waited for more than half an hour. A man in a gray short coat appeared in the crowd. This man was inconspicuous, but he immediately caught Wen Tingli's attention. It was a hot day, and this man had a dirty towel hanging around his neck.

This was the recognition symbol they had agreed upon in advance.

Sure enough, there were two suspicious figures following the man. Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to her, Wen Tingli moved according to the original plan.

On this side, a group of people were queuing up to buy tickets. Suddenly, a woman screamed miserably. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound in surprise and saw an old lady with white hair tightly grabbing the arm of a middle-aged woman.

"Don't even think about running away! I would recognize you even if you turned into ashes. You heartless person, where did you take my grandson to?"

"What do you mean your grandson? That's my son!" the woman cursed in a trembling voice, "Let go! Your damn son has left me for another woman. If I don't take my own son away, am I expecting him to call someone else his mother in the future?"

"You're talking nonsense! Xiaogui is a descendant of our Li family, and he has to beg for food in our Li family! You shameless thing, you deliberately want to make my grandson a burden, my poor Xiaogui! What sin did you commit to be born in the belly of such a woman?"

The two of them started fighting fiercely. Everyone said that the old lady was unreasonable, but no one stepped forward to stop the fight. They just stood by and watched.

Although the old woman was old, she was still strong. She grabbed the woman's bag with one hand and pulled her hair with the other, pushing the woman back and forth like kneading dough. Although the middle-aged woman was not weak, she was probably not so bold. For a while, she was no match for the old woman. She was grabbed twice on the face without warning, and she cried even more heartbreakingly.

With such a big commotion, it was hard not to attract attention. The man with the white towel around his neck also stopped and looked over there.

The two "tails" behind him glanced at each other and laughed in their hearts, thinking it was the same old trick of "making a feint to the east and attacking in the west".

They wanted to see what new tricks the old lady could come up with this time.

Sure enough, as the fight went on, the blue cloth bundle in the old lady's elbow suddenly opened up, and many bright yellow oranges fell out of it.

Passersby, who had been watching the excitement for such a long time, were more or less fed up with the old lady's behavior, and seeing this, they swarmed to grab the oranges on the ground.

The old lady had no time to care about the fight. She squatted down angrily and tried to hug the oranges in her arms, but the oranges rolled farther and farther in all directions.

"You bunch of bastards, you even want to steal my things!" The old lady was so angry that she stamped her feet on the spot, "Aren't you afraid of being punished by God?"

As she was cursing, she stepped on a banana peel and fell flat on her face in public.

At this point, many people on the dock couldn't help but burst into laughter, and even the two "tails" covered their mouths to hold back their laughter.

In a flash, someone pushed through the crowd and quickly walked up to the "white towel", then pretended to accidentally touch the shoulder with the "white towel", and retreated along the original path. After retreating a few steps, he spread his legs and ran to the other side, clearly holding a suitcase in his hand.

The two shadows seemed to be watching the excitement over there, but they were actually waiting for this moment. They immediately shot out like two arrows: "Stop!"

After a while, they caught up with the man, jumped up from the left and right to knock him down. Knowing that they had caught a big fish, they turned the man over proudly and found that he was a teenager, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, and the suitcase in his hand was empty.

"I, I don't know anything. Someone gave me money and a box..." The boy was so scared that he cried.

The two knew something was wrong, but luckily they hadn't chased far, and the "white towel" was still standing where he was just now. They wiped the cold sweat from their heads, picked up the boy and walked towards the "white towel". Suddenly they felt something was wrong. Although the man in front of them was dressed the same way, he seemed taller than the previous one, and his shoulders were broader.

The two men didn't bother to cover up their tracks anymore, and hurriedly grabbed the man's shoulders and asked him to turn around. Sure enough, he was not the same person.

"You!" They angrily pulled the white towel off the man's neck, "Who gave you this?"

The man was confused: "What? Oh, an old lady gave it to me."

"What old lady?!"

"Just now an old lady gave me ten dollars and asked me to stand here for a while wearing this white towel."

They both turned their heads. There was no trace of the old lady in the crowd. Even the oranges on the ground were gone. Suddenly, a strange explosion was heard not far away. Someone shouted, "Gun! That's a gunshot! Don't move! Get down where you are!"

