S City Public Security Bureau.
As the director of the S City Public Security Bureau, Li Jianshu was swamped with work every day.
“Director Li, no matter how busy you are, you still have to eat. I ordered too much takeout today—let’s eat together.”
Li Jianshu rubbed his head and agreed.
The higher-ups demanded a crackdown on illegal activities such as prostitution, gambling, and drugs. Drugs were, of course, the top priority, but prostitution and gambling were headaches. These establishments were often hidden in narrow alleys, and without someone to lead the way, the police might not even find them. Even if they did, gathering evidence was difficult, especially for gambling. Those involved were as slippery as eels, and without ironclad evidence, their intricate networks of connections made them hard to deal with. Li Jianshu was determined to clean things up, but reality had dealt him a heavy blow.
Li Jianshu had a habit of checking his phone for messages and emails while eating. As usual, he first opened the message inbox and found an address sent from an unfamiliar number. The message explained that it was the location of Lei Tian’s gambling den and suggested he check his email for proof, along with some “gifts.”
Instead of feeling elated, Li Jianshu felt a chill run down his spine.
Someone had managed to send a message directly to his phone and even attach an email! If this person wanted to commit a crime… But Li Jianshu still opened the email as instructed.
It contained a long surveillance video.
Surveillance footage? Li Jianshu frowned but closed his phone within 30 seconds.
“Let’s go, we’ve got work to do!”
The person sitting across from him stuffed the remaining steamed bun into his mouth, put on his jacket, and followed Li Jianshu without a word.
“Don’t move! Nobody move! Hands up!” Police officers swarmed in, each holding a gun and ready for action.
They had suffered enough from Lei Tian. Many knew he was up to no good, but catching him was difficult. The location was incredibly well-hidden, tucked away in a maze of alleys with a hotel in front. If not for the detailed information received on their boss’s phone, they might never have found it.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“Hey, don’t push me!”
…
The gambling den descended into chaos.
“Take them all away, every single one!”
Everyone in the den, whether they looked innocent or not, fell silent. Even Lei Tian raised his hands with a grim expression.
What could he do when the cops had raided his base? He could only wait for an opportunity to escape. Money could be earned again, but if he got caught, he’d be finished.
He had committed many crimes and even changed his name before. If he wasn’t caught, he’d be fine, but if he was caught and his past was uncovered, he might never see the outside world again.
The only silver lining was that the police probably didn’t have his photo. With so many people in the den, he shouldn’t stand out.
But no one expected that in such a situation, someone would dare to speak up.
“I’m not leaving! Who’s going to give me back my five thousand yuan? Officer, I don’t want these chips—I want my money!”
“Brother Lei, Brother Lei, I haven’t spent these chips yet. Shouldn’t you refund my money?”
Song Pengtao really wanted to cover Gu Leizhou’s mouth.
Sharing the same thought, and even more ruthless than him, was Lei Tian. That useless idiot who ruins everything! Calling his name like summoning a ghost—now look, all the police are staring this way. Hah… Lei Tian closed his eyes in despair.
He couldn’t understand why humans couldn’t choose to close their ears as well.
The police officers were also speechless. "Stop shouting! Even if you keep yelling, your money won’t come back. If you wanted your money, why didn’t you act sooner? Shut up for now. We’ll deal with everything back at the station."
Even as they said this, after exchanging glances, some of the officers made Lei Tian the first to be handcuffed, assigning extra personnel specifically to watch him.
…
Everyone was taken to the police station for questioning one by one.
"Chief Li, half of these people are from the casino. It’s really fortunate we brought enough officers and arrived unexpectedly, otherwise we might not have caught Lei Tian." The officer speaking shuddered with lingering fear.
Although cracking down on gambling might not sound as dangerous as drug busts, it’s actually far from safe.
"Yes, thanks to the person who sent me the tip," Li Jianshu nodded, feeling somewhat relieved himself. "By the way, have we found the surveillance footage I asked for?"
"No, there aren’t any surveillance cameras installed in the casino. The officers left behind almost tore the walls apart but couldn’t find any cameras."
