REDPEAFOWL, Chapter 6: Tong Baishi Case
Lu Yipeng’s position as an inspector was not obtained by luck. He had been holding the position of inspector since the age of twenty-five, because of his ability to unravel complex and mysterious cases. Although many parts he had to rely on cooperation from Hong Kongque, no one could deny that if it weren’t for Lu Yipeng’s skills, Hong Kongque may not have been willing to cooperate. And Hong Kongque, he always helps whoever it is, wherever it is
…
Lu Yipeng raised his head from the pile of evidence on the table as the sergeant walked in with a cup of coffee.
“Another late night for the inspector today. Is the case going smoothly?”
“Yeah.” Lu Yipeng sent a chill down his throat and let out a sigh. He heard the sergeant continue, “Tong Baishi is the godfather of the underworld here, right? I heard he doesn’t really get along with Hong Kongque. Why don’t you…”
“Forget Hong Kongque.” Lu Yipeng interjected, “Every case, not all of them need to depend on that guy.”
“I just offered a simple suggestion.” The sergeant on duty spoke softly as Lu
Yipeng let out a sigh, “Let it go. I’d better go rest. Let’s talk more tomorrow.”
“Drive safely, inspector.”
…
As it was past midnight, the road was quite empty. Lu Yipeng drove his car onto the familiar road to head home and rest. After driving for a while, he felt like there was a car following him, so he slowed down. To see if the car behind was really following him, he noticed the car suddenly swerve to the side. Lu Yipeng accelerated, increasing his speed to normal levels, but just then the car in front suddenly stopped. Lu Yipeng slammed on the brakes, hearing the screeching of tires loudly before a loud crash followed.
“Damn it!” Lu Yipeng cursed before opening the car door to check the damage. While wondering why the driver of the car in front wouldn’t come down from his vehicle, he heard the sound of an engine revving from behind, but he didn’t turn back to look. A hand reached out of nowhere and applied a handkerchief to his face.
…
Lu Yipeng, rubbing his eyes, realized he was in a dark room. When he tried to move his hand, he realized it was handcuffed and tied above his head. Before he could see anything clearly, his eyes closed due to the bright light shining in front of him.
“Wake up, Inspector Lu.” a voice unfamiliar to him sounded louder. Before the rounded palm could slap his face, the voice snapped, “Wake up, detective.
Don’t you like to use bright headlights to interrogate suspects?!”
“Sorry. I wasn’t born in that era.” Lu Yipeng spoke, still half-asleep. He was then hit by a backhand slap until he turned towards the source and felt the bitterness in his mouth. Blood mixed with saliva dripped out before he fell silent again, hearing the same voice questioning with doubt.
“Lu Yipeng, are you intentionally pretending to be asleep or are you really lost somewhere?”
“If you could turn off the lights first.” Lu Yipeng replied. He then heard a chuckle, “To be honest, when you met Hong Kongque, were you talkative like this too?”
The person being questioned remained silent. The same voice spoke again,
“Turn off the lights. I want to see Inspector Lu clearly.”
The light was dimmed, and Lu Yipeng opened his eyes.
Suddenly, a blinding light flashed into his eyes, causing him to squint. He closed his eyes again, only to hear a chuckle.
“Lu Yipeng, Lu Yipeng, I really want to know what you have that made
Hong Kongque willingly let you go.”
“Hmm…” Lu Yipeng cleared his throat before finally speaking, “I don’t know who you are, but I have no ties with Hong Kongque. You’re teasing me. He’s not bothered at all.”
“Well, you never know.” The voice interrupted, “I heard you went in and out of that Kongque’s mansion willingly. You must be his favorite. Unbelievable!
Still, you’re a young police officer with a bright future ahead. Now you’re just a toy for that crazy bird’s house.”
“Well… I agree with you about him being crazy, but now I have to charge you with assaulting an officer.”
The sound of a loud slap echoed, and then the lights went out, “Alright, Lu Yipeng, open your eyes. I want to see how well you can talk with your eyes open.”
When Lu Yipeng opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the reflection of himself in the mirror in front of him. His hands were tied, and his shirt was removed. Luckily, his pants were still on.
