Chapter 18 The Round-Up_3

Wang Hongmei didn't expect that the child would know where she had hidden the tickets, and she found the child vaguely familiar but couldn't recall where she had seen him before.

Now she couldn't care less about that, she struggled and shouted again: "I'm buying these for my relatives, and buying tickets is not illegal..."

"Buying for your relatives, you sure have a lot of relatives, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll know when we get there!"

The same scene was unfolding in the ticket office, the waiting room for ships, at the entrance of the bus station, and in front of hotels and shops.

One by one, scalpers were pulled from the crowd by undercover police and brought to the center of the square, where they were ordered to squat in two rows, to the applause of travelers who had been victimized by them.

"Squat properly!"

"Don't look around, don't whisper to each other."

"Why are you bowing your heads? Lift your heads up! You dare to engage in speculation and ticket scalping, and now you're afraid to show your faces?"

Xu Sanye paced in front of the two rows of suspects, brandishing a loudspeaker with a stern voice: "We are police from the Linghai Police Bureau. My surname is Xu, and I am called Xu Sanye, the Director of the Yanjiang Police Station under Linghai Police Bureau.

We've been watching you for a long time. How hard is it for people to earn some money? You actually resell individual tickets worth a buck seventy each for fifteen bucks a piece. Have your consciences been eaten by dogs? It is you speculators and profiteers that are driving up the prices!"

One scalper, unconvinced, retorted: "This is none of your business, I didn't resell boat tickets."

"It's none of our business, you say it again!"

"It really isn't."

Xu Sanye stepped forward and landed a kick on the scalper, who staggered and fell to the ground, crying out: "The police are beating people..."

"Did I hit you? I kicked you, get it right. You can't even speak properly, yet you dare to engage in speculation and scalping."

The news was too insular; Bailong Port was not far from the county town, yet these people had never heard of him. Xu Sanye felt quite offended, and lifted his leg for another kick.

The scalper howled in pain but did not dare to talk back anymore.

Xu Sanye snorted coldly and with a stern face said: "Gu Changfu, right? I'm kicking you. You should ask around about who Xu Sanye is."

This police officer was like a bandit, not only beating people but doing so in front of so many. The group of ticket scalpers was so frightened they were beside themselves and didn't dare to make another peep.

To the delight of the people, the travelers were excited and burst into cheers and applause.

At this moment, a police car, siren sounding, slowly drove over.

Xu Sanye did not want to miss the opportunity to assert his authority; he put down the loudspeaker and turned around to say: "Old Wu, don't rush to load them into the car just yet. Salted Fish, hurry and find some hemp rope."

Kicking them a few times is one thing, but to hang these scalpers up and beat them...

The Criminal Investigation Director Wu Ren Guang was startled and asked quietly, "Director Xu, what do you need the hemp rope for?"

Xu Sanye said coldly: "String them together and walk them around for a few laps; I want to see who would dare to resell boat tickets after this."

If more than twenty suspects were all hung up and publicly lashed, that would be a "spectacular" spectacle, satisfying for the wronged travelers, but the repercussions of such an event would be too vile.

But parading them on the streets, that was fine. Wu Ren Guang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Old Zhang, you and the others quickly gather evidence. There are plenty of travelers who didn't get tickets; after collecting evidence, quickly redistribute the confiscated tickets back to the ticket booth for resale."

"Understood."

"Old Li, post the notice urging the involved persons to turn themselves in."

"Right away."

"Director Zhang, can you have your broadcaster announce it a few more times?"

"Sure, I'll go arrange it now."

Xu Sanye was issuing commands frequently, directing the Criminal Investigation Team, directing the Bailong Port Police Station, directing everyone.

Wu Ren Guang obeyed the orders and followed the instructions; in fact, he was quite accustomed to it. When Xu Sanye was present, not to mention himself, the Criminal Investigation Director, even the deputy directors of the Police Bureau would have no opportunity to speak.