............

Meanwhile, at the door of an abandoned warehouse in the suburbs of Songshan City, a black modern commercial van sat parked, though its license plates had already been taken off.

"Holy shit, are these cops crazy? We only stole a million-plus, right? Is all this necessary?" Baldy spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground in disgust.

"Yeah, Boss, this can't go on much longer. Are we trapped here or what?" Ma Liu was just as restless: "Fucking hell, what shitty luck."

"Enough, stop complaining. I'm waiting on Brother Cihua's call." Baldy waved his hand impatiently.

A phone rang. Baldy snatched it up and answered with an oily, fawning tone: "Is that Brother Cihua? This is Baldy."

"What the fuck are you doing over there?" a cold, sinister voice came from the other end.

"Brother Cihua, what did I do..." Baldy blinked, caught off guard.

"Did you take the bank's money with you?" Brother Cihua asked in a chilling voice.

"I... I just grabbed it on the way out... What's the big deal..." Baldy felt wronged. He had finally gotten around to robbing a bank after all this time - if he didn't take the money after hitting it, wouldn't the whole thing be pointless?

"Pig brain, what did I tell you? I told you not to take the money. Are you deaf?" Brother Cihua erupted in fury: "If you hadn't taken the money, the police wouldn't be going all-out hunting you down. It's because you took the money that they're working so damn hard."

"Ah..." Baldy thought it over and realized it was true. It was all his own greed that had brought about this disaster. Remembering that, he pleaded desperately: "Brother Cihua, I've bled for you. You can't just leave me hanging. You have to save me!"

"Hmph, is that girl still okay?" Brother Cihua snorted coldly.

"Girl? What girl?" Baldy was baffled.

"Gu Mengyao! Don't tell me you laid a hand on her? Shit!" Brother Cihua's voice turned urgent: "If you touched her, we're done for."

"Uh..." Only now did Baldy remember Gu Mengyao, and his voice faltered: "I'm sorry, Brother Cihua... she was rescued by someone..."

"WHAT?" Brother Cihua howled: "FUCKING HELL - you didn't catch her?"

"No..." Baldy said, voice trembling.

"Then you can fucking wait to die. Hiring you was a goddamn mistake," Brother Cihua cursed at the top of his lungs: "You're a complete wreck. You deserve every bit of what the cops are doing to you."

With that, Brother Cihua hung up.

"Brother Cihua, Brother Cihua..." Hearing this, Baldy panicked and begged: "Brother Cihua, you can't abandon me - I'm your man..."

But after pleading for a long while, Baldy realized in shock that Brother Cihua had already cut him off.

"Boss, what did Brother Cihua say?" Ma Liu asked anxiously the moment Baldy set the phone down.

"Brother Cihua's abandoned us. We're finished," Baldy said, deflated.

"Finished?" Ma Liu stared blankly: "What's that supposed to mean? Brother Cihua won't look after us anymore?"

"They've written us off, just because we didn't catch that little tramp Gu Mengyao," the bald man said with a sigh, slumping down onto the ground.

"Damn you, you bald bastard, it's all your fault! If that brat hadn't taken you hostage, would she have gotten away?" Ma Liu suddenly turned savage, leaping up from the ground and lunging at the bald man.

"You dare rebel?" The bald man was stunned, staring in disbelief as Ma Liu's fist landed on him.

"Look at the state we're in, and you're still putting on airs?" Ma Liu sneered.

"You son of a bitch, if that brat hadn't swiped your gun, would we be in this mess?" the bald man shot back, and the two of them fell into a brawling scuffle.

Bang. Bang. Two gunshots rang out, and both the bald man and Ma Liu collapsed in pools of blood, their eyes wide open in death.

The shots had come from the bald man's subordinate, the one who had done the shouting at the bank. His name was Ji Laosan, and among the gang he was second only to the bald man in standing, their second-in-command.

"Brother Third... you..." The two remaining subordinates stared at Ji Laosan in astonishment.

"These two were too long-winded, too full of complaints," Ji Laosan snorted. "Look at the situation we're in, and they start infighting? So Cihua doesn't want us anymore, fine, we don't need him. We've got hands and feet, and more importantly, we've got money. Once we slip past this storm, we brothers will have riches and glory beyond our wildest dreams. Right?"

The two subordinates thought it over and decided he had a point. The bald man and Ma Liu had bickered endlessly, and in a situation like this, infighting was the most dangerous thing of all. One slip and it would become a lead for the police, and then they'd fall right into the police's hands. Only by sticking together could they get through this.

At that thought, both subordinates nodded in agreement. The bald man was dead, after all, and Ji Laosan was in charge now. If they wanted to get out alive, they had no choice but to pin their hopes on him.

"This money is enough to keep the three of us for a lifetime." Ji Laosan opened the money bag, revealing the bundles of cash inside. He knew that words were useless at a time like this; only cash could buy loyalty. "Between us, each of us can get close to five hundred thousand. Two fewer people means two fewer shares to split."

"We'll do whatever Brother Third says." "It's all up to Brother Third." Both subordinates made their stance clear.

Ji Laosan nodded in satisfaction, then cast a contemptuous glance at the corpses of the bald man and Ma Liu on the ground...

……………………

Because they had gone to bed late the night before, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu nearly overslept this morning. The alarm went off three times before the two of them groggily crawled out of bed and dashed to the bathroom to wash up.

Wei Zhao, meanwhile, had risen early. He measured out enough flour for three servings of noodles, and when he heard movement upstairs, he started boiling water to cook them. Yesterday he had made plain noodles; today he was making chicken-broth noodles. There was still some braised chicken left from yesterday, so Wei Zhao used the leftover chicken juices to flavor the broth.

By the time Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu came downstairs, Wei Zhao's noodles were ready and out of the pot.

"Wow, smells amazing!" Shen Yushu had a keen nose and caught the aroma of the chicken-broth noodles at once. She scurried off toward the dining room. "Yao Yao, your Arrow Brother made us noodles again!"

Gu Mengyao had meant to follow Shen Yushu to the dining room, but halfway there she heard Shen Yushu's words and her steps faltered. Wei Zhao had cooked the noodles, so should she go eat or not?

If it were only a matter of her small pride and her dignity, Gu Mengyao should have turned around and walked away, pretending she hadn't smelled a thing. But the aroma of those noodles was simply too tempting...

"Slurp, slurp..." Listening to Shen Yushu eating her noodles in the dining room, Gu Mengyao gritted her teeth in frustration. This little minx had never made a sound when she ate before. Was she doing it on purpose today? Was she trying to tempt her?