“You’ve filed this report. I authorize you to open the case.”

Lu Xuan, still deep in his anxious turmoil, heard Rong Qian’s words and went still for a long moment. He looked up at her. Rong Qian was composed and unhurried, her calm carrying a crisp, precise authority. There was a kind of strength in her — a force that made people trust and depend on her without meaning to.

The American authorities wouldn’t open the case. China could. Rong Qian accepted his report, and from there, all the usual formalities were stripped down to the essentials. Rong Qian began demonstrating her professional capabilities.

She questioned Lu Xuan thoroughly, covering every detail of his time with Chen Shiyi from every angle. She was highly professional — the terminology she used came so naturally that Lu Xuan felt as though he were being questioned by a detective at a real police precinct.

Shen Yi watched from the side throughout.

Rong Qian was like a different person — no hint of her usual easy smile, just serious and meticulous focus. She questioned Lu Xuan one-on-one, her pen moving swiftly across paper as she took notes.

When she had finished, Rong Qian sat in thoughtful silence for a moment. Then she looked at Shen Yi and asked, “You’ve worked all kinds of part-time jobs. How did you find them?”

“Found them myself, or through people I knew.”

Rong Qian followed up. “Who was one of those people?”

“Lin Feng.”

Rong Qian snapped her notebook shut with a decisive clap and stood. “Let’s go. We’re finding Lin Feng.”

“You think Shiyi’s part-time job was introduced to her by Lin Feng?” Lu Xuan pressed, desperate for an answer.

Rong Qian looked at him and said with all seriousness, “Suspicion without evidence is just speculation. All I said was that we’re going to find him — I didn’t say he was the one who made the introduction. Don’t jump to conclusions, and don’t let assumptions in your head drive you to do something rash.”

“Understood.” Lu Xuan unclenched his fist. He had just felt a strong urge to go punch Lin Feng.

Lin Feng worked at a bar on the night shift and usually slept there during the day. When Rong Qian and the others woke him up early that morning, he was notably irritated.

“Chen Shiyi? Yeah, she did come to me asking about part-time work.”

“I knew it was you!”

Lu Xuan grabbed Lin Feng and shoved him against the wall, glaring at him with fury. “Talk! What job did Shiyi get? Where was she going for the interview!”

Rong Qian shook her head helplessly. The warning she’d given might as well not have been given at all.

“What’s wrong with you, losing it this early in the morning?” Lin Feng shoved Lu Xuan back, exasperated. “Can’t you let me finish before you fly off the handle?!”

Lu Xuan was seething and looked ready to say more, but Shen Yi spoke up then. “Let him finish.”

Lu Xuan met Shen Yi’s gaze, took a deep breath, and stepped back without further protest.

Rong Qian stepped forward and said to Lin Feng, “The kind of part-time work Chen Shiyi was looking for was fairly specific. You didn’t have the right connections to arrange it yourself, but you knew someone who might. So you just gave her your friend’s contact. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“How did you know that?” Lin Feng looked genuinely surprised. “She wanted to tutor violin. I don’t have anyone in that circle, so I told her Jessie might know someone.”

Jessie was a Black friend of his.

“A tutor?” Lu Xuan startled slightly. He recalled telling Chen Shiyi that her violin was good enough to take on students and earn some living expenses. Chen Shiyi had been dismissive of herself, saying it was impossible. He’d encouraged her many times, but she never gave him a clear answer. Eventually, he had stopped bringing it up.

He hadn’t realized she had kept his words in her heart all along…

“By the way, what actually happened to Chen Shiyi?” Lin Feng finally thought to ask.

Rong Qian told him plainly, “Nothing much — she’s just been missing for less than twenty-four hours.”

“Just missing?!”

Lin Feng’s eyes went wide. He hurried to the bar’s landline and called Jessie — only for the response to bring the group crashing into disappointment. Jessie hadn’t introduced anyone to Chen Shiyi either.

Lin Feng was furious. He ordered Jessie to come to the bar immediately.

Rong Qian pressed for more details — when exactly had Chen Shiyi come to find him, and what had her expression been like?

Jessie had no idea who Rong Qian was, but he was an honest, good-natured person, and he answered her questions earnestly.

His account yielded no useful leads. Lu Xuan grew more crestfallen with every word. But Rong Qian remained patient and asked, “Where exactly were you when Chen Shiyi came to speak with you?”

