Zhou Kai had already been home for five days, and the money in his pockets was dwindling. These past few days, he'd been adding some essential pieces of furniture to the household—washing machine, refrigerator... Just these few big items had already made his wallet feel embarrassingly thin. Hence, after much consideration, Lin Chuan decided to look for a job.
"Chuanzi," at this moment, his mother called out with a touch of excitement, "Come here quickly!"
"What's up?" Lin Chuan hurried over.
"Sister Zhou just called." His mother said excitedly: "She said that she has found a girl for you, go and meet her quickly. She sent over all the details, take a look!"
Lin Chuan glanced at the text message which listed a name, age, and the location of the meeting.
"Mom, we don't have money or connections, and I don't even have a job," Lin Chuan said with a bitter smile. "Are you sending me on a blind date? Isn't this asking for humiliation?"
"Silly boy, you're so handsome; back in our day, definitely a lot of girls would have liked you," Mrs. Lin said heartily with a laugh.
"Mom, times have changed," said Lin Chuan awkwardly. "It's a materialistic era, girls no longer look at the face, but at the wallet."
"Go, there are still many good girls out there in the world." Mrs. Lin found a clean suit for Lin Chuan and said with a smile, "This was what your dad wore when we got married. It's been well preserved, you can wear this for your blind date."
"Whoa, an Armani from '88 or '89?" Lin Chuan laughed as he saw it: "Did dad used to be rich or what?"
"Far from it, one of your dad's old lovers gave it to him," Mrs. Lin said dismissively. "In the end, didn't your father still end up with me? Men can't escape the palm of a beautiful woman. What's the use of having money? The same principle applies to women..."
After much mumbling by his mother, Lin Chuan eventually agreed to go on the blind date, but the path of matchmaking is never that simple, is it?
The next day, Lin Chuan left home, deciding to fulfill his mother's wish. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Zhou Kai and Lu Dapao circling around a Cayenne, seemingly very interested in this Porsche. Out of curiosity, Lin Chuan asked "What, thinking of taking it for a spin?"
"Ah…" Zhou Kai was stunned before he chuckled and said, "Brother Chuanzi, we're just having a look."
"Can you drive?" asked Lin Chuan.
"I can!" Zhou Kai immediately nodded and said, "I… I got my driver's license right after technical school!"
The way he said it, it was as if he had achieved something particularly proud and impressive. However, back then, getting a driver's license was indeed quite a feat. Firstly, you had to pay a fee of one thousand nine hundred yuan for the license test, but the average worker's salary was only six hundred yuan, so without eating or drinking, it would still take over three months to save up that amount. At the time, Zhou Kai's father had hoped that learning to drive would be a skill his son could use, not just as a driver but also to possibly work as a taxi driver in the future. In short, having one more skill wouldn't hurt, so he gritted his teeth and let his son learn.
Except, after graduating, Zhou Kai, this lad, didn't want to behave properly. All day long he was thinking about get-rich-quick schemes and hadn't stayed away from petty thefts.
Slap...
Lin Chuan tossed the car keys over and said, "Take it for a drive then, but be careful, don't get into trouble."
"That's great." Zhou Kai beamed with joy, saying, "Thanks, Brother Chuanzi."
"No need to be polite!" Lin Chuan smiled and said, "Remember to come to me if you need anything in the future."
"Sure!" The two were thrilled and took off in the car.
Lin Chuan chuckled to himself, these young lads were still in their teens, in the prime of their youth. This was a time for rebellion, and they absolutely must not stray onto the wrong path.
With the car taken away by Zhou Kai, Lin Chuan could only take a taxi to the city center. They had agreed to meet at a coffee house at ten in the morning. Neither knew what the other looked like, and regardless of appearance, Lin Chuan was just there to say hello, going solely to appease his mother.
After leaving his community, Lin Chuan felt his pockets, completely empty, not even enough to pay for the taxi. Thinking it over, he had given all his money to his mother and now his pockets were empty, which made him chuckle bitterly to himself. It seems like a trip to the bank was necessary.
The bank was crowded with people conducting transactions, and after getting a number, Lin Chuan waited in the designated waiting area, with over twenty people ahead of him.
Out of military habit, Lin Chuan took a quick look around. Most of the people in the hall were employees who worked nearby. To the left was a woman in her early thirties, sitting properly, wearing a colorful shawl over a black skirt that hugged her rounded buttocks, her figure graceful. Her long hair was neatly kept. That exquisite face even made Lin Chuan struggle to look away. A quintessential oval face with sparkling eyes. Under that high nose was a pair of cherry lips.
