After hanging up, Jiang Chengyi walked to the window and let the cold wind blow against him for a while, until his emotions settled. Only then did he return to the interrogation room with the equally excited Yu Zheng.

After sitting down, Jiang Chengyi took out the voice recorder and played that recording again in front of Cheng Zhou.

*Jiang Chengyi, let’s play a game. If you can find Zheng Xiaowen within twenty-four hours, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.*

He stared at Cheng Zhou. “These were your conditions, correct?”

Cheng Zhou raised his eyebrows, his eyes growing brighter.

Jiang Chengyi checked his watch. “It’s now 6:55 AM. Five minutes ago, our colleagues found Zheng Xiaowen and Wen Peng alive in Shuilongtan—”

For the first few seconds, Cheng Zhou seemed not to understand the meaning of these words, his expression slightly stiffening. When it finally registered, the smile on his face vanished as if wiped away by an invisible cloth, leaving only a pair of dark, sunken eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Chengyi tossed the voice recorder back on the table and said word by word, “Cheng Zhou, the game is over.”

After making that call to Old Qin, although Lu Yan was still worried about Jiang Chengyi’s situation, she could only wait for news at home since she couldn’t contact him at the moment.

Putting down her phone, she went to the dressing room to change clothes.

Two days ago, she had gradually moved her personal belongings to Jiang Chengyi’s master bedroom, taking her clothes out of the suitcase one by one and hanging them in the dressing room.

While changing, she thought to herself that if the perpetrator was Cheng Zhou, she should be able to go out safely soon. Once Jiang Chengyi gave a definitive answer, her first task would be to get more clothes from Nanshan Lane to bring over, to avoid constantly rotating through the same few outfits.

After putting on her jacket, she went to the dining room to eat.

Aunt Liu had already prepared breakfast, and the driver was there too. Both had learned from Jiang Chengyi about someone following Lu Yan recently, and without his notification, neither dared to leave on their own.

While eating breakfast, Lu Yan’s phone rang.

It was Tang Jie.

“Lu Yan, quick, turn on the TV!” Her tone was excited.

Lu Yan hurriedly put down her bowl, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and walked to the living room to turn on the TV.

It was still wall-to-wall news about Zheng Xiaowen, but different from before—the tense and oppressive atmosphere had completely dissipated, replaced by a screenful of excitement and joy.

One channel showed an old factory as its background, with the reporter struggling to stand in the crowded surge of people, holding up the microphone and reporting hoarsely, visible spittle flying as she spoke with an excited expression.

*At 6:55 AM, this is Star News Express. As you can see behind our reporter is Plastic Factory No. 2 near Runwang Road, where Zheng Xiaowen and Director Wen Peng were successfully rescued. Both are still unconscious. According to reports, before being discovered by police, they were thrown into a drainage well behind the factory. This well had been modified by the sanitation department and is now connected to the city’s drainage system at the bottom. Every morning at 6:50, tons of wastewater would flow through from below. Fortunately, the police found the two victims five minutes earlier—if they had been five minutes late, the consequences would have been unthinkable.*

A clamoring voice came from behind the reporter: “Please make way.”

The crowd automatically parted to both sides as two stretchers were carried out by medical personnel.

Needless to say, one of them was Zheng Xiaowen. The camera shook slightly and quickly zoomed in. Unfortunately, to protect the victim’s privacy, the police had already covered Zheng Xiaowen’s head with a jacket, and the image flashed by too quickly to see anything.

Lu Yan stared at the screen, unable to look away for a long time. Only at this moment did her heart, which had been suspended all night, finally settle firmly.

On the phone, seeing that Lu Yan hadn’t spoken for a while, Tang Jie called out: “Hey, Lu Yan, did you see the news? Say something.”

Only then did Lu Yan remember Tang Jie: “I saw it. You’ve been following this case too?”

When she spoke, her tone had already become much lighter.

