Chapter 46 Contradictions Among the People

Chen Aijia raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Is that so? Then you’d better think it through. You don’t need to know what I do for a living, but Comrade, do you recognize this card?”

It was a diamond card, with an overdraft limit of over a billion.

The dazzling, pearl-encrusted card drained all color from the female employee’s face.

It was over—this time she had provoked someone entirely out of her league.

People like this, when they came to the bank, even the branch manager would tread carefully. It wasn’t the card itself that mattered, but the social status implied by possessing a diamond card personally issued by headquarters.

Put simply, to a lowly bank worker, someone with such a card could, with a single word, have you fired and barred from ever getting a loan again.

Nowadays, who doesn’t need a bank loan to buy a car or a house?

“Auntie, perhaps...” The female employee immediately switched sides.

The old woman was taken aback, but she had no idea what that white card represented.

“Fine, you won’t help me either? Just wait, I’ll file a complaint against you tomorrow.” People used to being overbearing rarely know when to stop. The old woman threw herself to the ground, clutching her chest and howling in pain, “Oh no, oh, this is bad—I’m having a heart attack! Oh, my stomach hurts too! I’m dying! I’ve been beaten to death by two young brats!”

The squad leader glanced awkwardly at Yang Changfeng, then at the group of elderly people blocking the bank’s entrance.

“Comrade, go on with your work. I’ll handle things here. Your comrade is with me, so you don’t need to worry about me running off. I’m still waiting to receive a big, shiny banner of commendation, after all.” Yang Changfeng strode over, patted the squad leader on the shoulder, then suddenly lunged forward with a shout, “Out of the way if you want to live! Stand your ground if you don’t fear death!”

The crowd of elderly people scattered in panic, fleeing through the doors. From a distance, they shouted threats at Yang Changfeng: “You little brat, just you wait!”

The squad leader grinned and quickly withdrew with his team—they still had fugitives to apprehend on the highway.

People are always so quick to judge the police, forgetting that they, too, are human. Their moral compass is not necessarily any higher than those self-righteous armchair critics.

It was obvious this group of elders was trying to shake down the two people who had just saved them. The officers left behind to gather evidence with the help of the male bank staff member completely ignored the old troublemakers.

Chen Aijia walked to the side and sat on a bench, smiling as she watched Yang Changfeng, as if to say, “You claim you have a solution? Let’s see it.”

She hadn’t expected just how ruthless Yang Changfeng’s thoughts were.

Trying to extort people, are you? Abusing your age, are you?

This time he would cure them of their bad habits once and for all.

Pulling the female employee aside, Yang Changfeng told her seriously, “You handle money every day, but you can’t let greed blind you. If I were you, I’d just flat out say I was the one who did the beating—say I was working with those masked thugs, even. This kind of flip-flopping just exposes your shamelessness. If you lose all self-respect, when you’re old, you’ll be even worse than these geezers. Mark my words.”

The woman flushed with anger but dared not meet Yang Changfeng’s blade-like gaze. Sheepishly, she lowered her head and went off to help her colleagues assist the police.

If only she had known this would happen, she’d have acted differently from the start. Look at her two colleagues—they didn’t bother sucking up to these so-called influential seniors in the banking system, and now they didn’t have to feel ashamed in front of everyone.

Yang Changfeng walked over and sat down on the bench. He nudged the old woman, who, seeing that her tantrum was being ignored, seemed a little resentful and perhaps ready to give up her act. Smiling, he said, “Don’t get up, just lie there. I’ll call an ambulance for you. Do you have a phone? Call your children and relatives—make sure to get plenty of people here. When you get to the hospital, if they can’t find some life-threatening new disease, don’t blame me for being unkind.”

The old woman’s eyes darted. She shouted to an old man, “Call your eldest son over! Isn’t he just sitting at home with nothing to do these days? Tell him to help me!”

The old man averted his gaze and muttered irritably, “Why don’t you call your own son? My boy is busy studying for his professional exams—he doesn’t have time.”

That’s how these people were. They loved to stir up trouble, but never mistake that for solidarity. When personal interests are at stake, they’re even more shameless than a rabble—pushing all they can, blocking all they must. Their only principle: never miss out on any benefit for themselves, and always shift the blame to others if there are consequences.

Yang Changfeng called for an ambulance, saying offhandedly, “招商 Bank, Binjiang Second Road, there’s an old woman claiming she’s about to die. Send a car.”

The hospital staff found it odd—who calls an ambulance like that?

No matter. The number was logged. If you call for an ambulance and don’t actually need one, not only do you have to pay for the trip, but you’ll also be penalized. Someone had to put a stop to this trend of people calling emergency services for fun.

Jiangzhou was simply too developed—every kind of person could be found here. Just a few days ago, there were reports of people calling the police out of boredom, and all that came of it was a warning.

The old woman thought long and hard before deciding to keep playing dead to the bitter end.

How could society allow someone more arrogant than a wicked old woman? He had to be taken down—a lesson in extortion was in order, otherwise how could the square-dancing grandmas hold their heads high?

She’d never encountered a young person who refused to give up their seat on the bus—how could she let herself be humiliated by these two brats?

One police officer, unable to stand it, wanted to come over and give her a stern warning. He had seen the surveillance footage—these two had acted bravely and saved everyone.

Yang Changfeng waved him off with a smile, “Thank you, Comrade, but there’s no need. This kind of misbehavior is rampant these days. I have some connections, and, well, I’m not exactly stupid. Leave these rotten old people to me. If possible, could you ask someone from legal education to come by? Don’t worry, I know a bit of medicine too. If they try to extort us at the hospital, I’ll make sure they learn that counter-extortion is also a crime punishable by law.”

The two spoke quietly on the side while the old woman busied herself calling up her friends, too occupied to pay them any mind.

People in Jiangzhou, especially the elderly, had a sharp eye and were quite snobbish.

They could easily see how shabby Yang Changfeng’s clothes were, and as for Chen Aijia’s outfit—sorry, they didn’t have the taste to recognize that it wasn’t some cheap streetwear, but custom-made couture.

After her phone calls, the old woman shot a triumphant glare at Chen Aijia, threatened Yang Changfeng again, then lay back down and resumed her performance with fresh cries of pain.

The policeman who had considered intervening thought better of it. Seeing the old woman’s posture, he realized persuasion would be useless. Truth be told, he despised this kind of behavior. If the public wanted to take a stand and restore some righteousness, as a police officer, he’d cooperate.

Internal disputes among the people—let them handle it internally. Discussing the bigger picture or reasoning with them too early wouldn’t accomplish much, would it?