The Counterattack of a Loner

  Liu Handong carried two plastic bags of leftover food and first returned to the rented tube building to pick up his luggage, because the rent was due, the landlord had piled all his luggage in the corridor, two pairs of shoes, a set of camouflage clothes, a quilt, that's all Liu Handong's belongings.

  Holding these things, Liu Handong took a taxi back to Tiegu Street. He had paid three months' rent and couldn't just leave like that. When he walked into 108, the mahjong game was still going on. Seeing him come in, the four big aunties who were playing cards turned their heads to look at him, but no one spoke. The landlady raised her eyelids to glance at him, treating him as if he didn't exist, and cleared her throat. Everyone continued playing.

  Liu Handong went upstairs and found that the bullet holes on the wall had been plastered over, and the bloodstains had been cleaned up. There was no sign of a fierce battle having taken place. He went to the second floor and found that Zhang Dajie and his wife were not at home. Zhu Xiaoqiang was still hiding in the sweltering room playing DOT A. When he saw Liu Handong return, he immediately took off his headphones and ran out, saying mysteriously: "Where have you been for the past two days? There was a big case here the day before yesterday, and the police station confiscated my phone's memory card."

  "Is that so." Liu Handong casually replied, went up to the fourth floor, and found the door wide open. The room was originally empty, but now it was even more chaotic after being searched by the police. Liu Handong sat on the bed, feeling like something was missing.

  It's Xiao Fan.

  Having been with this little girl for only two days and one night, but experiencing life-and-death tests, suddenly disappearing, feeling empty in my heart.

  ……

  Jiangdong International Airport, a Gulfstream G650 business jet from the United States landed on the runway, with only one female passenger on board, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, carrying simple luggage, rushing through customs, at the exit, a group of men and women in suits saw her come out, hurriedly surrounded her, chattering away.

  "Where is Xiao Fan?" An Xin threw her luggage to a female staff member and walked quickly, with her subordinates following closely behind, reporting the situation: "Miss is staying at the home of the Director of Public Security, very safe; The company's website was hacked, but the loss is not too serious; The construction of the industrial park has been disrupted by local thugs and has been suspended for three days; Two workers were seriously injured in an accident, their families have been making a scene at the company gate for two days; Yang Kun, the senior director of the R&D department, has submitted his resignation...

  An Xin suddenly stopped and frowned: "What else? When President Xia and I are not at home, the company is in such a mess, what have you been doing?"

  Everyone was silent as cicadas in winter.

  An Xin continued: "Who exactly wants to kidnap the young lady? Has the hacker's IP been tracked down? The construction of the industrial park and coordination with local public security departments, if the branch doesn't work, find the municipal bureau, if the municipal bureau doesn't manage, find the provincial hall! Give more money to injured workers, arrange employment for their families, go immediately; Yang Jun's matter, I will talk to him personally."

  A group of people arrived at the parking lot, and An Xin saw that there were three identical black Mercedes-Benz S350s coming to pick her up, two Land Rovers, and the cars were filled with security guards wearing black BDU uniforms. She couldn't help but laugh: "Making a big fuss over a small matter."

  A security captain-like man said: "Director An, in extraordinary times, there are extraordinary measures. The group cannot afford to suffer losses."

  An Xin nodded: "Get on the bus."

  The motorcade drove on the airport highway with double flashes, An Xin held a tablet computer and wore Bluetooth headphones, handling official business in an orderly manner. When approaching the city, she ordered the motorcade to disperse, bringing only one Mercedes-Benz to the provincial hall's residential area.

  Song Jianfeng's home, the doorbell rang, Song Shuang'er wore slippers to open the door, saw the woman outside, and was stunned for a moment: "Are you President An?"

  "Hello, just call me An Xin. I'm here to pick up Shu Fan. We spoke on the phone earlier."

  "Come in." Song Shuang ushered her in.

  In the spacious living room, a middle-aged couple was already seated. When they saw An Xiang enter, they didn't even greet her and turned their heads to one side. An Xiang, however, politely greeted them: "Director Xia, sister-in-law, hello."