Compared to ordinary beauties, this woman clearly exuded even more temperament, or rather, she possessed an aura that ordinary women did not. Common men would be deterred by her shiny and outstanding temperament, and even the most daring men would probably retreat when faced with her powerful presence.
The woman seemed to feel Lin Chuan's unkind gaze and stared back at him, frowning.
At this point, most men would sheepishly shift their gaze away, sneaking peeks when she wasn't paying attention. However, Lin Chuan did not do so. He flashed a radiant smile at the woman, as if to say, "I'm looking at you, what about it?"
The woman simply turned her head, ignoring Lin Chuan's malicious gaze.
Sitting in the bank, queuing up while appreciating the beauty of such a graceful young woman was also a kind of pleasure. However, the pleasure didn't last long before the roaring sound of an engine outside shattered Lin Chuan's reverie.
Rumble...
Accompanied by the insane roar of the engine, a violent crash burst the glass doors outside the bank.
Crash...
The shards of glass scattered on the floor in an instant, dumbfounding everyone inside the bank. Everyone stood frozen, watching the sudden car accident unfold before their eyes. Unexpectedly, car doors suddenly flung open, and four ferocious men with black backpacks swiftly jumped down from the car. Two of them each held a semi-automatic rifle, while the other two men held **** pistols. The mottled paint on those guns was enough to judge that they were definitely real.
"Nobody move!" The leading man, who was 1.83 meters tall, raised his semi-automatic rifle and fired a burst towards the ceiling, shouting, "This is a robbery, everyone get down, or I'll shoot anyone who moves!"
"Ahh!"
"Mama..."
At that moment, the large bank hall immediately descended into chaos, and a piercing alarm began to blare inside the bank. The beautiful young woman beside Lin Chuan squatted down on the spot—not out of nervousness, but rather, she seemed curiously eyeing the robbers, as if trying to remember their faces and features. Lin Chuan also clasped his hands behind his head; he never expected that his first visit to the bank would coincide with a robbery, as if the odds of being struck by a meteor had just befallen him.
"Rob... Rob... Robbery!" A man wearing a yellow jacket hastily rushed behind the counter, raising his gun and firing wildly, turning the bulletproof glass into cracked pieces resembling a turtle's shell.
Clang...
The man in the yellow jacket raised the butt of his gun and smashed it vehemently against the glass, shattering the thick bulletproof glass into a pile of debris.
"Get me the money," the man in the yellow jacket roared. "Hurry up, I don't have time to waste."
Inside the bank, the counter staff were stunned, crouching motionless on the ground and unaccustomed to such a spectacle.
Smack...
The man in the yellow jacket raised his gun and shot a male teller dead. The others immediately began crying in fear, while the man in the yellow jacket yelled, "Damn it, hurry up and load the money, or else this will be your fate."
The other tellers hurriedly began to busily stuff money into a woven bag, trembling with fear.
Meanwhile, the other two men with pistols controlled the people in the hall, occasionally threatening, "Stay down and behave, don't look around."
"Hurry up, we don't have much time," the leader said, glancing at his watch. "It's been two minutes, the cops will be here in another eight."
"Big brother, almost done!" The man in the yellow jacket grinned and said, "Damn it, we're going to hit it big this time."
While talking, the man in the yellow jacket had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his eyes leering with ill intentions at a female employee next to him; the black short skirt, and the space between her legs, seemed to attract his gaze particularly.
...
When the bank was robbed and the tellers triggered the alarm, the police operations center received the alert almost immediately, and notified the Criminal Police Brigade as well as dispatched the message to the patrol car closest to the bank.
Zhang Wenhui and Song Xiaojia were still on their routine patrol. It was unexpected that just as they reached Guangfa Road, they immediately received the message from the police operations center.
"The big case you've been waiting for is here!" At this moment, Zhang Wenhui's prankster-like smile instantly vanished, and he glanced at Song Xiaojia aside, saying, "There's a robbery at Guangfa Bank, we're heading there now, prepare yourself mentally!"
"Ah!" Song Xiaojia gasped upon hearing this, exclaiming, "Oh my god, a robbery, fantastic!"
"Song Xiaojia, what kind of attitude is that?!" Zhang Wenhui questioned.
"I... I..." Song Xiaojia still couldn't suppress the strong excitement inside her heart. The big case she had been longing for finally happened to her. It seemed to be time to show her mettle. She quickly touched her pistol and seriously checked the bullets inside.
Zhang Wenhui immediately activated the police car's emergency system, and the lights started flashing frenziedly.