Wen Yangyang was flustered and her voice was not soft. Being in the same corridor, Ji Xun and Yuan Yue both heard the news she brought at the same time.
The problem had escalated.
Public safety issues easily lead to mass panic, and mass panic, in turn, breeds more problems that didn’t exist before.
The police department was already struggling to steer the runaway carriage named “random poisoning,” and the newly arrived public opinion was like a hurricane that, with one gust—or at most a few more—was bound to derail the carriage.
Ji Xun thought, opened Weibo, and clicked on the trending topic #LargeScalePoisoningOfACertainMilkCandyInNingCity#. Led by the top marketing accounts and guided by enthusiastic netizens who frantically pointed the way in the comments, he got a general understanding of the whole story in just a few minutes.
At 20:15, a blogger named “Dongchuang You Er” (An Ear to the East Window) posted a Weibo message: “Heard a little rumor, someone in Ning City was poisoned after eating milk candy and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. The whole area is sealed off by a swarm of police.”
Someone commented below: “Food poisoning? Did the person die?”
The blogger replied: “The person didn’t die, but it’s said to be a poisoning, and a large-scale, indiscriminate one at that. Everyone be careful recently. Better to be safe than sorry. Let’s not eat milk candy for now.”
This reply stirred up a thousand waves. The comments immediately split into two camps. One believed it and immediately asked what poison and what brand of milk candy. The other was skeptical, flooding the comments with various question mark emojis, stating that in a society ruled by law, there wouldn’t be such a lunatic, and they didn’t believe such a lunatic could succeed in a large-scale poisoning.
This blogger was already a big V (verified account) with many followers. The two camps were evenly matched, and a small argument even broke out later, but Ji Xun didn’t see the full picture. What he saw were only the ruins.
Because this Weibo post was deleted around 20:40.
Then the blogger posted a new one: “I didn’t delete it.”
This was the first eruption of public opinion. The part of the netizens who didn’t believe it before suddenly believed it because Dongchuang You Er’s post was deleted. Keywords like “milk candy,” “poisoning,” and “random killing” became hot search terms. Regardless of whether they were in Ning City, many netizens used their various and powerful channels to inquire about the full picture of the poisoning incident.
These days, no one knows how strong a netizen’s imagination can be.
In just a little over half an hour, various WeChat screenshots and Moments posts spun out all sorts of sensational stories, some of which were even close to the truth. Of course, online information is a mixed bag. At this time, the vast majority of netizens did not realize what was true and what was false. They argued chaotically, like a perpetually noisy vegetable market, filled with all kinds of voices.
It wasn’t until 21:20 that a blogger verified as a reporter for “The First Moment” weekly, Kong Shuiqi, posted on Weibo, accompanied by a picture of a lit-up office desk: “Working overtime, super big news.”
All at once, a clear banner of public opinion emerged.
The previously scattered netizens immediately gathered under this reporter’s Weibo post, using various code words and abbreviations to match answers, eagerly waiting.
At 22:00, which was ten minutes ago, The First Moment’s official blue V account posted the following Weibo and pushed it across the entire network.
【#ACertainBrandOfMilkCandyInNingCityHasBeenPoisonedOnALargeScale# Police Have Intervened in the Investigation】 On the evening of January 31, a citizen of Ning City, Mr. Li (alias), was poisoned after consuming a certain brand of milk candy around 6 PM. Our reporter exclusively connected with the local hospital and learned that Mr. Li was poisoned by silver nitrate. After timely rescue, his life is no longer in danger. The Ning City police have intervened in the investigation of this case. It is understood that the reason for the poisoning may be that a certain lawless element, out of personal grudge, took revenge on society by injecting silver nitrate into an unknown batch of a certain brand of milk candy. The police are vigorously investigating the problematic milk candy to ensure public safety. This publication calls on the citizens of Ning City to pay attention to food safety recently and to provide effective case clues to assist the police in solving the case.
Reading this, Ji Xun had a pretty good grasp of the situation.
He put away his phone and turned his eyes to the two people in front of him. In the time he had been browsing the internet, these two hadn’t wasted any time either. One was communicating with the bureau about the situation, while the other had gone into Lian Dazhang’s hospital room and begun a direct inquiry—this was the purpose of Yuan Yue and Huo Ranyin coming here in the first place.
