Shi Ting had driven only halfway when a sudden unease crept over him.

He picked up his phone and was about to call Yan Qing when a call came in first. He put on his earpiece and answered.

“Captain Shi, the information on the USB drive has come through.”

Shi Ting couldn’t help but break into an excited expression. “Good — I’ll be right back.”

When Shi Ting arrived at the station, Jian Zhigang, a young man wearing glasses, and Old Fan were all there waiting for him.

“Captain Shi, this is Lin Yi — a computer expert.” Jian Zhigang made the introduction. “We owe it to him that we were able to recover the data on the USB drive.”

“Thank you.” Shi Ting shook Lin Yi’s hand. “Was the file recovery comprehensive?”

“The USB drive hadn’t been used in a very long time, but its core data wasn’t damaged. I carried out repairs and data restoration on it, and I can guarantee that ninety percent of the files inside are intact.”

“Captain Shi,” Old Fan said. “The data here is critically important — I broke out in a cold sweat just reading through it.”

“Is it connected to Yan Xueli and the woman?”

“All of it is criminal evidence belonging to a drug trafficking ring — collecting evidence of their drug trafficking and other crimes, spanning from scattered early records to a comprehensive and systematic later body of evidence.” Old Fan said. “What no one could have anticipated is that this drug trafficking ring has since reinvented itself entirely. The ring’s ringleader has become a well-known entrepreneur.”

Shi Ting’s brow furrowed. “A well-known entrepreneur?”

“His name is Shen Chenggong. Captain Shi will certainly have heard of him.”

“Shen Chenggong, founder of Chuangshi Group, a prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist in S City, recipient of S City’s Outstanding Entrepreneur award for three consecutive years.” Shi Ting was well acquainted with this man. “This person has an excellent reputation — they say he lives a particularly frugal life and is devoted to charitable causes.”

“Indeed, but that is merely his public face. Twenty years ago, he was the ringleader of a drug trafficking ring that police were actively pursuing — a ring that operated across two countries and sixteen provinces. The police had simply never been able to trace it back to the true mastermind behind the scenes.”

By now, Shi Ting had pieced everything together completely.

“Yan Xueli was very likely an undercover agent working for the police. Before he infiltrated the drug trafficking ring, his records were wiped entirely to ensure his mission could proceed smoothly — apart from one fixed point of contact, no one knew his true identity.”

“Yan Xueli was not a police officer, but he had graduated from the police academy. Someone must have found him and asked him to infiltrate the ring as an undercover operative for the police.”

At this realization, Shi Ting felt an excitement he could barely contain. If their deductions were correct, then Yan Qing’s father was not a drug trafficker — and the label that had been fixed to her head all these years could finally be removed.

She would be able to sit for professional title examinations and receive promotions without obstacle. And once the truth was brought to light after a thorough investigation, Yan Xueli would very likely be granted a posthumous commendation — which would also be a good thing for Yan Qing.

“Old Fan, this matter is of critical importance — I’m going to discuss it with Director Liu.” Shi Ting knew that the figures involved in this case held considerable influence in S City. His own authority and resources might not be sufficient to shake someone of that stature — and this case involved not only a criminal investigation, but also drug trafficking, financial crimes, and other major offences, all of which would require a task force to be established immediately from above for a comprehensive investigation.

Director Liu was visibly shaken when he saw the materials Shi Ting brought to him. “It’s true what they say — you can know a person’s face but not their heart.”

“Director Liu, I would like to request authorization to look into Shen Chenggong’s records.”

“Granted.” Director Liu agreed without hesitation. “I’ll have someone pull the files for you right away.”

Very shortly, Shen Chenggong’s records were in Shi Ting’s hands. Shi Ting read through them carefully and found that Shen Chenggong had business interests spanning multiple sectors and industries.

Shen Chenggong had two sons in total. His eldest son worked alongside him, and his second son was a lawyer.

When Shi Ting saw the photograph of the second son, he felt a flicker of surprise — he had met this person not long ago.

Shen Liang. The man Yan Qing had gone on a blind date with that day.

This Shen Liang had lived abroad for a long time and had only recently returned to the country. As Shen Chenggong’s son, what he had been doing abroad — and whether it was connected in any way to Shen Chenggong’s various criminal activities — Shi Ting felt it was necessary to thoroughly investigate.

