Translator-Lucyferase
Editor-Alysia
The regular meetings of the police station are held punctually at 9 a.m every morning. Police Chief Bai Jinbo sat in the seat at the end of the table. Qian Tongqing and Jin Dacheng sat on one side, and Jiang Yue Lou sat on the other side, alone. Bai Jinbo flipped through the documents on his hand and nodded from time to time. He was very serious and strict with everyone, except for Jiang Yue Lou, who was like a son to him, so he was a little nicer with him.
“The operation at the warehouse last night was executed flawlessly. Well done..”
Bai Jinbo put down the file and looked around his subordinates “We got the information at the very last minute, and Yue Lou had only time to take two people to lead the battle. There were dozens of people from each side of the fight, but except Wang Meng, none of them managed to run away.”
“This doesn’t sound like a complete victory…” Jin Dacheng murmured.
Qian Tongqing motioned him to stop talking.
Jiang Yue Lou nodded, “It is my responsibility that Wang Meng ran away. I have sent someone to check on him. As soon as he shows up, he will be arrested immediately.”
Bai Jinbo raised his hand to stop him from speaking, and gave Jin Dacheng a stern look, “Can you do what Jiang Yue Lou did last night with only two people with you? It wasn’t an easy task. For the rest, all the departments need to be deployed in a unified manner; and work together to finish the mission. So, let’s talk about the next steps of the deployment.”
Everyone sat upright and listened to his arrangements with serious expressions.
The streets were bustling with people coming and going. Small vendors on both sides of the street were soliciting customers. Chen Yu Zhi hurried home without paying attention to his surroundings, but when he walked past a stall selling girl pieces of jewelry he couldn’t help but stop. He was attracted by a delicate-looking hair clip. This was a butterfly-like hair clip. The head of the clip was composed of many small beads squeezed together and connected by a gold thread. It was very cute and delicate. Chen Yu Zhi smiled slightly, thinking about his sister who must have been worried not seeing him coming back home last night, so he bought the hairpin to apologize to her. It was not far from the small yard where brother and sister lived together. Chen Yu Zhi bought the hairpin and walked quickly toward his home forgetting the pain on his body. Chen Yu Zhi just raised his hand, and was about to knock on the door but found that the door was open, and his heart swelled slightly. He opened the door and walked into the yard. Seeing that the small yard was cleaned as usual Chen Yu Zhi felt relieved.
He put down the medical box and shouted at the back room, “Keying, I’m back. Your brother is back.”
But Chen Keying didn’t come to him and didn’t jump out into his arms as usual. In the empty house, even the sound of needles falling to the ground could be heard.
“Keying? Keying?” Chen Yu Zhi started to panic.
He looked upstairs and downstairs, inside and outside, but he couldn’t see his sister. Where did she go? Did she go out looking for him?
“Where did you go? Why didn’t you come back?” No one can answer his question.
Chen Yu Zhi tried to run, but a sudden blackness obscured his vision, and he almost collapsed but managed to remain upright by leaning against the courtyard wall. Right now, he just wanted to lie down and get some rest. He closed his eyes and gasped for a while before opening his eyes as his vision slowly cleared. Looking around, he suddenly noticed a small hairpin on the ground. Chen Yu Zhi stunned, rushed over, and picked up the hairpin. This was an old enamel silver clip, a birthday present Chen Yu Zhi gave to her when she was a child. The little girl always kept it with her and didn’t want to throw it away even when the color faded. That’s why he bought a new hairpin today and wanted to change it for her. How could this hairpin be there on the ground? Maybe she lost it. Where did she go? There are dark corners everywhere in Jingcheng. What if she runs into it?
Chen Yu Zhi was so panicked that his heart was pounding. He forced himself to calm down, ran into the room to find a good photo of Keying, and after thinking about it, he left a note for his sister in case she came back, and hurried out. He first went to the neighbor’s house to inquire, and then walked to several places that Keying often goes to, the school, the homes of familiar classmates, and even the dim sum shop she liked, but he couldn’t find her. Unknowingly, the sky was getting dark, and Chen Yu Zhi was crumbling with exhaustion. He sat down on the cobblestone at the crossroad and looked around blankly and hastily. Keying was lost. This thought flashed through his mind and fell heavily on the stomach. Fear and self-blame almost crushed Chen Yu Zhi. If something happened to Keying, how could he face Master and Madam! No, he must get his sister back!
