Chapter Thirty-Three: The Beautiful Woman Named Jiao

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“All four beauties are here!” Liu Yunfei greeted the girls. Zhang Juan, Zhang Xiaoli, Gan Xiaoqin, and Huang Jia were known as the Four Beauties of Class 3, Grade 2, because they were not only beautiful, but also inseparable, their friendship as close as that of sworn sisters.

“Oh, you really have grown taller, Liu Yunfei! What did you take? Any secret? Teach us!” The girls chattered excitedly, crowding around him.

Liu Yunfei grinned. “I didn’t even notice. I just shot up out of nowhere. Come on, guys, let’s have a smoke.” He took out some Nanjing cigarettes and offered them to Yu Xiaowei and Wang Qiang, who was sitting nearby.

“Liu Yunfei, where’s my birthday present?” Zhang Juan reached out her hand expectantly.

“Oh, I came in a rush. I’ll make it up to you soon. Is there anything you want in particular?” Liu Yunfei replied awkwardly, realizing he’d come empty-handed after all.

As he spoke, he sat down beside Zhang Xiaoli, who looked at him in surprise. She had secretly liked Liu Yunfei for years—so much so that everyone knew about it. Naturally, Liu Yunfei was aware, which was why he’d always kept a polite distance from her. Zhang Xiaoli was far from unattractive; she had a lovely figure and a round, adorable face. But for some reason, Liu Yunfei felt nothing for her—his thoughts were always with Wu Jiangya.

Perhaps Liu Yunfei had truly matured, or maybe changes in his life had shifted his outlook, but today, when he saw Zhang Xiaoli, he resolved to treat her better. After all, it was no small thing for someone to like him so steadfastly for so many years.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Am I even more handsome now?” Liu Yunfei joked, taking a drag from his cigarette.

“We’re bored. Let’s play mahjong,” Wang Qiang suggested. Though still young, he was already a gambling fiend.

“No way. Let’s go sing karaoke—my treat, as a belated birthday present for Zhang Juan,” Liu Yunfei immediately objected, knowing his luck with cards was abysmal.

“Sounds good! There’s a new club, The Grand, that just opened. Pretty upscale. My dad took me once, but I’m worried we might not have enough cash,” Yu Xiaowei said, the son of a bureau chief and no stranger to luxury.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll cover it.”

They took two cabs to The Grand. The place was indeed lavishly decorated, and the prices matched: a business suite for six to eight people was 888 yuan an hour. “Welcome, students! We’re offering a 30% discount this afternoon, plus complimentary fruit and drinks,” the hostess greeted them warmly.

The young crowd loved to sing, though the boys weren’t much good at it. The girls, however, sang quite well. Liu Yunfei joined in for a while, but soon remembered he needed to exchange some dollars before the bank closed—he didn’t want a repeat of the taxi fare fiasco.

When he stepped outside, he spotted a large branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank across the street. As he crossed, he noticed a young professional woman at the ATM. She wore a white blouse and a dark suit, her skirt long and straight, revealing a pair of shapely, alluring legs. Liu Yunfei couldn’t help but glance her way a few more times.

Then he noticed three young men loitering nearby, peeking at the ATM screen and exchanging meaningful looks. They didn’t seem like decent characters.

Sure enough, just as the woman collected her cash, one of the men tossed a few one-yuan coins at her feet and shouted, “Hey, you dropped your money!” As she bent down, another man quickly inserted a bank card into the ATM card slot.

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This sort of scam had been shown on television often: as a victim was finishing up at the ATM, but before their card was ejected, one person would distract them while another jammed a useless card halfway into the slot. If the victim didn’t check the screen, they might take the fake card and leave, unaware their own card was still in the machine. Once they left, the criminals could continue operating the ATM and drain the victim’s account.

It was clear these three were up to just such a trick. Liu Yunfei no longer cared about exchanging his money and strode over.

The woman bent down to pick up the coins, muttering, “Where did these come from? I don’t remember dropping any.” Absentmindedly, she pulled out the useless card and prepared to leave.

“Wait, miss! That card isn’t yours,” Liu Yunfei called out as he saw her about to fall into the trap. He quickly stepped forward, shielding the keypad with his hand.

“Who are you? What are you doing? We’re trying to use the ATM here!” The three young men, seeing their prize about to slip away, surrounded Liu Yunfei, trying to pull him aside.