The young officer sighed loudly. Then the voice spoke again, “What are you sighing about?”
“Nothing.” Lu Yipeng replied, turning to face the person speaking for the first time before shouting, “Oh… right. It’s you, Mister Tong Baishi. I didn’t know you had such hair. I have a file in my record that you have had the thinning of your hair since you were thirty-five.”
Tong Biashi smirked and grabbed his own hair before looking at Lu Yipeng menacingly, “You talk tough.”
The sound of a slap echoed once more. Lu Yipeng’s face turned in the other direction immediately, and the young officer stopped for a moment before spitting out a mixture of saliva and blood.
“If you dare speak so well, I’ll slap you until you don’t have any teeth to chew rice.” Tong Baishi threatened Lu Yipeng, raising his lips slightly before sweeping his gaze around.
One… two… three… four… nine, ten, eleven, twelve
About twelve Tong Baishi’s underlings surrounded him, some looking at him clearly, some not so clearly. Some may have been caught by him before. Even when staring at him as if to kill or punish, Lu Yipeng let out a sigh and then turned back to look at his own reflection in the mirror.
“Lu Yipeng, do you know why you’re caught like this?” Tong Baishi walked in and asked Lu Yipeng shook his head, “I don’t know. You must still be resentful that Hong Kongque withdrew the stock two years ago without telling or explaining, but you must have been so angry about it that you caught the wrong person.”
Tong Baishi glared at him with a fierce expression, “You do have a good mouth.” Then he turned to take something from the underling who walked in.
Kwrap.
The crackling sound of the narrow object slicing through the air was heard clearly by the ear. This was followed by a loud noise. This time, a red mark appeared instantly along the waist of Lu Yipeng.
“Is this better, Inspector-Lu? You like to accuse me of targeting children. Go ahead, try it out for yourself. In fact, I think you might enjoy it.” Tong Baishi spoke with a hand holding a black cane. This time, another red mark appeared on the belly of Lu Yipeng.
Lu Yipeng frowned with a troubled expression before speaking, “Okay,
Mister Tong. What do you want to say?”
The chuckling voice of the other person was heard loudly, “Do I have to be this violent to make you understand, Inspector? What I want is simple. I want to torment you so that Hong Kongque can’t sit still. Lately, you’ve been pestering me so much that I thought that bird behind you would handle me easily, right?
I’m not that easy to deal with, Inspector. Now it’s time for you to learn the same lesson as your older seniors.”
A video box was brought out and placed on the side. Tong Baishi then stepped back a bit, “You will have to become the star of my movie. Alright, grab his phone and call that peafowl’s house. Let him know that his boy-toy is in my hands.” The sentence was followed by instructing the underling who was standing there to pick up the phone. After a while, his face showed an anxious expression.
“There is no number with Hong Kongque’s name, sir.”
Tong Baishi frowned before walking towards the phone to dial the number himself. As he heard Lu Yipeng’s voice speak up again, “Hey, would it be of any use to search for it? I didn’t save his number on the phone.”
“Then just tell me.”
Lu Yipeng tilted his head to look at the person asking, and then chuckled,
“You kidnapped me just to threaten him, but don’t know how to contact him, huh. Trust me.” He finished speaking and then sighed, until Tong Baishi interjected with a loud voice, “Stop talking nonsense, and tell me the number you regularly contact him with, he doesn’t pick up calls easily.”
“Oh…” Lu Yipeng sighed before providing the phone number, “This isn’t his direct number, it’s a number in the mansion. Usually, his housekeeper will answer. You might catch him sleeping at this hour.”
Tong Baishi just smiled, “The call is already disconnected, inspector. Call him now, you might have forgotten the timing.” He then dialed the phone number.
“…”
After a while, Lu Yipeng yawned, “I’m going back to sleep. You contact him first, and then come wake me up to be the hero in the video.”
“Argh!!” A loud exclamation, accompanied by a furious expression on Tong Baishi’s face, “Lu Yipeng, told me the peafowl’s phone number. Before I tear you apart piece by piece, don’t think just because I can’t contact him, and I’ll stop harassing you. I will slice you, bit by bit, and film it, then send it to that birdie’s house.”
