As the wind and rain grew outside, leaves struck the window, and Zhang Xiao Long stopped.

Dozens of eyes in the room focused on Lin Chen.

The gazes ranged from doubt to consternation and incredulity. Even if someone else was to blame, it was still embarrassing.

Lin Chen’s eyes remained closed, unmoved.

Only Huang Ze could feel Lin Chen’s slight tremble or the excessive warmth of his body.

Fu Hau got angry. He gritted his teeth and wanted to speak, but Cong Lian held him back.

“It seems Mr. Feng should be invited in for tea. Don’t you think so, commissar?” Xing Cong Lian rubbed his beard, drawing everyone’s attention away from Lin Chen.

The political commissar’s face was red, but he still wore a profound expression nonetheless. Pondering only for a moment, he gave the affirmative.

Xing Cong Lian stood, the harsh scrape of the chair against the floor echoed in the room. He glanced in Lin Chen’s direction, wanting to take the man with him, but Lin Chen wasn’t looking at him.

Huang Ze put away his notebook and raised his face to look at Cong Lian. “Captain Xing, it’s not good to have an irrelevant individual participate in an investigation with you.”

“Mr. Lin played a key role in this investigation already. How is he irrelevant?”

Huang Ze turned back to his book, skimmed for certain information, then raised his head again. “It seems Professor Fu is the psychology expert hired by the force, right?”

Xing Cong Lian was speechless. He wanted to argue again, but Lin Chen opened his eyes a little to look at him and shook his head.

Fu Hao pulled Cong Lian away. “Let’s go quickly, Lao Xing. We have someone to arrest!”

———

The camphor trees by the roadside shook with the wind as the jeep traveled through. Fu Hao was silent, and Xing Cong Lian had his foot pressed to the gas. The atmosphere was so tense it was scary.

At a red light, Cong Lian stomped on the break, and the car screeched to a stop.

“Why didn’t you say it?”

“Say what.”

“That Lin Chen, your brother, is an expert amongst experts!”

“Huang Ze didn’t say anything, and neither did brother. What was I supposed to do!” Forced to take the blame like this, Fu Hao also grew angry.

“What’s with Huang Ze? You’re so scared of him, you don’t dare speak?”

“Huang Ze is also my senior!”

Fu Hao wanted to continue, but when he saw Cong Lian’s expression, he instantly understood what just happened, “Lao Xing, you’re corrupt!”

Fu Hao was irritated.

“Tell me now, what exactly went down between Huang Ze, Lin Chen, and that guy Chen…” Cong Lian said, flicking down the car’s lock. “If you won’t, don’t even think about leaving the car.”

When men wanted to gossip, they were even more troublesome than women as they were persistent and willing to use a hands-first approach.

Fu Hao looked at the traffic light that changed then, as the car accelerated, sighed, “Have you heard of the North-to-South Family?”

“Which novel?”

Fu Hao looked at Cong Lian like he was an alien in disbelief. The profound atmosphere disappeared in an instant.

“Lao Xing, you really are extraordinary…” Fu Hao’s voice became helpless, and he calmed down. “Even if you live in your own little world, you must know that in this world, there are prominent families. Rich, powerful, and ordinary people can hardly ever come into contact with them. Once they do, they have to be careful. This isn’t fiction; it’s more like fiction reflects reality.”

“What do you mean?”

“The North-to-South Family, Zhou, Wu, Chen, and Huang,” Fu Hao looked ahead as he uttered the names.

The rain grew heavier, and the car’s engine was also loud. Fu Hao fell silent, and Cong Lian also didn’t speak.

After a while, the bearded man pulled over and pulled up the handbrake. “Oh, then?”

His tone was light, too light. It conveyed how very unimpressed he was.

Fu Hao was speechless. He thought his words were enough to caution Cong Lian, but it looked like not even half his words were taken to heart.

“Be serious! They are super rich.”

“Rich, but don’t spend money on me, so why should I care?”

“What do they have anything to do with you?”

“Zhou, Wu… that Huang fellow, how did Lin Chen offend them?”

Fu Hao thought: That’s Lin Chen’s business, it has nothing to do with you.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

The small city school gate was around the corner. The wind had knocked branches down, and they were scattered on the ground, giving the scene before them a bleak air.

Anyone’s mood would be morose at a place like this.

“Because we were told not to.”

“You’re so boring.”

Cong Lian pulled a cigarette from a carton and put it between his lips then exited the car.

He had only stepped out with one leg when the man behind him asked a question.

“Lao Xing, do you think everyone is created equal?”

“Are we not?”

“So a thief, a child of an influential family, yours, and Feng Pei Lin are equal?”

———

Many questions in the world were hard to answer. Many things could take a person at a loss for words.

There were only two men left in the office.

The policewoman who wanted to stay and tidy up was forced to leave before she could even move a chair.

Lin Chen felt someone hand him a glass of water. The temperature was appropriate, about 40 degrees.

Only Huang Ze would do this type of thing, measure the temperature of drinking water to such precision.

Knowing it was Huang Ze, Lin Chen retrieved his hand that had already touched the cup. The glass fell to the ground and splashed water everywhere, even onto the superintendent’s hem.

