Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Catch the Thief!
"She's awake! The old lady is awake!"
Just as the surprised exclamation rang out, everyone in the carriage was startled.
The old grandma's eyes were slowly opening at that moment, and seeing everyone looking at her, she was initially bewildered, then burst into loud sobs once she realized what was happening.
"Wife, you've finally woken up!" The old man's eyes brimmed with tearful excitement, knowing that if something serious had happened to his partner, he would have lost all hope of living on.
"Grandma! Grandma!" Yangyang was extremely happy, repeatedly calling out to his grandma.
"Wife! Quickly! Quickly thank this young man, he saved you!" The old man said to his wife through his tears.
The old lady too understood what had happened. She stopped crying and, overwhelmed with emotion, said to Ye Feng, "Young... young man, I thank you! You're a good person!"
Ye Feng just smiled and nodded to the elderly woman.
"What happened! Which old person fell ill?"
In that moment, two sets of hurried footsteps approached rapidly – it was the young fellow from before and a train police officer.
Officer Yang was very anxious. The thing he feared most on the train was a sudden emergency with a passenger, which could be a life-or-death matter.
When he heard that someone had fainted, he had immediately notified the train conductor and contacted a hospital at the next stop.
But as he had just arrived, he found that nobody was ill, which left him puzzled as he looked around at the passengers.
The old man, seeing the police officer, quickly explained, "This... this leader, just now my wife had a stroke and fainted. But now she has been saved by this young fellow!"
Phew!
Officer Yang let out a sigh of relief and then cast an astonished look at Ye Feng. A stroke was a complicated medical issue. If not treated promptly, the patient could suffer from hemiplegia or even worse, death.
Ye Feng seemed to be only about twenty years old, yet to everyone's surprise, he managed to save an elderly person.
Officer Yang nodded at Ye Feng and then asked the old woman, "Madam, how do you feel now? If you're still not well, we've already contacted the hospital at the next stop; you can go there for treatment!"
"No, no, no!" The old lady shook her head repeatedly and said:
"Thank you for your kind intentions, leader. I feel unusually clear-headed and comfortable now; it's as if the stroke was also cured by this young man!"
What!
On hearing this, all the passengers were stunned.
But the old man knew that his wife had always struggled with a foggy mind due to the illness. Now feeling better, he couldn't believe it...
Overcome with emotion, he looked at Ye Feng with tears in his eyes:
"Young man, I... I thank you!"
At this moment, it wasn't only the two elderly people who were grateful to Ye Feng; all other passengers in the carriage looked at him appreciatively. Fang Qingxue's beautiful eyes sparkled as she watched Ye Feng, while Lai Hongbin, filled with both envy and jealousy, said to the old man:
"You don't have to thank him; he just got lucky like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse! You should hurry and look for the money that was stolen from you. Otherwise, the thief will get away!"
Lai Hongbin's words were sarcastic, but they reminded the old man of what had happened. He quickly recounted the incident to Officer Yang.
"Oh no! My money has been stolen!"
"And mine is gone, too!"
"..."
Many passengers had been so focused on the old lady earlier that they only now realized their own situation. One after another began checking their pockets and cries of shock went up.
So many had lost money!
Officer Yang's face darkened as he counted. At least eight people's pockets had been slit open, and their wallets stolen!
"That damned thief!"
Officer Yang cursed inwardly. The train was about to reach the station, and with so many passengers in the carriage, finding the thief seemed nearly impossible.
Especially upon learning that the old man's family money for medical treatment, a total of ten thousand yuan, had also been stolen, he wished he could find the thief and give him a severe beating.
"Leader... leader, please help us; that was the money for my grandson's life-saving treatment! If it's gone, my grandson..." The old man's voice trembled as he pleaded with the police officer, a look of despair in his eyes.
Officer Yang tried to comfort the old man while inwardly cursing and thinking of what to do.
Just then, he saw Ye Feng, who had just saved a life, walking toward a youth with dyed yellow hair.
"Hand it over!"
Ye Feng looked at the yellow-haired young man with cold eyes. Each trade had its survival rules, and the same applied to thieves. Initially, he didn't intend to intervene, but this guy had even stolen a child's life-saving money, which ignited a flicker of anger in him.
"Hand... hand over what?" The yellow-haired man panicked and responded defensively.
"Hand over the stolen money!" Ye Feng stared directly into the yellow-haired man's eyes, his words startling everyone around him.
What! It was this guy who stole it!
All passengers looked at the yellow-haired man with unfriendly expressions, and Officer Yang also closed in.
With this pressure on him, the yellow-haired man felt a jolt of fear and counterattacked loudly:
"Don't slander me; which eye of yours saw me steal!"
Ye Feng didn't say a word, simply continuing to look at him coldly.
Lai Hongbin, meanwhile, wore a smirk and said to Ye Feng:
"Brother Ye, aren't you overthinking it? If this guy stole the money, why would he foolishly stay here waiting for someone else to catch him?"
The words of Lai Hongbin brought joy to Huang Mao's heart, and the rest of the passengers also looked at Ye Feng with puzzled expressions.
"Exactly! If I had stolen the money, I would have already hidden far away! If you don't believe me, then search me." Huang Mao straightened up his back and looked sinisterly at Ye Feng,
"If you can find it, I'll go to the station with this officer! But, if you can't, I'll smash the mouth of you slandering bastards!"
