Leaving the health clinic, he headed to the tobacco store where his brother-in-law Li Chun Nan had agreed to meet him. Li Chun Nan was paying for cigarettes while the shop owner was putting ten packs of Zhonghua hard-case cigarettes into an ordinary shoe box.

  When going out to deal with things, cigarettes open the way. Hard-shell Chinese is a good starting point. One cigarette or one pack is not unusual, but ten cigarettes are needed to have fun. The smooth and fluent explanation fully illustrates the importance of cigarettes in social activities.

  This is the cigarette that was supposed to be delivered to the police station. Rushing forward to pay at dawn, he was pushed aside by Li Chun Nan with great force.

  "Brother-in-law, how can I let you spend money?" Xiang Tianliang felt embarrassed. Now doing things like this is expensive, just one police station costs ten big Chinese cigarettes, and the money is spent like water.

  "Nonsense, you're trying to turn me against my own brother-in-law!" Li Chun Nan patted his face with his remaining right hand and chuckled, "Tian Liang, don't you consider your sister's husband a member of the family?"

  Toward Tian Liang didn't know what to say, no wonder Grandpa said that in these decades, sister had accomplished a great thing, which was marrying a good husband.

  Li Chunnan wore military uniform in all four seasons and eight festivals, majestic yet simple, except that his left wrist was gone, afraid of scaring children, he got into the habit of wearing gloves when going out.

  On the way to the police station, Li Chun-nan sat on the back of the motorcycle and smiled: "Tian Liang, you'd better keep that little money for yourself. A thousand yuan in wages, a little bonus, at most you'll get some small red envelopes, it's not enough to get things done."

  Xiang Tianliang smiled wryly and said: "This big family of dozens of people will keep you busy from now on."

  "Haha, I'd be happy to... Besides, if you had to spend money, your sister would scold me for three days and three nights."

  Shao Sanhe, the director of Jin River Police Station, was Li Chunnan's squad leader when he was a soldier. The two had been through three and a half years together on the southern border front line, and were comrades who had come out of life and death and blood and fire. He was also tall and strong, with a military bearing, although he was not yet 40 years old.

  Shao Sanhe ushered Xiang Tianliang and Li Chunnan into his office.

  Li Chunnan didn't even sit down before he started introducing himself.

  "It's dawn, this is the Shao Sanhe I often mentioned to you, my old squad leader and fellow veteran from back then. Brother Sanhe, this is my younger brother-in-law Xiang Tianliang, with exceptional martial arts skills, having studied at the Police University for four years, but was assigned to the Municipal Construction Bureau, and in just half a year's time, he became the deputy director of the bureau's office."

  Xiang Tianliang politely said: "Thank you for your hard work, Shao." while extending his right hand.

  Sha Sanhe grasped Xiang Tianliang's hand, took a closer look, and couldn't help but feel a deep respect. In today's society, the younger generation is indeed formidable. He had heard that Li Chunnan had an extraordinary younger brother-in-law, the first university graduate in the Xiang family, extremely intelligent, handsome, and talented. Today, upon meeting him, it was clear that his reputation was well-deserved. With such a noble demeanor, he would surely achieve great things in the future. Having worked for only half a year, he had already become a deputy department-level official, while Sha Sanhe himself had struggled to reach this level after over a decade of work.

  "Daybreak, my younger brother, you're being too polite. From now on, don't call me Shao Zhuo anymore. Spring Nan and I are sworn brothers for life and death. Without him, I would have lost my life in the south long ago. No need to say more. From now on, we're all brothers. Brothers' business is my, Shao San He's, business."

  "Director Shao." Xiang Tianliang quickly changed his greeting, but in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a bitter smile. His position as deputy director of the office had long been abolished, yet his brother-in-law was still flaunting it in front of friends.

  Shao Sanhe happily asked Xiang Tianliang and Li Chunnan to sit down. After the three of them lit their cigarettes, Shao Sanhe saw the trunk on the ground, his face immediately fell.

  "Chun Nan, what do you mean by this? Are you trying to humiliate me to death?"