Chen Yu Zhi cautiously stood up against the wall, deciding to go to the police department to register a missing person’s case, and then to the newspaper to place a missing person’s note.
“I should hurry,” he thought.
But as soon as he took a step towards the police station, the face of Jiang Yue Lou appeared in his mind. Such a self-righteous policeman who doesn’t take human life seriously; it would be useless to ask for his help. Chen Yu Zhi shook his head, turned around, and walked towards the newspaper building.
At this time, Jingcheng police station was empty, only a few windows were still lit. Sitting at the desk, Jiang Yue Lou was still looking at the documents attentively while reading and making notes in the notebook. He’s been at it for a day and a night, but his carved face, lit by the lamp, shows no signs of fatigue.
Someone knocked at the door.
Jiang Yue Lou didn’t raise his head, “Come in.”
Song Rong opened the door, “Boss, are you looking for me?”
Jiang Yue Lou motioned Song to close the door. He pushed the file in his hand to his subordinates.
“This is the report from last month,” Jiang Yue Lou said, “There were four searches done in the last month, and 38 kilograms of opium were found. But look at it, only 20 kilograms were destroyed.”
Song Rong looked at the report, “It is obvious that someone has done something.”
Jiang Yuelou nodded, “Go back and check.”
Song Rong just wanted to nod and then hesitated, “Boss, I think we should be careful with this case. These people are not ordinary people. If they can falsify police reports, then…”
Jiang Yue Lou raised his gaze, “Then what?”
Song Rong was a little intimidated when he saw him.
“If some people above us are involved, then we should stop? You think it’s better to close my eyes on this case?” Jiang Yue Lou sighed and stared at Song Ron with his sharp eyes, “Song Rong, how many years have you been with me?”
Song Rong bowed his head, “Five years.” His tone was a bit ashamed.
Jiang Yue Lou nodded, “Then you should know. I will never close my eyes on this, on the contrary, I will keep them wide open. No one can escape from my sight.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Song Rong said, “Boss, I understand. I’m just worried that if you do this, they will regard you as a thorn in their side.”
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“Excuse me, have you ever seen this girl?”
The stall owner took the photo, leaned over the lamp, and said after a moment, “It seems that I have seen her once…”
After asking for a day, this was the first time Chen Yu Zhi heard someone saying he had seen Keying. He stood up with excitation and looked at the stall owner.
“Really? You…, You remembered her, she was probably that tall, with a round face and dimples when smiling…”
The owner suddenly remembered, “Ah, yes, I remember her face. When I went to sell food, I saw her in the backyard of Nianchun Pavilion.”
Chen Yu Zhi was stunned, “Nianchun Pavilion?”
He has been back to Jingcheng to practice medicine for more than a year and has never heard of this place before.
The seller looked at him, feeling a little pitiful for him, and said, “It seems like you don’t know. It’s a well-known place where young men like to go by night.”
“There?” Chen Yuzhi opened his eyes ignorantly, and an ominous premonition suddenly surged in his heart, and his hands trembled, “Where is this place?”
In jail at the police station, the prisoner in cell 3 was tied to a bed. He was so thin and looked like a drug addict. Right now, he was having a drug withdrawal. He stared, growled, with his eyes rolling around like a mad dog. He couldn’t fall or didn’t care about the wound on his arm which was bleeding because of the rope.
He was crying over and over again, “Give me some! I need it, give me some!”
Jiang Yue Lou stood outside the door, looking coldly through the bars, and said to Sun Yongren without looking back, “Go, get me some of the newly seized heroin.”
Sun Yongren agreed, “Boss, that thing we seized is much stronger than the stuff this guy usually smokes, this bastard could die because of this.”
Jiang Yue Lou didn’t care, “If he dies so be it, he just had to spit out the information first.”
Sun Yongren agreed and ran to get the drug.
