Chapter 295: Intention of the Robbery
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the autumn of 1984, in the residential quarters of the post office in Lingyun.
It was drizzling and fog shrouded a green field. Somewhere on the second floor behind a phoenix tree, a man shouted in anger, "Devil! You little devil!!!"
In the room, there was an old man with greying sideburns and spectacles, bellowing at a seventeen-year-old young man. The young man had never seen his father so angry before, and he cowered in a corner.
"My…my stamps! You…how dare you sell them off!!" The old man was shaking with rage. "You… Why didn't you tell me?!"
Knock knock knock…. knock knock knock… The child's mother was knocking furiously and shouted, "Old man, what are you doing?! Open the door!"
"D…dad!" the young man explained to his father trembling, "I didn't touch the others. I only took the collection of the Broadcast Gymnastics! I know that the collection isn't worth much. The post office is still selling them! Dad! Look…" The young man then took out a video game console from underneath his bed. "Look! This is Nintendo, it's really expensive and it's brand new! The one who bought the stamps gave me this! Dad! We didn't lose anything!"
"You little devil!" The old man heard and was burning with rage. He scolded, "You… What do you know? That collection of the Broadcast Gymnastics could be traded for a house! I spent a lot of effort to get that. It is the one and only existing copy of the wrong version! You devil!"
"Huh?!" The young man was shocked. "How…how could it be… I didn't know! Dad!"
"Ugh!" The old man bellowed and grabbed the video game console. He then raised it above his head and threw it on the ground!
"No! Don't!" The young man was panicking and crying, "Dad! Don't! Woo…"
"You unfilial son! My painstaking work for my life was ruined in your hands! I…" Suddenly, the old man collapsed on the floor with his hands gripping his chest. He never woke up…
...
The young man was named Fang Yi. When he was young and inexperienced, he was tricked by a dishonest stamp seller to exchange his father's Broadcast Gymnastics with a Nintendo video game console. Actually, the father did not break the video game console, but Fang Yi never touched it again. It had become his eternal source of pain because his father had had a heart attack due to his anger that night, and he passed away since all efforts to resuscitate him had been in vain.
From what Fang Yi remembered, his father was the kindest father in the world. His father had never beaten or scolded him! But his kind and affable father had died of anger because of his greed! Fang Yi was filled with regret for the rest of his life.
That year, in front of his father's grave, Fang Yi swore an oath that he would find the Broadcast Gymnastics stamps no matter what the any cost, in order to let his father rest in peace! But that was easier said than done. All these years, Fang Yi had dedicated his youth looking for the collection, but it was useless. Because of his obsession, he had lost his family, his relatives, and much more.
Time passed by and life went on. In the blink of an eye, Fang Yi was his father's age. He was an old man with greying sideburns. But he had not given up hope. He was still looking for the stamp collection.
Heaven helps those who set their mind to it! A few years back, he finally found the whereabouts of the Broadcast Gymnastics stamp collection. Who would have guessed that the stamps would pass through so many hands and end up in the hands of a black market merchant in Qinshan.
From that day onwards, Fang Yi's life changed entirely. He started paying attention to every movement of the black market merchant. After observing them for a long time, he realized that the stamps were hidden in the safety deposit box at the bank! The bank's safety deposit box robbery plan was then in the making.
Fang Yi was a very smart man, just like Li Dan. If not for the stamps, his life would have been entirely different. Because of the stamp collection, his life had changed. All these years, he did not have a permanent home, and he had been doing odd jobs here and there. Relying on his gifted talent for acting, he finally settled down in Lingyun Repertory Theater as an actor.
The reason why the female attendant at the bus station thought he looked familiar was because he had appeared on stage and on TV in that makeup numerous times.
Fang Yi knew that he had no money nor power. It would be impossible for him to retrieve the stamps legally. Under his circumstances, he had to take an extreme path to reach his goal. He also knew that he needed assistance if he wanted to go down that extreme path, as it would be impossible to rely on himself due to his old age.
Soon enough, he recruited a bunch of friends that worked together in the repertory theater, including Chen Xing who made props, Ding Guoqing who wrote plays, and two other actors, Cuo Guosheng and Zhang Hua.
Among the four, they were either divorcees that were belittled by their ex wives or gambling addicts that were in debt. When Fang Yi told them his perfect plan, no one objected, but they agreed simultaneously to help Fang Yi! Hence, this was how the bank robbery group was formed. Planning to execution was all Fang Yi's doing.
Fang Yi was very smart indeed! He found the blueprints of the bank, the guards' schedule, and the other important documents. He even got the blueprints of the safety deposit box when he had performed for a company event. Furthermore, he also learned more about police investigation methodology through some interviews.
The four of them were amazed by Fang Yi and did whatever that he asked them to. But they did not know that Fang Yi's purpose for robbing the bank was only for the stamp collection! Fang Yi said that, in order to minimize the probability of being caught by the police, they had to carry less stolen goods. So, they had to choose something light and expensive, like the stamp album!
Fang Yi concluded that the black market merchant would not file a police report even if they had been robbed. If they only took the stamps, then the police would have a hard time finding out what had been stolen. This deterred the investigation and made it difficult for the police to relate the case back to them.
Besides, Fang Yi had lied about the value of the stamp collection being more than a billion. He had said that they would be able to live a very good life if they got their hands on the stamps. The four men did not know anything about stamps, so they did not object when they heard Fang Yi's suggestion.
Then, the five of them took off. They stole a car beforehand and parked it in the alley in the old city area near the bank. Fang Yi had gone there beforehand and knew that there was an empty house. They broke into the house and stayed there overnight.
At noon the next day, the five of them disguised themselves with makeup, and wore padded camouflage suits and masks. They then drove to the bank to carry out their bank robbery!
The robbery went smoothly according to their original plan. They first took charge of the lobby, then got into the safety deposit box vault and cut off the anti-theft electric brake. Finally, they broke open the three safety deposit boxes which the black market merchant used to hide their stolen goods!
Everything was going according to Fang Yi's plan. After they got the stamp album, they scattered all the black market merchant's items on the floor to confuse the police. In order to make things even more difficult for the police, they broke into more safety deposit boxes to scatter all the items on the ground. That way the police would be confused about the robbers' intentions!
But when they were breaking open more safety deposit boxes, an unexpected incident happened, messing up their plan. This was nothing else but the vacuum sealed female corpse!!!