  Middle-aged man is Shu Fan's uncle Xia Bai Shi, he wears a POLO shirt, waist with Louis Vuitton belt buckle shining golden light, nodded and said: "How come Qing Shi hasn't come back?"

  An Xin said, "President Xia just had surgery and can't withstand the long journey, so I was sent back to handle things first." After saying this, she no longer paid attention to Xia Bai Shi and asked Song Shuang, "Excuse me, where is Shu Fan?"

  "Wait a minute, I'll go call her."

  The Song family lived in a spacious, multi-story building. Xiang Yun was hiding in the innermost bedroom and didn't want to come out. Song Shuang coaxed her: "Come on, you can't hide forever."

  Shu Fan said: "I don't like them, don't follow them."

  Song Shuangdao said: "Your uncle and aunt look like they're from the city, I don't like them either. But this An Auntie seems okay, doesn't seem to be a fox spirit like you said."

  Shu Fan said: "If it's not a fox spirit, how could she seduce my dad?"

  At this time, the iPad on the table rang, it was a FaceTime invitation from Xia Qing Shi. Song Shuang pressed to accept, and Xia Qing Shi's thin face appeared on the screen.

  "Good daughter, still angry, won't forgive Daddy?" Xia Qing Shi's voice was full of paternal kindness.

  "Dad." Shu Fan's eyes turned red.

  "Dad just had surgery and can't pick you up in person, so he's asked An Auntie to take you to the US, to bring you to his side. The scenery in Tennessee is great, Dad misses you." Xia Qing Shi stretched out his hand, wanting to wipe away the tears on his daughter's face on the screen.

  A faint noise came from the living room, and Coco, a Samoyed dog, ran in and started biting Song Shuang's sleeve, calling her out.

  Song Shuang arrived in the living room, only to see An Xing holding her arms and laughing coldly without speaking. Xia Bai Shi's wife was indignant and said, "It's all blamed on us, it's really unreasonable. We are her direct relatives, unlike some people."

  Xia Bai Shi said: "Alright, you'd better say less."

  His wife said, "Don't say anything more. Your younger brother is willing to believe outsiders but not you, his older brother. Now that something has happened, he's blaming us. What exactly did we do wrong? I'm going to get to the bottom of this today."

  An Xin said: "I didn't blame you, and you are not direct relatives. Xiaofan's only direct relative is Xia Zong, now I am entrusted by Xia Zong to take Xiaofan away, do you have any opinions?"

  "Oh, you dumped it on us to take care of at first, and now with just one sentence you want to take it back? Who do you think you are?" The shrew's voice grew louder.

  "If you want to quarrel, go outside and quarrel, this is my home." Song Shuang said coldly.

  Xia Baishi's wife immediately retreated, she was a domineering figure at home, but in the Public Security Bureau director's house, she didn't dare to be presumptuous.

  "Just take it away then, be done with it." Xia Bai Shi said.

  The couple walked away with a huff, and Shu Fan also came out of the bedroom, apparently Dad's persuasion had taken effect.

  "Xiao Fan, are you feeling better?" An Xin squatted down and asked tentatively. This girl had been suffering from selective mutism since her mother's death and hadn't spoken a word.

  Shu Fan still didn't say a word.

  An Xin knew the child didn't like himself and didn't force it, saying: "The plane is ready, your visa is still valid." He glanced at his watch, "Let's go now, see Dad earlier."

  Shu Fan said: "I'm not leaving."

  "Why don't you leave? It's not safe here, bad people can come back at any time. Can you bear to have your father worry about you?"

  Shu Fan said: "I don't need your protection, I have a brother."

  "Brother?" An Xin looked at Song Shuang with a puzzled gaze.

  Song Shuang explained: "These past few days, someone has been protecting Xiao Fan. If it weren't for that person, the bad guys would have succeeded already."

  "Ah, it's that person you mentioned in the email, don't worry, even if you go to America, you can still talk to your brother on the phone. If you're willing, we can even hire him to work at our company and you can see each other every day, no need to rush these few days. Now it's most important for your dad, his liver transplant was successful but there are some rejection reactions..."