Seeing this guy so confident, the rest of the passengers also started to hesitate.
Could it be that he really didn't steal it?
"What do you say? Dare to do it?" Huang Mao, noticing the expressions of the crowd, spoke arrogantly.
"Young man, is it really him?" Officer Yang approached and asked Ye Feng.
Ye Feng didn't speak, instead, he turned and walked over to a seat nearby.
There was a middle-aged man sitting on this seat, initially engrossed in watching the drama unfold. Seeing Ye Feng approaching him, he tensed up.
"The money is under the seat!" Ye Feng swept a cold glance at the middle-aged man before turning to Officer Yang.
Upon hearing this, Huang Mao and the middle-aged man's complexions changed drastically.
"Bullshit! How could there be money hidden under my seat!" The middle-aged man glared at Ye Feng with malicious eyes, wishing he could swallow him whole.
Officer Yang was taken aback, but since Ye Feng had just saved the old man, he was more inclined to believe him.
"Stand up! Let me have a look!" Officer Yang barked at the middle-aged man, then bent down to look under the seat.
Seeing this scene, Huang Mao and the middle-aged man's faces turned as gloomy as water. However, upon noticing the train entering the station and slowly coming to a stop, they exchanged a glance and a ruthless look crossed both their faces.
"Die!"
In an instant, Huang Mao and the middle-aged man burst into action, with Huang Mao pulling out a switchblade lunging for Ye Feng's back. At the same time, the middle-aged man took out a dagger, aiming for Officer Yang's neck.
Cries of alarm rose from the surrounding passengers who hastily retreated. They hadn't expected these two men to actually be thieves, desperate enough to lash out like cornered dogs.
"Brother Ye, be careful!" Fang Qingxue shouted as she saw Huang Mao's switchblade about to stab Ye Feng.
But everyone knew it was too late, with the thieves catching Ye Feng and Officer Yang off guard, it seemed they were doomed.
Many passengers couldn't bear to watch, but after a while, they heard no screams of agony, prompting them to look again.
They saw Huang Mao and the middle-aged man's knives already thrusting down, but their arms were tightly grasped by someone, unable to break free no matter how much they struggled.
"Brother Ye!" Fang Qingxue's heart pounded as she saw Ye Feng coldly gripping both men's arms — it had been so dangerous.
"You little shit! Die!"
Huang Mao and his companion loathed Ye Feng, and in their rage, they aimed a vicious kick at him. But as soon as they lifted their feet, they felt intense pain in their arms, followed by the sound of two sharp snaps.
"Ah..."
Their arms broke cleanly, like matchsticks in Ye Feng's grip.
At this moment, Officer Yang also came to his senses, and upon seeing the dagger in the middle-aged man's hand, he jumped with fright, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
"Bastard!"
Officer Yang instantly knocked the weapons from their hands, handcuffed the two men, and finally heaved a sigh of relief.
Sensing the commotion and screams, another train conductor quickly arrived on the scene.
"Xiao Zhang, come quickly, we've caught two thieves. They even dared to attack an officer with a knife!" Officer Yang, still wiping off his sweat, called over the other conductor.
Officer Yang and the other conductor came over and gave Huang Mao and the middle-aged man a fierce kicking, making sure they had no strength left to resist, before they relaxed.
"Young man, you've had training before, haven't you?" Officer Yang was shocked to see the thieves' arms brutally broken. Especially since Ye Feng had just saved his life, his gratitude was immense.
It wasn't just him; the other passengers also looked at Ye Feng with admiration— without him, they would have never caught the thieves.
"Just some farmer's strength!" Ye Feng simply smiled faintly and said no more.
Officer Yang excitedly patted Ye Feng's back before picking up a net bag from under the seat. This net bag had been tied to the bottom of the seat, difficult to spot.
Seeing their own wallets within the net bag, everyone on the train was ecstatic, each taking turns to come forward and express their gratitude to Ye Feng.
When those two older individuals retrieved their lost ten thousand yuan, tears of joy filled their eyes. The feeling of hope restored from the depths of despair made them incredibly thankful to Ye Feng.
"Young man! We thank you!"
The elderly repeated their thanks several times, each more heartfelt than the last.
"Big brother, you're awesome! When Yangyang gets better, I want to be a good person just like you!"
Every boy harbors a hero complex, and Yangyang, despite his illness, was no exception. To him, Ye Feng had become the embodiment of a hero, and he admired him greatly.
"Brother Ye, you're so amazing!" Fang Qingxue's delicate face flushed slightly as she looked at Ye Feng with eyes full of wonder.
And Lai Hongbin's face grew even more sullen, never having expected Ye Feng to subdue the thieves so effortlessly. Moreover, seeing Fang Qingxue's heated gaze towards Ye Feng filled him with both jealousy and resentment.
In the face of everyone's admiration, Ye Feng simply smiled faintly and nodded to the crowd.
"Young man, my name is Yang Huaiming, and I'm a train conductor on this train. Thank you for your help this time. If there's anything you need, just come and call me!" Officer Yang nodded to Ye Feng and then left with another conductor, escorting the two thieves away.
After watching Officer Yang leave, Ye Feng's gaze returned to the boy named Yangyang:
"Yangyang, let your big brother take a look at your injury!"