NOVPUB
Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Quite a Broad Business
Lin Chuxia returned to the hostel and took out the things she had bought.
No woman dislikes jewelry, Lin Chuxia liked Chinese-style dresses and also had some knowledge about accessories.
The jade bracelet had a rich hue; such quality would cost at least a six-figure amount in the future, and while the red jade bracelet was somewhat inferior, it would still start at a five-figure price.
She couldn’t make out the inscription on the thumb ring, the traditional characters inside were too small to read, and it looked quaint and mysterious.
Often, it’s hard to estimate the value of such items. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝙢
She hadn’t expected to gain so much from this trip; truly, it was a huge profit.
She placed the items directly into her space, saw that it was getting late, Lin Chuxia had a full meal, took a hot shower, and then comfortably went to bed.
She had a dreamless night; the next day after washing up and having breakfast, she checked out and headed for the train station.
The train was delayed yesterday, hence tickets had to be re-purchased today.
Regrettably, she wasn’t able to buy a sleeper ticket.
As Lin Chuxia turned around with her ticket, she saw a familiar figure not far away; by the time she tried to get a clearer look, everything was a blur of moving figures. Where was the familiar figure now?
She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her and didn’t take it to heart.
She took the first train for over eight hours, and in the afternoon switched to the second train.
This train was evidently more crowded than the last, almost packed to the brim; pickpockets thrived in such situations.
Back at the hostel, Lin Chuxia had already put everything into her space, and she only carried an empty suitcase in her hand. Her bag was light, containing only a bottle filled with spiritual spring water, a few pork buns, and tea eggs.
Even if she encountered thieves, there wasn’t much on her to steal.
Just as she was thinking this, a beam of light flashed; a bald man with luggage squeezed past, followed a few meters behind by a skinny man.
Lin Chuxia narrowed her eyes; it seemed she hadn’t been mistaken at the train station while buying her ticket.
At that moment, cries of alarm sounded not far away, "My wallet is gone, a thief has stolen my wallet, someone catch the thief! That’s the money for my child’s medical fees, someone heartless... this is putting our lives in danger..."
A woman was shouting and looking around in tears; amidst her crying and accusations, an unprepossessing man quickly ducked his head and hurried through the crowd.
Even though they suspected he might be a thief, the passengers in the car seemed eager to avoid him, fearing getting involved, and even deliberately cleared a path for him.
Lin Chuxia frowned slightly, just as she was about to step forward to help, a tall man directly grabbed the suspect’s wrist.
Of course, the suspect didn’t surrender willingly, but after a couple of moves, he was pinned down on the compartment floor.
"What are you doing? Can you just hit people in broad daylight, is there no King’s Law anymore?"
At that moment, the woman also caught up, profusely thanking the man, then she slapped the thief twice, "Return my money, you damned thief, give my money back..."
The man pinned down could hardly speak, "Who’s the thief? How can you wrongfully accuse an innocent person? I’ll report this to the police."
With that, the man controlling him hesitated as well, "Sister, are you sure he’s the one who stole your money?"
The woman still looked indignant, "It was him; I realized my money was gone and saw him sneaking into the crowd, if not him then who?"
By this time, a train attendant arrived to maintain order; knowing they had caught a supposed thief, he took it seriously, but hearing the other party denying being a thief and accusing them of randomly grabbing people, he wasn’t sure what to do for a moment.
To prove his innocence, the man turned out all his pockets for everyone to see, and even brought his only luggage, a worn-out bag, for Big Sister to search.
After searching, Big Sister looked utterly devastated; her lost money was nowhere to be found.
"It must be you who hid the money, where did you hide my money?"
The man, looking innocent, spread his hands and looked at the conductor, even appearing a bit wronged, "How would I know where your money is? I was just walking along when this man hit me and she accused me of being a thief. Who can I even talk to about this?"
Without solid evidence and knowing that train thieves usually operate in groups, there was nothing they could do to this man.
Since Big Sister’s money was indeed lost, the conductor had no choice but to take both Big Sister and the man to be interrogated by the train police.
Everyone’s gaze was fixated on a few people, but Lin Chuxia walked through the crowd and directly approached a man, casually patting him on the shoulder.
The man, engrossed in the excitement, spoke discontentedly when his shoulder was tapped, "Who’s that..."
When he saw Lin Chuxia, his expression changed, "Li... little madam, why are you here?"
While speaking, he nudged Bald beside him, who also tensed up when he saw Lin Chuxia.
Despite being two grown men, they suddenly acted as obedient as elementary school students.
It was indeed Bald and Houzi who had robbed Lin Chuxia back in Ancheng County.
However, there were three of them that day, and now there were only Bald and Houzi; the hoodlum wasn’t here.
Lin Chuxia nodded towards the crowd, "Are you with them? Quite the broad business, running all the way to the Northwest."
The already nervous man’s face turned pale immediately.
"No... no, we don’t know them."
"Really, we are just here to watch the excitement."
"Yeah, madam, we’ve really turned over a new leaf, honestly, we haven’t committed a single crime since that day."
"You see how we are dressed now, if we were still in this business, would we be this miserable?"
One was wearing an old jacket that was neither new nor old, and the other wore a faded Chinese tunic suit, indeed looking very shabby, a far cry from the flamboyant attire they wore back then.
However, Lin Chuxia clearly did not believe their words, considering their attire proved nothing.
Bald, realizing what Lin Chuxia was thinking, pulled her over to his seat, lowering his voice.
"You might not know, but our line of work has its own rules; we rarely overstep boundaries. You see us dominating in An City, but we’re not qualified to operate on the railways, even if you asked me to, I wouldn’t dare."
Houzi nodded repeatedly, affirming that was the case.
Lin Chuxia had heard of such rules, and asked further, "Then what are you doing in the Northwest, surely not sightseeing?"
Bald and Houzi looked at each other, and one nodded, "You tell her."
Houzi rubbed his palms, seemingly uneasy about what to say next.
"After coming back from the city that day, I discussed with Brother Liang, and we really decided to quit, not hiding it from you, it’s not easy for us to be in this business..."
Lin Chuxia gave him a sidelong glance, complaining about the hardships of thievery?
Embarrassed, Houzi scratched his head, "Really, that’s how it is, nobody’s got much money, and if things go wrong, it ends up like that day, you get beaten up, and being idle all day doesn’t do good for our reputation, our families even want to cut ties with us over this."
