Black Flag Army

Di Xiong said, "I didn't realize you were such a loyal person. It seems that Boss Zhu made the right choice by making you the shopkeeper. You can continue to be the shopkeeper here. I will double your salary."

Di Xiong proposed to Wei Sao that he would pay the overdue wages, but Wei Sao refused. She insisted on paying off the debt before leaving, and even forced two silver dollars into the hands of Wu, the shopkeeper. Di Xiong learned about the situation of several people in the store from Wu, the shopkeeper: the fat cook's surname was Bao, and because he was fat, his nickname was "Rou Baozi"; the waiter Ma Gan's surname was Du, and he was only sixteen years old, so his nickname was "Du Ma Gan"; another one was two years older, surnamed Zhang, and because of his dark face, his nickname was "Zhang Hei Lian"; Wu, the shopkeeper, was in his forties, and his name was Wu Zhong. Di Xiong took out another ten silver dollars and gave them to Wu Zhong, asking him to arrange for the waiter to buy a batch of new tables and chairs, window paper, vegetables, and meat, and to clean the store in preparation for reopening tomorrow. He also announced that he would give the waiters and cooks processing money. After arranging all this, he took Bai Xiuling away from the restaurant.

Zhang Heimian watched Di Xiong leave, then turned around and asked Shopkeeper Wu, "Is there something wrong with this new boss? He's giving us a raise even though business is so bad, how can he make money?"

Du Ma Gan said, "He can't find any help right now, so he gave us a raise to keep us here. Do you think we can get that much money for a long time?"

Shopkeeper Wu said, "Don't worry. I can see that Mr. Di is a smart man. The restaurant may become prosperous under his management."

The big iron gate of the Xicheng Police Station was covered with red rust. If it weren't for the white sign "Beijing Police Station Xicheng Branch" hanging next to the door, passers-by would almost mistake it for an abandoned building. Patrolman Li Fei was reading a newspaper in the duty room when he saw Di Xiong walking in with a beautiful girl. He quickly greeted him, "Mr. Di, are you here for work? Did you bring your girlfriend with you? She's so beautiful!"

The status of a detective in the police station is higher than that of a patrolman. When a patrolman sees a detective, he is very polite and takes the initiative to say hello, even if it is Di Xiong who is called "Di the Fool".

Di Xiong smiled and said, "Brother Li, you came really early. She is indeed very beautiful, but it's a pity that she is not my girlfriend."

It was already past ten in the morning, but the detective room was actually empty. Di Xiong was the first detective to come to work. Bai Xiuling was led by Di Xiong to sit on a chair. Di Xiong sat behind a desk, took out a pen and paper from the drawer, and began to interrogate her.

In fact, Di Xiong knew the whole process of Bai Xiuling's crime. There was nothing to ask, so he just wrote down the whole process. The only question was who the scarred burly man and the red-faced boy were.

Bai Xiuling said, "The scarred man is one of the four bosses of the Flying Eagle Gang: Fourth Master Fei Bao. As for the red-faced young man in the cap you mentioned, I don't know him at all. He might be a passerby who took action when he saw injustice."

Di Xiong sighed and said, "Even now, you still refuse to tell me the truth. Do you think I dare not torture you? How about this! I will send you to the detention center first. You think it over carefully in there, and I will interrogate you tomorrow."

When Bai Xiuling heard that she was going to be sent to the detention center, she was terrified. She quickly knelt down and begged, "Please don't send me to the detention center. I told you everything. The red-faced boy is called Wu Chunlei. He is just a small soldier of the Flying Eagle Gang. Why are you making things difficult for him?"

Di Xiong said, "Even if you tell me, I will still send you to the detention center. You should be sent to prison for three years for theft and resisting arrest. But since you are so young and pitiful, at most eighteen years old, I will be a good person and only detain you for fifteen days. I won't write that you resisted arrest in the case file."

Seeing that begging for mercy was useless, Bai Xiuling closed her eyes in despair, and two lines of tears flowed down her fair face. She murmured, "After fifteen days, I'm afraid there won't be even a bone left."

The director of the detention center of Xicheng Police Station was named Liang. Because he had pockmarks all over his face, his nickname was "Liang Mazi". When Liang Mazi saw Di Xiong bringing in a beautiful female prisoner, his eyes lit up and his pockmarked face turned red with excitement. Because of his excitement, he dropped the registration book twice when he was doing the receiving procedures. Di Xiong noticed that the guards in the detention center were all men, and there were no women, so he asked the reason.

Liang Mazi replied impatiently: "There is a vacancy for a female guard in the prison, and a man will take its place. Just send the prisoner here, why are you talking so much nonsense?"

As soon as Di Xiong left, Liang Mazi couldn't wait to drag Bai Xiuling into the director's office, laid her flat on her back on the desk, spread her body into a big letter shape, and began to strip her clothes. The other two guards squeezed in, and one of them laughed and said, "Liang Mazi! If your brother eats meat, you should give us some soup!"

Liang Mazi cursed: "Damn it, I haven't eaten the meat yet, you guys get out first, wait until I'm done eating, then you can come in and have some soup!"

