Тhе grоuр returned from Shееp Lakе around 7 р.m., thе skу still bright. Вауunye sаt behind the counter, piсking аt a tаkeоut bох. Тhe реасh blоssom еyes that hаd flirtеd with her thаt afternoоn apрroaсhеd, smiling аs hе аskеd—
"Мiss, is the bar rеsеrvatiоn rеаdy?"
Вaуunуe offеrеd a рrofessionаl smile. "All set. Gо frеshеn up аnd follow me."
Реаch Вlоssоm Еуеs was оvеrjoуed. Аfter a quiсk showеr, hе еagеrlу trаilеd after Bаyunye.
The dеtails of the bаr visit need nоt be rесordеd here. Hours later, two burly men huffed and puffed as they carried Peach Blossom Eyes, now thoroughly drunk, back to Deji Inn behind Bayunye. "Master Ba, where should we put him?"
Slightly tipsy herself, Bayunye tilted her chin. "Take him to his room—'Norbulingka' on the second floor."
It was quite late, and most rooms were already dark. Bayunye's cheeks flushed, she sat in the central courtyard sipping honey lemon water. A few small night lights glowed like fireflies around her, while newly added cycling and outdoor club flags on the second and third-floor railings flapped loudly in the gusting wind.
The two men came downstairs, bid her farewell, and she locked the door. As she returned to her seat, her head bumped into one of the night lights, causing it to sway and cast flickering light on the doorplate of her room, "Namjagbarwa." Her gaze darkened—last year, on a similarly tipsy night, she had won over Diao Zhuo there.
Then she recalled a poem from her student days that she never fully memorized. Something like... the face is gone who knows where, but the peach blossoms still smile merrily.
It occurred to her that one really should read more books.
She checked her watch. Maybe... she could call him while still under the influence? If the conversation turned unpleasant or she said something she’d later regret, she could simply blame it on drunken amnesia the next day. She took out her phone, took a deep breath, found his number, and was about to tap the screen when she heard someone slurring her name from above.
Looking up, she nearly jumped—the drunken Peach Blossom Eyes was leaning over the second-floor railing, almost toppling forward, grinning foolishly as he shouted her name. Anyone unaware might have thought he was about to jump.
Even a drunkard falling headfirst from the second floor could hardly escape serious injury.
"You! Get back inside now!!" she yelled, sprinting toward the second floor.
The moment she left, her phone rang—caller: Diao Zhuo. It rang several times, unanswered, before the screen went dark again.
She didn’t pick up.
Diao Zhuo tossed his phone aside, pushed open the window, and was met with an extremely dry, cold wind carrying fine sand. Irritated, he shut it again.
After the project team resumed work, he had no choice but to return to the operation area. Ran Jinxian informed him that after the police visited that day, He Zhengren insisted it was all a misunderstanding. The next day, still concerned, Ran asked the local police to follow up. He Zhengren was home alone watching TV, and the housekeeper Ah Hong said aside from slightly high blood pressure and a recurrence of his old leg pain, he was otherwise fine. Ran also learned that the Beidou Rescue headquarters had approved He Zhengren’s resignation. He claimed he wanted to visit his son abroad and was processing his visa. Before that, he seemed to have plans for a trip.
Diao Zhuo wondered—was He Zhengren planning to flee the country?"We've checked, Ma He has no criminal record. Even though he's currently driving for He Zhengren, we can't conclude he's the 'mole' He Zhengren planted by Bayunye's side." Ran Jinxian reminded him, "I know you wouldn't contact us to look for Renlong Duoji without reason. We tried locating him again, but failed every time. He's an experienced hiker who has trekked through uninhabited areas multiple times. Maybe he went into another uninhabited area. Keep an eye out yourselves. If you see him, try to persuade him properly—don't interfere with our police investigation privately."
"He sent Bayunye a message saying he was feeling down and went out to clear his head."
"That's good." After a pause of a few seconds, Ran Jinxian added, "About the 'hook' theory you mentioned to me... I was in the accident investigation unit at the time, focused solely on the car crash. No one considered that angle. I've already reported your theory to the department handling such cases. By the way, these criminal organizations are dangerous. If they involve cross-border activities, some might even be armed. If this group has been engaged in such crimes for over a decade without being caught, it's either sheer luck or... they have people inside our ranks too. Still, you should prioritize your own safety. Don't confront them directly."
The reason Diao Zhuo kept the "hook" theory from Bayunye was precisely because he feared she would rely on her "combat skills" and insist on taking matters into her own hands.
When it came to Bayunye, Diao Zhuo was far from as carefree as he used to be.
These past few days, he had messed up countless sets of data. When scanning QR codes to pay for purchases, nothing would come up—turns out he had been using a courier tracking app to scan Alipay codes. Not to mention the many nights he woke up disoriented, unsure of where he was, reaching out to the side expecting to pull her into his arms, thinking she would still grumble unhappily like before before falling asleep in his embrace.
He often reminisced about their first meeting in Qiangtang. Her defiance and tomboyish demeanor had made him uncomfortable, yet inexplicably drawn him in. After returning, other women seemed bland and uninteresting—like eating spicy hotpot in Chongqing for a year and never being able to accept a plain broth again, let alone the compatibility they shared in bed. He still remembered their days in Xi'an: her crouching to examine artifacts in the museum, drunkenly eating wontons at the foot of the city wall, and suddenly bursting in to hug and kiss him wildly while he was showering...
