Break the clouds(Po Yun) - Break the clouds-Final - Chapter 155

tｈanK yoU fOr reａdInG on myｅAsynovEl.cOMChapter 155

Thousands of golden lights burst out through the clouds, penetrating the heaven and earth in the mortal world.

He ran away.

The traitorous little prince Qin Chuan, after miraculously deceiving the judgment of the attending doctor and the surveillance of all the plainclothes, took advantage of the short gap between the change of guards to successfully break free from the handcuffs, escape through the window, and disappear without a trace.

It took less than half an hour for Chief Lu to learn about the situation and deploy emergency control, but the cunning shark was not caught by the net. From the handcuffs on the hospital bed to the outer wall of the window sill, everything was covered with his DNA. After two days of hard work in front of the surveillance video, the investigators only found the blurred half of his back at the exit of a certain highway and his hands waving backward in the wind.

The gesture seemed to be saying goodbye.

No one knew why Qin Chuan chose to escape that day. Maybe it was because he had finally recuperated to the point where he could act, or maybe it was because there was really negligence during the change of guard that day. No one could figure out Qin Chuan’s unpredictable good and evil, but Chief Lu said: “Maybe it’s because he has been waiting for you.”

Yan Xie: “Huh?”

“What huh? Think about the day when we talked in front of the hospital bed. I think he was actually awake all the time, listening to everything in his ears, and when we went outside, he immediately got up and ran away. How do you think this can be explained otherwise?”

“……” Yan Xie was speechless for a moment, and Chief Lu sighed: “Since he didn’t want to go to jail so much, why did he have to do all those things in the first place?!”

Chief Lu stood in front of the office window. Wolfberry Chrysanthemum rock sugar tea rippled in the ceramic tea mug, bubbling hot, and a thin layer of white mist condensed on his reading glasses. He just stared fixedly at the busy street in the distance; his eyes flickered with faint light, and he sighed after a long while:

“Qin Chuan has a righteous and loyal side in his character; it’s all because I haven’t done enough to guide him. I doubted him when Old Yue just left. At that time, it wasn’t actually too late to restrain him, but his appearance to the outside world was too easy to handle. He never settled down and changed from beginning to end…”

“I’m getting old!” Chief Lu finally reached a self-deprecating conclusion.

Yan Xie wanted to say something to comfort him, but he didn’t know what to say. Chief Lu turned around and walked to the big desk, signed the assisted investigation announcement, held up a wanted warrant in front of him, and narrowed his eyes with emotion.

“…I will catch him back,” Yan Xie finally whispered.

Chief Lu nodded. Both of them were staring at the arrest warrant, and Qin Chuan’s gentle and handsome face was smiling back at them.

“Waiting for you?” Jiang Ting was leaning at the head of the hospital bed. He slammed closed “The Significance of DNA Methylation in Forensic Practice (Author Gou Li)” and said with a smile: “——why waiting for you? You and Chief Lu are really too emotional. That surname Qin’s escape was definitely not planned by him alone. There is a high possibility that he has accomplices helping him. The reason he chose that day was because the timing was just right. Where did so much nonsense about waiting come from?”

Yang Mei sat on the sofa chair in the single VIP ward, drinking seafood soup, finding it so delicious that she nodded her head while humming. She was not familiar with Qin Chuan, but Qin Chuan once cut a line on her brother Jiang’s face, so he was now in third place in her vengeance book; in fourth place was the nightclub manager in Gongzhou who took away her diamond necklace; and in fifth place were all those KTV bosses who competed with her for business next door to Sleepless Palace.

As for the first and second places, they were both dead.

“Look at you, still drinking!” Yan Xie lectured her, “This is something I cooked and sent to your brother Jiang to replenish his body. Why do you drink it?! Seeing that you have gained weight in the past two months and haven’t washed your hair or done makeup, do you not want to get married in the future?”

Jiang Ting was about to defend Yang Mei, but when he heard the word “marriage”, he felt a sense of urgency and stared at Yang Mei reproachfully.

“Why marry?” Yang Mei wiped her mouth and said coldly: “It’s fine for me to live alone, earn money to buy bags, houses, and jewelry, and go to dinner and yoga classes with Han Xiaomei on weekends. Isn’t it much better?”

“It’s true, but…” Yan Xie still didn’t give up.

Yang Mei’s next sentence left him speechless: “No buts. The profit of the Sleepless Palace triples every year, and this lady has plenty of money!”

Yan Xie, who knew the benefits of being rich, had to admit that these words were very true.

Jiang Ting smiled and shook his head helplessly as he opened Director Gou’s latest masterpiece (signed version) again, casually asking: “Has the notice of assistance in the investigation been released?”

“It’s early, can’t send it. We’ll have to wait until the Chinese New Year.” Yan Xie sighed: “However, according to the latest developments, he may have escaped from Province S, and the hope of being caught in a short period of time is relatively slim.”

Jiang Ting said, “I think he may go abroad.”

“Go abroad?”

Jiang Ting turned over a page, pursed his lips, and said “hum”: “Qin Chuan is a man who does not do things himself; he just lent a knife to kill and likes to stay behind. When he vowed his loyalty to the King of Spades, he also showed favor to Wang Xingye; otherwise, he wouldn’t have left a flaw in the surveillance so as to be caught by Chief Lu. In addition to Wang Xingye, who was more failure than success, I guess he has other contacts, and he may have already paved more than one way for himself.”

Yan Xie was thoughtful, and Jiang Ting said again: “I think you should have seen this clearly a long time ago. What makes Qin Chuan different from ordinary people is that the good and evil in his personality are fluid and not fixed. The reason why Wen Shao started to lure him into the water more than ten years ago was not only because he was Yue Guangping’s only son, to whom Yue Guangping owed a lot, but also because he smelled a side of Qin Chuan that was similar to himself—they all liked the feeling of controlling the evil in their hands. When Qin Chuan deliberately asked A-Jie to return the Type-92 police gun in front of me, he pointed at A-Jie’s head with the muzzle of the gun as if to shoot him, regardless of A-Jie’s suspicion, because he enjoyed the excitement of provoking someone. Compared with Wen Shao, Qin Chuan just has an extra restraining spell in his heart.”

“If possible, it’s best to bring him to justice as soon as possible,” Jiang Ting paused to conclude, “Otherwise, I’m afraid that under the influence of external forces, he will gradually evolve into the second King of Spades.”

Will Qin Chuan embark on that road of no return?

No one could explain this clearly, but Yan Xie felt that what he had more than the King of Spades in his heart was not just a restraining spell but something else.

However, this would only be known in the future when he would personally capture Qin Chuan.

The result of Jiang Ting’s inquiry hadn’t come down. Chief Lu said that it was because the S Provincial Department had been arguing with the Gongzhou Municipal Bureau. Since Deputy Chief Hu came to take notes, Jiang Ting had been interrogated several times, and every time he came out, he felt a little more tense. But later, because it was useless to wait for the results, he gradually calmed down, telling Yan Xie that he would not be afraid even if he was sentenced to a few years in prison. He would take Gou Li’s latest book and the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra into the detention center, and when he would be released after serving his sentence, he would already be a versatile sword master.

Yan Xie smiled bitterly and said that his husband couldn’t do anything else, but he would definitely apply for medical parole for him, so he didn’t have to worry.

At the beginning of spring in March, Jiang Ting was finally discharged from the high-level single ward, officially ending the days of Yan Xie running around the city bureau, his family, the hospital, the hospital, the hospital… and all over the place.

Not only did his hair grow back, but they were also so soft and black that even Yan Xie was amazed and touched them whenever he had time. However, Jiang Ting had become accustomed to the cool and neat feeling of baldness, so he euphemistically expressed his desire to cut his hair. This time, not only Yan Xie but even Yan Mei, Ma Xiang, Han Xiamei, and other aesthetically normal masses expressed strong opposition, so he had to give up.

In the end, he was still most comfortable at home. Jiang Ting ate and slept all day long, and when he was bored, he went downstairs to the community park to feed the kitten. Madam Zeng Cuicui came to deliver soup every two days and fed him like a big baby. As a result, he felt that he had gained weight not long after he was discharged from the hospital, and his weight has increased by three kilograms since his last weighing.

“Yan Xie!” Jiang Ting poked his head out of the bathroom and shouted, “You promised to take me to Gongzhou if my weight increased by five pounds, come and see!”

Yan Xie was watching football in the living room. Hearing this, he immediately rubbed his hands, went up immediately, and said to himself: “Grown fat, now I can eat meat…”

Jiang Ting wanted to go to the Gongzhou Martyrs Cemetery. This was the first time he had voluntarily made this request since the 1009 plastic factory explosion.

It wasn’t that Yan Xie didn’t want to drive him; the main reason was that the doctor said that Jiang Ting’s heart and brain vessels were still weak, and he couldn’t withstand too many emotional fluctuations. Chief Lu also felt that judging from Jiang Ting’s situation, he might die in front of the tombstone. It wasn’t until the weather got warmer, after mid-April, and the reexamination results were very good, that Yan Xie finally took Jiang Ting out of the house with the doctor’s permission.

Unlike the renderings of literary works, when they arrived at the cemetery, not only was it not cloudy, drizzling, or gloomy, but the weather was fine. The buds on the tops of the branches germinated, clusters of small flowers swayed in the wind on the green grass, and even the gray tombstones reflected the warm shimmer of years.

Yan Xie said: “I’ll find you a seat to sit on for a while, you can’t stand for too long.”

Jiang Ting said nothing and walked back and forth in front of more than a dozen tombstones with a bouquet of flowers, muttering in his mouth. After a long time, he finally couldn’t walk anymore. He lifted his trousers and sat on the floor, letting out a long breath.

“Okay, I’ll be alone for a while,” He said casually, “I’ll go out to find you later.”

Yan Xie patted him on the shoulder, took a cigarette from his pocket, and put it in his mouth. Then he put one hand in his trouser pocket and went out.

Criminal police was one of the most dangerous professions in peaceful times. The older the criminal police officer, the more he could see how evil an evil heart could be in this world, how kind a kind soul could be, how precious life was, and how easily death and parting could come.

Precisely because life was too fragile and perishable, it was necessary to bid farewell to the dead with the mentality of looking forward to reunion and protecting the living with strict laws.

Yan Xie walked out of the cemetery, took a deep breath of the fresh air mixed with the smell of vegetation, and suddenly felt the phone vibrate in his pocket.

“Hello, Chief Lu?”

Captain Yu proposed to retire from illness, and Yan Xie’s formal succession was also put on the schedule. After being promoted to the position of a middle-level leader, it would be inconvenient to scold him, so Chief Lu and Deputy Chief Wei seemed to be trying to spend the last few days scolding him for the rest of their lives. Now, as long as they saw him, they couldn’t help but pull up their sleeves, which caused Yan Xie to have a considerable psychological shadow when answering the phone calls of the two.

“Are you recruiting cats and dogs in Gongzhou?”

“………”

Before Yan Xie could argue that you personally approved the leave, he heard Chief Lu continue: “The ministry’s opinion on Jiang Ting’s case has been approved.”

Yan Xie’s cheeks tightened. “How is it?”

There was a rush of air over the phone, which sounded like a long sigh, and Chief Lu said, “In the end, it’s all thanks to Old Yue!”

Among all the points where Jiang Ting could touch the line, shooting Qi Sihao was the least serious because he had already taken refuge in the King of Spades at that time and betrayed Yan Xie’s position to drug dealers, so this point was debatable. What was really serious were some of the things he did for Wu Tun when he first joined the police in his early years, and covering for the drug dealers he later did by the King of Spades’ orders—Hu Weisheng was a typical example. After Jiang Ting “died in line” after the 1009 incident, some big tigers in the upper echelon of Gongzhou took advantage of the situation to dump the things they had done to him, and now it was completely unclear.

Although it was said that his merits and demerits were equal, the methods by which merits and demerits were calculated were very deeply hidden, and it was almost impossible to uncover them layer by layer.

The S Provincial Department, the Jianning Municipal Bureau, and the Gongzhou Municipal Bureau argued for two months and finally alerted the Ministry of Public Security. At the beginning of April, the Ministry of Public Security sent personnel to conduct a thorough investigation and brought up a large number of old case files from ten years ago. When investigating Jiang Ting’s violations of discipline in his early years, they found a lot of evidence that he was framed, so two retired leaders of the municipal party committee were arrested at the speed of light. Afterward, the ministry went deeper and found that some of Jiang Ting’s mistakes in the early years had been made up for by various means.

——It was Yue Guangping.

After Jiang Ting confessed his identity to Yue Guangping and proposed the 1009 action plan, the old bureau chief quietly dug out all the problematic files from his early years and filled in the instructions and signatures. By doing this, he took the blame on himself. Although the supplementary instructions were not compliant, if Jiang Ting was criticized one day in the future, Yue Guangping would be able to act as a barrier to surround him with the last buffer zone.

The dead were gone, but the shadow remained. Before these old case files were exposed, no one knew what Yue Guangping had done, and even Jiang Ting himself didn’t know that there was always a pair of old and powerful hands supporting an invisible umbrella behind him.

“It won’t reach the public prosecution, but the system will inevitably record serious misdemeanors, and let Jiang Ting take the blame and resign later…”

In fact, he would be fired and wouldn’t be able to put on his uniform and return to the police force. But compared to the prosecution and imprisonment, this ending was already very good and was even worth celebrating.

“…I understand,” Yan Xie was silent for a long time and said with emotion: “Okay, it’s okay… I’ll go and talk to him.”

Chief Lu said a few words and hung up the phone.

Clutching his phone, Yan Xie took a deep breath to calm his mind and walked toward the green cemetery in spring. He lightly stepped on the soft grass with his leather shoes, passed through the heavy gray stone monuments, stood beside Jiang Ting, lowered his head, and smiled into his bright eyes.

“It’s like this. Chief Lu called just now, and he said…”

The blue sky was as blue as blue washing, and the clouds were flying around. A ray of light broke through the clouds. Immediately, thousands of golden lights, like golden arrows shot by the gods, penetrated the heavens and earth in the mortal world, illuminating the vast mountains, rivers, cities, and villages in the southwest of the motherland.

In the Gongzhou Martyrs Cemetery, there were many pines and cypresses, green and vigorous, and countless stone monuments stood up to the sky.

Jiang Ting buried his face in his palms. Although he tried his best to suppress the trembling in his shoulders, he couldn’t. Hot tears rolled down from between his fingers and hit the loess earth where the bones of his loyal comrades were buried.

Yan Xie pulled him over forcefully, pressed his forehead to his shoulder, and let out a long sigh.

The plum blossoms were like rain, swaying one after another, blowing past the rows of peaceful and silent stone monuments and the red and moist corners of Jiang Ting’s eyes, swirling in the wind straight up to the sky.

…

A year later.

9:30 in the evening.

In a villa in a community on Yucheng Road, Taiping District, Jianning City, the floor was covered with survey boards, and the sound of criminal photos being taken was endless. Gou Li, carrying a suitcase, led people to the scene in a hurry. Outside the cordon, there were crowds of curious people pointing, and the trainee policemen drove them away, shouting a few words from time to time.

“What’s the situation, Brother Yan?” Han Xiaomei raised her chin at the corpse without changing her face.

“I knew the robbers could fight among themselves because of the uneven distribution of spoils, but I didn’t expect them to kill someone.” Yan Xie took the police record file to sign without raising his head and ordered: “Immediately send an assistance investigation notice to the train station, expressway toll stations, bus stations, and the traffic police brigade to transfer the surveillance video of the northern section of Yucheng Road between 6:00 and 9:00 tonight and send them to the physical evidence technical team. Ma Xiang! Send back the numbers of the stolen diamonds for trace inspection and comparison! Where is ErGou? Is the forensic doctor in place?”

“Who is your ErGou1!” Gou Li roared, “It’s Director Gou, Director!”

Yan Xie laughed and looked out the door: “Hey, why hasn’t your teacher Jiang arrived yet?”

A car came from a distance, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, it slowly stopped at the gate of the community.

Associate Professor Jiang from the Investigation Department of Jianning Police Academy leaned out of the car door, put one hand in his pocket, gathered up the windbreaker with the other, and walked quickly through the crowd amidst discussions. The trainee policeman has long been used to it, and he greeted him with a smile from a long distance, handed him gloves and shoe covers, and hospitably raised the cordon for him.

Jiang Ting thanked him and raised his head to meet Yan Xie’s smiling gaze not far away.