Ji Xun followed him in.
The hospital room was quite nice, a single room. Inside, besides Lian Dazhang lying on the bed, were his wife and daughter. His wife, Bei Jia, was washing fruit in the bathroom. His daughter, Lian Panpan, a fifteen-year-old ninth-grader, had her hair in two ponytails and was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, playing on her phone.
When Ji Xun came in, he caught a whiff of fragrance. It was the smell of a luxury perfume.
He casually glanced over and saw the light makeup on the girl’s face. She was a very pretty girl. Young girls who know how to dress up are rarely not pretty.
Yuan Yue was talking to Lian Dazhang. “Mr. Lian, we need to know where the milk candy you consumed came from.”
Lian Dazhang’s face was pale, as if he was just recovering from a serious illness. “From my pocket… I have hypoglycemia, so I always keep candy in my pocket just in case. This Little Rabbit candy…”
He thought hard for a while.
“I don’t know where it came from either. I have this brand at home, and at the company, and it seems… right, it seems the hotel where we ate today also had it. I can’t tell where it came from right now. I just grab a couple and stuff them in my pocket whenever I see candy.”
“You can’t remember at all?” Yuan Yue frowned.
“Officer, I… my head is a mess… and with a small snack like this, who would pay attention… Why don’t you check the surveillance?” Lian Dazhang said. “If I took it at the hotel, it should be visible on the surveillance footage, right?”
That was the only way. Yuan Yue asked:
“Does your company have a specific procurement channel?”
“I’m not very clear about that. You’ll have to ask the company’s procurement department.”
“What about the milk candy at your home? Was it bought online or at a supermarket?”
“A supermarket, the big one right at the entrance. We just restocked on candy at home recently, just this week. Yes, just this week.”
“Then,” Yuan Yue asked again, “Mr. Lian, please think carefully. In your life, have you ever had a grudge with anyone? Has anyone repeatedly had conflicts with you or made you feel that he particularly dislikes you?”
“Aren’t there a lot of them?”
The one who answered was not Lian Dazhang, but Lian Panpan. The girl was still looking at her phone, not even raising her head. Only her clear, bird-like voice rang out, completely out of place in this monotonous, pale hospital.
“Those people who didn’t have enough money and were turned away by him, or the plaintiffs and defendants who held a grudge after losing a lawsuit because of my dad… There are also many people in the law firm who don’t like my dad.”
“What do children know? Go play with your phone,” Lian Dazhang scolded his daughter. After scolding her, he was dissatisfied again. “Why haven’t you put down your phone since you came in? What on earth are you looking at?”
“The hot search,” Lian Panpan’s tone was bland. “Dad, you’re famous. Everyone on Weibo is talking about you now. Even my classmates’ group chat is full of it. I’m chatting with them, telling them about the current situation.”
Lian Dazhang became anxious at once. “This matter is still under investigation. How can you just talk nonsense?”
“What’s there to hide? Didn’t ‘The First Moment’ spell everything out clearly? This matter is so hot right now. Dad, if you come out and claim the victim’s identity, you’ll definitely go viral online. It will be greatly beneficial to your reputation, and your net worth will double. This is much more cost-effective than buying some ghostwriters for your last case, hyping some hot search, but having barely any real people care. A pure waste of money…”
Ji Xun, standing at the door, had been watching the fun for a while.
As a newly promoted senior partner, Lian Dazhang undoubtedly had a decent job and a stable life. He should also maintain a sufficient elite demeanor in the workplace. This could be somewhat seen from his clothes and appearance.
But a decent life is not that easy.
Who knows how much bullshit is hidden under a person’s well-dressed exterior?
His gaze shifted back to Lian Panpan on the sofa.
The girl met his gaze without flinching, looking at him provocatively.
“The situation is not clear yet,” Yuan Yue emphasized seriously. “Mr. Lian, you need to maintain silence to the public for the time being and cooperate with the police investigation. The police will definitely give you an explanation.”
“I know, officer, rest assured.”
Lian Dazhang managed a smile. His face was still extremely pale, and his eyelids kept twitching nervously. Occasionally, he would suddenly look away. The unknown poisoner had caused him too much panic and unease. This probably wasn’t an act, otherwise his acting skills would be too formidable.
