Chapter Forty-Four Li Xiaoman's Phone Call

  Zhao Yan's mother frowned, her eyes still scanning my pant legs, but she didn't say anything. She just walked to Zhao Yan's door and gently knocked on it: "Little Yan, if you took someone else's photo, return it to them. You're so big now, don't be stubborn, listen to me. If there's something going on, tell Mom about it."

  It's clear that her mother didn't believe my one-sided words, although Zhao Yan's behavior was also not right. But would Zhao Yan listen to her? Obviously not. Zhao Yan had already started sobbing in the room, looking a bit scared, and not at all like her usual stubborn self. It wasn't until after her mother's questioning that she finally spoke up: "You didn't even look for me, I've already given the photos to Li Xiaoman, she's already here. Earlier, before Wang called me, Li Xiaoman had already called me, and...and I didn't dare refuse her, who knows if the medicine you gave me is useful or not."

  What? Li Xiaoman has already arrived, my heart sank, and I plopped down on the sofa, panting heavily. I rushed over from afar, but it was too late. I didn't expect Li Xiaoman to arrive so quickly. I swallowed hard, and I really didn't know what to do. The photo had fallen into Li Xiaoman's hands, could the secret still be kept hidden?

  "What's going on?" Zhao Yan's mother sensed that something was wrong, her daughter's crying was filled with fear, and the despair on my face was startling, not to mention it also involved Captain Wang, she knew he was Zhao Yan's superior, what was going on?

  Unfortunately, I didn't have the mood to pay attention to her at that time. My mind was filled with random thoughts and I suddenly became dazed. Seeing this situation, Zhao Yan's mother also panicked a bit, hesitated for a moment, and then called Zhao Yan's father, who was the deputy director of the municipal public security bureau, and told him about what was happening at home.

  I don't know how long I thought, until I reacted and suddenly stood up to Zhao Yan's door, with a gloomy face: "Zhao Yan, how can you contact Li Xiaoman, tell me quickly."

  Unfortunately, Zhao Yan was silent, only hearing sobs. Zhao Yan's mother was in Hechi, unfortunately I couldn't care about it anymore. At this moment, I was a bit hysterical, knocking hard on Zhao Yan's door, but Zhao Yan just cried.

  "Stop right there!" A stern, low voice sounded in my ear, and I turned around to see a man in his fifties wearing a police uniform standing at the door. He must be Zhao Yan's father, with two other policemen behind him: "What do you want? What photos are you talking about?"

  Zhao Yan's father was indeed an official, and his words carried a sense of pressure. Even though I was a bit sarcastic at the time, I still felt a sense of pressure in my heart. Looking at Zhao Yan's father, I shook my head: "It's a girl's photo. Zhao Yan gave the photo to that woman. There are some things I don't know how to say. Can you ask Zhao Yan to tell me that woman's contact information?"

  Although I was a bit crazy, I still politely raised my pants leg for him to see. Zhao Yan's father furrowed his brow, walked over and sat across from me, looking me up and down before suddenly asking: "Pull up your pant leg and let me take a look? How did you get hurt? What's your name? What do you do?"

  It's no wonder that he's a public security officer, with just one mouthful of words, he has the tone of interrogating someone, which makes me very uncomfortable. I felt a bit resentful in my heart and didn't say much more. I simply lifted up my pant leg, saw the wound, and Zhao Yan's father's face turned gloomy. He pondered for a moment and then said in a low voice: "It looks like you're seriously injured. If I'm not mistaken, these bloodstains shouldn't be more than two days old, but your wound doesn't look like it was just inflicted. Can you tell me what's going on?"

  Although he still tried to keep a calm tone, it was still uncomfortable in my heart. I just shook my head: "My injury is most clear to Zhao Yan, she saw it with her own eyes, there's no need to say it again. I just need your contact information and I'll leave immediately, I won't bother Zhao Yan again."

  "But you haven't told me what Xiaoyan said about the medicine yet? I'm afraid you can't leave now." Zhao Yan's father didn't get excited, but after he finished speaking, the two police officers blocked the door, it seemed that they wouldn't let us leave until I made things clear, after all, they were still concerned about their daughter.

  I don't want to say any more, I don't want to bring up Li Hongjun's matter, that would put me in a difficult situation. For a moment, I didn't know how to explain it properly. After a long while, I finally let out a sigh: "I think it's best if Zhao Yan explains herself, all I can say is one thing - the medicine I gave her was absolutely useful, whether you believe me or not, that's not something I can control."

  As soon as I finished speaking, I looked towards Zhao Yan's room door: "Zhao Yan, hiding won't do you any good. Tell me Li Xiaoman's contact information and I'll deal with her myself. Then it won't be your problem anymore."