“Of course! Wen Peng and Zheng Xiaowen are both good friends with our Dazhong. Since yesterday, Dazhong’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing, the whole circle is in an uproar. Because of this, Dazhong only slept for three hours last night, was woken up before dawn, and only calmed down a bit after seeing the news that they were both safe. By the way, I heard your Jiang Chengyi is in charge of this case—do you know who the perpetrator is? Why did they kidnap Zheng Xiaowen and Wen Peng?”

As of this morning, the police hadn’t released any specific information about the suspect, even the media was in the dark, let alone the general public.

Lu Yan spoke vaguely: “I don’t know who the perpetrator is either. The police should release the information in a couple of days. Anyway, the perpetrator didn’t succeed, and now Zheng Xiaowen and Wen Peng have been rescued.”

“True,” Tang Jie laughed. “Your Jiang Chengyi is impressive, really capable. So, are you still cooped up at home? When can you come out shopping with me?”

“Soon, probably.” Lu Yan walked back to the dining room, opened the floor-to-ceiling window, and went out to the terrace to breathe in the fresh air freely. “As soon as I can go out, I’ll call you right away.”

On this winter morning, the dawn mist hadn’t fully dispersed, and the sun rising later than usual. The morning glow was crimson, the sky clear—it promised to be a bright sunny day.

Leaning against the railing, she completely forgot about the cold, only remembering a line she had read in a book: “When things reach their ultimate magnitude, they often cast no shadows, like the sky and the sea.”

At this moment, gazing into the distance, she had this same feeling. As far as her eyes could see, the sky was smooth and azure, without even a trace of thin white clouds—where could there be any shadow?

Lost in thought, she suddenly heard faint voices from the dining room. After listening for a moment to identify them, she hurried back inside.

“Where’s Lu Yan?” Jiang Chengyi seemed to have just entered, not seeing her and asked Aunt Liu.

Before Aunt Liu could answer, he saw her.

Their eyes met, and Lu Yan smiled, walking quickly toward him.

Aunt Liu and the driver were very tactful, quickly slipping back to their rooms.

Lu Yan threw her arms around Jiang Chengyi’s neck and gave him a big kiss, extremely happy: “You’re amazing!”

Although Jiang Chengyi was also happy, to avoid her endless kisses, he tilted his head back slightly, laughing: “Enough, I haven’t showered for two days. Let me go back to the room and wash up properly, then you can kiss me all you want.”

Lu Yan couldn’t suppress her smile, pushing him toward the room: “Have you eaten breakfast? Are you hungry? Want me to shower with you?” The last sentence was deliberately lowered in volume.

“Ate. Not hungry. Yes.”

A standard Jiang Chengyi response.

Lu Yan laughed as she pushed him back to the master bedroom.

As soon as they entered the room, Jiang Chengyi took off his coat and started unbuttoning his shirt: “After showering I need to hurry back to the bureau. Doctor Yu has been interrogating all night, and when I left, he was still psychologically working on Cheng Zhou, though judging by Cheng Zhou’s behavior, he probably won’t hold out much longer.”

Lu Yan had just turned on the water tap, and hearing this, turned back in surprise: “You mean from when he was caught last night until now, Cheng Zhou hasn’t said a word? Even Doctor Yu couldn’t get him to talk?”

When would he confess about Deng Man’s case?

“Soon.” Jiang Chengyi threw his dirty shirt in the laundry basket. “But Cheng Zhou is the most stubborn suspect I’ve ever interrogated. If we hadn’t broken through his psychological defenses, we couldn’t have gotten any information from him at all. Earlier, we were lucky to get a lead from Zhou Zhicheng’s words, otherwise, we wouldn’t have thought there would be a well in Shuilongtan that could hide people.”

He spoke casually, but Lu Yan knew well what a heart-stopping moment he had experienced. Deeply moved, she stood on tiptoe and cupped his face: “You are amazing… my hero.”

Jiang Chengyi met her gaze and made a righteous demand: “Then your hero and little hero are both tired, requesting you to help them shower.” Holding her hand, he opened the shower door, about to pull her in.

“I’m still wearing clothes.” She struggled laughingly, pushing him inside. “You shower first, I’ll join you soon.”

He wouldn’t let go.

