Seeing that she couldn't hide her identity any longer, Lan Yi said, “She is my cousin.”
Pointing at Lan Yi, Dr. Jin exclaimed in surprise, “So you are a Tanka too?” After saying that, he looked at you and nodded. Then he looked up at Uncle Rui. Li Yu also looked at Uncle Rui.
Seeing that Dr. Jin and Li Yu were looking at him, Uncle Rui seemed to recall something and said, “Ah Yu, Dr. Jin, here’s what happened. The night the Radish Heads stormed Guangzhou, I ran towards the Pearl River to escape. I was still spotted by them, and they opened fire. At that moment, a young woman rushed out from a boat moored on the Pearl River. She pulled me in and we charged towards the boat. As soon as we got on board, the woman who saved me was shot in the foot. She lost a lot of blood and, despite the pain, steered the boat away from the Pearl River. That’s how I survived. That woman who saved me was Ah Lan.”
Lan Yi nodded and said, “Yes, he came to the Pearl River to look for me every night. You know, people on land can’t marry Tankas. But we wanted to be together, so we secretly hid on the shore and lived in this courtyard. We didn’t dare to tell anyone that we were Tankas. Ah Yu, Dr. Jin, please do us a favor and keep it a secret.”
Li Yu smiled at Lan Yi and said, “Lan Yi, Uncle Rui, your story is very moving. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
Dr. Jin walked over, put the hands of Lan Yi and Uncle Rui together, and said, “Ah Rui, Ah Lan, I wish you a love as deep as the Pearl River, and that you will grow old together.”
Lan Yi and Uncle Rui said excitedly, “Thank you!”
Uncle Rui seemed to have understood something and said, “So, you won’t dislike us for being Tankas.”
Li Yu patted Uncle Rui’s shoulder and said, “Uncle Rui, Tankas are people, people on land are also people. Since we’re all people, why should we dislike each other?”
Dr. Jin said excitedly, “Ah Yu is right. Back in 1938, the Radish Head’s planes bombed Haizhu Bridge. Oh dear! The Tankas nearby suffered countless casualties. I was the first to rush in to help, and I stayed with the Tankas for a whole month. It was then that I got to know them, and I realized that they were not like what others said. In fact, many Tankas are very kind. Since we are all Chinese, why should we dislike each other?”
Lan Yi, Uncle Rui, and Ah Xi said happily, “Thank you, thank you.” Then they bowed to Dr. Jin and Li Yu.
Li Yu supported Uncle Rui, Dr. Jin supported Lan Yi, and they stopped Ah Xi from getting up. Li Yu said, “I’m a policeman. Although there’s all sorts of oppression and injustice in this society, I will try my best to ensure that those injustices are rectified.”
Dr. Jin also said, “Don’t be so polite. I’m a doctor after all, it’s my duty to heal the sick and save lives. I don’t care who you are, if you’re sick, I’ll treat you.” After saying that, Dr. Jin opened his medical kit and treated Ah Xi’s wound.
After a while, Dr. Jin finally finished treating Ah Xi’s wound. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “Ah Lan, I’ve treated Ah Xi’s wound. Let her rest for a few days so that the wound can heal properly. I’ll come over every day to help her clean her wound.”
After Dr. Jin finished speaking, Li Yu said, “Lan Yi, don’t worry. I’ll find the robber who robbed Xi Yi soon and clear her name. Also, in the next few days, try to do business outside. Don’t let any customers enter your shop.”
Lan Yi and the others expressed their gratitude again. Li Yu quickly interrupted, “Okay, you don’t need to say thank you. It’s only right that we help each other as neighbors. Dr. Jin and I are leaving now.” After saying that, Li Yu and Dr. Jin left.
Over the next few days, Ah Xi’s wound healed well under Dr. Jin’s care and Lan Yi and Uncle Rui’s attention.
During these days, Li Yu rarely appeared at the police station. Seeing Li Yu back at the station working hard to solve cases, Niu Da Chun thought Li Yu wanted to return to the station. He found Li Yu and asked, “Ah Wu Ah, you’ve been back at the station working so hard to solve cases these days. Do you want to return to the station and help me? You don’t know how busy I’ve been without you. The bunch of fools below keep causing me trouble.”
Seeing Niu Da Chun complaining to him, Li Yu explained, “It’s because the wife of the Chief of our District’s Squadron had her purse stolen. They suspect that the thief is hiding in our courtyard and asked 369 to check every house. They’re making a mess of the courtyard, and it’s driving me crazy. That’s why I’m back at the station. I want to solve this case as soon as possible and let the courtyard return to peace.”