After reviewing the Shen family’s records, he called Yan Qing.

The case had not yet been solved, and whether Yan Xueli’s identity could be brought back to light was still an unknown. But even this single thread of hope was enough to give Yan Qing something to look forward to.

The call, however, went through to an unreachable tone, again and again.

A sense of unease settled over Shi Ting.

After several more attempts, Yan Qing’s phone still couldn’t be reached.

The station had a clear internal regulation: phones must remain on at all times, twenty-four hours a day, and someone must be available to answer at any moment. When a case broke, time was the most critical weapon — getting to the scene first meant obtaining more evidence first.

“Captain Shi.” Hulu knocked on the door. “This late — aren’t you heading out yet?”

Hulu had two medical examiner certifications to complete, so he had stayed late. Passing by Shi Ting’s office and noticing the lights were still on, he had stuck his head in to check.

“Hulu, does your mentor have any other phone numbers besides the one ending in 4332?”

“My mentor only has one phone. What’s wrong — can’t get through?”

“No.”

“Is it going unanswered, or is the line not connecting?”

“Not connecting.”

“That’s strange. My mentor’s phone is on twenty-four hours a day — no matter what time, she’s always reachable, unless she’s in a tunnel, an elevator, or somewhere with weak signal.”

“I drove her home myself.”

“Then that’s even stranger. There’s no way there’d be no signal at her building.”

Professional instinct made Shi Ting spring to his feet. “I’m going to check on her.”

“I’m coming with you.” Hulu was worried too, and rode in Shi Ting’s car to Yan Qing’s residential compound.

The two of them arrived at the entrance to the building, and Hulu immediately pressed the intercom buzzer at the main door.

“Maybe my mentor fell asleep, and her phone just happened to die — a dead phone also won’t connect.” Hulu murmured to himself.

Shi Ting swept his gaze across the ground and spotted a movie ticket lying there.

He bent down and picked it up. It was the very same ticket from the film he and Yan Qing had seen together — same time and everything.

After the movie had ended, Yan Qing had taken the ticket home. She said she had a habit of collecting them.

Had this ticket slipped from her accidentally — or was there some other reason?

A sense of foreboding grew in Shi Ting’s heart. The buzzer was still ringing, and no one came to the door.

Just then, someone pushed the door open from inside and walked out. The two of them slipped in at once, made their way up to Yan Qing’s floor, and Hulu rushed forward and knocked.

“Mentor, Mentor — are you home?”

Hulu knocked for a long while. Still no response.

“Captain Shi, what do we do?” Hulu was also growing anxious. “It’s this late — Mentor wouldn’t have gone out, would she? And even if she had, she’d still have her phone.”

“Can you reach her second aunt and uncle?”

“Yes, I have Second Aunt’s number.” Hulu quickly found the number on his phone and called. The second aunt picked up before long.

When she heard that the station was looking for Yan Qing and that Yan Qing wasn’t home, she didn’t ask a single question and called a car straight away.

Second Aunt used her key to open the door, and Shi Ting strode in at once.

“She hasn’t come back.” Shi Ting said with certainty. “Her slippers haven’t been taken off the rack, the kitchen door is closed, and before we came in, I noticed the mailbox has an issue of the forensic medicine journal she subscribes to — if she’d come home, she would have taken it first.”

“Could she have gone out on short notice for something?” Second Aunt wrung her hands with worry.

“I’m going to check the surveillance footage.” Shi Ting strode quickly out of the apartment and went directly to the security booth.

After he showed his identification, the security guard cooperated fully and pulled up the footage. There was a camera positioned directly facing Yan Qing’s building entrance.

The guard rewound the footage to the time Shi Ting specified — the exact moment he had dropped Yan Qing off.

Both their figures appeared on screen. The footage continued until his car drove away and Yan Qing turned to go inside.

“Oh no.” The security guard watching the footage cried out in alarm. “This is a kidnapping!”

Shi Ting saw it too. Just as Yan Qing was about to step inside, a man rushed out from the side. He rendered Yan Qing unconscious and took her away.

