As instructed by the police chief, Xiao Luo was to pick three auxiliary policemen to make up his team, and he picked Liu Tieguo, Ye Qiu, and Wang Lihu. He hadn’t planned on pulling Liu Tieguo into this, not since he owed Liu Tieguo a favor, and he really did not want to put him in any danger. But in the end, Liu Tieguo insisted, and Xiao Luo couldn’t dissuade him from being a part of the team.
As for the other two, Ye Qiu and Wang Lihu were both born troublemakers, and that was well known among the police officers in the station. They had worked for two years, but yet a promotion was nowhere in sight for them. It wasn’t because they did not have the necessary skills and experience, but rather because they would often get into trouble.
For instance, they were supposed to mediate a dispute between city patrol officers and melon farmers. Not only did they fail to resolve the conflict, they even sided with the melon farmers and beat up the city patrol officers.
In another incident, Ye Qiu and Wang Lihu chased an alleged thief that got away. However, after they caught him, they didn’t question him at all before hitting him with sticks and knocked out two teeth. Later investigations then revealed that the person was, in fact, not a thief at all. A couple happened to have a fight, and the wife lied to the police about her husband being a thief for them to catch him.
Therefore, people in the substation put a label on Wang Lihu and Ye Qiu, “thugs in uniforms! ”
Xiao Luo chose them because he took a fancy to their character of daring to stand up to criminals, or to anyone else for that matter.
He did not want to rope in chicken-hearted cowards, but instead, tusked beasts who was not afraid to tear up the enemy.
As it turned out, Ye Qiu and Wang Lihu deeply resented that a fresh auxiliary police officer had gotten the chance to become a regular officer in next to no time. In addition to that, they also despised Xiao Luo because Ma Pijin had been planting the seeds of discontent among his colleagues to convince them that Xiao Luo was only promoted because of his connections.
“First, prove you have the ability to be our boss. Otherwise, I would rather spend my time hanging around in the station than being a lackey behind your *ss.”
Wang Lihu was standing with his legs spread apart and spoke gruffly to Xiao Luo in the police substation yard. There was not a shred of respect in his eyes, only resentment. He was a tall and sturdy fellow, six feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds, and had stubble on his jaw. Standing in the yard, he looked every bit a conceited and arrogant thug in uniform.
Ye Qiu also turned up his nose at Xiao Luo and echoed Wang Lihu’s stand. He spoke with a squeaky voice, “That’s right. People who don’t have a kill or two don’t deserve to be our boss!”
He had a smaller build and a thin, angular face. His oily skin was shiny under the sunshine.
“Wang Lihu, Ye Qiu, this is the appointment made by the station, so don’t you try to pick holes in this on purpose. Bring it to the station chief if you have any disagreement.” Liu Tieguo spoke up for Xiao Luo.
“We’re not like someone who has a deep background. How dare we bring anything up with the station chief.” Ye Qiu squeaked, making insinuations.
“You…”
Liu Tieguo was annoyed. He was genuinely happy for Xiao Luo for his promotion. However, people in the station had been gossiping in recent days about how Xiao Luo only became a permanent officer because of his connection. He could hardly contain his anger for these rumors.
Looking at Wang Lihu and Ye Qiu, Xiao Luo smiled slightly and said, “I can see that you two are not convinced.”
Wang Lihu and Ye Qiu exchanged a look and answered in chorus, “Of course we’re not!”
“You sound very confident. I bet you both have some skills. Tell me, what can you do?” Xiao Luo didn’t want to waste words on them. He chose the easiest and the most straightforward way, he would beat them to submission if he had to!
…
…
“Everyone, stop now! Wang Lihu and Ye Qiu are not willing to take orders from Xiao Luo and are messing with him outside right now!” An auxiliary police officer rushed into the office and described the scene in the yard with his loud voice.
“Even an idiot would know this would happen. Those two are well-known troublemakers in the station. Xiao Luo was asking for trouble when he picked them to work for him.”
“Wang Lihu is endowed with extraordinary strength. He can easily lift a pig that weighs hundreds of pounds. Even five people couldn’t hold him down when he throws his weight about. How would he possibly succumb to Xiao Luo?”
“Yes, that Ye Qiu is not an easy one to deal with either. He used to practice hawk’s claw boxing. His hands can tear skin effortlessly, almost better than knives. They’re all martial arts practitioners.”
Some people sighed, some sympathized with Xiao Luo, while some thought he had it coming and were gloating. Many people were jealous of Xiao Luo being promoted so soon and would have loved to see Xiao Luo being humiliated in public.
Ma Pijin, for example, had to keep himself from dancing around to express his joy. He stood up with relish and shouted to the crowd, “Let’s go. Let’s go out and have a look. Xiao Luo is a skinny guy. I hope he won’t be crushed by Wang Lihu’s fist.”
His words were filled with mockery and derision. Maybe he wanted to witness Xiao Luo being embarrassed so badly that he forgot that Xiao Luo had once fought off Yan Wang back in the training camp.
Soon after, the crowd went outside and became the audience by the side.
Xiao Luo had already learned about what Wang Lihu and Ye Qiu could do from their remarks. He pointed at Wang Lihu and said casually, “Make a decision. Do you want a match on strength or boxing?”
Wang Lihu was taken by surprise initially. He snorted and said, “Let’s compete in strength. I’m afraid I may beat you to death if we tried boxing.”
“Good. Let’s compete in strength, as you said.” Xiao Luo said with an indifferent shrug.
“You’re overestimating yourself.”
Wang Lihu sneered, then strode to a police motorcycle parked in the yard.
He lowered his body in a horse-riding stance. With his left-hand grabbing on the handlebars and the right hand on the rear shock absorber, he took a deep breath and let out a deep howl. The muscles on his entire body were taut, and the veins were bulging. The motorcycle was slowly hefted above the ground. With another roar, the whole bike was lifted over his head.
At that moment, he looked mighty and fierce!
Everyone at the station was dumb stricken. Even though they already knew Wang Lihu had great strength, they were still shocked now that they had seen it with their own eyes. It was not a typical motorcycle, but a police patrol motorcycle which weighed more than 500 pounds. Even one person could hardly help it stand up if it fell on the side. Yet Wang Lihu had lifted it over his head. How could they not be astonished by it?
“Awesome!”
Ma Pijin applauded and cheered for Wang Lihu in great excitement.
Other people started to applaud following Ma Pijin’s lead. Wang Lihu’s performance indeed deserved such applause.
“Born with extraordinary strength. It’s such a pity Wang Lihu didn’t join the national weightlifting team.” Watching from the office on the second floor, Feng Yuqi couldn’t help joking about it.
The instructor shook his head and said in frustration, “You need to care more about Xiao Luo. He’s asking for trouble by competing in strength with Wang Lihu.”
“Don’t be so sure. Xiao Luo read Wang Lihu and Ye Qiu’s files before he selected and knew about them already. He must have a way to subdue them since he insisted on picking them on his team. Have a little patience and wait and see.” Feng Yuqi laughed. He was still very confident about Xiao Luo.
“Haiyah…”
The instructor exhaled a long sigh. He really didn’t understand why the station chief trusted Xiao Luo so much.
BANG!
Wang Lihu put down the patrol motorcycle with a loud bang causing the entire ground to tremble slightly.