The Bank Burglary Case (7)

Chapter 7

People always tend to anticipate what might happen next.

Take Yun Song for example. Before coming here, she had imagined this would be a simple story of rescuing a poor old lady who had been imprisoned.

She had been worried about how two elderly people could survive forty-something days in a cellar-like place, especially since the couple only provided one meal per day at night. Surely, both the physical and mental health of the elderly must have suffered greatly.

The young couple didn’t understand this. They thought they had done enough, and after all, the old folks hadn’t complained.

Yun Song, having experienced imprisonment herself, knew exactly what this felt like.

She had mentally rehearsed how to rescue the elderly, how to comfort them, and how to conduct physical examinations.

What she hadn’t rehearsed was how to handle the sudden situation where the victims they came to save would be pointing kitchen knives at them.

Because, compared to them who had struggled and worked hard to get here, the two elderly victims reacted much faster. As soon as they threw down their bowls and chopsticks, they immediately grabbed weapons nearby.

The Old Lady took up a kitchen knife, while the Old Man grabbed an axe, both looking ready to fight for their lives.

The main hall wasn’t fully illuminated by the morning sun yet, making it appear somewhat eerie. The axe and kitchen knife, having accompanied the elderly for many years, now gleamed with a sharp, cold light.

The Liao Family couple immediately hid behind Yun Song, whispering, “You’re a police officer. You won’t let them kill us, right?”

Yun Song glanced at the couple, then at the elderly victims across from them. Despite having witnessed many things in her life, this was truly a first for her.

So she spoke up, “There’s been a misunderstanding. We’re police officers. We came here to—” She hesitated to finish the sentence “rescue you.”

“We’re glad to see you have the ability to protect yourselves. On our way here, I kept thinking about how painful it must have been for you to be locked up there for over forty days—”

The two elderly people paused, stunned. People in Tonglin Town didn’t talk like this. Who would casually say they were worried about others?

After all, everyone was busy from dawn till dusk, working tirelessly, worrying about the bad weather this year, fretting over their small plots of land.

No one paid attention to others’ emotions, let alone expressed concern in such an emotional way. Even between parents and children, such intimate relationships rarely spoke like this.

Yun Song’s casual expression of her concern for them instead made the elderly feel like this was a scam.

They gripped their weapons tighter, waving them slightly as if to confirm they were armed and wouldn’t be harmed again.

“Stop talking nonsense! Looks like these two thieves didn’t dare to kill us themselves and brought helpers!” The elderly glared at Yun Song.

As a police officer, Yun Song naturally raised her hands in surrender, saying, “We really are police officers.”

“Stop lying! There are no police in this town!”

“We came here to investigate the bank burglary case. We noticed something suspicious about them and interrogated them. They confessed to stealing your money and locking you in the cellar,” Tong Jin quietly filled in the backstory.

The young couple finally snapped out of it, their focus shifting to something else, “How did you get out? How did you escape?”

The woman moved closer to the cellar and immediately noticed the bamboo ladder below, something they hadn’t seen before.

It dawned on her, “You could have gotten out anytime! So you’ve been tricking us into working for you all this time!”

The couple suddenly felt like they were the real victims.

They immediately pulled Yun Song aside, demanding justice, “Officer, you saw it yourself, you heard it yourself. These two aren’t pitiful at all!”

Hearing the thieves dare to say such things, the elderly remembered how on the first day, these thieves had stolen their money, cursed at them, and even beat them before locking them in the cellar. This made them even angrier.

Before the elderly could speak, Yun Song reminded them, “You two stole from the elderly, assaulted them, and imprisoned them. These are facts. Don’t just focus on your own suffering.”

It was natural for the elderly to feel emotional, and Yun Song wasn’t about to gloss over things. She turned to them, comforting them, “Don’t worry, their crimes are clear, and the law will definitely bring them to justice.”

The elderly listened silently, still seemingly unconvinced.

Yun Song, unfamiliar with small-town police work, found herself at a disadvantage. This wasn’t the city, where trust could be easily gained.

She silently noted to herself that she must get some respected townspeople to vouch for her police identity.

Yun Song turned to Tang Chao, “Go find the village head and some villagers, have them come over to verify our identities.”

“If we weren’t police officers, we wouldn’t dare call others over, right?” Yun Song turned back to the elderly.

The two elderly stared at Yun Song. The young woman continued to gaze at them gently, as if completely unfazed by the weapons in their hands. The elderly had never seen anyone like her and began to believe a little more. Maybe she really was a police officer.

But putting down their weapons was out of the question. What if this was a scam? They could end up dead here, and others would just say, “How pitiful, they lost their child when they were young, their brother wanted to give them his son, but they refused, and now in their old age, they were killed without anyone knowing.”

So they kept holding their weapons, waiting for others to arrive.

The couple hiding behind Yun Song felt bitter. After all they had endured, it turned out the elderly could have escaped anytime. Wasn’t this just making them suffer unnecessarily?

“If they could have gotten out anytime, you can’t arrest us once we get to town.”

Yun Song replied, “It’s a fact that you robbed them, beat them, and locked them in the cellar. You should be grateful they managed to get out. If they hadn’t been able to escape after being locked up for over forty days with only one meal a day, things could have ended much worse.” This was precisely why Yun Song had insisted on coming immediately instead of waiting until morning.

The two elderly women listened to Yun Song’s words. They hadn’t thought things through so thoroughly, especially since they had just emerged the next day. But Yun Song’s words truly made them feel at ease.

“But… there are cucumbers and sweet potatoes underground…”

“Besides being a police officer, I’ve also studied medicine. I understand the current situation better than you do. Right now, you two just need to be grateful that the other is still alive.”

Seeing Yun Song’s anger, the young couple finally fell silent.

It was the first time the elderly couple had heard someone say that others should be grateful they were both still alive. It was indeed a novel way of putting it.

Yun Song was exhausted. She had spent the entire day traveling to the neighboring town and had hastily eaten a few bites of food before guarding the young Liao couple. After interrogating them, she immediately headed up the mountain.

Now, they were waiting for the village chief and the villagers to return. Yun Song couldn’t help but yawn.

She was both sleepy and hungry, and soon enough, the sound of a rumbling stomach filled the air.

Yun Song’s stomach was reminding her it was time to eat.

There was indeed food, but it belonged to others.

The two elderly women glanced over, their hands still gripping their weapons, not letting their guard down for a moment.

Yun Song: “…”

“You!” One of the elderly women pointed at Yun Song, her face stern, and said, “Come here.”

Yun Song thought there might be new developments. She slowly walked over, unafraid.

She reached the table.

“Eat this.” The Old Lady pointed to the pot of Corn Grits Porridge beside her.

In Tonglin Town, one of the kinder gestures was to offer someone something to eat.

Although, at this moment, the elderly couple’s tone wasn’t exactly friendly—it was more like they were forcing Yun Song to drink poison.

So, Yun Song sat down and embarked on a new life experience: being forced to eat breakfast at knifepoint.