No one could see the smile in Jiang Ting’s eyes clearly. He put on his gloves and strode toward the crime scene, facing the flashing red and blue police lights.

[End of the main text.]

V

Extras

156

(Extra 1)

The matter of getting married was actually proposed by Jiang Ting.

That night, Yan Xie was making soy milk in the kitchen to have it for breakfast tomorrow with omelets when he suddenly heard Jiang Ting in the bedroom shouting, “Yan Xie!”

“What?”

“Gongzhou Police Academy and the S Provincial Police Academy both have entrusted Chief Lu to come and ask me if I would like to give lectures there!”

Jiang Ting had officially left the Gongzhou Municipal Bureau and had been idle at home for two or three months. As his health got better, he couldn’t sit idle, so he secretly followed Yan Xie to the scene several times with the tactic consent of Chief Lu. When the word spread, the police academies in both provinces and cities knew that Captain Jiang was famous for criminal investigation, so they started thinking about poaching people.

Yan Xie’s ears perked up sensitively: “Gongzhou?”

“Yes!” Jiang Ting stopped, seeming to find it very interesting: “Gongzhou Police Academy gives 2,000 yuan more than S Province every month!”

Yan Xie opened the cover of the machine and poured soy milk into the bowl while cursing the shamelessness of the Gongzhou Police Academy and the stinginess of the S Provincial Police Academy in his heart, “Then what do you say?”

There was a lot of noise in the bedroom; it sounded like Jiang Ting had opened the drawer to take out his glasses and was ready to start reading his bedtime book—”Key Points of Steps to Convert Electronic Traces into Evidence” (Author Huang Xing, signed version).

Yan Xie’s heart was in his throat, afraid that Jiang would say some godly argument in the next second, for example, “Men should take on the burden of supporting the family, so I decided to earn the extra two thousand yuan,” or “Gongzhou is my hometown, and I’m obliged to contribute more to the construction of public security there.” However, after waiting for a long time, he only heard Jiang Ting say slowly:

“Forget it; let’s just save the time that would be wasted flowering the house later!”

Yan Xie: “…Huh?”

“Didn’t you say that long-distance marriages don’t last long? What to do? I’ve rejected two thousand yuan for you!”

There were loud bangs, and the soy milk machine rolled from the counter to the floor, splashing hot soy milk all over the floor. Yan Xie almost got hit as he jumped three feet high while holding his feet. Jiang Ting sat up from the bed: “What happened?!”

“No, it’s nothing, just hit the shelf!” Yan Xie frantically took a rag and covered the soy milk all over the floor, and at the same time he tried to make his voice sound calm and normal: “You just said that you didn’t want the two thousand yuan?”

“It’s hard to maintain the family while living separately!”

“……”

“Why?” Jiang Ting became alert, “Did I say something wrong?”

Yan Xie used all his strength to restrain himself from blurting out, “When the hell did you agree to get married to me? He used all the strategizing and calmness of his life at this moment. After taking three deep breaths, he finally performed the most perfect, coldest, and most casual voice:

“No, it’s nothing. Do you want to add sugar to the soy milk?”

Jiang Ting: “Add a little!”

Yan Xie wiped his hands, puffed up his chest, let out a long breath, and carefully examined himself in the mirror. Although he had a few vicissitudes due to long-term busyness, he had a handsome and tough face, strong arms, and great masculine charm. He ruffled his forehead hair pickily, then stepped back half a step in satisfaction and nodded.

He poured a glass of warm water, turned, and walked out of the kitchen, then pushed the door in front of the bedroom confidently.

Jiang Ting was leaning on the head of the bed, looking through the signed book Huang Xing gave him, wrapped in a cloud-like wool blanket that looked like a light and soft feather under the orange light. He was now the wild giant panda Chief Lu focused on, and in the city bureau, he was like a moon surrounded by stars. In Yan Xie’s words, all the care he was receiving at home now was similar to that of an empress.

The Empress took the cup of warm water and said unhappily: “Why don’t you bring soy milk?”

Yan Xie was thinking about coaxing his wife to ask about the matter, so he perfunctorily said a few sentences saying that you want your husband to feed you or something, and then seemed to ask nonchalantly: “When did the S Provincial Police Academy ask you to report?”

“September, what’s the matter?”

“Then let’s do it,” Yan Xie rubbed his hands and said, “It’s a bit tight to have a wedding.”

Jiang Ting raised his eyelids, and Yan Xie held his breath for that moment, fearing that he would react and say, “The two men’s marriage won’t be successful.” However, this worry was in vain, and he heard Jiang Ting say in surprise: “You want to have a wedding?”

With a bang, Yan Xie’s heart fell heavily into his chest.

But his control over the micro-expressions was at its peak, and he didn’t show a hint of joy on the surface, instantly raising his sword eyebrows in surprise: “You don’t want to do it?”

Jiang Ting said, “It’s not like that. But we’re both men…”

Yan Xie lowered his head and covered his eyes with his hands. His shoulders drooped, and even the black hair on the top of his head, which was always domineering and could not be suppressed without wax, was listless, drooping, and swaying in an arc.

Jiang Ting was dumbfounded, and the air fell into silence.

“Since I was very young, I have always imagined that my future wedding must be held abroad. Flowers, lawn, fountain, white pigeons… Under the witness of relatives and friends, I will make a lifelong vow.” Yan Xie closed his eyes, shook his head for a while, and said solemnly: “It’s fine if you don’t want to.”

He paused and stood up: “After all, you are more concerned about worldly eyes.”

He walked out of the room with a trace of helplessness and forbearance on his back, like the dying man covered in blood on the bank of the river in Jiangyang County, dragging his heavy steps slowly into the distance.

Snap!

Sure enough, the next second, his hand was grabbed.

“Okay, okay…” Jiang Ting was defeated, and his face was full of despair: “Where do you want to have a wedding? Let’s do it now!”

………

“So?” Han Xiaomei stared in disbelief: “All our preparations for a surprise proposal in the past two months, they were all just a waste of time?”

In the corridor of the Jianning City Bureau, Yan Xie wore a police uniform jacket on one shoulder, held a large glass of extra-concentrated skim latte in one hand, and shrugged bluntly. The smug expression on his face made people really want to beat him with a shoe. It was unknown how Jiang Ting could kiss him every day:

“Your brother Jiang loves~ me~ understand? In your brother Jiang’s heart, I am his only companion, the destined husband, the destination of fate! Who else can he marry besides me? Proposal? Do I still need to ask?! “

Han Xiaomei’s face was blank, and she watched Yan Xie walk forward with his tail raised as if the one who yelled at Ma Xiang some time ago–”No! The flowers at the proposal scene must be red! All red! Red is the most festive and richest color, symbolizing my love for your brother Jiang!”—that neurosis was not the same as him.

“Oh, that’s right,” Yan Xie suddenly stopped, turned around as if he suddenly remembered something, and patted her on the top of her head with a folder, making Han Xiaomei stagger.

“For the sake of your meritorious service in planning the proposal, your brother Yan will reward you with a wedding invitation with an all-inclusive first-class air ticket and a five-star hotel. Remember to dress nicely.”

Han Xiaomei: “!!!”

Yan Xie’s image in Han Xiaomei’s heart suddenly grew tall, soaring straight into the sky, and she wagged her tail amidst her grateful send-off.

………

“You children are really ignorant. If you say you want to have a wedding, then there will be a wedding? Is there enough time? Is the place fixed? How many people are you going to invite? Jewelry, rings, suits, venues, wedding cars, flowers, emcee band…”

Jiang Ting put one leg on the other, holding Director Huang’s latest book in his hand and a Bluetooth headset in his ear. He kept “hmming” between Madam Zeng Cuicui’s chatter.

“So why didn’t you say that in advance?!” Mother Yan was about to have a heart attack, “It’s already April! It’s only five months away from September, your reporting time! This time isn’t even enough to make clothes, how can you do the wedding?!”

Jiang Ting finally came to his senses: “What?”

Mother Yan: “…”

“Oh, Yan Xie said that this was his wish since he was a child. When he was eighteen years old, he dreamed of going to a foreign country to hold a wedding, so that’s why…”

The resentment in Mother Yan’s heart turned to dumbfoundedness: “You listened to him. When he was eighteen years old, all he could think about was being a gangster. His only wish in life was to be the boss of the underworld in Jianning. A wedding? What is a wedding? Can a wife be eaten?”

Jiang Ting: “……”

Mother Yan spoke earnestly, and her love and affection almost overflowed through the microphone: “Silly boy, he fooled you.”

Jiang Ting raised his hand to cover his eyes; his posture was exactly the same as that of Yan Xie, who was pretending to be well-behaved that night. After a while, he raised his head and let out a long breath; his face was as if he was free from every worldly affair, and he said: “We don’t have to go abroad, just finding a seafood stall at the door of the city bureau to have a meal will be fine.”

“How can that be?! Our family’s wedding can’t be so perfunctory! I don’t want the next generation to repeat the regrets that I had with your Uncle Yan back then!” Mother Yan said seriously: “Back then, I was a young lady from a rich family, and your Uncle Yan was just a high school Chinese teacher. Our marriage was opposed by everyone, so we were only able to hold a hasty wedding…”

Jiang Ting instantly made up a series of events: abandonment of family property, elopement to get married, then starting from scratch—a deeply moving epic love story in an instant. But he hadn’t even finished his imagination when he heard Mother Yan’s next words:

“Even the cars at our wedding were only Xiali1, Xiali! Where were the Ferrari, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, and Lamborghini that we agreed upon?!”

“I swore to myself since then that when my child would get married, I would find 88 Ferraris to drive around Jianning City! I would give my daughter-in-law a diamond crown when she gave birth to a son or a daughter, and I would never wear a diamond weighing less than five carats! Old Yan, did you hear that? Old Yan?!”

Father Yan held the notebook: “All the arrangements are in place!”

Jiang Ting: “……”

………

We don’t need to travel through Jianning City; if we did, I fear the Ministry of Public Security would contact us and criticize us. Yan Xie laughed and said, “Listen to me, let’s just go abroad, prepare a venue with a lawn, a fountain, and a self-service barbecue, and only invite the nearest relatives and friends. The total number of people should be between 30 to 40. Also, don’t charter flights; Chief Lu, Chief Wei, and all others want to book the air tickets themselves. After all, they all have their own reputation.”

Yan Xie lay on the sofa half-crooked, with one arm around Jiang Ting. The two cuddled up to each other and watched a drama on TV. They heard Mother Yan gritting her teeth on the phone, wishing she could reach out her hand to slap her son on the head: “You little bastard, do you think all these things can be done in time? Tomorrow, I will have the tailor come to your door to discuss suits, wine, flowers, venues, jewelry…”

As Jiang Ting watched the heroine run wildly in the rainstorm in the TV series, he also read director Huang Xing’s latest work. His glasses were squeezed crooked by Yan Xie, who laughed when he heard her mother: “Why do we need jewelry? We are not girls.”

Mother Yan said happily: “You think too much. It’s your old lady’s jewelry. Isn’t the fact that the son I worked so hard to raise is getting married a good reason for me to buy new jewelry?!”

Jiang Ting: “……”

On the other end of the phone, wearing presbyopic glasses, Father Yan, who was watching martial arts dramas and financial newspapers at the same time: “……”

“Come on, Mom, just do as you want, and I’ll talk to the wedding company later.” Yan Xie watched as Jiang Ting’s attention shifted more and more from professional books to TV drama. His heart was on fire, and he was about to hang up the phone with a few words: “All right, all right, you can do whatever you want, and your son will honor you with a five-carat pigeon-egg diamond later. I love you, bye!”

“Where would you get the five carats? Is your salary even enough to buy you a pair of shoes? You good-for-nothing son…”

Madam Zeng Cuicui’s scolding was cut off with a click, and Yan Xie leaned down and pressed Jiang Ting on the sofa, tightly wrapping the whole person under him: “What are you looking at?”

The two of them were close to each other, from the chest and abdomen to the waist and hips to the four legs, and even their breath was barely separated by a distance of half a palm.

Jiang Ting’s cheeks were slightly hot, but he still said calmly: “Reading a book.”

“Reading, huh? Who kept looking at the TV just now?”

“No…”

“No? What were you looking at? Is the male protagonist more handsome than me?”

As soon as Jiang Ting opened his mouth, his mouth was covered by Yan Xie’s hand, who lowered his head and approached with a very intimidating force. Yan Xie’s lips almost stuck to the tip of Jiang Ting’s nose when he opened and closed them, which was a distance of malicious flirting:

“Think again, is the leading actor as handsome as your husband?”

Jiang Ting murmured, shaking his head vigorously.

“Is your husband the most handsome man in China?”

Jiang Ting nodded without saying a word.

“Then what were you looking at?”

“…Umm…”

Yan Xie let go of his hand a little bit. Jiang Ting took a breath, immediately suppressed a smile, and said seriously: “Looking at you.”

The eyelashes of the two were only separated by a few centimeters, and a trace of familiar evil gradually appeared in Yan Xie’s eyes. Then—

CW: NSFW Content

Jiang Ting clearly felt something against the inside of his thigh, and that thing gradually became more vivid and hotter and soon developed into a serious threat that could not be ignored.

“Yan Xie!” Jiang Ting was angry and funny, turning over and running: “What’re you trying to do, you…”

Yan Xie had sharp eyes and quick hands. Like an unreasonable bandit kidnapping a bride, he grabbed Jiang Ting and pressed him back under his body. The weather was getting warmer, and the thin home clothes fell off as soon as they were pulled. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Ting was like a fresh and tender snack whose wrapping had been peeled off. His n*ked skin was full of the warm fragrance after bathing. His thighs were separated by Yan Xie’s knees, and the er*ct, hard thing couldn’t wait to squeeze in immediately.

“You bastard… ah!”

Jiang Ting panted heavily, trying to relax and relieve the intense pressure of being suddenly entered, but it was useless. Yan Xie was too big, and he squeezed in recklessly. The dry entrance made the friction feel clearer, even to the point of making him tremble.

Yan Xie lowered his head to kiss him. His lips and tongue were lingering and gentle, but his movements were hot and tough. The muscles inside Jiang Ting’s thighs couldn’t help twitching; he clenched his teeth and couldn’t make a sound. It wasn’t until the murder weapon finally entered completely inside that he finally exhaled tremblingly.

“If…you killed me here…this, this will be a murder scene…”

Yan Xie laughed: “How could it be a murder scene?”

Before his words fell, he suddenly withdrew a little and then th*usted back hard!

“It’s clearly the scene of a love affair,” he said with a smile amidst Jiang Ting’s sharp inhalation.

The sofa kept creaking, and the sound was getting faster and more urgent. The initial physiological instinct of resistance became the past, and the fiery and tender passage began to convulse to welcome the intruder. Every time it was inserted to the end, it would be tightly clamped, and when the murder weapon was drawn out, there would be a reluctant squelching sound.

The sense of security of embracing a large area of naked arms and the deadly pleasure of being hollowed out by total possession was like layers of electric grids, wrapping Jiang Ting from head to toe. There was buzzing in his ears, and the lines of the drama on TV became very blurred, and he could only hear his own panting, broken and hasty, and the violent heartbeat made the blood continuously hit the eardrum.

“Welcoming me like this?” Yan Xie kissed Jiang Ting’s hot ear tip, but his actions were fierce and ruthless. He withdrew forcefully from the strong sucking and then forcibly th*usted again, so fast that even the sound of the sofa squeezing together became one. He asked with a smile, “Squeezing so tightly, you don’t want me to go out, huh?”

Jiang Ting’s fingers trembled, scratching the sofa under him, but Yan Xie grabbed his wrist and pressed it on the pillow beside his ear. With no outlet to vent the overwhelming pleasure, Jiang Ting moaned a little with red eyes, and the deep part of his pupils flickered with broken light, staring tightly at Yan Xie’s black eyes.

“Don’t grab it,” Yan Xie said with a hoarse smile, “What if a guest came home and saw these marks on the sofa? Won’t they know that you like to grab things?”

“……”

Jiang Ting closed his eyes. His eyelashes got darker from the water, and he hugged Yan Xie’s neck tremblingly, pulling him down forcefully and pressing him against his wet lips.

He had always been tough, calm, and full of vigilance, but this small gesture revealed infinite trust and dependence, like a child who was actively reaching out for candy. Yan Xie kissed his hot lips as if his heart was hit hard by an electric current. The unspeakable excitement hit the lower body along the nerves, and his genitals became hard and painful during the th*usting.

