Chapter 14: “Is Yu Bai Involved in the Red Gate Case?”

Yu Bai immediately lodged her protest, looking at Zhou Hui with exaggerated flair. “How am I not frightened? I was scared half to death today, okay? I think it’s absolutely necessary to contact my lawyer right now and demand compensation for my mental distress from you.”

“Can you give your lawyer a break for once? He’s been dealing with trouble from you nonstop. Right now, he’s busy submitting materials to the provincial office, waiting for the City Bureau to deliver you some justice!”

Yu Bai shook her head and clucked her tongue. “See? This just shows how inefficient he is. I still haven’t seen any apology from the City Bureau. We absolutely have to dock his pay. Absolutely!”

Zhou Hui watched the conversation veer further and further off track, inwardly smacking herself.

“Officer Zhou, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to head out. I just remembered there’s some unfinished business at the club.” Seeing that Zhou Hui had fallen silent, Yu Bai seized the chance to make her escape.

Her fingertips had just brushed the door when Zhou Hui grabbed her by the collar from behind and yanked her back.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

Yu Bai’s back pressed tight against the fridge. She was dressed in a impeccably tailored suit that could pass for something worn at a diplomatic summit. But now, with Zhou Hui’s tug, half her collar had flipped up, the top two buttons of her inner shirt had come undone, revealing porcelain-pale skin and the sharp lines of her collarbone. Strands of long hair tumbled around her ears, giving her a somewhat disheveled look.

But Yu Bai was no stranger to the cutthroat world of business. She quickly composed herself, a sly smile curling at the corner of her mouth. With worldly insight, she quipped, “Officer Zhou, are you planning to interrogate me right here?”

Zhou Hui glanced down at her own plain black T-shirt—nothing special about it—and suddenly felt like it was lacking something. She regretted not coming home in her uniform today.

Yu Bai instantly read Zhou Hui’s thoughts, cursing silently to herself in shock.

Zhou Hui really wasn’t like ordinary people.

She casually rested one hand on the fridge door, looming over Yu Bai and locking eyes with her. Her breath ghosted softly against Yu Bai’s ear. “So… still not planning to talk?”

Yu Bai wasn’t wearing heels today, so she stood half a head shorter than Zhou Hui. When Zhou Hui leaned in, Yu Bai’s nose just reached her neck. A faint lemony freshness wafted from her—nothing like the heavy perfume most women wore. Just the subtle scent of shampoo mingled with that clean, crisp lemon aroma. It was soothing, reassuring in its cool purity.

Yu Bai stayed perfectly still, saying nothing. She simply gazed back into Zhou Hui’s eyes, quiet and steady, as if peering straight through her.

Once again, Zhou Hui saw the words “still waters run deep” reflected in Yu Bai.

Seeing Yu Bai like this, Zhou Hui suddenly found she couldn’t ask anything more.

Zhou Boyan’s voice drifted in from the living room, growing closer. “Haven’t you finished those dishes yet? Zhou Hui, don’t you know to help out?”

Both women jolted. Zhou Hui immediately released the fridge door, and Yu Bai fumbled to straighten her clothes. She pointed toward the doorway, her feet already hurrying that way. “Um… I’ll just head out…”

“Me too… Hey! Steady there…”

Caught in their guilty panic, the two women tripped over each other’s feet.

Thud—

Zhou Boyan flung open the kitchen door with a clatter. “What are you two doing in the kitchen? …Holy shit! Zhou Hui, get off her right now.”

Zhou Hui: “…”

Yu Bai: “…”

Zhou Boyan’s brow twitched. He leaped back in shock— even with all his experience, the scene before him was staggering. Yu Bai lay on the floor, clutching Zhou Hui’s collar. Zhou Hui supported herself with one hand on the ground, the other cradling Yu Bai’s head. Crucially, Zhou Hui was sprawled right on top of her, with not a sliver of space between them.

How does washing dishes turn into this? There had to be something shady going on between these two.

Zhou Hui rubbed her forehead, feeling utterly depressed.

Yu Bai beneath her felt even more so. A sharp pain suddenly stabbed at her waist.

Zhou Boyan barked at Zhou Hui, “Get up already! How long do you plan to stay on her? …You’re so heavy, you’re going to crush poor Little Yu.”