Lu Yipeng sighed, “I think he might enjoy your videos, here. Mister Tong, I don’t want to die for free. Is there any other offer that is worth listening to than this? If you have something more interesting, I might help you get his attention.”
Tong Baishi stopped frowning and chuckled, “Getting easier now, huh? Then tell me how to contact Hong Kongque. I will loosen the rope tied to your arm a little, but if not… I will pull you up and hang you, then twist you until your back breaks, and sprinkle salt on you.”
Lu Yipeng nodded, “Alright, this time I will pray for him to pick up the phone.”
…
Hong Kongque was feeding insects to the leaves of a snail vine in the nursery when Li Kong stepped in through the door.
“Kongque. Inspector-Lu is on the phone.”
“Ah…” Hong Kongque sighed before delicately using his tweezers to pick up the unfortunate bug and placing it on a leaf of a flytrap. The unlucky insect barely had a chance to spread its wings before it was grabbed by the leaf and held captive. The butler heard Hong Kongque speak up again, “Tell him I’m busy taking care of plants, we’ll talk later.”
Li Kong faithfully conveyed every word of his boss, without any errors. Then he continued, “Inspector-Lu said he must speak to you, it’s important.”
“Um… bring it here.” Hong Kongque said, dropping the bug into a container, and picking up the phone.
“Hello Inspector-Lu. What’s the matter?”
“Hello Kongque. Long time no see.” The voice at the other end sounded slightly different from Lu Yipeng’s, and Hong Kongque let out a sigh, “Baishi, is it? Your voice hasn’t changed a bit. Has the hair on your head stopped thinning? I have heard you found some good medicine, or was that just a hair clip?”
Tong Baishi gritted his teeth and answered, “Hong Kongque. I have something important belonging to you in my hands.”
“What?” Hong Kongque exclaimed in surprise before turning to look at Li
Kong, “My Little Chik?”
“He’s in the room, playing with Little Zi.” Li Kong answered, hearing Tong Baishi’s voice through the phone, “Stop pretending to be innocent, Kongque.
Your beloved Lu Yipeng is with me, who is this Little Chik?”
“His beloved little bird.” Lu Yipeng answered in place of Tong Baishi, glaring at him before turning back to continue the conversation on the phone.
“So Kongque, what’s going on?”
“Ah… it’s really you, Inspector-Lu.” Hong Kongque sighed deeply, “You’ve really outdone yourself this time. I thought you took my underling away again.
Is there anything else? I need to hang up, I’m busy.”
“Hey!” Tong Baishi exclaimed, turning to look at Lu Yipeng again. The young police officer spoke up, “You’ve got the wrong person.”
“Shut up, you fool.” Tong Baishi scolded before speaking into the phone, “Hong Kongque, don’t act all chill with me. I have your boy tied up. Do you want to hear his voice?”
“Oh, okay. I enjoy hearing his voice more than yours.” Hong Kongque said as he opened the speakerphone and placed it near a pot of plants before picking up a bug and a box to feed it to the bird, “Inspector-Lu, what do you want with me?”
“Um… nothing really.” Lu Yipeng answered. When he saw Tong Baishi raise his eyebrow, he continued, “Well… Tong Baishi said he’ll slowly torture me, cut my penis piece by piece, film it, and send the video to you.”
“Um…” Hong Kongque made a sound in his throat as he tried to aim the bug into the bird’s mouth, “Tell him to hurry up and do it. I want to see.”
Lu Yipeng raised his head to look at Tong Baishi and smirked, “I told you he
likes it.”
Tong Baishi cursed angrily before putting the phone back to his ear, “You, Hong Kongque, don’t think I can’t do it. You’re safe for now only because you have a big mouth.”
Hong Kongque quickly ended the call, and a few bugs flew out of the box.
“Hey, Little Baishi. How many times do I have to tell you not to scream?
You startled all of my plants.” Lu Yipeng thought that if Tong Baishi could kill someone over the phone, Hong Kongque would be the first to die.