After hearing what Li Yu said, Niu Da Chun muttered, “Oh, I thought you were back to help me.” Then he left.
Seeing Niu Da Chun’s dejected look, Li Yu shook his head and laughed. Li Yu had almost found the thief after investigating for a few days. He only needed to catch him and interrogate him. He sent a few officers to arrest the thief and instructed them to interrogate him as soon as they caught him. Once they had the results, they were to go to the courtyard and tell him. After giving all his instructions, Li Yu went back to the courtyard.
These days, Ba Gu had recovered well after returning to the courtyard.
In the morning, Ba Gu opened the door, fanned herself, and shouted, “Ah Wen, go to the tailor’s and get my clothes back.” When she didn’t receive a response, Ba Gu muttered to herself, “That stinky girl! I asked her to buy a hen, and she’s been gone for ages. That stinky girl must have gone to slack off somewhere.” After saying that, she sat on a chair, poured herself a cup of tea, and started drinking.
After drinking tea for a while, Ba Gu saw that Ah Wen hadn’t returned, so she went downstairs to get her clothes from the tailor’s shop.
In the room of the tailor’s shop, Lan Yi untied the bandage on Ah Xi’s foot and placed it aside. She then helped Ah Xi up slowly, let go of her hand, and walked a few steps away before saying, “Come on, try to walk.”
Hearing Lan Yi’s words, Ah Xi started to slowly shift her foot towards Lan Yi.
Seeing Ah Xi slowly walking towards her, Lan Yi encouraged her, “Ah Xi, come on. If you can take one step, you can take a second.”
Ah Xi continued to slowly walk towards Lan Yi. Gradually, Ah Xi started smiling.
Lan Yi, seeing Ah Xi like this, also smiled and said, “Ah Xi, at this rate, you’ll be able to walk large steps tomorrow.”
Ah Xi grabbed Lan Yi’s hand and said with a smile, “Thank you, Lan Jie. Thank you for taking care of me.”
At this moment, Uncle Rui walked in and asked, “How is it? Can you walk? If you can, let’s leave as soon as possible.”
Lan Yi smiled and said to Uncle Rui, “Husband, don’t be so anxious. Ah Xi wants to leave quickly too, to avoid being scared here. Besides, Ah Yu has almost found the thief. We’ll just change Ah Xi’s clothes, and as long as Dr. Jin and Ah Yu don’t tell anyone, no one here will know that we are Tankas. And, husband, go open the door quickly. If our neighbors see us always keeping the door closed, they will be suspicious.”
Uncle Rui nodded and said, “Yes, I’ll go open the door now and throw away this bandage.” After saying that, he took the bandage from the table and walked out of the room.
Ba Gu went downstairs and saw that the door of the tailor’s shop was closed. She reached out and pushed it open and walked in.
Uncle Rui had just stepped out of the room when he saw the door of the tailor’s shop being pushed open and Ba Gu walking in. He was startled, and the bandage in his hand fell to the ground. He quickly greeted her, “Ba Gu, Ba Gu.”
Lan Yi heard Uncle Rui’s voice and quickly walked to the door of the room to eavesdrop.
Ba Gu pushed the door open, saw Uncle Rui’s panicked look, and said, “What’s going on? Why are you so flustered? Why have you been closing the door these days? No need to do business? Did you do something you can’t let anyone see?”
Uncle Rui said nervously, “No, no.”
Lan Yi, who was in the room, heard what Ba Gu said and quickly hid Ah Xi in the closet.
Ba Gu sniffed the air, smelled a strange scent, and said, “Why is there such a strong smell of medicinal wine here? Did Ah Lan fall?”
Uncle Rui quickly said, “Yes, Ah Lan twisted her foot a few days ago. So, I went to Dr. Jin’s and got some medicinal wine to rub on her. That’s why there’s such a strong smell of medicinal wine in the shop.”
Ba Gu looked at Uncle Rui’s demeanor and felt something was amiss. She pretended to be concerned and said, “Where’s Ah Lan? I have a secret recipe that is very effective in treating sprains. Let her come out and let me take a look. I’ll see if my recipe can treat her.” When she saw that Uncle Rui didn’t react, she walked towards the room.
Uncle Rui was panicking and didn’t know what to do when Lan Yi, who was in the room, heard Ba Gu’s footsteps approaching. She quickly came out of the room and said, “Ba Gu, no need. My injury is almost healed.”
