My Fierce Beta Husband is Surprisingly Sweet | Chapter 44 | The Rats in the Dark | Novela.app

Chapter 44 - The Rats in the Dark Li Zhenting gradually regained his composure as the wind whipped past him, eventually pulling his motorcycle back into the familiar surroundings of his shop. He maneuvered the heavy machine into the garage, the engine clicking as it cooled. He clicked the kickstand into place, pulled the key from the ignition, and set his helmet aside. Just as he was preparing to head upstairs, the sound of footsteps echoed against the concrete floor. Tang Jiu, ever-observant, walked in to meet him. "Brother Li, you’re back." "Yeah," Li Zhenting replied, wiping a smudge of grease from his hand. "What’s up?" "Someone from the police station stopped by. They said they need you to head over there for a bit," Tang Jiu said, his voice carrying a hint of unease. Li Zhenting’s brow furrowed in confusion. "The police? What for?" "It sounded like they wanted to follow up on that incident from a while back—you know, when Xu Chang stabbed you." "I see. Go on back to whatever you were doing," Li Zhenting nodded, acknowledging the message. However, Tang Jiu lingered. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, stealing several glances at Li Zhenting as if he were harboring a secret or a deep-seated fear. Li Zhenting, attuned to the moods of his crew, didn't miss the boy’s hesitation. "Is there something else?" "Brother Li... that whole thing happened so long ago. Why are they looking for you now?" Tang Jiu’s voice dropped an octave, laced with a tremor. "Is that crowd stirring up trouble again? Are they going to come back and mess with us?" Among the group at the shop, Tang Jiu was the youngest. He hadn't lived through the chaotic years of Li Zhenting’s youth; he was a child who had been raised under the protective wing of the older "brothers." The violent conflict with Xu Chang’s gang had likely been the first time he had witnessed such raw brutality, and it had clearly left a shadow on his heart. Before Li Zhenting found him, Tang Jiu had been nothing more than a scruffy, stubborn runaway, wandering the streets with a face caked in dust. He had been caught clumsily trying to pick a pocket by Li Zhenting himself. At the time, the boy had fought like a cornered animal, baring his teeth and even trying to sink them into Li Zhenting’s arm, only to be held fast by a single, iron-grip hand. Li Zhenting had originally intended to drag him to the police station, but the moment the boy saw the station’s gates, he had spiraled into a frantic, desperate panic. Fearing he might actually hurt the kid if he forced him, Li Zhenting had stopped to ask what was wrong. It turned out Tang Jiu was an orphan. After being adopted, his foster parents had quickly biological children of their own, and their treatment of him turned cold and abusive. He had fled, living on the streets for weeks. Being a minor, he couldn't find work, and in his desperation, he had turned to theft. "I won't go to the station! They’ll just send me back! I’d rather die than go back there!" the young teen had screamed, shoving against Li Zhenting’s chest with fierce determination. Li Zhenting had hesitated then, and instead of turning him in, he had hauled the boy back to his newly opened auto repair shop. Since Tang Jiu’s foster parents never bothered to look for him, he had naturally become a part of the shop’s family. To him, this small, grease-stained business was his only home, and he lived in constant fear of seeing it destroyed. A large, calloused hand came down firmly on Tang Jiu’s head, ruffling his hair. The boy looked up to see Li Zhenting looking down at him with a gaze that was both serious and steady. "Don't worry," his elder brother promised. "Nothing is going to happen." Li Zhenting didn't offer a long explanation or a grand oath. He simply stated it as a fact, and that was enough. The weight in Tang Jiu’s chest seemed to lift instantly. "Okay! I’m going back to work then!" He flashed a bright, youthful grin and ran back toward the main area of the shop. *Why would the police suddenly want to see me?* Li Zhenting wondered as he set off toward the station. The police station wasn't far from the shop—a mere fifteen-minute walk that didn't even require him to take the bike. As he approached the main entrance, he saw a familiar face hurrying out. Upon spotting him, the officer waved enthusiastically. "Xiao Li! You're here? Perfect, I was just about to head over to your place again." "Hello, Officer Zhou," Li Zhenting greeted her politely as he walked toward her. Officer Zhou Yi let out a sigh of relief and gestured for him to follow her inside. "I went to your shop earlier, but you weren't in. I was planning on making another trip, but I’m glad you saved me the walk." "Is something wrong?" he asked, his curiosity piqued. "There’s a matter that concerns you," she said, opening the door to an office and ushering him in. Li Zhenting glanced around, relieved to find it was a standard office rather than an interrogation room. "Go grab a cup of water," Zhou Yi instructed a junior officer following behind them before sitting down across from Li Zhenting. "You remember Xu Chang, I assume?" "Of course. Hard to forget a man like that," Li Zhenting replied. One does not simply forget the person who drove a knife into their side, even after the physical scars have faded. Zhou Yi offered a small, knowing smile. "True enough. Look, don't be nervous; this isn't anything major. Ever since that incident, we’ve been coordinating with the precinct over on Xi’nan Street. We’ve been keeping a close eye on them, but they’re a cautious bunch. They went to ground the moment they realized we were watching." She paused, her eyes narrowing slightly as she watched his reaction. "A few days after your incident, Xu Chang was injured again. Did you know about that?" "I know. I happened to see it," Li Zhenting admitted candidly. He knew he would be a natural suspect and saw no point in lying. "Did it have anything to do with you?" Zhou Yi pressed. "I didn't go after him for revenge," Li Zhenting stated directly. "Fine. Honestly, it doesn't matter much now anyway," Zhou Yi said, leaning back. "We’ve been tracking them for nearly six months. Recently, we received orders from above to prioritize this case, so we increased our manpower and started soliciting leads from the public. Not long ago, a man called in saying he could assist us, provided we overlooked his own prior record. Can you guess who it was?" Li Zhenting paused, a name flickering in his mind. "...Wang Song?" *Good grief,* he thought. *That coward actually had the guts to become an informant?