Gu Ting was also quite surprised. She stepped aside to let them in and said with a smile, “Officer Yang, what brings you to the Xiqiong District?”
The Officer Yang before her could absolutely be counted as an old acquaintance. He had been there when she called the police to arrest Er Dao and Da Wei, the two kidnappers; he had been there during yesterday’s ancient tomb rescue; and he had still been among the group that later went to the rental house to gather evidence. Therefore, Officer Yang could be called a witness to Gu Ting’s “legendary life.”
Officer Yang was faintly excited. He quickly scanned the surroundings, and seeing no sign of the child, he replied in a low voice, “I was just transferred to the Xiqiong District today. I didn’t expect to run into an acquaintance on my very first day. Is that little girl named Pan Ruoling still asleep?”
Gu Ting replied, “She didn’t go to sleep until one or two in the morning, so she’s probably not awake yet.”
Officer Yang expressed his understanding. “Let her sleep a bit longer. We’ll record the information first.”
Gu Ting found her own disheveled appearance a bit unbearable, so she said, “Give me a few minutes. I’ll freshen up and be right back.”
After washing up, Gu Ting emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed, only to find that this time, not only did Officer Yang have a trace of a strange, affectionate glow in his eyes, but even the female police officer meeting her for the first time, Officer Wu, was wearing a smile with that same affectionate light gleaming in her eyes. It left Gu Ting’s head filled with question marks.
She touched her face. “Did I not wash my face clean?”
Officer Yang chuckled. “I was just telling Old Wu that within three days, five heavily wanted fugitives fell at the hands of Miss Gu Ting! This is equivalent to helping us crack over a dozen major cases all at once! Clearing out dark forces like Ding Chong and protecting the safety of the people—Miss Gu deserves a share of the credit!”
Officer Wu looked at her with a gaze filled with awe and appreciation. A thousand words ultimately converged into a single sentence: “If only I had Miss Gu’s luck. Catching a few criminals every day and throwing them into prison—if it kept going like this, why would we ever have to worry about social instability?”
Officer Yang encouraged Officer Wu from the side. “Then once we’re done with business, you should grab Miss Gu’s hand and shake it a couple of times to rub off some of that luck. Miss Gu’s financial luck these past two days has been excellent too; she’s even made the news headlines. Rubbing off a bit more will do you good.” If he weren’t a man, he would absolutely never let this opportunity slip by.
When it came to metaphysics, whether it worked or not, you might as well give it a shot. After all, rubbing off a bit of luck cost nothing, and you wouldn’t be swindled.
Gu Ting thought they were just joking, but Officer Wu clenched one hand into a fist and said with deep conviction, “Old Yang has a point. We must grasp both sides firmly with a strong grip—criminals and wealth, I want them both!”
Gu Ting couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth twice.
After the three of them conversed for a while, Officer Yang and his colleague basically mastered Pan Ruoling’s information. However, to their surprise, when checking Pan Ruoling’s identity information in the system, they couldn’t find a matching record. This meant that for the time being, there was no way to contact her parents or relatives.
While the three were analyzing this in low voices, Pan Ruoling had gotten out of bed at some unknown point and stood noiselessly behind Gu Ting. “Big liar!”
The two words were shouted with resounding force and great conviction.
Gu Ting whipped her head around, meeting Pan Ruoling’s wide eyes, which were filled with a mix of grievance and anger. Instead of getting angry, she replied with utter shamelessness, “First lesson of society: Human Hearts Are Sinister.”
Pan Ruoling bit her lip tightly, staring fixedly at her with a pair of eyes that closely resembled a furious yet heartbroken little lion cub. As she stared, tears unbiddenly began to well up in her eyes.
Gu Ting had originally only wanted to tease her and blur past it, but who would have thought the little girl would genuinely be heartbroken? Now, she found herself at a bit of a loss, and could only desperately try to make amends. “…A child as big as you wandering outside alone is too dangerous. I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. You have to believe that the police uncles and police aunts sincerely want to help you. If you have any grievances, you can tell them, and they will definitely find a way to help you!”
Officer Wu also chimed in to persuade her, saying softly, “Lingling, Auntie knows you’ve suffered some grievances, which is why you’re unwilling to go home. But running away like this means not just your dad, but your grandfather, grandmother, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, as well as your good friends, classmates, and teachers must all be extremely worried about you. Why don’t you tell Auntie the phone number of the person closest to you? Auntie will contact them just to let them know not to worry, alright?”
