Su Man turned to look at Li Li, her face darkening.

The man with the large black bag laughed awkwardly again and wasted no time turning to leave, clearly eager to stay out of whatever dispute was brewing.

Su Man closed the door, walked back, and said coolly: “What do you mean by that? What’s wrong with my job — are you ashamed of it?”

Li Li blinked, momentarily caught off guard.

He hadn’t thought that much into it. He’d just wanted to keep Su Man from chatting too much with the man, for fear of something slipping.

“What do you have to say about being a lowly traffic cop…” Li Li said with a deliberately casual laugh. “Up before dawn, out in the wind and rain — you’d be better off quitting and staying home, or getting your family to put up the money for a… what would you call it, a women’s self-defense studio. Not bad, right? At least you’d be your own boss.”

Su Man pressed her lips to one side, her expression visibly sour as she came over and sat beside him. “Being a coach is boring. What I want to do is criminal investigation — you know that perfectly well.”

Li Li scoffed. “See, you look down on the job yourself, and yet when I said it just now, you made such a big deal out of it.”

“When did I look down on it?” Su Man frowned. “Traffic police and criminal investigators both serve the people — they’re both respectable.”

Li Li still smirked. “Oh my, someone’s been in the system long enough to start talking like an official~”

“I am not talking like an official!” Su Man grew heated. “Not liking my job as a traffic officer doesn’t mean I look down on traffic officers! I’ve been training in combat and conditioning my body since I was little — all of that was so I could catch criminals. If I don’t become an investigator, then what was the point of all those years of training?!”

“Why so worked up,” Li Li said. “With how much your parents dote on you, there’s no way they’d ever let you go out there brawling and getting hurt. Just settle down and be a good little traffic cop.”

Su Man found the phrase “good little traffic cop” somewhat grating, but since Li Li said unpleasant things all the time, she didn’t bother picking at that particular one. Instead, she said in all seriousness: “They promised me — as long as I can do my current job well, they’ll help me transfer to criminal investigation eventually.”

Li Li let out a dismissive little smile, thinking privately that her parents were clearly just stringing her along…

He didn’t say it aloud, because right now was his “reconciliation phase” — he didn’t want to push her away too thoroughly.

……

It was evening, around seven or eight o’clock — not long after most people had finished dinner.

Su Ma was at the hospital with Su Ba, keeping him company over his meal. Afterward, the two of them leaned against each other watching television. The programming wasn’t particularly engaging, so the couple flipped through channels and chatted idly.

Their conversation kept coming back to their daughter.

“I wonder if Manman is home yet…” Su Ba said slowly. “That job of hers really is too demanding. It’d be nice if she could transfer to an administrative role.”

Su Ma gave a little dismissive sound. “What’s nice about that? You know your own daughter — the girl has boundless energy. She’s already unhappy enough being a traffic officer. Stick her behind a desk and she’d probably drive herself crazy with restlessness.”

She paused, then added: “Don’t worry — I had a word with her superintendent. Manman is at a critical period right now, so they won’t be putting her on overtime. At this hour, she’s definitely already off work.”

“What?!” Su Ba shot upright on the hospital bed, eyes nearly popping out of his head. “You talked to Old Yang?! Why didn’t you discuss it with me first?!”

“And if I had discussed it with you, you would have agreed?” Su Ma said with contempt.

Su Ba clutched his chest as though he’d been gravely wounded. “And the hospital too! The doctor clearly said I was ready to be discharged, and you insisted I stay another two or three days — and it’s already been more than that! Isn’t this outright exploiting personal connections and occupying public resources?!”

—