After the two guards were driven out, they were soon called in by Liang Mazi. Because Bai Xiuling resisted fiercely and scratched his face, he ordered two of his men to hold down Bai Xiuling's limbs so that she could not move. Then he freed his hands and tore Bai Xiuling's clothes, then peeled them off. Her fair and smooth body was revealed little by little. The three guards drooled at the sight, and no one noticed that another person had pushed the door in.

When Liang Mazi was taking off his pants, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and his eyes went dark, and he lost consciousness. The other two guards also didn't see who was coming, and they were knocked unconscious.

Bai Xiuling, who had closed her eyes and left everything to fate, felt her limbs loosen up. She opened her eyes and saw that the only person standing in front of her was Di Xiong. She was surprised and happy, but then she felt wronged and said with tears streaming down her face, "Why did you come just now? Look! It's all because of you. They stripped me of all my clothes. How can I face people?"

She did not blame the three guards, but took her anger out on Di Xiong. This was not surprising. Women would only act like spoiled brats when facing their relatives. Subconsciously, Bai Xiuling had already regarded him as someone close to her.

Di Xiong apologized honestly: "I'm sorry! I didn't know they were animals. Put on your clothes quickly! Otherwise you will catch a cold. The weather is too cold."

Bai Xiuling said angrily: "My clothes are all torn, how can I wear them?"

Di Xiong smiled bitterly and said, "What should we do now?"

Bai Xiuling actually sobbed and said, "This is your business, I don't care!"

Di Xiong had no choice but to take off his coat, wrap up the naked girl, and carry her in his arms out of the detention center. Bai Xiuling was like a docile kitten, lying motionless in his arms. Di Xiong called a rickshaw, got on it and went straight home.

In the rickshaw, Bai Xiuling asked softly, "How did you think of turning back to save me?"

Di Xiong said, "When I suggested sending you to the detention center, you looked desperate, as if you knew you were going to meet with misfortune. Director Liang also looked confused. When I left the detention center, I felt uneasy, so I turned back through the gap in the backyard."

Bai Xiuling said, "Liang Mazi is a well-known gangster. The West City Detention Center is known as the 'gangster detention center'. Many female prisoners have been tortured to death here. You must be new here. You don't know that he is the brother-in-law of Director Huang of the West City Branch."

When Di Xiong heard that Liang Mazi, who he knocked unconscious, was the police chief's brother-in-law, he did not show any surprise.

When the gray-haired Di Fu saw Di Xiong carrying a girl home, he couldn't help but sigh, thinking that Di Xiong's old habit had come back. In the past, the young master Di Xiong often brought prostitutes home, gambled and whored, and ended up spending all his family's wealth. After a serious illness, he changed a lot. He stopped eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, and liked to read books and practice boxing every morning. Di Fu thought he had changed his ways and learned to be a good person, but who knew that in less than two months, he brought home another girl. "She is so charming, I can tell at a glance that she is not a decent woman," Di Fu thought. However, when Di Xiong gave him five silver dollars and asked him to buy two sets of women's clothes, he still agreed honestly. As an old servant of the Di family, he always obeyed his master's requests.

Di Xiong put Bai Xiuling on the bed, covered her with a quilt, and took ointment and gauze to re-bandage her wound. During the fight in the detention center just now, the wound was torn and some blood was shed.

Di Xiong said: "You have lost too much blood, you need chicken soup to replenish your blood."

Di Xiong personally went to the kitchen to simmer a pot of chicken soup. It took him two hours to serve a bowl of fragrant chicken soup and handed it to Bai Xiuling. Bai Xiuling had already put on the clothes that Di Fu bought. After drinking it, she excitedly shouted: "It's so delicious. I have never tasted such delicious soup. I didn't expect you to be a famous chef. The person who will be your wife in the future will definitely be very happy."

"Can you tell me how many people are there in your Flying Eagle Gang? Who is the gang leader?" Di Xiong asked.

Bai Xiuling said, "The Flying Eagle Gang is just a third-rate gang in the capital, with 25 or 26 members. The gang leader is Zhang Zongqi, and we all call him Boss Zhang. He, Mr. Qian Er, Mr. Lu San, and Mr. Fei Si are all elders. The rest of us are just pawns like me. Most of the pawns were kidnapped, and some were originally beggars. Boss Zhang set a task for us pawns: we must steal more than ten silver dollars a day, otherwise we will not be given food and will be beaten. The money we stole was used by the elders to eat, drink, gamble, and squander. We can only eat leftovers, wear tattered clothes, and sleep on broken beds. Every year, several pawns die of hunger and cold. In order to prevent us from embezzling money and property, an elder follows us every time we work."

Di Xiong asked, "Have you ever thought about escaping? Or using other methods to get rid of them?"

Bai Xiuling said, "Two soldiers escaped before, but were caught and beaten to death. A soldier named Lan Jinping reported to the police, but the police were in cahoots with Boss Zhang, so they handed her over to Boss Zhang and beat her half to death. Boss Zhang also sold her to a brothel."

Di Xiong said, "It seems that you were also forced to become a thief. To completely get rid of the Flying Eagle Gang, you have to kill Zhang Zongqi and the other four. Where is the lair of the Flying Eagle Gang?"

Bai Xiuling said, "It's in a local temple in Huangdian Village outside of Jingxi City. Be careful of Boss Zhang, he has a gun."

Di Xiong said: "I will go to Huangdian Village in a few days to settle this matter."