Pan Ruoling sat on the sofa, lowering her eyes to stare at the tips of her toes. Only after a long while did she lift her face, revealing a pair of red eyes that resembled a rabbit’s. “Auntie, I know that as long as you contact someone, my dad will definitely find out. If my dad really cared about me, he would have found me long ago. Since he doesn’t care about me and doesn’t want me as his daughter, why should I go back?”
With that, she stood up and said, “Police Auntie, Police Uncle, thank you for your concern. I’ve made up my mind. At worst, I’ll just continue to wander.”
Officer Wu and her colleague exchanged a sigh. Although Pan Ruoling spoke very logically, her last sentence still exposed her naive core. A seven- or eight-year-old girl thinking about wandering alone simply had no concept of how dangerous society could be.
Officer Wu and Officer Yang went through another round of earnest and well-meaning persuasion, but the little girl repeated only one sentence over and over: “I don’t want to go home!” It left Officer Wu and her colleague rather frantic. In the end, having no other recourse, they could only pin their hopes on Gu Ting.
Gu Ting understood what the looks from the two meant. Bracing her arms, she said to Pan Ruoling with no small amount of exasperation, “Wander? What do you mean wander? A kid the size of a fart skipping school and not going home, yet talking about wandering! Don’t worry, over at my place, you’ll still get three meals of instant noodles a day…”
Before she could finish speaking, she had already drawn sideways glances from Officer Wu and Officer Yang. Gu Ting felt inexplicably guilty, thinking to herself: Is instant noodles really that lacking in nutrition? When she was in high school, instant noodles were considered a luxury, and the price of instant noodles had gone up now. She could only add with grand generosity, “Instant noodles with marinated eggs and ham sausages—all you can eat!”
The two officers: “==” Can she really take proper care of a child?
Pan Ruoling didn’t speak, but her eyes grew brighter than before. Although Gu Ting had lied to her, she had also carried her home from outside, which showed she was still very kind-hearted.
Pan Ruoling refused to cooperate, but it was evident she felt a certain reliance on Gu Ting. Officer Yang and his colleague had no choice but to temporarily entrust Pan Ruoling to Gu Ting’s care, waiting until Gu Ting could dig up useful information from her, or until Pan Ruoling’s father issued a missing person’s notice, so they could connect with her relatives.
Gu Ting took the opportunity of seeing the two downstairs to chat with Officer Yang and his colleague for a while. Apart from Pan Ruoling’s matter, she also inquired about when the reward money for arresting Er Dao and Da Wei last time would be distributed. Officer Yang said it would probably take within five working days after the holiday. Getting an answer, Gu Ting felt at ease.
Before leaving, Officer Wu even held Gu Ting’s hand for a long time without letting go, and even Officer Yang shamelessly shook hands with Gu Ting.
Gu Ting was left caught between tears and laughter by the behavior of the two. Though she felt it was of little use, as long as they were happy, it was fine.
Returning upstairs, Gu Ting saw Pan Ruoling sitting at the table. Before her was a bowl of seafood-flavored instant noodles, along with a marinated egg and a ham sausage.
Gu Ting walked forward and took her hand, offering a helpless smile. “I was just joking, yet you took it seriously? Come on, let’s go downstairs and treat you to soup dumplings, and we’ll bring a portion back for your Sister Mengmeng.”
Lin Mengmeng could truly stay up at night and truly sleep during the day; even such a large commotion hadn’t woken her up.
Pan Ruoling didn’t care in the slightest that she was wearing excessively baggy clothes. She followed Gu Ting downstairs with light steps to eat breakfast, as she hadn’t eaten meat for several days.
Beneath the residential building was a savory meat bun shop. There were quite a few customers in the morning, and the shop was packed to the brim, full of the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Gu Ting bought two portions first, and she sat down with Pan Ruoling at a small table to eat. The little girl picked up a savory meat bun and began to gorge herself on it. Seeing how heartily she ate, Gu Ting also picked up a savory meat bun. Taking a bite, however, she knit her brows—the texture of the bun filling was a bit stiff. Why didn’t it feel like eating meat, but more like eating paper?
She immediately tore the bun open to look at the meat filling inside. Then, her expression shifted from suspicion mixed with disgust to shock mingled with disgust—there was meat filling, but there was paper too. A pink slip of paper was wedged inside the meat filling. She leaned closer to look closely; it was actually a folded 100-yuan note?
Gu Ting: “…” Do buns have their own personalities these days?
Holding the bun, Gu Ting went to find the boss. “Boss, do your buns even come with extra cargo?”