He suddenly withdrew completely. Then he sat up and picked up Jiang Ting, turning him over, and filling the impatient little opening again from behind. The body’s position and gravity made the fierce weapon penetrate to a very terrifying level. Jiang Ting was so stimulated that his whole body went numb, and he let out an “ah” in an instant. As he leaned back completely in Yan Xie’s arms, his thin and rigid back shoulders trembled continuously as he gasped for breath.

“Do you want me to shoot it in?” Yan Xie whispered behind his ear.

Jiang Ting didn’t answer; his eyelashes were densely covered with watery eyes, trembling with every slight th*ust.

Yan Xie wrapped his arms around his thin waist and pinched his fingers deeply into the side waist muscles, “I asked you something?”

“……”

Jiang Ting clenched his teeth as if he would let out cries of collapse as soon as he opened his mouth. But Yan Xie seemed to suddenly have infinite interest in this question. He pressed against the deepest and most sensitive point of the passage, squeezing and grinding desperately, repeatedly asking at the same time: “Do you want me to c*m in?”

“Do you want me to, huh?”

“Speak, do you dislike me so much?”

Just as the words fell, Jiang Ting turned around suddenly, looking at Yan Xie. This action moved the genitals deep into his body, and the internal movement made him unable to breathe. His upright nose was wet, and one could only see his snow-white teeth clenched tightly, and he could only utter one word:

“…Yes.”

Yan Xie thought he was going to scold him and thought he heard it wrong: “What?”

Jiang Ting gritted his teeth, “Yes!”

He stopped and picked him up, walked through the corridor from the living room in two steps, kicked open the door of the bedroom, and fell on the big bed. The next moment, Yan Xie thr*sted again, pulling out and thr*ting again like a storm. Each stroke was as if he was madly venting some kind of strong emotion. He penetrated the deepest part of Jiang Ting amidst his rapid and uncontrollable moans, and at last, he burst out!

They reached their climax at the same time. Jiang Ting’s mind went blank, and he almost lost consciousness for several seconds.

“……” Yan Xie murmured some love words that no one could hear clearly except himself, and he started thr*sting slightly after he eja-cula-ted, kissing the drenched hair and the back of the neck of the person under him over and over again. He didn’t know how long it took before Jiang Ting finally regained his sanity from the dizziness and struggled to turn his head.

They looked at each other from a close distance; their gasps intertwined, and their pupils reflected each other’s eyes.

After a long time, Jiang Ting exerted his strength and raised his head slightly, and they kissed closely together like this.

1

A car brand by Tianjin FAW Xiali Motor Company

157

(Extra 2)

Jiang Ting asked: “…you don’t want to take me to Africa to get married, right?”

Jiang Ting thought that the “tailor-made clothes” in Mother Yan’s mouth just meant that the tailor would come to measure the size. It was not until the next day that he realized that his imagination was limited by poverty. The game that Madam Zeng Cuicui wanted to play was clearly called Miraculous Ting Ting Traveling Around Jianning1.

“Black is not good, it makes him look too thin, and my daughter-in-law is already too thin. But a suit can be made. He will wear it on the day he reports to work. I will choose a different color for the wedding. How about smoke blue?”

A group of police cars roared on the road. Ma Xiang and Gao Panqing had handcuffed a suspect on both the left and right sides of the back seat. Yan Xie was wearing a bulletproof vest and police combat boots and was sitting on the front passenger seat with a Bluetooth headset from the command center in one ear and his personal mobile phone in the other. With a bespoke clothing booklet in her hand, Madam Zeng Cuicui’s excited voice even overwhelmed the sirens.

“It’s not good, which bride wears blue?” Yan Xie said dissatisfiedly: “The white suit looks so good, why don’t you make it white?”

“Ting Ting refused to wear white! Know how to respect your partner’s opinion! Hey, this brown suit is also pretty, it’s British style. Let’s make a suit like it for winter!”

“Old-fashioned!” Yan Xie snorted, “I don’t care, he has to wear white!”

Mother Yan asked coldly: “Then will you go to Ting Ting to ask yourself?”

Yan Xie immediately closed his mouth, humming and pretending not to hear anything.

“You little brat, don’t be so stubborn. Even if Jiang Ting wears white, people won’t mistakenly think that he is wearing a wedding suit. He has two more stars on his shoulders than you.” Mother Yan gloated: “Don’t blame your mother for saying this, but it’s a good thing that only a few people are invited to the wedding; if more outsiders are invited, who knows how many people who don’t know the ins and outs would think that you have done some unspoken…”

“Your son doesn’t look like someone who can be caught by unspoken rules!” Yan Xie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “No, I just want a white suit for my wedding. Don’t mention anything else, I’m hanging up!”

“Why can’t you be caught by the unspoken rules? If Ting Ting was still in his position, it’s unknown which of you will…”

Yan Xie hung up the phone hastily, and Madam Zeng Cuicui’s chatter stopped.

“……” The suspect in the back seat, with gold chains, tattooed arms, and scars all over his body, couldn’t hide his grief and anger. He thought that as soon as he was caught, not only hadn’t he even had time to fight with wits and courage with these damn cops and then refuse to open his mouth, but he was also caught off guard and had listened to the wedding arrangements for half a day. The police leader didn’t even look at him and was only thinking about which color of clothes to wear!

“…Hey, tell me,” the suspect endured and endured, and finally, when he couldn’t help it, he turned his head and said to Gao Panqing: “I am a ruthless guy who has been on the national wanted list, isn’t your captain too disrespectful to me, isn’t it?!”

Gao Panqing looked at Yan Xie’s stormy expression and hurriedly stomped on him: “Shut up!”

………

“All right, all right, there must be white clothes at the wedding.” Jiang Ting sat behind Deputy Chief Wei’s large desk with his slender legs crossed. While absent-mindedly coping, he quickly drew a red circle on the map with a pen and stuffed the map to Huang Xing, who was listening with his ears perked up, and ordered in a low voice: “Do a serum chlorine penetration test on the edges of all manhole covers around three kilometers in radius.” At the same time, he said soothingly to the phone: “Okay, I’ll listen to you. You are the head of the family… I won’t be coming home for dinner tonight. Don’t forget to take your clothes out of the washing machine and put them in the dryer when you get home from work. Do you hear me?”

Huang Xing stuffed the map into Ma Xiang’s hand, who was listening with pricked ears behind him, only to hear the dissatisfied yelling of the head of the family come from the other end of the mobile phone: “Why is Chief Wei letting you do free work again? Just because you look weak and helpless, he thought that you were easy to bully, right?”

Huang Xing: “Pfft—”

Chief Wei, who was nestling and smoking in the big swivel chair, immediately jumped up, as agile as a carp, and was about to scold with his sleeves up: “I’m bullying your sister…”

Jiang Ting hurriedly interrupted: “Okay, okay, you eat by yourself; we’re in a meeting.” Saying that he hung up the phone before Deputy Director Wei roared out.

The “weak and helpless” Jiang Ting coughed and was calm under Wei’s stare, asking: “Is there anything else I can help with? Hurry up, no need to pay; just let me go home after ten o’clock in the evening, that’s it.”

There was silence.

Deputy Chief Wei’s heart was full of grievances, and Huang Xing and Ma Xiang’s eyes were shining with the desire for gossip.

“……” Jiang Ting looked around, “What?”

The crowd stared at him.

“Don’t be like this.” Jiang Ting finally couldn’t stand the weird silence and put his hand on his forehead, saying, “Fortunately, people in your family aren’t like Yan Xie… Well, I’m doing this purely to protect my own physical and mental health.”

Everyone suddenly realized, and they all felt that they understood something in an instant.

Deputy Chief Wei thought: “It must be Yan Xie’s bad temper. The two of them would quarrel if he got home. Alas! Didn’t I say that the two men can’t be harmonious when they get together? See if I was wrong!”

Huang Xing thought: “I didn’t expect that Yan Xie also loves to check up on his partner like my wife. Sure enough, the stricter the management, the more rebellious the behavior. My hair was almost gone because of quarreling with my wife. Finally, someone understands me!”

Only Ma Xiang, a senior fan of harem manga, showed an innocent smile and said in his heart that it seemed that Brother Yan was really fierce. Captain Jiang couldn’t stand it and would rather stay in the office and work overtime. Hey, Brother Yan, you really deserve to be a role model for our male compatriots…

Jiang Ting opened the second file and began to read the on-site inspection notes carefully, heaving a sigh of relief at the same time. As long as he could go home after ten o’clock, it would almost be time to go to bed after washing up. He didn’t have to listen to Yan Xie, a patient with a severe pre-marital anxiety disorder who continued to carry out indiscriminate and large-scale mental attacks at any time: “Hey Jiang Ting. Jiang Ting, Are you there? Jiang Ting, are you listening? Should we use white-pink flowers or red flowers at the wedding? Isn’t white pink very warm? But red is also very auspicious. Jiang Ting, are you listening? Jiang Ting, tell me, should we use white pink, or red for the background? Jiang Ting, should I throw a coin? Jiang Ting, are you there? Jiang Ting, are you listening?…”

“Use white pink,” Madam Zeng Cuicui said unhesitantly, “Don’t listen to my son. When he was thirteen years old, he made a prop sword for himself, imitating the Golden Saints. He insisted on using bright purple, bright red, and emerald green to wrap the sword body, saying that this was the coolest and most beautiful. Last year, on his cousin’s 18th birthday, he customized a red and tan crepe skirt for the little girl as a coming-of-age gift. His cousin has never forgiven him. My son’s aesthetics has always been a mystery since he was a child, and you will be led into the ditch by him.”

Jiang Ting said, “I understand, I’ll listen to you. I don’t have any other opinions.”

Madam Zeng Cuicui was overjoyed and hung up the phone.

Yan Xie’s pre-marital anxiety disorder had become so severe that he was completely different from usual. He was paying attention to every detail of his wedding with the attitude of handling a major case. One morning before going to work, Jiang Ting was making egg toast leisurely when suddenly he saw Yan Xie rushing out of the bathroom shirtless, with only a towel wrapped around his body, and a hand like iron pincers grabbed his shoulder: “Jiang Ting—”

Jiang Ting immediately pushed him back with both hands: “No, I can’t take it anymore! Go away!”

“Hey, Captain Jiang, what’s going on in your head during the day? We’ll have a good chat about it tonight.” Yan Xie opened a statistical chart and said solemnly, “Look at this.”

An A4 white sheet was densely filled with data and statistical charts. Jiang Ting only glanced at it briefly, then narrowed his eyes vigilantly and stared down: “…You stay away from me.”

Yan Xie didn’t move a certain part of him away and said seriously with the statistical chart: “You don’t know what it is?”

Jiang Ting stared at the small tent in the bath towel: “No, I’m very familiar with it.”

“This is a statistical graph of the weather, humidity, temperature, wind speed, and other information for every early August over the past 20 years on the island where we will hold our wedding. It shows that there have been showers for ten years, heavy rains for two years, and a tsunami warning in another year!” If Yan Xie is a big wolf, the hair on the back of his neck would already be standing up: “If we hold a wedding on this island as planned, what is the probability of rain on the day?!”

Jiang Ting: “……”

“Sixty percent!” Yan Xie was heartbroken and said, “The only wedding in my lifetime has a 60% chance of rain!”

Jiang Ting sighed, “When it rains, we’ll hide indoors.”

“No–not okay!” Yan Xie said firmly, “This is one of the most important moments in my life. I must not allow the slightest flaw to appear—not even a little bit of mud on the sole of that old fox, Chief Lu’s shoe!

At the same time, at Chief Lu’s house. Chief Lu, who was stealing braised pork with his belly full of shame, suddenly had an itchy nose and sneezed hard. He was immediately caught by his wife, who looked back and hit him with chopsticks, causing him to cover his hand and jump.

“I want to change the venue!” Yan Xie was naked, with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He announced under Jiang Ting’s eyes, who couldn’t bear to look directly at him, “Let’s not go to that island anymore. I’ll file a new report, apply for visas, refund the deposit, and hold a wedding ceremony in a city that has been warm and sunny for 20 years to hold my grandest wedding in the world!”

Jiang Ting asked: “…You don’t want to take me to Africa to get married, right?”

………

Yan Xie, a man who had all luck in this life, the only heir to the (former) richest family in S Province, the proud son of heaven, born with a 100-carat diamond spoon in his mouth—proved with practical actions that being rich means being able to do whatever you want.

Although Father Yan and Mother Yan had already bought everything for middle-aged and elderly couples, Chief Lu had already prepared a report with the Ministry of Public Security to apply for a visa to go abroad, and Deputy Chief Wei had packed all the equipment for sea fishing and stuffed it into the suitcase. But because there was a 60% chance of rain, so everyone had to make way for Yan Xie, who suffered from severe premarital anxiety.

“It shouldn’t be too hot or too cold, the sun should be sufficient, the air should be fresh and the sky should be blue and photogenic to take pictures. There must be famous tourist attractions around the city for everyone to visit. The local economy must be developed, and the folk customs must be simple. It must be very civilized at the same time, and they shouldn’t treat us like monkeys. Otherwise, Our thin-skinned Captain Jiang will be so angry with embarrassment that, in a fit of anger, he will act like a baby and divorce me. I don’t have any other requirements. I’m a very casual person. Whether the dipping sauce for the second salad should be sour or sweet, I will tell you after I taste it carefully. Captain Jiang is too fragile. Both too sour and too sweet are not good for him.”

Jiang Ting sat on the sofa, numb to the black pots on his head, and concentrated on reading the latest book of Chief Lu — “The steps and key points for evidence collection in the STR Test by extracting human blood from mosquitoes” (signed version).

The secretary swallowed her anger for the sake of her job: “Okay young master, is there anything else I need to pay attention to?”

“Nothing more, I’m a casual person.” Yan Xie said seriously, “Oh yes, the city where the wedding is being held must be safe, and the detection rate of homicide cases in the past 20 years must reach more than 95%, otherwise Captain Jiang will suffer from occupational diseases, and may sneak out from the wedding scene to help the local police read the file.”

The secretary secretly glanced at Jiang Ting and judging from her gaze mixed with doubts, probing, and regret, Jiang Ting knew that her mental activity should be: This person is young; is his mind not okay?

“That’s right, it’s me.” Jiang Ting turned a page of the book and said expressionlessly: “It is said that I have to hang two strings of red peppers at the gate of the wedding to show that I will be favored by the pepper room2 in the future.”

Yan Xie slapped his thigh—Jiang Ting’s thigh: “That’s right, add this one!”

“……” Miss Secretary closed the book with eloquently written notes about her boss’s son’s wedding and said seriously: “Mr. Yan, I don’t know if I should say this.”

“Say it.”

The secretary asked sincerely, “Are you really not considering holding the wedding ceremony in South Africa?”

1

Based on Nuan Nuan Traveling Around the World: A Dressing Up Game

2

Private rooms of the empress

158

(Extra 3)

Marriage certificate

It was impossible to do it in South Africa. First of all, it didn’t meet Yan Xie’s requirements for “not too hot”—”Captain Jiang’s body is too delicate; he can’t bear the heat. If the temperature is higher than 25 degrees, he will melt into a puddle of water, and it’ll be very difficult to solidify him back into a human form.”

Miss Secretary: “…Is there any other place in this world where the highest temperature does not exceed 25 at the beginning of August in midsummer?”

Yes, country A in the southern hemisphere.

This city, which was unfortunately selected by Yan Xie at a glance, was said to be among the best in the world in light conditions and air quality, with good social security, simple and friendly residents, and extremely open folk customs—the same-sex marriage law had just been passed here. The surrounding area of the city was close to the ocean and had famous natural attractions, which meant that Deputy Chief Wei could not only live his long-standing dream of sea fishing but even go fishing by boat. The proportion of local Chinese was quite high, so he could speak Chinese directly in many places without any communication barriers.

Even better, although it was in the out-of-season southern hemisphere, the daytime in early August reached a maximum of 18 degrees Celsius, with plenty of sunshine, blue sky, and excellent greenery, fully satisfying the dreams of all literary girls in Yan Xie’s heart.

“How wonderful,” Yan Xie said when boarding the plane, “after retirement, let’s go to this city to retire!”

Twelve hours later, the plane landed in this extremely southern city. As soon as the hatch door opened, the cold wind from the ocean current after sweeping the southern glacier instantly filled the cabin, pushing Yan Xie back three steps abruptly.

“Come by yourself to enjoy your retirement life!” Jiang Ting hunched over and trembled, hiding behind Yan Xie’s broad shoulders, and roared in the strong wind, “I’ll stay in Gongzhou to eat hotpot!”

