Urban Martial Saint

”How so?” Ye Qing asked in surprise.

Lin Dade said, ”The traffic police over here ask for money depending on the situation. If you’re driving a seventy or eighty-thousand yuan car, they’ll just want a thousand or two from you. But you’re driving a car worth over a million, and you don’t have any connections in Xishan City. I’m afraid they’ll try to extort money from you!”

Ye Qing’s brow furrowed slightly as he said, ”I only have this one violation, how much could the fine be?”

”You can’t think of it that way,” Lin Dade responded. ”Haven’t you heard the saying? Even with complete paperwork, it’s tough to get by in Xishan. Those in the green uniforms, they’re extremely corrupt. They can cover up your license plate, what else do you think they are incapable of? After your car is taken away, who knows what other violations they might fabricate? You’ll have to pay up for all of them!”

Ye Qing’s expression turned cold as he asked in a deep voice, ”Would they dare do that?”

”Oh, it happens all the time—numerous people from out of town get scammed every year!” Lin Dade sighed and said, ”Young Brother Ye, when we get there, you might want to buy a pack of cigarettes to pocket first. If you speak pleasantly, you might be able to reduce the amount a bit!”

Ye Qing did not respond; he didn’t plan on buying cigarettes. He wanted to go in and see just how corrupt these traffic police could be.

Lin Dade repeatedly cautioned Ye Qing, and finally, they arrived outside the traffic police station. As Ye Qing got out of the car and entered directly, Lin Dade anxiously called out, asking him to buy cigarettes. But Ye Qing, as if not hearing, walked straight in.

”What are you doing?” Just as he entered the gate, an old security guard who looked to be in his fifties or sixties stopped Ye Qing.

”I’m here to retrieve a car!” Ye Qing replied.

The old man looked Ye Qing up and down and said, ”Whom are you looking for?”

Ye Qing said, ”My car was impounded this morning, and they told me to come to the traffic police station this afternoon to retrieve it. I don’t know who I should see.”

The old man glared at Ye Qing and said, ”You don’t know who to find, so you just barge in here? This is a state office, a public service venue. You think it’s a public restroom, you can just come and go as you please?”

Ye Qing frowned; he hadn’t even seen the traffic police yet, and he had already been stopped by a gatekeeper. It seemed that what Lin Dade had said was true; it wasn’t so easy to get into the traffic police station.

”Uncle Zhang, Uncle Zhang...” Just then, Lin Dade ran over with an ingratiating smile and stuffed a pack of cigarettes into the old man’s hand, saying, ”Uncle Zhang, this is my cousin, he’s from out of town and doesn’t know any better, please don’t be angry. Here, have a smoke, no need to bother with young folks!”

After getting the cigarettes, the old man’s attitude softened a bit, and he looked Ye Qing over before saying, ”With the way your cousin is, I don’t think he’ll be retrieving his car today. Kid doesn’t even have a full beard, doesn’t understand the slightest bit of social niceties, what a joke!”

”Uncle Zhang, don’t be angry, after all, he’s young,” Lin Dade said with a smile. ”Uncle Zhang, look, can we let him in to get those procedures started?”

”Forget it, get lost!” The old man waved his hand impatiently, pocketing the cigarettes and returning to the guard room. Once he had the cigarettes, he didn’t care much about the rest.

Lin Dade, still smiling at the old man, came over to Ye Qing, quietly handed him a pack of cigarettes, and said softly, ”Young Brother Ye, what are you doing? You don’t seem poor, why skimp on a pack of cigarettes? A little bribe can save you a lot of money. Here, take the cigarettes, be nice inside, a penny saved is a penny earned!”

Lin Dade really did mean well, as he had actually paid for the cigarettes himself. Although Ye Qing didn’t want to take such things, he couldn’t let Lin Dade waste his money.

Ye Qing took out two hundred yuan and handed it to Lin Dade, taking the cigarettes.

”That’s too much, too much!” Lin Dade hurriedly handed back one hundred to Ye Qing, saying, ”The cigarettes only cost eighty-five, I owe you fifteen!”

”No need,” Ye Qing said, pushing the one hundred back into Lin Dade’s hand and walked with the cigarettes straight into the service hall.

There were quite a few people inside the hall, and you could hear complaints everywhere; it seemed like the atmosphere here was also tense. After waiting in line for a while, Ye Qing’s turn finally came. He gave the morning’s ticket to a forty-something female traffic officer sitting at the desk and said, ”Hello, I’m here to retrieve my car!”

The woman glanced at the ticket and then at Ye Qing, asking, ”Why was the vehicle detained?”

”License plate obstruction,” Ye Qing replied. ”It’s written on the ticket.”

”Blah, I obviously know it’s written on the ticket. But it’s not just a simple license plate obstruction, is it!” The woman glared at Ye Qing and said, ”If you want to retrieve your car, first find out exactly how many violations you have.”

Ye Qing said, ”They didn’t mention any others; all I know about is the license plate obstruction!”

The woman glared at him and said, ”They didn’t tell you, and you don’t know to check?”

Ye Qing frowned, clearly disliking the attitude of these people. But having prepared himself in advance, he took a deep breath and asked, ”How do I check?”

