Late at night, the parking lot was silent. Nie Fanxin and Chu Wanning sat in the white car with a clear view of Lan Hui’s vehicle. One had her head down, the other scanned their surroundings. Nie Fanxin suddenly spoke: “Sister Wanning, do you recognize this person?” On her phone was a photo from Wang Gede’s blog, with the caption: “September 13, 2046. Luyang Mountain.” Wang Gede had written the entry the night before he fell to his death.
Luyang Mountain. A place mountaineering enthusiasts dreamed of conquering. Its sheer cliffs, its heart-stopping drops, made for unforgettable memories. The extreme gradients, nearly 80 degrees, even 90 degrees at points, with sheer drops below each ledge, demanded extreme care with every step. Outsiders called them reckless. But what was life without a little thrill?
The photo was taken at noon on September 13, when several climbers reached West Ridge Peak. Based on the blog entry, Wang Gede’s group planned to challenge East Ridge Peak the next day. It was during that climb that he fell to his death.
Chu Wanning asked, “Which one?”
Nie Fanxin pointed to the woman on the far right. “Her.”
Chu Wanning shook her head.
“I’ll post it in the group chat.”
Two minutes later, Little Liang replied: “Isn’t that the trainer at the Honghuai Yuanyang gym?”
Chu Wanning typed: “Lu Zhenglin’s personal trainer?”
Little Liang replied, “It’s her.”
Coincidence? Chu Wanning frowned instantly. “Get me her files.”
Little Liang replied, “Captain Chu, I didn’t pay much attention to her. All I know is her name is Zhou Lu.”
Chu Wanning turned to Nie Fanxin. “Zhou Lu. Is she one of Lu Zhenglin’s victims?”
Nie Fanxin shook her head without checking her records.
“Let’s go up.” Chu Wanning checked her watch and pushed open the door.
“The gym?”
“Yes.”
All three elevators were on the upper floors, so they took the stairs. When they reached the second floor, the front desk clerk was about to close. Nie Fanxin called out, “Hello. Nanyun District Criminal Investigation. We’d like to ask about the personal trainer Zhou Lu.”
The clerk said, “Zhou Lu? She quit. She kept to herself. We weren’t close.”
She’d quit. Chu Wanning’s frown deepened. “Do you have her records? Home address, ID copy?”
“No ID copy, but I can help find her address.”
The clerk fetched a personnel roster, and Chu Wanning scanned it. “Wuyuan Road. Where’s that? Does Binnan even have a Wuyuan Road?”
Nie Fanxin looked it up. “Fake address.”
The clerk said, “That’s normal. Eighty percent of our staff put down fake addresses, including me.”
“Phone number.” Chu Wanning dialed Zhou Lu’s number immediately. Two seconds later, a mechanical voice answered: “The number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later.”
Nie Fanxin jotted down the eleven digits. “Sister Wanning, let me run the SIM card registration.” Half a minute later, the carrier gave the result. “Unregistered.”
Chu Wanning drew a slow breath to collect herself. “Can you tell us who Zhou Lu was close to?”
“We expanded our female coaching staff at the end of last month, and she came on board this month. She wasn’t close to anyone.”
It was December. Nie Fanxin asked immediately, “So the gym never paid her social insurance?”
“She hadn’t cleared probation. Company policy is insurance only after probation ends.”
Chu Wanning pressed on: “Contract?”
“The formal contract comes after the one-month probation.”
Nie Fanxin pressed her lips together, leaning against the wall in frustration. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Can’t do much about it. Everywhere I’ve worked is the same.” The clerk pulled the door shut and locked it. Then, as if something had occurred to her, she unlocked it again with her key and said, “I wrote down her ID number. Want it?”
“Absolutely.” Nie Fanxin was elated.
But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Even the ID was fake. The real Zhou Lu was far away in Luo City.
Chu Wanning and Nie Fanxin obtained two photos of Zhou Lu and left the gym, leaving instructions to notify them as soon as possible if she showed up.
The riddles piled up. Who was Zhou Lu? What was her connection to Lu Zhenglin and Wang Gede? Sitting in the car, Nie Fanxin stared at the photo, wondering how to solve the puzzle before her.
Hu Hua? Of the original three, only Hu Hua remained. Though the psychiatric evaluation wasn’t out yet, the psychiatry chief suspected he was faking. Why fake mental illness? He hadn’t done so after Wang Gede’s death. So why now, after Lu Zhenglin’s? What was his game?
“Fanxin.” Chu Wanning called her, pulling her from her tangled thoughts.
“Hmm?”
“Get some sleep. We’ll hit Hu Hua’s place in the morning.” They’d arrived at the same conclusion.
Nie Fanxin fought her heavy eyelids. “What about you?”
“I’m not tired. You sleep for now—we’ll swap in the second half of the night.”
It was already 1 a.m. Nie Fanxin’s resistance crumbled, and she closed her eyes.
Time passed. When she reopened them, daylight had arrived. Chu Wanning’s coat from the night before lay draped over her. The window on the driver’s side was open a crack, but the seat was empty.
Nie Fanxin let out a soft murmur, rubbing her sore neck. A bright, happy smile bloomed across her face, and her heart felt as sweet as if it had been smeared with honey. She found her phone and called Chu Wanning.
“Awake?” Chu Wanning answered.
“Mm. Where are you?”
“Getting breakfast. Wait for me in the car, two minutes.”
Less than two minutes later, Chu Wanning appeared, wearing a warm smile. “Shrimp buns. Your favorite.”
“Thanks, Sister Wanning.”
Chu Wanning opened the door, sat down on her left, and added, “Yours and Xiaoyu’s favorite. When I was a sophomore and you two were in elementary school, I’d line up after class to buy shrimp buns at the school gate for you.”