The boss was handling the cash register. Hearing this, he cast a swift glance. Once he saw clearly, he peeked at Gu Ting with a look that seemed to view her as an idiot. “Little girl, if I were you and bit into money, I’d keep quiet and keep it for myself. Why come to me? Could it be that one hundred yuan isn’t enough to compensate you?”
Gu Ting snorted with a smile, her voice raising: “Boss, shouldn’t you offer me an apology instead?”
“I offer an ap—” Halfway through his sentence, the boss looked like a chicken caught by the neck by fate. Without much of a struggle, his attitude underwent a massive shift. With astonishing speed, he drew a stack of bills from the drawer and stuffed them into Gu Ting’s hand, while simultaneously apologizing with a doleful face, “I apologize, I’m sorry. Please forgive me, beautiful lady, is this enough?”
Holding the money, Gu Ting returned to her seat utterly bewildered. Just as she sat down, she saw a crowd of people arrive at the door. They wore uniform attire and walked up to the boss, saying, “Market Regulation Department, routine inspection.”
The boss bowed and scraped with a smile. “Inspect as you please. My shop has always been perfectly clean, doing business upright and proper. I guarantee there won’t be any issues, heh heh heh…”
Gu Ting: “…” The boss ought to publish a few books: “How a Dishonest Merchant Is Refined,” “The Self-Cultivation of a Dishonest Merchant,” and “Five Ounces of Morals, Three Pounds of Face.”
Emerging from the bun shop, Gu Ting counted the money in her pocket. It was exactly six hundred yuan, no more and no less. Adding the bill from inside the bun, it totaled seven hundred yuan.
A free breakfast plus picking up several hundred yuan for nothing—Gu Ting decided that since it was early morning, she would forgive the boss this once. To know one’s fault and give money is the greatest virtue.
After finishing breakfast, Gu Ting and Lin Mengmeng had no choice but to bring Pan Ruoling along with them to ChengGong Entertainment. While they were practicing their dance in the dance studio, Pan Ruoling’s interest was piqued. She couldn’t sit still for a single moment and secretly followed behind them to dance along.
This made Min Qingluo even more depressed. It was bad enough that her dancing talent was inferior to Gu Ting and Lin Mengmeng, but now even a seven- or eight-year-old girl danced better than she did.
Gu Ting wasn’t dancing terribly seriously. She couldn’t blame herself; she had to blame that little siren called money. Ever since unlocking her daily “money-picking” routine, her desire to become a superstar had grown increasingly lackluster. After all, whether it was signing with an entertainment company to be an artist or being an online livestreamer, neither was her first choice.
As she danced, Gu Ting felt a few pairs of eyes staring at her. Looking toward the door, there were indeed two people. One was Luo Yuan, and the other man was dressed very fashionably and was quite handsome. Except when Gu Ting’s gaze met his, the other party’s eyes gleamed with coldness.
Gu Ting secretly muttered a few words with Lin Mengmeng, only then learning that the other party was Lin Yi—that piece of dog-hide plaster that couldn’t be shaken off. However, by the time Gu Ting looked again, the other party had already departed.
During the break, Luo Yuan approached with a face full of smiles, his loud voice exerting its power once more: “Tingting, I heard you paid back the 5.5 million all at once? That’s just wonderful!”
Gu Ting didn’t panic in the slightest. Taking a sip of water, she turned around, her gaze as resentful as a female ghost’s. “Brother Luo, the fans in the livestream room last night all said that you helping me pull strings to borrow this 5 million was digging a pit for me.”
The smile on Luo Yuan’s face seemed to freeze, swiftly changing into a look of grievance. “Tingting, how can you believe the words of netizens? What do they know about the beginning and end of the matter? Besides, back then you were at a dead end and begged me, which is why I helped you. You can’t not only fail to be grateful, but instead turn around and place the blame on me!”
Gu Ting had a look of utter misery. “Brother Luo, you really shouldn’t have helped me borrow money back then. Without you, I couldn’t possibly have borrowed 5 million. Without borrowing 5 million, Li Xingzhou wouldn’t have fled, and I wouldn’t have shouldered a debt of 5 million along with exorbitant interest… I was truly ruined by you!”
Luo Yuan had a constipated expression on his face. After a good while, he finally said, “Haven’t you paid it all back anyway?”
“What did I use to pay back this 5.5 million? It was nothing more than robbing Peter to pay Paul…” Just as she was speaking, a piece of breaking news suddenly flashed onto the television inside the dance studio, instantly stealing Gu Ting’s attention.
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