Unable to resist him, seeing he was down to just his pants, she simply smiled and hugged his waist from behind, using her slender white fingers to help him undo his buttons, coaxing like a child: “Alright, let me help you take off your pants first.”

In just a few seconds, she had aroused him, making his throat roll as his hands unconsciously reached behind.

She pushed his hands away: “Not finished yet.”

He was somewhat sheepish but insisted stubbornly: “What are you thinking? Even if we were finished, there was no time. I have to get back to the bureau in half an hour, not enough time for us to fool around.”

They pushed and shoved, spending over ten minutes in the bathroom before coming out. If Jiang Chengyi hadn’t been short on time, they probably would have mixed it up for an hour or two.

When they came out, Lu Yan was soaked through and through, forcing her to change clothes again and let down her wet hair to use the hairdryer in the bathroom.

Jiang Chengyi put on clean clothes and said from outside: “By the way, I just heard Old Qin say you called him this morning to tell him Teacher Zhou was about to wake up?”

Lu Yan raised her chin proudly: “Yes.”

“Oh.” Jiang Chengyi entered the bathroom, making her turn to lean against his chest. “Should I praise you for that?”

“Don’t I deserve praise?” Lu Yan lazily wrapped her arms around his waist.

He quietly looked at her for a moment, then mimicked her tone, saying softly: “My wife is amazing.”

Lu Yan froze.

“Come to the bureau with me.” He gently brushed aside her still-damp hair. “Cheng Zhou has been caught. As an eyewitness, you should go identify him and give another statement. Also, since you kept sending anonymous letters to the bureau about Deng Man’s case, I’ll see if I can try to apply to the higher-ups to let you hear the recording of Cheng Zhou’s confession about Deng Man. Of course, this isn’t quite by the book, so don’t get your hopes up too high.”

He knew Deng Man’s death had always been a heavy stone in Lu Yan’s heart, years of effort just to seek justice and truth for her friend.

Lu Yan’s nose tingled slightly as she nodded vigorously: “Okay.”

On the way to the police station, Jiang Chengyi said: “If we can successfully get through part of the case today, I’ll take you out for dinner tonight. You must be going stir-crazy being cooped up at home all this time.”

Lu Yan couldn’t ask for more, and after thinking, said: “Why don’t we go for Sichuan food?”

“Sichuan food?”

Lu Yan complained: “You know, that place we used to eat at in high school.”

“That place is still open?” Jiang Chengyi was surprised. Lu Yan didn’t like spicy food, but for some strange reason, he quite enjoyed it, so back then every time they went to eat there, it was her who suggested it. But she could only eat a few bites before the spiciness overwhelmed her, and then she could only watch him eat with tears in her eyes from across the table.

She gave a light snort and opened her phone: “Business is even better now. We need to make reservations in advance.”

“Can you handle spicy food? Why don’t we go somewhere else?”

“But I want spicy food.”

“Oh.” Whatever you say goes.

Arriving at the bureau, the office was particularly jubilant. Although most people hadn’t slept for two consecutive nights, everyone seemed energetic due to the successful breakthrough in the December 3rd major serial case.

Many people were holding steaming boxes of instant noodles, the room filled with laughter and chatter. Some couldn’t sit still, walking back and forth in the office while joking with colleagues around them.

Old Qin was speaking animatedly when he suddenly caught sight of Lu Yan, startled for a moment before breaking into a full smile: “Dr. Lu is here.”

This joyful atmosphere was very infectious. Lu Yan smiled knowingly, following Jiang Chengyi into the office.

“Take Lu Yan to identify the suspect later, and help her make a statement.” Jiang Chengyi handed Lu Yan over to Old Qin. “I’m heading down to the interrogation room.”

“Sure thing!” Old Qin quickly slurped down a few more bites of instant noodles and led Lu Yan to sit aside amidst the bustling noise. “Dr. Lu, please wait a moment, I’ll be finished eating soon.”

After Lu Yan sat down, she saw Jiang Chengyi still watching her from the doorway, so she winked at him, and only then did he leave reassured.