Chapter Thirty-One: An Extraordinary Flower

"Everywhere around here is jammed, and it's hard to find parking," Ning Shuyi observed, glancing around before an idea came to her. "There are a lot of food stalls outside the hospital gates—why don’t we just grab something to eat from there, eat in the car, and head straight to the next stop when we’re done!"

"Fine by me," Huo Yan replied without objection. "Let’s do that."

Ning Shuyi had no idea what Huo Yan liked to eat. Although they’d spent a stretch of time training together and were more familiar than most, their relationship was still far from close. It felt inappropriate for her to make decisions on his behalf, so she suggested they each buy their own food, then return to the car once they were done.

She wandered along the row of food stalls by the hospital entrance, finally stopping in front of a stall selling stuffed egg pancakes. "One egg pancake, please, extra egg!"

After placing her order, she noticed the vendor didn’t immediately start cooking. Instead, his gaze shifted just past her shoulder. Before she could turn to see what he was looking at, Huo Yan’s voice sounded directly above her, "The same as hers."

The vendor responded briskly and set to work.

Ning Shuyi turned to glance at Huo Yan, now standing behind her. She hadn’t noticed when he’d come over. No wonder the vendor had reacted that way—anyone with eyes could see from their posture and demeanor that they must know each other, so it made sense to take both their orders before starting.

"Aren’t you going to check the other stalls to see if there’s anything you want?" Ning Shuyi asked.

Huo Yan shook his head. "No need to waste time. As long as it keeps me from starving, I’ll eat anything."

Ning Shuyi fell silent. She herself wasn’t particularly fussy about food, but her family had always emphasized balanced nutrition and proper meals. Who eats only to avoid starving? This new colleague of hers—his inscrutability extended beyond personality to his very outlook on life.

Just as her mother always said, a person’s character is inevitably shaped by their life experiences. What kind of life, Ning Shuyi wondered, would leave someone as listless and devoid of warmth as Huo Yan seemed to be? She knew she shouldn’t pry, but curiosity gnawed at her all the same.

The pancakes were ready soon enough, hot and fragrant. Each of them cradled their meal as they returned to the car. In the chill of early winter, a simple, steaming lunch like this brought its own kind of comfort.

"When you asked Cai Xin about the temperature of the popcorn earlier, were you trying to determine where it came from?" Ning Shuyi asked once she’d finished eating.

Huo Yan nodded. "Wang Yuluo said she arrived three to five minutes earlier than Cai Xin. That bucket of popcorn, left uncovered and carried in hand, still retained some warmth when Cai Xin received it. Given the current weather, Wang Yuluo’s height, and the average walking speed for women, I think the popcorn was bought somewhere in the same commercial area as the private theater. I suspect there’s a small illegal workshop in one of those mixed-use buildings nearby, especially those with a lot of foot traffic in and out."

"That makes sense. If it were in a residential building, frequent comings and goings would draw the neighbors’ suspicion, but in a pure office building, it would be too exposed and risky. Mixed-use buildings do seem most likely—lots of different people coming and going, and plenty of small studios operating inside, so it wouldn’t draw attention," Ning Shuyi agreed. "We should focus our efforts there. But we’ll need to report this to Captain Dong first. If this really involves something like marijuana, it’s bound to be more than just a one-off case—it could be a whole network, so we need to be cautious."

Huo Yan nodded to show he understood.

They fell silent, returning to their food. Just as they finished, Ning Shuyi’s phone rang. It was Luo Wei, her colleague. Since Kang Ge was busy tracking down the identity behind Wang Yuluo’s mysterious phone contact, Luo Wei had been assigned to look into Wang Yuluo’s ex-boyfriend, Li Qiao.

She answered immediately, putting the phone on speaker. "Hello, Luo Wei? Do you have an update on Li Qiao?"

"Hey, Ning Ning! Come on, don’t be so curt. Can’t you at least make small talk with your big brother Luo when he calls? Always straight to the point—do you really have nothing else to say to me?" Luo Wei was notorious in the team for his chatter, his speech marked by an inimitable, relentless energy.

"If there’s nothing urgent, I’ll hang up. Next time I need help, I’ll go to Qi Tianhua. He doesn’t waste words," Ning Shuyi replied deadpan.

"Whoa, slow down! Just trying to lighten things up after a long, dull morning. All right, let’s get serious." Luo Wei quickly dropped the banter. "You asked me to look into Li Qiao, right? I’ve got most of it pieced together for you."

"Go on," Ning Shuyi said, setting the phone aside and pulling a notepad and pen from her coat pocket, ready to take notes.

"Li Qiao graduated from university and now works as a marketing specialist at a company. He’s got no prior record—nothing good or bad to speak of, really, just average on all fronts," Luo Wei reported. "But recently, he’s done a few shady things. I found some posts online—anonymous stuff, but every clue points straight to Wang Yuluo. Not a single post mentions her name, but every word is clearly about her. The content is damaging enough to ruin someone’s reputation—painting her as a spoiled, arrogant, materialistic girl, snobbish, promiscuous in relationships, flaunting herself under the pretense of cosplay, acting provocatively around men, and so on. He posted it in a group dedicated to emotional advice and confessions. The initial posts were relatively mild, mostly about how he was the ever-faithful boyfriend who was eventually dumped for not being rich enough, but as time went on, things got increasingly outlandish."