"Eat up." Police Officer Yu Yan pushed the Coke and burger over to the teenager.

Their police station had a rule that stated that unless there was a reason, the police on duty were not allowed to call for meal deliveries. They were afraid it would give a bad image. This little bit of food was something Yu Yan had run half a kilometer to buy back and he was sweating all over from the exertion.

The teenager took the food without looking at Yu Yan, his eyes looking away in embarrassment. He raised his hand and wiped his face with the back of his hand. There was a small scrape on his cheekbone. Sweat had gotten into it and it was both hurt and itched.

Yu Yan got an antibacterial wet wipe from a female colleague and tossed it to him. While facing the cold air blowing from the air-conditioner, he lectured. "When helping others, you need to first assess your own abilities. Didn't your teacher teach you? Oh, you followed her just because she asked you to. Young Liu Zhongqi, if you're so obedient, then why didn't you stay at home and do your homework during this beautiful summer vacation? Your brother is working overtime every day so there's no one to manage you, is that it?"

Those words somehow touched a nerve in the delicate heart of this teenager who was in the springtime of his youth. Halfway through unwrapping the burger, the boy's face darkened.

Yu Lanchuan's surname was Yu while his younger brother's surname was Liu because the two brothers had the same mother but different fathers.

When Yu Lanchuan was ten years old, due to incompatible views on life, his parents divorced on amicable terms. Yu Lanchuan went with his mother. A year later, his mother married his stepfather.

But this was not a tragic story of a child suffering in the hands of their stepparent. As far as Yu Yan was aware of, Yu Lanchuan's parents still had a pretty good relationship after their divorce. They even felt apologetic to their child and, the stepfather included, had given him even more care and affection. Double the affection from one person means six times the affection in total from the three people. The heavy weight of their affection nearly smothered Yu Lanchuan and he had been so annoyed by the adults every day that he wanted to run away from home.

When his younger brother was born, Yu Lanchuan was already in high school. Hence, using "the baby is disturbing his studies" as an excuse, he stayed at the school dorms to seek peace and quiet. His grandfather who had died young had a biological older brother whom Yu Lanchuan should address as Granduncle. This granduncle was an old bachelor who lived by himself. At that time, the old man stayed not far from Yu Lanchuan's high school and during his holidays, he often used the excuse of "accompanying grandpa" to avoid going home.

This Master Lan was born cold-hearted. On top of that, he stayed at home for barely a few days in a year, so he really did not have much affection for this younger brother that he had gotten at a bargain.

Then, not long ago, Yu Lanchuan's mother received an invitation from an overseas laboratory. This old madam had a fiery fighting spirit; as long as she still breathed, the fight was not over. She made the brazen decision to lead her family to battle the U.S. However, she first had to settle down overseas and it was still unknown how many years she would stay there. Her younger son had just entered senior high and was the perfect example of a student who heavily emphasized the sciences. His English was not good enough so the family decided to let him remain in the country to attend school and to reconsider the matter later after looking at his results.

To Yu Lanchuan, this was basically an unexpected disaster falling on his head. Since his stepfather followed his mother everywhere, the two of them had flown off together and he became this little annoyance's temporary keeper… no, temporary guardian.

"I'm not saying that you did wrong." Yu Yan saw that the teenager looked pitiful and he softened his tone. "It's… No matter what, having the intention to help others is good and should be praised, right? I've just called your brother, he's coming to pick you up soon. Eat some food first to stave off the hunger. Do you want ice-cream?"

Liu Zhongqi crumpled the burger wrapper into a ball and pretended to be unbothered as he said, "No need. I can take the subway home myself. Anyway, my brother doesn't want to come pick me up at all."

"He has to come even if he doesn't want to," the righteous Officer Yu blurted out. After that, he realised that he had misspoken and quickly tried to make things right. "No, what I meant is, how could he not want to come? Your brother may look cold-hearted and his mouth may be terrible, but that's the normal emotional state of those cubicle monkeys who work overtime like dogs. He still cares for you…"

Liu Zhongqi glanced at him. Officer Yu, who was speaking blindly with his eyes wide open, felt his conscience hurting and could not continue making things up.

"My brother is not cold-hearted and his mouth is not terrible." After staying silent for a while, the teenager spoke with his head lowered. "He has never scolded me and has never argued with me. He only gives me red packets^[1]."

Yu Yan, "..."

"When I was top ten in my year for my final exam, he sent me a red packet; when I cleaned the house so that he would think better of me, he sent me another red packet; when I fought with my schoolmate from the basketball team and was made to write a self-reflection essay, the self-reflection had to be signed by a guardian—he signed without even looking at it, and sent me a red packet." Liu Zhongqi took a vicious bite of the burger. "If I commit murder or arson one day, he will probably also send me a red packet and then ask me to take a cab to turn myself in."