The region near the Nianchun Pavilion is the most chaotic and darkest in Jingcheng, but it is incredibly vibrant at night, with feasting and dancing. In the narrow alleys, there were many brothels and smokehouses. People could smoke in these two places; the only difference between them was that there was no prostitute to welcome guests at the smokehouse. Nianchun Pavilion is the largest brothel with nine acres of land. After the social reforms, brothels were closed one after another, and slightly more elaborate restaurants only invited dancers to accompany their guests to dance for entertainment. However, Nianchun Pavilion escaped the seizure for some reason. It was like a memory of the old society. Several frivolously dressed women leaned against the door and were smiling and attracting guests. The men who came in and out smiled and lowered their hands, and at first glance, everyone could see that some of them were drug addicts.
Chen Yu Zhi could hardly believe his eyes. How Keying could fall into this kind of place? He wanted to rush in and rescued his sister immediately, but he restrained the raging anger. Although he has never been to such a place, he still knew one thing or two. There must be gangs behind this kind of illegal business, so it was impossible to rescue Keying by breaking in alone. The most important thing was to find out the details of the other party. Chen Yu Zhi clenched his fists tightly, his nails stuck in the flesh, forced himself to turn around, and followed the courtyard wall through the dark alley.
The prisoner in room 3 was now sitting on a chair, with handcuffs on his hands, a small table was placed in front of him. There were also handcuffs on his ankles. He was half crazy, laughing madly. Jiang Yue Lou sat opposite him, and there were only the two of them in the room.
“Give me some, give me some,” He kept repeating.
Jiang Yue Lou looked at him like a dead dog. He raised his slender finger and tapped a paper bag on the table, “This is the new medicine, called heroin. Have you heard of it?”
The prisoner’s dizzy eyes immediately flashed out, “White powder? This is a good thing! More expensive than gold.”
Jiang Yue Lou coldly snorted, “That’s right, even two packs of opium are not enough to make that little bag of white powder, so yes it’s really expensive.”
As he said this, he opened the paper bag, revealing the white powder inside.
The prisoner got excited, his eyes shot out like a wolf, and he stared straight at the bag, “Give it to me!” He struggled to get up with the handcuffs on his hands and his feet, “Give it to me, what do you want to know, I will tell.”
“You are so cheap, you son of a bitch.” Jiang Yue Lou slowly pushed the bag of white powder in front of the man.
At the back of Nianchun Pavilion, the door was closed tightly, and only singing and laughter in the room could be heard. There are no street lights in the backdoor alley, so it was much darker than the front door. At this moment, the door opened, a woman pouring water in a basin appeared. She splashed the dirty water in the basin on the ground. She was about to reenter the house when she was suddenly caught by someone. The woman was taken aback. She turned around and was about to shout, but she heard someone whispering in her ear:
“Miss, I’m not a bad person, please don’t shout.”
The woman listened to this person’s voice, which was gentle and polite, not rude. She looked at the person in front of her by the moonlight. He was a young and handsome man, wearing a new western-style suit. Apart from his anxious look, he was very good-looking. As the saying goes, “The crow loves money, and the sister loves pretty boys.”
The young prostitute smiled at Chen Yu Zhi with a beautiful smile, “You, silly boy, why don’t you go to the front door, why did you run here to scare me?”
Chen Yu Zhi explained to her, “Miss, I want to ask you about someone, please help me.”
He took out the picture of Keying and handed it to the woman. Hearing what he said, the prostitute took the photo, looked at it for a moment in the dim moonlight, and the smile on her face faded. Chen Yu Zhi looked at her with a hesitant look, knowing that she had mostly seen Keying, and said anxiously, “Miss, you have seen her, right? She is my little sister, she is only fifteen years old. Do you know where she is? Please? Tell me!”
The woman bit her lip and said after a while, “This person has been sold and cannot be found anymore.”
Chen Yu Zhi was shocked, clutching her arm, and asked helplessly, “Sold? Sold? What do you mean?”
The woman was frightened and hurriedly covered his mouth, “Don’t shout! Someone will come if they hear you, do you want to live?!”
At this time, the voice of an old woman inside the door sounded, “Xiao Cui, are you back? How can it take such a long time to pour water?”
The woman hurriedly said, “Come here.” She pushed Chen Yu Zhi hurriedly, “Hurry up or she will find us.”
Chen Yu Zhi asked her again, “Where did Keying have been sold? What happened?”
The woman replied, “She was a local so she couldn’t stay here.”
