How could I possibly be confined in a cage?

The early autumn air was already a bit chilly in the morning. A gust of wind blew by, and the translator couldn't help but pull his coat tighter.

Seeing the dark-faced man leading the way, dressed in thin clothes yet exuding a powerful aura, taking a long stride with each step, she felt a pang of jealousy.

After exchanging a few words with the jailer, he opened the gate and gestured for the men to hurry back.

The cell was dark, damp, and cold, filled with the sour stench of excrement and blood. Apart from the occasional squeak, only the squeaking of rats made any noise.

Upon seeing someone arrive, the prisoners in the cells, whether numb, hateful, or scrutinizing, all seemed like animals defeated in the wild, vicious and unruly.

The jailer led the man to the cell where Lü Peijun was being held, knocked on the bars a few times, and said, "Hey, someone's looking for you. Come over and ask them some questions."

Lu Peijun, who was lying on the ground, slowly raised his head when he heard the noise, struggling to open his eyes to see who it was.

The jailer took a horse-head lamp and put it on the ground, the light making Lü Peijun squint.

Hayakawa stared in disbelief at the figure wriggling on the ground like a maggot. Not long ago, the man had been a tall, elegant old scholar who had been talking to him at length, but now he looked like a sick beggar on the street, showing off his pitiful state.

He looked at the translator suspiciously and whispered to him to tell the jailer to open the cell and go inside for a closer look.

After they slipped the money to the jailer, he opened the door and let them in, instructing them not to kill anyone before giving up the room.

Su Chuan knelt down in front of Lü Peijun, took a straw and brushed aside the hair that was sticking to Lü Peijun's forehead to confirm his identity, "Lü Jun, do you remember me?"

Lu Peijun squinted, trying to make out the person in front of him. He felt that the man looked somewhat familiar. Seeing that he was wearing a beige suit and a small-brimmed hat, and that his behavior was not like that of a Chinese person, he guessed his identity.

"Speed..." As soon as he opened his mouth, his rough voice sounded like sand getting into a brass pipe, hoarse and unpleasant. "Cough cough cough~" He hadn't spoken for a long time and hadn't had a drop of water. As soon as he opened his mouth, it made him cough.

The translator quickly poured a glass of water for Lü Peijun to moisten her throat.

"Cough cough..." Slowly catching her breath, Lü Peijun began to guess their purpose. "Mr. Suchuan, I remember you. About half a month ago, you came to my shop to buy a screen. Is there a problem?"

"It's nothing major, I just wanted to ask Mr. Lü if he wants to get out of this prison?"

Lu Peijun looked at him, considering the possibility of getting out through him, "Does Mr. Hayakawa know what I've done wrong?"

"That's not important. As long as you want to get out, I can make it happen." Hayakawa was clearly very confident.

“Heh,” it wasn’t that Lü Peijun looked down on him, “It seems that Mr. Su Chuan doesn’t know why I was arrested either. I won’t go into details. Someone wants something from my Lü family, just like you… hehe, what you want is the same.”

Hayakawa frowned. "Is he Chinese?"

"Yes," Lü Peijun replied, adding another unknown figure to his mental "bandit list."

"He hasn't gotten it yet, has he?"

"Ha~ Look at me, if he had gotten it, would he have bothered to spare my life?"

Su Chuan was somewhat comforted. "I can get you out of here, but you have to give me the jade pendant."

After holding her neck up for a long time, Lü Peijun felt sore and lowered her head again.

“Mr. Hayakawa, I told you before that my family did have a jade pendant passed down from my ancestors, but it was lost a long time ago. When the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, we fled east and west to Tibet. Our family fortune was scattered and lost.”

Suchuan didn't believe it. "That's your family heirloom jade pendant. How could it be lost? You didn't lose anything else, and all your major antiques are still here. There's no reason for a jade pendant to be lost."

"Sigh~" Lu Peijun sighed deeply, "Antiques are valued in prosperous times, gold is valued in chaotic times. When fleeing for one's life, who would carry a jade pendant? They would only hurriedly take some gold and silver valuables before fleeing. To survive, they flee today and they flee tomorrow. Tell me, how much would be left?"

After a pause, he continued, "I'm not complaining to you, but my family's tradition has been broken off long ago. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in such dire straits. If you hadn't mentioned the jade pendant last time, I wouldn't have known my family had such a thing. I was just about to check the family genealogy when they arrested me."

Hayakawa didn't believe a word of it. "Where's the jade pendant? Did you hide it?"

Lu Peijun coughed again, "Mr. Su Chuan, please have a good meal. I haven't had a drop of water since I was locked up here, and I've talked so much. I'm afraid I'll starve to death soon."

Who carries food with them?!

Su Chuan patiently looked at the translator, who touched his pocket, which contained the imported chocolates he had brought for his son from the foreign merchant's shop.

"There's no time to buy one right now, but I have a chocolate bar here, would you like to have it as a snack?"

Lu Peijun felt dizzy and lightheaded, as if her head weighed ten pounds more. She nodded and asked the translator to feed her the chocolate with water.

The sweet food melted on the tip of my tongue and was swallowed down with the water, providing energy and giving me some strength.

