Jing Ping felt that Xiangcheng was much colder than Yunnan. The wind was piercing, carrying a damp, snow-like chill. The sky was perpetually gloomy too, thickly overcast and oppressive—unlike Yunnan, where winter days were always bathed in brilliant sunshine, with skies as blue as lakes and clouds as white as snow. One's heart felt brighter there.
Even if you often dwelled in darkness.
Jing Ping hadn't rented an apartment yet and was staying in the bureau's single dormitory. The conditions weren't great, but it was clean and tidy. It was then that Jing Ping began to notice a sliver of goodness in Xiangcheng—though cold, it was a gentle cold, with even the winter rain falling softly and delicately. Nothing like Yunnan, where you either faced scorching sun or torrential downpours. The dorm housed a few recent graduates who were usually well-behaved and treated Jing Ping with deep respect. When they ordered late-night snacks, they never forgot to offer some to their senior.
Thus, during his first few days in Xiangcheng, living this fine, gentle, and tranquil life, Jing Ping recalled how just last month he'd been chasing drug dealers through Yunnan's jungles. Two colleagues had fallen, several fierce bandits on the other side had also gone down, and he himself, panting heavily, had violently subdued a ringleader. When he lifted his head, still gripping the unconscious criminal, he saw the primeval forest towering above, a blazing sun glaring brilliantly, illuminating the blood covering his head and body... Now, it all felt like a distant dream.
He was 31 this year, single, with no woman and no home. He had come from the blood-soaked, knife-edged life of Yunnan to this petite, elegant inland city.
Before leaving, his superior had said: "Jing Ping, you are a sharp blade. Thrust into Hunan and sever the artery transporting drugs from Yunnan to Central China."
His superior had also said: "Jing Ping, no matter what, stay alive for me."
Dawn broke again. Jing Ping opened his eyes—the mornings here were truly bitterly cold. He got out of bed, threw on an old jacket, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
He lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Returning to the bedroom, he saw a text message on his phone: "Old Jing, meet me at Yanjiang Avenue opposite the police station."
It was from You Mingxu.
Gripping his phone, Jing Ping wondered: When did she start calling me "Old Jing"? I'm only five or six years older than her.
After a moment's thought, he changed into workout clothes, took a stack of documents from his bag, glanced at them, fell silent for a few seconds, then folded the papers and stuffed them into his pants pocket before heading out.
The sky had just brightened, the morning sun hanging low on the horizon, casting soft light everywhere. Jing Ping ran for a while before spotting a figure standing on the wooden riverside boardwalk, bending over to stretch their legs.
Since they had agreed to work together yesterday, Jing Ping naturally had some information to share. Because it was a covert investigation, he had suggested: "Let's find a place to talk alone." But You Mingxu found that troublesome, so Jing Ping arranged to meet her in the morning. When not working odd hours on cases, You Mingxu still exercised in the mornings—killing two birds with one stone, she readily agreed.
Those legs were very straight, with an indescribably balanced and fluid limb line. A phrase popped into Jing Ping's mind: "elegant face and well-proportioned figure." After a couple of glances, he walked over. You Mingxu turned her head, saw it was him, and lowered her leg.
Jing Ping pulled out the documents and said, "Take a look at these first. I'll run a lap and come back, then we can talk."
You Mingxu took them with a nod, walked a few steps down the slope from the boardwalk, found a flat patch of grass, sat down, and began reading.The key missing person was named Guo Xing, thirty-three years old, a native of Qujing City in Yunnan. This man had been rotten to the core since childhood—stealing, robbing, assaulting others, and acting like a local bully. He had been in and out of jail three times. Later, he moved to the border areas of Yunnan. In a place like that, for someone like him, it was almost impossible not to get involved with drugs. Rumors in the underworld suggested he had become a key figure in a drug trafficking ring there, and the police had been keeping an eye on him for a long time.
The crucial point wasn't just capturing this hardened criminal but using the intelligence he possessed to uncover the drug trafficking network behind him. Two months ago, Guo Xing finally got into trouble, though not because of drug trafficking. He and an accomplice raped and murdered a woman. The victim was a pitiable case—her husband had died years earlier, leaving her a widow. Her only younger brother, just 20 years old, was studying at a university in Kunming and wasn't around. The woman ran a small convenience store. Guo Xing and his accomplice likely broke in late at night, raped and killed her, then set the place on fire. The methods were extremely brutal. With conclusive evidence, the police immediately launched a manhunt for Guo Xing and his accomplice. However, they vanished without a trace and had not been caught since.
It wasn't until recently that Guo Xing resurfaced, but this time he had fled to Xiangcheng. He was still involved in major illicit dealings. The police decided to turn the situation to their advantage, aiming to uncover drug trafficking organizations in both regions, so they kept him under distant surveillance. Unexpectedly, a few days later, he went missing.
You Mingxu looked at the photo in the file. Guo Xing was a man of medium build, unremarkable in appearance, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. His exposed arms were dark and muscular. His features appeared sharp and fierce, exuding a menacing aura at first glance.
After committing some key details to memory and taking photos of the documents to save on her phone, You Mingxu looked up and saw a figure running back from the mist-covered boardwalk in the distance—right on time.
A narcotics officer in his early thirties, with a sturdy yet slender build and agile, powerful limbs. He gazed at You Mingxu from afar, his eyes as calm as the morning haze, devoid of the playful, rippling smile from the day before. You Mingxu met his distant gaze for a few seconds before looking away and standing up.
He jogged over, slightly out of breath, hands on his hips, and asked, "Finished reading?"
"Mm."
"Give it back to me."
You Mingxu handed it over and added, "I took photos."
Jing Ping's lips curved slightly. "Keep them safe. Narcotics work isn't like other investigations. Leaking even a bit of information could cost someone their life."
"I know."
Walking side by side back, You Mingxu said, "So, on the surface, we're investigating the rape and murder case linked to Guo Xing, trying to find him."
Jing Ping nodded. "We absolutely cannot alert the enemy or mention the word 'drugs' to anyone. If we find Guo Xing, he has the intelligence we need. Even if we can't completely dismantle the organization, we can at least deal a heavy blow to the drug trafficking ring."
"Alright. Where do we start next?"
Jing Ping glanced at her and smiled. "I've heard your investigative skills are impressive. Today, we'll check out Guo Xing's last known whereabouts in Xiangcheng."
There it was—that roguish, hard-to-handle vibe from yesterday was back.
You Mingxu simply replied calmly, "Sure."The two continued walking toward the police station, falling into a temporary silence. The scent of sweat and warmth emanating from Jing Ping became more noticeable now. Somehow, such side-by-side proximity had never been an issue for You Mingxu before—when she was with her comrades, everyone reeked of sweat. Yet now she felt a faint unease and didn’t want to be so close to him, so she subtly shifted away, distancing herself from his presence.
Jing Ping didn’t notice her small movement. The crisp morning air felt refreshing after their exertion, lifting his spirits. As he gazed into the distance for a while, his eyes inadvertently dropped and caught sight of You Mingxu’s slender waist and long, straight legs. A thought crossed Jing Ping’s mind: A woman like her couldn’t possibly be without a boyfriend.
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