Ji Xun was pondering when he heard Lian Dazhang say again:
“Bei Jia, come out. It’s ten-thirty. You should take Panpan back to rest. I’ll be fine staying in the hospital by myself tonight.”
His wife came out of the bathroom. She wiped the water droplets from her hands, picked up her daughter’s schoolbag from beside the sofa, and said in a low voice:
“Did you go to your tutoring class today? Did you finish your homework?”
“I went, and I did,” Lian Panpan said with a bored expression.
“Stop looking at your phone. Put your phone back in your bag.”
Lian Panpan tossed her phone back into her schoolbag.
Ji Xun had sharp eyes. Through the open flap of the schoolbag, he saw a few pills in a small pillbox.
Yuan Yue was still in the hospital room asking Lian Dazhang some miscellaneous questions. The clearer the understanding of the situation, the more helpful it would be to solve the case. Ji Xun didn’t stay. He sauntered out of the room again and saw Huo Ranyin.
Huo Ranyin was sitting on a bench in the corridor, his head tilted, holding his phone between his shoulder and his ear. On his lap was the congee he had just brought. The congee was already a bit cold, but Huo Ranyin didn’t seem to mind, eating it quickly and elegantly.
It was hard to imagine that one could maintain such a poised eating manner while holding food on one’s lap and talking on the phone in a hospital corridor.
This guy, what a noble scion.
He stood by for a while. Huo Ranyin finally put down the phone.
“Have you figured out where the news leaked from?” Ji Xun chatted idly with Huo Ranyin.
“Can’t be sure. There are too many possible channels for the leak,” Huo Ranyin said. “It could be someone from the bureau, someone from the hospital is also possible, and the possibility that Xin Yongchu planned to make a big scene from the beginning, with his group actively breaking the news to use public opinion to pressure the police, is not small. I just communicated with ‘The First Moment.’ They were being evasive, refusing to say where the clue came from.”
“Dealing with the media, it’s unavoidable.”
“Speaking from experience?” Huo Ranyin said.
The cold winter wind blew in from the window.
The topic is getting deep again, talking about the past and the police force again, Ji Xun thought silently. But he didn’t have any extreme reaction. Maybe it was a case of familiarity breeds contempt—or rather, acceptance. Resisting takes energy, and he couldn’t be bothered.
“Besides, Lian Dazhang might not be a victim of random poisoning,” Huo Ranyin said again.
“Indeed,” Ji Xun enjoyed the breeze on his face. “Even after just five minutes with him, you can see his family is discordant, his colleagues are jealous, and he has many enemies. Sigh, life is really hard.”
“I just checked. He’s from Yi’an County,” Huo Ranyin stated plainly.
“Oh—” Ji Xun’s voice rose a little. “Captain Huo’s spirit of suspecting everything remains unchanged. You suspect Xin Yongchu’s accomplice faked a random poisoning to actually target him specifically?”
“That’s something to be investigated next,” Huo Ranyin remained cautious. He would never jump to conclusions without sufficient evidence. He added, “I just received news that the 9/18 Skull-Crushing Case has been officially reopened. Captain Yuan is taking a team to Yi’an County tomorrow to assist in the investigation of this 22-year-old case. I’ve also submitted an application to go and have a look tomorrow. Since you don’t want to take the police car, you can come with me in my car.”
“Huh?” Ji Xun suddenly felt something was wrong. “Why would I go?”
Huo Ranyin gave him a strange look. “Captain Yuan is there.”
So what?
Ji Xun didn’t have time to say these words. Yuan Yue came out of the hospital room from behind. His ears were always sharp, and this time was no exception. He gave him a surprised yet pleased look and said to Huo Ranyin:
“See you tomorrow.”
“Mm.”
These two people were swift and decisive. Their actions were incredibly fast. After one sentence, one went ahead, the other behind, and they went their separate ways to do other things.
Ji Xun looked back and forth at the two people walking away, momentarily speechless.
“You two are too good at singing in chorus. I underestimated your tacit understanding. You are the two people in this world who should be together the most. Why play matchmaker? Just sort it out internally!”
Ji Xun couldn’t possibly take something he hadn’t agreed to seriously.
