Chapter 783 — What a Stroke of Bad Luck

"Aaah—" Yu Xiaoke let out a shrill scream as her whole body was sent flying backward. She crashed to the ground, coughed up a mouthful of blood with a wet retch, and went limp, unconscious.

Wei Zhao hadn't expected Qiu Lingshan to strike so suddenly. His brows knit into a frown. "What did you hit her for?"

"If I hadn't hit her, could I have caught her?" Qiu Lingshan was rather displeased to hear Wei Zhao actually speaking up for Yu Xiaoke.

"I told you to catch the members of that thief gang, not her." Wei Zhao's impression of Yu Xiaoke was actually fairly good. He hadn't known her long, but if she hadn't been lying, then she commanded his sincere respect—one woman, single-handedly keeping an entire orphanage afloat. What courage and perseverance must it take to sustain such a burden?

"She's a thief too!" Qiu Lingshan looked at Wei Zhao with a touch of stubbornness, for she had principles she held to. She might be meek and yielding before Wei Zhao, but that was no reason to let him trample the principles and convictions by which she lived her life.

Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback by the look on Qiu Lingshan's face. A woman who had always been so docile before him had actually come to disagree with him over this! But a moment's thought was all Wei Zhao needed to understand where Qiu Lingshan stood.

She was the law; Yu Xiaoke was a thief—and the law catching a thief was only natural.

It was simply that they occupied different standpoints. To Yu Xiaoke, stealing from the rich and heartless for the sake of the orphanage was nothing to be ashamed of; but to Qiu Lingshan, no matter the reason, once Yu Xiaoke had stolen money, she was a thief.

Wei Zhao nodded and did not press Qiu Lingshan any further.

Meanwhile, Black Bird Bro, the whistleblower, was beside himself with glee. Yu Xiaoke had been struck down by Qiu Lingshan, and at long last he had vented the resentment that had been festering in his heart for so long. Yu Xiaoke, oh Yu Xiaoke—you wanted to send us to prison? Then I'll send you there first!

And look at you now! Not only have you been beaten, you're going to be dragged off with the rest of us!

Wei Zhao made to check on Yu Xiaoke's injuries. As he passed Black Bird Bro, he seemed to bump into him in a careless, offhand way—and Black Bird Bro, in his elation, never noticed a thing.

But once Wei Zhao had moved past, Black Bird Bro began to feel that something was off. Why had his whole body suddenly grown hot and restless? A wave of desire surged up from the depths of his being; his eyes glazed over, and he turned to look at Qiu Lingshan, his face twisting into something savage.

By the look of him, he was trying desperately to rein in his urges, but that lasted only an instant before clarity deserted him entirely. He lunged at Qiu Lingshan. "Little lady, give it to me—I want you... to keep this grandpa company for a round, eh?"

Qiu Lingshan stared at Black Bird Bro, his mouth full of yellowed teeth and reeking of foul breath, and was overcome with disgust. She could not fathom how this Black Bird Bro could be so brazen. To openly harass her—did the man have a death wish?

As Qiu Lingshan stood there bewildered, Black Bird Bro's hand reached for her chest. Her fury erupted; she lashed out with a kick that struck Black Bird Bro square in the ***. With a shrill scream he rolled his eyes back and toppled to the ground. His last words before losing consciousness were: "My other ball..."

This was, of course, Wei Zhao's doing—he had merely stimulated a few acupoints on the man's body, planting in him the urge to lie with a woman. In truth, this technique could also be used to treat impotence or a lack of desire; it was only that Black Bird Bro was already a man of rampant lust, and with Wei Zhao's little nudge, his head went straight to mush.

The members of the thief gang all found it rather strange. Had Black Bird Bro lost his mind? How dared he harass Qiu Lingshan? Was he courting death?

But each of them was too busy saving his own skin to spare a thought for whether Black Bird Bro had gone mad or not.

Every head was bowed; not one dared breathe too loudly, for fear that Qiu Lingshan's next target might be them.

Qiu Lingshan, however, clearly had no intention of bothering with them. She turned away to look for an ambulance. Liu Wangli had already called one for Giant Deer Bro earlier, and now there were two more people in need of one—Yu Xiaoke and Black Bird Bro.

Wei Zhao, naturally, could not have cared less whether Black Bird Bro lived or died. He walked over to Yu Xiaoke instead.

Crouching down, Wei Zhao reached out to examine her injuries—only for Yu Xiaoke to snap her eyes open and shoot him a meaningful look.

Wei Zhao was startled. "You weren't unconscious?"

"More or less... I can just barely hold on..." Yu Xiaoke forced a pitiful smile. "Thanks for avenging me..."

Wei Zhao must have already guessed what Wei Zhao had done to Black Bird Bro's body earlier; otherwise, even with a hundred times the courage, Black Bird Bro would never have dared to flirt with a policewoman at a moment like this! Did he think his life was too long?

"Ha, it was nothing." Wei Zhao did not know why, but a trace of pity rose in his heart for the pitiful Yu Xiaoke.

At heart, Wei Zhao was a rather cold man, maintaining a lofty indifference toward enemies and strangers alike. Only toward the friends around him would Wei Zhao treat them with sincerity. Yet toward Yu Xiaoke, someone he had met only twice, Wei Zhao felt deep sympathy for what she had been through!

Wei Zhao could be considered an orphan himself, and Yu Xiaoke was presumably the same; otherwise she would not have busied herself for the orphanage. The two of them, one could say, still shared some similarities.

"Qiu Lingshan is coming, I have to faint. Don't give me away!" Yu Xiaoke blinked, then suddenly tilted her head and "collapsed" to the ground once more.

Since Yu Xiaoke had said so, Wei Zhao could hardly go and revive her again. Just then, Qiu Lingshan was guiding the medical staff, who came running over this way carrying a stretcher. Wei Zhao rose and stepped aside.

Qiu Lingshan helped the medical staff lift Yu Xiaoke and Black Bird Bro onto stretchers and carried them toward the ambulance. Meanwhile, the members of the thief gang on this side had by now been caught, more or less all of them. Even those not yet captured did not dare to move rashly; with armed ** front and rear, there was no hope of escape even if they wanted to run, so they might as well wait here obediently for the police to deal with them.

"You ran off with them?" Seeing that Wei Zhao had followed along, Qiu Lingshan asked in a low voice.

Wei Zhao glanced at Qiu Lingshan and offered no explanation. Explaining these matters would be rather complicated; it would have to start with that beggar they had encountered earlier. Wei Zhao could not be bothered to go into detail with Qiu Lingshan.

Qiu Lingshan felt somewhat aggrieved, and then somewhat worried: was Wei Zhao blaming her for being a busybody? For asking too many questions?

That was true, after all. She was now the one asking favors of Wei Zhao; nearly every case she solved depended on Wei Zhao. And here she was, asking so many questions—what if Wei Zhao grew tired of her?