Today, I’ve finally broken my streak of bad luck!
Perhaps Yan Fei’s prayer had really worked. As the bus tremblingly came to a stop at some location, among the people boarding from below, there were five to six men who were clearly a gang. This instantly perked Yan Fei up.
The oldest among these men appeared to be in his thirties or forties, the rest were all in their twenties. Their behavior on the bus did not disappoint Yan Fei, their eyes were different from the others.
Normal people boarding the bus would definitely scan the carriage first. Looking for available seats and seeing where they were located to quickly snatch one is quite normal.
These individuals did the same, but their gaze was not looking for empty seats, it was clearly different. First, they swept over the bus, eyeing the passengers, then specifically stared at several male passengers, seemingly oblivious to the obvious empty seats.
It was only after this that they casually mentioned an address and handed out the bus fare.
Of course, this wasn’t because Yan Fei was now seasoned. Importantly, before the bus stopped, the staff had repeatedly reminded the passengers to keep an eye on their bags and wallets to prevent theft.
Seeing the pickpockets board the bus lifted Yan Fei’s spirits and he didn’t get hung up about those people who, knowing there were pickpockets, still chose to board. He started to meticulously observe how these pickpockets operated, under the cover of his straw hat.
Indeed, he intended to keep a low profile. He had no intention of halting this theft just yet, instead choosing to catch these pickpockets after getting off the bus later.
However, he had also decided that if the bus passengers showed resistance and were in danger, he would definitely not stand by and watch. If all of the passengers on this bus allowed these pickpockets to steal without protest, then they deserved to lose their possessions.
Disappointingly for Yan Fei, he was ready to intervene at any time, but the passengers never gave him the opportunity to do so.
These thieves seemed to have a code, contrary to what he had heard before. They didn’t reveal their blades or attempt to frisk anyone. Instead, they were just rummaging around the baggage rack, in quite a covert manner.
First, someone stood in the aisle, blocking the view of those sitting, while their confederate subtly searched through the baggage on the rack.
It was likely that they had rifled through other people’s belongings before since their movements were very practiced. Once their hand went into a bag, it would first feel the corners or check the inner and outer small pockets of some suitcases. It all seemed very experienced.
There must have been people on the bus who saw this, but this group acted in concert. Whenever they noticed somebody watching them, they would immediately halt their operations with a menacing glance, stopping those that saw them from speaking out. As a result, those who spotted the pickpockets pretended not to see anything, even when they were directly targeted, some simply pretended to be asleep.
Once they finished rummaging through both rows of the baggage rack, they didn’t seem to have gotten much. Yan Fei initially thought they would pull off some additional trick! Instead, he watched as they walked straight to the bus driver and got off.
Yan Fei immediately stood up, holding his wooden stick and rope, tucked the pile of newspapers under his arm, and quickly walked up front.
Even when he was getting off the bus, he kept his head low. He originally planned to follow the pickpockets in the same direction after getting off. But seeing the thieves turn them around to walk across the street as soon as they got off, forced him to change his plans.
He simply followed behind them, looking around as if pretending to search for someone who was supposed to pick him up.
The pickpockets gave him extra glances. It was a desolate place, no village ahead or market behind. They wondered if he had got off at the wrong stop.
In the blink of an eye, the bus was already moving again. As soon as the bus left, Yan Fei, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, showed his true colors: "Hey, you guys, come here..."
The pickpockets were momentarily stunned, then the leader, a middle-aged man, smiled at Yan Fei: "Young brother, where are you going? You didn’t get off at the wrong place, did you? The nearby villages are quite far away!"
Yan Fei said straightforwardly: "No mistake, I’m looking for you pickpockets. This road will no longer tolerate thieves from now on. I’m telling you in advance, to spare you from forgetting once you’ve been beaten."
Five or six people with a dozen eyes, all gawkily stared at the seemingly young peasant in front of them.
As they watched him pull the grass rope and pile of newspapers off the stick and throw them on the ground, one of the quick-reacting young men cursed, "Who is this? A crazy man? What’s wrong with him..."
But there was no need for words, Yan Fei picked up his stick and came at them. Swinging the stick with one hand and kicking them to the ground with the other, preventing them from escaping. He started to beat them up indiscriminately.
"Damn it ... Ouch..."
"Brother, let’s talk it out, don’t hit, don’t hit, Ouch..."
There was cursing, shrieking, and the last one who tried to escape also got knocked to the ground by Yan Fei after a few quick steps.
He didn’t hit very hard, none of them had any broken bones, just flesh wounds. But Yan Fei was swift with his stick. In just a moment, none of them could fight back. Who knew how many times each of them had been hit!
It wasn’t until each of them was swollen and bruised that they stopped shouting and pleading. Only then, did he stop.
A few cars passed along the road during the beating. However, no one dared to stop in such a remote place for fear of a brawl. At most, they would slow down slightly to take a few more glances before speeding off.
After he finished beating up the men, Yan Fei ran to pick up the bundle of grass ropes. He picked up a pickpocket and propped him against the tree by the road, making the thief look at the tree with his hands tied behind it. After binding one, he tore off the remaining grass rope and moved on to the next.
"Brother, let’s talk it out, at least let us know why we were beaten!"
"Kid, if you have guts, untie me, attacking someone unprepared doesn’t make you a hero. Dare to face me one-on-one..."
As none of them were seriously injured, they had the energy to talk now that Yan Fei was tying them to the trees.
Yan Fei was always good at ignoring words that fell on deaf ears. He finished binding them all without saying a word, and then unfolded the bundle of newspapers.
Inside was a roll of white paper filled with calligraphy. The dog-crawling-like handwriting was scribbled randomly when he did not formally start practicing calligraphy last night.
He stuck each piece of paper with "I am a thief" "I am a robber" in large characters on the chests of these people, using several wooden spikes to fasten them to their clothes. Of course, in the process, he ignored their pleas and curses.
Looking at the big characters saying "I am a thief" "I am a robber", Yan Fei nodded in satisfaction. Then he said, "Remember what I said: this road won’t tolerate thieves anymore. I will be coming here frequently."
Then he picked up his stick again.
The gang, who were going to say something, immediately silenced when they saw him pick up his stick. They heard him say, "One last hit. Bear with it, each of you. After hitting you all, I will leave."
Indeed, it was one blow per person, one blow on each person’s arm. The force was much sterner than before. When it came to the last, a fairly friendly thief who had asked if he had got off at the wrong place, the stick broke with one blow.
True to his word, he left after hitting them. After finishing, he didn’t even look back, threw half of the stick left in his hand into the roadside ditch. Without even turning his head, he directly jumped onto the ridge of the field on the opposite side of the ditch, running into the depths of the field.