Qingshan County Bus Station!
When Long Zhanjun stepped off the dilapidated bus, he was completely stunned!
Although he had seen the dilapidation and desolation along the way from Ning City, he had already braced himself for it.
But when he actually arrived, he was still stunned by the scene before him.
The place was utterly dilapidated—completely different from what he had imagined.
Compared to the vast majority of county seats in Qin Province, Qingshan County looked more like a large town—it fell far short of the standard for a county seat.
To put it this way, most townships and communes in their own Yong County would be on this level if you picked one at random.
It was truly hard to imagine how such a dilapidated place could have produced someone like Li Yi—a man of such open-mindedness, astonishing ability, and extraordinary resourcefulness.
He glanced once more at the address in his hand to make sure he hadn’t come to the wrong place, then took a deep breath and walked toward the exit of the bus station.
Long Zhanjun had left Yong County for Saibei Province the day before yesterday, after settling his mother and younger sister.
After their successful surgeries, his mother and sister had stayed at a major hospital in the provincial capital for over twenty days before he brought them home to recuperate.
After more than a month of recuperation, both had recovered quite well.
His younger sister, in particular, recovered exceptionally quickly thanks to her youth and strong constitution; she was already able to move about like a normal person.
Although she still couldn’t engage in strenuous exercise, she was doing quite well.
At this point, Long Zhanjun recalled the promise he had made to Li Yi: once his mother and sister were out of danger, he would go find Li Yi.
Consequently, he began to consider traveling to the North to find Li Yi.
He then discussed this with his mother.
His mother, Jiang Yuefang, was very supportive of her son’s idea. During her stay in the provincial capital for surgery, Li Yi and Tang Xue had frequently visited her, and she had also learned about Tang Xue’s background.
Consequently, Jiang Yuefang felt a deep fondness for both Li Yi and Tang Xue, and was deeply grateful to them for covering the substantial medical expenses for her and her daughter, Xiaofeng.
Now that both she and her daughter were nearly fully recovered, it was time for her son to go find work and pay off the debt.
With his mother’s support, Long Zhanjun quickly put this plan into action.
First, he entrusted his mother and younger sister to the care of Zhou Ling and another young woman named Huang Nier. He then placed his group of younger brothers under the leadership of Niqiu and Zhou Chong, gave them some instructions, and subsequently set off on his journey to North Sai Province.
He left his hometown in Yong County the morning before last, arrived in Chang’an by noon, and reached Ning City by train last night.
Since he was unfamiliar with the area and had no local connections, Long Zhanjun stayed at the train station until dawn.
He then learned that there were no trains from Ning City to Qingshan County—only buses, and they didn’t depart until the afternoon.
He waited until the afternoon and finally boarded the bus bound for Qingshan County.
Although he had now arrived in Qingshan County, Long Zhanjun had no idea how far it was from there to Nianzishan Village in Hongqi Commune, as indicated on the address.
So after getting off the bus, he was about to ask someone for directions.
Just then, among the crowd waiting in line for the bus, a man with a sharp nose and sunken cheeks caught Long Zhanjun’s attention.
He saw the man surreptitiously reaching toward a woman holding a child—it was clearly a thief.
Seeing this, Long Zhanjun frowned. As a former soldier, his sense of justice as a soldier wouldn’t allow him to turn a blind eye to such behavior.
He grabbed his simple travel bag with one hand and slowly approached the thief.
The thief was so focused on his crime that he didn’t notice Long Zhanjun, but just then, Long Zhanjun suddenly struck.
He dropped his bag and charged at the thief.
By the time the thief realized what was happening, Long Zhanjun had already pinned him to the ground.
“Who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing to me?” the thief shouted as he struggled.
The sudden scene startled everyone present, and they all turned to look at him in astonishment.
Without offering an explanation, Long Zhanjun pinned the man down with one hand while reaching into his side pocket to pull out a small bag wrapped in a handkerchief.
When the woman holding the child saw the handkerchief-wrapped package, she let out a gasp: “Oh my God, that’s my money… it’s mine!”
Only then did Long Zhanjun speak up: “This guy is a thief!”
Only then did the crowd realize that the young man had intervened after witnessing the theft.
Instantly, they couldn’t help but applaud him, and everyone spoke up in support of his actions:
“Good on you, young man! These thieves are despicable—that’s exactly how they should be dealt with!”
“Exactly. These guys are so wicked. Stealing money and tickets is bad enough, but sometimes they even take people’s letters of introduction and household registration books—that’s just hurting people!”
“I know that guy. I heard he was just released from prison not long ago…”
Long Zhanjun didn’t want to waste any more time on this. He immediately addressed the crowd: “Excuse me, where is the police station? We need to turn him in so he doesn’t go out and harm others again!”
A middle-aged man kindly took Long Zhanjun’s bag and added, “The police station isn’t far from here. Just go out the station exit, turn right, cross the Shizhu intersection, and walk less than 200 meters straight ahead—you’ll be there!”
After saying thank you, Long Zhanjun grabbed the thief by the collar with one hand and his arm with the other, intending to drag him to the police station.
Despite the thief’s pleas along the way, Long Zhanjun remained unmoved.
Judging by the thief’s modus operandi, this guy was definitely a career criminal.
People like him had long grown accustomed to this lifestyle of getting something for nothing; if he didn’t turn him in to the police station, this guy would just keep hurting others.
Seeing that his pleas were useless, the thief began making all sorts of threats and even struggled to break free and run away.
But Long Zhanjun wasn’t just an ordinary soldier in the army; he was no slouch in combat. There was no way a thief like this could escape from him.
And so, Long Zhanjun dragged the guy all the way to the Qingshan County Public Security Bureau.
Meanwhile, back at the county police station, Li Gang was holding a case analysis meeting in the Criminal Investigation Division’s conference room.
Over the past couple of days, the bureau had received several reports from the public claiming that their money had been stolen.
Some had lost money at the supply and marketing cooperative, others at the credit union, and still others at the movie theater—a total of seven or eight victims had filed reports.
Upon receiving the reports, Li Gang immediately concluded that this was a classic case of pickpocketing carried out by taking advantage of crowds.
Cases like this tend to occur most frequently as the Lunar New Year approaches.
Moreover, since the suspects operate relatively covertly—and it cannot be ruled out that they are itinerant criminals—solving the case is extremely difficult.
The best way to solve the case was to set up fixed surveillance posts in areas with heavy foot traffic.
Consequently, he immediately convened a meeting, assembled the elite members of the Criminal Investigation Team, and prepared to set up surveillance at the county’s most crowded locations—the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and the bus station.
We’ll root out this brazen thief and restore peace and order to the community.
However, just as Li Gang was about to assign the stakeout duties, a young police officer hurriedly pushed open the conference room door and shouted, “Captain Li, the case is solved—the thief has been caught!”
Hearing this, everyone in the Criminal Investigation Division froze in surprise.
Li Gang himself jumped to his feet and asked immediately, “Xiao Liu, what did you say? The thief has been caught?”
“That’s right, he’s been caught!”
“Who caught him? Was it the Public Order Division?”
“No, it was a member of the public. He saw the thief in the act and turned him in to our station!”
Hearing this, Li Gang immediately grabbed the peaked cap from the table and said to the group in a stern voice, “Let’s go. We’ll go check it out and see just who this hero is who helped us get the job done!”
With Li Gang leading the way and the rest of the comrades following close behind, the group set off in a grand procession!