Chapter Four: Intercepting the Jeep Owner!

This meant the street cleaner had less than five minutes left to live.

At that thought, a sense of urgency surged through Tan Ping at once.

After all, a life that had only just been alive a moment ago could vanish before his eyes in the blink of an eye.

"Please let my guess be right."

Tan Ping drew a deep breath, keeping the corner of his eye fixed on the street cleaner.

The life countdown above her head was still ticking down, like the distant footsteps of death closing in step by step.

Just then, an off-road vehicle with its windows down slowly drove past.

The reason Tan Ping noticed it was the smoke drifting out of the window, along with the smell of cigarettes.

Clearly, the driver was smoking while driving.

At the sight of this, Tan Ping immediately said to the livestream camera, "Friends, the driver of the off-road vehicle ahead is smoking while driving..."

Before he had even finished speaking, a hand reached out from the window and casually tossed away a still-burning cigarette butt.

Tan Ping quickly sped up his words. "And he's littering cigarette butts too. That's extremely uncivilized. Let's stop him and have a proper word with him!"

On hearing Tan Ping, the colleague who had been waiting nearby immediately drove the enforcement vehicle forward and stopped the off-road vehicle.

Tan Ping strode over and said to the window, "Hello, please show me your driver's license."

The driver lowered the window a little at his words, revealing a face full of coarse flesh, and handed out his license.

Tan Ping took it and checked carefully. The license was fine.

So he said to the driver, "Let's move the car first. Don't block the middle of the road."

"All right! I'll drive it to the intersection ahead and park it there."

Seeing that Tan Ping was livestreaming the whole traffic stop, the driver immediately answered.

The viewers in the livestream hurriedly sent comments: "This guy's pretty sensible!"

"Exactly! When the traffic police stop your car, especially on a livestream, as long as you're not mentally ill, you'll cooperate!"

Tan Ping nodded and said, "Fine. Go park first. I'll help you pick up the cigarette butt you just threw out of the window."

With that, he turned and went to where the off-road driver had tossed the cigarette butt, bent down, and picked it up from the ground.

After he had done so, Tan Ping looked toward the street cleaner on the sidewalk, who was still sweeping and tidying up.

Only to see that the life countdown above her head, which had just been down to 0.0034, instantly turned into a long string again.

Seeing this, Tan Ping let out a quiet breath of relief.

He understood now: in the original course of events, this street cleaner would have gone into the road to pick up the cigarette butt thrown out by the off-road driver, and been struck to death by a car coming from behind.

But now, Tan Ping had changed that ending.

Thinking of this, his heart suddenly felt much lighter.

Soon, Tan Ping reached the off-road vehicle.

By then, the driver had already gotten out. A thick gold chain hung around his neck, he wore a suit on his upper body with the buttons undone, and his belly bulged out round and full. His face was written all over with displeasure.

Seeing Tan Ping approach, the driver of the off-road vehicle immediately said, "Just write me a ticket. Fine me however much, just do it."

On hearing this, the viewers in the livestream instantly flooded the screen with comments: "666! Rich people really are bold and ruthless. He says that with such confidence!"

"No wonder I often see people not stopping at red lights. For them, fines are apparently nothing at all."

"Very soon, this brother is going to get a stern lecture from Officer Tan."

Sure enough, when Tan Ping heard this, the smile on his face vanished at once. Frowning, he said, "Friend, I called you over to have a proper conversation and let you understand the traffic safety regulations. Fining you is not my goal."

Seeing that the cameraman had also come over, the off-road driver immediately stepped forward and tried to cover the livestream camera with his hand.

Tan Ping promptly reminded him, "Don't touch that camera with your hand. If you damage it, you'll have to pay for it."

"I'll pay, then."

The off-road driver answered with complete self-righteousness.

Tan Ping glanced at the off-road vehicle and said, "I know. People who drive luxury cars all have money, and they feel fines don't matter, right?"

"Then just write the ticket! Isn't that what traffic police do?"

The off-road driver planted his hands on his hips and demanded.

Tan Ping asked, "If I fine you, can you realize what you did wrong? And next time, will you still throw cigarette butts out of the window?"

"Realize what? I just tossed it without thinking! I don't even know what I did wrong."

The driver replied casually.

Clearly, he had done this kind of thing more than once.

"Fine. Today, I'm going to make you understand that tossing trash out of a car window while driving is not the right thing to do."

Tan Ping raised his voice.

Then he took out his phone and said to the off-road driver, "I have a video here. Come over and watch it with me."

On hearing this, the driver walked over and looked at Tan Ping's phone.

At that moment, Tan Ping pressed play. On the screen, a sanitation worker in uniform was carrying a dustpan and broom, cleaning the road surface.

"Isn't this just a street cleaner doing their job? What's so interesting about that? What a waste of my time."

After watching for a bit, the off-road driver said dismissively.

"Watch it! Watch carefully!"

Seeing that the driver still looked utterly unconcerned, Tan Ping suddenly roared in anger.

The off-road driver jumped in fright.

The viewers in the livestream could also see the video.

By this point, they were all sending comments: "Is Officer Tan so angry because this off-road driver keeps littering and makes the sanitation workers' job harder?"

"I think so too."

"First time I've ever seen Officer Tan this angry."

Then the camera shifted, and in the frame appeared a cigarette butt flattened on the road.

Clearly, this cigarette butt had also been tossed away casually by some passing driver.

"What? Cigarette butts on the road have to be swept up too?"

The viewers were all startled by the image.

"So many cars coming and going. What if something goes wrong?"

Some viewers even thought the problem lay with the sanitation worker: "Isn't this street cleaner a bit too careless about traffic safety?"

At that moment, Tan Ping waved his hand and motioned for the earlier street cleaner to come over. "Ma'am, come here for a moment."

"Just as I thought! Officer Tan is lecturing this off-road driver to stand up for the sanitation workers!"

The viewers finally understood.

"This is the first time I've seen a police officer stand so firmly on the side of the vulnerable."

Seeing Tan Ping call for her, the street cleaner immediately stopped what she was doing and walked over.

"Ma'am, please explain to this driver whether you need to clean up cigarette butts on the road."

Tan Ping said to the sanitation worker gently.

The street cleaner answered firmly, "Of course we have to sweep them up! We definitely have to clean them!"

"Then tell him what the consequences are if you don't."

Tan Ping continued.

"If we don't sweep them, the foreman fines us. One cigarette butt costs one yuan. My monthly wage is 2,600 yuan now. Last month, after the fines were deducted, I was left with only 1,700..."

The sanitation worker said it all plainly.

"That’s still considered good. One month we were fined really hard, and in the end there was only a little over 600 yuan left. It wasn't even enough to cover living expenses."

After the sanitation worker finished, Tan Ping looked at the off-road vehicle owner beside him and asked, "Now you understand what mistake you made, don't you?"