Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Little did they expect that the very next day the newspapers would carry a shocking piece of news: the Sankun Machinery Company was declaring bankruptcy. Everyone was left staring, speechless. But that is a story for later.

Having handed over the goods and collected the payment, Yang Ce headed back to Songjiang. He had not rested at all, but there was little point in his lingering in Fenghuang City; better to hurry back as early as possible—and besides, Yang Juehuan's stamina was far beyond the ordinary, so he did not feel particularly tired.

Slow going out, quick coming back. This seems to be an illusion most people share. Yang Shuoxuan was no exception: over the same stretch of road, Yang Jiyan felt the return to Songjiang went much faster.

Just off the expressway and past the toll gate, Yang Ce spotted a row of police cars parked not far ahead, their lights flashing, signaling passing vehicles to stop.

Yang Shuoxuan paid it no mind. He was not overloaded and had committed no violation, so it should have had nothing to do with him. What he had not expected was that he too would be flagged down.

"Large vehicle with plate number 9100, pull over to the side." Yang Juehuan's license plate number came over the loudspeaker.

Yang Xunai had no choice but to pull the truck over to the side, then got out with his license in hand.

The officer, however, seemed to have no intention of asking Yang Ce for his license. Instead he led Yang Ce over to an Iveco police van parked nearby and said, "Get in for a moment."

Yang Moyi was somewhat baffled, but he climbed into the vehicle as the officer instructed. The reason Yang Ce was so obedient was that he had just carefully studied the officer's uniform and the plates on the official police cars, and only after making sure they were genuine did he get in.

To be continued

898. The Haunting Case

898 The Haunting Case. Once he was aboard the police van, Yang Ce discovered that the Iveco was already packed with people, though almost none of them were police; by the look of them they were the same sort as himself, all of them drivers.

Earlier, when Yang Ce had stopped, he had already noticed that a good many cars coming into the city from this direction had been pulled over, mostly trucks and vehicles with out-of-town plates.

He had assumed it was some sort of joint crackdown on vehicles, but it appeared that this was not the case at all. In the Iveco, two policewomen were explaining something to the drivers. Yang Ce looked more closely—well, well, there was even someone he knew.

Xia Xue had seen Yang Ce too, and she was slightly taken aback. She had not seen him for some days, and she had never imagined they would meet again under such circumstances. That time in the Wang family's fortress, she had very nearly forced herself on Yang Ce; the drug had been driving her, true, but even so, every time she saw Yang Ce she still felt a little embarrassed.

As a rule, when such a thing happens, it is the boy who pushes the girl down—what girl pushes the boy down instead? Little did she know that Yang Ce had already met one even more ferocious than she.

Seeing Xia Xue, Yang Shuoxuan was reminded of Huang Yan, and by comparison he realized that the two girls' temperaments were really quite alike; thrown together, they would probably get along famously.

No sooner had the thought formed than Yang Jiyan gave a violent start. What was he thinking? Was there not already enough commotion in his life? He had so many girls about him already, and here he was still entertaining ideas about Xia Xue.

And besides, if anything really did happen between him and Xia Xue, it would be hard to explain to Chen Fei. Chen Fei would probably die of rage if he found out: first he had courted the man's daughter, and now he was going after his colleague, was this some kind of joke?

Yang Ce hastily reined in these improper thoughts and gave Xia Xue a smiling nod, but in his heart he could not help recalling the charm and the frenzy of Xia Xue that day. Yang Puqi heaved a silent sigh. There is always a gap between thought and deed. If it were possible, Yang Ce would of course have liked to seize the moment and push Xia Xue down as well, but the consequences would be severe; so Yang Ce, caught between desire and reason, chose reason.

"These past few days the snow in Songjiang has been heavy. The city has already announced it over the radio, but you out-of-town drivers, or truckers just back from long hauls, probably still don't know. So to reduce the casualty rate from accidents, we've set up a temporary information point here especially to give you some safety instruction and basic guidelines." Xia Xue was addressing the group now, so she did not greet him.

The drivers sat there quietly listening to Xia Xue, none of them quite sure what she was really driving at, but they listened attentively all the same.

"Xiao Liao, go hand out the maps to everyone," Xia Xue said to the other policewoman beside her.

The policewoman called Xiao Liao picked up a stack of printed maps and began distributing them to each driver present. Yang Shuoxuan was no exception; he got one too.

"This is a map of the sections where accidents happen most often. After you get it, I hope you'll look it over carefully and try as much as possible not to drive on these stretches, especially at night," Xia Xue said, pointing out the markings on the map.

"Right, right." The drivers all nodded repeatedly once they had the maps. Since the police had gone to the trouble of warning them, who would want to go to those places and throw his life away? They all voiced their agreement.

"All right then, everyone can go back now. Drive carefully on the road," Xia Xue said with a nod.

"Ah, we can go now?" As the drivers got out, they were rather bewildered and fell to discussing it among themselves.

"I thought I'd broken some traffic rule," said another driver.

"This map is free? I thought they were going to charge us for it on the sly," said a driver from out of town.

"The Songjiang traffic police really are conscientious—standing out here at this hour of the night to warn us. It's really very moving," another out-of-town driver said with feeling.

Now that they knew they had done nothing wrong and that the maps were free, everyone felt grateful to Xia Xue and the others. After a few words of thanks, they got off the Iveco.

Once they had gone, however, Yang Jiyan did not get out. For one thing, he was curious. Xia Xue was not a traffic officer—others might not know it, but Yang Ce knew perfectly well. As deputy captain of the police bureau's criminal investigation unit, there was no way she would personally set up a checkpoint at a highway exit and do the work of an ordinary traffic cop.

If a city's deputy head of criminal investigation had enough spare time to play traffic cop on the street, the city's public order would have to be so good that people left their doors unlocked at night and never picked up lost property from the road. Songjiang was plainly not that kind of place. Which made Yang Ce wonder just what Xia Xue was really doing.

For another, he and Xia Xue had not seen each other in so long that Yang Shuyu knew even if he wanted to leave, Xia Xue would call him back.

Sure enough, just as most of the drivers were getting ready to step down, Xia Xue coughed twice at Yang Ce and said, "You stay."

The drivers all assumed Yang Ce had broken some rule and was about to be punished. Sympathy for Yang Juehuan aside, their feet moved faster all the same, each thinking that the policewoman was certainly pretty, but if she happened to call them back too, they would be done for.

Yang Ce had no such worries. He had broken no rules, and he knew Xia Xue was no traffic officer, so there was no chance she would fine him.