“Deepening cross-border police cooperation… must start with our police visit-exchange programs, starting from the grassroots!” the Chief of Police proclaimed passionately from the podium.
The vast conference room was filled with top brass, leaving Lu Shimiao as the only ordinary grunt.
She twirled a pen between her fingers, the Chief’s words going in one ear and out the other. Her mind was entirely occupied by one thought: Why had she just caved in front of Xue Tong?
“Lu Shimiao!” The Chief cut straight to the chase, calling out Officer Lu by name.
A curse nearly slipped from Lu Shimiao’s lips. She hastily dropped her pen and scrambled to her feet. “Present.”
The Chief gestured for her to sit. “Starting tomorrow, Superintendent Xue will be conducting a one-week grassroots exchange at your Criminal Police Unit. You happen to be a backbone in criminal investigation techniques, which aligns perfectly with Superintendent Xue’s specialty. You’ll be responsible for her exchange activities.”
Did “grassroots exchange” literally mean Xue Tong would be following her around for a whole week at work?
Then what kind of cross-border exchange was this?
They might as well rename it “Bickering with Your Ex Every Day”…
“Reporting!” Lu Shimiao stubbornly spoke up. Everyone in the room turned to look at her, except for Xue Tong, who sat beside the Chief, her eyes fixed on the hair tie around her wrist. “Requesting the boss’s guidance on the scope of the grassroots exchange.”
“All work carried out for grassroots communities.” The Chief’s words were as good as saying nothing.
“Does that include taking reports, standing duty, crime scene investigation, and apprehension work? Do the mainland Public Security Bureau’s law enforcement protocols apply to Superintendent Xue?” Officer Lu refused to give up until she saw the coffin.
“Yes. I will issue a separate notice with the specific regulations. The coordinating personnel are to stand by for updates at any time.” The Chief looked down at his documents. “Then let us continue…”
There was no greater sorrow than a dead heart. Lu Shimiao gave up on herself, slumping in her seat. She glanced up at the front row; Xue Tong was playing with the hair tie on her wrist, apparently not listening seriously either.
She must be thinking right now about how to torment me to death.
Lu Shimiao pulled out her phone and typed in the small Criminal Technology Division group chat: 【Haven’t I not taken my annual leave for the past two years? Can I apply for it now?】
Forensic Doctor: 【What? The workaholic wants a vacation? Did the sun rise from the west?】
Imaging Technician: 【Read the main group chat. I heard the Superintendent scolded Sister Lu on her very first day.】
DNA: 【Is the beautiful Superintendent coming to our division tomorrow? Then I’d better clean the lab.】
Admin Lili: 【No way? The beauty is coming to your Criminal Tech Division? Can I apply for a transfer today?】
Forensic Doctor: 【Saw her downstairs. She really is gorgeous. How old is she? Does she have a partner?】
Lili: 【Bro, please look in a mirror. In the whole police force, only our Little Lu’s looks are a match for the Superintendent.】
DNA: 【Too bad Little Lu is a woman.】
Lili: 【I don’t care, I’m shipping this CP!】
…
Lili still dared to ship a CP?
Wait till she finds out this CP already hit a BE. That’ll knock her front teeth out.
To do a good job, you must first not lose your temper!
Lu Shimiao looked at her phone screen, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before quitting the group chat.
There was no helping it. Faced with the fact that her divisional colleagues were drooling over her ex’s looks, for a moment she didn’t know whose vinegar to drink, so she could only purge them all to vent her inner fury.
By the time she set down her phone, the Chief had already finished speaking. Perhaps fearing that the Hong Kong Police Force couldn’t endure the mainland’s meeting culture, the Chief had condensed it to just half an hour—so fast it opened Lu Shimiao’s eyes.
Once the meeting ended, Officer Lu didn’t bother with formalities with the bosses. She dashed straight out the conference room’s back door and jogged back to her division.
The moment her rear hit the seat, a WeChat message came in. She tapped it open to see it was from Xue Tong.
【See you tomorrow morning, Officer Lu.】
【Mm-hmm, sounds good. [Smile]】
After replying to the text, Lu Shimiao immediately grabbed her car keys and, for the first time ever, walked out the division doors before 6 PM.
Passing the lab, the Forensic Doctor, who was still working overtime, glanced at her in disbelief. “In all these years, I’ve never seen you leave work this early. What’s wrong? Trouble at home?”
Lu Shimiao gave a wry smile. “The ancestral tomb is on fire.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, Lu Shimiao strode out of the Criminal Police Unit with heavy steps.
She drove home in silence, pushed open the door, and found her father, Lu Yuan, sitting on the sofa looking equally shocked. “Did your boss turn into a living bodhisattva today, showing such mercy? Letting you off so early, I didn’t even make your dinner.”
“Not hungry.” Officer Lu, still grim-faced, took off her police uniform and once again tossed the dirty clothes into the basin.
The upper floor was too stuffy without the air conditioning on, so Lu Shimiao had no choice but to curl up at the other end of the sofa, sitting opposite her father under the cool breeze.
