Tang Jie hadn’t expected Jiang Chengyi to answer so quickly. Too startled to hesitate, she quickly put the phone on speaker and spoke into it with the urgency of a secret agent: “Jiang Chengyi, this is Tang Jie. Um, I’m at Lu Yan’s place—”
The other end remained silent but didn’t hang up.
Tang Jie nervously swallowed before continuing: “There’s some creep outside Lu Yan’s door right now, they’ve been standing there for ages. When we asked who it was, they didn’t answer. We’ve called the police, but I think they’re still out there. Lu Yan says they came last night too. We don’t know what they want—from what I can tell, they’re either a burglar or a serious pervert. Jiang Chengyi, aren’t you with the Anshan District Police? One of Lu Yan’s coworkers just had an incident—are there a lot of creeps like this lately—”
She spoke as rapidly as possible, like falling beads, afraid Jiang Chengyi might suddenly hang up.
The other end remained silent.
Tang Jie scratched her head, running out of things to say: “Hey, Jiang Chengyi, are you listening? I’m not joking. This is our first time dealing with something like this, we’re scared to death. We thought of you since you’re the only police officer among our classmates, so—”
“Address.” Two short words are completely devoid of emotion.
“Huh?” Not only was Tang Jie stunned, but Lu Yan’s arms, still wrapped around her head, also stiffened.
Tang Jie quickly shot Lu Yan a meaningful look: “Nanshan Alley behind First Hospital, it’s the alley next to where we had dinner tonight. Building One, Apartment 301.”
After hanging up, Tang Jie was still processing what had happened. She paused for a moment, then turned to look at Lu Yan, who had her eyes tightly shut and was awkwardly biting her lower lip.
Tang Jie moved closer to Lu Yan, about to say something sheepishly when suddenly there was a knock at the door, and simultaneously, Lu Yan’s phone rang.
Lu Yan checked the phone, saw the number ending in xxx, and felt relieved. She quickly answered and heard: “Hello, we’re officers from the Nanshan Police Station. We’re at your door now, please open up.”
It was the police, and they’d arrived quickly.
Both women sighed in relief and hurried out of the bedroom.
There were hushed conversations outside the door.
When they opened it, two police officers stood there.
Seeing Lu Yan, they showed their police badges: “Hello, did you make the police report earlier?”
Lu Yan peered past them into the hallway. Besides the two officers, there was only the dim light illuminating the empty stairwell, with no one else in sight.
It seemed Tang Jie had been right—the person had run away.
She nodded nervously: “Yes, officers. Someone was lingering outside my door. Not just tonight—it happened last night too. They were still here when we called, but they must have left when you arrived. They probably haven’t gone far.”
Tang Jie quickly chimed in: “Yes, yes, thank you officers for your hard work. If you go after them now, you might still catch them. This is terrifying—if you don’t catch them, that creep will probably come back tomorrow night to harass my friend.”
The two officers exchanged glances, and one said to the other: “I’ll go check downstairs. You take their statement.”
After he left, the remaining officer took out his baton and looked up warily at the stairwell between the third and fourth floors. It was a small space, the motion sensor light had gone out, and only pale moonlight filtered through the ventilation window, casting everything in darkness.
“Ladies, please wait inside and close the door.” It seemed the officer intended to check upstairs.
Lu Yan felt a chill down her spine. Seeing Tang Jie also craning her neck curiously to look up, she quickly pulled her back inside and closed the door.
They sat side by side on the sofa, staring blankly at the dark TV screen. The shock had reduced their saliva production, making their throats increasingly dry. They decided to drink water, as it was the only way they could think of to ease their anxiety.
After gulping down one glass each, they weren’t satisfied and were about to pour a second glass when voices came from outside the door.
Both tensed up, listening intently. They were already highly alert, and the hallway was quieter than usual, making every small sound detectable.
They heard one particularly familiar voice, and after a few exchanges, the previous officer said in surprise: “Ah, so you’re a senior officer from headquarters.”
