Chapter 149 Professor Feng

Leaving Lin Fang behind in the back kitchen to wash plates, Xu Fei gave Liu Erpang and Xiaolan some final instructions: under no circumstances, unless Lin Fang herself decided to quit, were they to go up and help her.

"Then where is she supposed to sleep?"

Xu Fei glanced at Xiaolan and said, "Wherever you sleep, she sleeps."

"Ah!?"

Liu Erpang and Xiaolan exchanged surprised looks.

"Xiaolan currently sleeps on my loft bed, and there's only enough room to squeeze Xiaolan in there!"

"Then just carve out a space for her. She's so thin, that shouldn't be too hard."

Liu Erpang shook his head.

"Tell me, Xu Fei, does this girl have some kind of grudge against you?"

Xu Fei lowered his voice and said, "I just want to let her know that this society isn't as simple as she thinks. Ideally, right here with you, she'll learn what hardship really is."

"Oh!"

Liu Erpang nodded.

So you're trying to educate her, he thought. Rest assured, consider the mission accomplished!

Xiaolan nodded along as well.

Xu Fei smiled, nodded at the two of them, and said quietly, "I'm heading out. If she decides to quit, come find me at the hospital."

With that,

he walked out of the breakfast shop.

Xu Fei was quite confident that Lin Fang wouldn't even last until the third day.

As he was about to walk toward the hospital,

he noticed two sneaks outside the hospital gates, squatting by the corner of a wall and eyeing the passing pedestrians.

Right at that moment,

an old man and a young man stepped out of a jeep. In those days, anyone who could afford to ride in a car usually had some background and influence.

Seeing the pair head toward the hospital, the two men exchanged a glance and immediately followed behind them.

Xu Fei felt the utmost disgust for people of this sort; without even guessing, he knew these two were pickpockets.

The old man walked while coughing intermittently, looking severely ill.

The young man by his side was in his early twenties, looking vibrant and sharp, quite tall with a fair complexion and delicate, handsome features—so much so that calling him a pretty maiden wouldn't even be much of an exaggeration.

"Grandpa, why don't you sit here and rest for a moment?"

Seeing the old man nod, the young man helped him over to a nearby bench.

The two pickpockets immediately averted their gaze, clearly afraid of being noticed by the youth.

"Zhiming, my chest feels like there's a heavy stone pressing on it. It's so uncomfortable."

"Grandpa, let's go find Professor Feng right away and have him take a good look at you."

"Cough, cough..."

The old man nodded.

"It's just my old ailment, a root cause left over from the war back in the day."

Standing not far away, Xu Fei naturally overheard their conversation. Hearing the old man say this, he realized he must be a veteran soldier.

No wonder he had arrived in a jeep just now; it seemed the old man's background was certainly higher than that of an ordinary soldier from the past.

Thinking this, he cast a glance at the two thieves.

These two obviously didn't care about any of that; the only thing in their eyes was money.

"Grandpa, let's go."

The young man said as he stood up. Just then, one of the thieves took quick strides forward and intentionally bumped into the youth.

"Ah!"

The young man let out a startled cry. As he was supporting the old man, this sudden collision threw him off balance, causing the old man to lose his footing as well.

Just as the elderly man was about to be dragged down,

the second thief stepped forward and grabbed hold of him to steady him.

"Uncle, are you alright?"

he asked the old man with a smile.

"Thank you, I..."

Just as the old man started to speak, he seemed to realize something. His brows furrowed, and he instinctively patted the breast pocket of his clothes.

His action startled the two thieves, and the one supporting the old man abruptly pushed him away.

Panicked, the youth rushed forward to steady the old man.

Taking advantage of the chaos, the two thieves turned and bolted toward the hospital gates.

"Stop thief!"

By now, the old man realized the money he kept in his breast pocket had been stolen, and he pointed at the fleeing pair, shouting.

With his hands full supporting his grandfather, the young man naturally had no way to give chase.

Just as the two scoundrels were about to run out of reach,

suddenly,

from behind a tree by the roadside, a dark shadow flew out with a swish, striking the money-stealing thief squarely in the ribs.

"Ah!"

The fellow let out a cry of pain,

his body staggering sideways. Before he could regain his footing, a figure flashed out from behind the tree and lunged straight at him.

"Damn it!"

The man cried out in alarm,

but Xu Fei had already tackled him to the ground.

"Don't move!"

Xu Fei pinned the man beneath him and twisted his wrist, instantly stripping the pickpocket of any capacity to resist.

"You!"

Seeing this, the other thief prepared to step forward, but just then, two hospital security guards walked out from the security post.

Catching sight of the red armbands, the uncaptured thief had no choice but to turn tail and flee out the main gate.

"What's going on?"

The security guards stepped up to them.

The old man and the young man also walked over. The youth pointed at the person pinned by Xu Fei and said, "This man stole my grandfather's money."

Xu Fei applied a bit more pressure to his grip on the thief beneath him, causing the fellow to let out yelps of pain.

"The money, I stole the money!"

The thief blurted out, throwing a thick stack of bills he had been clutching onto the ground.

The young man stepped forward and picked up the cash.

"Grandpa."

He handed the money back to the old man with a smile.

The old man took the money, walked over to Xu Fei, and said, "Young man, thank you for stepping in."

Xu Fei smiled and nodded.

"The old gentleman has a sharp eye yourself!"

"Hahaha, little scoundrels like this—back in my youth, forget about stealing, all it would take is one glance for me to spot them."

Xu Fei knew this old man was no ordinary person.

"Comrade, hand him over to us, won't you?"

At that moment,

the two security guards approached Xu Fei and said.

Xu Fei nodded,

handing the pinned pickpocket over to the security guards.

They led the thief toward the guardhouse.

What awaited this thief now would be a formal detention.

"Young man, what's your name?"

"My name is Xu Fei."

The old man nodded, his gaze filled with deep approval.

"You remind me of myself when I was young. Nowadays, there aren't many people left who dare to step forward and help others."

"Grandpa, I can do it too."

The old man glanced at his grandson.

"Zhiming, you still have a lot to learn from this elder brother. It's not enough just to be daring and brave; you have to use your brain. In fact, he had already noticed the intentions of those two fellows earlier, but instead of immediately shouting out a warning, he observed them in secret."

Saying this, the old man looked back at Xu Fei.

"Xu Fei, what would you have done if I hadn't managed to spot those two pickpockets?"

Xu Fei glanced toward the guardhouse.

"I already knew there are always two guards on duty at the front gate every day. Therefore, I would have made my move to capture them before they managed to leave the hospital grounds."

"Ah, drawing upon the guards' attention to join forces with them—brilliant! He who uses leverage is wise. Xu Fei, you are quite a remarkable young man!"

Xu Fei smiled and shook his head.

"Old sir, you flatter me far too much. By the way, are you two here to see a doctor?"

At the mention of this,

the old man burst into another fit of coughing.

"Grandpa, are you alright?"

"I'm, I'm fine. Let's go find Professor Feng."