They heard the footsteps of the old woman who was coming in their direction, “Xiao Cui, what are you doing?”
The woman hurriedly picked up the basin. She pushed him away and said in a low voice, “Hong Kong. They were all sold to Hong Kong. Now go! Go!”
The concealed door was pushed open by the old woman, “What the hell, why are you hiding here!”
Xiao Cui replied with a smile, “I was just bored so I just came out to breathe a little bit.”
The old woman took a suspicious look at the depths of the alley but no one was there.
“The products came from Nanyang, and were processed into opium, red pills, and white powder in Jingcheng, and then shipped to Hong Kong.”
Once the white powder was given to someone, the effect was dozens of times faster than with the other drugs. The prisoner was full of heroin and exhaled ecstatically, with a satisfied expression on his face.
Jiang Yue Lou propped his face, and his sharp eyes flashed with disgust, “Even a three-year-old child knows that! This information is useless to me. Who is the person receiving the goods in Hong Kong? Where is the location?”
The prisoner squinted at him, “I’m an errand runner; I don’t know about this kind of thing.”
He put on an expression which said, “a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, as long as he is full of cigarettes, what the fairy can do to me!”
Jiang Yue Lou tapped the top of the table with his fingers, but he didn’t show any impatience, as if he was waiting for something. The two faced each other for ten minutes, and the prisoner’s triumphant expression suddenly changed.
He gasped in his throat and grabbed his neck with both hands, “Jiang, Jiang Yue Lou…”
He hissed inhaling as if the air in his lungs was being squeezed out, “You, what did you do?”
Jiang Yue Lou turned a deaf ear, “Think about it carefully. What is the name of the person who is in charge of receiving the goods in Hong Kong?”
The prisoner couldn’t even breathe at this moment, and his eyes were protruding. He desperately pulled the handcuffs, and the blue veins on his forehead were exposed, “Jiang Yue Lou! You are, asshole! You just give me poison!”
Jiang Yue Lou raised his hand and looked at his watch, “You have three minutes left.”
“You, you, go to hell!” The man convulsed like he was electrified. If he hadn’t been locked in a chair, he would have been rolling all over the floor.
“Two minutes.”
The man finally couldn’t stand it, “Lucas! His name is Lucas!”
“Lucas?” Jiang Yue Lou stood up, “How old is he? From which country?”
“I don’t know. I only know that he is in Hong Kong, in the west part!”
The prisoner suddenly remembered something and said, “He… he has a tattoo on the inside of his left wrist… a bug…”
“What kind of bug?”
“I haven’t seen it.”
The other party couldn’t breathe, his nose and tears flowed down his face, “I heard that it looks like a copper-shelled beetle… the antidote, give me the antidote…”
Jiang Yue Lou shook his head: “There is no antidote, so just wait for your death.”
The prisoner yelled like a dying mad dog, “Jiang Yue Lou, you son of the bitch, let me tell you, I fucked your mother!”
Jiang Yue Lou, who had already turned around to leave, suddenly turned back and pulled out his gun. Bang! Song Rong and Sun Yongren, who was waiting outside the door, heard the gunshot and were startled. They opened the door and rushed in. The ground was in a mess, the bullet had shattered the man’s skull, and the blood sprayed across the wall.
“Boss! Boss, are you okay?” Sun Yongren was in shock.
There was no expression on Jiang Yue Lou’s face, but his breathing was a little heavy as if he was not himself when he had just killed someone.
“Let’s pack our things tonight, and let’s go to Hong Kong tomorrow.”
Song Rong and Sun Yongren looked at each other, “Hong Kong?”
Chen Yu Zhi didn’t know how he came back home. As a habit, he raised his hand and knocked on the door, only to remember that his sister was no longer there. He pushed the door open and walked into the empty darkness. He slumped in the nearest chair and felt that there was no more strength on his body. Keying has been sold to Hong Kong. His cute and kind little sister, who has never done anything bad, was sold to Hong Kong! Why? Why did Keying encounter such a thing? Her parents died at a young age, and she already suffered. Why does she have to suffer again? Why did God treat her like this? Chen Yu Zhi held the hairpin tightly in his hand, and his tears fell drop by drop.
