Chapter 178: I Refuse

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: I Refuse

Su Wan hadn’t expected a simple meal out to lead to an unexpected case. It looked like Lu Zhengchuan would be tied up for a while.

"Did you see Lu Zhengchuan before you came?" Su Wan asked.

Xiao Liu nodded. "I did. The commander was arranging the details for the subsequent raid. Don’t worry, ma’am."

Hearing that Lu Zhengchuan had things under control, Su Wan could finally relax a little.

"Alright. Take me back first, then drop Zhang Yun off at our place. Contact me immediately if anything comes up. I have an experiment this afternoon, but I should be able to see Lu Zhengchuan tonight, right?"

"You should be. The higher-ups have already opened a formal case and will be assigning plenty of people to help resolve it. I just don’t know exactly when the mission will be over."

Xiao Liu answered honestly.

There was nothing Su Wan could do about it, so she decided to focus on her own tasks for the time being.

She and Zhang Yun got into the car.

Zhang Yun was still staring at the disco, her eyes scanning the crowd. She felt certain she’d seen a familiar figure.

"Su Wan, I want to stay behind," Zhang Yun said hurriedly as she saw Xiao Liu walk over to the driver’s side. "I’ll head back on my own in a bit. I can look around while I’m at it."

Su Wan looked at her. "What would you stay here for? The place has been cordoned off. The gossip about what happened will be all over the neighborhood in half a day; you can just listen to people talk then. Besides, you’re new to the Capital. You don’t know your way around, you don’t know how to take the bus, and you don’t even know where our rented house is."

"Su Wan... actually, I think I saw Ah Yuan." Seeing that she couldn’t convince Su Wan, Zhang Yun had no choice but to be honest.

"Zhao Yuan? What is he doing here?"

The mention of Zhao Yuan’s name only made Su Wan more uneasy. This was a man with a criminal record.

But clearly, Zhang Yun wasn’t listening.

"Please let me get out, Su Wan. I just want to take a look. Maybe I was wrong."

"I’ll find a way to meet you outside Capital University later."

"I’m begging you."

Su Wan’s expression grew cold. "You’re an adult. I can’t control your actions. If you want to get out, then get out."

"...Su Wan, are you angry?"

"I’m not angry. You just need to be responsible for your own life." Su Wan had always respected people’s choices. As long as she didn’t meddle, whatever happened to anyone else was, to her, simply news.

Zhang Yun knew Su Wan was angry, but she really wanted to confirm if that person was Zhao Yuan.

She bit her lip and got out of the car.

"Su Wan, I’ll apologize when I get back tonight."

Su Wan shook her head, resigned. "Just be careful."

"I will, Su Wan," Zhang Yun replied, nodding obediently.

As the car drove away, Xiao Liu couldn’t help but ask, "Ma’am, should I have one of my comrades keep an eye on her?"

"There’s no need. Zhao Yuan is trying to win her over right now, so it’s unlikely he’ll hurt her," Su Wan said.

Xiao Liu nodded and said nothing more. He dropped Su Wan off at the university entrance and watched her walk onto campus before hitting the gas and heading back to the street they had just left.

"Ah Yuan, you really are here." Zhang Yun found Zhao Yuan in the crowd of detainees, squatting on the ground before he could be taken to the station.

When Zhao Yuan saw her, he subconsciously looked behind her.

"Are you alone?"

"Who else did you think would be here?"

Zhao Yuan reached for her hand with a placating smile. "Xiao Yun, don’t be mad. I just heard a disco opened in the Capital, and my friend insisted on dragging me over. How was I supposed to know there’d be a police raid? I have no idea what’s going on."

Zhang Yun frowned with concern. "You’re so unlucky."

"Tell me about it. By the way, I saw your cousin just now. What’s he doing here?"

Zhang Yun didn’t think much of it. "My cousin’s comrade invited us to the Western restaurant across the street for dinner. We saw the trouble break out over here, so he came to help."

"Your cousin is pretty helpful, then. All these police investigating a disco... isn’t it just because the music’s too loud? I don’t get why they’re making such a big deal out of it. Sigh. People like us can only cooperate. Not like your cousin—he’s powerful enough to call the shots on this whole inspection."

"If only I were as capable as your cousin, I wouldn’t be stuck squatting here. And I could give you a good life, Xiao Yun."

Zhao Yuan’s words were laced with sarcasm, but his tone was gentle.

Zhang Yun felt a prickle of unease. His words sounded strange, but since she couldn’t quite put her finger on why, she quickly pushed the feeling aside.

"Ah Yuan, if you were a military officer, you wouldn’t marry me," Zhang Yun said frankly. "You’d marry a more outstanding woman."

Zhao Yuan was taken aback. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be impressed by her self-awareness or annoyed that she wasn’t so easy to fool.

"How could you say that?" Zhao Yuan put on a sincere expression, gazing at her with deep affection. "I’ve lived in the Capital my whole life and known plenty of women, but I never married any of them. That’s because I didn’t have feelings for them. You’re the one I love. No matter what my status is, I’ve always been waiting for you."

His blatant flattery made Zhang Yun’s cheeks flush.

"Ah Yuan, you have to work hard and get ahead, then. I want to live a good life with you." Hearing his words, Zhang Yun believed him.

Besides, she didn’t think like most people; she wasn’t sensitive in the least and had a knack for being completely oblivious.

"Today, I went with Su Wan and my cousin to eat at a Western restaurant. You have no idea, it was so fancy! If it wasn’t for them, I’d never have known what steak or pasta or even Western food was."

Zhang Yun grabbed Zhao Yuan’s hand excitedly. "When you make a lot of money, we’ll come eat here again! Then when I go back to the village and tell everyone, they’ll be so jealous that I found such a good partner and am living a life they could only dream of."

Zhao Yuan: "..."

He really wanted to ask her where she got the nerve. ’She wants a good life? What, does she think I don’t?’

"Yes, yes, of course, Xiao Yun. You’re all I think about. I’ll do everything you said, I promise. Now, can you go find a police officer and get me bailed out?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yun immediately shook her head. "No, Ah Yuan, you have to cooperate with the police. At most, you’ll be taken to the station for questioning. It’s not a big deal. They’ll let you go when they’re done."

"If you don’t cooperate, they’ll have to use force, and that would be even more embarrassing." This was a lesson Zhang Yun had learned from her time at the Southwest Military Base Courtyard.

But Zhao Yuan didn’t listen. He just thought she was making excuses.

"Isn’t your cousin in charge of this case? These officers will definitely listen to him. All it would take is one word from him to get me released."

Zhang Yun still shook her head. "I wouldn’t dare. Even if I were the one arrested, my cousin wouldn’t let me go. The proper procedures have to be followed. If I dared to ask, he would tear me a new one."

"He’s your cousin, not your dad. Why are you so afraid of him?"

"But my parents told him to look after me." No matter what he said, Zhang Yun refused.

As he kept pressuring her, she grew impatient. Frowning, she stared at him and asked, "Ah Yuan, why won’t you listen? Why are you so insistent on pulling strings? You didn’t actually do something wrong, did you?"