Chapter 108: Fame Spreads Far and Wide

“I may come from a well-off family, but I never throw things away before I’ve finished using them. I always make sure to use everything up,” Yuan Hang said, playing along with Sister Li’s words. “Haha, I was so focused on whether the medicine was the right one that I forgot to check if it was expired…”

This kid’s got some smarts! The captain glanced at Yuan Hang, clicking his tongue in admiration. “You social news reporters really work yourselves into two different shades?”

The skin on his arms, where his short sleeves usually covered, was a stark contrast to the exposed areas.

Yuan Hang fell silent. What, only war correspondents are allowed to have tanned skin?

“Captain, aren’t we on duty right now?” piped up one of the rookies. “Isn’t it a bit inappropriate to chat about personal stuff?”

The second rookie chimed in, “We should have ideals and ambitions, sure, but we should also do proper things at the proper time, right?”

The captain: “….” Damn, these kids have had their pressure points unlocked—they’re learning to talk back and put theory into practice, huh?

He looked at Chen Lie. “Alright, we’re heading out.”

Chen Lie glanced at the two rookies, a little uneasy. “I’ll go with you.”

Of the three intruders, all were agile, but one was a bit different. Mainly, if they had backup waiting, just the three of them might not be able to take them all down.

The two rookies felt stifled as Chen Lie’s gaze swept over them. Who did he look down on? Oh, right—us…

They wilted a little, but couldn’t quite suppress their competitive spirit. The captain smiled, then turned to Chen Lie. “You come with me. What about your wife?”

“I’ll stay here,” Su Qinghu tried to step back, but Chen Lie held her by the shoulder, keeping her in place.

She looked up at Chen Lie, her eyes curving into a smile. “You go take care of your business, don’t worry about me. I can assure you, those self-defense moves you taught me are really useful…”

It was hot, and she’d just showered not long ago. If she went out now, in this southern weather, she’d have to shower again when she got back…

Chen Lie smiled. The corners of his mouth barely lifted, but Su Qinghu could still tell—she noticed.

She was just thinking this wasn’t good and wanted to escape, when she heard Chen Lie say, “I have something I want to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” Su Qinghu, unable to retreat, lowered her voice and forced a smile. “Do you remember the ruler?”

Didn’t he dislike physical contact? What’s he up to now?

Chen Lie understood what Su Qinghu meant, and her intentions. He replied calmly, “Do you remember the contents of the letter sent from home?”

Su Qinghu: “…”

She wanted to slap the table. Did they have to be so tit-for-tat? Was he even a man?

But her arrogance fizzled out in rare embarrassment and the feeling of being caught red-handed.

In the end, after introducing Chen Lie to Sister Li and Yuan Hang, Su Qinghu followed them out.

Good grief, it was so muggy—was it going to rain?

She looked up at the sky. There were still a few stars. If there are stars, it probably won’t rain.

“How many days have you been here?” the captain asked Su Qinghu. “Besides the places you went during the day, anywhere else you want to see?”

“Just one day. There’s nowhere else I want to go. If all goes well, I’ll head back tomorrow night or the morning after,” Su Qinghu replied.

All that was left was the matter with the operations manager. Once that was settled, she could leave. Or depending on how things went tomorrow, maybe they’d leave first.

“So soon?” The captain glanced at Chen Lie, then smiled at Su Qinghu. “There’s a lot of good food and fun things to do here, you know.”

Su Qinghu was starting to feel sweaty. After answering, she asked the captain, “Do you always walk everywhere when you’re on a case?”

That couldn’t be right.

In the sixties, they had bicycles—either walked or rode bikes for cases. In the seventies, they had motorcycles, and supposedly could go pretty fast in reverse. Now it was the eighties—shouldn’t they have four-wheeled vehicles by now?

She’d seen motor vehicles! Supposedly they’d only come out in the past couple of years—real police cars.

“Huh?” The captain was caught off guard by Su Qinghu’s question and instinctively looked down at his own feet.

Before he could answer, one of the rookies asked, “Does everyone at your newspaper get a camera?”

Su Qinghu: … If he weren’t so innocent, she’d have snapped back.

“What are you saying? Watch your mouth!” The second rookie glared at his companion, then spoke to Su Qinghu in a much gentler tone. “Since the reforms, there’s been a huge population flow. Not everyone has an ID card, and some people find work but don’t get a temporary residence permit. When we go to check household registrations, they slip away, making cases harder to solve.”

“With more cases and greater difficulty, our vehicles are stretched thin.” As he spoke, he suddenly felt a chill and looked over to see the captain staring at him. He froze for two seconds before realizing—

This isn’t the time for chit-chat! They still had criminals in hand!

“We’ve got bicycles, motorcycles, and four-wheelers,” he said, patting the criminal he was holding. “But this time, the suspects weren’t hard to catch, not much of a fight. We just had to wait for them to walk into our trap—no need for all that.”

Besides, even if we wanted to use a car, we’d have to go back to the station first!

The three criminals had hoods over their heads, mouths taped shut, and were tied up tight. They’d been thinking about escaping on the way, so they weren’t paying attention to the conversation.

When one of them got slapped on the back, he flared up, but aside from struggling and grunting, he couldn’t fight back. Another slap finally made him behave.

Su Qinghu nodded politely, eyes scanning the street, hoping to flag down a taxi.

Unfortunately, the road was deserted—not a car or even a person in sight.

“Do people here really go to bed this early?” After nearly twenty minutes of walking, Su Qinghu was shocked. “Not even a taxi looking for a late fare?”

“Some rest early, some late,” the captain chuckled. “As for taxis, at this hour, you won’t find any heading this way.”

At this time of night, most taxi drivers waited at the train station. The people arriving by train were mostly migrant workers or business travelers, neither of whom would be heading toward the police station.

The former were afraid of being caught without a temporary permit, and the latter had no reason to come this way—unless they were from another province and here to coordinate a case.

Su Qinghu gave up. Fine, she got it—there was no way but to walk to the station.

“Are you tired?” the captain asked knowingly when Su Qinghu fell silent. “If you’re tired, have your husband carry you. He can lift a couple hundred pounds like it’s nothing.”

Su Qinghu: … Is this captain trying to stir things up?

With so many people around, how could she possibly let Chen Lie carry her? If he really did, he’d become famous throughout the station—or even their whole network!"