Volume Two: Second Scroll
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“I have someone in my heart, so I can no longer have intimate contact with others.”
Lin Yan tugged at the iron chain, but her strength was too little; Song Yuhang stood perfectly still.
She was so angry she started shouting abuse, using her left hand to shove her, but was instead pulled into an embrace. Song Yuhang grabbed her wrist.
“That person just now, they wanted to kill you, didn’t they?”
Lin Yan panted slightly, “You know that, and you still won’t let me go?”
Song Yuhang was composed. She walked forward two steps, pulling the iron chain, and Lin Yan had no choice but to follow.
“I think you’ll be much safer with me.”
“Bah!” Lin Yan spat fiercely and cursed inwardly. Nothing good ever happens when I run into her.
With their left and right hands linked, and the key in Song Yuhang’s right pocket, they could only walk side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Lin Yan’s eyes darted, and she said in a soft voice.
“You see, with so many people outside, isn’t it a bit inappropriate to go out like this? A person needs their dignity just as a tree needs its bark1. If you release me, I’ll go with you.”
Lin Yan slightly raised her right wrist, smiling at her ingratiatingly.
The corner of Song Yuhang’s lips curved up slightly. “I think you’re right. In that case, how about this——”
As she spoke, she grabbed Lin Yan’s hand and stuffed it into her own jacket pocket.
Lin Yan staggered, nearly biting her tongue off.
She ground her teeth fiercely. “Song. Yu. Hang.”
For some unknown reason, whether it was her tone, her expression, or her every move, there was always a shadow of Lin Yan about her.
It was this sense of familiarity that compelled her to do things that were out of the ordinary, like grabbing her hand and stuffing it into her pocket just now. But when she came to her senses, she was once again submerged from head to toe by a surge of guilt.
A trace of gloom appeared in Song Yuhang’s eyes. She released her wrist, intending to take off her own jacket to cover the handcuffs.
Lin Yan glanced at her movements, and a clever idea struck her. An opportunity has come!
Seeing the key had just been taken out of the pocket, Lin Yan reached out directly to snatch it.
Song Yuhang quickly closed her fist around the key in her palm and subconsciously blocked the attempt.
She also seemed not to have expected that Pei Jinhong would actually fail to dodge it; it was only a simple straight punch.
The thin woman before her bent over, coughing wretchedly a few times. Then, pulled by inertia, she stumbled backward, her waist hitting the railing. She tilted her head up slightly, her black hair swinging in an arc, her forehead covered in cold sweat.
Song Yuhang’s pupils shrank. She was also yanked forward by the iron chain, but she managed to wrap an arm around her waist, pulling the woman toward her to prevent her from falling.
Lin Yan felt a wave of dizziness, and by the time she came to her senses, her head was resting against the hollow of Song Yuhang’s shoulder, while the back of that person’s left hand was pressed against her softness.
Song Yuhang also sensed the impropriety. She gave two dry coughs and released her. “Don’t move around. You can’t beat me. Let’s go.”
As she spoke, she quickly pulled her hand away as if she had encountered some fierce flood or savage beast2, her face slightly red. She wiped the back of her hand on her pants again and again.
Watching her actions, Lin Yan’s anger instantly flared three zhang high3; her lungs felt like they were about to explode from anger.
“What do you mean by that? Am I something dirty???”
Song Yuhang answered while pulling her forward.
“No.”
“Did I disgust you?”
“No.”
“Then why do you despise me so much?”
“I…” Song Yuhang was at a loss for words. This kind of contradictory and complex feeling was likely something that couldn’t be put into words for others.
As they spoke, the two of them had already walked outside.
The rain had stopped. The streetlights reflected a pair of slender figures in the puddles of water.
She stared at the silhouette that was so similar to Lin Yan’s and said faintly.
“I have someone in my heart, so I can no longer have intimate contact with others.”
The corners of Lin Yan’s lips curved up slightly, but she desperately forced the expression down. She turned her head to the side and said coldly.
“How pedantic4. Who could possibly like only one person for their entire life? The world is so big, why hang yourself on a single tree5?”
Song Yuhang walked with her head down, splashing through the water, and said in a low voice, “There are.”
Lin Yan didn’t hear clearly. “What?”
She raised her head and repeated loudly, “There are!”
The two were standing close, and Lin Yan was startled.