“Don’t talk to me like that, you little punk! Who do you think you are!” Tong Baishi shouted angrily, making Hong Kongque sigh in frustration, “Seriously…
I haven’t even called you a jerk or anything, so show some respect, Tong Baishi. You’re messing with my time. Before you try to challenge me, you should check if your front store is still okay.”
“Hey, hold on a minute.” Tong Baishi burst out. After getting the line cut off, he tried to call again, only to have the line cut off again. When he looked up, he saw Lu Yipeng shaking his head in despair, “Damn it. You’re still blaming the wrong person. Causing him more distress won’t get you anything. This time if you kill me you will get nothing but a charge of killing a police officer.”
Tong Baishi narrowed his eyes before speaking, “That damn brainless fowl from that house, playing this game. No matter what, his true intentions are obvious. I won’t kill you. I will make sure you remember it for the rest of your miserable life not to mess with someone like me!”
Lu Yipeng let out another sigh, “Then let’s do it quickly. Mister Tong, because I am too lazy to get emotional at the thought of Hong Kongque’s people coming to destroy you.”
“Don’t threaten me, he won’t come to help you.” Tong Baishi said. Lu
Yipeng nodded, “Well of course. He won’t help me, but you know he’s not a good guy either. When you called earlier and interrupted his happiness, he wouldn’t let you rest easily.”
Tong Baishi turned to look at Lu Yipeng before ordering the younger ones to check ahead.
The three underlings nodded and walked away. Tong Baishi then turned to
Lu Yipeng. The young inspector spoke up again, “Put my arms down. I am
tired.”
Upon hearing that, Tong Baishi chuckled, “I can’t put your arms down now, but I will take off your pants instead.” Lu Yipeng immediately frowned.
“Instructions to him will soon be different.” Tong Baishi said before clapping his hands to call over the underlings, who brought out a flat triangular horse saddle that he had never seen before, “I want to see your true face, Lu Yipeng, when you take off your pants and sit on that horse. Make a good face and sound, the video will have some color. Open it up for others to see, they won’t feel sorry for you.”
Lu Yipeng looked thoughtful in an instant, “Mister Tong. Are you going to blackmail me with that video?”
“Of course, or do you think there’s something else?”
Lu Yipeng had a look of genuine concern on his face, “Is there something more exciting than riding a horse? I think just riding a horse sounds boring.”
Tong Baishi stared at the man in front of him, as if he had seen a ghost, before speaking, “Lu Yipeng, are you a sadist or what?! Haha well then, let’s satisfy your desires a little.” And with that, he raised his whip again, the sharp cracking sound echoing as several red marks immediately appeared on Lu Yipeng’s body.
“That’s enough, but I want something stronger than this. It’s better if you get something that can tear flesh than skin.”
“Truly good mouth, want to know for sure if you like what the mouth says or not.” Tong Baishi spoke, and called a young man to come in. Then a long knife gleamed in front of Lu Yipeng.
“Inspector-Lu, let’s see how your fair skin reacts when it is scratched.” Tong
Baishi said, while the underling moved the knife back and forth in front of Lu
Yipeng before sighing and nodding, “This should do.”
Unexpectedly, Lu Yipeng, who had been bound with handcuffs and tied with a rope for nearly two hours, suddenly leaped up from the ground, kicked the man in front of him with his foot before nodding, before using his foot to grab the knife and then using the knife to cut the rope tied to his wrist. All of this took less than five seconds, with lightning speed.
“You crazy fool!” Tong Baishi shouted, and raised the whip at the moment when Lu Yipeng broke free from the rope. The young man rolled in the air before using his foot to kick the knife towards the large light bulb hanging above.
Bam!
The sound of the light bulb breaking echoed along with the missed cane, and the light went out. Chaos ensued immediately, with everyone making panicked noises.
“Hey, he escaped!”
“Ouch!!”
“He is going upstairs, turn on the lights quickly!!”
Before the light could be turned on again, Lu Yipeng had disappeared, while Tong Baishi was scrambling with what had just happened. Loud noises and breaking sounds of various materials could be heard from another room.
“What’s going on now!!??” Tong Baishi exclaimed before seeing another young man running in.