Yan Xie selected very carefully, but he didn’t expect that the only shortcoming of this city known as “the most livable in the world” was that it had to face the ice and snow storms from the south pole every year. With the temperature of 18 degrees feeling as if it were 8 degrees, the official groom couldn’t stop the hair from standing on end even after applying three kilograms of hair gel.

Yan Xie grabbed Jiang Ting by the collar and shouted: “If you marry a chicken, follow the chicken; if you marry a dog, follow the dog—!” Then he wrapped Jiang Ting in his arms and walked away, step by step, against the howling, cold wind at the airport.

Regarding the scale of the wedding, Jiang Ting’s idea was relatively conservative: it’s okay for the two of us to live our lives behind closed doors. You can have a sense of ceremony if you want, but it’s not appropriate to make a big fanfare and mobilize the crowd. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing to spread the word. Don’t you think so?

But Yan Xie felt that since we didn’t steal, rob, or break the law, it was my personal freedom to do whatever I wanted with the wedding. This is the most important moment in a person’s life. Shouldn’t I focus on my own happiness? Why care about other people’s eyes?

Jiang Ting had a subtle and complicated attitude toward Yan Xie, but he was embarrassed to say it, and he himself would not admit it to death—so it was easier to give in to Yan Xie’s opinions in daily life. Faced with Yan Xie’s insistence, he was like a man who accompanied his wife to go shopping and swiped his credit card. Although his heart was convulsing, on the surface there was still a kind of “okay, okay, okay, you have the final say”. The day before the wedding, it was discovered that in the small-scale ceremony with thirty or forty people, the number of guests had more than doubled.

“Can you blame me for this?” Yan Xie folded his arms, arrogantly sitting on the big bed in the hotel suite with his thighs crossed and shaking his feet: “How many old bachelors like me are left? If they attend a wedding, can they come without their wives and children? In the final analysis, is it not to blame that you agreed to get married too late?”

Jiang Ting: “……”

Indeed, as Yan Xie said, the total number of guests could never be just thirty or forty. Even though the Yan family didn’t notify any old friends in the business field and only close relatives came, the people from Jianning City Bureau were invited from upper to lower levels: Chief Lu, Deputy Chief Wei, Yu Zhu, Fang Zhenghong, Gou Li, Huang Xing… All people from the upper and lower levels of the criminal investigation division came with their families, and there were also several familiar political commissars and chiefs, etc… Some came and some didn’t, but whenever they came, they always brought their wives and children with them. Anyway, Yan Xie’s family could charter a flight, and they had money, so everyone agreed because it would be foolish not to take advantage. In the end, Chief Lu simply regarded Yan Xie’s wedding as this year’s annual team building event for the city bureau.

In addition to the colleagues from the city bureau who received the invitation, there was also Captain Kang Shuqiang from the SWAT next door who finally got up from the hospital bed (“Surname Yan, I’m telling you that I will never go on missions with you again! You are a disaster star!!” “Damn it, what did I do, isn’t it all the fault of that surname Wen. How about I treat you to dinner later?!”), Yang Mei from his in-laws’ side (“Brother Jiang, my Brother Jiang! The cabbage, I worked so hard to raise!!…” “Surname Yang, you shouldn’t be unreasonable. I am the only one who waters and fertilizes this cabbage and eliminates insects and pests; what are you complaining about?!”), and Jiang Ting’s few comrades who were still alive.

Almost all of the anti-drug police officers who had the closest relationship with Jiang Ting in the Second Division died after the 1009 explosion, leaving a few seriously injured in bed, and a few even laid in the hospital bed for more than half a year. Even though they were beaten to death, they refused to believe that Jiang Ting was a black policeman, but because they were usually close to Jiang Ting, they were subjected to strict scrutiny and unfair treatment afterward and finally had to change jobs or sink to the police station. Their situation was quite rough.

After the anti-drug operation in Yaoshan, the Ministry of Public Security strictly investigated the 1009 case, and a group of chief-level officials were dismissed, while the reputations of those anti-drug police officers of the second division who were wronged in the past were restored one after another. Some of these people who were still willing to stay in the police force all received belated meritorious service and commendations and were brought back to the City Bureau Headquarters; some were disheartened by the Gongzhou system, and they all followed Jiang Ting and took their families to Jianning. Chief Lu urged the S Provincial Public Security Bureau to accept the files of these people.

In fact, they would live more comfortably in Jianning. In any case, the climate, housing prices, wages, and benefits were much better than those in Gongzhou, and their professional titles were promoted faster.

In this way, after all the calculations, the total number of people at the wedding exceeded 80, and in addition to the on-site staff, the number of people broke through 100.

Jiang Ting defended feebly: “Actually, I’m mainly afraid that the wedding expenses will be too high…”

Yan Xie said: “Oh, don’t look for a reason. The money that our consultant Jiang contributed to the medical cause of the motherland is enough to hold ten weddings. As long as a big Buddha like you just takes good care of his precious body, everyone in the criminal investigation division will burn incense…Come to sleep and give me a cuddle! Don’t run away! You have to get up early in the morning!”

………

On the day of the wedding, Yan Xie could sleep until 8 o’clock in the morning, but Jiang Ting had to get up at 6 o’clock—because Madam Zeng Cuicui’s royal make-up artist, after a strict assessment, said that the young master’s wife’s face was pale, his lips were gray, and the ends of his hair were slightly dry; the overall summary was that he looked sick. If he didn’t wear makeup, the effect would be very tragic when the photos were taken.

The word “sick” scared Madam Zeng Cuicui, and she forced Jiang Ting to drink red date soup for a month before leaving for country A, but even so, he still didn’t escape the make-up artist’s clutches—magic palms.

“Why don’t you want to trim these eyebrows? After trimming, I will add two strokes to the tip of the eyebrows. Don’t you think that the shape of the eyebrows will come out like this? The nose also needed to be highlighted. If you don’t highlight it, the shape of the nose will not show. Although the bridge of the nose of the handsome guy is already very straight, the effect is still different when you take a photo… Don’t hide! Let me draw the inner eyeliner too! It will get into your eyes later! Hey, handsome, look at your hands, how can you not trim your nails? How can you not maintain your skin? Why are there so many calluses on the palm of your hand? Don’t you know that hands are our second faces?”

It was daylight outside the window, and Jiang Ting was sitting in the big makeup chair in the outer room of the hotel suite with an expression as if his soul had gone out of his body, “…that’s because of using guns.”

The make-up artist with flaming red lips and voluptuous body—Jamie de Douglas Li Baozhu—held Jiang Ting’s hands and said solemnly: “Our handsome guys’ hands need to be taken care of, unlike those stinky men’s hands!”

Madam Zeng Cuicui nodded in deep agreement while struggling to look through the closet.

“Hey! Mom!” Yan Xie yawned and was stunned immediately as soon as he opened the bedroom door, wrapping himself in a towel in a hurry: “Why are you here?”

Bang!

The mountain of cloth in Mother Yan’s arms was poured on the sofa, and the corners of her brows and eyes couldn’t hide her joy: “I came~ to dress up~ Ting Ting~”

Miraculous Ting Ting was paralyzed in the big makeup chair; his eyes were empty, and his expression was detached as if he was about to sacrifice his body to the very excited Madam Zeng Cuicui as a figurine in the next second and then ascend to heaven immediately.

“Wait, Mom,” Yan Xie suddenly realized something was wrong, “Didn’t we agree that I would wear black and Jiang Ting would wear white? Mom, what is this in your hand?”

Mother Yan looked innocent, holding a set of dark green, sapphire blue, and wine-red suits in her arms, and dozens of matching square scarves of various colors piled up on the sofa, saying: “Oh, I asked the designer to make a few more sets. I want Ting Ting to try them. If the effect is good, he can change a suit every hour at the wedding; otherwise, it will be so monotonous to wear white all the time.”

Yan Xie: “……”

Mother Yan picked up the emerald green velvet coat and compared it to Jiang Ting’s body; her eyes gleamed with sincere joy and satisfaction: “Look at this color, this tailoring, and how well this complements his skin. If it weren’t for your mother, I, working so hard early in the morning to help Ting Ting put on makeup for two hours, today’s photoshoot might—”

Yan Xie looked at Jiang Ting, and before he could blurt out the sentence “But he doesn’t look like he has changed” that could be selected as the Top 1 of the 21st Century Straight Men’s Golden Sentence List, he suddenly saw Jiang Ting meet his gaze, his eyes suddenly flashing with a light of joy like being saved.

Yan Xie: “?”

Jiang Ting grabbed his hand, straightened up, and pushed Yan Xie back into the makeup chair, saying firmly, “Auntie, don’t worry about what clothes I’m wearing. Yan Xie’s makeup hasn’t been done yet!”

Yan Xie: “?!”

“Eyebrows, hair, facial mask, inner eyeliner, finger cutting…nail care,” Jiang Ting held Yan Xie’s chin with one hand and gestured to Mother Yan with one hand, his posture seemed very professional: “And look at his teeth, he smokes so much. The calluses on his hands are rough. You should deal with him quickly; otherwise, it will be too late for the wedding to begin!”

Yan Xie: “What? What are you talking about? This callus was caused by guns!”

Poor and defenseless Yan Xue finally realized that a danger that he had never experienced in his life for more than 30 years was approaching rapidly, but before he had time to struggle hard, the four Tathagata palms of his mother and teacher Jamie fell from the sky and firmly pressed Yan Wukong on the dressing table.

“…Jiang Ting?!” Yan Xie couldn’t believe it: “You just sold your husband? Where are you going?! You come back to me—”

Mother Yan grabbed her son: “Don’t move! Let me put away Ting Ting’s clothes first, then I’ll see your teeth! Xiao Li, bring the tooth cleaner!”

Teacher Jamie: “Hey~ say ah~”

“I… I’m going to have breakfast.” Jiang Ting hurriedly dropped a sentence, not daring to face Yan Xie’s shocked and accusing eyes, and slipped away as if there was oil on the soles of his feet.

Eleven o’clock in the morning.

“Here comes the bride—”

The door burst open, and Ma Xiang, Gou Li, Yang Mei, Han Xiaomei, Gao Panqing, and a group of bastards who were not afraid of death were so happy that they broke into the suite without prior notice. In the crowd, Ma Xiang’s voice, fearing that the world would not be chaotic, was particularly loud, and he said: “Sister Meimei, you didn’t believe me. I know that Consultant Jiang has to wear a wedding dress today, and maybe he has to paint his eyebrows and put on makeup. Can’t wait to see him… Eh? Brother Yan?!”

In the outer room of the suite, Yan Xie, who was ready to go, was pressed by Mother Yan on one side of his face, and the other side was tightly squeezed on the table. Teacher Jamie’s approaching black pen tip was reflected in his pupils, and he shouted hoarsely: “Don’t draw eyeliner——! Mom! I’m going to have a psychological shadow! Mom!!”

Mother Yan pressed her son’s ear: “No! Okay! Ting Ting has also done it, so You have to do it too! After drawing it, you’ll have big eyes for taking pictures! Be obedient!!”

Ma Xiang: “……”

Yan Xie: “……”

Everyone: “……”

The room fell into a brief and eerie silence. During those two seconds, Yan Xie suddenly burst out with a strong desire to survive, pushed away the monster called eyeliner with one palm, broke free from his mother’s restraint, and rushed out the door in a hurry in front of everyone’s eyes.

“Where are you going? Come back to me!” Mother Yan chased out the door, feeling annoyed: “The eyeliner is only half drawn, you look weird with one big and one small eye!”

At the end of the corridor of the hotel, Yan Xie’s begging for mercy echoed: “I’ll go get Jiang Ting back for you to play with!…” Then he jumped into the elevator and disappeared.

Madam Zeng Cuicui said angrily: “A dog bites Lu Dongbin1!” After that, she had no choice but to go back to the room angrily and go to entertain Ma Xiang and Han Xiaomei’s gang of “bride-welcoming” bastards from the city bureau.

At the same moment, in the sauna room of the hotel, Chief Lu was in the billowing white mist:

“Ah-tch!!”

Deputy Chief Wei couldn’t dodge in time and almost got sprayed in the face, but he quickly moved away: “What are you doing, old Lu? You have a cold?”

“I don’t know,” Chief Lu rubbed his nose inexplicably and then smiled again: “Who knows if some old policeman from the Ministry of Public Security is talking about your handsome and dashing old brother, me, behind my back?”

“Hey, you’re so self-indulgent…” Deputy Chief Wei snorted, and the two continued to spread their towels lazily on the stone slab, each wearing a head with worrying hair and a general belly that could not be ignored, racing against time to enjoy the leisure time before the official start of the wedding.

It just so happened that the rest of the team passed by outside. Seeing this scene through the glass, they turned their heads in horror.

………

Where was Jiang Ting?

Jiang Ting nestled comfortably on the sofa in the deepest part of the coffee shop in the hotel lobby.

Yan Xie finally escaped from Teacher Jamie’s clutches, so he went downstairs to find something to eat. When Yan Xie saw a head full of black hair on the back of the sofa from a long distance away, his anger surged from his heart to his guts, and he rushed over in a few steps, grabbed Jiang Ting’s innocent ears from behind, and said, “Are–you–done–drawing–the-eye-liner-?!”

“Dammit!” Jiang Ting was shocked, and almost threw away the pen and paper, and quickly covered it with Chief Lu’s signed edition of the book.

However, Yan Xie had sharp eyes and quick hands, and he stood behind the sofa and stretched out his hand to hold him down: “Don’t move! Show me! What are you doing? Who are you secretly writing a love letter to?”

Jiang Ting couldn’t help but laugh: “It’s not finished yet. Let go, I’ll order a sandwich for you…”

“Don’t wanna eat! Show me quickly, what is this? Red crayon?”

The two wrestled for a while, like kindergarten children robbing toys, one insisted on wanting, and the other insisted on not giving. The waiters passing by gave them a friendly (and gossipy) smile. Finally, Jiang Ting couldn’t hold it anymore and stuffed the pen and paper into Yan Xie’s arms with a flushed face: “Look, look, you are really…”

Yan Xie was full of interest. He snatched the paper to take a closer look and was immediately stunned.

They were two pieces of folded paper painted red, with a few characters written on them—a marriage certificate.

These two words, “marriage certificate,” were extremely simple, but the inner pages were very finely drawn, and even the patterns on the header of the paper were not bad. The two lifelike figures leaned head to head. The eyes, nose, and mouth of the one on the left looked like those of the young master, “Yan Xie.” It had two thick sword eyebrows, staring seriously with big eyes. The one on the right had a smile on his face. It was “Jiang Ting.” It’s matchstick- like arms were drawn together like two fingers, making a V shape.

The certificate holder, registration date, and ID number were all available, and the marriage certificate number was compiled on the spot by Jiang Ting’s inspiration from somewhere.

Yan Xie froze in place.

“I had nothing to do, so I just…” Jiang Ting covered half of his face with a steaming mug, only showing a pair of bent eyes, and said with a smile, “Isn’t my drawing skills good? I used to practice drawing suspects when I was working on a case. Isn’t it very godlike?”

Yan Xie was silent for a while, then gestured to Jiang Ting’s V-shaped gesture on the picture and asked, “What does this mean, victory?”

“Victory.”

“Win what?”

There was a smile in Jiang Ting’s eyes, “I didn’t spend a single penny and successfully deceived you, a handsome guy with a salary of 50,000 yuan. Should it make me feel proud?”

Yan Xie couldn’t hide the curve of his mouth anymore, but he still tried to keep a straight face: “That’s not right.”

“What’s wrong?”

Yan Xie laughed, picked up a pen without any explanation, and drew an upside-down symbol on the head portraits of the two marriage certificates, and then flicked the paper to teach: “I am the husband! The husband is on the left. “We aren’t even married yet, and you already started bullying me?”

Jiang Ting laughed and cursed crazy, then stretched out his hand to snatch it, but Yan Xie forced him back to the sofa, putting his heavy chin on top of Jiang Ting’s head, shaking the two pieces of red paper: “I’ll keep mine and yours too.” He carefully folded the two marriage certificates and stuffed them into his arms, pressing his chin on Jiang Ting’s head, and said solemnly: “Divorce is not possible, divorce is not allowed, there is no such thing as divorce. You made the marriage certificate yourself, so you will be responsible for me for the rest of my life.”

