Chapter 16

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Wang Xuejiao had no idea what great achievements Old Xu had to his name. She merely relied on the instinct she had developed from years of following online gossip, casually coaxing bits and pieces of information out of Wu Chaoyong. From him, she learned that Old Xu’s most impressive case had been his role in solving the biggest criminal case since the founding of the country: the one in which enemy agents had planned to shell the Founding Ceremony.

After that, he had continued to work with tireless dedication. He was extraordinarily capable and exceptionally serious. Diving into freezing winter waters to retrieve evidence, going several nights without sleep—such things had been routine for him. In the end, he had ruined his health.

His temper was terrible. He gave no one special treatment, and his words were often harsh. If he had not been so capable, breaking one major case after another, no one could say whether he would still be alive today.

Director Wu had come to know Old Xu because Old Xu had helped clear one of his relatives of a murder charge. The relative had already been sentenced to execution, but Old Xu had insisted that something was wrong. He had gone back to find new evidence and witnesses, reconstructed the chain of reasoning, and overturned the entire case. The relative had been released innocent.

Once they had exhausted the subject of personal connections, they began talking about street vendors. Wu Chaoyong launched into a bitter complaint, saying that the city was trying to win the title of a civilized and hygienic city while peddlers still had to make a living, leaving people like them caught painfully in the middle.

What Wang Xuejiao was really curious about, however, was the matter of thieves.

When they had first held a meeting to discuss the assignment, she had been torn: If she saw a thief stealing something while she was conducting surveillance, should she intervene?

If she acted, the thief might identify her and compromise the operation.

If she did nothing, not only would her conscience trouble her, but she would also feel she had betrayed the uniform she was wearing.

Although she had learned a few emergency-response tricks from the veteran detective, Wang Xuejiao still felt uncertain. She had imagined all sorts of thrilling scenarios, including one in which the counterfeit-money gang saw through her identity while she was arresting a thief, then secretly shot her from the shadows. She would slowly collapse to the ground as the background music swelled:

“Golden shield—cast in searing blood…”

In reality, nothing happened. She was not exposed, to say nothing of being shot.

For such a lively street, there was not even a single thief. It made no scientific sense.

At that thought, Wang Xuejiao suddenly changed the subject. “By the way, I don’t think I’ve seen any thieves around Construction Road. Am I imagining things?”

“As expected of Old Xu’s granddaughter—your powers of observation are incredible!” Wu Chaoyong praised her.

Wang Xuejiao pressed him. “Why is that?”

“We used to catch plenty of thieves. No matter how many times we arrested them, they kept coming back. Then one day, they got into a fight, and after that, they disappeared.”

Wang Xuejiao was left with a head full of question marks.

There had to be a reason for the fight, right? Were they fighting over territory?

And after the territory had been divided, shouldn’t the winners have stayed behind to keep stealing?

How had they all simply vanished?!

Surely they had not wiped one another out!

Wu Chaoyong told her that the group had not fought over territory at all. They had been hired.

“Last year, a department store was built beside the university town. There was some dispute over the land, and construction was blocked, so the department store hired more than a hundred people.”

Hiring more than a hundred people was obviously not for show. They had been expected to arm themselves and get the job done.

What respectable person would accept that kind of work? There was only one construction site in the area, and all the idle migrant laborers had already been hired by the opposing side.

The department-store owner had no choice but to hire a group of unemployed drifters.

Thieves did not possess any particularly strong sense of professional pride. As long as money came in, who cared whether it had been stolen or handed out by an employer per head? Money was money.

Wu Chaoyong took a sip of tea and continued. “Later, the leader discovered that the man heading the other side was his older cousin. So the two sides stopped fighting.”

Wang Xuejiao let out a startled sound. “Then how did they explain that to the department-store owner?”

“The department store had already paid them. There was nothing to be done except pay them extra to settle matters in the area. Still, no one likes taking money without doing the work. I heard the department store sent word that the whole group had to stay at least two kilometers away from the store, and they would let the matter go. Otherwise, anyone caught would be beaten half to death.”

