“Those beautiful women we see walking down the street—do you know what most of their boyfriends look like? Ugly as sin,” Fang Chao said with a laugh, turning to Liu Zhi. “It’s because everyone has this misconception. They see a beautiful woman and think, ‘She’s so pretty, she must have a boyfriend already, and he must be outstanding,’ so they don’t dare pursue her. Instead, it’s those losers who have no shame, who go all out chasing beautiful women, and in the end, beautiful women paired with losers becomes the norm. I figured this out long ago and put it into practice early on, only to discover that knowing the principle doesn’t actually help much. So I decided to make money—lots of money. When you have money, beautiful women naturally come to you. That’s my biggest motivation for doing this line of work!”
Liu Zhi clenched his fists tightly. “That’s absolutely right.”
“You want to find a woman too?”
Liu Zhi lowered his head somewhat bashfully.
Fang Chao burst out laughing. “What kind are you looking for?”
“After I finish this job and make a fortune, I’ll find one who… well, is beautiful, pure yet sexy, gentle, won’t lose her temper with me, and obeys my every word.”
“So basically you want to find a prostitute?”
“I—”
Fang Chao patted his shoulder. “Your thinking is spot on too. As the old saying goes, being wealthy and not visiting brothels is like wearing fine clothes at night. After we pull off this big score, we’ll go find them together!”
Fang Chao and Liu Zhi sat together in the back seats of the car, enthusiastically discussing their respective ambitions and painting pictures of the wonderful life awaiting them after completing this job.
This time, both men had disguised their faces and were dressed only in clean, practical athletic leisure clothing. They kept their heads low, leaning diagonally against the lower part of the seats, their gazes fixed firmly on the main entrance of a residential complex across the street. If passersby walked past the car without bending down to look carefully inside, they would never discover the two men hiding in the back seat.
This location was about two kilometers north of the city government. There was a lake nearby, surrounded by several residential complexes, mostly low-density housing—a location that could truly be described as peaceful within the bustle.
On the wide road outside one of these complexes, one side had parking spaces marked with white lines. At midday, traffic on the road was sparse. Among the scattered vehicles in the parking spaces, Fang Chao’s long-discontinued Xiali car was quietly lurking.
Before long, a chubby man in his forties rode an old Phoenix-brand bicycle out through the pedestrian passage of the complex’s main gate. He wore a pair of meticulous black-framed glasses and a typical old cadre-style black jacket, with a nine-to-one parted hairstyle that concealed the barrenness of his crown. He pedaled leisurely and contentedly, each rotation of the gears producing a clicking sound that he seemed completely oblivious to, maintaining his consistent unhurried pace.
As he passed by the discontinued Xiali car, the fat man’s phone rang. He dismounted and pushed the bicycle forward with one hand while fishing out a phone from his pocket with the other—a flip phone with physical buttons, rarely seen nowadays. He pressed it to his ear. “Hello, oh, yes, it’s me. Courier, please just leave the package with the security guard, thank you.”
He politely hung up the phone and remounted the bicycle.
Fang Chao stared intently at him as he departed, saying in a low voice, “He’s the target!”
Liu Zhi looked incredulously at the fat old cadre’s retreating figure, his eyes widening. “This is the San Jiang Kou mega-corrupt official you said you went through a thousand hardships to identify?”
“You don’t believe me?” Fang Chao snorted and rolled his eyes at him.
“I—” Liu Zhi swallowed a bellyful of profanity. This was 2017, and someone was still riding such a broken bicycle, couldn’t even afford an electric scooter! Still using a flip phone with buttons! Living such a pitiful life—could a mega-corrupt official really look like this pathetic creature?
Fang Chao shook his head and laughed. “You’re too inexperienced, can’t see through the disguises of demons and monsters. Let me teach you—you need to learn to see the essence through the phenomenon!
“Don’t be fooled by his bicycle riding. As far as I know, the fat man’s name is Fang Yong, and he’s the director of the Management Committee of the Eastern New City—basically the boss of the Eastern New City. The Eastern New City claims to be recreating another San Jiang Kou. This fat man’s rank is on par with the mayor of San Jiang Kou. He has an apartment in this complex, and I checked the housing prices—properties here cost at least three million yuan.”