Jiang Ting laughed uncontrollably. Yan Xie stretched out his hand, took him into his arms, and pressed a deep kiss on his forehead.

The sun shines through the floor-to-ceiling windows, shining golden on the deck and reflecting in their eyes as they stare at each other. Yan Xie saw his own shadow in Jiang Ting’s deep pupils, and suddenly countless feelings came to his heart, sweetness in heartache and numbness in intoxication. He couldn’t help whispering: “Jiang Ting…”

“Yan Xie.”

“?”

A strange expression of suppressing a smile slowly appeared on Jiang Ting’s face, and he said, “You only have half of your eyeliner drawn.”

Yan Xie: “…”

“Your big and small eyes are very obvious. How about I wait for you to go back and touch up your makeup first?”

Before Yan Xie’s pledge of eternal love could be uttered, he was hit head-on by tons of heavy blows, so he had to go upstairs obediently in despair amid Jiang Ting’s out-of-control laughter to touch up his makeup.

1

A phrase which means giving an ill reward to a person’s kindness

159

(Extra 4)

“I’ve thought so since the day I met you again.”

At twelve o’clock in the morning, the wedding began.

The flower carpet stretched all the way on the verdant lawn to the gorgeous flower gate and the bright fountain in the distance, and a long dining table filled with all kinds of cold snacks surrounded the venue. Looking out through the corridor window, guests have already started to enter the venue one after another. Yang Mei was in laughter and tears as she helped Han Xiaomei, who was limping in high heels, and Chief Lu, who had finally stuffed himself into a black formal suit, was standing in the position of the emcee with his big belly and his hands behind his back, raising his triple chin proudly.

Behind the decorated glass door, Jiang Ting looked at himself carefully in the mirror.

The sunlight outside the window at his side was just right, making half of his face clear and transparent, while the other half was a little too tense and stern. Jiang Ting took a deep breath, trying his best to make his expression look warmer and more friendly, but the cheek muscles that he had seldom used for many years were really unable to complete such a difficult task and quickly returned to their original state after two seconds.

Jiang Ting thought it was okay; let’s just leave it at that. If he went on stage with a smile on his face later, it might scare people to death. He adjusted his cuffs at last and was about to turn around and walk into the “bridal” lounge arranged by the hotel when he suddenly heard an eager voice from the other side of the corridor: “—Hey! Wife!”

Jiang Ting turned his head.

Yan Xie was dressed in a black formal suit, tall and handsome, full of energy, and every pore in his body exuded a hormonal aura in the 18-layer lover filter of Captain Jiang. He strode forward and grabbed his hand, earnestly urging: “Hey! I have something to tell you…”

Jiang Ting’s eyes couldn’t help but smile, and he heard Yan Xie say:

“Don’t go out when Chief Lu asks the groom to come on stage, wait for me first!”

Jiang Ting: “……”

“I’ll go first!!” Yan Xie emphasized anxiously.

“Okay, okay…”

Only then did Yan Xie feel relieved and turn around, but he couldn’t help but turn back again, helping Jiang Ting tighten his tie, kissing him quickly, and leaving with a smile.

The way they would enter the venue was different. The process designed by Yan Xie was: when Chief Lu would call the groom to come forward, he would walk down the steps and face the guests with a reserved smile, waving his hands with a message similar to “Hello, comrades, you have worked hard.” After he stood still, Chief Lu would call out “the other half of the groom”—that was, Jiang Ting, stepping on the flower carpet behind everyone from a direction completely opposite to Yan Xie’s. The difference between before and after appearances would show everyone who was the real husband.

Of course, the little trick couldn’t be from Jiang Ting, but Jiang Ting didn’t care about the straight man’s last stubbornness. In his opinion, it was like Yan Xie’s insistence that “the husband must be the driver when the couple drives out” and flaunting “Your Captain Jiang loves me to death and insists on helping me boil some eggs every morning.” It was childish and cute (and also crazy). Anyway, it was not a matter of principle; just follow him, and it was over.

“Ahem!” Seeing that everyone was coming, Chief Lu stood in the middle of the lawn and waved his hand up and down.

The two idiots of the Criminal Investigation Division, who were smiling and shoving each other, gradually quieted down, and the fountain rattled in the wind. Chief Lu’s face was overflowing with kindness, and he said with a smile:

“Today is a very important and festive day for our Jianning Municipal Bureau!”

The voice paused at the right time, and everyone had already formed a conditioned reflex and applauded enthusiastically.

“All the comrades took a short break from their busy daily work and came to this picturesque foreign country to gather together with their wives and children to participate in this year’s team building project of our Municipal Bureau… Yan Xie, the division leader of the Municipal Bureau, and Consultant Jiang’s wedding!”

“Huh-huh–?!” At the same time, while waiting in the room, Yan Xie jumped up: “F*ck, I knew that this guy surnamed Lu planned to use my wedding as a team building exercise so as to save money from the bureau’s public account. Damn him, he even said it with his mouth… eh?!”

Yan Xie’s thigh was pulled by an unknown force, and he stopped immediately. Looking down, he saw a little nail cap that was almost invisible to the naked eye protruding from the corner of the chair, hooking a few threads in the seam of his suit pants.

Yan Xie: “……”

Chief Lu was worthy of being the leader who had attended various gatherings for a long time; his expression had not changed at all, as if nothing had happened: “As for today’s newcomers, everyone is already familiar with it, so I don’t need to introduce anymore. As an indispensable member of the public security system of Jianning City, Yan Xie has frequently visited the police stations, detention centers, and public security bureaus in our jurisdiction since he was twelve years old. As an heir to a well-known enterprise, he has liked to go deep into society and the masses since he was a child, mingle with the grassroots police, and eat all the pickled vegetable instant noodles and ham sausages stored in the various departments of the police station, as well as the cooking of several aunts in the canteens of different sub-bureaus. Such a rich and colorful youth life has laid a solid foundation for him to join our police organization in the future!”

The surrounding applause was like a wave, and Father Yan and Mother Yan stood up humbly, bowing their heads in all directions.

Chief Lu cleared his throat: “On the road of growth, Yan Xie never gave up on himself. After years of unremitting struggle, he finally grew from a young criminal officer to an adult criminal officer, and he grew into a person with full capacity for accepting criminal responsibility from a person with limited capacity for criminal responsibility. After graduating from the police academy with the honor of 336th place, he changed from a trainee policeman who went on patrol with a gun every day and almost scared the chief of the local police station out of his wits to a well-known police officer who was difficult to deal with. Then he was selected to join the city bureau division, worked hard and made positive progress under the kind leadership and care of Chief Wei and Captain Yu, and finally became a full-time criminal investigation division leader this year!”

Chief Wei and Captain Yu got up, smiled, and waved to everyone, saying that they had just done a little work.

“All of his experiences perfectly reflect the process of our country’s public security bureaus recruiting, probating, and using potential hostile elements—so seeing him getting married today, the organization is very moved and emotional.” Chief Lu finally finished his important speech and waved his hands: “Let us welcome the groom to the stage with warm applause!”

Whistles rang out, cheers became louder, and everyone’s eyes were focused on the painted glass door not far behind Chief Lu.

Five seconds passed, ten seconds passed.

Thirty seconds passed.

Chief Lu: “Let’s welcome the groom to the stage with warm applause… Hello? Groom?”

Bridegroom:”………………”

The groom was sweating profusely trying to free the entangled threads, but the thread quality of the custom-made fabric was really unreliable. As the thread ends became more and more tightly entangled, the midline of the trouser seam was already creased indistinctly.

“Come… hurry up, waiter!” Yan Xie’s veins jumped, and he finally found the long-lost English word from the depths of his memory: “Waiter!! How do you say that in English? Wei-wei-Wei–Teer1! HELP, HELP!!2“

“Where is he?” The applause on the lawn gradually weakened, and whispers began to sound. Ma Xiang covered half of his mouth and patted Gao Panqing: “Damn it, Captain Yan won’t run away from marriage, right?”

Gao Panqing couldn’t imagine the face of Consultant Jiang at this moment. Hearing the words, he was almost scared to pee: “D-do-don’t talk nonsense. How could it be so serious? What if it’s just a sudden cerebral infarction?!”

“Do I still have hope to be the heroine today?” Yang Mei asked Han Xiaomei in a low voice.

Han Xiaomei: “……”

The discussion became more and more obvious, and even Father Yan couldn’t sit still: “Dammit, what’s going on?”

Mother Yan tried not to squint her eyes and keep smiling, and she only squeezed out a few words from the corner of her mouth: “How do I know? Why don’t you hurry up and send people backstage… eh? Daughter-in-law?”

Behind everyone, at the end of the flower carpet, Jiang Ting in white formal attire pushed the door open, raised his hand hesitantly in full view of the crowd, hesitated for a moment, then began to greet the surroundings slightly, walking forward at the same time.

His steps were still steady, and his posture was very straight, but one could still see a little cramping from the slightly unnatural corners of his mouth and tight jawline, and he seemed not very suitable to be the protagonist of such a festive occasion.

The air froze for half a second, and everyone seemed to understand something.

Immediately afterward – BOOM!

A new round of more surging and intense applause broke out from the guest seats, and everyone clapped their hands desperately after suddenly realizing it. Han Xiaomei’s expression seemed to be refreshed, Yang Mei’s face was flushed with excitement, Ma Xiang stared dumbfounded at Jiang Ting walking to the front of the stage, and finally murmured everyone’s aspirations: “You really can’t be judged by your appearance…”

“Ahem!” Jiang Ting stood in front of Chief Lu, not knowing what to say, so he smiled slightly.

Chief Lu stared at him as if he had never known him.

“…You…” Jiang Ting pointed cautiously, “How about calling Yan Xie next?”

Bang! Yan Xie pushed the door open, holding the seam of his trousers in one hand, and said angrily, “Misunderstanding!”

The hotel’s blond female manager followed behind with scissors in hand, laughing almost uncontrollably, but that didn’t matter anymore. Under everyone’s gaze, mixed with complex emotions such as shock, sigh, disbelief, and hatred of iron not being steel, Yan Xie rushed to the front in three steps at a time and pushed Jiang Ting back, dumbfounded: “How can you come out like this?! No, you go back and start again!”

Jiang Ting defended calmly as usual: “He’s called the groom, you won’t come out…”

“My pants were stuck! Go back and do it all over again!”

“No, I’ve already walked out…”

“Will you go by yourself, or should I carry you?!”

“You can’t be so violent…”

Yan Xie picked up Jiang Ting and carried him across his shoulders. Like a legendary dragon who robbed the princess, he walked through the venue with great dignity, strode up amidst everyone’s cheers and laughter, and entered the bridal lounge. After entering the room, he put Jiang Ting on the ground and rushed out without saying a word. Before rushing out, he didn’t forget to pinch Jiang Ting’s butt, and when Jiang Ting came back to his senses, Yan Xie was like a wild donkey…wild horse that had run loose—and he ran back to the wedding scene not far away.

Chief Lu made a decisive decision: “Next, let’s invite the bride!”

The applause gathered into a sea of joy. Jiang Ting couldn’t help laughing. He covered his face with one hand and went out again, stepping on the flower carpet that had been crushed to pieces by Yan Xie. He saw Yan Xie leaning over from afar, explaining to Deputy Chief Wei, who was pale and anxious in the crowd: “It’s really because my pants were stuck… I’m the one on top! Really!”

Deputy Chief Wei: “Our Jianning police have never been inferior to Gongzhou! You let me go, let me kill this shameful thing…”

Ma Xiang: “I can’t hold it any longer! Old Gao, come here to help!”

Chief Lu picked up the wedding vows and said with a smile, “Yan Xie?”

Yan Xie hurriedly got rid of Deputy Chief Wei’s invincible iron palm and straightened the seam of his pants while standing up straight.

“Jiang Ting?”

Jiang Ting coughed, clasped his hands in front of him, and lowered his head slightly.

Chief Lu was holding his reading glasses. The thick wedding vows in his hand were the crystallization of Father Yan’s three months of hard word, who used to work as a high school Chinese teacher. He could be called a master of traditional Chinese learning as well as modern Western knowledge. Biblical Christianity, Southeast Fly the Peacocks3, even Shu Ting and Hu Lancheng4 have not been spared, fully demonstrating the cultural heritage of the former richest family in S Province. Here’s what he wrote:

“You must be a rock, and I must be a reed; a reed can be as tough as silk, and the rock doesn’t change5. You will share the cold waves, wind, and thunder, the mist, haze, and rainbows. It will seem that you will be separated forever, but you will always be together. Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealousy, love is not boastful, it is not arrogant, and it does not act shamefully. Love does not mean seeking benefits. It is slow to anger, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth…”

Countless black lines appeared on Chief Lu’s forehead, and he finally stumbled and finished reading a page, then turned to the next page and started reading:

“Love is the peace of time, and love is stability in this world. For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health6…”

Chief Lu: “…”

Chief Lu fell silent, and after a few seconds, in the focus of all eyes, he put the wedding vows on the table and said coldly with his hands behind his back: “Our country’s marriage law stipulates!”

Father Yan, who was intoxicated by his own literary talents: “Huh?”

“Arranged marriages, business transaction marriages, and other acts that interfere with the freedom of marriage are prohibited, domestic violence is prohibited, and abuse and abandonment among family members are prohibited! Husband and wife should be faithful to each other, respect each other, and maintain an equal, harmonious, and civilized marriage and family relationship! Can you do it?”

Yan Xie: “Yes!”

Jiang Ting wondered, thinking that he was still reading the Bible just now, why he suddenly came to the current marriage law in our country: “Yes.”

Chief Lu waved his hand: “I announce that you are officially married!”

Father Yan: “You haven’t finished reading all the things yet?!”

No one cared about Father Yan’s Bible anymore. Yan Xie took a deep breath and took out the velvet ring box that had been played with countless times from his pocket. If one wants to, one would find the initials of two people engraved in cursive characters on the inside.

The sun rippling on the ring made a halo, and Yan Xie’s fingers trembled for some reason.

At this very moment, there was a blue sky and white clouds above his head, green land under his feet, loving parents, laughing relatives and friends, and partners who had gone through life and death… Familiar faces surrounded them, and Jiang Ting stood beside him in good condition with a smile on his face. All the haze and wounds melted away and completely disappeared in the high-altitude wind.

All the details perfectly matched the scene in his dream, except that a certain familiar figure was missing from the crowd.

The brother he once believed to be a good friend has left this long journey and traveled far away.

But fate was like this; it brought abundant gifts and took away part of the perfection. No matter how hard one tries, regrets always exist, and they are not changed by human will. You can only learn to accept and let go.

Yan Xie let out a breath, and suddenly his hand was pulled, and then Jiang Ting put the same ring on the ring finger of his left hand with a serious expression, and then patted the back of his hand with a smile.

“……” Yan Xie choked out a sentence: “Why are you taking the lead again?”

Jiang Ting laughed. Yan Xie grabbed his wrist, put the ring on his finger viciously, and threatened: “Now that you’re wearing my ring, you are mine! From now on, your surname will be changed to Yan! Do you understand?”

Jiang Ting maintained the posture of being tightly held by him with one hand and asked with a smile: “What were you thinking just now, Mrs. Jiang?”

Mrs. Jiang, who was tall and heroic, scratched her hair and said bitterly: “I was thinking about how much these locusts would eat of me today. If I knew I shouldn’t exempt them from the gift money, I should let them each pay half a year’s salary…”

Jiang Ting squinted at him with a smile.

“…and the person who should have given the gift money the most didn’t come.” Yan Xie finally told the truth, “Unfortunately, according to the civil compensation regulations, at least he has to pay me for the loss of my family’s money.”

The photographer shuttled through the crowd, the flashes came and went, and the wind blew through the lively crowd and rustled softly on the grass.

Jiang Ting patted Yan Xie on the shoulder and then motioned him to look at his side cheek—the bloodstain that Qin Chuan had drawn on the day Qin Chuan was arrested with the tri-edged knife had already healed, and the trace could not be seen even in the light, but Jiang Ting kept insisting to Yan Xie that he had a scar, and if he looked at it with a magnifying glass, he would find that his appearance was already disfigured.

“I’ll catch that bastard,” he said.

Yan Xie also laughed and pulled Jiang Ting up with both hands.

Not far away, Gou Li was eating desperately, Ma Xiang was helping Deputy Chief Wei, Han Xiaomei took off her high heels and stepped on the ground, and Yang Mei was talking to her. Mother Yab waved a silk scarf in the wind, signaling Father Yan to squat on the lawn. He used his mobile phone to take a small video of her circle of friends from bottom to top, which was said to show her long legs.

