After some thought, Lu Qingqing made up her mind. She kept only a small amount of weapons for backup, while the rest she took out and piled into a huge heap—even a mortar was included.
After finishing, she quietly left the thatched hut. Looking at the time, it was already almost ten o’clock.
Thinking she still needed to catch Zhang Cheng in the act, Lu Qingqing jogged all the way out of the village, got on her bicycle, and left.
She pedaled so hard the bicycle seemed like it was about to spark. Rushing nonstop, she finally arrived at Courtyard No. 5 in Guihua Lane at eleven o’clock.
The alley was completely dark; every household had already turned off their lights and gone to sleep. Lu Qingqing easily climbed over the wall and entered the courtyard.
The moment she landed, she heard faint moaning sounds, along with a man’s heavy breathing.
With a low growl, the moaning stopped. Standing in the courtyard, Lu Qingqing paused.
Was her timing good—or bad?
She pouted and looked around the courtyard.
It was an ordinary front courtyard with no backyard: three main rooms, two side rooms, plus a kitchen and woodshed.
Its biggest flaw was the lack of a toilet—going to the bathroom would be inconvenient.
Just as she was about to act, low voices came from inside the room.
“Little darling, tired?”
“Brother Cheng, I’m not tired… but what about you, Brother Cheng?”
“No, you are tired. Go to sleep.”
The greasy voice of Zhang Cheng sounded, even singing a lullaby.
Who was he trying to disgust?
His little lover was actually touched. She had originally wanted to chat a bit longer, but as soon as the lullaby began, she really fell asleep.
Lu Qingqing blinked. What was this supposed to mean?
After doing “that,” he just put her to sleep? Shouldn’t there be a cigarette afterward and a few more words?
Wasn’t he supposed to ask, “Was I good?” Isn’t that what men usually do?
Lu Qingqing couldn’t understand it, but she didn’t act immediately. She wanted to see what Zhang Cheng was planning.
Before the song even finished, Zhang Cheng called the woman’s name a few times. When there was no response, he immediately got up.
He put on his clothes and left the room, heading to the side room. He opened a cabinet and entered a hidden room.
Lu Qingqing quietly followed. When she saw the secret passage close, she pressed her ear against it.
What exactly was Zhang Cheng doing after putting his lover to sleep?
Soon she found out—the faint “beep-beep-beep” sound made it clear: he was using a radio.
Should she interrupt him?
But if she did, she would alert him. If the Public Security Bureau was planning to use the radio for something, that could also cause trouble.
After thinking it over, Lu Qingqing decided to wait.
Inside the secret room, Zhang Cheng quickly sent and received intelligence. It took fifteen minutes in total.
After finishing, he let out a long breath.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to send longer messages—but he didn’t dare. The longer the message, the higher the risk of exposure.
Even though the location was remote and the radio was underground, he still didn’t dare waste time.
Every transmission made his nerves spike with adrenaline.
After putting away the radio, he tidied everything. Though it looked messy, it was actually carefully arranged.
If someone moved anything, restoring it would be difficult.
Every time, Zhang Cheng memorized the exact placement of each item, afraid someone might discover the secret room.
After finishing, he opened the hidden door with a relaxed expression—but before he could even poke his head out, a dose of knockout powder hit him head-on.
Zhang Cheng: Is there anywhere I can reason with this?
Before losing consciousness, he had only one thought:
Who did this?
Lu Qingqing dragged him into the secret room and threw him on the ground. Looking around, she saw several crates—only five large boxes in total.
She didn’t touch them. Instead, she left the secret room and began searching the courtyard.
Under a tree in the yard, several boxes were buried. Lu Qingqing sent vines underground to extract everything from inside.
After finishing, she continued searching. Anything valuable—she took it all without exception.
From this place alone, she obtained more than a dozen boxes of treasures, over twenty thousand in cash, and a pile of vouchers.
There were bicycle tickets, sewing machine tickets, television tickets, diesel and gasoline ration coupons.
After storing everything into her space, she left the alley and hurried away.
“One task, one solution,” she thought. She went straight to the familiar Public Security Bureau.
Seeing the busy office working overtime, Lu Qingqing smiled kindly.
Soon, an envelope wrapped around a stone flew into the duty room. The officer opened it, scanned the surroundings, but saw no suspicious figures.
When he unfolded the letter, he jumped up excitedly—another major achievement!
Soon, police and special forces were mobilized, divided into three routes.
One group went to Zhang Shan’s courtyard with his mistress and discovered him, the radio, and the account books.
Zhang Shan was arrested in his sleep. What would happen after waking up, Lu Qingqing did not know.
One group went to the village, and another went to Zhang Cheng’s courtyard.
Seeing Zhang Shan arrested, Lu Qingqing finally felt at ease.
As long as Zhang Shan was taken down, the Lu family’s situation would be much easier to handle.
Even if the mastermind wanted to act, they wouldn’t have enough manpower for a while. By the time they regrouped, the Lu family would already have been relocated.
After returning home, Lu Qingqing took a hot bath and felt extremely satisfied.
But some people were not so lucky.
Especially at the thatched hut site—after discovering a large stockpile of weapons, the area immediately went on high alert.
Police were insufficient, so military support was requested. The villagers were also confined to their homes.
Of course, except for the male owner of the second household, who had already been controlled.
The badly beaten Huang Ergou was sent to the hospital by coincidence—and ended up sharing a room with Zhang Shan.
After waking up, the two lay in bed, staring at each other with murderous intent.
Zhang Shan already suspected Huang Ergou had betrayed him; otherwise, how could everything be so coincidental?
He had just imprisoned Huang Ergou, and then everything went wrong. Now Huang Ergou was out too.
Thinking of his severed manhood, Zhang Shan burned with even more hatred.
If not for the guards, he would have broken free and fought Huang Ergou to the death.
Huang Ergou was equally furious. He had worked loyally for Zhang Shan, yet Zhang Shan had tried to kill him.
This grudge was now irreconcilable. And since he was in custody as a “victim,” he intended to use that position to his advantage.
At the very least, he would make sure Zhang Shan could not escape punishment.
The next morning, Lu Qingqing woke early, packed a dozen buns and some tofu pudding, and headed toward the Red Committee.
“One matter, one solution,” she thought again, and still chose Commissioner Sun.
With five big “Great Unity” banknotes handed over, approval came immediately.
Seeing her again so early, the Lu family could only sigh helplessly.
“Qingqing… why are you here again?” Grandfather Lu whispered. “The atmosphere at the Red Committee today feels off. You should come less often.”