Chapter 5

“Comrade Gu, don’t worry. The pockmarked scholar often comes to my house, I know him well,” Lin Xiaoxiao said. “I’ll just say my father needs to see him—he’ll definitely come out.”

“Alright, but be careful. Just lure the pockmarked scholar out, and don’t engage him directly,” Gu Jinchuan finally relented, personally escorting Lin Xiaoxiao to Nine-Corner Alley and watching her enter the supply and marketing cooperative.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, there were only a few customers inside.

At that moment, Jiang Yuhai, the pockmarked scholar, was leaning idly against the counter, admiring the pretty women walking along both sides of the street.

Inland, moral conduct between men and women was strictly controlled, and Jiang Yuhai hadn’t been intimate with a woman for nearly half a year.

His only relief was secretly looking at glamour magazines smuggled in from Hong Kong late at night.

“Uncle Jiang, what are you thinking about?”

Jiang Yuhai’s mind was still wandering over the beauties in the magazine when a clear, pleasant female voice interrupted his thoughts.

Looking up, he saw Lin Xiaoxiao smiling sweetly at him.

Jiang Yuhai immediately perked up, grinning as he stood to greet her. “Ah, Xiaoxiao! Come here, let Uncle see if you’ve grown taller.”

As he spoke, he reached out to wrap an arm around her slim waist.

This little girl looked delicate, but her chest was not small—she had clearly grown into a woman.

He thought to himself that he should talk to Lin Jianmin another day, offer him a few hundred yuan, and have him send this adopted daughter to warm his bed.

“Uncle Jiang, what are you doing?”

Lin Xiaoxiao deftly twisted away from his groping hand.

Just the sight of that pockmarked face behind the counter made her skin crawl.

She remembered the Lin Xiaoxiao from the original book—sold by Lin Jianmin to this beast as a sex slave, tortured endlessly, and eventually implicated and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Lin Xiaoxiao had already decided—no matter what, she couldn’t let the pockmarked scholar escape the supply cooperative today!

“Xiaoxiao, don’t be nervous. Uncle doesn’t mean anything else—just wants to give you some candy.”

Seeing she wasn’t taking the bait, Jiang Yuhai switched tactics, pulling a few fruit candies from a glass jar and handing them over with a grin.

“Thank you, Uncle Jiang.” Lin Xiaoxiao accepted the candies without a hint of suspicion.

Looking like she had never seen such a treat, she eagerly unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth.

“The fruit candies here are different—they’re so good.”

But within two seconds, she was leaning on the counter, swaying slightly. “Uncle Jiang, I feel so dizzy…”

Jiang Yuhai was delighted. He thought, You ate candy laced with my drug—of course you’re dizzy!

He reached out in mock concern. “Xiaoxiao, are you catching a cold? Let Uncle help you inside to rest.”

This time, Lin Xiaoxiao didn’t dodge but said weakly, “Uncle Jiang, I’m just overworked. Could you take me home? My father needs to see you.”

“Your father’s looking for me? Sure! I’ll take you home!”

Without a second thought—thinking Lin Jianmin had some intel for him—Jiang Yuhai told his colleague to watch the counter, then happily helped Lin Xiaoxiao toward the door.

Pretending to struggle to stand, Lin Xiaoxiao’s hand brushed his stomach.

Through the fabric, she felt something hard strapped to his abdomen.

She sucked in a sharp breath.

Damn, this spy chief really is cautious—carrying a pistol in broad daylight, and even strapping on an explosive charge!

Fine then—let’s turn your little bomb into a bag of dirt.

“Uncle Jiang, I’m so dizzy, slow down…”

Suddenly, she stumbled forward, collapsing into his arms and wrapping her arms around his waist.

Right hand—steal the pistol.
Left hand—pull the explosive’s fuse.

Task complete, she quickly slipped out of his grasp.

She darted away with a grin. “Bye-bye, pockmarked scholar!”

Hearing his nickname startled Jiang Yuhai. “You brat! How do you know my nickname?”

From the doorway, Lin Xiaoxiao made a face. “Not only do I know your nickname, I also know you’re a spy sent from the Island Nation!”

“Lin Xiaoxiao, if you know everything, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

Sensing trouble, Jiang Yuhai reached for his pistol—only to grab at empty space.

Before he could react further, Gu Jinchuan and Wang Wei, who had been lying in wait on both sides of the doorway, leapt forward and slammed him to the ground.

“Long live the President!”

Realizing he had walked into a trap, Jiang Yuhai knew he wouldn’t escape today.

He shouted his slogan and pressed the suicide trigger on his explosive belt, closing his eyes and waiting for the blast that would take him and the Chinese police together.

But instead of an earth-shattering boom, he felt cold steel handcuffs snap around his wrists.

“Pockmarked scholar, get up—you’re not dying just yet!”

After cuffing him, Gu Jinchuan yanked him upright.

Only then did Jiang Yuhai realize the fuse on his bomb had vanished.

Damn it!

He’d checked his pistol and explosives that morning—how did this happen?

“Comrade Gu, here’s the weapon and equipment I took from him. I’m handing them over to you now,” Lin Xiaoxiao said with a smile, passing Gu Jinchuan a revolver and a length of fuse cord.

“Comrade Lin, you’ve got skills!” Gu Jinchuan accepted the pistol, giving her a thumbs-up.

In less than half an hour inside the supply cooperative, the young woman had lured the pockmarked scholar out and even stripped him of his weapons and explosives.

“Comrade Lin Xiaoxiao, we owe you one—otherwise, we’d have been done for today!” Wang Wei said, still shaken.

When the pockmarked scholar shouted his slogan earlier, both men had thought they were going to die with him.

Fortunately, the bomb hadn’t gone off.

Gu Jinchuan quickly removed the explosive device and, seeing the missing fuse, realized Lin Xiaoxiao had pulled it just in time, saving their lives.

“You little wretch—it was you! I’ll kill you!”

Hearing the truth, the cuffed pockmarked scholar lunged toward Lin Xiaoxiao in rage.

“Stay down!”

Gu Jinchuan reacted quickly, punching him to the floor, then ordered two nearby officers, “Take this guy to the Municipal Public Security Bureau!”

“Yes, Company Commander Gu!”

The two young officers acknowledged and dragged the pockmarked scholar into a police car to report to their superiors.

That day, they successfully cracked a major espionage case, capturing two enemy agents who had infiltrated their ranks. The station would be awarded a collective first-class merit, and all participating officers would be promoted and receive a pay raise.