Yan Xie held Jiang Ting’s hand so tightly. He wanted to say something but hesitated to speak, and after a while, he saw that handsome face turn slightly red: “Jiang Ting.”

“Um?”

“I didn’t realize until today that I am really a very lucky person… It’s strange to say that I have been born for more than 30 years, and I suddenly have such a strong feeling today.” Yan Xie paused for a while, and asked with a low laugh: “What about you?”

Jiang Ting smiled and remained silent.

“Hey, how about you?”

“… I’m also very lucky,” Jiang Ting finally said with a smile as if he couldn’t resist Yan Xie’s questioning, and then immediately added: “But it can’t be considered special; it’s just… luckier than ordinary people.”

Yan Xie immediately asked: “You didn’t think so until today?”

The two of them looked at each other. Jiang Ting’s clear eyes swept over every inch of Yan Xie’s face; his eyes shone slightly for a long time, and he said, “No.”

“I’ve thought so since the day I met you again.”

Jiang Ting leaned over in the crowd and pressed a kiss on Yan Xie’s lips.

Click——

The shutter flashed past, freezing the scene forever.

On the screen, Yan Xie had a smile at the corner of his mouth, and he held Jiang Ting’s back with one hand. Jiang Ting’s black hair was fluttering in the wind, and it seemed that he was also smiling faintly, with only a white chin exposed.

The wedding rings on both of their ring fingers were clearly visible, glistening in the sun.

1

He was trying to say it in English

2

In English

3

An old Chinese poem.

4

Chinese Poets

5

It Is used to describe the unchangeable love between two people. This sentence is from “The Peacock Flies Southwest”.

6

In English

160

(Extra 5)

There is a guest who is not on the invitation list

“Brother Yan is very happy today, everyone, don’t be too polite, come! Drink, drink!…”

With black lines all over his face, Jiang Ting lifted the drunken Ma Xiang on top of him and handed him to Fang Zhenghong, who was still sitting upright, but his gaze had obviously started to look dull.

There was a lot of noise at the wedding venue. The elderly leaders were either greeting each other and taking pictures or sitting on the deck chairs by the swimming pool to rest. All the young people were chatting, laughing, chasing each other, and fighting each other. Due to consultant Jiang’s prestige and his physical condition, this group of lawless things didn’t dare pour him alcohol, but they were not so polite to Yan Xie. Yelling that “I am the bridegroom, believe it or not,” Captain Yan had already been overwhelmed by the bastards of the Criminal Investigation Division. If Gao Panqing hadn’t stopped him, he would have already fallen into the swimming pool with Han Xiaomei, who was crookedly walking in high heels.

As for Captain Yan’s mother, Madam Zeng Cuicui, she was busy arguing with her husband at the moment: “I am asking you again; you really didn’t take a peek at her when that lady walked by just now?”

In the distance, a beautiful and tall white woman with her head high passed by. Father Yan hurriedly swore: “I didn’t! I really didn’t!”

Captain Yu: “Based on the angle of the suspect’s head turning and the response to the questioning, I tend to believe that there is a fact to the crime…”

Mother Yan: “Did you hear that?! Say that you didn’t take a look again?!”

Father Yan had quick wits: “I just saw that her bag is very beautiful, and I was thinking about buying one for my wife…”

Judging from Captain Yu’s expression, this answer was obviously a negative score. As expected, he heard Mother Yan say: “What! You can even see what bag she is carrying! You bastard, I don’t love you anymore!!”

Mother Yan took Captain Yu by her arm and rushed back to drink tea angrily, while Father Yan hurriedly chased his wife while screaming injustice.

Yan Xie’s view of the family was indeed deeply influenced by his parents… Jiang Ting laughed and was about to take Yan Xie back to sober up, but when he turned around, there was no trace of him staggering by the swimming pool. Only a few bureau chiefs were leaning on the deck chairs to watch the play, and Mrs. Lu’s reprimand was coming from the crowd:

“Lu, Dong, Bin! How many times has the doctor told you not to eat so much meat?! Put it down!”

Pia—with the sound of chopsticks hitting his hand, Chief Lu hissed, “Hey! What are you doing!…”

As everyone admired Chief Lu being beaten, Jiang Ting turned his head and saw Han Xiaomei rushing straight toward him. The little girl was made miserable by the wrapped skirt and high heels; with disheveled hair and lipstick all over her face, she grabbed Jiang Ting and yelled, “Brother Jiang—! It’s not good!”

Jiang Ting asked casually, “Where’s your brother Yan?”

“Brother Yan was escorted away by a waiter!” Han Xiaomei yelled while the music was playing and people were chatting and laughing in the crowd: “Man! He looks so handsome! Sister Meimei saw it! Tell me to report the news immediately!”

Jiang Ting: “……”

“Extremely handsome! It’s not a good thing at first glance!”

Jiang Ting didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He thanked the drunk and enthusiastic Han Xiaomei and walked through the wedding venue to the back garden of the hotel. The reserved hall was empty. Jiang Ting’s slender silhouette in a snow-white suit was reflected on the polished marble floor. He walked through the corridor and suddenly heard a faint movement from the lounge in the distance as if someone was walking and talking.

Immediately afterward, Yan Xie’s iconic voice sounded, and based on Jiang Ting’s understanding of him, the voice was full of embarrassment that the other party wanted to conceal: “…Ah, yes, no. It’s not that I forgot to invite you. I just thought you were busy…”

The next moment, a relatively young and calmer male voice rang out, saying, “It’s okay, I just heard that you are holding a wedding here, so I just flew over to have a look.”

Yan Xie inside the door and Jiang Ting outside the door had exactly the same thought at the same time — just fly to the other side of the ocean to take a look?

The man seemed to sense something wrong with what he said and immediately added: “Actually, I just wanted to see my sister-in-law… that… your wife… Captain Jiang, there is really no other meaning.”

Jiang Ting: “?”

Jiang Ting originally wanted to walk over and push the door with heavy steps, but when he suddenly heard his name, he was stunned for a moment. He changed his mind, stepped forward gently, and looked in through the crack of the door.

Yan Xie, who was fully drunk, slumped on the sofa chair, resting his red forehead with one hand. The corners of his mouth seemed to be twitching slightly. Standing beside him was a strange man whom Jiang Ting had never seen before. He probably had just arrived at the wedding scene. His body was still travel-worn, his expression was slightly cold and reserved, but his face was beautiful.

That kind of “beautiful” had a bit of a rare classical beauty, with a face like jade, sword eyebrows, red lips, and white teeth—even a little too delicate. But the straight and sharp bridge of the nose and brow bones neutralize this feeling. Judging from the overall facial features, this person was very young, and it could be said that he was in his early twenties, but from the subtleties such as eyebrows, eyes, and so on, it could be seen that his actual age was not much younger than Yan Xie.

He was wearing a black formal suit in a proper manner, with broad shoulders and long legs, and a steady momentum. His figure was about the same as when Yan Xie was standing completely upright. He was the type who stood out from the crowd when he walked down the street.

Jiang Ting gasped, thinking that this awkward atmosphere, could it be his ex-boyfriend?

“I came in a hurry without informing, this is my red envelope—”

“Hey, what are you doing? Take it back, take it back, as long as the person comes…”

“I didn’t have time to prepare anything in a hurry; please accept it quickly. That, may I ask Captain Jiang—”

“Sit down, sit down. I’ll get someone to greet you. Oh, I’m sorry, I drank too much today; let me first… blech!!”

Yan Xie staggered, covered his mouth, and fell down before standing up. The man subconsciously stretched out his hand to help them, and in an instant, both of them jumped back at the same time as if they had been electrocuted. Yan Xie was frightened like a husky with its hair blown out and staggered three steps toward the door, even waking up from his stupor.

The indescribable atmosphere lasted for a second, and the two of them simultaneously:

Man: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!”

Yan Xie: “You sit down! Don’t move! I’ll call my mother!”

Yan Xie’s eyes were clearly flickering with horror, and he turned around and hurriedly opened the door, and Jiang Ting, who was caught off guard, appeared outside the door.

Yan Yan: “……”

Jiang Ting: “……”

If it was just a slight embarrassment just now, it was solidified now.

The cheerful music of the wedding came from a distance, which made the indoor atmosphere even more weird. The three of them looked at each other. Jiang Ting was confused, Yan Xie’s expression was blank, and the strange man stared straight at Jiang Ting as if he finally saw his target after a long journey. H suddenly took half a step forward and opened his mouth to say something—

“My dear, let me introduce to you.” Yan Xie grabbed Jiang Ting with great force as if grabbing a life-saving straw: “Do you still remember that I told you how I wanted to invite someone but was afraid that he would not have time, so I was too embarrassed to invite him? The one for whom I wrote the invitation card, and thought about sending it again and again but didn’t send it out in the end?”

Jiang Ting: “……”

There was no such thing. Yan Xie’s original words were as follows: “What? Why am I not inviting more friends? Those bastards who eat and drink are also worthy of being called friends?”

“He’s him. Oh, we used to have a good relationship. I didn’t expect him to come this time!” Yan Xie pointed at the person with a sincere and warm face: “It’s a long story, his surname is Xue, and he is my… blech!!”

The miserable Yan Xie stood up and was about to speak, but his drunkenness was so strong that it went straight to his throat.

Jiang Ting saw him waving his hand in pain, signaling to wait for a few minutes, then staggered to the other end of the corridor. Bang! Just as the bathroom door was slammed closed, the sound of vomiting came, followed by the splashing of water, as expected.

“……” The corner of Jiang Ting’s mouth twitched.

The uninvited, handsome man stood there with innocent eyes.

“Mr. Xue…?” Jiang Ting confirmed.

Facts have proven that creatures in nature show different degrees of instinctive reactions when facing potential rivals in love. The higher the IQ, the more this was the case. Even Jiang Ting could feel that he subconsciously stood up straight when facing this handsome guy surnamed Xue. He also adjusted his facial expressions so as to look more calm and natural.

The corner of the man’s mouth was raised, as if he wanted to smile politely, but because his long-frozen facial muscles were not used to this expression, the smile seemed to suddenly twitch his cheeks: “Hello, you are Captain Jiang, right?”

The visitor shook Jiang Ting’s hand and hurriedly took it back after just a shake. In an instant, Jiang Ting keenly felt that his palms were very wet, and the end of his voice was also a little unnoticeably tense. He said, “My name is Xue Chonghua, and I work in the Haijin City Public Security Bureau.”

Jiang Ting was slightly surprised. Is he a colleague?

“I’m Yan Xie’s…” Xue Chonghua pointed in the direction of the bathroom: “Distant relatives.”

Jiang Ting nodded to express his understanding; his eyes were subtle.

In fact, Xue Chonghua didn’t know why Captain Jiang in front of him showed such a complicated and understanding expression. He hurriedly sat on the plane for 12 hours without closing his eyes. After getting off the plane, he took a taxi directly to the hotel. All the way, his mind was blank, and he didn’t even think of bringing something or even a red envelope. He only took some foreign currency from the ATM machine in the hotel lobby and hurriedly took the paper envelope so as not to make a joke of coming empty-handed.

It wasn’t until he stepped into the hotel gate that he felt a touch of stepping on the ground—but even so, his mind hadn’t had time to return to the normal channel.

“I have admired you for a long time,” Xue Chonghua paused and then repeated with emphasis: “I have admired you for a long time.”

The voice sounded very strange. Jiang Ting didn’t know how to react. He just nodded, and then he said: “I know about you from one of your friends.”

Jiang Ting realized: “Friend?”

Xue Chonghua stared at him deeply, with tired, light blue circles under his eyes that were particularly conspicuous on his fair skin. He uttered a word slowly and hoarsely between his teeth, saying:

“Painter.”

——painter.

Scattered memories came along with the day of midsummer. The cicadas buzzed around the tree-lined road outside the public hall. The basketball drew an arc under the sky, passed through the basket, and landed with a bang. Whistles and cheers rang out, and someone laughed and said: “Nice assist! Jiang Ting made another three-pointer!”

“You two should have been working together long ago! Why don’t you make a debut as a team!”

Jiang Ting turned and returned to defense; the wind whistled in his ears, and familiar laughter came faintly not far away: “F*ck off, I don’t want to form a team. My and that surname Jiang’s names don’t…”

“Shut up!” Jiang Ting shouted while running.

However, it was already too late, and as expected, the man laughed amidst the booing: “If I were to partner with him, wouldn’t our combination name be—”

“Who?” Jiang Ting looked back at Xue Chonghua with a hint of doubt in his calm: “Painter?”

The restroom was extremely quiet. The two looked at each other. Xue Chonghua’s lips parted as if he had difficulty pronouncing every word: “…how did the painter die?”

Jiang Ting laughed and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about; you might have recognized the wrong person.”

Xue Chonghua stared at him, and Jiang Ting politely signaled: “I’m going to see Yan Xie, I’m sorry, excuse me…”

“Wait!”

Jiang Ting paused, only to see Xue Chonghua grabbing his shoulder from behind, the back of his hand bulging due to excessive force.

“Eleven years ago, in Haijin City, you were the only emergency contact of the ‘painter’ registered on the intelligence network. What is your relationship?”

“……”

“He was exposed to protect a person,” Xue Chonghua asked with a trembling voice, “Who was that person?”

It was unknown when the music stopped. There was silence in the distance, and this long silence was suffocating.

Jiang Ting finally raised his hand, grabbed Xue Chonghua’s steel plier-like palm, and pulled it away from his shoulder little by little.

“Officer Xue, you can’t pursue the past. If I were you, I would choose to live a good life.”

Xue Chonghua’s stern face suddenly changed, but before he could say anything, Jiang Ting said coldly: “If you ask me again, it is a serious violation of discipline. People from the Provincial Public Security Bureau are right in front. You don’t want to be arrested by national security after you return to China, do you?”

No one knew how long the stalemate lasted, but Xue Chonghua’s hand finally dropped, and Jiang Ting walked out of the lounge without looking back.

………

Yan Xie was exhausted after vomiting. He hurriedly put his head under the faucet for a while and then violently shook his short, hedgehog-like hair, splashing water everywhere, and his handsome face was covered with water droplets. He reached for the towel with his eyes closed, and suddenly he heard the back door being opened, followed by a click of the lock.

“Jiang Ting?” Yan Yan asked casually.

The next second—bang!

A huge force grabbed his neck, turning and pushing him forward, pressing him against the marble wall. Immediately afterward, Jiang Ting’s voice rang close to his ears, intimate and dangerous, like a cheetah eager to try: “Yan——Xie.”

Yan Xie: “…”

“Is there something you should explain to me, huh?”

A beauty was inexplicably thrown into Yan Xie’s arms… on his back. Although it felt good, he was still not used to pointing chrysanthemums at others, so he struggled symbolically. But before he could turn around, Jiang Ting exerted even more force, firmly resisting: “Don’t move!”

“Hiss,” Half of Yan Xie’s handsome face was pressed against the wall. He gasped, and laughed, “Baby, although I’ve always wanted to have a field play, but…”

Jiang Ting bent his knees and touched Yan Xie’s chrysanthemum: “Who is your baby?”

“Captain Jiang, Captain Jiang, Professor Jiang.” Yan Xie immediately gave in: “What do you want me to say? I am willing to obey the people’s democratic dictatorship. Just tell me which bank card password you want?”

“Bank card password?”

“Stocks, wealth, luxury cars, luxury watches, real estate certificates—you just ask what you want. We are a family now. It’s not good to keep thinking about your husband’s chrysanthemums. There are people outside… ouch!”

Jiang Ting clung to Yan Xie’s ear, and every word carried a trace of warmth: “Who is that person outside?”

Yan Xie was taken aback.

“Relatives?” Jiang Ting elongated his tone in ridicule: “What kind of relatives, huh?”

Yan Xie finally understood something, and the expression in his eyes changed, showing a strange expression of suppressing a smile.

Jiang Ting: “You still have three seconds to confess and be lenient; otherwise, from next year, you’ll celebrate today’s date as your first anniversary of becoming a divorced man…”

Whoosh!

Yan Xie suddenly forcibly broke free from the shackles, picked up Jiang Ting, and hugged him on the washroom counter indiscriminately, forcing him to sit with his knees apart, and then squeezed into between his thighs, pinching his chin.

The attacking position was suddenly reversed, and Jiang Ting was forced to raise his head: “What are you doing?”

Yan Xie stared at him condescendingly: “Want to know?”