“The Shanghai Public Security Bureau and the Hong Kong Police Force on strengthening cross-border…” The evening news was playing on the TV, and the screen showed video footage of Xue Tong participating in an event.
“Why does she haunt me like a ghost!!!” Lu Shimiao looked up and saw the figure, instantly going mad. She kicked her legs onto the sofa, pointing at the TV and shouting at her father, “Change the channel! Change it!!”
Father Lu knew his daughter worked in criminal investigation, dealing with murders and corpses every day. Being yelled at like this made him feel like he’d seen a ghost. Not daring to turn his head, he hurriedly grabbed the remote to change the channel. “Dammit, what ghost? Don’t scare your old man, alright?”
Annoyed and restless, Lu Shimiao didn’t want to explain. She lowered her head and fell silent.
Watching his daughter’s weary figure, the father sighed.
His daughter had always been a silent type, never confiding in the family. Remembering how in recent years she’d often hide under her blanket late at night and cry her heart out, he grew worried. “Did you really see a ghost?”
“No.” Lu Shimiao shook her head, crouching on the sofa, hugging her legs and burying her head.
“Be honest with your old man. If there really is a little ghost pestering you, I’ll hire a great master to perform a ritual for you.” Lu Yuan’s heart ached for his daughter.
Lu Shimiao buried her head completely between her legs and said nothing more.
Her father kept rattling on from the sofa. The first ten minutes were about his glorious history; only ten minutes later did he get to the point, talking about how on a business trip a few days ago, someone introduced him to an amazingly powerful eminent monk.
Blah blah blah, his mouth never stopped.
“Dad! I’m a people’s police officer. Performing a ritual for me might as well be telling me to write a self-criticism report.” Lu Shimiao, who had only wanted some quiet, completely broke down and stood up to head upstairs.
But just as she took a step, the door swung open.
Her mother was back.
When it rains, it pours. Lu Shimiao stiffened and turned her head, smiling at Qiu Wen. “Mom.”
After saying that, she turned to flee upstairs.
“Come back here.” Qiu Wen called her back with a dark face, quickly changed her shoes, and walked over. Right away, she started scolding: “Did you skip that blind date again the night before last?”
Lu Shimiao had indeed not gone.
Not only had she not gone, but to escape this blind date, she had even specially applied to join the Field Operations Team for night stakeouts to catch thieves, not returning home for two days and two nights.
“How could I have had the time? I had to go to a crime scene.” Lu Shimiao felt guilty.
“Is your police unit unable to function without you? Can’t the vast city of Shanghai solve a single murder case without you? You’re already 27 and still not married. Do you expect the police force to provide for you in old age?” Seeing her daughter retort, Qiu Wen instantly ignited like a lit firecracker, spitting sparks from her mouth.
Words alone couldn’t relieve her agitation, so Qiu Wen pointed a finger at her daughter.
“You can stay unmarried, might as well drive your father and me to death. Then you can come home and collect our bodies yourself, you can even dissect my heart and let everyone see how you tortured me to death.”
A figure slipped past. Lu Shimiao could guess with her heel that her father was rapidly fleeing this disaster, putting as much distance as he could.
“Don’t play dead and stay silent with me. All these years your parents have worked so hard to raise you. We just want you to get married. Why won’t you?”
“How many boys have we introduced to you? That finance guy from half a year ago is already married.” Qiu Wen’s voice grew louder and louder. “And that university male teacher, he’s married too.”
Lu Shimiao remembered that male teacher, and her head began to throb. “That university teacher sexually harassed a student. We arrested him. Didn’t you see the news? How could you expect me to marry someone like that?”
“So what if he was arrested?” Qiu Wen hadn’t expected her daughter to talk back. She seized the opening and unleashed a torrent of words. “Once you’re past thirty and still unmarried, what difference is there between you and that male teacher? You’ll both be gossiped about and pointed at.”
…
Dammit, Qiu Wen had truly gone insane.
Officer Lu numbly stared at the tree in the distant yard, her eyes slowly becoming vacant.
It seemed that when dealing with her mother, apart from working overtime, only silence remained.
She had also tried communicating with her mother, but it always seemed futile. Every sincere attempt was like a rubber ball; the words she threw out bounced back and hit her even harder, even more painfully, instantly dragging her into a whirlpool.
She only felt as if her throat was plugged with a gel-like blockage filling her windpipe, just like that newly dissected corpse in the lab’s freezer—barren on one side, withered on the other.
She didn’t dare hate Qiu Wen, because Qiu Wen was loving her.
Yet Qiu Wen always attributed the hurts to her pride, her unfulfilled regrets, and her hard-earned sacrifices to her love for her daughter. Would kneeling, crying, and agreeing to every demand her mother expected really allow the two of them to coexist peacefully?
Still no.
Foreseeing the answer, Lu Shimiao withdrew her gaze and calmed down for a long time.
She remembered something Xue Tong had taught her: as long as you fight back, the pain can be flattened out.
“Didn’t you say being a cop made it easiest to find a partner?” She stared at Qiu Wen, her eyes misting. “Too bad, no one thinks I’m good enough.”