Just as Liu Yunfei considered teaching them a lesson, several burly men suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pinned the three youths to the ground. When they pulled out handcuffs, Liu Yunfei realized they were police officers. He then noticed the woman, now smiling as she walked back—it was clear they’d set this up as a sting.

“Thank you, student. It was brave of you to step in and stop a crime,” the woman said as she stopped in front of Liu Yunfei. He noticed she was quite tall; he didn’t have to look down to meet her eyes. Her brows were strong and slightly arched, her nose straight—she exuded a commanding air. She would look even more impressive in uniform.

“Student? How much older than me could you be?” Liu Yunfei bristled at being called ‘student’ by such a beautiful woman.

“Oh? I’m twenty-three. And you?” she asked, direct and forthright.

“I’m eighteen—almost nineteen. So yes, you’re older, but I’m not just a kid.” Liu Yunfei found it hard to explain himself.

“You’re younger than me and still a student. Did I call you wrong?” she teased, her gaze pressing down on him.

“Fine, fine, call me student. But please, don’t look at me like you’re interrogating a suspect, officer.”

“Sorry, force of habit.” The woman softened her gaze. “But seriously, thank you. We’re wrapping up. Goodbye.” With that, she turned and strode toward a car by the curb.

“Hey, beautiful! What’s your name? Can I get your number?” Liu Yunfei felt it would be a shame not to flirt a bit after rescuing this lovely policewoman.

“I’m Jiao Kewei, Detective Squad Three, Municipal Bureau,” she called back without turning.

“Jiao, huh,” Liu Yunfei said with a mischievous grin.

“What did you say?” Officer Jiao suddenly spun around, glaring at him.

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“I didn’t say anything at all,” Liu Yunfei replied quickly, realizing that perhaps he’d gone too far flirting with a policewoman he’d just met. He darted out of her sight and slipped into the bank to exchange his dollars.

“I’d like to exchange some renminbi, please.” Liu Yunfei pushed a thousand dollars through the window to the teller.

“Didn’t expect you to be so well off, student. And all in dollars, too,” came a familiar voice—it was the policewoman from earlier. Liu Yunfei gritted his teeth as she called him ‘student’ again. He fanned the stack of bills in front of her. “Jealous? Want to rob me? Be careful, officer—committing a crime in uniform is even worse.”

“What do your parents do? Where did you get all this money?” Jiao Kewei had followed him in, intending to give him a friendly lecture. She found it odd that such a courageous young man could also be so cheeky. Her own parents were government officials, and she’d attended the police academy; now a detective, she was used to commanding respect—no one had ever spoken to her like this.

“Jiao…” Liu Yunfei said, drawing out her surname so deliberately that even the female teller looked at them curiously. “Officer, you can’t just suspect me of a crime because I’m richer than you.”

Jiao Kewei blushed with anger and embarrassment as people around them began to stare. If they weren’t in a bank lobby, she would have already given this rascal a piece of her mind. Just moments ago, she’d thought he was a good kid.

“I’ve told you my name and where I work. Don’t tell me you don’t have the courage to do the same,” she said, deciding to ignore his jibes about her surname.

“Huangjiang No. 3 High School, Senior Class 3—Liu Yunfei. And don’t try to provoke me; I’m not afraid of you. If I were, I’d have your last name by now.”

Liu Yunfei was clearly enjoying teasing the young policewoman.

After hearing his suggestive remarks one too many times, Jiao Kewei finally lost her patience. She grabbed Liu Yunfei by the collar. “You really like this, don’t you? Let’s see what your big sister can teach you.”

Liu Yunfei reached out, snatching the renminbi the teller handed him, stuffing it into his pocket without even counting. “Right now? There are too many people here. I’d be embarrassed. Why don’t we go somewhere private, and you can teach me slowly?” As he spoke, his fingers mischievously stroked the back of her hand.

Their tussle drew the attention of the bank security guards, who quickly surrounded them. “Don’t fight in here! This is a bank—if you want to fight, take it outside. Otherwise, you’ll be suspected of trying to rob the place.”

Just then, two of the burly detectives from before came running in from outside. “Jiao, what are you doing? Everyone’s waiting for you.” Only then did Jiao Kewei release her grip, pointing at Liu Yunfei. “I’ll remember you, you little rascal. Watch yourself.”