If one looked carefully, one would find that Jiang Ting’s eyelids suddenly jumped ominously.

“His name is Xue Chonghua,” Yan Xie smiled slightly: “His great-grandfather is my great-grandfather’s younger brother, his mother is my grandfather’s niece, and he is also my distant cousin. He was also a haunting nightmare in my teenage years — the legendary ‘other people’s child’ who was obedient, sensible, and had good grades.”

The locked bathroom fell into silence.

The two looked at each other.

“……” Jiang Ting said calmly, “I don’t have any other ideas; you misunderstood. The main reason is that you two were very awkward…”

“That’s because he used to have a serious obsession with cleanliness.” Yan Xie said leisurely, “A few years ago, I was injured in a cross-province operation and was sent to the hospital urgently. It happened that he was also on duty in that city, and the provincial department asked him to go immediately to take a look at my situation. However, when he appeared by the ambulance, the nurse just asked him to help carry the stretcher, and at that moment he vomited. He vomited all over me, who was about to be pushed to be rescued.”

Jiang Ting mouthed a silent “ah”.

“What’s even more exaggerated is that he vomited the second time immediately. Imagine my feelings of shock, despair, dying, and lying on a stretcher with nowhere to hide.” Yan Xie said politely: “I haven’t seen him since that time. We haven’t even made a phone call for so many years, and we’ve even blocked each other in our Wechat moments.”

“So,” Yan Xie stared at Jiang Ting with interest as if concluding his statement, “I’m just curious, why did he fly over ten hours to see you?”

Yan Xie lowered his head, and the two of them almost had their noses touching. After a while, Yan Xie rubbed the bridge of Jiang Ting’s nose intimately, bowed his head, and gave him a long and hard kiss.

“Coming here to question me…” Yan Xie ignored Jiang Ting’s denial and evasion and murmured with a smile between his lips and teeth: “Look at your jealousy…”

Jiang Ting pretended nothing happened. His cheeks were slightly flushed, and he put one hand on Yan Xie’s chest, pushing him back. There were two knocks on the bathroom door while they were struggling, but they didn’t bother to pay attention, and then there was another knock.

“Someone is here!” Yan Xie roared.

“Hello!” The hotel waiter shouted outside the door, babbling in English for a while.

Yan Xie was confused when he heard this and was about to answer: “There is someone! Come back later!” But Jiang Ting gasped slightly, showing a puzzled look.

“What happened?”

“He said that someone who was not on the guest list just came to the front desk and left a gift, saying that it was something urgently needed for the wedding and they must notify you immediately, and then he left.”

Yan Xie was puzzled: “What?”

The two looked at each other, and both saw the doubt in the other’s eyes. It couldn’t be Xue Chonghua; that silly X just wrapped the cash in a white paper envelope, so who else could it be?

After a while, Yan Xie made a decision: “Let’s go and have a look.”

161

(Extra 6)

I have never loved anyone so much as I love you.

“Yo? What’s this?”

A gift box with an exquisite bow tied with a pink ribbon was placed on the crystal table at the front desk. It was the size of a palm and extremely light in weight. There was no signature or card. Jiang Ting unwrapped the ribbon, and Yan Xie leaned on the sofa next to him drunkenly. While drinking ice water to sober up, he asked the Chinese staff at the front desk of the hotel: “Who sent it? He wasn’t on the guest list?”

“Yes, Mr. Yan,” the receptionist replied politely: “We didn’t notice when that person came in. He gave us the gift box, saying that it was an item that you urgently needed for your wedding, and asked us to deliver it personally to your hands.”

Yan Xie casually asked, “Who?”

Jiang Ting put the ribbon aside and opened the gift box, and a fragrance exuded from the smooth and thick wrapping paper.

“It was a gentleman, about this tall.” The receptionist gestured: “He was gentle and polite and was wearing glasses, but he didn’t leave a name…”

Yan Xie suddenly caught a certain sensitive word: “Glasses?”

Before the words were finished, the wrapping paper was scattered, and an old silver mobile phone lay quietly in the gift box.

Jiang Ting frowned and was about to reach for it when he suddenly stopped. Then he took off his tie, wrapped it around his hand, and turned on the screen. There was no need for a fingerprint or password, and the screen was unlocked smoothly with just one touch, but what appeared was not the main interface—it was a video.

“Yes,” the receptionist said with a smile, “about thirty years old, very handsome, very polite, smiling before speaking…”

The eyes of the newlyweds fell on the friendly face on the front page of the video, and they paused at the same time.

“…the person you mentioned,” Yan Xie raised the phone, his forehead twitching: “Is that him?”

A slightly smiling man sat with his arms folded. He wore gold-rimmed glasses on his gentle and handsome face. His reserved and reliable demeanor made people feel good about him just by looking at him. The receptionist didn’t hesitate: “Yes, that’s him!”

Yan Xie: “…”

Jiang Ting: “…”

The two jumped up at the same time. Jiang Ting yelled: “Notify your local police station and save the surveillance video. Where is the security? How long has this person been away?!”

Yan Xie’s head was full of drunkenness, and he rushed toward the wedding scene with big strides, grabbing Chief Lu, who didn’t know what happened: “Hurry up! Qin Chuan was here!!”

………

At 3:00 pm local time, Qin Chuan, who was formally dressed and personable, walked into the door of the hotel and came to the front desk. After expressing his intention of coming with a smile, he politely declined the receptionist’s suggestion, “Do you want to leave your name on the gift?” Then leave the gift box, and turn around to and go out.

Ten minutes later, Yan Xie came to the front desk, and the old mobile phone covered with Qin Chuan’s fingerprints was exposed in broad daylight.

Half an hour later, the local police station sent a car to the hotel to assist in obtaining the surveillance video. However, Qin Chuan, a shark, had already blended into the vast crowd of foreigners. The unclear hotel surveillance could only show that he stopped for a while before turning to leave and looked into the distance—through the empty hall, wedding music could be heard resounding on the vast lawn in the backyard, and the lively human voice faintly vibrated the quiet air through the glass door.

Qin Chuan’s lips moved slightly, as if he was muttering something to himself, and the receptionist cast a curious look.

Immediately, he shook his head and smiled, turned around, and strode down the steps, facing the noisy street in the distance.

“I didn’t hear clearly,” the receptionist was sitting in the temporary investigation room, feeling a little flustered: “He said…he seemed to be saying…’I was supposed to be the best man for this wedding’…”

Yan Xie buried his face in his palms and let out a barely audible breath.

………

The sky was getting dark, the wedding ceremony had already ended, and the drunken team members had been dragged back to their rooms to sober up. Yan Xie crossed the lawn and went up to the suite through the sightseeing elevator. Chief Lu, Deputy Chief Wei, and Captain Yu were already sitting in the small reception hall waiting for him. Jiang Ting was wearing gloves and was playing with the old silver cell phone.

“You’re back?” Chief Lu greeted.

Jiang Ting waved his hand. Yan Xie adjusted the collar of his suit, stepped toward the sofa with his long legs, and sat down. Jiang Ting pressed the play button.

This video was obviously recorded today, and Qin Chuan’s clothes in the video were exactly the same as those in the surveillance. The camera of the mobile phone should be fixed to a certain stand. He was sitting in the armchair in the middle of the camera, upright and relaxed, with his hands folded naturally, smiling and looking at the people in the room, and saying, “Hello, everyone.”

“I have already made a copy and sent it back to Jianning, but the technical investigation has not yet been able to analyze the valuable geographical clues from the video.” Deputy Chief Wei frowned and said: “The local police also kindly took a copy, but counting on their criminal investigation…”

“It’s better to watch American dramas,” Captain Yu said helplessly.

Qin Chuan’s timely reply came from the speaker of the mobile phone: “Yes, it’s faster to watch American dramas.”

Csptsin Yu & Deputy Chief Wei: “…”

Qin Chuan smiled and said, “Happy wedding, Yan Xie. I wish you and Captain Jiang a happy marriage for a hundred years.”

Before Yan Xie could react, Jiang Ting said coldly, “I will remember how you ruined my wedding.”

Obviously, Jiang Ting’s level was relatively high, and this time Qin Chuan failed to accurately predict the reaction outside the camera.

“You must be wondering how I left the country. Maybe when you saw this video, my photo had been sent to various customs ports in the southwest. But that’s not important to me anymore. As early as ten years ago, during my work in the Jianning City Bureau, I had woven a large enough relationship network in the dark world. If one day I can replace the King of Spades, this network will become the first cornerstone of my future road; if I fail, unfortunately, it will be enough to cover my escape—unscathed.”

“When I was young, for several years, most of my emotions were dominated by the obsessive desire for revenge. Later, this feeling became quite complicated, and I couldn’t tell whether my swearing loyalty to the police badge was just acting on the occasion, or was it the real soul after filtering out all impurities.” Qin Chuan looked at the camera. He didn’t speak for several seconds, and then he sighed: “I still don’t know what I did in Yaoshan that day. Was it the stupidest decision of my life or the smartest? Maybe both? But there is no doubt that that should have been a moment that changed the fate of many people, including me.”

There was silence in the room, and everyone knew that what he said was that he gave up his escape before the second explosion that day and turned to desperately stop the behavior of the killer Jin Jie.

It took a while to hear Deputy Chief Wei snort angrily and awkwardly: “The answer is obvious! You’d better stop having such doubts!”

“After leaving Jianning, I went to Myanmar and then went to Thailand and Laos. Compared with Jianning, my life over the past half a year can be described as full of ups and downs. But fortunately, I was prepared for the most difficult times on the smoothest days, so although it was more troublesome to hide, it was still passable. As for where to go next? Let alone the police, I, as a wanted criminal, have no way of knowing. Although I also hope that one day I can dramatically appear in front of old friends, talk about the old days in a friendly way, and then drift away, you probably hope that I can come back obediently and be caught without a fight.”

Qin Chuan smiled slightly wryly in playfulness, and spread his hands, facing the camera.

“Unfortunately, I can’t. I can only swear that before the end of my life, I will never set foot on the southwest land again. Today’s celebration across the crowd is the last time we meet.”

In the quiet room, there was a clanging sound after a long time.

It was Yan Xie who gently placed the teacup on the table, and the soft sound of the collision covered up his slight sigh.

“However, your work will continue—” Qin Chuan suddenly changed his tone.

“The “King of Spades” was killed, and many of the organization’s core internal affairs that even Jiang Ting did not know have since become secrets, including his contact points and trading methods with several major buyers. ‘Blue Gold’ is in North America, and Mexico is inseparable from an online virtual trading platform. Compared with the old-school Wu Tun, the King of Spades trusted the trading channels protected layer by layer by countless data transfer nodes around the world. In the second year after entering the North American market, he quickly accumulated electronic currency worth 100 million U.S. dollars through this transaction method.”

“I was once lucky enough to obtain—or steal the login key. However, when I logged in to check for the first time after I escaped from Jianning, I found that the trading channel of the King of Spades had been forced offline by the platform and then moved to another anonymous supplier. What makes me shudder even more is that the offline time displayed by the system is the second day of the Yaoshan operation, or more precisely, within five hours after the King of Spades was killed.”

In an instant, Chief Lu understood what he meant, and the expression on his chubby face changed dramatically.

Yan Xie and Jiang Ting looked at each other at the same time.

“There are huge, unimaginably complex criminal groups lurking in the deep sea, and the King of Spades was just one of them. The trench of evil is far deeper than we imagined,” Qin Chuan paused and said: “This journey is still very long, and I am no longer a member of the public security team. Goodbye, my former brother. I will always miss everyone here from the bottom of my heart. I deeply apologize to Chief Lu, Chief Wei, Captain Yu, and especially Captain Fang. I’ll miss the loyal years of life and death and will cherish their memory forever.”

He smiled one last time, and there was an indecipherable sadness in his eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses.

“Goodbye.”

The screen gradually turned black, and silence enveloped every inch of space.

Fang Zhenghong turned his face away and forced himself to swallow all kinds of emotions: “This kid…”

As soon as the voice fell, the screen suddenly turned on: “PS.”

Everyone was taken aback at the same time, only to see Qin Chuan expressionless: “It suddenly occurred to me that I still hate Captain Jiang very much, so I didn’t include him in everyone I mentioned just now; I hope everyone knows.”

“……” Jiang Ting stared at the phone screen that quickly turned black, and the corners of his mouth twitched for a while under the eyes of everyone. He finally couldn’t help asking: “Is he a drama queen?!”

………

The festive night in the bridal chamber that Yan Xie had been looking forward to was finally turned into an emergency transnational meeting within the provincial department. In the middle of the night, the police cars of the local police station finally dispersed, Chief Lu and the others also ended the video conversation with Director Liu, and Yan Xie went back to the hotel suite with his head full of lawsuits. He heard a slight snoring sound coming from the direction of the sofa as soon as he opened the door.

He stopped his hand before he could turn on the light and walked forward gently.

The moonlight shone slightly through the curtains on the floor-to-ceiling window, reflecting on the armrest of the sofa and outlining the familiar profile of his lover. Jiang Ting fell asleep with his forehead propped up on one hand. The veil-like gleam fell from the corners of his black eyebrows, sliding down the graceful lines of his cheeks and even his slightly parted lips. Perhaps because of the sufficient heating in the room, those lips were bright red and soft, as if they were good to kiss.

Yan Xie stretched out his hand to touch them in a daze. Just as his fingertips touched the gap in his lips, before he could go further, Jiang Ting suddenly moved and woke up.

Snap!

Jiang Ting turned on the desk lamp beside the sofa, wrapped himself in a warm and soft beige cashmere blanket, and propped himself up, sleepily: “You’re back?”

Such a homely tone—not like a newlywed couple who just exchanged wedding rings today, but rather like a couple who lived together a lifetime. A smile welled up in Yan Xie’s eyes, and he squeezed himself on the sofa beside Jiang Ting to sit down. Jiang Ting divided the blanket in half to cover Yan Xie and asked in a low voice, “How’s it going?”

“Regarding the King of Spades’ use of anonymous networks to establish trading channels and the emergence of more cybercriminal platforms, the provincial department has reported to the Ministry of Public Security. It is estimated that they will cooperate with the Internet police and intelligence agencies to file a case for investigation. As for Qin Chuan himself, we can only investigate the major customs crossings and take it slowly; Director Liu has no other way.”

“Can we still find him?”

“Who knows.”

Jiang Ting snorted softly, but Yan Xie knew what he wanted to say but didn’t say: “No problem. After I catch Qin Chuan, I will tie him up and send you to torture him for a week…”

Jiang Ting couldn’t help laughing and said with a smile: “Yes, we can’t let go of that bastard who ruined our wedding.”

Yan Xie also laughed, got up and went to the bar counter of the suite to search, and came back a moment later with a tray and put down two wine cups: “Come on, try this.”

“What?”

Yan Xie smiled without answering and poured the sparkling, transparent liquid into the two cups, handing one to Jiang Ting.

Jiang Ting put his hands behind his back: “What the hell are you—”

“We didn’t exchange the wine, so it can’t be regarded as a marriage ceremony. Come and try our family’s treasure of more than 30 years…” Yan Xie sighed: “…Nverhong1…”

“Huh?”

Madam Zeng Cuicui loved spicy food when she was pregnant, and the whole family thought she was pregnant with a daughter. On the day of Yan Xie’s birth, the family heard that the deeper the Nverhong’s burial, the more the granddaughter’s blessings would be after she got married, so Yan Xie’s grandfather — a really honest man — mobilized the whole family to carry a shovel and dig a three-meter-deep pit, preparing to take it out for the grand banquet when his granddaughter would get married twenty years later. Who would have thought that just as he buried the wine in the soil with sweat all over his face, a call came from the hospital: “Congratulations! Your precious daughter has given birth to a boy! “

Grandpa almost lost his breath when he heard the words, and no one had the strength to dig out the wine jar from the three-meter-deep pit. Therefore, the Nverhong of Yan Xie, the captain of the criminal investigation division, was buried in the Yan family’s old house for more than 30 years. It wasn’t until today, when he finally married, that it finally got out of the soil by the people hired by Zeng Cuicui and brought all the way here.

“Don’t be shy; come here…” Yan Xie forced Jiang Ting, who had softened his smile, to hold up the wine glass, made a pose of drinking with him, and said solemnly: “For the first glass, let’s congratulate Mr. Jiang for marrying into a wealthy family, blessed to have a noble husband; may he embrace two children in three years and give birth to a precious son…a precious daughter is also fine. A wealthy family doesn’t care; as long as it is born by Mr. Jiang, I like it very much.”

