Encounter
“Just some foreign liquor, what’s the matter?”
She spoke with tranquility, but one of Liu Zhi’s men gently nudged his arm and whispered, “Brother Zhi, that’s not just…”
Liu Zhi turned his head, signaling him with a look to keep quiet.
Everyone looks tense as if facing a formidable enemy. Song Yuhang smiled and said, “Foreign liquor, with this color, it must be something… Hmm.” She paused, implying something profound, “A new type of drug, perhaps.”
“Tsk.” Lin Yan clicked her tongue in disapproval, wearing her crimson qipao and high heels, elegantly moving over.
“Officer, are you joking? We run a legitimate business here with a license to operate. How could we have such a thing?”
“Yeah, right, Boss Qian?”
She suddenly emphasized the last three words.
Taken off guard by being called out by name, Boss Qian quickly regained his composure and nodded repeatedly, “Yes… Yes, yes… we… we’re discussing… discussing… business…”
In the tense atmosphere, his nervousness intensified, causing him to stutter more. However, when facing the police, this kind of tension was necessary. It would make you appear weak and incompetent if caught lying.
Boss Qian heeded Lin Yan’s warning and, coupled with Song Yuhang’s sharp gaze like lightning, he dared not make eye contact with her. He lowered his head, buried his head, and appeared completely honest and submissive.
Glancing at him and then at Lin Yan, Song Yuhang’s eyes shifted to the glass of “foreign liquor” on the table, slightly curving her lips into a smile.
“Do you think I would believe that? I must tell you, I have seen this thing before…”
Before she even finished speaking, Lin Yan had already picked up the cup of blue liquid, tilted her head back, and drank most of it, leaving just a sip swirling at the bottom of the cup.
She wiped the water stain off the corner of her lips and gently handed the glass cup back in front of her.
“Tasty, officer. You’ve been busy all day and still come back empty-handed. Do you want to moisten your throat a bit?”
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Song Yuhang suddenly tightened the corner of her lips, taking a deep breath.
She was proving a point and also provoking her.
Song Yuhang’s eyes showed a mix of changing emotions, after a moment, she shook her head and chuckled. Strands of hair fell gently to the side of her forehead as she moved, revealing slightly disheveled eyebrows and a pair of bloodshot eyes. She exuded a somewhat careless and unbridled aura, quite different from the dignified and upright Captain Song from before.
“Since we’re here, we can’t leave empty-handed. Xiao Chen, bring the drug testing paper.”
A urine test!
Lin Yan’s mind was buzzing with alarms. Damn it, Song Yuhang, you won’t give up until I’m killed, huh!
If she took the urine test, there would be no issue. But for the others in the room, it was uncertain. If they found even one drug user, she’d be in trouble too, and her undercover mission would be compromised.
As the test paper was about to be handed to Lin Yan, she gritted her teeth, feeling helpless.
The phone of the chief rang, and he hurriedly picked up the receiver, nodding and bowing as he listened.
“Hello? Director? Huh? It’s a false alarm? Someone made a false report…”
A smile played on Lin Yan’s lips as she pushed the test paper back to her.
“I think we can skip this, right?”
The chief hung up the phone and turned to pull Song Yuhang.
“Alright, alright, let’s call it a day, just a misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding.”
The director personally ordered it, so the chief had to come and fetch her. Song Yuhang couldn’t possibly openly defy a superior order.
She kept looking back, staring at her through the colorful yet icy lights.
Lin Yan raised an eyebrow, giving her a smug smile. Just as she was about to put down the glass, a shadow fell in front of her.
She looked up and saw Song Yuhang bent down again.
Lin Yan was taken aback. She snatched the glass from her hand, raised it to her lips, drank it all in one gulp, and slammed it hard on the table.
The glass shattered with a loud noise.
Song Yuhang’s palm was covered in fresh blood.
She raised her eyes to look at her, nonchalantly licked her lips, with a gleam of curiosity in her eyes.
“Pei Jinhong, right?”
“I’ll remember you.”
Her hand casually brushed over her shoulder, leaving a bloodstain on her cheongsam.
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Song Yuhang distanced herself, saying, “I’m Song Yuhang, we’ll meet again.”
