About ten minutes later, the sound of heavy footsteps approached.
“Duoduo! Duoduo! I brought the police! Are you alright?”
Xu Bu came running while shouting.
“I’m fine. Those guys still haven’t woken up yet.”
Xu Duoduo grinned widely.
And in just this short amount of time, she had gained quite a lot.
“Oh wow, Xu Duoduo, it’s you again? You’re not dead yet?”
Naturally, the person Xu Bu brought back was none other than Dead Fish Eyes — the officer who constantly dreamed of earning merit and promotions.
Xu Duoduo rolled her eyes at him.
She originally intended to mock him, but suddenly changed her mind.
People like Dead Fish Eyes had to be handled gently.
“Well, since I didn’t die, you didn’t get your achievement completed, right?” Xu Duoduo grinned sweetly. “But now I’ve delivered you three hooligans instead. This time your promotion is guaranteed.”
“Hahaha! Xu Duoduo, you really are my lucky star!”
Dead Fish Eyes became ecstatic.
“I’m telling you — from now on, at the police station, I’ve got your back!”
Together with several other officers, he handcuffed the three unconscious hooligans, slapped them awake, and dragged them back toward the station.
“Come on, little sister. Come back with your big brother to give a statement.”
Right now, Xu Duoduo was practically his biological sister in his eyes.
Anything for merit and promotion.
“And let me tell you something — your grandma really isn’t a decent person. Last night she caused a huge scene at the station.”
“But could I tolerate that? Absolutely not!”
“So I locked her up too.”
“Oh right — your grandpa was squatting outside the station entrance earlier waiting for me to release her!”
Xu Duoduo nearly burst out laughing.
Dead Fish Eyes really was a talent in his own twisted way.
He actually locked up Old Madam Xu too.
Ahh…
The Xu family was really getting a full-body workout this time.
“Duoduo? Why are you here?”
Old Xu had been squatting outside the police station since opening hours, waiting for Dead Fish Eyes to release his wife.
By now it was nearly noon, and his legs were numb while his head spun from crouching too long.
The moment he looked up, he saw Xu Bu holding Xu Duoduo’s hand while walking over.
“You old man really are lucky.” Dead Fish Eyes spoke before Xu Duoduo could answer. “Your granddaughter helped capture three hooligans today. Brave citizen behavior! A model for the people!”
“I’m definitely writing her a commendation letter.”
At this point, Dead Fish Eyes found everything about Xu Duoduo pleasing to the eye.
Even Old Xu looked slightly more agreeable by association.
Once everyone returned to the station, Dead Fish Eyes immediately barked:
“You lot go take statements from the hooligans. I’ll personally take my little sister’s statement.”
He brought Xu Bu and Xu Duoduo into an office and eagerly poured water for them.
“Little sister, sit, sit. Drink some water.” He rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Now tell me — how exactly am I going to earn merit this time?”
“My sister and I went to school today to pick up our high school graduation certificates,” Xu Duoduo began with wide innocent eyes. “Afterward we planned to go to the hospital so I could change my bandages.”
“We took a shortcut through the alley, and those three hooligans blocked our way.”
“My sister ran to the police station for help, and then the brave and heroic Officer You arrived just in time and beat all three hooligans down.”
“That’s what happened.”
Half true.
Half nonsense.
But spoken with absolute sincerity.
“Hehehe. See? That’s why you’re my little sister!”
Dead Fish Eyes slapped his thigh happily.
“That’s exactly how things happened.”
“I’ll go coordinate things with the others first.”
“Can’t let those hooligans off easy after scaring my little sister like this. Especially since my little sister’s already seriously ill!”
You’re the one seriously ill.
Your whole family’s seriously ill.
Xu Duoduo smiled outwardly while silently cursing him inside.
“Duoduo, why would you say things like that?” Xu Bu asked in confusion after he left. “What if the hooligans’ statements don’t match ours?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Xu Duoduo replied calmly. “The fact they were hooligans is already true. Whether the statements match or not changes nothing.”
“The outcome waiting for them will still be the same.”
“Duoduo! Hurry and release your grandma, Eryou, and Sanyou!”
Old Xu finally slipped into the office while all the officers were busy interrogating the hooligans.
“Grandpa?” Xu Duoduo blinked innocently. “Why would Grandma be in the police station? I only reported Eryou and Sanyou.”
“That’s because of your report!” Old Xu snapped. “Your grandma came to the station because she was worried about your cousins and accidentally offended the police.”
“If they hadn’t seriously injured me, would I have reported them?”
“They’re boys!” Old Xu barked angrily. “And what are you? Since when are you so precious?”
“Hurry up and write that forgiveness letter so they’ll release them!”
“Otherwise don’t blame me for no longer recognizing you as my granddaughter!”
Xu Duoduo looked at him coldly.
Selfish.
Heartless.
To him, her life simply wasn’t worth reporting to the police over because she was a girl.
“Then don’t recognize me,” she replied indifferently. “I’m not afraid. I don’t need you to raise me anyway.”
