On the night on the fifth day, Xiao Luo received a call from the Ren Village police station located in the Guangming district. The caller had informed him to report himself at the branch station at 8 am on the next day. He was to participate in a medical examination and would commence the special training program alongside other recruited police trainees. The special training program would last for half a month, and it would be entirely based on military training. All activities would be carried out at the branch station’s training base, and all trainees would be isolated from all communication with the outside world.
How very troublesome!
Xiao Luo furrowed his brows. Initially, he thought he could assume the role right after the medical examination, but it seemed that he was overthinking.
But it couldn’t be helped. Dealing with the Dragon Gang didn’t mean killing all their members. He would only become the Chinese government’s primary target if he did that. He reminded himself that his goal was to annihilate all of the Dragon Gang’s business.
A night of silence…
Xiao Luo woke up at 5 am, packed his clothes, and embarked on his journey to the Guangming District branch station.
It was already 7 am when he arrived at the branch station. After eating breakfast at a roadside stall, he walked into the police station. In the police station compound, Xiao Luo saw many prospective auxiliary policemen taking part in the medical examination and special training like him. There were both men and women, totaling about 20 people. Upon arrival, they presented their name seals and turned in their communication devices and personal belongings.
Two officers in uniforms were standing on the stage. They looked at their watches from time to time and regularly checked on the number of people who had arrived.
“How many haven’t arrived?”
“One.”
“It’s almost eight, right?”
“Yes, soon.”
“Eliminate that person when the time passes eight o’clock. People without the most basic concept of time aren’t suited to be in the auxiliary police force.”
The two were having a serious conversation, and everyone could hear them clearly. The trainees expressed sympathy for that unlucky person. That person would have gone through a long process before this and was actually going to be disqualified from becoming an auxiliary police officer just because he was late for one minute. He would definitely be so remorseful that his intestines would turn green.
“Bro, where are you from? What’s your name?”
“Hello pretty ladies, did you both come together? What are your names? We’ll become colleagues after this just so you know.”
…
Seizing this opportunity, those with extroverted personalities became active, getting to know everyone by their names.
“Ahe-hem… alright, times up, queue up in two lines, and…”
Once eight o’clock struck, the middle-aged officer with a square jawline raised his voice and shouted but was interrupted by a loud duck-like voice.
“Wait! There’s another one here!”
A man with a round face, average height, chubby cheeks, and enormous ears came rushing in from the station’s entrance wearing a large-sized white shirt and jeans with a bootcut. He was gasping for air and perspiring profusely all over.
Liu Tieguo?!
Xiao Luo was startled. This man was the very same person who sent him to the hospital a few days ago, Liu Tieguo. It seemed that Jiangcheng City was pretty small for the two to have met again so soon. He initially thought of searching for him via his connections to thank him properly. However, it seemed like it wouldn’t now be necessary.
“And you are?”
The officer with a square jawline looked at him from head to toe and asked.
Liu Tieguo saluted him, “Sir, I am Liu Tieguo, an auxiliary reserve policeman who came to attend the medical examination and special training.”
“Is he really a recruit?”
The officer with a square jawline pointed at Liu Tieguo and looked suspiciously at the other officer.
The other officer looked at the name list, then nodded, “His name is on the list.”
With that being said, he took out Liu Tieguo’s resume and passed it to the officer with a square jawline. After the officer with a square jawline compared the photo on Liu Tieguo’s resume with the person standing in front of him, he immediately frowned, “Why does your photo not resemble you at all?”
“Huh? Oh, it is because I was smiling in the photo. It will be the same if I smile.”
Liu Tieguo smiled immediately. His eyes squinted into two lines resembling that of a Maitreya statue.
“But this… it doesn’t feel right either. The man on the photo doesn’t look so mature like you,” the officer with a square jawline remained unconvinced.
Liu Tieguo quickly explained, “I do indeed look older, but my information is absolutely real, especially that photo of me. It is me, 100%. I just beautified myself with MeituPic [1], smoothened my skin, and added a magenta filter to make my appearance fit in better with my real age.”
PFFT~
A girl couldn’t contain her laugher anymore, “Uncle, are you sure that you’re here to become an auxiliary policeman, not a comedian?”
Her sentence instantly tickled everyone and brought on waves of laughter.
Liu Tieguo was annoyed. He had faced the same thing repeatedly, and it really annoyed him a lot. He took out his identity card and said to the crowd seriously, “I am only twenty-two years old. I am not an uncle. I am still a young lad.”
The crowd laughed even louder. Even the officer with a square jawline who had always kept a serious face couldn’t help but chuckle for a moment. He immediately regained his composure afterward and shouted, “Enough, stop laughing. You will all be colleagues in the future. Mocking at your own colleagues isn’t a noble thing to do.”
Liu Tieguo was so touched that he almost teared up. He thought, “They are definitely fine servants of our society! They know what’s right!”
“Liu Tieguo, queue up in line!” the officer with a square jawline shouted at him.
“Yes, sir!”
Liu Tieguo moved to the end of the first queue.
As soon as he got into position, he shrieked in bewilderment. Then, he pulled Xiao Luo’s arm in front of him, “Old brother, why are you here? Wait, how did you get discharged so quickly? You were still being wrapped up like a mummy a few days ago.”
“You know about my elder brother being hospitalized?” Xiao Luo turned around and asked, feigning to be surprised.
“Your elder brother?” Liu Tieguo was confused. He thought, “Are they not the same person?”
“Yea, the one in the hospital is Xiao Nai, my elder brother. I’m Xiao Luo,” Xiao Luo smiled.
Liu Tieguo shook his head resolutely, “That can’t be, he told the cops that he was Xiao Luo the last time around, not Xiao Nai.”
Xiao Luo sighed. He pointed at his head and said whisperingly, “The car accident f*cked up his brain. He doesn’t know how to differentiate his name and my name anymore.”
Oh!
Liu Tieguo nodded in acknowledgement of the explanation. So, they were brothers. That would explain why they look so similar to each other. Then, he asked out of concern, “Is your brother alright?”
“Yea, he’s fine. He was transferred to another hospital in another city. He should be able to recover in less than two months,” said Xiao Luo.
“Ah, that’s great,” Liu Tieguo sighed out of relief.
Xiao Luo reached out his hands, “Hello, Brother Tieguo. My name is Xiao Luo. Turning twenty this year.”
Liu Tieguo seemed like a middle-aged man to Xiao Luo, no matter which angle he looked at him from, so he couldn’t just bring himself call him by his name. Besides, Liu Tieguo had saved his life; it was appropriate for Xiao Luo to address him as ‘brother.’ However, Xiao Luo emphasized that he was 20 to avoid Liu Tieguo from acting like a baby in front of him.
“Nice to meet you,” Liu Tieguo chuckled.
“Oh yeah, Brother Tieguo, how did you know that my brother is in the hospital? Do you know my brother?” Xiao Luo asked.
“Ah, it’s because…”
Liu Tieguo was about to tell him the truth, but then he stopped himself abruptly recalling the phrase “do good deeds without leaving a name.” He therefore put on a sagely look and said, “Buddha said, I mustn’t say anything, hehe…”
Xiao Luo almost lost it and nearly cracked up. He was trying so hard to contain his laughter and his shoulders from shaking.
Footnotes:
[1] MeituPic: An image editing software commonly used in mainland China