“Li Qian, if you insist on coming along, you’re really making things difficult for me.” Song Xing in the passenger seat complained to Li Qian, who was sitting alone in the back row. “Who would know if you didn’t say anything? The director insists on making me stay at the office. What kind of detective sits in an office all day? If we don’t go out, how can we solve cases?” “But the director personally said not to let us take you out to investigate.”

“The director personally said so? Why won’t he let me go?”

“Don’t you know what the director is thinking?” Song Xing laughed.

“I… what do I know?” Li Qian muttered with a red face.

Officer Xiao Gao, who was in the driver’s seat responsible for driving, laughed with ill intent: “What Captain Song means, of course, is that Director Zhang likes you and wants to increase alone time with you, so he kept you at the office. If I were the director, I’d do the same thing.”

“Get out of here!” Song Xing slapped his head. “Li Qian is a connected person, don’t you know—” After saying this, Song Xing suddenly felt he’d misspoken and awkwardly met Li Qian’s gaze through the rearview mirror.

The awkwardness lasted for several seconds. Li Qian’s face turned cold as she asked, “Director Zhang said I’m a connected person?”

“No… no, I was just guessing randomly.”

“What else did Director Zhang say?”

“Nothing else. Oh right, you absolutely must not tell the director what I just said.”

“If you don’t explain clearly, I’ll go ask the director, and I’ll say you told me.” Li Qian pulled out the threatening tactics women habitually use.

Song Xing’s brow furrowed. He felt disaster was imminent, that he’d have no hope of promotion for the rest of his life, and hastily begged for mercy.

So the two began negotiations. One promised that as long as he spoke Director Zhang’s original words, she wouldn’t go ask. The other said he could tell her, but she couldn’t tell others.

After mutual promises, both sides reached consensus, but suddenly realized Xiao Gao was still in the car, and fell silent in unison.

Xiao Gao beat his chest in assurance: “I definitely won’t say anything. If I tell anyone, Captain Song will kill me.” After speaking, he waited eagerly to hear this secret.

Song Xing helplessly frowned and had to vaguely say: “The director didn’t say much, only that you’re a connected person. It seems your family member is an official in Beijing. Our field investigations are dangerous, so for your safety, we can’t bring you along.”

“What kind of official is your family member in Beijing?” Xiao Gao eagerly pursued.

Li Qian couldn’t be bothered with him. She only felt deeply wronged. So this was the reason she wasn’t allowed to participate in actual work. And he’d said criminal police have various divisions of labor—in the final analysis, all men are liars!

Song Xing comforted her: “Field investigations aren’t as dangerous as the director says. This kind of non-contact surveillance and reconnaissance is very safe. Look, I brought you out to see the world, didn’t I? The way I see it, the director’s starting point was good. You absolutely mustn’t blame the director, and don’t blame me for telling you either, hehe.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone know you told me, and I won’t go to the director!” Li Qian replied coldly.

Hearing this, Song Xing felt much more relieved. Only then did he have Xiao Gao start this civilian car used for field reconnaissance and head toward Zheng Yongbing’s residence.

Before they set out, they’d checked Zheng Yongbing’s phone location. At this moment, he was at home. If Zheng Yongbing’s position changed, the police officer responsible for location tracking would notify them promptly.

Before long, they arrived on the street outside the residential area where Zheng Yongbing lived. Xiao Gao parked the car in an empty parking space on the roadside, and the three began patiently waiting.

The director had instructed them not to alert the enemy for now, to investigate why Zheng Yongbing was so vigilant and whether other people were really following him.

Zheng Yongbing wasn’t currently a target for police arrest, they were just conducting simple reconnaissance on him. Originally, this kind of work could be done by rookie police officers or auxiliary police. But considering that Zheng Yongbing might be involved with Zhou Rong, and investigating Zhou Rong was currently confidential within the office, Song Xing had to personally take action.

Surveillance and reconnaissance had always been boring. The three sat in the car chatting desultorily. Song Xing suggested that if Zheng Yongbing still hadn’t appeared by evening, they’d withdraw first and follow up tomorrow when Zheng Yongbing went out.

Who would have thought that before long, around four o’clock in the afternoon, Zheng Yongbing came out of the residential area. When he reached the entrance of the residential area, he stopped and vigilantly looked left and right. Then he walked toward the diagonal opposite side of the residential area, where there were several food and beverage shops. All along the way, he kept his nerves taut, as if constantly guarding against something.

Song Xing dealt with these people every other day. Seeing his expression, he immediately judged there was definitely something fishy going on. While carefully watching, Song Xing had Xiao Gao take out a small law enforcement camera to film Zheng Yongbing’s every move.

