Chapter Twenty-Five: Taking Sides

Some officers have a tone of voice... that really leaves much to be desired.

Take this young officer, Xiao Chen. Gu Yin didn't know him at all, yet for some reason, the way he spoke to Gu Yin seemed to carry a personal edge.

Gu Yin and Qin Ou, the female owner of the Cadillac, both stood by their own versions of events. However, it was clear that Officer Xiao Chen found Qin Ou’s account more persuasive and was more inclined to believe her, so he began to interrogate Gu Yin directly.

In his mind, Gu Yin’s image had instantly shifted from a "good citizen who returns lost property" to a "car thief who doesn't speak a word of truth."

An ordinary person, faced with such a tone from an officer in uniform, would surely have panicked by now. See? Even that chubby girl, Mengmeng, looked like she was regretting bringing Xia Qianyi along.

But Gu Yin remained perfectly calm. He replied offhandedly:

"I did indeed 'pick up' the car."

"Then why does she say you drove her car away?" Xiao Chen frowned, speaking sternly.

"How would I know?" Gu Yin shrugged, his tone indifferent. "Oh, so just because she says she’s the owner, she is? I didn't see her at the time. I just saw an empty car stopped in the middle of the road. I had no idea it belonged to her."

Gu Yin’s gaze drifted, not even glancing at Qin Ou, and his tone carried a hint of... sarcasm.

"You!"

Young Officer Xiao Chen was momentarily stumped. It was true; he hadn't yet confirmed the car belonged to Qin Ou and had only gone to question Gu Yin based on her one-sided claims.

"You... you scoundrel!"

Qin Ou, the Cadillac owner, flushed bright red. Gritting her teeth, she said to Xiao Chen, "Officer, please keep an eye on him for me. I’m going to the car to get my license. I have both my driver’s license and vehicle registration. Let’s see how he tries to deny it then!"

With that, she ran to the car and returned with her documents. After inspecting them, Xiao Chen couldn't help but glare at Gu Yin, then thrust the documents in front of him, asking, "How are you going to deny it now?"

Police officers are not supposed to take sides, nor should they wear tinted glasses; they are expected to be fair and rely on evidence. At that moment, Xiao Chen seemed to be acting as if he were embodying that very principle.

"You drove off someone else's car without their permission. That is against the law. Do you understand that?" he asked.

But to his great annoyance, instead of showing the guilt or nervousness of someone caught in a lie, Gu Yin maintained an attitude of "whatever," saying:

"First of all, I had no idea the car was hers. When I get into a car, I don't go searching through someone else's belongings for a license or registration..."

"Secondly, at the time, that car was sitting in the middle of the road, blocking the entire street. The engine was still running, and I couldn't find the owner. Naturally, I assumed it was abandoned."

As he spoke, it sounded like Gu Yin was offering an explanation, but it felt more like he was just being difficult. The young officer, Xiao Chen, had already prepared his rebuttal in his mind, but then...

"Finally!"

After the "first" and "secondly," Gu Yin added a "finally!" Xiao Chen initially dismissed it, thinking the guy was just going to keep making excuses... but then, Gu Yin suddenly raised a finger and pointed at the pink flip-flops on Qin Ou’s feet.

"Have you ever seen anyone drive a car wearing flip-flops?"

"Never mind that she wasn't near the car; even if she had been, I wouldn't have pegged her as the owner."

Silence fell.

"This..." The young officer was at a loss for how to counter that.

Traffic regulations clearly state that driving in flip-flops is prohibited, punishable by a three-point deduction and a 100-yuan fine. In fact, when Qin Ou first approached, Xiao Chen had noticed her flip-flops—after all, the sole of her right shoe was half-detached, making it hard to miss. But he had been so distracted by her shouting that he had momentarily forgotten this detail.

Well, what do you know? Now Gu Yin was making a huge deal out of it! The crux of the problem was that this excuse left Xiao Chen with no immediate rebuttal.

"I..."

Not to mention the officer, even Qin Ou was left speechless, her face turning a deep shade of red as she struggled to form a coherent sentence. She knew she was in the wrong for driving in flip-flops, and doing so in front of an officer made her feel guilty. And once a person feels guilty, they lose their confidence.

[Hahaha... well played!]

Many viewers found it incredibly satisfying, with comments flooding in:

[Coach Gu, you really are a professional!]
[Coach Gu, the master of identifying the key point!]
[Who said this coach wasn't meticulous? This coach is amazing!]

...

Beside them, Mengmeng, Xia Qianyi, and even the policewoman Su Nuan were almost amused by the point Gu Yin had seized upon. It had to be said, he really knew how to argue; Qin Ou still had a lot to learn about being "difficult" compared to him!

"You... what does it matter what shoes I wear!"
"The point is, you drove away my car!"
"Officer, he drove away my car!"
"Arrest him!"
"At the very least, you have to detain him, don't you?!"

Regardless of whether she had a leg to stand on, she insisted that Gu Yin taking her car was wrong and illegal, and she began to make a scene. Gu Yin didn't back down an inch. Both sides stuck to their stories, and even Xiao Chen couldn't take sides anymore, forced to focus on mediation.

It is worth noting that the senior policewoman, Su Nuan, did not join in the argument. Instead, she went into the lobby, found a colleague, and said, "Pull up the surveillance footage near the Experimental Elementary School."

They would know exactly what happened once they saw it.

"Understood."

The colleague pulled up the intersection footage. He fast-forwarded through the last hour, and soon, the screen showed Qin Ou abandoning her car and walking away, leaving the entire street behind it completely blocked.

"This woman is really..."

By the entrance, the sounds of Qin Ou and Gu Yin arguing still echoed, but an expression of "disgust" appeared on Su Nuan’s face.

She pulled over a few colleagues and forcibly separated Qin Ou. Standing at the entrance, the policewoman furrowed her brows, glared at Qin Ou, and then waved her hand at Gu Yin, saying:

"Alright, you can go."

As soon as she said this, Qin Ou exploded on the spot!

"Officer!"
"Why are you letting him go?!"
"He stole my car!"
"He stole my car!"
"This is a violation of personal property!"
"You're just letting him walk away???"

To this, Su Nuan’s expression was stern, her tone icy, with only one sentence:

"Do you not know in your own heart why he drove your car away?"

"I..."

For a moment, a flicker of guilt appeared on Qin Ou’s face.