After the case analysis meeting concluded, Zhang Yi’ang declined his subordinates’ company and returned alone to his hospital room, having the nurse change his dressing and disinfect the wound.

Not long after the nurse left, Li Qian quietly arrived at the hospital room carrying an insulated food container. Zhang Yi’ang was lying prone on the hospital bed watching videos on his phone to pass the time. Seeing her tiptoe through the door, he couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Li Qian, why have you come?”

“Director, I brought you a late-night snack—it’s porridge I personally made.”

Li Qian appeared exceptionally gentle.

“You were investigating the case all day and just attended the meeting with us. Where did you find time to make porridge?”

“Well… I used the rice cooker’s timer function to make it.”

“Oh, then that doesn’t require much effort.”

Li Qian was slightly disappointed but immediately replaced it with an ingratiating smile: “Come, eat it while it’s hot and taste my cooking.”

She opened the insulated container and placed it on the cabinet. Zhang Yi’ang looked over and was surprised: “What kind of porridge is this?”

“Pork knuckle millet porridge.”

“There’s actually such a thing as pork knuckle millet porridge in this world?”

Li Qian giggled: “Your knuckle was injured—uh, your buttocks were injured, so I specially bought a pork knuckle to stew porridge for you to eat.”

Night had already deepened, and Zhang Yi’ang had worked hard all day and was truly exhausted. At this moment his appetite opened wide, and he was about to prop himself up and reach for a spoon when Li Qian snatched it away, smiling as she said: “It’s inconvenient for you to turn around. Let me feed you. Come, open your mouth.”

Zhang Yi’ang stared at her dumbfounded. Li Qian’s face reddened, and she simply lowered her head, bringing her lips close to the spoon and gently blowing on it two or three times before tenderly bringing it to his mouth. Zhang Yi’ang watched her lips opening and closing at close range and couldn’t help but instinctively feel his pants becoming a bit tight. He shifted his body slightly to loosen his pants and ate a mouthful of porridge. The taste was actually quite good—he really hadn’t expected that Li Qian would also have culinary skills. Li Qian scooped up another spoonful, blew on it a few times, and brought it over. Zhang Yi’ang took another bite. He felt the atmosphere was somewhat unusual, and if this continued, he was afraid he would commit a fatal political error. After all, she was the Deputy Minister’s niece—these feelings were no trifling matter. He thought for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and said: “I’m going to the restroom.”

“I’ll help you.”

“No need, no need, no need.” Zhang Yi’ang declined repeatedly, grabbed his two crutches, and quickly escaped from this stuffy hospital room to go outside and calm down, to properly think about how to handle this.

A few minutes later, Zhang Yi’ang opened the door, limped back into the room at a quick pace, turned around to close and lock the door, reached out to turn off all the light switches on the wall, and the hospital room instantly plunged into pitch darkness.

Li Qian’s heart beat rapidly, becoming tense: “You… what are you doing—”

“Get down.”

“Ah, here? But aren’t you injured?” Li Qian’s face blushed red in the darkness. She muttered quietly, but her body still followed the instruction and got down on the hospital bed—except she got down face-up, which is to say lying down, with her hands nervously crossed over her chest, her head turned to the side, eyes slightly closed.

Zhang Yi’ang turned around and, borrowing the night light from outside the window, saw Li Qian’s version of “getting down.” He walked over and pulled her up: “I told you to get down under the bed.”

“Under the bed?”

“I saw Huo Zheng—he’s looking for me.” He pushed Li Qian under the bed with one motion. After she hid under the bed, he pulled the blanket on the hospital bed straight into a human shape, then grabbed his crutches and quickly hid behind the curtain beside the hospital bed.

He had just hidden when gentle knocking sounds came from outside the door. After a few seconds, Huo Zheng’s face appeared at the glass window on the door. Huo Zheng saw the hospital room was pitch black and thought the person inside had already fallen asleep, so he reached out to turn the door handle, only to discover it was locked. He turned it twice but couldn’t open it. After a few seconds, he turned and left.

The two people inside the room held their breath, quietly listening to the footsteps outside the door receding into the distance, sounding especially eerie in the late-night hospital corridor.

“Has… has he left?” Li Qian, hiding under the bed, asked.

“He’s left for now. Don’t come out yet. Do you have your phone on you?”

“Yes.”

“Call Song Xing and tell him to hurry over to the hospital with people!” Zhang Yi’ang knew that Huo Zheng was an extremely brutal person. With his buttocks injured and movement impaired, and Li Qian even less able to be relied upon, with neither of them having weapons—if Huo Zheng came in, they would surely face great danger. At this moment he didn’t dare be careless in the slightest.

Li Qian also knew tonight was extremely dangerous. She immediately found Song Xing’s number and dialed it, saying quietly: “Hello Song Xing, Huo Zheng has come to the hospital, hurry and—”

Before she could finish speaking, footsteps sounded again, running quickly toward them. Li Qian hurriedly repeated herself in the lowest possible voice. The footsteps stopped outside the door, and the two people inside heard a key being inserted into the lock, then the door was opened. The two of them remained motionless in their respective hiding positions.