As others left, Lin Yan swayed and almost fell.
Liu Zhi caught her, not calling her sister-in-law but referring to her as “Sister Hong.”
Others gathered around, looking at her with concern.
“Sister Hong, Sister Hong, are you okay?”
After this incident, she finally gained credibility in Huange Nightclub.
This credibility had nothing to do with who she was; they would only remember that Lin Yan bravely stood up in front of the police to save them and also saved Boss Qian.
Lin Yan waved her hand, steadied herself, and looked at the mess all around.
“It’s fine, clean this up, return the money to the boss, and suspend business for tonight. Let’s each go our own way for now.”
Liu Zhi escorted her upstairs to rest.
“Sister Hong, about that batch of goods…”
The drugs brought by Tiger had long been swapped by her; the liquor she and Song Yuhang drank was indeed alcohol, just mixed with a bit of blue ink.
A cold smile crept upon Lin Yan’s lips.
“Don’t worry, daring to deceive me, when in trouble, they’ll naturally come looking for what they want from me.”
That new batch of drugs in the car at least had a hundred kilograms, not a small amount, but it did give her more leverage.
Liu Zhi watched her enter the room, feeling somewhat reluctant, and couldn’t help but ask one more question.
“And Brother Wang…”
Lin Yan leaned against the door frame, her face somewhat cold.
“Do you think Brother Wang is not a cautious person? How could he be caught so conveniently?”
Liu Zhi felt a sudden shock, his clothes drenched in cold sweat.
“Are you saying…”
Lin Yan uttered the last sentence that pressed down on his doubts.
“Liu Zhi, sister is older than you, has crossed more bridges than you have walked roads. Despite our good relationship with your Brother Wang all these years, there is something I have to say – when you consider someone a brother, they may not necessarily treat you sincerely.”
“One hundred kilograms is not a small amount. If today, I hadn’t sensed something wrong and had you switch it out in advance, we would both be headed for prison, facing the music.”
“Think carefully, and then…”
Lin Yan’s gaze fixed on him, calm yet harboring an edge.
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“Make a choice.”
Tonight, the Huange Nightclub remains closed, and the back alley is quiet.
“Creak—” With a light sound, the wooden door is pushed open, and several staff members walk out carrying garbage bags, heading towards the alley where the trash cans are overflowing.
They casually toss the bags, scattering the garbage all over the ground.
After they chat and laugh while walking away, an elderly man jogging for fitness stops at the alley entrance, glancing around at the deserted surroundings. Quietly, he picks up a cigar from among the scattered waste of paper and beer bottles.
He quickly checks it and feels some orderly marks pinched on it with fingernails—a Morse code.
The old man tucks the cigar into his pocket and continues jogging forward.
The person who made a false report was found, drunk and rambling in the police station, claiming nonsense. After careful questioning, it was revealed that he had a grudge with the Huange Nightclub because he wanted to enter but didn’t have enough money, and they wouldn’t let him in.
“…” Several investigating police officers looked at each other in disbelief.
Following the principle of “where there’s police, there’s trouble,” the 110 Command Center immediately dispatched the task upon hearing it was a major drug trafficking case. This led to the farce of them coming up empty-handed. Afterward, the Anti-Drug Brigade also received the task. Upon verification, it was reported upwards to Feng Jianguo, who put a stop to it right away.
Meanwhile, as they were interrogating him, Song Yuhang finished her day of work and drove back home.
She placed her backpack on the bed with a “snap,” turned on the desk lamp, and opened her notebook to write under the warm yellow light.
“In 2009, June 15th, you have been away from me for 140 days already. It’s summer in Jiangcheng, the hottest time of the year.”
Song Yuhang supported her chin with her hand, and two drops of water stained the paper. She wiped them away and continued writing.
“I miss you very much, especially, especially miss you. Almost every night, I dream of some of our past moments.”
“I wonder if it’s true that one thinks about something during the day and dreams about it at night. Today, during a mission, I met someone who looks almost exactly like you…”
As Song Yuhang wrote up to this point, her gaze shifted to the whiteboard on the side, looking at the three characters “Pei Jinhong,” clearly distracted.
After a moment, she tightened her lips, as if making a significant decision, picked up her keys, and left.