Hu Yue was extremely frightened, it was as if Li Hao had placed a large dunce cap on him for all to see. Even though Wang Ping wasn't in charge of the justice department, he was still a high official in the municipal committee. He would not need to personally make a move, his network would be sufficient to ruin Hu Yue. Even worse, Hu Yue also had to worry about his own direct superior.
“No… no it's not that. Chief Li, you misunderstand. What I wanted to say was that Ye Qian escaped prison last night,” Hu Yue replied.
“What?” Li Hao was shocked. Ye Qian's situation involved a lot of people and was very difficult to handle to begin with. Now that he had escaped prison he made the situation much harder, but no matter what, he had to find Ye Qian before Ouyang Cheng's people did. “This is how you do your job? How could you let him escape? Quickly, take me to the cells,” Li Hao said angrily.
Hu Yue did not dare to answer back and responded with a succession of submissive yeses as he lead Li Hao into the detention cells. Wang Yu, Yang Wei and Sun Ji Sheng followed after them.
“Who was on duty last night?” Li Hao asked.
Hu Yue quickly gave Sun Ji Sheng a meaningful look and Sun Ji Sheng stepped forward, trembling, and said, “It… it was me.”
Li Hao shot him a look and asked, “What happened? Explain carefully.”
Sun Ji Sheng repeated the story he told Wang Yu. Li Hao coldly snorted at his explanation, “So the prisoner didn't escape because he was being extorted for a confession under torture?”
Sun Ji Sheng was visibly shocked. With Ye Qian's formidable skills, how could he dare to do such a thing. “No… no I didn't do that,” Sun Ji Sheng stammered.
Li Hao snorted coldly and did not say anything else.
Li Hao deliberately slowed his steps, when he reached Wang Yu's side he whispered in her ear, “Xiao Yu, I spoke about this matter with your father this morning. Ye Qian's problem is most likely much bigger than it seems. During the arrest you have to be there to make sure nobody does anything too rash. Understand?”
Li Hao was a direct subordinate of Wang Ping so he was often in the Wang residence. Wang Yu was naturally very familiar with him. “Big Brother Li, are you afraid they'll kill him to silence him?” Wang Yu asked.
“Yes, it's a possibility we have to consider. For reasons concerning the public and yourself you should find a way to protect Ye Qian. Do not let the enemy get to him first. Deputy Secretary Wang is already on the move, at this critical moment, we can't let anything happen to Ye Qian. Moreover, he's my own brother, I don't want to see anything bad happen to him,” answered Li Hao.
“Even if you didn't ask, it's what I planned to do. Don't worry Big Brother Li, I won't let anything happen to Ye Qian,” Wang Yu replied resolutely.
Li Hao was a little surprised at Wang Yu's determined appearance. He had a feeling that something strange was going on but he could not put the feeling into words.
Wang Ping and Li Hao ended their discussion when they neared the detention cells. When the group reached the entrance to the detention room, they all stared in shock. Right in front of them was Ye Qian lounging comfortably on the bed with droopy eyelids, his back leaning against the white wall where a group of prisoners were deferentially giving him a massage.
Ye Qian was not an idiot. Escape from prison? Wasn't that giving the opponent an opportunity to get rid of him for good? Besides, nothing would happen to him as long as he stayed in the police station. All of his actions last night were only so that he could find out who it was that was framing him. Now that he knew and even had proof of Ouyang Cheng's misdeeds in his grasp, there was no need to run away. After leaving Ouyang Cheng's villa last night, he had Li Wei deliver the documents to Wang Ping, then snuck back into his cell. Ye Qian did not really know what sort of relationship Wang Ping and Ouyang Cheng had. He only thought that since they were co-deputy secretaries and the election for the municipal committee was coming up, then they must be rivals. Wang Ping was naturally the perfect person to do all the dirty work for him.
To Ye Qian, this dilapidated police department could not stop him. If he wanted to leave he could leave, and if he wanted to come back he would come back. Just as he did in Manchuria's CIA, he came and went as he wanted.
Nobody was more surprised than Yang Wei and Sun Ji Sheng. They orchestrated Ye Qian's escape. Even though they did not see Ye Qian leave with their own eyes, they saw that he was no longer present when they woke up. Looking at Ye Qian relaxed on the bed, getting a massage from the inmates, Yang Wei and Sun Ji Sheng did not know whether to laugh or to cry.
When Wang Yu and Li Hao saw that Ye Qian did not in fact escape, they let out sighs of relief. Li Hao slowly turned his head and glared at Hu Yue coldly, “Didn't you say the suspect escaped?”
Hu Yue could only swallow his words and suffer his silence. He had only just arrived at the precinct when Sun Ji Sheng reported to him. How could he have foreseen that Sun Ji Sheng would try to trick him. Hu Yue turned to Sun Ji Sheng angrily and said, “Sun Ji Sheng, what is the meaning of this? Didn't you say that the suspect escaped last night? How will you explain this now?”
“I.. I… last night Yang Wei and I really were knocked out, and then the prisoner escaped. I don't understand what is happening. If you don't believe me you can ask Yang Wei,” said Sun Ji Sheng. He did not know what ghost he was looking at, how could the suspect appear here now?
“What Ji Sheng said is true. Last night the suspect really did knock us out and escape,” Yang Wei replied.
“Then how will you explain this? How come the suspect is here now? Could he have gone crazy and was possessed to come back by himself?” Hu Yue roared.
When he heard Hu Yue's words, Ye Qian, who was enjoying royal treatment, knitted his brows. These words were difficult to hear, damn him, wasn't he being quite insulting?
“This… this… I don't know.” Sun Ji Sheng said, completely at a loss. He could not help mumbling to himself, “This… this ghost!”
Li Hao did not feel inclined to push the issue. As long as Ye Qian was safe, everything was alright. He opened the cell door and walked in. He could not help smiling when he saw Ye Qian's appearance, “Erge, how refined and elegant you are. Even now you seem to not have a care in the world.”
Ye Qian waved his hand to signal the inmates to stop. Then he replied to Li Hao with a laugh, “This only shows my inner quality, if not it's because I'm too stupid, haha.”
Translated by: korezmi
Edited by: Johnny Clune