After Huo Zheng opened the door, he didn’t rush in urgently but first surveyed the area in a circle. Seeing that many flowers and fruits were placed around the hospital room, clearly indicating it was Zhang Yi’ang’s room, he unhurriedly closed the door, pulled down the curtain behind the glass window, took out a gleaming long dagger and gripped it in his hand, then walked step by step toward the hospital bed. He walked to the bedside, pulled back the blanket with one motion, only to see the blanket was empty with no one inside.

He frowned and immediately raised his head alertly. He realized the hospital room was locked, so the person must still be in the room.

At this moment, he heard a voice speaking from a phone: “Hello, Li Qian, say something. What hospital? Hello—”

Li Qian desperately pressed down on the phone’s volume, but the sound still leaked out. She quickly hung up the call, but unfortunately it was already too late. Looking up, she saw Huo Zheng’s pale face. Huo Zheng dragged her out from under the bed with one motion and, looking in the night light, how was this a female police officer?

In that split second, Huo Zheng heard a sound behind him. He instinctively turned his head to see a large crutch descending from the sky, striking directly at his head, landing squarely on his forehead. But after all, it was a crutch swung single-handedly by Zhang Yi’ang without sufficient force. He felt a burst of pain in his forehead but wasn’t seriously hurt. Fortunately, Li Qian took this opportunity to break free from his grasp and hid beside Zhang Yi’ang. Zhang Yi’ang gave his opponent no chance to catch his breath—the other crutch stabbed straight toward Huo Zheng’s stomach, and Huo Zheng took another hit, being knocked into the corner of the wall.

Zhang Yi’ang gripped the two crutches tightly in both hands, using them as extended arms, throwing straight punches at him one after another. But after all, his lower body was injured and unstable, and the force from his hands was insufficient, so he didn’t cause particularly severe damage to Huo Zheng. After dodging for the first few seconds, Huo Zheng immediately reacted. His left hand grabbed one of the crutches, cursing “Go to hell,” while his right hand gripped the long dagger and swung it directly at Zhang Yi’ang. At this critical moment, Zhang Yi’ang seized an opportunity with the other crutch and fiercely jabbed at his eyes.

Huo Zheng instinctively closed his eyes, but being poked by the crutch caused such severe pain he couldn’t open them. He hurriedly covered his head with both hands, instantly losing his strength. At this life-or-death juncture, Zhang Yi’ang’s adrenaline fully exploded. He threw one crutch to Li Qian, then wielded the remaining crutch with both hands and rushed forward to hammer Huo Zheng directly on the head. While dodging, Huo Zheng randomly grabbed various objects in the hospital room and wildly swung them over. Zhang Yi’ang was struck and injured in multiple places, but under the effect of adrenaline, he couldn’t feel the pain. The two men fought at the bedside, one relying on a dagger and the other on a crutch.

An inch longer brings an inch of strength, an inch shorter brings an inch of danger. Zhang Yi’ang’s body was slashed in several places, bleeding profusely, and although Huo Zheng had been pummeled countless times, this fierce criminal’s fighting ability remained formidable. Li Qian on the side, after being initially frightened into a daze, also joined the battle, but basically couldn’t help much.

In these brief seconds of chaotic fighting, Huo Zheng immediately thought of a way to quickly resolve the battle. He raised his arm to forcefully separate Zhang Yi’ang, then jumped onto the hospital bed recklessly and lunged toward Li Qian behind. Seeing him jump down with the dagger stabbing straight at Li Qian, Zhang Yi’ang threw away his crutch and lunged forward to embrace Huo Zheng, one hand grabbing his left hand, the other desperately gripping his right hand holding the knife. Both men fell to the ground. Huo Zheng wildly slashed the knife to the side, and multiple gashes appeared on Zhang Yi’ang’s arms and chest, blood staining his clothes red.

Huo Zheng’s skills were better than Zhang Yi’ang’s, but Zhang Yi’ang had the advantage of being taller and more robust. Zhang Yi’ang used all his strength to grip Huo Zheng’s hands to prevent him from committing violence. The two were deadlocked for several seconds when Huo Zheng opened his mouth wide and tilted his head to bite Zhang Yi’ang’s arm. “Ah—” Instantly it felt like the entire chunk of flesh would be torn off by his teeth. Fortunately, Li Qian used the crutch to stab forcefully at his stomach, and he finally loosened his mouth. Zhang Yi’ang seized this opportunity to do the same—he opened his mouth and bit toward Huo Zheng’s right arm. “Ah—” This time it was Huo Zheng who felt like an entire chunk of flesh would be bitten off. His right hand lost strength, and Zhang Yi’ang, with quick eyes and nimble hands, seized the dagger and stabbed it directly into Huo Zheng’s screaming mouth, randomly jabbing several times to mash his tongue into pulp, then forcefully slashed, cutting his mouth open to his ear. Zhang Yi’ang then stabbed another knife into his thigh, and Huo Zheng fainted from the intense pain.

