He Jianqiu felt that Boss Bai of Huangliang Yimeng was indeed a very magical person.

He had gone to the front lines of anti-narcotics work right after graduation and worked there for nearly ten years. Over these years, he had encountered countless people – whether good or bad, most of them lived rather impurely.

Back when he was working undercover as a subordinate in Phnom Penh, the drug dealer who killed A’Xin had initially entered the drug trafficking business to pay for his mother’s medical treatment. One moment he drowned his colleague in a fish tank, the next he was wiring money to his mother.

Later, when he was on a mission in Guangzhou, he encountered an informant he knew from the past. Someone who had once saved his life, but when they met again, directly stabbed him, leaving him bedridden in the hospital for two months and nearly costing him his life.

In Deputy Captain He’s eyes from Shancheng, most people in the world couldn’t achieve the clean, flawless purity of a piece of cream. Even after stepping back from the front lines, years of vigilant work habits still prevented him from developing much trust in people. This was how the nickname “Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane” came about.

His colleagues all thought he had a sharp nose, but they didn’t know he tossed and turned in nightmares day and night. He Jianqiu had once thought he could never return to living like a normal person, until – this vacation came.

Before coming to “work” at Huangliang Yimeng, he never imagined this harmless undercover assignment would end in such a way.

Similarly, he never expected to encounter in reality another person as clean and foolishly pure as A’Xin – someone who could be completely deceived by others, yet still end up busying himself with completely unrelated matters for those “con artists.”

When He Jianqiu came back to his senses, he was already standing at the entrance of Huangliang Yimeng, his sweaty hands clutching the small box he had just acquired.

“You’re way too damn slow! What do you think this is, shopping at the market?”

Bai Yang rushed out from inside the house wearing an apron.

The gentle-faced little boss even had cream on his face, and immediately dragged him into the house: “If you keep dawdling, your wife will be back from grocery shopping before we finish frosting the cake. You know how efficient Brother Lei is at getting things done… Do you actually want to remarry your wife or not?”

He Jianqiu was forcibly dragged into No. 29, only to discover the interior decoration had completely changed. Song Nanshi was inserting white roses into a vintage vase on the table, while Han Sha, who was buried in accounting, looked up at him and announced a number.

“364.”

Han Sha said mercilessly: “All decorations plus cake preparation costs. Since you’re one of us, Captain He, I won’t charge you labor fees… Logically speaking, all of us giving up our day off to help you counts as overtime.”

“…”

He Jianqiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had just spent a month and a half’s salary in one go, and compared to that, this three hundred-plus yuan was hardly enough to fill a tooth gap.

“Stop talking nonsense and hurry up! Brother Lei might already be on his way back!”

Bai Yang was frantic with urgency, immediately snatching the small box away. When he opened it, the large diamond ring inside dazzled Bai Yang so much he felt dizzy. He said in shock: “Captain He, are you sure you want to use such a big diamond? This is going inside a cake – what if it gets stuck in someone’s throat?”

“Wouldn’t using a smaller one make it even easier to swallow?”

He Jianqiu was a police officer after all. Aside from emotions, he still had basic logical thinking abilities. He said helplessly: “And to be honest, boss, your decorations are too obvious. Lei Hong used to work in technical investigation – she’ll know with one glance…”

“That’s called romance, okay? Have you actually been married before?”

Bai Yang didn’t give him a chance to argue back. Without another word, he had already sterilized the ring and stuffed it into the cream, his frosting technique becoming increasingly rough: “You finally stepped back from the front lines. Since you want to re-pursue my Brother Lei this time, of course you need to use thunderous methods! If it weren’t for the fact that you’re old, thin-skinned, and a civil servant, I would have made you kneel by the riverside and beg Brother Lei for forgiveness directly.”

“…Boss, if Lei Hong and I had a son, he probably wouldn’t be as invested in this as you are.”

Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane felt somewhat of a headache.

Although he had indeed taken a day off from the bureau.

Although the captain had said he didn’t need to come to work for the next half week, that there was no place for him in the team anymore.

Although he really did want to marry Lei Hong back.