“Are you crazy? Why were you suddenly so loud? What do you mean, ‘there are’?”
Song Yuhang smiled slightly. “That kind of person definitely exists.”
Lin Yan shook her head and smiled contemptuously. “I don’t believe it. Name one.”
She had grown up in an environment where everyone tried to cheat one another6, and her own father had served as a personal example, demonstrating for her what was called “three hearts, two minds”7 and “serving Qin in the morning and Chu in the evening”8.
Whether as Lin Yan or as Pei Jinhong, she likely felt no fondness for, and even held a deep aversion to, poetic phrases like “one life, one lifetime, a pair of people”9.
However, Song Yuhang’s tone of voice carried a trace of lightheartedness, as if she had accomplished something amazing.
“There are. Me. When I see her again, I can tell her that I have always loved her, have always been waiting for her, and have never changed.”
Although, who knows when I’ll be able to see her again.
At this thought, Song Yuhang felt a slight sting in her nose. She then snapped back to her senses. Why am I telling a criminal suspect so much, especially about my own love life?
She gave a self-mocking smile, only to see the other person’s gaze locked firmly on her face, a glint of moisture shimmering in those eyes.
Just as she was about to take a closer look, Lin Yan had already turned her face away with a sarcastic smile.
“I think there’s an eighty percent chance you’re sick, and not just a little.”
Although she said that, a warm current that was both sour and astringent surged through her heart.
Afraid that if Song Yuhang kept looking at her, she might cry on the spot, Lin Yan turned her face away in time, using insults to conceal how truly moved she felt.
Song Yuhang also shook her head, probably feeling there was nothing more to say to her. She stopped talking and went straight to the roadside to hail a taxi, opening the door for Lin Yan to get in first.
Lin Yan didn’t move. She knew that if she went with her tonight, even though Feng Jianguo would get her out, all her previous efforts in this undercover work would be wasted.
She shoved her a few times, panting.
“Let me go, I’ll give you money.”
Song Yuhang restrained her and sneered.
“Can a human life be bought back with money?”
As they were entangled, the driver, having grown impatient, drove straight off. Another green taxi pulled up beside them.
Song Yuhang shoved her inside and locked the car door.
“Driver10, the City Public Security Bureau.”
“Mmph!” Lin Yan struggled, but a hand clamped over her mouth and pressed her against the seat. Song Yuhang held her by the neck and growled in a low voice.
“Don’t move. I don’t want to use force on you.”
Lin Yan hastily raised her head, her heart jolting in shock.
She was all too familiar with that kind of gaze; it was the same sharp, implicitly threatening look she used to give criminal suspects.
Song Yuhang might be soft-hearted toward her, but she would never abandon her principles for her, not even in the past.
This won’t do, I have to find a way to escape. I can’t call for backup. If Liu Zhi and the others see me with Song Yuhang, I’m finished.
She settled down and nodded her head desperately.
Seeing that she was no longer struggling, Song Yuhang finally let go.
The car drove forward, the road somewhat bumpy.
Song Yuhang’s jacket covered their wrists. She glanced outside.
“Driver, this doesn’t seem to be the way to the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau.”
The driver, wearing sunglasses, didn’t turn his head.
“There’s road construction up ahead, we have to take a detour.”
By the faint light of the car’s headlamps, Lin Yan looked outside and saw several construction signs blocking the road ahead.
On it was written “Vehicle Detour”.
The driver reversed, turned, and entered a small side road.
Song Yuhang silently straightened her back, observing the road conditions.
Lin Yan’s finger poked her palm.
Song Yuhang looked over.
The other person winked and made faces.
“Guess, are they here to kill me this time, or to kill you?”
She mouthed the words.
Song Yuhang also mouthed back silently, “We’ll know when we get out of the car.”
Finally, thinking she was afraid, she added another sentence.
“Don’t be afraid, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Lin Yan rolled her eyes, secretly grinding her teeth in hatred.
Damn it, Song Yuhang, are you this gentle, considerate, and understanding with everyone?!
Of course, she didn’t know that if it weren’t for her face being so remarkably similar to Lin Yan’s, Song Yuhang couldn’t be bothered with her at all.
Watching as the taxi gradually deviated from the main road, on this dark and windy night, there were no longer any pedestrians on the road.