As the water splashed, Huang Ze chuckled. “You’re sick.” He set the back of his hand against Lin Chen’s forehead. “Fever, about 39.5 degrees.”

His laugh was ambiguous, and his gesture intimate. His expression was gentle, but his phoenix eyes were cold. So cold, one could feel the ice in his gaze.

“Huang Ze, you’re boring, awfully so.” Lin Chen didn’t avoid the man’s hand as it would be too unnatural and make it seem like he cared.

Huang Ze crouched in front of him, hands on the armrests, and crowded him in, “How have you been these three years? Good?”

“If I had been doing well, you would have picked me up yourself. How could you be this at ease?”

“I feel sorry for you.” Huang Ze said as he inched closer. Because they were so close, he could feel Lin Chen’s scalding breath with every exhale. His heart softened, and he asked, “So, have you regretted not saving her at all these three years?”

Waiting for the answer, he stared at Lin Chen, whose lips were cracked from the fever. He thought: if Lin Chen said yes, he would pour the water on him and force him to drink.

“Suppose there were twenty children playing on a railway. Four are from rich families, the intelligent and elite. They advised the other children a train would come, and they should play on the abandoned track next to it. The rest of the sixteen don’t heed their advice, and only the four go to the abandoned track. A train is coming, and you stand beside the railroad switch. You can turn the train to the abandoned rack and sacrifice the four to save the sixteen, or let the sixteen die to save the four.” Fu Hao looked at Cong Lian’s back with a difficult smile. He asked, “If I may, what would you do?”

Cong Lian was drenched in the rain as he leaned half out the door, but he held this position for a long time as he thought.

He took out a lighter and tried to light his cigarette a dozen times, but it didn’t spark.

“That is a question I cannot answer.” Finally, it lit up, and he held the flame to the cigarette. He exhaled a long spool of smoke. “But, I admire the person who can.”

“Not every question in this world has an answer.” Lin Chen stared into Huang Ze’s cold eyes, and his voice was contrarily soft, “and not all answers can be distinguished by right and wrong.”

Huang Ze suddenly stood up. If this wasn’t the police station, he would have wrung Lin Chen’s neck.

Of course, Cong Lian knew the story Fu Hao told wasn’t fictional but a real event.

Because it was real, it was too heavy.

All questions involving human nature were naturally heavy.

———

Because school was suspended for the storm, there were no students on-site, and there were also few teachers.

The bell rang as usual, and Cong Lian snuffed out his cigarette. He followed a security guard to Peng Fei Lin’s office.

The large office was empty, and Cong Lian recognized Feng Pei Lin’s desk at a glance without having to ask.

It was a clean table in beige with nothing but a book on top.

Cong Lian put on a glove, picked up the book, and went to the window.

He opened the cover, and there was a sentence scrawled on the front page:

A man who has not passed through an inferno of his passions has never overcome them – – Jung.

The writing was beautiful, and the strokes delicate, showing the writer’s seriousness. Yet, because of this, it also appeared sarcastic.

Even without Lin Chen’s presence, Cong Lian could somewhat imagine how the writer would sit at the window, lips quirked a little while he wrote those words.

Cong Lian flipped through the book’s pages with a blank expression, and a letter fell out.

The envelope was white and spotless.

The letter wasn’t sealed, and Cong Lian turned it upside down and shook. Delicate, white sand fluttered out. The envelope was empty save for the sand.

If the writing was a taunt,

The sand was naked provocation.

“Captain Xing, this is Miss Xu, who shares the office with Mr. Feng.”

The security guard walked over with a female teacher, her hair in a ponytail, beside him.

“Oh, good.” Cong Lian handed the book and envelope to Fu Hao then sat next to the teacher.

“I’d like to ask a few questions about Mr. Feng.”

Anyone would be nervous facing an officer. The teacher was the same. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she pursed her lips tight.

“How did Mr. Feng treat his students?”

“He’s very good to the students. He teaches Chinese, and he’s elegant, with a rich vocabulary. The students like him.”

“What do you know about Mr. Feng’s family?”

“Feng isn’t married, so he’s more popular with female students.”

“Well, have you ever felt Mr. Feng’s demeanor or words to be somewhat strange?” Cong Lian continued to ask.

“Strange…” The teacher frowned, thinking. “Teacher Feng calls his mother every day, at a fixed time. Sometimes, even when he’s in class, he will step out to call her.”

The son was about 35 to 40, and the mother about 65 and very strict with her son.

Cong Lian suddenly recalled Lin Chen’s inference and couldn’t help but turn to Fu Hao.

“What else?” He urged.

“And…” The teacher rubbed her nose. “Mr. Feng is quite careless sometimes. He likes to sit by the window in a daze.”

“Like this?”

Cong Lian moved his chair to Feng Pei Lin’s desk and sat, looking out the window.

He froze.

When he saw the man stare out the window without speaking, Fu Hao couldn’t help but push him, “What is it, Lao Xing?”

“Feng Pei Lin was watching Lin Chen…”

Cong Lian pulled Fu Hao down to the same line of sight as he muttered those words.