Only now did Uncle Rui react. He picked up Ba Gu’s clothes on the table and said, “Ba Gu, you’re here to get your clothes, right? We’ve already finished altering them. Take them back and try them on.”
After hearing this, Ba Gu turned around and reached for the clothes in Uncle Rui’s hand. Through the window, she happened to see Ah Wen returning. She stormed out angrily and shouted, “You stinky girl! I asked you to buy a hen, and you’ve been gone all day.” While scolding Ah Wen, she twisted her arm.
Seeing Ba Gu’s attention on Ah Wen, Lan Yi quickly picked up the bandage that fell on the floor and threw it out the window.
Ah Wen, hearing Ba Gu scolding and beating her, said aggrievedly, “Hens are very hard to find. I walked two streets before I found one. I didn’t slack off.”
Seeing Ah Wen talk back, Ba Gu slapped her and scolded, “You dare talk back! Go upstairs and make soup quickly. I’ll teach you a lesson later. You are really intolerable.”
Seeing Ah Wen go upstairs, Ba Gu wanted to enter the tailor’s shop again. Lan Yi, seeing this, quickly walked out with the clothes and handed them to Ba Gu, saying, “Landlady, your clothes are ready. Take them back and try them on. If there’s anything that doesn’t fit, I’ll alter them for you again.” As she spoke, she saw Ba Gu trying to walk inside again and said, “You don’t have to pay this time. I’ll put it on account. You can settle the bill when the clothes fit.”
Seeing that she didn’t have a chance to go in again, Ba Gu snorted and said, “You’re good at playing nice.” After saying that, she stormed upstairs.
Li Yu returned to the courtyard and just reached the door of the tailor’s shop when he saw a cormorant dragging a bloodstained bandage and slowly walking around. Li Yu quickly went over to pick up the bandage and hid it in a secluded place before going home.
369 had searched the courtyard for days without finding the thief. He came to Ba Gu’s house. As soon as he arrived, he heard Ba Gu scolding Ah Wen. 369 said, “Ba Gu, don’t be so angry. I want to ask you if you’ve seen anyone suspicious recently?”
Ba Gu said with a smile, “369, you can’t be serious! You haven’t found him after searching for so many days?”
Seeing Ba Gu joking with him, 369 said helplessly, “If I could find that person, I wouldn’t have come to you to get information. Tell me quickly. Have you seen anyone suspicious or encountered anything suspicious lately?”
Ba Gu thought for a moment and said, “I haven’t seen anyone suspicious. But I think the tailor and his family are a bit strange. They’ve been keeping their door closed these days. Whenever they open the door, they both look flustered.”
369, hearing that there was a lead, quickly said, “That’s indeed suspicious. I can use the excuse of checking household registration to search their house. If I find the thief, wouldn’t that be a merit for me?”
Ba Gu, seeing 369 so happy, quickly said, “Wait a minute before going. I’ll go get Mrs. Zhou over here under the pretext of playing mahjong. With Mrs. Zhou here, our merit will be even greater.”
369 quickly urged Ba Gu, “Ba Gu, go quickly! If I go and catch the thief before Mrs. Zhou arrives, it’ll be too late.”
Seeing 369’s urgency, Ba Gu got up and went to invite Mrs. Zhou and her mahjong buddies.
After a while, 369 went downstairs. First, he checked a few tenants under the pretext of checking household registration to avoid alarming the thief.
After Ba Gu left, Uncle Rui and Lan Yi dressed Ah Xi up as a man and took him to Dr. Jin’s clinic. When they arrived, Dr. Jin saw them and closed the door before saying, “Ah Lan, Ah Rui, why did you bring Ah Xi here?”
Lan Yi said nervously, “369 is checking every house in the courtyard again under the pretext of checking household registration. We were lucky to escape last time. But we’re afraid we won’t be able to escape this time. Besides, Ah Xi has almost recovered. We just want you to check his wound again. Once it’s done, I’ll call a rickshaw to take Ah Xi away.”
Dr. Jin nodded and said, “It’s no solution to hide like this. Ah Xi, sit on the chair and I’ll check your wound.”
After hearing this, Ah Xi sat on the chair, and Dr. Jin began to examine his wound.
After a while, Dr. Jin finished checking and treating Ah Xi’s wound. He then let Ah Xi leave the clinic.
As Lan Yi and Uncle Rui accompanied Ah Xi out of the clinic door, they saw 369 walking towards them. He was checking inside a house under the pretext of checking household registration. They quickly took Ah Xi towards the courtyard gate.