The woman casually pointed at a man sitting in front of a computer nearby, saying, ”Go check with him, then come back!”

Ye Qing approached, and as the man saw the pack of cigarettes in Ye Qing’s hand, a look of disdain flashed across his face. He pulled out a pack of superior cigarettes from his pocket and placed it on the table, essentially telling Ye Qing that his cigarettes were inferior and he wouldn’t smoke them.

Of course, Ye Qing had no intention of offering his cigarettes; he came over and asked directly about how to check for violations.

Seeing that Ye Qing didn’t even offer a cigarette, the man was displeased and, without looking at Ye Qing, said, ”To inquire about a violation, five hundred yuan for the service and operation fees!”

”You have to pay to check for violations?” Ye Qing frowned and said, ”Aren’t these supposed to be free?”

”Your car is from Shenchuan City, and the license plate is a Shenchuan City plate. If we check it here in Xishan City, of course, there’s a fee!” the man glared at Ye Qing and said, ”If you think it’s free in Shenchuan City, then go there and check. Bringing the results over here works too!”

Ye Qing’s anger flared at once. This was clearly taking advantage of outsiders. It seemed that everything Lin Dade had said about these traffic cops was true, just too corrupt.

Ye Qing said sternly, ”I’ve never heard of having to pay a fee for cross-region violation inquiries. Is this a rule specific to Xishan City?”

The man glared back and said, ”Either pay the money to make the inquiry or roll back to Shenchuan City to check it out. What’s with all the nonsense!”

”Speak politely!” Ye Qing retorted sternly.

The man barked, ”This is a government office, and we are government workers. If you want politeness, go find a hostess at a night club to be polite to you!”

Ye Qing usually had a good temper, but hearing the man’s words, his anger surged up to his head. These bastards call themselves government workers? They’re worse than thugs!

”Is this your work attitude?” Ye Qing asked coldly, looking at the man.

”You fucking have a problem with that?” the man stood up, pointing angrily at Ye Qing: ”You dare to glare at me? Glare at me again, see what happens!”

”What’s going on here? What’s the fuss about?”

”Looking for trouble, huh?”

Several other traffic cops came over and surrounded Ye Qing. From their posture, they seemed ready to beat him up.

Ye Qing furrowed his brows tightly. He hadn’t expected the situation here to be even worse than what Lin Dade had described. These weren’t traffic cops; they were outright thugs!

Ye Qing said gravely, ”I’ve followed the proper procedures to retrieve my car, and I hope you can help me sort this out. Otherwise, I will file a complaint with your superiors according to the normal process!”

”You fucking want to complain?” The crowd suddenly laughed, and one man grabbed Ye Qing’s collar, saying, ”Go ahead and complain now if you want. Let me tell you, forget about retrieving your car. I’d like to see how powerful you are to do anything to us!”

As the man spoke, he reached out to slap Ye Qing’s face but was promptly shrugged off by Ye Qing.

”What, you want to resist?” The man flared up, glaring at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing’s expression was icy, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, but in the end, he unclenched his tightly held fists.

”Keep the car, but remember what you said today,” Ye Qing dropped coldly, turning around to leave.

”If you’re so badass, come back and take your car, fuck, I want to see just how capable you are at driving your car away from here!” The man yelled after him, ”If you can drive the car away, I’ll change my last name to yours!”

”Hey, Old Cheng, don’t talk too big,” another person hurriedly advised him: ”That kid’s driving a Land Rover, probably got some money, and could even have some connections around here!”

”Afraid of him, my ass!” Old Cheng waved his hand dismissively, ”Let him go sue! I don’t believe we can’t handle an outsider like him. Fuck!”

Outside the traffic police station, Lin Dade was sitting by the flowerbed, watching some old men play chess. Seeing Ye Qing walk out, he was taken aback and hastily greeted him, ”Young Brother Ye, how did it go? Did you get your car?”

”No,” Ye Qing shook his head.

Anxious, Lin Dade asked, ”What happened?”

Ye Qing recounted what had happened inside, and Lin Dade also frowned heavily, saying, ”I had heard these traffic cops bullied out-of-towners, but I didn’t think it was this bad. However, Young Brother Ye, you were a bit impulsive, how could you confront them like that? Now it’s going to be difficult to retrieve your car!”

”Then don’t retrieve it!” Ye Qing replied decisively.

”What?” Lin Dade looked at Ye Qing in surprise and said, ”But that’s your car, worth over one million!”

”I will still get the car back, but not in the next few days!” Ye Qing said coldly, ”They’ll pay a price for however long they keep my car. I want to see who ends up losing in the end!”

Just now, Ye Qing had swallowed his anger because he had more important matters to take care of in Xishan City. Being unfamiliar with the area, it was not suitable for him to escalate the situation with the traffic cops. If he got arrested over this, it would be a real injustice. Therefore, he chose to temporarily hold back and first resolve the matter regarding Liu Changping’s daughter. After that was done, he would deal with this situation. Although Ye Qing didn’t know Liu Changping’s exact status, considering Zhou Bolong had helped him settle such a massive explosion case in Shenchuan City with just one phone call, resolving the matter with the Xishan City traffic police station surely wouldn’t be difficult!