“…” Zhou Hui was on the verge of tears. Was this really her dad?

She scrambled up and hurried to help up the precious Yu Bai, terrified of having caused any damage she couldn’t afford to pay for. Zhou Hui was just about to ask, “Are you okay?”

But Zhou Boyan blurted out something utterly wolfish, his tone brimming with concern. “Can your body handle it?”

Yu Bai froze, glancing at Zhou Hui before letting out a dry chuckle. “…Yeah, it’s a bit much to take.”

Zhou Hui: “Hm?”

Yu Bai clutched her waist and waved it off. “I’ll head out first.”

Zhou Boyan didn’t try to keep her. As the two rode the elevator down to the garage, Zhou Hui reflected that they must have already finished talking before she got back.

From this, Zhou Hui had to admit defeat to Yu Bai’s talent for cracking jokes and dodging questions. She figured in her mind that prying words out of Yu Bai’s mouth would probably be even harder than doing the same with Zhou Boyan.

Moreover, seeing Yu Bai now clutching her waist, her whole face scrunched up in pain as she leaned silently against the elevator wall, Zhou Hui just couldn’t bring herself to ask.

…She couldn’t have actually injured it badly, could she?!

Yu Bai had a small frame and looked quite petite overall, but she wasn’t as fat as Zhou Boyan had claimed, okay! She was just a bit taller and had a bigger build, heh!

Zhou Hui opened her mouth several times, only for the words to catch in her throat and get swallowed back down. After a few rounds of this, Yu Bai caught the hesitant look in her peripheral vision and said helplessly, “Just say whatever you want to say.”

Zhou Hui felt utterly awkward, blurting out her words at high speed: “Is your back okay? Should I take you to the hospital first?”

Yu Bai: “…”

The elevator reached the garage. Yu Bai stepped out with a helpless expression, grumbling offhandedly, “No need for the hospital. I think what I really need right now is a box of those ironclad bruise-and-sprain meds.”

Zhou Hui must have had her brain fried from getting chewed out by Zhou Boyan earlier, because she didn’t catch the sarcasm in Yu Bai’s words. She replied earnestly, “Got it. There’s a pharmacy right at the neighborhood entrance. I’ll buy some for you.”

“???”

Yu Bai was utterly baffled by Zhou Hui’s baffling behavior, but when she turned and saw the sincere look on her face, she decided—out of a desire to promote caring for the vulnerable—that she’d go along with it. With a helpless nod, she said, “Fine, go ahead and buy it then!”

And so, Yu Bai ended up with a box of bruise-and-sprain medication from the pharmacy at the entrance. Stepping out and holding this heavy token of Zhou Hui’s concern, she felt an overwhelming depression…and utter bafflement.

Especially since the pharmacy owner had clearly seen it all before—a real veteran of life’s ups and downs.

…

Yu Bai and Zhou Hui pushed open the door and walked in. The owner, a man in his sixties, looked up from behind his newspaper with a beaming smile. “What medicine are you looking for?”

Zhou Hui: “Bruise-and-sprain meds—the kind for back pain. Got any?”

The gray-haired old man pushed up the reading glasses slipping down his nose, turned to the shelves to grab the medicine, and chatted with them as he searched. “Oof! Looks like the young lady got carried away there. Be more careful next time.”

“?”

The owner set the meds on the counter and turned to Zhou Hui. “Can’t you take better care of your own girlfriend? This one’s for external use, this for internal—one twice a day… And no playing for the next few days, got it!”

“?”

…

Were old folks’ minds this open these days?

Yu Bai would rather believe the owner had bad eyesight and hadn’t realized Zhou Hui was a woman than accept that society had “degenerated” to this point.

After seeing Yu Bai off, Zhou Hui sprinted home at full speed, blocking Zhou Boyan at the door just as he was changing shoes to head out.

Zhou Boyan chuckled. “Out of the way quick—Dad’s got to get back to the Provincial Department and keep serving the people.”

Zhou Hui ignored him, standing in the doorway with a serious expression. “Dad, I want to know the truth about the Shao Yuan Case.” Zhou Boyan opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “The Shao Yuan Case is connected to the current one—lives are at stake! I want to know what role you’ve played in it. There are so many similarities between the Shao Yuan Case and the River Channel Murder Case—why suppress them?”