“No, I can’t cry, crying is useless. I have to get Keying back. I must find her!”
Chen Yu Zhi wiped away his tears and slowly sat up straight. He looked at the hairpin in his hand, and his expression became firm.
Late at night, on the streets of Jingcheng. Jiang Yue Lou drove fast alone. When passing a fork in the road, he accidentally saw two men holding a girl, walking towards an alley. Jiang Yue Lou slowed down slightly and glanced with his head tilted. The girl was asleep with her head resting on the man’s neck, and she was covered with a coat. Jiang Yue Lou was still thinking about how to report to Bai Jinbo about Hong Kong, and there was no time to think about anything else. He retracted his gaze and drove to the white mansion not far away.
Surely enough, Bai Jinbo was not sleeping yet. He welcomed Jiang Yue Lou into the living room. The servant wanted to serve coffee, but he waved her away and asked her to pour a bowl of ginseng tea for Jiang Yue Lou.
Jiang Yue Lou took it with a smile and told him his plans while drinking.
“I’m going to Hong Kong tomorrow.”
Bai Jinbo asked in surprise, “Slow down, what are you saying?”
Jiang Yue Lou firmly shook his head, “Director, it cannot be delayed. If there is more delay, there will be more opium smuggling, and more people will die from opium.”
Bai Jinbo sighed, “Yue Lou, I know you hate opium for ruining your home, but this matter can’t be solved by hatred alone. Hong Kong…, this is different. This place belongs to the British. You cannot rush there with only a clueless name. Not only you alone will be able to solve the problem, but your own life will be in danger! Besides, this source is just a drug addict. It could be just nonsense.”
“I already thought about these issues. I have already checked the shipping line at the customs. From our Jingcheng shipping line alone, there is no problem, but at the Tianjin river, all the shipping lines of other countries are connected there. And when opium is found, most of the time ships that arrived at the same time are from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the main transit point for opium.” Jiang Yue Lou continued, “I know that I can’t end this line with my strength only, but if I can stop Lucas, they will have to rearrange everything, and then there will be more clues that we can find. We will have the opportunity to uproot the underground opium manufacturing line in Jingcheng.”
Bai Jinbo knows that he was right, but selfishly, he didn’t want Jiang Yue Lou to take risks, “You don’t know what the situation is now. The South is chaotic, and Hong Kong is not at peace. Yue Lou, listen to me, wait for a better time in the future, and then go to Hong Kong. This problem can be solved later.”
Jiang Yue Lou shook his head, “This cannot be delayed any longer. Director, the number of opium smuggling detected in Jingcheng in one month is huge, and now there are more than a dozen cities large and small, including Guangzhou, Yantai, and Tianjin are in the same situation. Destroying Hong Kong’s transit station can at least destroy dozens of smuggling routes and reduce the influx of tens of thousands of opium.”
He looked at Bai Jinbo’s somewhat loose expression, and said with a smile, “Actually, I came to tell you that Song Rong has already bought the tickets and will leave early tomorrow morning. This is a covert operation, so I brought four people from the Inspection Section, and you can cover it for me.”
Bai Jinbo snorted, “You, stinky boy! You don’t take my words seriously anymore. Please remember, be careful and come back safely. If you get hurt, see how I will teach you!”
“I dare not!” Jiang Yue Lou knew that he agreed.
“You must all come back safely,” Bai Jinbo said.
He patted on Jiang Yue Lou’s hand and personally poured him another bowl of ginseng tea.
When he recovered from his grief, Chen Yuzhi started to pack his luggage. Even though he is gentle and delicate, he also a strong, and pragmatic temperament and never complains about himself. Soon he made up his mind to go to Hong Kong, and he immediately prepared everything. There was still a little bit of savings, enough to support him for a few months. One of these teachers with whom he studied before was in Hong Kong. He can ask for his help and practice medicine there. As soon as the day breaks tomorrow, he will take a car to the pier and take the earliest boat to leave.
“If you delay, Keying will suffer even more.”
Chen Yu Zhi put his sister’s photo in the bottom of the suitcase with his medical books. He looked up at the window. At this time, the night was thick, and the whole Jingcheng was immersed in the darkness.
Who knows how many people couldn’t fall asleep through the night tonight, waiting for the dawn to come?