After seeing Zheng Yongbing walk into a food and beverage shop, Song Xing took out his phone and called Director Zhang to report the current situation.

A few minutes later, Zheng Yongbing went to several food and beverage shops in succession and bought many bags of food. He left carrying them in both hands. When he walked, he was still full of vigilance, looking around. After confirming the situation, he quickly walked back to the residential area.

Song Xing, following the leader’s instructions, waited until Zheng Yongbing entered the residential area, then sent the entire video back to the office.

Before long, Zhang Yi’ang, who had watched the video, called and asked: “Didn’t you investigate that Zheng Yongbing lives alone? Why is he buying so much stuff by himself?”

“It should be food.”

“I’m asking why is he buying so much food by himself?”

The leader’s question was a bit baffling. What’s wrong with one person buying more food? Song Xing could only casually answer: “Uh… maybe he has a good appetite.”

“I saw he went into a rice noodle shop. How many bowls of rice noodles did he buy?”

“How many bowls of rice noodles?” Song Xing was stunned. He’d only noticed that Zheng Yongbing went into the rice noodle shop and came out carrying a bag of stuff. How would he pay attention to how many bowls of rice noodles he bought? Song Xing could only answer honestly, “I didn’t pay attention.”

“Then hurry up and go ask!”

Song Xing was displeased in his heart. This wasn’t arresting a criminal gang, where you’d need to estimate how many criminals were in the house based on the amount of food. The leader was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Helplessly, he got out of the car, came to the rice noodle shop, called over a server, secretly took out his police badge to ask how many bowls of rice noodles the man had just bought, and instructed them not to reveal that police had been there. Worried that the leader would also ask what dishes he bought, he did the same at the other several shops.

Back in the car, he reported the final investigation results. Zheng Yongbing had bought a total of two bowls of rice noodles, one roast duck, one pound of beef, various other cooked foods, and several cans of beer.

On the other end of the phone, Zhang Yi’ang was silent for a moment, then analyzed: “Judging from the quantity Zheng Yongbing bought, he lives alone and couldn’t eat this much food. What he bought was all meat dishes, and there’s beer, so obviously at least one other male is staying at his home.”

Song Xing nodded and made an affirmative sound.

“So, don’t you also find it very suspicious?”

“I…” Song Xing swallowed his saliva. In his heart, he was thinking, suspicious about what? Zheng Yongbing lives alone, but that doesn’t mean he has no friends. A friend comes to visit his home, and he buys some food to entertain them—is that suspicious? However, if the leader says it’s suspicious, then it must be suspicious. Song Xing could only respond: “Right, I also find Zheng Yongbing very suspicious.”

“Very good. Therefore, I’ve decided to formally conduct targeted reconnaissance on Zheng Yongbing. You go implement it.” After speaking, he hung up the phone.

Song Xing’s eyes widened. So-called targeted reconnaissance meant classifying Zheng Yongbing as a criminal suspect, requiring round-the-clock assignment of personnel to track his every movement and using every possible means to search for evidence of his crimes.

As the saying goes, those who often walk by the river can’t avoid getting their shoes wet. Once classified under targeted reconnaissance, it would be terrible. This meant that in the coming time, Zheng Yongbing’s every action would be under the police’s watchful eyes. If he dared to gamble or visit prostitutes, he’d be walking right into the gun barrel.

Xiao Gao beside him drew out his tone in lament: “Is it necessary? Just buying an extra bowl of rice noodles means targeted reconnaissance?”

Targeted reconnaissance was even harder on the police, who needed to work in three shifts, working overtime round the clock to watch people.

Song Xing sighed. Hearing Xiao Gao’s complaint, he directly handed over his phone: “Then you tell the director?”

Xiao Gao quickly withdrew his hand, indicating he completely obeyed the leader’s decision.

Song Xing looked at Li Qian through the rearview mirror: “What about you?”

“I’ll investigate with you.”

“We have to work shifts and stay up all night.”

“I can definitely do it.”

Song Xing shook his head, unable to do anything about her. On second thought, conducting targeted reconnaissance on Zheng Yongbing when nothing had happened seemed too much trouble. As long as they found out what person had come to his home, wouldn’t that be enough? They wouldn’t need to work overtime at night either. So he came up with an idea: “Li Qian, come with me to find the property management. You’re a woman and a new police officer, you don’t have police bearing—I mean you lack presence. In a bit, you can impersonate a property management worker and go upstairs with the property manager to take a look, see what person came to Zheng Yongbing’s home. Once we find out clearly, we can report back to the leader.”

“What should I say when the time comes?” Executing a mission for the first time, Li Qian was slightly nervous but also a bit excited. “If you can’t speak well, just play mute.”