  Li Chunnan pushed towards Tian Liang's body and said, "Third River brother, this is what Tian Liang means. I was saying that on the way here."

  Shao Sanhe looked at Xiang Tianliang and said: "Brother Tianliang, if you think highly of me, this old brother, please take the things in the box back with you."

  Xiang Tianliang smiled and explained: "Shao Ge, I think this way, you and I are brothers, but you have a lot of authority, what will the dozens of brothers under your command think? When everyone adds fuel to the fire, Shao Ge, you still need to rely on them at work, so you can't chill their hearts. Otherwise, my father's and Sixth Uncle's affairs would affect your work, and we brothers would be uneasy."

  Li Chunnan also said, "That's right, it's up to you to deal with those brothers of yours. If you don't take care of them, it means you look down on Tian Liang. In any case, we won't bring them back, so just throw them into the stinky ditch."

  Shao Sanhe was also a straightforward person, patting his knee and saying: "Alright, I'll accept it this time, but don't think you can do it again."

  Then let's get down to business.

  "Your sixth uncle's temper, I've really never seen it before. As soon as he comes in, he sees people and hits them. The county bureau's criminal police team came, and he even dared to use force. Don't mind, you two, I've arranged for him to be alone in a small cell."

  "Shao Ge, you're right. My sixth uncle has a bad temper and only listens to my grandfather's words. Let him be alone then." Xiang Tian Liang said.

  Li Chunnan asked: "Third Brother Sanhe, where is Old Tai Shan?"

  "Ah, old fellow!" Xia Sanhe laughed and stood up, saying "Follow me, you'll see."

  Three people left the office and walked together towards the detention room in the backyard.

  "After our investigation, we found that Old Man Zhang was indeed not involved in the disturbance. An hour ago, I already informed Old Man Zhang that he could go home, but this old man just refused to leave."

  Tian Liang heard this and was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Had his old man's brain gone soft?

  The police station originally had no special place for detention. With the development of the shoe industry, Jin Chuan Town suddenly had two or three hundred thousand migrant workers, and it was inevitable that some lawbreakers would also be brought in. As a result, there was a temporary detention facility called a "detention room". People detained here generally could not exceed twenty-four hours.

  More than ten meters away from the detention room, a loud and sonorous voice came over.

  "...Now, let's talk about Cao Cao. He chose a auspicious day and led his hundreds of generals and 830,000 soldiers to march towards Eastern Wu...Unexpectedly, they were blocked by a small river, which made Cao Cao anxious and at a loss for what to do...Someone said, "How can a small river block the way of the great Northern Wei army?" You don't know that this river is called Lang River, set up by the gods, only seven zhang wide but over thirty zhang deep. The current is rapid and the waves are high, people and animals fall in and disappear instantly...Fortunately, there is a single-plank bridge on the river...But here's the problem: the single-plank bridge can only hold one person at a time. How long will it take for this massive army of hundreds of thousands to cross? There's no other way, Cao Cao's army can only slowly cross the single-plank bridge...Let's wait and see what happens next after Cao Cao's army crosses the single-plank bridge..."

  Tian Liang was stunned, wasn't this his father's voice?

  A burst of laughter came from the detention room.

  "Lao Xiang, you've fooled us again."

  "Haha, by the time the 830,000-strong army finishes crossing the single-plank bridge, the rapeseed flowers will have wilted."

  "Lao Xiang, you're also being too unreasonable."

  It turned out that Xiang Yunlai, Tianliang's father, although illiterate, was a famous folk storyteller in his youth. However, after getting married and starting a family, he never spoke about storytelling again. This was the first time Tianliang had ever heard his father tell stories.

  Father was also a talented person.

  "Dad." Tian Liang stood in front of the iron gate and shouted towards the inside.

  The detention room was about thirty square meters, with more than twenty people sitting inside, all of whom were outsiders. Among the crowd, Yun slowly got up and walked to the door, looking out at the sky brightening, tears streaming down her face.

  "Son, you've finally come..."