After that, the area became a haven of peace. Not a single thief was seen there again.

“I see.” It actually sounded reasonable. Putting herself in the department-store owner’s place, Wang Xuejiao suspected she might have been even angrier.

As they were talking, someone knocked on the office door. The man who had been watching the vehicle downstairs came in to say that the large pot of braised meat had been reheated. Then, as if claiming credit, he added, “I got the stove going too. I even added three fresh briquettes!”

Wu Chaoyong accompanied Wang Xuejiao downstairs. At the entrance, they found the cafeteria’s Chef Liang waiting for her to inspect the pot personally and confirm that nothing was missing.

During the reheating, the aroma had been burrowing straight into everyone’s nostrils.

Although they had only just eaten lunch, their mouths still felt strangely empty, as if they desperately needed something to chew.

In Chef Liang’s career, it was not as though he had never stolen a bite of food. Ahem—that was called tasting the dishes. How could it be called stealing?

If a cook never sampled the food, the harvest would fail!

But he truly did not dare touch this pot of meat. He had heard that it was connected to Director Wu. How would he dare lay a finger on it?

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For the sake of a mouthful of meat, making Director Wu unhappy would not be worth it. What if he had him transferred away from this lucrative post?

Chef Liang struggled to endure, then finally took a large white steamed bun and chewed it vigorously while breathing in the aroma rising from the pot.

He had to admit, the plain steamed bun had suddenly become fragrant, soft, and delicious.

“Director Wu, it’s hot!” Chef Liang said. “Once we put it on the stove, I guarantee it’ll stay warm all night.” As he spoke, he lifted the lid from the sealed pot.

The braised meat released an aggressive, domineering fragrance. Like a robber storming into a bank, it instantly overpowered everyone in the room.

Clerks and members of the public who had come to handle their affairs all stopped what they were doing and sniffed the air involuntarily.

“What is that smell?”

“It smells incredible.”

“They’re eating that well?”

Even the people who had been arguing with the clerks softened their expressions. They drew in a deep breath, then hurried outside to find where the aroma was coming from.

Wang Xuejiao glanced into the pot.

To be honest, even if a piece or two were missing, she would never notice. Close enough was good enough.

“Nothing’s missing. I have somewhere to be, so I’m leaving.” Wang Xuejiao replaced the lid, and the fragrance diminished sharply.

Wu Chaoyong secretly let out a breath of relief. Saliva was flooding beneath his tongue. If the lid had remained open any longer, he would have lost all composure.

Chef Liang helped lift the large pot onto the tricycle. His expression was serene, like a monk whose heart had achieved perfect stillness.

People waiting to conduct their business pointed and whispered.

“To smell something like that and not react—he must eat very well every day!”

“How could he not? The fines are so severe!”

“Hmph. It all ends up in their stomachs anyway.”

That was a grave injustice to Chef Liang. Besides lunch, the only thing in his stomach was the four large steamed buns he had eaten with the benefit of the aroma.

Never mind braised meat sitting right in front of him—even if it had been the flesh of the Monk Tang, capable of granting immortality, he could not have eaten another bite.

Someone happened to notice the small sign on Wang Xuejiao’s vehicle:

“Braised meat: thirty yuan. Fried rice: ten yuan.”

“Wait—the meat is for sale?”

Thirty yuan was indeed expensive, but it smelled unbelievably good.

There had to be a reason for that price!

It was not as though anyone would eat it as part of their daily meals. They could buy a portion now and then, just for a change.

When the first customer asked, Wang Xuejiao had thought there was no harm in selling him one portion. There was still plenty left in the pot, after all.

But just as she was about to take out the cutting board, she looked up and discovered that everyone in the entire hall was staring at her. More than a dozen people were already heading her way.

That would not do. Qian Gang was still waiting for her to come rescue him. She had to return to the surveillance post.