Song Yuhang leaned forward. “Driver, just let us out here. We’ll walk the rest of the way ourselves.”
The man glanced at her in the rearview mirror and replied, “It’s still far.”
With some difficulty, she took money out of her pocket with one hand and handed it over.
“Sorry to trouble you, we have some other business, so we won’t ride any further.”
The driver looked at the road. They were almost there anyway. He slowly pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. “Alright.”
As he spoke, he unbuckled his seatbelt and made to give Song Yuhang her change. As their wrists crossed, the driver suddenly grabbed her and pulled a fruit knife from his coat pocket, stabbing straight toward her chest.
Song Yuhang’s one hand was cuffed to Lin Yan, and her only free right hand was now being held. The situation was nothing short of critical. In a lightning flash and flint spark11, she gave a sharp shout.
“Raise your hand!”
Before Lin Yan could understand what was happening, her vision went dark, and she only heard a crisp CLANG!
Her right hand was raised high, the iron chain having firmly caught the knife’s blade, while her entire body had plunged into Song Yuhang’s embrace, falling face-down onto her lap.
Fuck.
A curse escaped Lin Yan’s throat. “Why the fuck did you just start fighting without a word?!”
Song Yuhang ignored her, yanking the chain to send the knife flying, smashing it against the car window.
“Get up!”
This time, Lin Yan didn’t wait for her to act, quickly sliding down from the seat herself. Song Yuhang raised her right foot and delivered a flying kick to the man’s chest. He fell back onto the seat, and the driver was knocked onto the steering wheel, his head hitting it hard.
She went to pull open the right car door. “Go!”
Lin Yan went to open the left one. “This way!”
Due to inertia, the two were yanked back hard and crashed into each other, staring at each other face to face.
“Which way is it?!!!” Lin Yan roared.
A faint smile appeared on Song Yuhang’s lips as she caught a glimpse of the driver pulling a black object from his pocket out of the corner of her eye.
And that stab to the chest had clearly been aimed at her.
Song Yuhang’s expression turned grim, the smile freezing on her face. She wrapped her right arm around Lin Yan, using her own back as a human cushion, and half-rolled, half-crawled out of the car with her.
The two of them fell into the grass by the roadside, hit by a shower of rain and mud. The bullets that followed struck the car door, sending sparks flying with a BANG, BANG.
The driver, holding a gun, gave chase.
Song Yuhang helped her up from the ground, and the two of them limped toward the woods.
Lin Yan spat out the grass roots in her mouth a few times. Before she could speak, a hand pressed her shoulder, hiding her behind a banyan tree.
Song Yuhang took the key from her pocket, glanced at it, and with a few quick moves12 unlocked the handcuffs for her. She spoke as she did so, her tone urgent and fast.
“That person is after me, they won’t hurt you. You should go, quickly. Find a nearby police station and turn yourself in. I don’t know why the person chasing you wants to kill you, but right now, the police are probably the only ones who can protect you.”
The patter of rain in the woods was mixed with the loud sound of gunshots. The footsteps were already nearby.
“Why are you letting me go? You know I won’t—”
—turn myself in.
Song Yuhang smiled, picked up the fallen jacket, and draped it over her shoulders. Without a moment’s hesitation, she stood up, pulled a mechanical baton from behind her waist, and with a snap, flicked it straight, preparing to face the enemy.
“Because this is my own business. It has nothing to do with you.”
Even if she is a criminal suspect, I shouldn’t drag her into this and get her killed.
Lin Yan understood her subtext. She looked at the still-warm jacket on her shoulders, and when her gaze fell on the mechanical baton in Song Yuhang’s hand, her throat moved slightly.
How did I not know? Since when did a person who only uses her fists start wielding weapons?
Seeing her staring without moving, Song Yuhang glanced back. The rain had soaked her hair, which now dripped down her cheeks. Her shirt clung tightly to her body, making her figure appear all the more graceful and wild.
She growled, “Go!”
Lin Yan carved every detail of her face into her very bones. She pushed herself up, holding onto the tree, her fingers clutching the jacket. She looked up at her, lips trembling and face deathly pale, but said not a single word.
After a moment of looking at each other.
She turned resolutely and limped away in the opposite direction.
Song Yuhang, in turn, charged toward the enemy with her mechanical baton.
LP: Re-translated on August 12, 2025
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