“Hulu, get that footage back to the station immediately.” Shi Ting’s brow was deeply furrowed. “Have Jian Zhigang search for the Mentor’s number — see if the signal can be locked.”

Hulu had never expected anything like this to happen. He forced himself to stay calm even through his panic and anxiety. Second Aunt beside him, however, was no longer composed.

“What do we do, what do we do — who would kidnap Qingqing? She’s just a forensic examiner. Would some criminal come after her for revenge?” Second Aunt cried in distress. “Could it be one of those cases where someone filed complaints against her — could someone want to take revenge on her… No, I have to call Older Yan right away.”

“Second Aunt,” Shi Ting said. “Please contact Deputy Director Yan. We don’t yet know what the kidnapper’s motive is. If they have any demands, they’ll contact your family. Keep your phone on at all times.”

“Yes, yes — I’ll call Older Yan right now.”

Before long, Yan Xueqing arrived by car. After he had been briefed on the full situation, his expression grew grave.

“Captain Shi, do you think Qingqing may have offended someone in her work and is now facing retaliation?”

“She isn’t on the front lines, but that possibility can’t be ruled out entirely,” Shi Ting said. “However, if this were truly retaliation, the other party would have acted directly. Taking her away like this — I don’t think the motive is simple.”

“Could they want money?” Second Aunt asked urgently. “Older Yan, how much do we have on hand? If the kidnappers really do want money, we can’t scramble for it at the last minute.”

“I’m a police officer,” Yan Xueqing said gravely. “Police officers don’t give in to kidnappers.”

“Never mind what you do for a living — right now I only want Qingqing to be safe. As long as nothing happens to her, I’d sell the house and the land.” Second Aunt wiped her eyes. “At a time like this, nothing matters more than her safety.”

Yan Xueqing let out a sigh and reassured her: “The kidnappers probably aren’t after money. If they wanted money, they’d have gone after someone wealthy.”

“Could it be because of you?” Second Aunt suddenly pointed at Yan Xueqing. “You made enemies, and someone went after Qingqing instead.”

“If that were the case, they’d have gone after you — why would they go after my niece?”

To the outside world, Yan Qing was merely Yan Xueqing’s niece — but in the eyes of both the husband and wife, she was their own daughter.

“Deputy Director Yan,” Shi Ting suddenly said. “I believe that Yan Qing’s sudden kidnapping may well be connected to the case involving her parents.”

Yan Xueqing was taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“Yan Qing and I went to the scene of the original incident today, and we found a USB drive. I believe that the person who killed Yan Xueli and his wife is still out there — and has been searching for that USB drive.”

“How did the killer know you’d been there?”

“The killer must have surveillance equipment in the area, keeping constant watch over that apartment. Yan Qing hadn’t been to the scene in all these years, and her sudden appearance there after twenty years must have put the other party on high alert. So they decided to strike first and kidnapped her.”

“Has the content of that USB drive been deciphered?”

Shi Ting nodded. “Deputy Director Yan, there are things about this that you need to know — because it concerns your brother, Yan Xueli.”

At the mention of Yan Xueli’s name, a sad and complex expression surfaced in Yan Xueqing’s eyes.

When the incident had happened back then, he had been both shaken and grief-stricken — grief-stricken because that was his own elder brother, and shaken because of Yan Xueli’s identity.

Both brothers had graduated from the police academy. After graduation, he had become a police officer himself, while his elder brother, whose eyesight had been damaged, never entered the force and had instead been running a small business.

What he had never anticipated was that his brother would turn out to be a member of a drug trafficking ring — and end up dying at the hands of his own associates.

He had been angry and sorrowful that his brother had gone down such a path. All these years, he had never been able to make peace with it.

“It seems they truly did take Qingqing because of this.” Yan Xueqing’s expression was heavy. “They think Qingqing knows something.”

“This is my fault — I shouldn’t have brought her along to investigate this case,” Shi Ting said with deep remorse. “Because of me, she’s now in danger.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that.” Yan Xueli patted Shi Ting’s shoulder. “Although Qingqing never talks about it, I know this case is a knot tied deep in her heart. She’s been dreaming of finding the person who killed her parents. Now that the old case has been reopened and you’re here to help — even if you tried to stop her, she’d still keep investigating alongside you.”