Wang Xuejiao immediately jumped onto the tricycle. “Someone already reserved it. They’ve paid in advance, so I have to keep it for them.”

Someone objected. “I’ll pay more!”

“More money won’t help. We have to keep our word. If we say we’re saving it for someone, then we have to save it for them!”

“I’ll pay thirty-five!”

“I’ll pay forty!”

Human beings had a tendency to follow the crowd.

Once several people started egging one another on, they could easily lose all reason.

Before Wang Xuejiao had even escaped the compound of the Comprehensive Governance Office, a portion of braised meat priced at thirty yuan had already been bid up to one hundred.

A man waved a greenish-gray hundred-yuan note in his hand and chased after her. “One hundred! I’ll pay one hundred!”

Unable to resist the temptation, Wang Xuejiao stopped the tricycle. She picked out a piece of meat, did not even have time to cut it, shoved it into a disposable food box, and pushed the box into his arms without giving him a plastic bag. Then she snatched the hundred-yuan note, jumped back onto the tricycle, and truly made her escape.

But the dense mass of people behind her surged forward like a tide and instantly surrounded her.

The tricycle was swallowed by an ocean of humanity.

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“It’s so cold out. If you sell everything here, won’t you be able to go home?”

“Exactly. What merchant doesn’t want to sell out early?”

“We won’t shortchange you.”

Wang Xuejiao repeatedly refused them. “That really won’t do…”

In the end, only after the security guards from the Comprehensive Governance Office came out and restrained the agitated crowd was Wang Xuejiao able to stand up, pedal the tricycle, and flee.

The man who had paid the extravagant price of one hundred yuan for the braised meat paid no attention to his dignity or appearance. He opened the food box, grabbed a piece of meat with his bare hand, and began chewing greedily.

Someone beside him muttered, “A hundred yuan for that tiny bit of meat. He must have money to burn.”

At the same time, the person kept swallowing hard.

A seven- or eight-year-old boy who had come to the office with his mother stood beside him and asked innocently, “Mister, what are you eating?”

“Meat.”

“What does it taste like?”

“Like meat.”

“Is it good?”

“Good.”

“Is it really, really good?”

“Very.”

Back home, whenever he asked a second question about food while staring at it, his family would automatically put some into his mouth and gently call him a little glutton.

But how could this seemingly kind and gentle uncle fail to understand his hint?

What a foolish uncle.

The boy gritted his teeth and decided to be direct. “Mister, can I have a bite?”

“No.”

Disappointed, the boy went to find his mother and began to cry. Before she could come over and plead for a piece on his behalf, the man had already finished eating.

That iron-hearted uncle had given him a precious lesson about the adult world: not everyone was family, and not everyone was obliged to indulge and protect him.

Wang Xuejiao had no idea how miserably the child cried after she left, or how difficult it was for his mother to comfort him.

All she knew was that she was furious.

Damn it all!

The money that man had given her was counterfeit too.

It looked far more convincing than the bills from the wholesale market. If she had not felt that something was wrong with its texture and asked Qian Gang, a professional accountant, to examine it by touch, she probably would not have recognized it until it reached a banknote detector.

“Is it possible that you made a mistake?” Even Wang Xuejiao knew she was only saying it to save face.

Qian Gang snorted. “We have dedicated classes in counting and authenticating currency. If you don’t believe me, take it to a bank. Just don’t blame me when they confiscate it.”

“I believe you…”

Before Qian Gang could leave, Wang Xuejiao’s pager sounded again. It was the man from the printing plant who had given her four hundred yuan. He wanted her to deliver a box of braised meat to him.

“How did you know I was back?” Wang Xuejiao asked, puzzled. The printing plant was only one story tall, and its walls blocked the view. How could he possibly have seen her?

The man answered casually, “If you stand somewhere high enough, you can see everything.”

Wang Xuejiao’s heart stirred. The scene she had once imagined—being shot in the head by a sniper—flashed before her eyes again.

Could they really have a hideout upstairs?

If the police arrived, would they not be able to escape quickly?