  At this point, An Xin suddenly choked and couldn't continue speaking.

  "Alright, I'll go with you, but I want to say goodbye to my brother."

  An Xin said: "I'll arrange it right away, what's his phone number?"

  ……

  Liu Handong had no phone, his Nokia cell phone was dismantled with the battery thrown on the table, getting wet from the rain leaking through the roof, and the motherboard was burned out.

  Sitting at home in a daze, suddenly the landlady downstairs shouted: "Little Liu on the 4th floor, come down to answer the phone, the Public Security Bureau is looking for you."

  Liu Handong guessed that it was probably Wan Xudong who wanted to continue understanding the situation, and he might have to eat another boxed meal at the municipal bureau in the evening. So, he took the leftover dishes from lunch to the second floor and handed them over to Zhu Xiaoqiang: "Xiaojun, leave you a midnight snack."

  Zhu Xiaoqiang clicked his tongue repeatedly: "It's all hard dishes, buying two buns is enough to make a living, thank you Dong Ge."

  Liu Handong said bluntly, went downstairs to answer the phone, it was not Wan Xudong who called, but the Huahua Police Station, asking him to go to the station for a trip to understand some situations.

  Ten minutes later, Liu Handong arrived at the Huahuo Police Station, reported his name, and the duty policeman pointed to the second floor: "The first door on the second floor."

  He went upstairs, knocked on the door and entered. Inside, several policemen were chatting and smoking. When they saw Liu Handong enter, they looked him up and down. A police officer with two stripes and one star asked: "Are you Liu Handong?"

  "It's me."

  "We are from the Development Zone Public Security Bureau, someone has reported you, come with us." said the police officer.

  Liu Handong clenched his fists involuntarily.

  "Shi Feng Group told you that you damaged their stuff, beat the night-shift guard dog to death, and even pulled the switch to cause a blackout accident, resulting in huge losses. You're quite capable!" The police officer didn't take out his handcuffs because this case wasn't considered major for the police.

  But from another perspective, Liu Handong has poked the hornet's nest this time. What is the background of Shifeng Group? They have connections with both the underworld and the government, even the mayor gives them face. Wang Shifeng is also a member of the CPPCC, a big shot who can make the entire city of Jinjiang tremble with just a stomp of his foot. Whoever dares to mess with him will die without knowing how they died.

  Liu Handong relaxed his fist, he broke into the Shifeng Group to capture Gu Changjun and made a meritorious service for the police, he didn't believe that the police would help the Shifeng Group deal with him.

  Liu Handong was taken away by the police from the Development Zone Branch Bureau.

  ……

  An Xin handed a 100,000 yuan check to Wang Xing in the VIP room of the airport's waiting hall: "Thank you, Mr. Wang."

  "Thanks to An for taking care of the business." Wang Xing held the check with a flourish, this deal was a big earner, better than a year's worth of low-level business catching mistresses.

  "Big brother, why hasn't he come yet?" Shu Fan said anxiously.

  "I'll probably be on the road." Song Shuang said, although they had only spent a short time together and were of different ages, she and Shu Fan had become friends at first sight, and today she skipped class to see her sister off to America.

  Wang Xing took out his mobile phone: "I'll hurry him up."

  He called Wan Xudong and said after connecting: "Wan, where is Liu Handong? Why hasn't he come over yet? The little girl is waiting to see him."

  Wan Xudong said: "Don't mention it, Liu Handong was caught by the Development Zone Branch Bureau, and Wang Shifeng reported him."

  "Alright, I see. Got it." Wang Xing put away the phone and walked over to say: "Unfortunately, Liu Handong has gone out of town with the police to collect evidence and won't be able to come for now."

  Tears filled Shu Fan's eyes as the background music in the VIP room started playing Jacky Cheung's "The Pain of Parting"

  Though parting is in front of our eyes, saying goodbye won't be too far away. If fate permits, we can look forward to tomorrow, you and I will reunite in a brilliant season...

  The Gulfstream business jet took off, and Shu Fan left Jinjiang, leaving China. She lay on the porthole side, trying hard to distinguish where Tiehua Street was, but couldn't find that place no matter what.