“You… Stay out of this. Wherever you heard that nonsense, don’t come questioning your father with it. You’re getting less disciplined by the day.” Zhou Boyan got angry too, dredging up old grievances. “I’ve told you how many times: don’t touch drug cases. How many times have you actually listened? Huh? You promise every time, then forget it the second you turn around. Can’t you give me some peace of mind?”

“Dad, I just want to know the truth. What exactly are you hiding?”

Zhou Boyan frowned, too furious to speak.

Zhou Hui added, “If you won’t tell me, I’ll investigate it myself.”

“You dare!”

Zhou Hui knew those words had hit home. After a few minutes of deadlock, Zhou Boyan finally relented.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. But after this, no more poking around, and don’t breathe a word to your colleagues at the bureau.”

Zhou Boyan’s tension over the Shao Yuan Case made Zhou Hui certain that what came next would be shocking.

“Two years ago, after the 725 Case was forced to pause, a string of undercover officers got killed in Pingling City. Without exception, they were all elite City Bureau operatives who’d spent years—thanks to a joint effort between the Provincial Department and the Special Operations Team—successfully infiltrating a major drug lord’s inner circle for one big case.”

Zhou Hui: “What big case?”

“Red Gate.”

“Qin Zhengjie?!”

Three years ago, the Provincial Department had captured Qin Zhengjie in Pingling City—a top drug lord from the China-Vietnam Drug Network who’d been trafficking for a decade, and the leader of the Red Gate organization.

“Yes. But apart from the Sino-Vietnamese drug trafficking network, the ‘Red Gate’s’ power extended far beyond that.” Zhou Boyan continued, “The boss of ‘Red Gate’ back then, Qin Zhengjie, styled himself as the Solar God ‘Phoebus’. Beneath him, the organization was divided into twelve departments, ordered according to Jesus’s Twelve Apostles. To conceal their identities, the heads of each department forsook their real names and went solely by the Apostles’ names. This served as a constant reminder for them to pledge undying loyalty to the organization and never betray it. They were the men Qin Zhengjie trusted most, because the Twelve Apostles were more than mere titles—they each represented one of Qin Zhengjie’s vast underground drug networks spanning twelve countries, including the United States, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Mexico, Peru, and others.”

“Twelve countries?!”

A sudden chill crept over Zhou Hui. So this was the hidden truth behind the Shao Yuan Case.

“The organization enforced an exceedingly tight management structure internally, with an absolute ban on developing unauthorized lateral connections. As a result, the undercover operations back then were incredibly difficult. Over nearly a decade of collaboration with international authorities, the police had only managed to seize control of two drug lines. The team Shao Yuan belonged to was one of the more successful ones. Even after Qin Zhengjie was captured, they remained embedded, purging the remnants of his Sino-Vietnamese network until they made the ultimate sacrifice.”

“What’s the connection to the 725 Case?”

Zhou Boyan let out a sigh, clearly reluctant to broach the subject. Two years earlier, after wrapping up her case and returning to Pingling City, Zhou Hui had heard whispers of it. But everyone blanched at the mention and clammed up. The 725 Case had become an untouchable taboo in Pingling City.

At last, Zhou Boyan spoke. “Because Ji Shen was also an undercover operative dispatched by the Provincial Department. What’s more, he was the overall lead on another line. The moment Qin Zhengjie was nabbed in Pingling City, his U.S. operations were swiftly dismantled under Ji Shen’s coordination. The 725 Case was meant to be the final cleanup of the ‘Red Gate’ Case. He knew every detail about every undercover agent we’d sent out. That’s why his betrayal caused such alarm at the Provincial Department. What we faced wasn’t just the total exposure of the 725 Case—it was the lives of more than a dozen undercover agents hanging in the balance, plus the very real possibility that a decade’s worth of effort and progress on the ‘Red Gate’ Case would all have to start from scratch.”

It was impossible for anyone to accept: a cop in a position of great responsibility, who had earned monumental merits and held total oversight of the case, turning overnight into a drug lord.

But as Zhou Hui listened quietly to Zhou Boyan’s full account, she spotted one glaring omission. From start to finish, he had deliberately skirted around one person…

“What about Little Yu? Was she involved in the ‘Red Gate’ Case?”