(1)
“Bang—flat!!”
The old wooden door was suddenly smashed open, and a group of fully armed armed police officers rushed inside at once, the few at the front all raising their riot shields.
An elderly man with graying temples had just opened a black briefcase when he was startled by the scene before him.
“Don’t move!”
He took a frantic step back, trembling all over, raising both hands high: “W-what’s going on?”
“Put down your weapons!”
“I-I don’t have any weapons. I just… at most I sell some private radios…”
“Hands up! Don’t lower them!”
“O-okay, officer, I’m just an old man, you have to believe me…”
Three armed police moved in slowly with coordinated steps; two held their guns trained on the man’s head while the third started searching him.
Keys, coins, and the lighter with a naked woman printed on it were all taken out during the search.
“No weapons!” the man searching reported.
“S-see? I told you there’s nothing…”
“What are you selling here?”
“Just some private radios, uh, maybe some people buy them to use, but what exactly for, I-I really don’t know…”
“Where did this briefcase come from?”
“I got it from some lowlife. It belonged to a Japanese man.”
“He stole it.”
“I-I don’t know, he said he bought it, haha…”
“Check the briefcase.”
The leader gave the order.
Immediately someone picked up the briefcase, set it on the floor, and began inspecting it.
“Some Chinese herbs and climbing ropes, plus a box of plastic toys, no explosives.”
Although none of the officers showed it on their faces, the old man could sense everyone slightly exhale in relief.
He was about to relax when he noticed they hadn’t lowered their guns, so he dared not put down his raised hands: “Officer, since there’s nothing wrong, can I lower my hands? Look, I’m old now, holding them up is really tiring…”
“You need to explain if you’ve ever dealt with someone named ‘Lu Qiao Jingye.’”
“Y-yes.”
“What did you sell him?”
“Him? cough He… I’ll be honest, he’s a Japanese spy. He came here, seemed like he was planning something bad. I really don’t know the details. That day, someone recommended him to me, and he directly asked to buy something for killing — here, I at most sell… electronic products!”
“Get to the point.”
The interrogator’s tone darkened.
“There’s definitely no such stuff here. He insisted on buying, so I just randomly sold him some things.”
“What did you sell?”
“Uh, I have some old stock in my warehouse, so I picked some out. That Sanlu milk powder — I told him it was full of melamine, eating it could cause poisoning death; that off-season ham — it’s soaked in dichlorvos; that aged rice — it exceeds aflatoxin limits; the red yolk duck eggs — overdosed with Sudan Red; and the sausages — full of clenbuterol. I told him dogs eating it would die, humans would die too…”
“You keep so many dangerous foods for what?”
“What dangerous foods? Years ago before the news broke, this stuff was sold normally. Old man me had no hobby, just kept them as souvenirs…”
“But you sold them to him — weren’t you afraid he’d use them to kill?”
“Ah, come on, before the news, people ate these just fine. And nowadays, you can be sure everything you buy is safe, right? Don’t worry, officer, us Chinese are tough from childhood — immune to all poisons. Things like gutter oil, Sudan Red, melamine? They were daily fare. That little Japanese doesn’t know a damn thing!”
“Handcuff him. We’re taking you with us.”
“No, officer…”
“You’re suspected of endangering national security. Come with us.”
***
(2)
Her father stood beside her.
He rubbed his chubby belly as if wanting to say something, but probably realizing An Jing couldn’t hear, he swallowed the words and remained silent.
Her mother handed over a note.
As an accountant, she had excellent handwriting, though An Jing hadn’t seen her writing in a long time — school parent signatures were always by Yu Mingfei or Yu Minghui now.
“Son, are you okay?”
An Jing tilted her head slightly, nodded softly, forcing out a faint smile.
Her mother sniffled, then reached out to hold her head, letting her rest against her chest.
They had a thousand words to say, yet at this moment, nothing could be spoken.
“Dad, Mom, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me becoming a girl. I’m almost used to it. Dad must be busy lately, so you should head back first. Mom, don’t worry either, this will be resolved soon, and everything will get back on track…”
Before she could finish writing, An Jing felt her cheek gently brushed by long hair.
