Chapter 917: Increasing Revenue

Sure enough, when Wang An looked over at Sun Nian, she was staring back at him fiercely with those beautiful, large eyes.

If eyes could slap someone across the face, Wang An would have certainly been slapped several times by now.

Seeing Wang An look her way, Sun Nian rolled her eyes and said irritably

"How are you so knowledgeable? You've memorized the legal codes quite well, haven't you? Whatever you say goes, eh?"

Wang An continued to smile sheepishly and said

"No, no, I was just guessing, hehehehe."

Immediately after, Wang An casually picked up a jade pendant and changed the subject

"They don't seem to care about these jade pendants or silver jewelry. I reckon this Wei Cheng must have made a decent amount of money. Maybe you should order a search, Sister Nian; it could bring in some revenue for your unit."

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, the kid who had been brought in for questioning spoke up immediately

"I don't know where he hid the money, but I know he's got a hell of a lot of it. All of us owe him money, and quite a bit of it too."

Sun Nian, Wang An, and the others were stunned again upon hearing this. Sun Nian frowned and asked curiously

"Aren't you guys running with him? How did he end up becoming your creditor?"

The kid replied with a face full of disdain

"Sigh, don't even get me started. Let me tell you, Officer, that old bastard Pixiu is really no good."

Once he had attracted everyone's attention, the kid suddenly paused and said flatteringly to Sun Nian and Wang An

"Um, Officers, could you be kind enough to spare a cigarette? I'm feeling a bit anxious and want to smoke one to steady my nerves."

Having just piqued their curiosity, the kid suddenly pulled this stunt. Captain Zhou immediately said irritably

"I'm asking you questions, and you've got so damn many requests."

Despite saying this, Captain Zhou still pulled out a cigarette and lit one for the kid.

Normally speaking, when the "hat brothers" were interrogating criminals, they wouldn't refuse such a small request.

Wang An noticed that Captain Zhou's cigarettes were "One-Two," meaning they were from Harbin.

After lighting the cigarette, Captain Zhou said in a harsh tone

"Now speak up, you idiot. If you have any more nonsense, don't blame me for clipping you."

The kid took a blissful drag and said

"Hehehehe... that wouldn't happen. I just needed to steady my nerves."

Following this, the kid stopped talking and focused entirely on smoking.

Wang An and the others just stared blankly at the kid smoking; no one continued to press him.

Mainly, the way this kid smoked was truly impressive. The smoke went into his mouth in a massive gulp, one continuous gulp after another. None of the smoke he inhaled was exhaled through his mouth; it all billowed out of his nose.

Consequently, by the time the cigarette was finished, the ash along the entire length was red, and hardly a single flake of ash had fallen.

Clearly, not a bit of this cigarette was wasted; every bit of it had been filtered through his lungs.

Watching this, the non-smoking Sun Nian and the smoking Wang An and others couldn't help but twitch their lips.

Thus, Wang An asked him with a grin

"I say, buddy, smoking like that, doesn't your head get dizzy?"

To be honest, even a veteran smoker of several decades couldn't withstand that style of smoking.

Because anyone who smokes knows there are two ways to do it.

The first is like this kid: the smoke goes into the mouth and is inhaled directly into the lungs, then exits through the nose.

The second is where it looks like they are smoking, but the smoke only stays in the mouth for a moment before being exhaled. This method is called "mouth-smoking."

Many veteran smokers seem to smoke frequently, with the pipe never leaving their lips, but they actually use the second method—inhaling only a tiny fraction, or simply smelling the tobacco.

Hearing Wang An's words, the kid smiled and said

"Not dizzy. If I smoke it, it's not a waste. Otherwise, if it just burns away on its own, that would be a waste!"

Wang An nodded and gave the kid a thumbs-up, suddenly at a loss for words.

After the kid finished speaking, without waiting for Sun Nian and the others to ask, he continued

"When we lend money out, we use Pixiu's funds—our boss's money. Then, any bad debts that can't be recovered are charged to our heads, and we even have to pay 'donkey-roll' compound interest."

Pausing for a moment, the kid said with a face full of anger

"Now you tell me, with this kind of lending, how can everything be recovered? What if you run into someone who can't pay back even if they're beaten to death, and their family has absolutely nothing, just a lone bachelor? Who the hell could do anything about that!"

Sighing, the kid continued

"Sigh, and so it went on and on. We ended up owing more and more; we won't be able to pay it back even in the next life."

After hearing this, Captain Zhou frowned and asked

"Then why didn't you do something else? Why did you insist on following him down a dead-end path?"

The kid glanced at Captain Zhou and sneered

"Hehe, hehehe... there were some stubborn ones who refused, but they'd be hauled inside by you guys every few days to stay for a while. Who could stand that?"

As soon as the kid spoke, Captain Zhou immediately stood up and demanded angrily

"Hauled inside by us? Make yourself clear! When the hell did we do that?"

Hearing Captain Zhou's stern words, the kid didn't get angry and continued to smile

"Officer, do you dare say that the Village Security Chief Huang in the township isn't one of your people?"

The moment the kid finished speaking, the entire room instantly became extremely awkward.

Captain Zhou pointed his finger at the kid and stubbornly insisted

"He is him, and we are us. How can you lump those together? I'm telling you, if you dare talk nonsense again, don't blame me for beating you."

Hearing this, the kid just smiled and shut his mouth. Clearly, the kid was truly afraid of Captain Zhou beating him.

Mainly, getting beaten would be for nothing; it was better to just stay quiet and behave.

Ignoring the kid, Sun Nian said to the two company commanders

"Xiao An is right. If we can find something, it'll count as increasing revenue for our Bureau. Let the comrades search thoroughly."

The two captains nodded. Captain Zhou gave the kid one last fierce glare before going to instruct the group of hat brothers.

And so, the house that had just been turned upside down by a dozen people was tossed a second time.

Of course, Wang An and Wang Li didn't stay idle; they joined in the search.

Actually, this feeling of hunting for treasures everywhere, especially with no one supervising them, was quite pleasant.

Soon, the entire house had been searched, but the imagined "hell of a lot of money" was nowhere to be seen—not even a feather's worth.

Not only was the money not found, but even the IOU notes were missing.

Consequently, the group of hat brothers began walking toward the east and west side rooms.

(End of Chapter)