Jiang Ting smiled and tried to pinch Yan Xie’s stomach, but how could Yan Xie’s flesh be squeezed out by him? He immediately held his breath, stretched his abdominal muscles hard, and held Jiang Ting as they drank a cup of wine together.

The next second: “Pfft——”

Jiang Ting almost sprayed out all the drink, but was held back by Yan Xie, who grinned his teeth and said: “Look at you; I can see that you are an amateur. The wine buried in the soil for more than 30 years tastes like this… Come here, don’t try to hide! One cup, one wish!”

Jiang Ting said in his heart, then you wasted your first wish on such a senseless thing. Then Yan Xie squeezed his hand and poured the second cup of Nverhong.

“Second wish,” Yan Xie held Jiang Ting’s arm and said solemnly: “Mr. Jiang must not slack off after marrying into a wealthy family. He must work hard to stabilize his status and improve himself. The concrete manifestation is to eat well on time every day and drink the soup obediently. Even if we don’t want to stay young forever, we must at least maintain our weight. Mr. Jiang once boasted that he would live to ninety-nine, which is two years longer than me. I don’t know if he’s still planning to do it now…”

Jiang Ting couldn’t take it anymore. He drank the second glass of wine in one gulp and forced Yan’s chin up to pour the wine in, interrupting his act of settling old scores.

“No wonder the girls were married at the age of fifteen.” The two were busy looking for water at the same time, and Yan Xie said: “If you only get married in your thirties, wouldn’t the wine at the wedding banquet poison your parents and relatives to death?”

Jiang Ting said that he would die early and be reborn early, so he bravely poured the third cup with a sense of sacrifice: “The so-called burying of wine in the soil is an act without scientific reason. I will explain it to you in detail later. Don’t be verbose now. Well, anyway, the tourist visa has medical insurance… What is the third wish?”

Yan Xie looked at the wine glass, took a deep breath after a long time, and swallowed: “The third wish is for myself.”

Captain Yan was able to express the most beautiful and warm vision in the most embarrassing way. Based on his nature, Jiang Ting had no doubt that his third wish would be that his golden gun wouldn’t fall2until the age of eighty, or that before the age of forty, all the criminals in Jianning City would collectively knelt down and call him Big Brother.

However, he guessed wrong.

Yan Xie stared at the glistening wine cup under the light, smiled slightly for a while, and said, “I hope…”

He lowered his eyes, and Jiang Ting only saw the corners of his eyes slowly curling up, revealing an unstoppable smile:

“I hope Jiang Ting will love me forever.”

Jiang Ting was slightly taken aback. Yan Xie raised his head and drank the third glass of wine, and he was immediately choked so hard that he beat his pillow.

“You…” Jiang Ting couldn’t help laughing. He closed his eyes and drank his own wine. Completely defeated by the alcohol bomb planted by Yan Xie’s maternal grandfather more than 30 years ago, both of them were coughing hard on the sofa. They held each other’s hands as they laughed while coughing.

Bank bang bang! It happened that Han Xiaomei woke up drunk, went out to look for food, and knocked on the door curiously: “Brother Yan? Brother Yan, do you have a cold? What are you doing?”

Jiang Ting continued to smile and shouted hoarsely toward the door, “Go back to sleep!”

Han Xiaomei immediately made up a 10,000-word mosaic in her brain from Brother Jiang’s hoarse voice. She was reluctant for a while and then squirmed away step by step.

“My grandfather must have been deceived by someone who sold fake wine back then, or he buried Lee Kum Kee soy sauce…” Yan Xie was about to stand up and take the remaining half of the pot of wine out to frame his parents when Jiang Ting pulled him by his arm: “Hey.”

Yan Xie turned around casually: “What?”

“I’ll love you forever.”

Jiang Ting had never said such straightforward love words in his life, and for a moment Yan Xie thought he had heard it wrong: “What?”

“I’ll love you forever.” Jiang Ting’s cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were bright. He stared at the pair of beautiful and familiar eyes and said seriously after a pause: “I have never loved anyone so much, as much as I love you.”

The full moon reflected the sea tides and the wedding music flew over the clouds, drifting toward the familiar Jianning night scene and thousands of lights thousands of miles away, casting a gentle veil on thousands of stars.

Behind layers of floor-to-ceiling curtains, two red wedding invitations painted with crayons spread out on the tea table, vividly displayed in the flickering candle shadows, and the matchstick figurine made a V sign of victory.

The young couple were entangled on the sofa. Their foreheads were pressed against each other, their hands and feet were entwined, and half of the blanket was on the ground. The sofa creaked with their movements.

“Happy wedding,” Yan Xie lowered his head and kissed Jiang Ting’s temple, then pressed it close to his ear and said with a smile, “Me too, my forever lover.”

(END)

1

A kind of Chinese wine

2

It is used to describe an adult man with strong sexual desire

162

Simplified Extra 1: The Debut of Jianning Boy Group

The story takes place after everything has settled.

It was a seemingly calm night. After Han Xiaomei finished her escort mission, arrested drug dealers, interrogated serial perverted murderers, and sorted out the transcripts, she finally dragged her tired body back home. She hurriedly filled in a few mouthfuls of food, took a shower, blew her hair, put on a facial mask, and laid down under the covers. But before she even had time to turn on her tablet, which was placed next to the bed, and begin to comfortably chase her favorite, “The Domineering Police Officer Loves Me” Season 18, the mobile phone that was on charge suddenly rang.

The caller’s name was faintly displayed on the screen—May the Empress live a thousand years.

Han Xiaomei answered the phone with a jolt: “Hello, Brother Jiang?”

Jiang Ting’s voice came from the other end of the phone. At first, it sounded very calm, but if one listened carefully, one could find a hint of a storm coming from the end of the voice: “What is the ‘No. 1 boy group competition of the Jianning City Public Security System’?”

Han Xiaomei was shocked instantly: “Where did you see that?”

“Yang Mei’s Wechat moments.”

I knew Sister Meimei forgot to block you from her WeChat moments again!

“This… This is the voting we fiddled with in private.” Han Xiaomei clearly heard the voice of her teeth chattering, “Sister Wang of the technical team said that at the end of every year, Chief Lu came to the stage to sing “Unforgettable Tonight” “, which is really too spicy for ears. This year we female comrades came to hold a public security boy group competition to send the top five to debut at the end of the year party, so…”

There was a terrifying silence on the other side of the phone.

“The scope of the competition is very wide. As long as you are a male working in the public security system, regardless of age or rank, as long as you are attractive, you can be selected for voting, but there is only… there is only a small limit,” Han Xiaomei swallowed weakly, “To avoid scattering too many votes, only male policemen from within Jianning are eligible to be selected. So if you don’t see yourself on the voting list, Brother Jiang, it’s definitely not because your glorious image has been questioned. You must know that in our hearts, you’re wise and mighty, outstanding and confident, as high as mountains, a pearl of wisdom in our hand…”

“I know.” Jiang Ting on the other end of the phone coldly interrupted Han Xiaomei’s 3,000 words of rainbow farts, “I only have one question.”

An ominous chill ran down Han Xiaomei’s spine.

Jiang Ting asked slowly and word by word: “Why is our Yan Xie ranked eighth from the bottom?”

“……” Han Xiaomei was tongue-tied, and her facial mask fell off her face with a click.

A total of 50 contestants were shortlisted for the Jianning Public Security boy group competition, and the well-deserved first place in the vote was Qin Chuan—Vice-Captain Qin was in his early thirties, suave and talented, and was recognized as a friend of women in Jianning City.

In the photo of the candidate, he was standing beside the police car. He had a handsome face and a tall figure. Behind the gold-rimmed glasses was a pair of peach-blossom eyes that seemed to be smiling. Pressing a walkie-talkie on his shoulder with one hand and holding the gun at his waist with the other, carrying a bit of gentleness and elegance in his tough appearance, he won as many as 816 votes with just one photo, and the message below was even more enthusiastic: “Vice-Captain Qin, let me rush!”

“Two-faced yummy, my god, what a dish!”

“My son, look at your mother! Look at your mother!!”

………..

The second place was Kang Shuqiang, the captain of the SWAT team. This elder brother fully represented the diversification and inclusiveness of women’s aesthetics in modern society—the face was normal, but the body was too fine. In the photo, Captain Kang was sweating profusely in the training room of the SWAT team. He had Kirin arms, mermaid lines, and eight-pack abs, and even his back muscles were full of explosive power. The reason he could get such high-definition photos should be thanks to the efforts of the female consultant on the SWAT team. Everyone expressed their praise in the comments: “I can eat three more bowls of rice with these abs!”

“Are there more sisters?”

“Sisters, you’re good people; have a safe life!”

….….

Third place went to a new graduate from the traffic police brigade with a youthful, sunny, sporty, and pure appearance. Most of the more than 200 votes were cast by loving mother and sister fans. In fourth place was the director of forensics from the Provincial Department, who, although nearly 50 years old but well-maintained and intellectually refined, won the full support of a large number of middle-aged and elderly female police officers led by Captain Yu. In fifth place was the city bureau’s forensic doctor Li. Everyone, one after another, expressed their regret and condemnation of “time is a pig-killing knife” in the message. In sixth… seventh… eighth…

Jiang Ting closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and the mouse stopped.

Yan Xie of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Municipal Bureau.

In the photo, Yan Xie was striding toward the crime scene. Judging from his expression, he should be yelling at someone. The red and blue police lights reflected his side face. His eyebrows were sharp, his nose was straight, and every inch of his face was handsome to the point of arrogance. From this angle, his long legs were simply unreasonable.

The ranking was displayed below the photo – eighth from the bottom.

“Some people appear to be dignified on the surface, but in fact, they are forcing the newcomer Han Xiaomei to pick up the dismembered body with chopsticks.”

“Some people seem to be very handsome on the surface, but in fact, they still have instant noodle soup from three days ago on their 20 yuan T-shirt.”

“Captain Yan, although you are destined not to be the boy group idol, you can be the boy group’s sponsor!”

Jiang Ting, who had never been lower than the top three in any exam, contest, or vote in his life, slammed his computer shut.

Where’s your vision? Where’s your vision?

Yan Xie is the most handsome; there is no other one.

Yan Xie is worth a boy group alone!

Jiang Ting glanced back; his eyes were as cold as a knife—only to see that Yan Xie was holding the remote control to play games in the living room outside, and the handsome man who was completely immersed in the game had a fascinated expression on his face. He was wearing a new T-shirt from a luxury brand with a price tag of 8,000 yuan on his upper body, which was well-tailored to outline the body muscles comparable to a male model. On the lower body, he wore a pair of fluorescent pink shorts, which cost 15.5 yuan from a sale on Taobao. On the wrinkled underpants, there was still the braised beef noodle soup from last year that couldn’t be washed off.

There were eight or nine pairs of exactly the same shorts hanging in the closet, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue, and purple. They were all spoils of war brought back by Yan Xie during the “Double Eleven” the year before last.

Jiang Ting’s face sank like water, and he opened Yan Xie’s long-sealed blind date wardrobe.

“Go go go go go… Aiya! Jump jump jump jump—!”

The character on the screen just jumped up, but suddenly there was darkness in front of Yan Xie’s eyes, and he was hit by a suit that fell from the sky. Then he immediately heard the “game over” sound from the stereo as the character failed to jump into the air.

“Dead, dead—what are you doing, Teacher Jiang?” Yan Xie hurriedly pulled his suit off his face, and before he had time to get annoyed, Jiang Ting threw a pair of shiny new Berluti leather shoes into his arms.

“Take off your pants and get a haircut.” Jiang Ting’s indifferent face was unquestionable, “Put this suit to work for me tomorrow.”

Yan Xie: “……”

The next day, whispers spread throughout the Jianning City Bureau: “Have you seen Brother Yan?”

“Did Brother Yan take the wrong medicine today and dress so normally?!”

“It turns out that Captain Yan is so handsome when he is normal, I feel like I can do it again!”

Yan Xie was dressed in a well-tailored suit, outlining his tall and lean figure. Before going out in the morning, Jiang Ting even forced him to wax and shave, but he didn’t understand what Jiang Ting’s intention was in doing this. He was even more oblivious to the countless exclamations and praises behind him. He resolutely moved from the forensic department to the mortuary, and from the mortuary to the interrogation room, and the enthusiastic discussion of the crowd followed his footsteps and flew all over the entire Public Security Bureau.

Only Consultant Jiang, the mastermind behind the scenes, was sitting in the consultant’s office like a golden Buddha, drinking a sip of tea.

Very good. Since Yan Xie is handsome, be sure to let everyone know that he is handsome.

Jiang Ting picked up his mobile phone to look at the leaderboard and was preparing to meet Yan Xie’s unstoppable rush to the top. But as soon as the results were refreshed, Yan Xie, who was eighth from the bottom, was completely unmoved, and the number of votes had only increased by a pitiful three or four votes.

“?” Jiang Ting sat up immediately, “The voting system is broken?”

“Jiang… Brother Jiang.” Han Xiaomei, who was standing behind and listening to Teacher Jiang’s remedial lessons, finally couldn’t help it anymore. She poked her eyes out from behind the case file tremblingly, rubbed her hands, and said, “You may not know the actual situation of our female comrades in the city bureau too well. In fact, no one doubts the appearance of Captain Yan. The reason for his low votes is because…”

“Because of what?”

Han Xiaomei gritted her teeth: “Brother Y-Y-Yan’s t-t-temper…”

The air was suddenly quiet.

Han Xiaomei felt like every second was a year, and after eighteen years, Jiang Ting’s voice full of confusion finally sounded: “—What are you talking about? Yan Xie is so easy-going, kind, and gentle like water, isn’t his temper good enough?”

“Bang” a huge thunder in the sky, instantly struck Han Xiaomei.

Gentle like water……

Gentle…like water…

Han Xiaomei’s mouth opened and closed, opened and closed again, and after repeating several times, she finally heard her trembling voice ask: “Brother Jiang, tell me the truth; in your eyes, does Brother Yan have any shortcomings?”

Jiang Ting pondered for a moment and said firmly, “Shortcomings? How could Yan Xie have shortcomings? Yan Xie’s whole person is completely—”

“What’s going on in your head all day long? You, you, and you! Does all your knowledge get eaten by dogs?!!”

Suddenly there was a roar in the corridor outside the office, followed by a loud bang, only to see that Yan Xie threw the hard-shell report folder heavily on the ground, and the pages were scattered all over the place. The three female interns who were named were nestled together like newborn quails, shivering.

“Does the handling of cases in the Public Security Bureau feel like going to school? Is the identification of audio recordings homework? What I want is analysis! Conclusion! It’s not the two large volumes of tapes that you handed in! You expect me to spend three days and three nights listening to them myself before rewarding you with a little red flower? Huh?!”

Yan Xie’s roar resounded through most of the corridor, and everyone in the offices on both sides shivered. Amidst the dead silence, Yan Xie suddenly glanced out of the corner of his eye and happened to see Jiang Ting, who was leaning out, and pointed at him as if he had gotten a most precious treasure: “Look at Brother Jiang! Ah, look at Teacher Jiang! If it is Teacher Jiang, this case will be closed in three days! You guys still claim to be excellent interns picked out by me; all of you are so useless! Useless!! Shame on you!!!”

Jiang Ting, who was pointed at by Yan Xie’s finger: “……”

Three terrified quail cubs huddled together: “……”

Yan Xie’s anger didn’t subside, and he raised his hand: “Go back and do it again! Don’t leave work until you finish it! Go!”

“Easy-going and kind.” Han Xiaomei spoke quietly behind him.

Jiang Ting: “……”

“Gentle like water.” Han Xiaomei whispered into his ear.

Jiang Ting: “……”

Yan Xie dismissed those trampled and devastated quail cubs, and snorted coldly under the trembling gazes from all directions. He straightened his cuffs, walked toward Jiang Ting with his head held high, and instantly changed his expression as if by magic: “Teacher Jiang——”

Jiang Ting pushed Han Xiaomei away with one palm, grabbed Yan’s tie with the other hand, dragged him into the office in a few steps, slammed the door, and said through his teeth: “Vice-Captain Yan.”

Vice-Captain Yan leaned his back against the door panel and blinked at Jiang Ting with an expression of “The domineering police officer loves me”. Jiang Ting raised his mobile phone, showing the voting list, tapped his index finger on the eighth from the bottom, and said solemnly: “Let’s talk about sending you to debut.”

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