However, given the current situation, Bai Yang seemed to think Lei Hong would definitely agree, but he knew that person’s temperament.

The reason she confirmed everything three times was to not give the other party a chance for regrets.

Just like that confession back then, when they got married later, Lei Hong asked him three times, and when they divorced, she also asked three times. Lei Hong never played around with this matter, so each time she asked—

“Are you sure?”

It was always He Jianqiu himself who nodded in the end.

Thinking of this, Ghost’s Bane couldn’t help but sigh: “Boss, I think you all really need to prepare mentally for the possibility that Lei Hong might not immediately…”

“Damn it, don’t say such defeatist things! Are you the one remarrying or am I?”

Hearing this, Boss Bai, who was in the middle of storm-speed cake decorating, suddenly looked up and glared at him angrily: “I gave up my shop’s day off today and dragged all my employees back here to make you a cake and set up the scene. If you can’t win back my big brother, I don’t care if you’re Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane – I’ll definitely shove your head into the cake and make you snort cream through your nostrils!”

“……..”

Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane’s head hurt even more.

He hadn’t seen someone like Bai Yang for too many years – someone who would act like he wanted to bite you after deceiving you, but then get more worked up about other people’s family affairs than their own father would.

Even the police dogs at the bureau held grudges better than this person.

“Boss, I’m saying you…”

He Jianqiu wanted to give Bai Yang another reality check, but at this moment Song Nanshi was already frantically slapping the kitchen glass: “Boss! She’s back! Sister Lei has already reached the intersection ahead! I can see her!”

“Holy shit, Brother Lei is way too fast. I specifically ordered three different kinds of dumplings!”

Now Bai Yang had no time for more nonsense. He directly kicked He Jianqiu out of the kitchen with one foot and activated eight-times-speed violent cake decorating mode: “Hurry up and stall Brother Lei, don’t let her come in! And don’t let her find out!”

“…”

Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane had handled many high-difficulty assignments in his life, including plenty that simply required buying time.

However, even with two real gunmen standing behind him, He Jianqiu had never been as nervous as he was now.

As a former technical investigation officer, Lei Hong’s vision was so good she could spot a piece of incompletely burned paper in a pile of ash. She saw him standing there at a loss from far away and walked over, alertly looking around: “Setting up surveillance? Someone to arrest? Is there a case in Guan Yinli?”

Wasn’t there just?

He Jianqiu thought to himself that the person to be arrested was right in front of him, and he wished he could drag her directly to the civil affairs bureau right now.

However, the cruel reality was that although Lei Hong probably couldn’t beat him now, if he dared to do that, Lei Hong would very likely call the police directly and have them arrest him, the deputy captain of criminal investigation.

Just thinking about Lei Hong turning against him made Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane truly unable not to worry.

So he could only smile casually and say: “I’ve been too busy recently. The team gave me some time off, and I kind of miss the days when I worked here, so I came by for a walk and to chat with the boss.”

“So you’re just wandering around?”

Hearing this, Lei Hong’s gaze suspiciously swept across his face. This was obviously a lame excuse – for the first time in his life, He Jianqiu began to reflect on whether he was too much of a workaholic, to the point where his ex-wife simply didn’t buy this nonsense about him coming out to wander around.

“Why are you wearing this out?”

Suddenly, Lei Hong grabbed his left hand and stared at the lusterless ring on his finger, her gaze as sharp as when she used to find cigarette butts at crime scenes.

“I…”

He Jianqiu was momentarily speechless.

Logically, with his past vigilance, to prevent Lei Hong from discovering their intentions, he should have removed this talisman-like ring when Bai Yang kicked him out.

So Guan Yinli No. 29 really was a somewhat mystical place – every time he came here, his professional competence easily got thrown to the winds… What kind of Infernal Affairs haunted house was this?

He Jianqiu groaned inwardly, while Lei Hong’s gaze wandered back and forth between his face and his ring. Finally, as alarm bells rang loudly in Captain He’s heart, disappointment appeared in the woman’s cat-like eyes.

Lei Hong sighed.

“So, Captain He, what if I said I don’t want to agree?”