4.6 Driving Lessons: I just want to retire (Part 1)

Liang Chen was a simple man. He loved his wife and daughter, tolerated his work, and enjoyed fishing on the weekend. His work was alright. It had allowed him to pay the bills, put his daughter through college, and buy a nice house near the outskirts of Tianjing, where he was planning on enjoying a comfortable and quiet retirement with his wife in a few months. When Liang Chen had started working nearly forty years ago, he was assigned to the university police precinct. Since then, he had stayed there, steadily progressing through the ranks until he made Station Chief. Now there were six other cops under him, and he had reached the limit of his personal achievements. The university police station was the best possible choice for someone like Liang Chen. The university and the surrounding area were very peaceful. There was rarely any crime in this neighborhood. Most days Chief Liang just had to deal with paperwork. Once every few months someone's pet got lost, and one theft a year was the norm here. The biggest crime that had happened in recent years was someone stealing underwear at the university girls' dorm. Even then the chief didn't have to do much. One of the girls had caught the thief and broken his jaw for good measure. That very same girl was now sitting in the conference room next to his office, enjoying a cup of tea and biscuits with her boyfriend. The kids had probably stolen their parents' car, and neither of them had a license. For some reason they were insisting that the boy was her brother-in-law and a university professor, while they looked about the same age to Liang Chen. Whatever the case, it was just a minor issue. They just had to pay the fine and get one of their family members to drive them back. But unfortunately, to the great distress of the chief's blood pressure, they were caught by the rookie officer Leng Ruo, who also happened to be his slightly dumb but very eager niece.

Leng Ruo had been the bane of Chief Liang's existence since she joined the team two months ago. On her first day she had tried to arrest an elderly woman for jaywalking on an empty road. A few days later she had dragged a dog owner to the police station, because the dog had peed in his neighbor's yard. Apparently, his crimes were vandalism and public indecency. And for some reason she was always on the lookout for drugs. The only drug Chief Liang had seen in his life was his blood pressure medication, which was now doing a poor job against Leng Ruo's constant attempts to induce a panic attack in her uncle. If she was just a girl with a screw loose, Chief Liang would have fired her long ago, despite her being his niece. But she was loyal, kept herself fit, read a lot (although that didn't seem to be having much of an effect), and more importantly, she loved paperwork. Unlike Chief Liang, who simply tolerated it, Leng Ruo thrived on it. In addition to her own paperwork, she would ask around the station when she was free and finish other people's paperwork too. And as far as Chief Liang was concerned, that made her invaluable as a police officer.

When Leng Ruo had brought the couple and their car to the station (thankfully, she hadn't arrested them), the chief had let her "interrogate" them in the conference room and made sure that they had tea and snacks. It was better to let his niece yell at them for a while as they waited for their parents to come pick them up. Leng Ruo could finish the paperwork by then, and he would not have to deal with the girl who once broke a man's jaw with a single kick.

Just as Chief Liang was about to get ready for the morning's paperwork, he heard the deep rumble of numerous car engines. It was followed by the screeching of a great many tires, and the dull clicks and thuds of several car doors opening and closing. Chief Liang ran to the window and was baffled to see a large convoy of SUVs and sedans with black tinted windows, now parked in front of his station, stretching almost up to the main road. Was that a Rolls Royce in the front? No, that's two Rolls Royces. There were about 10 to 20 men and women in black suits, wearing shades and earpieces, who had emerged from the cars and were now scanning the perimeter. Suddenly, the door to his office was thrown open, and two of his men rushed in.

"Chief, it's..." they mumbled. Their faces were writ large with fear.

"What is it? What's going on?" a very worried Chief Liang asked them.

Before they could gather their wits about them and answer him, his niece barged in.

"Sir, we are being attacked. Should I get the rifle? It must be the car gang." Leng Ruo was practically bursting at the seams with excitement. She had never been in a shootout before, but she was now feeling that her moment had finally come.

"What? Rifle? No, no..." Chief Liang blurted out. "Let's..." His intuition was telling him that something had gone very wrong, and his throat was feeling very, very dry. But he had been a cop for 40 years. He was not going to indulge his niece's willful fantasies. He was going to deal with it his way. Whatever this was, they were going to talk it out. "You two," he pointed at the two officers. "You two come with me. And..." he looked at his niece. "And, Xiao-Ruo, you stay here."

"Stay here, sir? But what if there is a fight? You will need me."

"If there is a fight, you call the headquarters." The situation was already crazy, and he wasn't going to let his niece make things worse by diving into it like a raccoon jumping into a bushfire while clutching dynamite in its mouth. "Don't call them right now. Only if there is an emergency."

"Sir, yes sir!" Leng Ruo saluted him and positioned herself near the phone.

"All right, let's go see what this is about," Chief Liang said.

When Station Chief Liang Chen stepped out of his office, he was met by the most incredible sight he had seen in his 40 years as a police officer. Five women had walked into the police station, and they were followed by an army of secretaries and lawyers. One of the women looked disheveled. Her red eyes made it obvious that she was crying. Chief Liang did not know who she was (he did not read romance novels). Flanking her on both sides were two other women who were gently holding and comforting her. One of them was wearing a hoodie. Liang Chen felt that he had seen her somewhere but he could not place her. He had no doubts about who the other woman was. He knew her. It was impossible to be alive and not know her. She was on almost every billboard in Tianjing. She was in the advertisements on TV. She was even on the beauty products Liang Chen bought for his wife. It was Li Jing, the supermodel and CBO of the Wu Long group, and she was utterly, utterly beautiful. Standing to the superstar's left was the most stunning woman Liang Chen had ever seen. She was taller than everyone inside the police station, and looked like she was chiseled out of stone. The chief did not know her, but even next to the 'Goddess of Tianjing' it was impossible not to notice her. She looked like she was ready for a fight. And standing slightly to the front of the group, but still somehow at its center, was a face Chief Liang had seen on the news. It was a face that owned half the city and employed most of the people in it. It was Li Fen, CEO of the Wu Long group. That confirmed who these women were. Chief Liang was not facing the 'car gang' of his niece's delusions; he was facing the Five Dragons of Tianjing. The statuesque woman must be Li Hua, the CLO. The one in the hoodie must be Li Yue, the CTO, and the crying girl, was she Li Na? No, no. The girl was too young to be the CFO. She looked like she was just out of college.