“Yeah, if I had known being a cop would turn out like this, it would have been better if you never took this job.” Qiu Wen folded her arms, tears streaming down her face even faster than her daughter’s.
“So if I don’t get married, I should just die? My whole life’s worth is all about marriage, right?” Her eyes were red, desperately holding back the tears about to fall. “Why is it that whatever I do, you’re never satisfied?”
All the absurdity of the entire day seemed to come to a standstill the moment Lu Shimiao spoke.
The TV played an unfunny variety show.
Qiu Wen stared at her with wide eyes. Lu Yuan knelt on a prayer cushion, worshipping the bodhisattva.
“I just don’t like to talk. Why do you insist I have an answer for everything?” Lu Shimiao’s tone shot up high, her voice echoing through the large villa.
“You… you…” Qiu Wen clutched her chest. “Raising you was our fault? Who paid for your education? Who cooked your meals? Who bought you that car? How dare you speak to me like this?”
At the mention of the car, Lu Shimiao suddenly found it laughable. “You were the one who insisted on buying that car. You chose the model. You even picked the colour. What exactly do you have to complain about?”
Qiu Wen’s body froze. She looked at her daughter with an unfamiliar gaze.
“Do you know it takes 98-octane fuel? There’s only one gas station in the entire city center that carries it. Its city fuel consumption is 14 litres per hundred kilometres. I earn a measly eight thousand a month. Do I even deserve it?” Lu Shimiao looked straight at her mother, a thick fog rising over her eyes.
“Every day, to protect it, how many times do I have to search for a parking space, afraid of a single scratch? Do you have any idea how hard parking is in Shanghai?”
“When I drive, you scold me—eating your food, spending your money, yet still not married. When I don’t drive, you scold me too, saying a multi-million-yuan car will be ruined in my hands sooner or later.” Lu Shimiao suppressed the swirling tears, her eyes filled with desolation. “Then why did you buy me that car in the first place?”
“Was it just to have an excuse to scold me? Or purely to satisfy your vanity because the neighbour’s daughter bought a BMW?”
Qiu Wen listened to her daughter, dumbfounded. Those words seemed to hit a nerve. She clutched her chest for barely two seconds before going hysterical, grabbing her daughter’s arm and trying to slam her against the wall. “In that case, let’s both just die together!”
Lu Shimiao stood woodenly in place. Qiu Wen’s words flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern, repeating over and over.
Her clothes were too smelly, they had to go in the basin. Use the air conditioning as little as possible. Don’t associate with people who smoke or drink. Being a cop was the best for finding a partner. Stop working, find a man and marry him. Not marrying made her an ungrateful wretch. In a few more years, she’d only be fit to marry a divorcee.
She had thought if she just endured it, maybe it would pass.
So she silently waited and waited. All she got in return were a few wisps of white incense smoke drifting before her eyes in front of the bodhisattva, and her father kowtowing loudly on the floor, his head banging heavily.
Yes, living forever in an endless cage… it really would be better to die.
“How could banging against a wall kill anyone? If you want to die, jump off a building.” With reddened eyes, Lu Shimiao shook off Qiu Wen’s hand, turned around, and started sprinting upstairs.
Lu Yuan was scared to death. He shot up the stairs in a single bound and grabbed his daughter around the waist. “What on earth are you two doing?!”
“Get out!” Qiu Wen was so furious she collapsed onto the sofa, grabbed a pillow, and frantically hit Lu Yuan’s back. “Let her get out. Let her take her things and get out of this house.”
…
Lu Shimiao froze for only half a second before shaking off Lu Yuan’s hands. Without a trace of hesitation, she went upstairs and began hastily packing her luggage.
Afraid something would happen, Lu Yuan quickly chased into the room and stood watching his daughter calmly pack her police uniform, organize her credentials and work documents.
Lu Shimiao didn’t touch anything the family had bought. He sighed. “Your mom is only doing this for your own good.”
“Take good care of yourself.” Lu Shimiao replied before picking up her luggage and walking away from Lu Yuan without a backward glance.
At the top of the stairs, she paused. “I’m taking the car for now. I’ll pay back the money she spent on it into your account in instalments. Remember to check.”
She went downstairs, out the door, loaded her luggage into the trunk—all in one fluid motion.
Only when she finally sat in the car did Lu Shimiao’s tears burst forth. Her whole body trembled so violently she lost all strength. She could only slump over the steering wheel to keep from collapsing.
She didn’t care whether the car was parked on a bustling downtown Shanghai street, whether passers-by and tourists were watching her. She sobbed until she could barely breathe, reaching up to unbutton her collar just to let some air squeeze in.
That extreme fury and helpless despair intermingled in her veins. She wanted to vent it out, only to find that such pain couldn’t be dispelled by tears. She could only pound the centre console with her fist, letting the physical pain awaken her numb senses.
“Open the door.” A calm voice sounded from beyond the glass window.
Lu Shimiao was crying so hard she’d lost her hearing.
“Lu Shimiao.” Xue Tong stared at the person inside the car and slammed her palm against the window. “Open the door.”