“At the scene, she seemed to recover some of her memories.” Shi Ting said. “She recalled certain things from her childhood, and it was because of that that the USB drive was found.”

“Right — you said the USB drive holds something critically important. Besides my brother, what else…?”

“That USB drive contains evidence of Shen Chenggong’s criminal activities. A task force is currently being established above to launch a full-scale investigation.”

“Shen Chenggong? Not the same Shen Chenggong I’m thinking of, surely?”

“The very one.”

Yan Xueli was also deeply shaken. “A philanthropist — entangled in a case like this. It truly defies belief.”

“Deputy Director Yan, right now the most urgent matter is finding Yan Qing’s whereabouts. I’d like to start with the surveillance footage.”

“Agreed.” Yan Xueqing let out a heavy sigh. “Captain Shi, I trust in your abilities. I’m entrusting Qingqing’s safety to you. Whenever you need me, I will give you my full cooperation.”

Yan Xueqing was worried — and Shi Ting was no less anxious himself.

He didn’t know how Yan Qing was doing right now. To have something like this happen so suddenly — was she frightened?

But then he thought again: she was not an ordinary woman. She could face corpses with perfect calm. He could only hope that when confronted with danger, she would be equally composed.

Shi Ting hurried back to the station. Jian Zhigang had gathered his team and was already reviewing the footage.

“Captain Shi,” Jian Zhigang said. “Yan Qing was taken in a white van. The plates have been checked — it’s a cloned vehicle.”

“What about the vehicle’s route?” Shi Ting stood before the monitor, his gaze fixed intently on the screen.

“Still tracing it.”

“Work as fast as you can — thank you.”

“Captain Shi, rest assured. We’re all worried about Mentor’s safety. No matter what, we’ll track down the other party’s base of operations.”

~

When Yan Qing regained consciousness, she found herself surrounded entirely by solid walls — not a single window.

A lamp hung overhead, flickering intermittently between light and darkness.

She tried to move her hands and feet and found that they were both bound tightly with rope — there was no way to break free with her own strength.

“Who’s there?” Yan Qing worked to steady her emotions. Her gaze swept to a camera mounted in the upper left corner.

“Forensic Examiner Yan — you’re awake.” A mechanical voice came from the camera, clearly processed to disguise the speaker.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Worthy of a police officer — still this composed at a time like this.” The voice let out a brief laugh. “If you were an ordinary woman, you’d have burst into tears by now.”

The voice paused, then continued: “Forensic Examiner Yan, you’re so intelligent — why don’t you take a guess at why I’ve brought you here?”

“No need to talk in circles — what exactly do you want?”

“Very well.” The voice let out a dry, mechanical sound. “Forensic Examiner Yan, you went to the scene of the Yan Xueli case from twenty years ago today. I wonder whether there were any… discoveries?”

At the mention of Yan Xueli’s name, Yan Qing’s brow furrowed immediately.

Although she had already harbored a vague suspicion, she had not expected the other party to truly have come because of that case.

Twenty years had passed without anyone coming to find her. Now they were showing up — it was likely connected to the USB drive she had found at the scene.

“Forensic Examiner Yan, you already know what we’re after, don’t you? Then can you tell us — did you discover anything at the scene? Or have you remembered something?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ha. Forensic Examiner Yan, you hadn’t been to that place in twenty years, and yet you went today out of the blue. If it wasn’t because you’d remembered something, why would you have gone there? Just tell us what you know — what came back to you, what important information you have — and I’ll let you go.”

“You’ll let me go?” Yan Qing gave a cold laugh. “You abducted me — you were never planning to leave any witnesses.”

“Forensic Examiner Yan, everything is open to negotiation. As long as you cooperate, releasing you is not out of the question.”

“The things that happened twenty years ago — I can’t remember any of it. The reason I went to the scene is because the case has now been transferred to our branch station, and I only went with the team captain to re-examine the scene.”

“Forensic Examiner Yan, it seems you’re not planning to tell the truth. In that case, we’re perfectly willing to wait patiently for you to come around.”

The voice fell silent after that.

Yan Qing was wondering what the other party would do next when a faint warmth began to rise from the surface she was sitting on.

It was a room constructed of stone. Apart from the ceiling, every side was hard grey marble — and that strange heat was emanating from the marble itself.