Liu Zhi said dismissively, “What’s so remarkable about that? I have a relative who just became a civil servant, and his various income sources add up to over a hundred thousand a year. Someone at his level must make several hundred thousand, right? Getting a mortgage for a three million yuan apartment is completely normal. If he bought the property a few years ago, half that amount would have been enough.”
Seeing his disbelief, Fang Chao snorted coldly. “Then let me ask you, nowadays ordinary civil servants all have cars, yet someone at his level commutes to work on a broken bicycle—is that also normal?”
“The fat man rides his bike to lose weight.”
Fang Chao pursed his lips and opened his phone. His photo album contained many pictures of Fang Yong riding his bicycle, all taken by reporters during past interviews.
“These are news reports about this fat man from over the years that I found. In every single photo, he’s riding a broken bicycle. After all these years, why hasn’t he replaced it with a new one?”
“Consumer habits. He’s used to old things and doesn’t want to change. Look, I’ve been wearing these underwear for no less than five years, and they’re still perfectly wearable.”
“Don’t show me your underwear!” Fang Chao jabbed his finger forcefully at the phone. “Open your eyes wide and look carefully. In these news photos, is he riding the same bicycle?”
Liu Zhi compared them for a moment. “Doesn’t seem to be the same one.”
“Over these years, he’s replaced at least three different bicycles!”
“If a bike breaks down, replacing it is no problem. Three broken bicycles don’t cost much.”
“The issue is, why does he replace them with broken bikes every time, and where does he find three Phoenix bikes from decades ago!”
Liu Zhi was stunned. After a few seconds, he slowly revealed an expression of sudden realization.
“He always rides a bicycle, always a broken bicycle. Even when the bike breaks down, he replaces it with another broken one! An ordinary corrupt official wouldn’t need to disguise themselves to this extent. Therefore, this fat man is not only a corrupt official, but definitely a mega-corrupt one!” Fang Chao confidently drew his conclusion. “Over the past few days, hiding in a nearby tall building, I’ve already identified the fat man’s residence. He goes home every day at noon to nap, then returns to work in the afternoon. He’s left home now and won’t return for another four hours. So we’ll go in now and, within these few hours, move out all the valuable items in his home! When this mega-corrupt official comes home from work and sees everything, he’ll definitely be dumbstruck and won’t dare report it to the police. Haha, it’s perfect!” Fang Chao laughed triumphantly, utterly captivated by his own plan.
Liu Zhi thought for a few seconds and also felt it was good, with only one concern. “During the day, are there other people in his home?”
Fang Chao said disdainfully, “Based on several days of observation, there shouldn’t be anyone, though it’s hard to say for sure. But even if there is someone, so what? The two of us can easily subdue them.” He had a gun, and combined with their physical skills, he wasn’t worried at all about whether there were people in the house.
Liu Zhi nodded. Just as he was about to gather his things and get to work, he glanced once more at the complex entrance. Imposing security guards stood at the entrance of this upscale complex, and not far away stood an advertising sign: “Veteran Security Guards, Giving You the Most Reassuring Service. —Angel Property Management.” He paused in his work, becoming more hesitant. “How about… we wait until midnight to take action?”
“Why wait until midnight? Fang Yong is out now—isn’t this the best opportunity!”
“But in broad daylight, if there happens to be someone in the house and we act directly, I’m afraid the commotion might be too big and alert the neighbors. The security guards in this complex are veterans, and I’m worried…” Liu Zhi had served in the military himself. During his service, he was always bullied by other veterans, which left him with psychological trauma.
“What’s there to fear about veterans?” Fang Chao was quite dismissive. “Do you know Warren Buffett?”
“The stock god? Did he also commit robbery?”
“He committed grand robbery, robbing thousands upon thousands of people. He summarized a piece of robbery wisdom: Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful. Think about it—how many people dare to commit home invasion robbery in broad daylight? Others don’t dare, so it’s our turn to be greedy!—Stop talking nonsense and get moving!”
Fang Chao and Liu Zhi had specifically chosen the home of the “Hai Rui of San Jiang Kou.” What could they possibly discover?