So he went home and went to sleep. He didn’t sleep very well. He felt like he had just closed his eyes when he heard his phone vibrate, followed by a familiar palpitation. He was woken up.
He fumbled for his phone and saw that the vibration came from a message from the “Sarcastic generous cheapskate. “
“I’m here. Come out.”
“Not going,” Ji Xun refused coldly and continued to close his eyes.
He didn’t sleep. He was prepared for another message from Huo Ranyin. However, ten minutes passed, and the phone remained as quiet as if it were dead, not a single sound.
He gave up just like that?
Ji Xun opened his eyes again, looking at his phone with some puzzlement.
This doesn’t seem like Huo Ranyin’s style…
He sat up from the bed and shuffled in his slippers to the living room window to look down. He didn’t see Huo Ranyin’s car. He then pondered the message Huo Ranyin had just sent.
“Come out,” not “come down.” Could it be…
Ji Xun opened the door. In that instant, he saw the man leaning against the wall in the stairwell. He had his arms crossed, his head slightly bowed, one leg loosely bent and propped against the wall.
He had his eyes closed, asleep.
The soft morning sunlight not only illuminated the fine dust floating in the air, but also the soft fuzz on Huo Ranyin’s face, and even the slightly raised corners of his eyebrows.
In his exhausted doze, Huo Ranyin’s armor was down. Some things not usually visible began to show on his face.
He was still young, with endless passion and strength. It was like a river flowing under ice—turbulent, surging, and full of life.
The police station is being inhumane again.
To actually push the police captain, who never complains of being tired, to the point where he can fall asleep just by leaning against my door while waiting.
Ji Xun shook his head, took two steps forward, and waved his hand in front of Huo Ranyin’s face.
As expected, the dozing man had not let down his guard. Huo Ranyin’s eyelids twitched, and he opened his eyes.
Those eyes, in the moment they opened, were still sharp and clear, quietly meeting Ji Xun’s.
“Awake? Don’t push yourself, little officer brother. The case can be handed over to someone else. If your life is gone, you can’t get it back,” Ji Xun said.
Huo Ranyin didn’t speak, just looked at him. His eyes were still sharp, but his expression seemed a bit muddled, his thoughts still sluggish from sleepiness.
He looks awake, but he’s not really awake, Ji Xun thought. With Huo Ranyin not fully conscious, he relaxed and, for once, offered some genuine comfort:
“Don’t worry about it. Go get a good night’s sleep. When you wake up, big brother will take you to Yi’an County and let you experience what is called—”
He said confidently:
“Flowing, high-efficiency reasoning.”
Huo Ranyin seemed to understand. The sharpness in those eyes began to dissipate. He blinked, and then…
Thump.
With a soft sound, he relaxed the strength in his neck, and his head leaned against Ji Xun’s shoulder. He was asleep.
…
Huo Ranyin woke up in a bed. Before he even opened his eyes, he silently placed his hand on his waist—the thing was there.
Only then did he open his eyes and survey the room. A familiar bed, a familiar cabinet, a familiar carpet, even a familiar studded belt. He had been here once before—Ji Xun’s room.
He then knitted his brows, finding a new fragment in his memory.
Waiting for Ji Xun at the door, he had accidentally fallen asleep… for two hours and ten minutes.
Huo Ranyin got out of bed. His clothes were all properly on, only his jacket had been taken off. The jacket was thrown on a chair in front of the bay window. He walked over, picked it up, and then went out.
He moved lightly, his footsteps silent, making no sound. And thus he saw this scene:
In another room of the house, Ji Xun had found a small blackboard from somewhere. Many words were already written on it. He stood with his side to the door, hidden behind a half-drawn curtain. But the sunlight still streamed in from the other gap, like a hand caressing the face that was hidden behind the curtain, its head tilted back.
He was working, solving the case.
This was the first time Huo Ranyin had seen such a relaxed, such a bright expression on Ji Xun’s face.
It was as if a piece of charred wood, after a spring rain and a dose of sunshine, had sprouted new buds, growing hope.
Perhaps this person hasn’t actually changed.
Huo Ranyin thought.
It’s just that some things, the things he had seen before, have been hidden under a thick layer of ash.