The two "tails" were worried that there might be accomplices of the other party in the crowd. They thought the gunshots were directed at them and fell to the ground in a hurry. There were a few more explosions, followed by a long silence. Then someone on the other end started cursing, "Damn it! It was clearly a child setting off firecrackers on the street. Who said it was a gunshot? Stand up right here, or I'll give you a good beating."

The two men, still in shock, brushed off the dust on their bodies, and suddenly they shuddered all over to find that the two people they had caught had disappeared.

Now, they were going crazy.

"They are indeed all in the same group!"

"He must not have gotten far. Look, isn't that the big guy from before? Chase him!"

Just at this moment, a young girl dressed as a student came towards them, looking towards the boat as she walked. The two men's minds were full of the big man and the old lady, so they had no time to pay attention to others and they rushed towards that end.

Wen Tingli passed by them just like that and couldn't help laughing in her heart. The two men probably never dreamed that she was the old lady with missing teeth just now.

In order to ensure the success of this operation, she and Head Nurse Liu secretly designed many plans and finally decided on this "serial drama". Thanks to her companions' cleverness, the plan was implemented so smoothly.

Now the old lady's outfit has been packed in a small suitcase and sunk into the sea.

When she reappeared at the dock, she was dressed as an ordinary student, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally accomplished her mission, and could return to Shanghai peacefully.

She boarded the ship with her ticket. The ticket was real, and so was she. The ship was said to be coming from Hong Kong, and would only stop in Ningbo for an hour or two. Its destination was Shanghai, and she had booked the ticket last night.

Suddenly, there was a commotion on the shore, and several policemen ran towards the boat aggressively. Wen Tingli's mind was filled with alarm bells, and she heard these people say, "We saw him escape to the dock, and then he disappeared in the blink of an eye. He couldn't have jumped into the sea in public, so he must have sneaked onto the boat."

It turned out to be another group of people.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, Wen Tingli's heart was in her throat again. She heard the gang say, "Then go aboard and search! Don't forget that this thief is carrying a gun. Anyone with a gun in their bag, or who tries to throw things into the sea, will be arrested first!"

Wen Tingli subconsciously clenched her schoolbag. She never left her gun. Looking at the situation before her, no matter who these people came from, as long as they found guns, she would definitely get into a lot of trouble.

The hateful thing was that the way to get off the boat had already been blocked by them, so she had no chance to slip away in the chaos. Fortunately, there were only four or five policemen on board, and with so many tourists on the boat, she could always find a place to quietly hide the gun.

Unexpectedly, another car drove up to the dock, and seven or eight men jumped out of the car.

The guys on the boat immediately became energized, standing on the boarding stairs and shouting to the people below. The police on the shore also hurriedly followed them onto the boat, and walked onto the deck in a long black line, looking like a swimming black snake from a distance.

Wen Tingli began to sweat coldly on her back. She turned around and found that there was a staircase behind her. She hurriedly retreated to the second floor along the stairs. Then she heard the gang shouting loudly below: "Listen, the big bandit Liu Kai sneaked into this ship. We are here to catch the bandits! Everyone stay where you are, otherwise we have reason to suspect that you are his accomplice!"

The passengers were in a commotion at first, but then they all quieted down. No one dared to move, and for a moment the only sound that could be heard was the people on the deck shouting and yelling.

Wen Tingli had retreated to the second floor by now. The number of cabins on this floor was obviously less than that on the first floor. It seemed that they were all first-class rooms. A few guests who had heard the noise were standing here and there on the deck, all looking down curiously.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wen Tingli had no way to hide the gun, nor could she throw it into the sea.

Hearing the policemen's "bang bang bang" coming towards the second floor, she looked around in panic and suddenly saw a wine barrel in the corridor. She quickly stuffed her gun into it when no one was paying attention.

But she knew that if she continued to stand next to the wine barrel without moving, once the gun was found, people around her would quickly guess that she had hidden the gun. She had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to retreat along the stairs to the third floor. As she retreated, she looked around vigilantly. Fortunately, people's attention was focused on the downstairs and no one turned back to look at her.

When going upstairs, she unexpectedly discovered that there was a small carved wooden door leading from the second floor to the third floor. There was a lock inside the door, as if it was not easily opened on a normal day.

The captain was probably busy dealing with the police at the moment, so the lock was open.

She then successfully pushed open the door and went up to the third floor, which was quieter than the second floor. Strangely, there seemed to be only one cabin on the entire floor. The corridor was covered with scarlet carpet, and a sense of silent nobility was revealed everywhere.