She was so genuine and unaffected, every little detail haunting his thoughts. He didn't want anyone else—just Bayunye. Yes, only her.
"Parting on good terms" implied there was an unavoidable reason forcing separation. What irresistible force was there between him and Bayunye that they had to separate? They never fought physically, never cheated on each other, hadn't even discussed marriage only to break up over distance or other reasons, nor disagreed over whether to report to the police, stubbornly refusing to yield. So why "part on good terms"?
Damn it all! What bullshit "parting on good terms"!
After returning to the project team, Diao Zhuo started smoking again. He wasn't a heavy smoker before. When he noticed Bayunye didn't like the smell of smoke, he didn't announce quitting in front of her but gradually cut down on his own. Since coming back, he had been smoking pack after pack.To be honest, he was extremely irritable, filled with an inexplicable anger with nowhere to vent. Helpless and at a loss, his frustration was akin to acing the college entrance exam with an unprecedented high score, only to be told the damn test papers were handed out incorrectly and you had to retake it—with all the questions being ones you couldn’t answer.
To speak of Bayunye, she truly was raised under Brother Long’s wing. From the way she barged into a thug’s house in the middle of the night to force a confession, it was clear her character, mindset, and methods were a carbon copy of Brother Long’s. Back then, he had warned her not to handle such situations that way again, yet it couldn’t change the set of values and ways of dealing with things she had already formed. Having no parents, encountering a man like Brother Long who could handle everything on his own during her teenage years, it was only natural she learned everything from him.
Perhaps there was even some special sentiment mixed in.
Half of Diao Zhuo’s inexplicable anger stemmed from her stubbornness and inability to change, while the other half came from worry and a hint of jealousy.
Unlike those overly sentimental women who constantly threatened to break up, she had a temper but was broad-minded and forgiving. They often bickered, but rarely argued—and when they did, it inevitably led to trouble.
She wasn’t originally his type, but once he fell for this woman who seemed to rub him the wrong way in every way, it was deadly. She seemed to have some premonition, telling him one day, “Many years from now, when you’re dragging your family around, a child in each hand, I wonder if you’ll remember that once, for a short while, there was a Master Ba who turned your world upside down.”
His family had no throne to inherit, so he didn’t need to have that many children, but his response to her was sincere: even if he had children, they would be their children. Moreover, seeing how she was, Diao Zhuo doubted she’d be willing to be tied down by kids. His job kept him away from home, and he had thought about it—everything would be left to fate. She could do as she pleased, whether it was being childfree or even not getting married at all.
It was precisely because he thought so far ahead that he couldn’t accept their current precarious relationship, while also worrying that Bayunye might be swayed by Brother Long, acting on impulse and joining the “Avengers Alliance.”
Earlier, Diao Zhuo thought he could contact Bayunye under the pretext of asking about Brother Long’s whereabouts.
She didn’t answer.
Whether it was intentional or her phone wasn’t with her, he didn’t know.
In truth, he just wanted to reach out to her.
Bayunye carried Taohuayan into the room. She couldn’t tell if he was really drunk or faking it, as he kept calling her name and saying he loved her. She almost laughed out loud—they had only met a few hours ago, and he was already talking about “love”?
After a long struggle, Taohuayan finally fell into a deep sleep, looking like he wouldn’t wake up even if stabbed with a knife, and finally quieted down. Bayunye rolled her eyes, closed the door, and went downstairs, where she saw the missed call on her phone. She paused slightly—it was from half an hour ago. Was he asleep now?
Whatever. Call back!
The phone rang a few times before it was answered.
“Are you asleep?” she asked before the other person could speak.
“Bayunye.” Diao Zhuo’s voice came through, sounding magnetic in the quiet. After calling her name, he fell silent.
Bayunye didn’t know what to say either. After picking at her nails for a moment, she asked, “I saw you called me… I wanted to ask… what’s up?”
“Nothing.”
She snorted lightly. “If it’s nothing, I’m hanging up.”
“Bayunye.”
“Hmm?”
“Bayunye.”
“What? Are you a broken record or something?!” she snapped.
“Can you not hang up?”"Uh... it's fine not to hang up, but you should say something, otherwise... what a waste of phone credit." An honest person, a straightforward remark.
"Don't hang up." His tone hardened.
Bayunye got up and walked toward her room, lying to him, "I just got back from outside, covered in sweat, I need to take a shower."
"Which 'han'?"
"Huh?"
"Is the 'man shen da han' you mentioned the 'han' for 'man' or the 'han' for 'sweat'?"
"Fuck!" She got angry again. "You're the one covered in 'men'!" She tossed her phone onto the bed, and after taking a shower, she found the call still hadn't ended. "Diao Zhuo? You... are you still there?"
"...Yes."
The persistence of a steel-straight man—she really couldn't understand it. She placed the phone on the pillow to charge, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. After who knows how long, she grabbed the phone and saw the call was still ongoing.
"Hey, still there?"
A response came from the other end, a deep, husky male voice.
"Let's hang up," Bayunye said. "With you like this, I can't sleep."
"Haven't we slept before?" Teasing.
"We have slept... but what can you do besides hearing the other person snore if you don't hang up?"
Indeed, nothing. But what purpose did it serve? Both of them knew perfectly well—it was simply to feel each other's presence.
Bayunye was truly tired. Rubbing her eyes, she said, "Hey, tell me, are you... deliberately not hanging up to use it as some kind of flirtation?"
Diao Zhuo finally hung up.
"Hmph! Guilty conscience." Bayunye snorted in disdain.
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