“You little troublemaker! If Eryou and Sanyou failed to beat you to death, then I’ll do it myself!”
Old Xu suddenly raised his hand to strike her.
“Grandpa, don’t!”
Xu Bu instantly threw herself in front of Xu Duoduo.
SLAP!
The blow landed squarely across Xu Bu’s face.
The force knocked her sideways into the washbasin stand nearby.
Crash!
The enamel basin clattered loudly across the floor.
“Duoduo, I was just telling you—”
Dead Fish Eyes returned at exactly that moment.
He stared at Xu Bu sprawled on the floor and the enamel basin spinning noisily nearby.
“Officer, really, I’m terribly sorry,” Old Xu immediately said shamelessly. “My granddaughter’s always been clumsy since childhood. She accidentally knocked over your washstand.”
When it came to throwing blame around, Old Xu would rank second to none.
“My grandpa tried hitting me,” Xu Duoduo immediately cried out. “My sister blocked the slap for me and got knocked to the floor.”
“He was threatening us to change our statements and write forgiveness letters!”
“He also said you wrongfully arrested my grandma!”
“Officer…” Xu Duoduo suddenly sat directly onto the floor and burst into tears. “The hospital already issued me a critical condition notice!”
“My grandpa just said if Eryou and Sanyou can’t kill me, then he’ll beat me to death himself!”
“Isn’t this supposed to be the New Society already?! Why do I still have no human rights?!”
“In this family, they can just decide to beat me to death whenever they want!”
“Maybe I shouldn’t even keep living anymore!”
Meanwhile, Xu Bu climbed up and hugged Xu Duoduo while crying too, deliberately exposing the bright red handprint swelling across half her face.
“Duoduo just helped the police catch three hooligans! They even said they’d write her a commendation letter!”
“So why do you still want to beat her to death, Grandpa?!”
“Don’t be afraid, Duoduo. Big Brother will stand up for you!”
Dead Fish Eyes instantly exploded with righteous fury.
“You old bastard — this girl’s a heroic citizen who bravely helped catch criminals, and you’re saying you’ll beat her to death?”
“What are you? Some poisonous remnant of feudal society?”
“And why’d you sneak into this office?”
“Trying to assault people and steal confidential information?”
“Speak! Are you collaborating with enemy agents?!”
Before Old Xu could react, Dead Fish Eyes grabbed him by the collar and dragged him straight out of the office.
“Big Sister, does your face still hurt?”
Xu Duoduo gently touched Xu Bu’s swollen cheek.
“Why are you so silly? Taking that slap for me?”
“I could’ve dodged it.”
This time, Xu Duoduo’s tears were genuine.
At first, everything she had done for Xu Ergen’s family was simply about escaping the original novel’s tragic plotline.
But now…
the warmth, protection, and sincerity from these “paper characters” had become real.
And somewhere along the way, she had developed genuine familial affection for them.
“Alright, alright, both of you get up now.”
Dead Fish Eyes returned again carrying a thermos.
“I locked your grandpa up too. You can decide how long he stays there.”
Before the sisters could even stand properly, another officer walked into the office.
It was none other than Liu Chuanjia — the son of Uncle Liu from the family living next door to Xu Duoduo’s home.
“What happened here?” Liu Chuanjia asked.
“Deputy Captain, that old man was bullying these two sisters,” Dead Fish Eyes immediately reported. “The one with the bandages is today’s brave citizen who helped catch the hooligans. That old man tried hitting her and—”
“Enough. Go finish taking statements.”
Liu Chuanjia cut him off calmly.
“I know these girls. They’re the granddaughters of the old man you just arrested.”
“Alright then, Deputy Captain, I’ll head out first.”
Dead Fish Eyes forced out a fake smile before leaving.
What was a deputy captain anyway?
His cousin had already told him:
As long as the station chief wasn’t involved, he didn’t need to fear anyone.
Once the door shut, Liu Chuanjia hurried over in a few quick steps and helped Xu Bu up.
“Are you alright? Does it still hurt?”
“Why didn’t you dodge?”
He gently pressed Xu Bu into a chair, grabbed the thermos Dead Fish Eyes had left behind, picked up the fallen basin, poured in some warm water, soaked a towel, wrung it dry, and carefully handed it over.
“Hurry and press this against your face. It’ll swell later.”
Xu Duoduo sat nearby watching everything with sparkling eyes.
Oh ho.
There was still a whole living person sitting on the floor here.
Something definitely seemed suspicious.
“U-Uh… Brother Liu, I’m fine.”
Xu Bu’s face turned completely red.
What was wrong with Liu Chuanjia today?
Flustered, she pushed away the towel he offered and hurried over to help Xu Duoduo instead.
“Big Sister, I’m fine.” Xu Duoduo deliberately accepted the towel from Liu Chuanjia and pressed it back onto Xu Bu’s face herself.
“You should hurry and ice your face instead.”
Mm.
Looks like Big Sister still hadn’t realized anything yet.
Poor Liu Chuanjia still had a very long road ahead of him.