At this moment, there was no one on the third-floor deck. Even though it was so lively downstairs, the guests on this floor had no interest in coming out to take a look.

This was exactly what Wen Tingli wanted, at least no one saw her coming upstairs.

The police below soon discovered the pistol in the barrel and shouted, "Who fired this gun?! They were so quick, did you see who it was?"

No one answered.

"Stand still and don't move!"

Wen Tingli was no longer panicking. No one could prove that the gun was hers. After all, there were no witnesses on the second or third floor. Even if the police thought she was suspicious on the third floor, she could pretend to have been there for a long time. Just then, someone on the second floor said, "Just now, I seemed to see someone hiding on the third floor."

"Just now?"

"Yes, it is."

"It must be someone who hid the gun. Let's go and search!"

Wen Tingli frowned secretly. She had observed her surroundings closely when she went upstairs. She was sure that no one saw her at that time. This person suddenly jumped out to "shift the blame", and it was obvious that he was an accomplice of the bandit leader.

I had planned everything, but I had never expected this. What should I do? !

She was panicked for a moment, then calmed down.

Anyway, the mission had been successfully completed. Even if they found out that she had a gun, what would it matter? Besides, no one could prove that the gun was hers. Even if they took her back to the police station for questioning, she was not afraid. At worst, she could ask Sister Yaqiao to come to Ningbo to bail her out.

Wen Tingli then calmed down completely. She sat down comfortably, leaning against the railing and gazing into the distance as if she was enjoying the scenery. However, this time the noise downstairs finally alarmed the guests on the third floor.

The tightly closed door of the guest room was suddenly opened from the inside.

This situation was unexpected, but it was exactly what Wen Tingli wanted. She turned around and gave the other party a calm smile, while quickly brewing contingency words in her mind.

But when she saw who came out, she froze.

She had seen this face countless times in her dreams.

It was him! The person on the third floor was actually Lu Shicheng!

Lu Shicheng was obviously just as shocked as she was. At this moment, the patrolmen were already coming up the stairs to the third floor. “Who’s up there? Stand still, or we’ll shoot you to death!”

In a flash, Lu Shicheng grabbed Wen Tingli's hand without any explanation and quickly took her back to the room behind him.

Wen Tingli's heart was pounding as she just stared at him. After entering the room, Lu Shicheng didn't ask anything. He glanced her up and down and found that she was sweating all over. As if he guessed what had happened, he opened the closet door and pushed her in.

Wen Tingli had no choice but to pretend that she needed protection and cooperated with him to hide herself.

At this time, the patrolmen outside began to knock on the door heavily.

Lu Shicheng turned around to open the door, and saw the policeman outside with a look of surprise.

"What is this going to do?"

"You kid! Why are you taking so long to open the door? Is there someone hiding inside? Go in and search!" Just as he was about to rush in, he was suddenly stopped by an older policeman.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't know this was Mr. Lu's guest room. Mr. Lu, please don't be offended!" The old policeman spoke with as respectful an attitude as possible.

"I don't care about Mr. Lu. The thief is probably hiding in his room."

"Shut up!" The old policeman was frightened and warned in a low voice, "Even our chief has to give him face. If you keep shouting and offend him, you will have to find a way to explain to the chief yourself."

Lu Shicheng raised his eyebrows slightly: "I understand, do you want to search my room?

He simply stepped aside: "Please go ahead."

“No, no.” Several people waved their hands hurriedly. “We suspected that the big bandit leader Liu Kai was hiding on the boat, so we had to come upstairs to disturb Mr. Lu. Now it’s okay, we will leave immediately.”

"Leave?" Lu Shicheng stopped them seriously, "Since you suspect that the big bandit leader is hiding in my room, how can you not search it? Come on, search it."

Wen Tingli covered her mouth and laughed silently in the closet.

"No more searching, no more searching." The policemen smiled. "Mr. Lu, what reason did he have to hide the bandits in his room? We were stupid and made such a big fool of ourselves. Mr. Lu, please don't bear grudge against us."

Lu Shicheng watched coldly as the group of people left. After they ran away, he waited for a moment to make sure there were no suspicious figures around before closing the door again.

He went straight back to the closet and opened the door.

"Are they gone?" Wen Tingli asked in a low voice in the closet.

"gone."

Wen Tingli slowly moved out of the closet and stopped to look at him.

(End of this chapter)