Zhang Yi’ang stood up, covered in injuries all over his body, drenched in blood. The wound on his buttocks had long since burst open. Only now, after releasing his strength, did he feel all his muscles twitching. Unable to stand steadily, he fell and leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.

Borrowing the night light from outside the window, seeing that Li Qian was safe and sound, he finally smiled with relief.

Li Qian saw his appearance and emotionally rushed forward to embrace him tightly. Whether from the earlier fear or the current emotion, her tears flowed down uncontrollably.

Zhang Yi’ang, panting, patted her: “It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid anymore.”

Li Qian’s eyes fixed on his chin as she said quietly: “You saved me again. From now on… from now on, this life of mine belongs to you…”

Over an hour later, all the leaders from the Public Security Bureau and the main leaders from the San Jiang Kou government rushed to the hospital to visit Zhang Yi’ang. The hospital’s night-shift security guard was ordered dismissed on the spot by the mayor. The hospital director was suspended from duty. Although the nurse on duty explained “the criminal said he wanted to visit Director Zhang, asked which room he was in, and later stole the key to enter the hospital room,” she was still suspended, and the entire nursing shift had that month’s wages deducted. The various leaders, regardless of Zhang Yi’ang’s refusals, forcibly arranged for a group of six special police officers working in three rotating shifts to guard outside the hospital room door until his discharge.

In this life-or-death struggle, Zhang Yi’ang sustained over ten injuries. Looking at his blood-covered body, the sight was unbearable, but actually it wasn’t serious—they were all superficial wounds. The only serious one was the bite on his arm from Huo Zheng—a ring of teeth marks had broken the skin, the entire chunk of muscle appearing blackish-purple. Even now it was still extremely painful. Even the doctor said this chunk of flesh had nearly become necrotic tissue. The hospital called in the best surgeon overnight to clean and suture his wounds. Everyone gathered around like stars surrounding the moon, watching the doctor treat his wounds. Seeing him crying out in pain, they couldn’t help but joke that Director Zhang, who subdued the desperate criminal Huo Zheng with two crutches, could actually cry out in pain.

This incident brought Zhang Yi’ang’s prestige to its peak. He had just captured a pile of criminal gang members with his bare hands, and today, in a severely wounded condition, relying only on two crutches, he subdued a knife-wielding desperate criminal. If Director Zhang hadn’t been injured, even ten Huo Zhengs couldn’t defeat him.

After staying for a while longer, the various leaders, after offering their deeply caring instructions, left first. Outside the hospital room stood the special police on duty, while inside only the criminal police team members remained.

After Zhang Yi’ang gradually calmed down, he began asking about Huo Zheng’s condition.

Huo Zheng’s injuries were no less numerous than his—half his face was slashed open, and his thigh muscle was deeply stabbed. When he came out, he would also be a cripple, but he had no chance of coming out. Even after his injuries healed, his prior criminal record alone warranted the death penalty, not to mention tonight’s incident.

“Why did Huo Zheng come to the hospital to find me?”

Wang Ruijun said: “We all thought Huo Zheng had fled, but we didn’t expect he would dare come to the hospital to find you. He really doesn’t want to live.”

“Go interrogate him and have him give a statement. Ask him what he was thinking and tell me the results immediately.”

“In his current state, he can’t give a verbal statement, can he?” Wang Ruijun thought of Huo Zheng’s face he had just seen—even looking at it hurt.

“Are his hands broken?”

“No.”

“Then have him give a written statement—write out everything that’s asked! Interrogate him through the night!”

Song Xing interjected: “His condition is very poor right now. I think maybe we should interrogate him tomorrow?”

“How considerate of him you are.” When Song Xing didn’t speak it was fine, but once he spoke, Zhang Yi’ang was full of anger. “Song Xing, oh Song Xing, do you have a grudge against me? You nearly got me killed. Should you change your name to送命 (Song Ming—’deliver death’)?”

“What, Song Xing nearly got the Director killed!” Everyone glared at him angrily.

Li Qian immediately rattled off the matter of the emergency call like a string of pearls. Poor Song Xing was thoroughly cursed by his teammates again—first nearly letting Liu Bei kill Li Qian, then losing Mei Dong in pursuit, then recklessly advancing for merit and letting Fang Chao and Liu Zhi escape, and finally having zero alertness to the emergency call and nearly harming Director Zhang and Li Qian. Song Xing, are you an undercover agent planted in the criminal police team by the criminals!

Song Xing’s face turned bright red. He rushed out of the hospital room and went to the temporary room where Huo Zheng was being held. Ignoring the nurse’s humanitarian objections, he pulled Huo Zheng, who was lying on the bed, up and used every method to force him to gather his spirits and write down the cause and effect. In the end, they discovered the reason was actually quite simple—Zhu Yifei had saved Huo Zheng’s life, and after Zhu Yifei was arrested this time, Huo Zheng showed loyalty and wanted to rescue Zhu Yifei. He knew the success rate of forcibly breaking into the Public Security Bureau to rescue someone was zero, so he thought of coming to the hospital to take Zhang Yi’ang hostage to exchange for Zhu Yifei. However, before taking action, he had already prepared to be caught. Speaking of which, he was also quite a man of character.