The memory softened Nie Fanxin’s heart. “So you always ran out of money for study materials.”
“Aunt Tong helped out.”
Nie Fanxin bit into a bun, her smile impossible to hide. “Sister also slipped you her allowance. I was the only stingy one, hoarding mine.”
“You were little then.”
“Not that little. Mom always said I was a cheapskate, no idea who I got that from.”
Chu Wanning teased, “And now? Still cheap? You dropped over three hundred last night without blinking.”
“I blinked. I blinked plenty. Look.” Nie Fanxin flashed a wink, but before Chu Wanning could react, Chen Anyou called.
“Captain Chu, Hu Hua’s evaluation report just came in. He was faking.”
“Good, we’re on our way.” Chu Wanning had forgotten the earlier moment. She finished her bun and buckled up.
Nie Fanxin ate in silence, mentally cursing Chen Anyou for his timing. Of all moments, he had to call now. And that “Sister Xin” of his—next time he called her that, she was absolutely snapping back.
Hu Hua’s residential compound was barely three kilometers from Honghuai Yuanyang. Chu Wanning and Nie Fanxin arrived at exactly eight, with Chen Anyou and two colleagues arriving shortly after. They knocked on Hu Hua’s door. His wife answered.
Unlike the group from yesterday, she asked, “You’re police?”
Chen Anyou said, “The psychiatric evaluation confirms Hu Hua is mentally sound. We need to speak with him.”
Hu Hua’s wife exploded: “Mentally sound? He faked it?”
Little Liang confirmed: “Yes.”
“Hu Hua, get up!” Bang! The wife threw a washbasin to the floor and reached over to drag the man from the bed. He’d probably heard the officers talking outside, dropped the act, and roared, “What are you doing?!”
His wife snapped, “What am I doing? I was long ready to divorce you, but you went and faked a breakdown. Now I’m stuck here taking care of you, and you ask what I’m doing?”
Chen Anyou interjected, “Ms. Zhang, we need to speak with Hu Hua. We’d appreciate your cooperation.”
“Do whatever you want. I want nothing to do with him.” She pulled a suitcase from under the bed, threw in some clothes, and stormed out.
Hu Hua climbed out of bed, limped toward the living room, and sat on the sofa. Dark circles shadowed his hollow eyes as he spoke through dry, cracked lips, “Ask. What do you want to know?”
Chen Anyou and the other two officers began the search. Chu Wanning gazed at the balcony plants, her thoughts distant. “Tell us about Li Juan.”
Li Juan, Wang Gede, Lu Zhenglin, and Hu Hua had all been seniors in the science honors track of Aolin Middle School, Class of 39. Li Juan was known for her excellent grades, good looks, family background, and all-around achievements. Lu Zhenglin liked her and had always admired her. On Labor Day that year, Lu Zhenglin confessed and was rejected. Wang Gede had a crush on her too and was rejected in late May. On June 1, they talked about Li Juan in their dorm, complaining about her arrogance, saying she’d fall someday. Hu Hua returned to the room and overheard. His grades were good, but he resented Li Juan because he felt the teachers favored her and let her take every good thing for herself. The three resolved to teach Li Juan a lesson.
On June 5, Lu Zhenglin passed the teachers’ office and overheard the whole story of the shipwreck. The homeroom teacher planned to tell Li Juan after the college entrance exam. Back in the dorm, Lu Zhenglin mentioned it, and they decided that night, after evening study hall, they’d find a secluded spot to berate Li Juan.
At 11 p.m. on June 5, Li Juan, who liked to study until lights out before returning to the dorm, walked alone through the garden near the school building. The three blocked her path and told her to her face that her family had perished. Watching her sob in distress, Lu Zhenglin’s desires took hold. He and Wang Gede assaulted her. Hu Hua stood watch.
“You’re animals!” Nie Fanxin clenched her fists, her eyes a frightening red.
“I know I did wrong. I’ve been vegetarian for three years as penance. But it’s not enough. She’s back. She’s come for revenge.” Hu Hua pulled out his phone, his body trembling slightly. “These are the threatening letters Old Lu received. Two in a row. He burned them. I kept photos.”
Chu Wanning swiped through the images. Both letters were identical in length and content: “Scum like you deserves to die.”
“Arrest me. I don’t want to die. She’s coming to kill me.” Hu Hua pressed his fists together, waiting for Chu Wanning’s handcuffs.
Chu Wanning snorted. “You’ll be detained, but given the decade that’s passed and the current evidence, I doubt the prosecutor will charge.”
“Evidence? I’ll confess! That’s evidence!”
Chu Wanning produced a set of handcuffs. Handcuffs ten years too late. If Li Juan had reported back then, what would her future have been? Family lost, exam dreams shattered, and then despair?
Was there a better outcome?
They’d never know.
Nie Fanxin’s heart ached for Li Juan and her lost family.
“Recognize this person?” Chu Wanning showed Hu Hua a photo of Zhou Lu, all business.
Hu Hua stared blankly and shook his head. “Don’t know her.”
“Take him.” Chu Wanning couldn’t stand looking at Hu Hua a moment longer. She assigned Chen Anyou to escort him and stepped toward the balcony. The morning sun had risen, casting its light on their hair.
Nie Fanxin finally found her voice. “Sister Wanning, why do we catch people?”
“To punish the guilty.”
“Who are we protecting?”
“The public. Those who deserve protection.”
Nie Fanxin forced a bitter smile. “What about Hu Hua? He wants us to lock him up so we’ll protect him.”
Chu Wanning bit her lip. “Fanxin, his crimes should be judged by the law. Killing won’t solve anything.”
“Who do you think it is? Li Juan is dead. Her father, her mother, her older sister, all lost in the shipwreck. Who’s left? Who would kill for her, who would stake their life for her…”