“Mr. Hayakawa, there is an old Chinese saying that goes, ‘When a person is about to die, his words are good.’ This jade pendant is indeed not in my possession. If I have uttered even a single falsehood, may I be struck by lightning. If you really want to find that jade pendant, you might as well ask the people who arrested me. Perhaps they can search my old house thoroughly and find some clues.”

Su Chuan's expression was unpredictable. He had always been successful in this area by using coercion and bribery, but he had stumbled several times in this matter with the Lü family.

“Mr. Lü, I hope you will tell the truth.”

Lu Peijun was exhausted. He thought to himself that this man was used to being domineering and couldn't be very cunning. He couldn't play too many tricks on him; he couldn't afford to mess with him.

After a moment's thought, an idea came to him. "Mr. Hayakawa, you've come to my house several times saying you want to admire the jade pendant, but is it really just for admiring, not for possessing?"

Upon hearing that there was hope, Su Chuan immediately made a guarantee, "Of course, as I said, my father loves to study Chinese history and is obsessed with the magic of the Double Fish Pendant. Legend has it that the Double Fish Pendant can even reverse time."

It's a pity he lived in China for ten years and never saw it in person. He then instructed me to find the jade pendant before he died so he could see it. I promised that I would only need to borrow it for a few days to admire it.

Hearing his flimsy assurances, Lü Peijun readily agreed.

“I also wanted to find the Pisces pendant, but unfortunately, what I told you before was true, I really didn’t know before. I just started looking through the family genealogy to find out about this, and I was just starting to get a clue, alas… I ended up in jail.”

Hayakawa hesitated for a moment, "What's the outline? What's the outline?"

"This... I can't say, I can't remember. If I could take another look at the family tree, I'm sure I could find some clues."

"Where is your family tree? I'll send someone to get it for you."

Lu Peijun clutched her head, writhing in pain. "Ah! I can't remember, I can't remember, my head hurts so much, it hurts so much."

When he reached out and touched it, Hayakawa's hand was immediately covered in blood, sticky and sticky.

"Mr. Lü, you...?"

Lu Peijun was still covering her head, cold sweat pouring down her face, "They... they hit..."

Before she could finish speaking, she fainted.

“Lu…”

Hayakawa's face was grim. He took the handkerchief handed to him by the translator, wiped his hands, checked his breathing to confirm he was still alive, and stormed out.

The translator quickly followed, then, after a moment's thought, threw the other chocolate bar from his pocket onto the ground.

After the jailer came and locked the door, and the footsteps faded away, Lü Peijun leaned against a pillar, propped himself up, and threw one of the chocolates into the cell next door.

The floor of the cell next door was covered with a lot of straw, which was much softer than that of Lü Peijun's cell.

The slender chocolate bar was thrown over and disappeared into the straw, out of sight. A few straws seemed to twitch quickly, or perhaps they didn't.

A moment later, the soft rustling of wrapping paper could be heard, then silence returned.

Lu Peijun gave a forced smile. "Don't starve to death, it's not worth it."

It was so light and airy, I wonder if anyone heard it.

Su Chuan returned to the police station and went straight to Sergeant Zhang, saying, "I want to see your chief."

When Chief Zhang noticed the strange expression on her face, he asked, "Oh, what's wrong? Who upset you?"

"I want to ransom that Lü Peijun in your prison. How much?"

Chief Zhang was surprised. How could they want to ransom someone after only a short time?

"This... I can't make that decision. You'll have to ask our superiors."

"What I want is to see your bureau chief. Bring him here." Su Chuan was now being quite blunt.

Since becoming a sheriff, no one except his superiors had ever given him the cold shoulder. He immediately dropped his nonchalant attitude and put on a serious face.

"I'm just a police sergeant, and above me are the department head and the bureau chief. Is it appropriate for me to summon people to your side with just a word from you?"

He patted the translator on the shoulder and asked, "Is this appropriate?"

The translator understood the threat in the words. Su Chuan had connections with foreign firms and higher-ups, so he could be given some face. But Su Chuan was a local and subject to the local officials, so he dared not offend them too much.

Quickly try to persuade Hayakawa in Japanese that you have to be polite to get things done on someone else's turf. As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake.

Besides, you're not even a powerful dragon yet; he only dared to say this in his heart.

Hayakawa was mindful of the military's intentions and didn't want to offend the local government too soon.

He stood up, staring menacingly at Chief Zhang, "I will get a lawyer for Lü Peijun. Please ensure his safety during this time."

Sergeant Zhang nodded dismissively. "Of course, we don't do things that disregard human life."

Hayakawa was furious but couldn't vent it, so he turned and left with the translator.

Chief Inspector Zhang spat fiercely at the backs of Su Chuan and his companion.

"What a load of rubbish. To speak Chinese and bring a translator along is like taking off your pants to fart—completely unnecessary."

The henchman next to him chuckled and quickly came over to light a cigarette. "Boss, don't bother with them, they're just a bunch of scoundrels."

"Hmph," Chief Zhang said dismissively, "Alright, you guys stay here and keep watch. Tell the jailer not to let Lü Peijun die; he's still worth a lot of money."

He also had his own thoughts. Since both the higher-ups and the Japanese valued Lü Peijun so much, could there be another hidden reason behind it?

We need to be careful; these days are not peaceful. If we can gain some benefits from this, we can have more security, which is also for our own benefit.

Looking at the group of brothers happily counting their silver dollars, Chief Zhang shook his head, thinking they lacked foresight.