Chapter 31 – Mr. Officer (1)
Luo Cheng was not a big city, and the cops arrived after some 10 minutes. The one in front was in uniform and appeared to be very authoritative.
When the cops asked who reported the crime, Su Tian raised her hand and said, “It was me.”
Officer Liu walked over and paused a little bit when he saw Su Tian. Even though he had already heard from the operator that it was a girl who called in the crime, he didn’t think she was going to be so young. Perhaps a high school student from the school next door?
Before Office Liu could ask anything, the man locked inside the shop shouted out, “Officer! Officer! Are there no more laws anymore? These two b...... women locked me in here. What the hell?”
The man was going to say “b*tches” at first, but when Su Tian looked up at him, he felt intimidated all of a sudden and switched to a different word.
But, he wasn’t going to just admit to his crime. They said he’s a scam artist? What kind of proof do they have? Just that counterfeit note? He would say that he was a victim himself as well!
After the shameless words from the man, all the bystanders chimed in before Su Tian could talk. Especially Xi Yun and Su Tian’s high school friend, all of them fought to recount the event to the officer.
And then there was Uncle Zhao and all the store owners nearby, they all ran up to support the words of the high school students.
These were all mom-and-pop stores. The margins were low and they detest nothing more than scam artists like this. One counterfeit $100 banknote could easily wipe out one, two, or even three days of work for them.
Uncle Zhao walked out from the crowd and approached Office Liu. With one hand holding onto Officer Liu, he pointed at the man with his other and said, “Office, this was true. I could attest that this same man pulled the same trick on me when I first opened up my shop. I recognize him. It was the same person.”
The man snickered, “Oh? And just what kind of proof do you have? Without any proof, this is just slandering!”
Uncle Zhao was enraged, “I am the proof! I might be older but I still got my eyesight! Thirteen years ago, when I just opened up my toy shop, you had on a leather jacket and brought a woman with you. You said you were looking for toys for your son and you visited quite a few times. I remembered it clear as day!”
The man snickered again. Perhaps, knowing that he was in the wrong, he turned to Su Tian and said, “Hey, little girl. This is all just a big misunderstanding. What say you let the cops go, and we will settle this privately, huh?”
Su Tian paid him no attention and told Officer Liu, “Mr. Officer, can I speak to you in private?”
After hearing the recount of the event, Office Liu no longer look at Su Tian as a spring chick. He nodded at her, told him subordinates to keep an eye out on things, and walked over to a more remote location with Su Tian.
Su Tian asked him in a very straightforward manner, “Can we have him locked up?”
Yep! That’s what he thought she was going to ask.
Looking helpless, Office Liu lit a cigarette and said, “It’s not that easy. He would just insist that he didn’t know that the banknote was counterfeit. Plus, even if he admits to it, the amount was too low to have him locked up.”
He wanted to put away the scam artist too, but....
The cops were aware of this group previously. But, partly because of the challenges in the investigation, and partly also because this group has ties to someone in the station, they have also encountered certain amount of push back. Over time, everybody just sort of let it slide.
Su Tian was not He Qingwan. She was an orphan in her past life. She had experienced the bottom level of the society and were quite familiar with these situations.