Yu Minghui wrote on the whiteboard’s blank space: “I’ll stay here to take care of Xiao Jing.”
Her parents and they exchanged some words unknown to her, and finally, her father patted her shoulder and nodded gently.
Though she couldn’t hear his voice, she could feel the encouragement.
At last, both parents reached the door, waving softly.
Adults all had their own things to attend to.
That was normal.
An Jing herself had even urged them to leave.
Yet at this moment, she truly wished they would stay a little longer.
But alas, they turned and walked away without even looking back.
“Dr. Ye.”
“Section Chief Yu, you’ve arrived.”
“No need for such formal titles here, haha… just Yu.”
“Mr. Yu.” Bald Dr. Ye smiled kindly, “Are you heading back now?”
“Yes, we still have many things to do.”
“Leave this to us. Don’t worry.”
“To be honest, though I’m part of the system, I don’t really trust the higher-ups,” Yu Qinghui said frankly.
“But I trust you, Dr. Ye. I’ve dealt with the Ye family many times and know most of you aren’t corrupt.”
“Honored to hear that.”
Dr. Ye nodded, motioning for them to sit and have tea.
“About your daughter… son’s situation, don’t worry. I will submit the necessary reports and handle all arrangements. For relatives and friends, we’ll explain it as a ‘pseudo-hermaphroditism,’ a relatively common condition nowadays. You can even look it up online. Patients are born female but have an extra set of organs.”
“Your student already told us about that.”
“Yes. There will be social impacts, of course, but the child is still young with a long future ahead. Both family and she herself can gradually adjust. It’s important to watch her mental health these years, avoid giving her any pressure.”
“I understand.”
“We’ll arrange for identity changes after junior high graduation to avoid issues with school transfers and socializing.”
“Alright. Regarding the cognitive modification…”
“So far it’s still effective, but how long it will last is uncertain. It’s best to prepare multiple plans. Ideally, she could continue junior high again as a girl in a different school, but it all depends on her own wishes.”
“We’ll consider that.”
“Dr. Ye, my child’s… hearing… can it be restored?”
“I’m confident it can because it’s not organ or nerve damage. Her brain is blocking external sounds—you can think of it like a computer with good speakers connected but muted internally.”
“As long as it can be restored…”
“Don’t worry too much. Children need healthy parents. If you get overwhelmed, it will only make her condition worse.”
“Thank you, Dr. Ye…”
“Well then, Chief Yu, shall we see you out?”
“I won’t refuse.”
In An Jing’s room, Yu Mingfei handed over a small note, feeling guilty: “Sorry. If I hadn’t insisted on making you go buy that day, none of this would have happened.”
“It’s not your fault, Fei-jie. If someone was watching me, it would have happened sooner or later.”
An Jing replied on the whiteboard, then took a sip of the hot tea on the desk, her mood seeming to calm—just as Zhu Ying said, she always managed to keep optimism in difficult times.
Yu Minghui gave her a leather-bound notebook with thick, high-quality paper.
An Jing instinctively took it and flipped open the cover, reading a delicate line of handwriting: “Write down whatever comes to mind in this notebook.”
She looked up to see Yu Minghui gazing at her gently.
An Jing nodded softly and wrote on the whiteboard: “Fei-jie, can you tell me what happened that day?”
“In short, you and Xiaoying came home together, and I, because I drank too much baijiu that night, really wanted to drink cola…”
“Ah—Fei-jie, you’re such a pain.”
“Ten yuan for a bottle of cola, the rest is yours!”
Yu Mingfei drunkenly flopped on the coffee table, waving her hand hard.
“What time is it now…”
“There’s a vending machine in the little square… just a hundred meters away!”
Freshly washed, An Jing sighed helplessly: “Really… Xiaoying, can you come with me? You can wash up when we get back.”
“Of course! Why would I say no?”
So, the person who just got home put on shoes again and went downstairs.
The rain was pouring hard; the only sound in their ears was the pattering raindrops.
At that moment, in the narrow alley cutting through the sky, a sharp scream pierced the air…
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