“Red Peafowl, Hong Kongque!!”
Before he could finish his sentence, a bullet pierced through the wall. Everyone quickly threw themselves to the ground. The sound of breaking dishes and the explosion of gunshots reverberated throughout. Many thought they had gone deaf by then.
Once they were in position, Tong Baishi ordered his five underlings to prepare their weapons, and then they all ran to the front of the store immediately. As soon as they went out, they had to cough. The fancy café they had just been in a few minutes ago had turned into some kind of debris filled with dust from gun smoke and pieces of plaster. What’s more, bullet marks splattered on the walls were even used to write letters.
Tong Baishi widened his eyes almost to the point of popping out before he shouted, “Hong Kongque!” Then another thought came to his mind – that damn police officer!!
…
Tong Baishi’s office was located upstairs, so he escaped the hail of bullets almost unscathed. The middle-aged patriarch rushed up, breathless, picked up a key, unlocked the door, and ran straight to his desk. He bent down, opened a secret compartment, took out several pieces of paper, and quickly stuffed them into his shirt. Then he felt someone standing behind him.
Tong Baishi shouted for his own underlings, but all he received was a heavy blow on the shoulder before being grabbed and pressed face down on the desk.
“Tong Baishi. I am arresting you on charges of detaining and assaulting an officer.” Lu Yipeng spoke while pressing the handcuff keys down with a loud click, and then picked up some fallen documents to look at, “Oh… charges of operating illegal brothel services and committing sexual offenses against children under fifteen. Thanks for this original list, it’s worth a look, Mister
Tong.”
Tong Baishi glared angrily, but he couldn’t do much because he was being held down. He raised his head to look at Lu Yipeng before hearing the loud sirens outside, “You damn Lu Yipeng, you were playing games and working with that damn peafowl from the start.”
Lu Yipeng let out a sigh, “What should I tell you, Tong? You brought this upon yourself. No one forced you to kidnap me. No one forced you to use me to call him. You acted on your own.”
Tong Baishi looked at him before shouting, “Hong Kongque!!”
…
“And when you were knocked out by force, you didn’t lose conscious?” Hong Kongque asked. After requesting and coercing Lu Yipeng to tell the story of what happened that day until it was finished, Lu Yipeng shook his head.
“I just tease him for fun and end up getting teased for real. How do I deal with someone who fights back when teased?”
Hong Kongque chuckled approvingly, “Little Pengepeng, you know how to be charming and reserved, I am truly pleased.”
Lu Yipeng finally looked up at the man in front of him, but before he could say anything, Hong Kongque continued, “But I really want to see the shot of you escaping from those handcuffs for real, it must look cool. The lockpicking technique I taught you must have come in handy, right?”
Lu Yipeng nodded, four years had passed and this guy had handcuffed him countless times. Not being able to escape at times made him feel like he would be stuck in cuffs forever. He was a real policeman, but had to deal with outlaws like this and be handcuffed. Until he managed to pick the lock and he was able to escape the handcuffs every time.
“Tell me, if they didn’t take you to that club, what would you do?” Hong Kongque asked, and Lu Yipeng looked at him before responding.
“I would have to wake up, knock them out, and drive there myself. And then we’ll talk later. Why do you ask?”
Hong Kongque chuckled mischievously, “Well…I just want to know what
Little Pengepeng’s plan is. You usually like to plan to deceive me to death.”
Lu Yipeng gritted his teeth, thinking that one day he would have to come up with a plan to deceive this troublesome man and make it a success. Hong Kongque looked at him and with a flick of his mouth, he grabbed a bug and fed it to the venus flytrap plant next to him. They were currently in a greenhouse full of flytrap plants, some of which were deadly to touch. Lu Yipeng knew some of them while others he didn’t. Some plants could be fatal just by touching the leaves, so Lu Yipeng didn’t know if he should trust Hong Kongque’s words or not, but it was best not to take the risk.