Li Jianshu had already exported and played the video received in his email for everyone to examine. Strangely, the footage didn’t seem to be shot from a fixed position. Instead, it appeared as if it were floating leisurely in mid-air, capturing scenes like a TV drama—wherever the action was, the camera followed.
"This is bizarre…" Li Jianshu couldn’t figure out where the surveillance footage came from. As for the person who sent the message and email, they had no leads at all—completely untraceable.
However, the most urgent priority now was to ensure Lei Tian faced justice, thoroughly investigate all his crimes over the years, and keep a close watch on him to prevent anyone from bailing him out.
"Still, there’s someone named Gu Leizhou. The surveillance shows he was indeed dragged into the casino by a man named Song Pengtao. Once inside, he only ate and didn’t participate in any gambling. In the end, it was Song Pengtao who forcibly took his phone and exchanged chips for him."
"…Is this Song Pengtao a plant?"
"Sort of, but he gambles himself too, and he gambles big."
"Alright, then return his money and add the amount to Song Pengtao’s charges. For those with minor offenses, confirmed not to be plants or casino insiders, notify their families to bring necessities or pay fines before releasing them!" He had watched the video as well and, for now, couldn’t find anything suspicious. When entering the casino, Gu Leizhou seemed genuinely reluctant, dragged in by Song Pengtao. This was especially evident when the 5,000 yuan was exchanged for chips—the video captured the moment where Song Pengtao claimed to be helping but was practically robbing him.
"As for Song Pengtao and others who lured or even forced people into gambling, treat them the same as Lei Tian. Don’t notify their families yet; continue the investigation."
Gu Leizhou, however, was a bit of a headache. "Have Gu Leizhou undergo education like the others. If we can confirm he truly didn’t gamble at all, make sure he’s released early."
The police officer on the side acknowledged each instruction, but shortly after he finished speaking, there was a new development. "Chief, this is the ledger Lei Tian hid in a crevice in the corner of the gambling den."
And Gu Leizhou's name was prominently listed on it.
Li Jianshu: Some people just can't be mentioned without trouble… He had just been thinking about whether to let him off with a warning today and release him, but it turned out the guy probably just hadn't gambled today.
Lei Tian was truly unscrupulous in his dealings. Not only did he run gambling operations, but he also handled loan-sharking on the side. One stream of income wasn't enough for him—he had to go for two!
"Let's hold off on notifying Gu Leizhou's family for now. Investigate him first."
Although Lei Tian was rolling in money with his compounding interest schemes and was no good, anyone who could rack up that much debt must be quite a character.
But no matter how they interrogated him, Gu Leizhou insisted he hadn't gambled willingly.
"Yes, yes, he definitely didn't go to gamble voluntarily. Officer, you don't know Song Pengtao—oh, he's so domineering and downright wicked. Just yesterday, I saw him dragging Gu Leizhou off somewhere, who knows if it was the gambling den you mentioned. Gu Leizhou didn't want to go, but Song Pengtao wouldn't take no for an answer. This morning, Song Pengtao was even kicking at Gu Leizhou's door—I'm sure plenty of people heard it. The scene, Song Pengtao's expression—it was enough to scare anyone to death!"
The landlady was particularly vivid in her description. She didn't think she was lying; she believed what she saw was the truth. When the police came asking, she was just telling it like it was!
"That kid Gu Leizhou really doesn't have a proper job, but I think a big part of it has to do with people like Song Pengtao. You don't know—Song Pengtao isn't alone; they're a whole gang, notorious around here for being troublemakers, always preying on young folks. Once, I couldn't stand it and tried to warn someone, and Song Pengtao and his crew came right back to threaten me. If my whole family didn't live here and I couldn't afford to mess with those thugs, I would've reported them to the police long ago."
"Officer, what exactly did Song Pengtao do? He won't be getting out, will he? Gu Leizhou isn't like Song Pengtao. That kid Gu Leizhou, aside from being a bit soft-hearted and too polite to say no, is actually a decent person, no ill intentions."
The police officer wasn't sure how to respond for a moment.
"I'll leave you a number. If he gets out and something happens again—coercing others, going against their will—just contact me directly."
Landlady: "Alright, alright."