“Inside the shop.” Jessie’s family ran a small convenience store, where he helped at the register.

When Chen Shiyi had come to find him, the store didn’t have many customers. He had been lazily ringing people up while chatting with her at the same time.

“Think carefully,” Rong Qian said gently, guiding him deeper into the memory. “When Chen Shiyi left, was there anything unusual? Or, after she walked out the door — did anyone you didn’t recognize speak to her?”

Prompted by Rong Qian’s questions, Jessie did recall a detail. He said to her, “Yes! There was a middle-aged white man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He only bought a pack of cigarettes but kept hanging around without coming to the register. When Chen Shiyi left, he suddenly came rushing over to pay — and then hurried out right after.”

“I remember now! He was walking behind Chen Shiyi when he left!”

Chen Shiyi woke to find her hands and feet bound, black tape plastered across her mouth, and herself locked in what appeared to be a storage room.

She was at a complete loss. She tried to struggle, but found she had no strength at all. I’m done for, she thought. My life is over.

It had all started that day when she went to find Jessie…

She was full of regret now, thinking back on it. She should never have trusted a stranger.

Even if that man had been dressed in a suit and looked every part the respectable gentleman, she should never have blindly believed him when he said he wanted to hire a violin tutor for his son and invited her to his home.

She had thought herself clever at the time — she hadn’t followed him right away, only leaving her phone number.

Later, his secretary had contacted her several times. She had looked into it and confirmed that the man was a company owner, and that he did indeed have a seven-year-old son.

She had also learned that his wife was Chinese, which was apparently why he wanted to find a Chinese tutor who could play violin.

He had also told her that they would need to verify her violin skills first before agreeing to hire her.

Chen Shiyi had considered it carefully. It seemed low-risk, and so she had agreed to stop by that afternoon.

At first, nothing seemed amiss. A domestic servant invited her to sit and brought her a cup of coffee, asking her to wait for a moment. The last thing Chen Shiyi could remember was drinking that coffee — after that, everything went dark.

The coffee had been drugged.

Chen Shiyi was terrified, with no idea what lay ahead of her. Footsteps sounded from the other side of the door just then, and every hair on her body stood on end. Her hands and feet turned ice cold.

Once fear takes hold, the body cannot stop trembling. Tears streamed from her eyes beyond her control. Chen Shiyi wept helplessly, calling Lu Xuan’s name over and over in her heart.

Lu Xuan… save me, Lu Xuan… Lu Xuan!

“Shiyi!”

In the car, Lu Xuan jolted awake with a violent start. Lin Feng, sitting beside him, was startled. “What? Did you have a nightmare?”

Lu Xuan was drenched in cold sweat. He took several gulping breaths and noticed everyone in the car was looking at him. He felt a pang of embarrassment.

He remembered closing his eyes after getting into the car to try to think of any details he might have overlooked — and then, to his own bewilderment, he had fallen asleep and dreamed of Chen Shiyi.

“How long was I asleep?” Lu Xuan asked.

“Not long. About ten minutes or so.” Rong Qian was steering with one hand, her index finger tapping out a light, steady rhythm on the wheel. Her other hand propped up her chin as she waited for the traffic light ahead.

Shen Yi sat in the passenger seat, arms folded across his chest, eyes closed, resting — or perhaps thinking.

The car had been rented near the bar. Lin Feng had originally been eager to show off his driving skills, but Rong Qian plucked him off the driver’s seat before he could even sit down.

And after witnessing Rong Qian’s driving, Lin Feng felt nothing but relief that he hadn’t embarrassed himself by pulling out his mediocre skills to compare.

Lin Feng, Lu Xuan, and Jessie were all in the back seat — none of them knowing where Rong Qian was driving.

In the end, it was Lu Xuan who couldn’t hold back. “Rong Qian, where are we actually going right now?”

It was already one in the afternoon. They had spent the entire morning running around with Rong Qian, and Chen Shiyi’s whereabouts were still unknown. Every passing hour made Lu Xuan more afraid.

Rong Qian turned to look at him and gave him three words: “To rescue someone.”

Then, thinking it over, she added one more: “I already know where she is.”

Hearing that, Shen Yi’s eyes opened in an instant. Something like a shadow seemed to lift from the depths of his gaze. Then, almost imperceptibly, he let out a quiet breath of relief.

Rong Qian noticed. She glanced at him briefly and said nothing.