  "I don't know, it was Li Xiaoman who contacted me, using a public phone, I didn't even see her in person, I don't know anything, I don't want to get involved anymore, can you guys solve your own problems? Please. Zhao Yan burst into tears, her voice became hoarse, obviously telling the truth, since seeing my impending death, Zhao Yan was really scared, that's why she gave Li Xiaoman the photo so readily, and the real reason is that Li Xiaoman is more terrifying than me, or the impression left by Li Hongjun, because I'm not a person who harms others, in short, I'm easier to bully than Li Xiaoman."

  I was stunned for a moment, my face twitched, I knew that nothing could be asked from Zhao Yan anymore, so I prepared to stand up and leave. But just as I stood up, I suddenly heard Zhao Yan's father coughing: "Since you don't want to say anything, then go to the bureau and make it clear to me before leaving."

  As soon as the voice fell, the two police officers were already walking towards me, it seemed they wanted to take me back. I let out a bitter laugh and sighed, still thinking about how to escape, but unexpectedly my phone suddenly rang at this moment, and the ringing of the phone was so abrupt when everyone was tense.

  No one stopped me from answering the phone, it was an unfamiliar number, I hesitated for a moment and still connected: "Who is this?"

  On the other end of the phone, there was no immediate response, but after a while, a woman's voice came over: "I am Li Xiaoman, Li Hongjun's daughter. I heard that you were in charge of my father's funeral, and of course, I also heard some other things, so I want to see you. Where are you now?"

  Li Xiaoman? I was taken aback, feeling a mix of laughter and tears for a moment. Just now, I had desperately asked for Li Xiaoman's contact information, even going so far as to bother Zhao Yan's father, but now Li Xiaoman is actually contacting me. It's quite ironic, I don't know what to say.

  I sighed and smiled wryly: "I'm at Zhao Yan's house now, it's not that I don't want to see you, but Zhao Yan's father wants to detain me. I don't know how the medicine you gave her is working out, if it doesn't work, I'm afraid I won't be able to see you."

  Li Xiaoman laughed, and her laughter sounded a bit strange over the phone. She took a deep breath and said: "You have a master of poison in your hands, do you still care about the poison my father used? With your medicine, do you still need me to show off? What I gave her was just a throat lozenge. Alright, I won't waste any more words with you. I'll call Zhao Yan and ask her to get her father to let you go. After you're released, come to the west road of Hu Bin Avenue, there's a coffee shop here, I'll be waiting for you."

  The phone hung up immediately, but soon the mobile phone in Zhao Yan's room rang. Then I heard Zhao Yan answering the phone. Sure enough, not long after, Zhao Yan came out of her room with tears in her eyes, looking like she had just cried. There was still a hint of tears at the corner of her eye. She glanced at me before turning to her father: "Dad, let him go."

  Zhao Yan's father didn't show much surprise, but instead furrowed his brow and sized Zhao Yan up for a while before turning to me. He suddenly chuckled and stood up, patted my shoulder, and said warmly: "Young man, all guests are welcome. I don't know if you can give me your phone number, so next time I have the chance, I'll invite you out for a drink. I have some 15-year-old old wine here that's quite rare."

  At that time, I was stunned for a moment, but I immediately understood, just smiled bitterly and took a pen from the tea table to write my phone number, which was handed over to him. However, he shook his head: "Uncle, I still hope this call is not made, at least now it's better not to get involved with me, I don't want to see you again, of course, I also hope you won't see me."

  I dragged Yang Xiufeng out, but the two civil police officers blocking the door didn't move. My face was a bit gloomy, and I hummed in my heart. I turned back to look at Zhao Yan's father, who waved his hand, and then I took Yang Xiufeng out.

  I came out of Zhao's house, thinking that there would be no more intersections in the future. However, I didn't expect that many things would still happen later on. Now, I don't think much about it, even though I don't know where Lakeside Avenue is. It doesn't matter; I just took a taxi and headed straight to Lakeside Avenue. Lakeside Avenue is located next to Jinxiu Lake, hence its name. The road is as long as seven or eight miles, so finding a coffee shop might not be easy. But now, I'm not afraid of trouble, and I walked along the way. As expected, I found that coffee shop by the lake.

  I hesitated for a moment at the entrance of the coffee shop before pulling Yang Xiufeng in, but she was visibly tense and couldn't relax. This kind of place wasn't where people like us farmers usually came, but I didn't have the mood to think about these issues. My gaze scanned the inside, there weren't many people in the coffee shop, and even fewer women. In the end, my eyes landed on a woman's back.