Inside the police station, Song Pengtao also admitted to taking kickbacks from Brother Lei. "But officer, I really didn't force Gu Leizhou! He loves gambling himself. I just took him once, and he got hooked on his own—I didn't force him! Sometimes he even asks me to go! How can you say I forced him?"
"You still won't admit it! Then what about the surveillance footage?"
Song Pengtao wanted to cry. "That was an exception today! Really, just an exception! He's all talk but his actions say otherwise—deep down, he definitely wants to gamble." Who knew how he could prove that, back when they used to go to the gambling den, Gu Leizhou was more eager and more into it than he was?
No matter how Song Pengtao tried to explain, no one believed him. He even managed to annoy the police, who couldn't help but laugh. The surveillance footage clearly showed the other party explicitly refusing to participate—how could anyone possibly interpret that as some kind of "tsundere" act? Song Pengtao was truly talking nonsense!
"So you think you understand what Gu Leizhou wants better than Gu Leizhou himself? Do you have mind-reading skills that let you see through all his refusals and uncover his supposed desire to gamble? And if Lei Tian hadn't confessed that you took a cut from him, luring people to gamble, you wouldn't have admitted to taking a share either, would you?"
Song Pengtao thought to himself: He wasn't stupid. Even an idiot could tell which crime was worse—gambling yourself or luring others to gamble! But he never expected Brother Lei to have so little backbone. Weren't they supposed to be seasoned veterans who wouldn't crack even under police pressure? Yet Brother Lei couldn't even handle the pressure as well as he could! What a disgrace! And if you couldn't handle it, why not just confess your own crimes? Why go into such detail about others? Trying to sacrifice someone else to save yourself, huh?
Now, not only had his denials been exposed, but even the truth he told was met with disbelief!
At this point, he could no longer scheme for Gu Leizhou's car or dwell on the money he had spent the day before. All he hoped for was to reduce his charges as much as possible, to get out sooner rather than later.
Yet even now, he didn't reveal that someone had paid him to target Gu Leizhou. In his mind, he was still plotting to call his employer later and threaten them for more money.
Brother Lei was already caught, but surely his other employer couldn't be so unlucky as to run into trouble too, right?
Gu Leizhou was finally brought home by Gu Liao Chuan in the evening. Lei Tian's ledger could only prove that Gu Leizhou had borrowed money from loan sharks, but it couldn't prove that the money was used for gambling.
When Gu Liao Chuan heard the whole story, he was furious with Song Pengtao. "He must have forced my brother into this. My brother values relationships too much—he never knows how to refuse when friends ask him for favors. Once, Song Pengtao even made my brother treat him to a meal that cost fifty thousand yuan! How is that treating my brother like a friend? What kind of decent person spends fifty thousand on a casual meal with a friend? Song Pengtao himself doesn't even live at that level, does he? But I never imagined he would go so far as to lure my brother into gambling!"
Gu Liao Chuan regretted not insisting on meeting Song Pengtao earlier. If he had known that Song Pengtao was pressuring his brother into gambling, he would have cut off all contact between them, even if it made his brother angry.
In the end, it was his own fault for being too busy with work and not paying enough attention to his brother. Gu Liao Chuan felt deeply guilty, convinced that his brother must have suffered tremendously during this time.
Zhang Xia had come with Gu Liao Chuan, but she didn't echo his defense of Gu Leizhou. In her mind, this Song Pengtao was clearly no good, but Gu Leizhou… she didn't think he was entirely innocent either.
However, Gu Liao Chuan's idealized view of his brother was simply too extreme. Not only did he genuinely believe his brother was innocent, but he also felt that his brother had been wronged in every way—the heavens were at fault, the earth was at fault, Song Pengtao was at fault, and he himself was at fault. Only his brother was completely blameless.
Of course, Gu Liao Chuan also acknowledged that his brother had made a mistake. No matter what, gambling should never be touched. His brother was indeed somewhat naive, too easy to persuade, which led him to consider someone like Song Pengtao a friend and be deceived by him.
Gu Liao Chuan reflected on this more earnestly than Gu Leizhou did in front of the police.
Author's Note:
Thank you, Tao, my dear, for the nutrient solution you irrigated for me.