“Indeed. How do you know that Tong Baishi was planning to catch me?” Lu Yipeng asked after watching Hong Kongque feed the bug to a pitcher plant resting for a moment. Last week he visited Hong Kongque at the mansion to consult about Tong Baishi’s case where they hadn’t yet found solid evidence to apprehend him, and received advice from Hong Kongque to prepare well because Tong Baishi would probably invite him to see the evidence himself in two days.
Hong Kongque fed another bug to another plant and then turned to answer with a smile.
“Why do the honor students of the Police Department ask such simple questions?” He stopped and smiled, Lu Yipeng, with a grimace on his face before continuing, “That guy has been holding a grudge against me for a long time, trying to find opportunities to get back at me all along. As for you, you keep playing his game endlessly, it is not strange if he doesn’t want to catch you. I just released a little bit of news to urge him to speed up. You will be able to close the case more quickly, my kindness and liking for you are endless.”
Lu Yipeng tried not to think about how Hong Kongque spread the news and told himself to be patient. He did not raise his hand to the man standing in front of him smiling because besides being beaten, he might be in more trouble.
Looking at Hong Kongque looking down at the insects in the leaves for a while, Lu Yipeng spoke again.
“Kongque, thank you.”
“What?!” Hong Kongque turned his head immediately and two insects flew out between them, “Thank for what?”
“Well…” Lu Yipeng blushed, “For helping me. If you hadn’t helped me shoot them, I don’t know if I would have survived.” The young man thought to himself that this time, if he had opened his mouth, Hong Kongque could have been charged with possessing heavy weapons and causing unrest.
Hong Kongque looked puzzled before chuckling, “Pengpeng, you misunderstood that. Why do I have to help you?” He stopped for a moment and placed the box of insects, “If you were too weak to fall into Tong Baishi’s trap,
I would have killed you already. Don’t forget what’s on your leg.”
Lu Yipeng was shocked when his left ankle was grabbed by Hong Kongque’s hand. He quickly tried to resist by holding the other hand according to the signal, but missed again.
“This doesn’t mean we are going to get along easily.” The other person continued, “My tests have standards. If you still lose to those scumbags, I’ll just sit back and watch your videos on social media. I might even lose interest.”
Lu Yipeng was speechless with the unexpected answer from the other person.
After a while, he spoke up.
“But yesterday you rushed in to help me.”
This time, Hong Kongque hesitated. Then he raised his hand to cover his mouth lightly, “Pengpeng, you are absolutely correct.”
The young police officer felt the edge of his own lips being lightly brushed by the other party’s finger before hearing the voice continue, “Some things can be forgotten.”
Then the hand moved away, and the edge of the lips moved closer
“But I already knew that you won’t lose to that bastard. You’re the first person who has made me feel this excited.”
Lu Yipeng tried to pull away as the other party leaned in closer, Hong Kongque reached out to caress his tender thigh before forcing a kiss on him as usual. They were kissing for a while. Lu Yipeng had to speak out hastily, “Hey, go feed your plants, all the insects have flown away.”
Hong Kongque smiled and pulled him in for a deep kiss before responding,
“Forget them, let nature take its course and let them feed themselves. I just enjoy watching them squirm in the leaves.”
Lu Yipeng looked at the person in front of him with a disgusted expression,
“You are truly mentally ill.”
Hong Kongque couldn’t respond but chuckled in his throat before pulling Lu Yipeng closer to him, “Pengpeng, I want to see how far your intuition has advanced. Pengpeng, do you want to try it here or on the bed?”
Lu Yipeng sighed, “I’ll take the bed, but I can only stay until four. I have to go back to work.”
“Hmm…” Hong Kongque moaned, then caressed the badge on Lu Yipeng’s shirt, “The next day you will come and interrogate me, taking one day off won’t hurt, you can interrogate me deeply.”
“One day I’ll invite you to be interrogated at the police station.” Lu Yipeng said before being lightly slapped on the lips, “You have a good mouth.” Hong Kongque said, then forced another kiss. Then Lu Yipeng heard a click and felt the cold metal on his wrist
“I’m sorry, it’s almost four, we won’t make it to the bed.” Hong Kongque said, starting to caress him more heavily. Lu Yipeng even sighed deeply
Damn it… why do I always end up in cuffs!
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