Chief Liang felt himself going weak at the knees but somehow managed to not collapse. He looked at the five women. Li Fen, despite her reputation as the Iron Lady of Tianjing, looked the most approachable (other than the crying girl that is). She wasn't looking at him; she was scanning the police station.

"Madam Li," Chief Liang began and instantly regretted drawing attention to himself. Li Fen's gaze shifted from the surroundings to focusing intensely on the chief. Liang Chen had been stared at by his superiors before, but it was nothing like this. He felt like an insect that was being analyzed under a microscope.

"Station Chief Liang Chen, isn't it?" Li Fen said calmly.

She knew his name. Oh god. "Yes... yes, ma'am," the chief mumbled and restrained the urge to salute.

"Where is my brother?" Li Hua yelled.

"Your...brother... Ms. Li?" Chief Liang asked, baffled by why their brother would be here.

"Yeah," Li Jing answered. "Cute, scruffy, looks like a small animal. He must have our An Jing with him."

Oh no, thought Chief Liang. Everything finally clicked into place, and it was not a place Chief Liang wanted to anywhere close to.

"Who arrested my brother?" Li Hua screamed, looking at each of the officers like a gladiator threatening someone from the audience to step up for single combat.

"I did," said a steady and confident voice from the direction of the chief's office, and Chief Liang felt the final hopes of a quiet retirement melting away. He would be lucky to not get fired. No, no, he shouldn't be so greedy. Getting out of this alive would be enough for him. He just wanted to see his wife and daughter.

Before Chief Liang could stop her, his niece had closed the distance and stood in front of Li Hua. She was nearly a head shorter than the CLO and had to tilt her head up to look at Li Hua's eyes.

"You did?" Li Hua asked, her tone a mixture of surprise and contempt.

"YES MA'AM," Leng Ruo almost shouted out her reply and saluted Li Hua.

"What's your name?"

"OFFICER LENG RUO, MA'AM," she saluted again.

"Well, Officer Leng Ruo? Why did you arrest my brother and our An Jing?" Li Hua's intensity had not faded, but now, she was also slightly confused by the little girl yelling at her.

"THE PERPS WERE CAUGHT DRIVING A DRAGON S6 WITHOUT POSSESSING A LICENSE, MA'AM. OFFICER LENG RUO THEN DETAINED THEM AND PERFORMED INTERROGATION ON THE SUSPECTS, MA'AM. THEN OFFICER LENG RUO CALLED PERP TWO LI WEI'S FAMILY MEMBER, MS. AN MEI, AND ASKED HER TO PRESENT HERSELF FOR QUESTIONING, MA'AM. THE PERPS ARE SUSPECTED TO BE PART OF A LARGER GANG OF CAR THIEVES, MA'AM. OFFICER LENG RUO HOPES TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS CASE AND MAKE SURE THAT JUSTICE IS SERVED, MA'AM." Leng Ruo saluted again after finishing her report.

Despite her best effort, Li Hua could not stop herself from cracking a smile. "Stop saluting me," she said while trying her best not to chuckle.

"YES MA'AM," Leng Ruo yelled and saluted her again.

"Da-jie, this one is too adorable. Can we keep her?" Li Jing asked, making the matriarch smile.

Chief Liang saw the tension break and felt a tiny glimmer of hope that his retirement might not be a complete impossibility. "Madam Li, please forgive my niece; she is a bit stupid," he said, addressing Li Fen with a little more confidence than before. "Your brother, Mr. Li Wei, and his girlfriend, Ms. An Jing, were not arrested, ma'am. They were just kept at the station until a family member could pick them up and take their car away. They are not in the cells, they are sitting in the conference room having tea and snacks. Officer Leng Ruo must have been over enthusiastic while calling you. I apologize for the miscommunication. I will discipline her."

This made all the women, including the girl who was crying, laugh. Chief Liang was bewildered by the reaction and hoped that this was not a prelude to some new catastrophe.

"Station Chief, you gave our brother a girlfriend when his wife is right here," Li Jing said while laughing and pointing at An Mei. "Did you hear that Meimei? Apparently Weiwei has found himself a new girl. Don't worry, sweetie, we will disown our brother and adopt you," she teased.

"Jie, stop," An Mei said, her face finally blooming and lighting up with laughter now that she realized that her husband and sister were in no danger.

"Ohh! I am sorry, ma'am. I didn't... my apologies. I didn't..." Chief Liang mumbled while cursing himself on the inside.

"Perp An Jing is perp Li Wei's sister-in-law sir, perp Li Wei is married to Ms. An Mei, who is also perp An Jing's older sister, sir." Leng Ruo saluted Li Hua after helpfully supplying the information to her uncle.

"Thank you, officer Leng," Chief Liang managed to say. He was just grateful that they were all still laughing, and none of them seemed angry.