Yan Qing pressed her palms flat against the floor. The temperature was rising at a perceptible rate. She suddenly understood the other party’s intention, and a crack appeared in her composed expression.

This was a room that could be heated — and she was like a frog inside it, the temperature rising steadily until it became scalding.

In this sealed, airtight space, even if the heat didn’t burn her alive, the hot air would infiltrate her throat, causing laryngeal edema or fatal dehydration.

“Forensic Examiner Yan, you’re clever enough to have felt it by now.” The mechanical voice came from the monitor again. “You certainly know the story of the frog in gradually heated water. You are that frog right now. If you want to live, tell us what you know.”

Yan Qing looked at the camera with a steady, unflinching gaze, as though unmoved.

She was afraid — but she refused to show a single trace of weakness before these people. She was a police officer. She would not yield to a criminal.

In the monitoring room, a man stared at the screen, his brow knitted. That stubborn, unflinching gaze unsettled him.

“Brother, does it really have to go this far?” he asked.

“She’s Yan Xueli’s daughter. Yan Xueli spent years collecting evidence against Father — and before he had a chance to hand it over, he was discovered. Yan Xueli died, but the evidence was never found. If anyone in this world knows where it is, it’s his daughter.” Shen Yu glanced at his younger brother. “What — do you know her?”

“We went on a blind date.”

“She’s the one Mom set you up with?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t tell me you fell for her at first sight.”

“Nothing like that.” Shen Liang denied it.

“Then don’t go soft. This evidence concerns the entire Shen family’s future — we can’t afford to be careless.”

“What if she refuses to talk?”

A flash of cruelty crossed Shen Yu’s eyes. “Then we’ll just have to make her stay quiet permanently. Isn’t there a saying — only the dead keep secrets?”

Shen Liang looked at the monitor. Though he felt reluctant, he said nothing.

~

“The vehicle’s route ends at Changshan Road,” Jian Zhigang said — and the news he brought was clearly not good.

“Captain Shi, the surveillance system on those streets has been undergoing renovation for some time now, so the cameras have been offline. The van disappeared at the intersection of Changshan Road and Baishan Road. To trace the vehicle’s route after that point, we’d have to review every section of road in the surrounding area — that would take around two days.”

Two days was too long.

Shi Ting sat before the monitor and watched the footage from just before the van disappeared, playing it over and over. Suddenly, his hand on the mouse went still.

“Zhigang — can you zoom in?”

“Yes.”

Jian Zhigang enlarged the frame Shi Ting had singled out — a close-up shot of the van.

“Look at the rear window glass — is there something white on it?”

Jian Zhigang and Old Fan both squinted and leaned in close.

“What is that?”

“Can’t make it out.”

“It’s bird droppings.” Shi Ting thought of the swallow droppings he had seen on the balcony of Yan Qing’s old home. “Bird droppings, fallen from above — and quite a lot of them.”

“Bird droppings — that many?”

Shi Ting quickly reached for the Shen family file that Director Liu had given him. He had only read through it once, but its contents were already imprinted in his mind.

He turned rapidly to one page and pointed at a line of text in the middle. “Look here — the Shen family business owns a poultry farm in the eastern suburbs, specialising in the raising of pigeons. At the intersection of Changshan Road and Baishan Road, heading east takes you to Pujiang Bridge, while heading west brings you to Jianshe Road — which has been fully closed due to metro construction. But going east from Changshan Road and continuing along Donghua Road, you’d arrive directly at the eastern suburbs.”

“Captain Shi, are you certain Yan Qing is in the eastern suburbs?”

“I am certain.” Shi Ting said. “Look at the side of the van — can you faintly make out a series of printed numbers? Even though not all of them are visible, ’01’ is the district code for Huanshan District — and the eastern suburbs fall precisely within Huanshan District. The people who abducted Yan Qing are very likely connected to the Shen family, and the poultry farm in the eastern suburbs is also a Shen family business. All of these coincidences added together are no coincidence.”

The team’s spirits rose at this.

“Captain Shi, what do we do now?”

“Gather everyone and head to the eastern suburbs at once — there’s not a moment to lose.”

