“Woah, these are exquisite! Papa, are they really mine?” Bai Wu asked happily as he admired the clothes he tried on.

“Of course, let’s see if they’re a good fit.”

Xu Lan smiled after realizing how easy it was to keep a child happy. He had been putting this off for quite some time. Fortunately, he found some time and managed to bring him here. Things were going to get busier from there on.

“Should we buy something bigger?”

Xu Lan recalled the past incident and found the white shirt to be incongruous with the body of an eleven-year-old.

“… Eh? I won’t be able to wear them for now?” Bai Wu was unhappy after hearing the man’s question. He had zero recollection of the incident that day.

“Don’t worry, we can keep them for now.” Xu Lan smiled and picked out two random sets of clothing.

“Bam!”

A big truck and a sedan collided head-on! This happened at the road right in front of the mall.

“It’s an accident, call the police!”

“Call one-twenty now!” All the passers-by chimed in yet no one approached to help.

Xu Lan rushed toward the crowd and saw Li Kui trying to escape from the truck.

“Freeze!” Xu Lan shouted as he approached Li Kui.

“Scram!” The stench of alcohol was hard to ignore, Li Kui opened his eyes groggily. Once he noticed Xu Lan’s presence, he immediately stabilized his stance and greeted, “Xu… Sergeant Xu!”

“Driving under the influence of intoxicants and injuring other road users in the process? You miss being detained at the police station, don’t you?” Xu Lan glared at him angrily before approaching the sedan to check on the other driver.

“Papa, isn’t this Officer Li’s car?” Bai Wu was observant and pointed this out immediately.

Initially, Xu Lan thought the car looked familiar but he did not think too much about it as Li Xiu was still in the hospital. After the child pointed it out, he confirmed that it was indeed Li Xiu’s car! The truck made a sudden sharp turn and collided into the right side of the car, causing a serious dent at the front.

Xu Lan’s heart fell and he peeked into the window immediately.

“Anyone called the ambulance yet?” he asked.

“Yes, already did!” a voice shouted from the crowd.

“Li Xiu! Li Xiu! Can you hear me? Wake up! Lao Liu! Lao Liu! Are you okay?” Xu Lan did not have time to consider his options. After tying Li Kui up with his own belt, he tried to force his way in through the window.

As Li Xiu was seated at the back, he was not smashed to a pulp. However, his forehead was bleeding profusely and he was trapped between two seats. Lao Liu had it worse. His face was enveloped within the airbag. The car was in bad shape and there was not even space for a single person.

“Everyone, please come over and help! Let’s try to break the glass, else the person trapped in the airbag will die of asphyxiation,” Xu Lan said worriedly.

A few helpful bystanders stepped forward to help and others followed suit. Shortly after, traffic police arrived at the scene to remove the car and dispersed the crowd. Li Xiu and Lao Liu were sent to the hospital by an ambulance.

After instructing for Li Kui to be brought to the police station, Xu Lan went to the hospital.

“How did it go? Is Officer Li okay?” Hu Cheng ran over and asked Xu Lan. He was out of breath.

Xu Lan sat Hu Cheng down and offered him a bottle of water. Xu Lan replied worriedly, “He’s still being operated on. I’m not sure what’s happening now.”

“Ah! What is going on!” Hu Cheng sat next to Xu Lan and yelped anxiously.

“Let’s remain hopeful, remain hopeful,” Xu Lan consoled Hu Chang and sighed. Bai Wu sat beside him quietly.

‘Ding!’ The lights at the operating theatre went off. Xu Lan approached immediately.

“Doctor, how’s the patient?”

“Doctor, how’s he doing?” Hu Cheng, too, cornered the doctor and asked worriedly.

The doctor removed his mask and forced a smile in an attempt to make them feel better. Xu Lan and Hu Cheng’s heart fell after seeing the doctor’s strained smile. They wondered how bad must the situation be?

“The operation is successful. If he wakes up by tomorrow morning, he should be fine. However, we need to run a few tests to make sure that there are no other injuries,” said the exhausted doctor.

Both of them let out a long sigh and offered their gratitude to the doctor immediately.

“You’re welcome.” The doctor leaned on the nurse as they made their way to the lounge.

The trio were the only ones in the empty hallway.

“Did you say the culprit was Li Kui, the father of the Jingxinyuan victim?” Hu Cheng asked in confusion.

“Yes, he was under the influence of alcohol. He reeked of alcohol when I found him.” Nodded Xu Lan.

“Was it just an accident or was it premeditated?”

“… I’ve no idea,” Xu Lan replied after taking a moment to consider his answer. He did not have the time to examine the connection between these two yet.

Li Xiu was sent to the ward. His head was wrapped up in gauze and his hand was in plaster cast.

“Isn’t there another person? Where is he?” Hu Cheng asked.

“That would be the driver. He might still be in the operating theatre as the injuries he sustained were more serious,” said Xu Lan.

“We’re running out of time. Lao Xu, why don’t you head back first and I’ll get Teacher Wang to take care of him. We mustn’t delay our progress for tomorrow.” Offered Hu Cheng. Teacher Wang was a high school teacher and his lover.

“Uhh… I think I’ll stay here. Does Teacher Wang not need to teach tomorrow?” Xu Lan politely rejected.

“Tomorrow is a Saturday. You should head back now. This is still your case after all,” said Hu Cheng.

“Papa, I’m hungry. We lost our new clothes as well,” Bai Wu pleaded pitifully as he held onto Xu Lan’s hand.

“Hurry up, bring your son to grab some food. He’s growing and you shouldn’t starve him!” Hu Cheng urged as he ushered Xu Lan out.

“Alright, I’ll head back now,” Xu Lan replied apologetically to Hu Cheng.

The little guy was trailing behind, saying thank you to Hu Cheng obediently. Hu Cheng felt upset watching him.

“Let’s go for a meal,” Xu Lan consulted Bai Wu as he tried to hail a cab down.

“Let’s take a look at clothes first.”

The little guy seemed to value his new clothes a lot. Xu Lan wondered if he was shocked by the incident earlier. He stroked Bai Wu’s head and consoled him, “Alright.”

Coincidentally, when Xu Lan and Bai Wu went to get some clothes, they ran into Wu Wendi and Shen Xiang who was out shopping as well.