* Wang Song was the younger brother of the butcher at the local market. He was a local thug whom Li Zhenting had once beaten into tears for being a nuisance. Later, when Wang Song had been caught and nearly beaten to death by Xu Chang’s men for leaking information, Li Zhenting had been the one to step in and save his life. Zhou Yi nodded with a look of approval. "Exactly. He came forward voluntarily, gave us the locations of several of Xu Chang’s transaction points, and even acted as bait to draw them out." "He probably only turned himself in because he was terrified Xu Chang would come back for him," Li Zhenting guessed. "As police, his motivations aren't our primary concern," Zhou Yi replied. "With his help, we’ve managed to dismantle several hubs of that drug ring and arrest Xu Chang along with several other high-profile suspects." *No wonder it’s been so quiet lately,* Li Zhenting realized. "So, why did you need me?" "A few reasons. First, since you were hospitalized and never actually came in to complete your formal statement, we need to finalize the records of everyone involved that night. Second, we know you visited one of their hideouts on Xi’nan Street. By the time we got there, they had mostly cleared out. We want to see how much you remember—any details, no matter how small, could be useful." Li Zhenting finally felt the tension leave his shoulders. He took a long drink from the water the junior officer had brought. He had been running around all day without a drop to drink and was parched. He organized his thoughts and began to recount the events. "It started when I got the call that my shop had been trashed. I rushed back from Zhennan City..." Zhou Yi and the other officer took meticulous notes, occasionally exchanging glances when Li Zhenting mentioned certain details. Once he finished, she looked up. "You mentioned earlier that Xu Chang told you to 'think about who you've offended.' Do you have any leads on who that might be?" Li Zhenting shook his head. "I’ve got nothing. You know me, Officer Zhou—I’ve been on the straight and narrow for years now." "Fair enough. If you remember anything, let me know immediately," Zhou Yi said, closing her notebook and handing it to her colleague. "Am I free to go?" "You are. Thanks for the information." Li Zhenting stood up quickly. Despite his innocence, the atmosphere of the station still made him feel slightly on edge—a lingering side effect of his delinquent youth. As he reached the door, Zhou Yi’s voice rang out behind him. "When you came back from Zhennan City... were you there to see Li Zi?" His body stiffened. He turned his head slightly, looking sheepish. "Uh, yeah. Had some things to discuss with her." "Oh? Is that so? You two really have been close since you were kids, haven't you?" Zhou Yi raised her cup, taking a slow sip as she watched him with an unreadable expression. "Cough... friends. We’re just very good friends," he stammered. Something about his response seemed to strike her as hilarious. She choked slightly on her water, nearly spitting it out. "Right, right. 'Li Zi’s friend,' you can go now. We’re done here." Feeling the weight of an elder’s teasing gaze on his back, Li Zhenting practically bolted out of the station. *** *Buzz. Buzz.* On a dining table in a well-appointed restaurant, Li Zi’s phone vibrated. She offered a small nod to Yuan Ye, who was sitting across from her, excitedly sharing stories of his time abroad, signaling for him to continue. She then swiped her phone open to see a WeChat message from Li Zhenting. Her brow twitched slightly as she stopped eating to reply. *What happened? Are you okay?* *I’m fine,* Li Zhenting’s reply came quickly. *Officer Zhou just called me into the station. It looks like they caught Xu Chang’s crew. They wanted me to provide some information for the investigation.* *They caught them?* *Yeah.* *That’s good. Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil.* Yuan Ye, who had been mid-sentence, suddenly noticed a faint curl to Li Zi’s lips. It wasn't her usual pleasant smile; there was something cold and sharp about it. "Did something good happen?" he asked curiously. Li Zi set her phone down and looked at him. "Just some rats getting caught in a trap, that’s all." "Rats?" Yuan Ye blinked, confused by the metaphor. He thought about it for a second, couldn't make sense of it, and decided to drop it, returning to his previous topic. "So, that’s why I came back early. My parents didn't want me coming home so soon, but Auntie Li promised them she’d look after me, so they finally let me go." The young Omega happily tucked into his long-awaited Chinese meal. "I love my hometown! I love the food!" Watching him eat with the unbridled enthusiasm of a puppy, Li Zi couldn't help but find it amusing. "Eat slowly. There are still more dishes coming." "I’m shtarving! It’sh too good!" he mumbled through a mouthful of food. Li Zi checked her phone one last time. Seeing no further messages from Li Zhenting, she sent a quick text to another contact before darkening the screen and setting the device aside. She picked up her chopsticks and began to eat. *Hopefully, all the restless rats will return to where they belong and never crawl out from the underground to harm innocent people again.* Her sent message read: *Well done. The money will be in your account tomorrow. Remember to keep cooperating with the police.* The recipient was listed as: Wang Song.