The moment Shi Ting issued the order, police vehicles in the yard revved to life one by one. With sirens blaring, a fleet of police cars raced toward the eastern suburbs.

The vehicles flew forward; time flew with them.

As the temperature climbed higher, Yan Qing was drenched in sweat from head to toe. Her hands and feet were bound, making it impossible to stand, and the surface beneath her was growing hotter by the minute. To avoid being burned, she had no choice but to keep shifting her position, rolling from one spot to another.

“How are you doing, Forensic Examiner Yan?” The voice from the camera returned. “You’re a forensic examiner — you know better than anyone how gruesome a death like this would be. If you don’t want to be slowly cooked alive, cooperate with us, and you can be free of all this.”

Yan Qing was already so overheated she was close to delirium, sustained only by sheer force of will.

She knew she could not speak. She could not reveal anything about the USB drive — and she could not reveal that she had recovered part of her memory.

The people who had abducted her were very likely the same ones who had killed her parents. And that USB drive almost certainly contained evidence of their crimes.

If the other party discovered that the police had already obtained the USB drive, they would certainly strike first.

“Forensic Examiner Yan still refuses to speak, it seems. Very well, then — please continue to enjoy yourself.”

Shen Yu closed the video feed and glanced at Shen Liang. “This woman has an iron mouth. Still not talking through all of this.”

“Maybe she really does know nothing.”

“Better to kill one innocent person than to let one guilty one escape — let alone that she is Yan Xueli’s daughter. Father once regarded Yan Xueli as a trusted lieutenant, and yet he turned out to be a police undercover agent. Yan Xueli is dead; let his daughter accompany him to the grave.”

Shen Liang still wanted to say something, but someone suddenly came rushing in from outside: “We’re in trouble — the police are here!”

Before the words had even faded, several fully armed special operations officers had already broken through and stormed the room.

Shen Yu turned pale with shock and shouted, “Shen Liang — run!”

As Shen Liang was being dragged away by Shen Yu, he reached out and switched off a button on the control panel. The heating system slowly began to shut down.

He wasn’t sure why, but toward this woman he had met only once, he felt a peculiar, inexplicable guilt — not love, but a deep remorse whose origins he couldn’t even explain. Before this, they had been complete strangers.

And yet was he the only one who felt this way? Just as Yan Qing was almost on the verge of losing consciousness, the face that appeared in her mind was Shi Ting’s.

This person — so familiar to her, as though long, long ago, they had been the closest of confidants, inseparable from each other.

If there truly was such a thing as a past life, then in their previous life, they must surely have known each other.

“I’m sorry, Second Uncle and Second Aunt.” Yan Qing closed her eyes and silently offered her apologies. She had planned to look after them in their old age — but now, it seemed that chance was gone.

She thought: if she died, there would be an autopsy, wouldn’t there? And the one who performed it — would it be her own student?

Someday, she too would be the one lying on the examination table.

“Yan Qing.” A familiar voice suddenly rang out beside her ear, and then she was drawn into a wide, enveloping embrace.

That embrace carried a coolness she wanted to hold onto. Instinctively, she clutched at his jacket.

“Yan Qing — Yan Qing, can you hear me? It’s me, Shi Ting. Wake up.”

Shi Ting?

Such a familiar name — as though she had called it a thousand, ten thousand times before.

Shi Ting… Xingzhi…

Yan Qing slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Shi Ting’s anxious face, as he held her and ran.

She looked at him, and though her lips were stiff, she still forced them into a small smile.

Shi Ting — have we met before?

~

Two months later, the Shen Chenggong case was finally settled. Shen Chenggong was found guilty on multiple counts and sentenced to death. His two sons, during their attempt to flee, were involved in a car accident — their vehicle plunged off Pujiang Bridge. The car was destroyed; neither man survived.

The once-prominent Shen Group collapsed overnight — a cause for endless sighs.

At the same time, Yan Qing’s promotion documents finally came through. After all those years in the forensic department, she was at last appointed Chief of the Forensic Science Division.

This also made her the youngest-ever Chief of the Forensic Science Division in the history of the Pujiang Branch Station.

Yan Qing’s father, Yan Xueli, was also exonerated. It turned out that after graduating from the police academy, he had entered the public security system and had been cultivated as an undercover operative from early on.

