Chapter 44 Taken to the Police Station

Chapter 44: Landed in the Police Station

"I'm heading downstairs to grab a bite. Want to come along?"

Feeling a bit restless halfway through work, Lu Jingtang decided to go downstairs for some snacks and a quick break. Lin Yixiao was swamped with work, so she stayed behind, only asking Lu Jingtang to bring her something back.

But nearly 40 minutes later, Lu Jingtang was still nowhere to be seen. Lin Yixiao messaged her: "Does the food need to be grown from seeds? What's taking so long?"

Lu Jingtang's reply was a video: she was sitting in a police station mediation room, surrounded by several officers (colloquially, 'uncles with hats') whose faces were flushed as they struggled to suppress their laughter. Across from her, a burly foreigner, his face a swollen mess of black and blue, was wailing uncontrollably.

Lin Yixiao: "??? Did you go rob someone?"

Ten minutes later, Lin Yixiao appeared in Minister Zhou's office. "Minister, I'm not feeling well. Could I please take an early leave and go home to rest? Just deduct it from my vacation balance."

Given that stomachaches in women are often related to menstrual issues, Minister Zhou didn't press for details. Besides, there was no urgent work that day, so he readily approved her request.

It was only after Lin Yixiao had left the office that he realized: hadn't she just used her menstrual leave last week? Twice in one month?

Having successfully bluffed her way through, Lin Yixiao was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she bumped into Fu Nanyu and Qin Xianzhao in the elevator. Her guilty conscience made her pupils constrict, and she almost choked.

"P-President Fu..."

Fu Nanyu gave a cool, indifferent nod. The executive elevator was out of order that day, which was why they were using the staff elevator.

Seeing her frozen, Qin Xianzhao politely asked, "Miss Lin, aren't you coming in?"

"Oh, no, no," Lin Yixiao frantically waved her hands in refusal.

Qin Xianzhao looked puzzled. "Aren't you here to go downstairs?"

Realizing her blunder, Lin Yixiao quickly stepped into the elevator and thanked Qin Xianzhao. "Thank you."

Being in the same confined space as Fu Nanyu, Lin Yixiao barely dared to breathe. With her guilty conscience, she was even more afraid to move a muscle.

The moment the elevator doors opened, she bolted. Fu Nanyu watched her retreating figure thoughtfully, then turned slightly to the person beside him. "Find out what Lu Jingtang is doing right now."

Qin Xianzhao called the second department, but the staff there reported that Lu Jingtang had left the company an hour ago and hadn't returned.

Qin Xianzhao felt the temperature around him drop several degrees. Fu Nanyu's cool eyes gleamed with a faint, emotionless light.

He silently mourned for someone's impending doom.

When Lin Yixiao arrived at the police station, Lu Jingtang was happily devouring an egg pancake roll stuffed with two pieces of chicken, her cheeks bulging. A large bruise marred one side of her face, and the corner of her mouth was slightly torn. She kept blowing on the hot food as she ate.

Seeing the injury on her face, Lin Yixiao almost dropped to her knees. Trembling, she said, "Lu, I might not be able to fix this. You'd better tell President Fu the truth."

"Hey, don't worry," Lu Jingtang pulled her closer, generously sharing a bite of her pancake, and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Relax, when I get back, I'll just tell my big brother I fell while helping an old lady cross the road. If we don't say anything, they won't find out."

Lin Yixiao instantly aged ten years. "I hope so." She had a nagging bad feeling.

Also brought to the police station with Lu Jingtang was a young girl, just sixteen and in high school. When Lu Jingtang got into a fight with that obnoxious foreigner, this girl had helped her pin him down, so she was brought in too.

The obnoxious foreigner across from them was a tourist in China with strong prejudices. He had arrogantly and loudly insulted Chinese people in the shop, deliberately mocking sensitive topics to provoke them.

Some people couldn't understand English and just found it strange, but Lu Jingtang understood and couldn't tolerate it. She threw a shoe at him and, suddenly unleashing a burst of hidden potential, pinned him to the ground and started beating him.

The foreigner kept repeating the same few insults, but in China, every dialect offers a hundred ways to curse someone out. Lu Jingtang only used forty percent of her cursing skills, and the damn foreigner started banging his head on the ground, crying and wailing like a baby, calling for his mommy.

She hadn't even said much—just that she'd stuff him back into his dad's private parts, and then have his mom and grandpa give birth to his dad. It was nothing, really. Crying so much over that—what a loser.

The young girl was working part-time at the shop. Seeing Lu Jingtang fighting a foreigner alone, she worried she might be at a disadvantage and stepped in to help pin him down.

Lu Jingtang didn't get hurt too badly—the bruise on her face was from accidentally bumping into something during the fight.

When the police arrived, the foreigner was still lying on the ground crying. Meanwhile, the girl, who should have been the vulnerable one, only had a slight bruise on her face, though her hair was messy and her eyes were fiercely determined.

The police were utterly confused but had to bring everyone to the station for questioning.

After understanding what happened, the officers' attitude toward the foreigner cooled instantly. The warm water they offered him was replaced with tap water straight from the restroom.

After verifying Lu Jingtang's identity, the officers started trembling and swallowing hard. The Fu Corporation—a company that provides millions of jobs nationwide. If they mishandled this, they could lose their badges.

They immediately reported to their superiors. Since Lu Jingtang clearly didn't want her family to know, the higher-ups didn't dare let her go without permission and discreetly reached out to Fu Ting, who was serving as a squad leader in another district.

When Fu Ting heard that Lu Jingtang had gotten into trouble and was afraid to let her family know, he didn't hold back and burst out laughing over the phone. Lu Jingtang grumbled, "Second Brother~"

The superior broke out in a cold sweat. "Fu Ting, you can't be like this. Your sister is injured too. As her brother, you should comfort her."

"What! She's injured!? Wait right there, I'm coming over to blast that bastard!"

The moment he heard Lu Jingtang had been hurt, Fu Ting angrily hung up, ready to rush to the station and beat someone up. But just then, an urgent case came in, forcing him to call someone else to handle it instead.