Lu Yan held her breath as she set her glass down on the coffee table. Tang Jie tilted her head to listen: “Could it be Jiang Chengyi?”
Lu Yan collected herself, walked to the door, peeked through the peephole twice, and then opened it.
Several people stood outside, including one who was just holstering his gun—none other than Jiang Chengyi. The dim light cast a cool radiance on his face, making his features appear even more handsome and profound than usual.
Hearing the door open, he didn’t turn to look, remaining focused on listening to the two officers.
The officer who had gone downstairs to pursue said: “They ran very fast; I couldn’t catch them. There are no cameras in the stairwell. There is one at the building entrance, but the security chief has the monitoring room key, and we can’t reach him now. We’ll have to check the footage tomorrow. This is an old complex—there have been several burglaries before. From what I can tell, this might be a theft ring doing advance surveillance.”
Then he realized something strange: “By the way, Captain Jiang, why are you here? Do you know the complainant?”
“High school classmates,” Jiang Chengyi said calmly. “I was working a case nearby, got the call, and thought I’d stop by. There’s nothing for me to do here—proceed with your standard procedures. I’ll be going now.”
Just then, Tang Jie reached the door and, hearing this and seeing Lu Yan’s silence, quickly said with a laugh: “Jiang Chengyi, that’s great! You’re a true old classmate, actually coming over. Don’t rush off—come in and sit for a while.”
The two officers looked curiously at Jiang Chengyi—weren’t they high school classmates? Why weren’t they even speaking to each other?
Jiang Chengyi stood by the door with his hands in his pockets for a while longer, but under Tang Jie’s persistent urging, he finally entered reluctantly.
Lu Yan’s apartment was a typical two-bedroom, one-living room layout. Though small, Lu Yan had made it clean and comfortable, with no unnecessary or eye-catching decorations.
He sat down on the sofa.
Lu Yan went to the kitchen and brought out three glasses of lemon water, placing one in front of Jiang Chengyi and giving the other two to the police officers, then sat down at the dining table to give her statement.
Tang Jie sat next to Lu Yan, occasionally glancing back at Jiang Chengyi. Despite the cold weather, he wore only a gray dress shirt—perhaps he’d left his coat in the car.
As a frequent luxury boutique shopper, she immediately recognized Jiang Chengyi’s shirt as an Italian brand with a hefty price tag.
The wealthy businessmen who associated with her father, both young and old, loved this brand, but none of them wore it without looking tacky, which had given her a poor impression of it.
Yet somehow, Jiang Chengyi managed to somewhat redeem the brand’s image in her eyes.
Jiang Chengyi sat on the sofa looking at his phone, appearing completely detached from the situation. After a long while, he finally glanced at the coffee table and picked up Lu Yan’s glass of lemon water to drink.
She shook her head and turned to look at Lu Yan, feeling slightly embarrassed. The incident had happened so suddenly, and they had been genuinely frightened. Even now, Lu Yan was still in her pajamas—a light blue top and pants in a thin material, fortunately modest enough to avoid any concerns about exposure.
As she was a single woman living alone, the two officers took the night’s events very seriously. After asking many questions, one officer said: “Tomorrow we’ll check the surveillance footage, and if we find anything, we’ll notify you, Miss Lu. If necessary, we’ll take appropriate protective measures. Miss Lu, since you’re a local, if possible, we suggest you stay with your parents or friends for a while, until we figure out what’s going on.”
Lu Yan was quiet for a moment, then said with a slight smile: “My mother and friends all live quite far away. Even if I were to move, I’d probably need to find a place nearby. But I’ll seriously consider your suggestion, officers.”
Tang Jie, however, looked worried and said: “I have to go to City B with my father in a few days to discuss medical equipment for the clinic. Tomorrow I’ll help you look at apartments nearby. Nanshan Road isn’t safe—let’s check out those upscale buildings on Songshan Road. Those communities have better security. I can cover the rent and expenses for now. Anything would be safer than staying in this old building.”