The work he had done was extremely dangerous — exposure meant utter ruin — and so only one person had ever known his identity. That person had been killed in an accident during a mission.

Through painstaking investigation and coordinated efforts from multiple parties, Yan Xueli’s file was at last restored to the system, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Martyr.

From being the daughter of a drug trafficker, Yan Qing became the daughter of a martyr. The so-called “stain” that had been pressed upon her now shone brilliantly.

Yan Qing had not yet received word of her promotion and was in the forensics room writing a report.

“Mentor, incoming.” Someone wheeled in a trolley, covered with a white sheet over what appeared to be a body.

Yan Qing looked up, puzzled. “A case?”

If it were a case, there was no way she wouldn’t have been called to the scene.

“Sent over from the hospital,” her colleague said, and left.

Yan Qing walked to the trolley and pulled back the white sheet — but beneath it was no body. Instead, there was a sweeping spread of brilliant red roses.

Yan Qing covered her mouth in surprise, already half-guessing whose doing this was.

“Do you like it?” A familiar voice came from behind her.

“Captain Shi?” Yan Qing turned around and nearly walked straight into Shi Ting’s arms.

Shi Ting quickly steadied her by the arm, a smile at the corners of his lips.

“Are these for me?”

Shi Ting nodded.

“Why are you sending me flowers?”

Yan Qing’s face flushed. He had gone and made such a grand gesture — everyone would know by now.

Over these past two months, aside from their work together, the two of them had also been meeting frequently in private — meals, movies, walks around the city.

Everything had unfolded naturally, an unspoken understanding between them.

“When you’re pursuing someone you like, sending flowers is only natural.”

Shi Ting’s words turned Yan Qing’s face even redder. In the glow of the light, she looked all the more charming and lovely.

“Be my girlfriend.” Shi Ting took her hand very seriously. “Is that all right — Chief Yan?”

“Chief Yan?” Yan Qing’s focus seemed to have drifted to the wrong thing.

“Is that all right?” Shi Ting asked again.

Yan Qing felt somewhat bashful and gave him a mildly reproachful look. “What good would it do me to say no?”

“You’ve already accepted my flowers — there’s no taking it back.”

“That’s an unreasonable condition.” Yan Qing shot him a look.

Shi Ting laughed, lifted her hand to his lips, and kissed it. “From now on, you are my queen — I’ll do whatever you say.”

Yan Qing tried to pull her hand back but couldn’t. All she could do was stare at him. “What are you doing — what if someone comes in?”

“I’m kissing my own girlfriend’s hand — who would dare object?”

“Hey, the whole detective unit is full of single people — you’re the team captain, and instead of looking after your subordinates, you’re openly rubbing it in their faces. That’s not right.”

“Their affairs can be dealt with later.” Shi Ting gently drew her into his arms. “A team captain should set a good example — I’m leading by demonstration.”

“Right — you just called me Chief Yan. What do you mean by that?”

At that moment, a loud voice from outside suddenly rang out at a higher pitch than usual — Hulu: “Mentor, Captain Shi — we’re coming in!”

Hearing Hulu’s voice, Yan Qing quickly stepped out of Shi Ting’s arms.

Bang! Bang! Hulu burst in and pulled the ribbons on party poppers. Colourful streamers cascaded through the air in sweeping arcs, accompanied by a wave of cheers that filled the room.

“Mentor, congratulations on your promotion — officially becoming the Chief of the Forensic Science Division of our Pujiang Branch Station.”

“We can’t call her Mentor anymore — we have to call her Chief Yan now.”

“Chief Yan, greetings.”

Old Fan chimed in playfully: “At the station, we call her Chief — but once we’re outside, you call her sister-in-law, and I’ll call her younger sister-in-law.”

Old Fan’s words drew another round of laughter.

Amid the falling cascade of streamers, Yan Qing looked over at Shi Ting — and he happened to be looking at her too. Their eyes met. The vivid colours dazzled the vision, dizzied the eyes, and swept the heart away.

Yan Qing thought: regardless of whether their past lives had held a thousand tangled threads between them, here and now, she had chosen him. She accepted him.

Mountains stretched far, time flowed on — how fortunate, to have you beside me for the rest of my days.

——-END OF STORY——-