185 Are You His Father? (1/2)
Lei Feng?
Xiao Luo looked at the man from top to bottom. He was much chubbier than Zhang Dashan. There were evident signs of aging on his skin, especially the three conspicuous lines of wrinkles on his forehead. He put the man's age at around 45 years. Putting aside his thoughts, he quickly expressed his gratitude, ”Thank you, old brother!”
Addressing him as 'Old Brother' was common courtesy, but little did he expect the reaction, when the man heard him. He flew into a rage and said, ”What old brother? You are the old brother! Your whole family is an old brother! Let me ask you how old are you?”
Xiao Luo was confused. After some thought, he replied, ”Twenty-six.”
”You're twenty-six? I'm just twenty-two.”
”You're twenty-two?”
Xiao Luo consciously kept his eyes from opening wide in surprise. He could not believe that this man, with the appearance of a middle-aged man in his forties, was still this young.
”You don't believe me?”
The man fumbled for his identity card, and finally, getting it out from the inner pocket of his shirt, held it in front of Xiao Luo's eyes, ”See for yourself, am I twenty-two?”
Xiao Luo got a good look at his identity card. He was really twenty-two! He also had rather bumpkin-ish, yet down to earth name: Liu Tieguo. [1]
”See it now? Don't just simply call someone' old brother'. You are four years older than me. I should be the one calling you old brother,” Liu Tieguo said with a snort of contempt., keeping his ID back in his pocket.
Xiao Luo was unsure whether to cry or laugh. When he looked at Liu Tieguo's overly mature appearance, he had to doubt whether his birth date was altered 20 years forward when he applied for his ID.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A nurse appeared at the door, followed by two police officers alongside her.
”The one on the bed is the car owner that was sent to our hospital after the car crash last night,” the nurse introduced to the cops.
The cops nodded, then stepped towards the bed. The male officer saluted Xiao Luo, ”Good day, sir. Are you the owner of the car, C0019, Zhang Dashan?”
”No. I'm his friend,” Xiao Luo answered honestly.
The other female cop hurriedly recorded the information.
The male cop asked again, ”What is your name?”
”Xiao Luo.”
”Can you still remember what happened yesterday?”
...
The two cops asked more than 10 questions consecutively. The scene of the car crash last night was at the blind spot of the surveillance cameras. They were unable to observe the entire incident through surveillance footage; hence, they could only question the people involved. Besides, based on their preliminary deduction, this car crash wasn't as simple as it looked. The truck that opened up its throttle from the incident yesterday was reported as scrap one year ago. Someone had deliberately fixed it to be used in the accident.
”Thank you for cooperating with us.” The two police officers once again saluted Xiao Luo.
”My friend, I heard you said that the car accident last night was premeditated. What in the name of Heavens is going on?” Liu Tieguo asked curiously.
”It's nothing. Don't ponder on it. We'll investigate it thoroughly,” the male cop said.
The other female cop echoed with a gentle smile, ”Rest assured. We will definitely arrest the wrongdoers. Are you his father? Uncle, your son, is already past twenty, but you still look so young. You are really blessed.”
As a woman, she was naturally better than the opposite gender when it came to comforting words. She was smiling pleasantly, and her words of comfort were from the depths of her heart. However, for Liu Tieguo, this wasn't comforting at all, this was blatant humiliation.
Liu Tieguo was once again piqued, ”What blessed! You are the one who is blessed! Your whole family is blessed! Since when did I have such an old son? Maybe you can make one for me!” As he continued, he again took out his ID to show it to the female cop, ”Look clearly, I'm only 22, don't think that you can just simply call other people uncle because you are a cop. You are humiliating me as a person, you know?”