The duty officer chuckled, pushed his chair back, stood up, and glared at Jiang She. “You’re pretty bold, huh? What’s wrong with calling your parents? If you don’t want to, then just stay here and sit!”

Before Jiang She could say anything, Chu Tao suddenly grabbed his hand, stopping him.

“Please, don’t call my parents,” Chu Tao said, pressing his lips tightly together and looking at the officer with a near pleading expression.

He couldn’t let his parents know. According to the values he had been taught since childhood, getting involved with the police was a huge deal. He couldn’t be as indifferent as Jiang She about it.

And with Chu Xingning still having a fever, his mom had to take care of his brother, leaving her no energy to come to the police station.

Just thinking about the series of problems that would arise once the police contacted his parents made Chu Tao’s temples throb with pain. He couldn’t even think calmly.

Jiang She felt his heart tighten.

The officer glanced at Chu Tao with some disdain.

“Why didn’t you feel scared when you were stealing?”

The officer had seen many high school students like them — ones who drank, drove recklessly, fought in gangs, and often got dragged in by the police. They’d get a lesson, their parents would be called, and then they’d return to their bad habits again.

The officer didn’t know how to deal with these kids. If they didn’t get disciplined now, they’d grow up to be societal trash.

Chu Tao’s breathing quickened, his thick eyelashes trembling as his eyes flickered.

Jiang She almost couldn’t resist wiping away the tear at the corner of his eye.

Not to mention that Chu Tao was wrongfully accused — Jiang She himself had been brought in for fighting before, and he never once lowered his head.

But for Chu Tao, Jiang She held back his frustration and explained, “We’ve already said we didn’t steal. He has the laundry shop owner’s number, you can call to verify.”

The officer hesitated for a moment and pushed a notebook toward them. “Write the phone number down for me.”

Chu Tao squeezed his frozen fingers, gripping the pen as his hands trembled, and managed to write down the laundry shop owner’s number.

Thankfully, his memory was good, and he had memorized the number.

The officer glanced at the string of numbers in disdain, reluctantly picked up the landline, and dialed.

They waited for a long time, but no one answered.

The officer couldn’t help but complain, “Are you two messing with me?”

Chu Tao’s heart rose to his throat.

The owner must have been busy with some family emergency, so it was understandable that they hadn’t answered the phone right away.

But Chu Tao didn’t have time to wait. If he didn’t return in an hour, he wouldn’t be able to explain why he wasn’t with his brother.

After a while, the call finally connected.

The officer cleared his throat. “This is the Fuxue Road Police Station in Huai City. Are you the owner of the laundry shop at No. 28 Fuxue Road?”

“There are two students acting suspiciously in front of your shop, saying they’re picking up clothes. Do you know about this?”

“How can you prove you’re the shop owner?”

“Please provide your ID number.”

Fortunately, the owner was kind enough to vouch for Chu Tao.

It was lucky the officer didn’t know about the wire used to open the lock, or it would have been even harder to explain.

The call lasted more than ten minutes, with the officer asking for the owner’s personal details. The owner cooperated, and finally, the call ended.

Chu Tao breathed a sigh of relief.

“Can we leave now?”

The officer lazily put the information into the notebook and said, “Not yet, wait for your parents to come pick you up.”

Chu Tao was a bit angry. “It’s been verified, why do we still need our parents to come?”

The officer glared. “How busy are your parents that they can’t even show their face? If there’s no problem, I won’t contact them again. If there is, I’ll have to reach out to them.”

“My mom is really busy!” Chu Tao snapped.

“I’m busy too. Hurry up and get someone to pick you two up,” the officer retorted.

Chu Tao coughed twice suddenly, his face turning a bit red.

Jiang She’s school jacket slid off his shoulder, dangling loosely at his elbow.

Chu Tao was wet, and in the process, he accidentally soaked Jiang She’s jacket.

The dark blue sleeves became even darker from the water.

This jacket was now unwearable for Jiang She.

If Jiang She hadn’t gone with him to pick up the clothes, he wouldn’t have gotten involved, and there wouldn’t have been a need to give him his jacket.

But now, Chu Tao couldn’t think of anyone to help him and Jiang She get out of this situation.

Jiang She’s expression grew colder as he roughly held Chu Tao’s hand and wrapped his own jacket around him.

“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll handle it.”

Chu Tao looked up at him. Jiang She pushed him to a corner where the air conditioning couldn’t reach, then turned to the officer and said, “You want to call the parents? You handle it.”

Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed the landline, dialed a number with calm precision.

The officer didn’t pay much attention at first but vaguely felt that the first few digits were familiar, like a number in their system.

The phone rang a few times before it was answered.

As soon as the line connected, Jiang She immediately spoke.

“I’m at the Fuxue Road Police Station. They asked for parents to come pick me up.”

There was a pause on the other end for a few seconds.

“Pick up the phone.”

Since the station’s phone was set to speaker, it was standard procedure to avoid any tampering with the evidence.

But the caller openly asked Jiang She to pick up the phone privately. The officer quickly interrupted, “No, ma’am, please come personally to pick up your son.”

Jiang She smirked, lips curling lazily. “I guess it’s up to the ever-busy Mrs. Shen to make the trip. You wouldn’t misuse your power, would you?”

Silence followed.

A few seconds later, the call ended.

The officer scratched his nose, starting to sense that things were getting out of hand.

While Jiang She wasn’t paying attention, the officer secretly checked the display on the dialer.

Seeing the number, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly looked at Jiang She.

Jiang She showed no reaction, leaning lazily against the wall, fiddling with the lighter in his hand.

The officer knew that it was against the rules to hold flammable objects like that in the station.

But this time, he didn’t stop him.

He had seen the number Jiang She dialed — it was from the city police department.

About five minutes later, both the station phone and Jiang She’s mobile rang at the same time.

Jiang She stopped fiddling, checked his phone for a few seconds, and his expression shifted slightly.

The officer answered the call and immediately stood at attention, his attitude respectful, nodding as he agreed to something on the other end.

Chu Tao’s gaze was fixed on Jiang She.

Jiang She listened to the phone for a while, his expression loosening just a little.

He took a deep breath, put the phone to his ear, and cheerfully called out, “Mom.”

On the other end, the tone was stern and restrained. “Jiang She, you’re seventeen now, and you’re still playing these childish tricks!”

The voice was loud enough that Chu Tao could vaguely hear it.

But the tone didn’t match at all.

Jiang She’s gentleness wasn’t met with the same response.

Jiang She seemed unfazed, even casually commenting, “Looks like you’re abusing your power after all.”

“You know what you’re doing? You’re wasting public resources. This is ridiculous!”

Jiang She sneered, his eyes briefly lowered, and nonchalantly replied, “You’re thinking too much. I’m not a kid who wants to see you anymore, and I wouldn’t use such a stupid way to do it. This time, it was just an accident.”

“Whether it’s an accident or not, if you keep going down this path, the only person you’ll ruin is yourself. It won’t affect anyone else.”

Jiang She raised an eyebrow. “Oh.”

“…Hang up.”

He put the phone away, and the coldness in his eyes flickered briefly before returning to his usual nonchalant demeanor.

“Let’s go, little troublemaker.”

He grabbed Chu Tao by the collar like he was pulling a chick and dragged him out of the police station.

No one stopped them.