Upon hearing that, Officer Yu clamped his mouth shut. Not only was he not sympathising with the boy at all, he was even a little envious.

Liu Zhongqi said, "My brother is an automatic red packet dispenser."

"Child, you may not understand what I'm saying to you now." Yu Yan picked his words carefully. "When you're older, you will understand. Love is an illusion, red packets are the only true evidence that he is good to you."

Even though his words of consolation were vulgar, they came from the bottom of his heart. However, the sulky chuuni^[2] teenager was not listening. He tore into the burger, gnashing his teeth and fuming with rage.

"All right, I won't say anymore if you don't want to listen." Yu Yan waited until he had eaten quite a bit before beginning his questions. "Let us talk about serious matters. Describe for me those people who demanded money from you. In total, how many of them were there?"

"Four. One old lady and three men. Among the three men, one was bald, another had a scar on his face, and the other one was slightly disabled. He walked with a heavy limp."

"How old are they? Could you tell where their accents are from?"

"I don't know. In any case, they aren't locals. The few men should be in their thirties. The old lady… I'm not sure. At first, she looked thin and small, her hair was all white and she was hunched over. I thought she might be seventy or eighty years old." Liu Zhongqi recalled and his face had an expression of confusion. "But when you guys came, she escaped by jumping over the wall. An old lady around seventy or eighty years old… wouldn't be able to do that, right?"

At Mudpool Backlane, there were a lot of narrow alleys that even a three-wheeled cart wouldn't be able to enter. Hence, at that time, the police car could only be stopped at the intersection, about two hundred meters away from where the porcelain scam was taking place.

Because of this two hundred meters, by the time the police had hurried over, the scammers had jumped over the wall and escaped.

Yu Yan had examined the blind alley's wall. It was three meters tall and the surface was very smooth. There were basically no spots that could act as hand grips to help with climbing. There was only half a footprint on the wall, barely distinct. If Yu Yan hadn't seen a flash of the last person disappearing over the wall, he might suspect that someone had made a fake police report.

Yu Yan secretly wrote the words 'Ask Master Lan' in his notebook, then asked further, "When they stopped you, what did they say?"

"They said that I bumped into the old lady and made her fall, and wanted me to pay compensation."

"How much?"

"One thousand."

Liu Zhongqi's sneakers and school bag were not cheap. One could tell that this kid's family was decently well-off and that his allowance and New Year's lucky money would not be little. But for a boy who was still a minor, his family typically would not let him handle a large amount of cash, so asking for 1,000 was just right. This group had quite a lot of experience with porcelain scams. One look and they could estimate how much this kid could hand over freely.

A half-grown kid, foolish and stubborn, couldn't handle being frightened and yet didn't want to lose face—when they were bullied outside, they would usually be too embarrassed to tell their family. They were all fat lambs of excellent quality that made a person want to slaughter them over and over again.

Yu Yan nodded.

Liu Zhongqi continued speaking. "I said, 'Why don't you guys go rob someone' and that bald guy said, 'What, you think we're discussing a business transaction here?' I said that I didn't have that much cash. They grabbed my bag and found out that my wallet really didn't have that much cash, so they took my student ID and told me to go home and prepare the money. Two days later, they will go to my school to get the money… I wanted to call the police but they noticed it and wanted to grab my phone. But you guys came right at that moment so they didn't manage to snatch it."

The kid was very earnest. He kept trying to act like an adult but his act was not up to par and there was a bit of foolishness in his words. Yu Yan felt that the kid and his scumbag-yet-elite brother didn't seem to have been born by the same mother.

Yu Yan stifled his smile as he listened. As he kept his smile in, he heard something not quite right. "Hold on, from the time these people surrounded you until they grabbed your phone, how much time passed?"

Liu Zhongqi gave him a look of confusion. "Not long. We only exchanged a few words… Maybe two or three minutes. Why?"

Police Officer Yu frowned and exchanged a look with his colleague beside him. The anonymous caller who made the police report had said that they saw a few hoodlums surrounding a student and getting physical. They didn't know what was happening and had asked the police to send some people to have a look.

But the question was, the roads of Mudpool Backlane were very difficult to navigate. This was especially true during summer when the narrow lanes were packed with people. The length of time from being dispatched until they reached the place where the incident happened was definitely longer than two or three minutes.

Which was to say, the person who called the police had known where the group of scammers would take action even before Liu Zhongqi was surrounded.

How did they know?

Yu Yan continued asking, "When they asked you for money, was there anyone nearby?"

Liu Zhongqi shook his head. "...I didn't notice anyone."

"Then, do you know who would help you call the police?" Yu Yan asked. "Think carefully. When you left with the old lady, did anyone notice?"

Liu Zhongqi stared blankly. Unconsciously, his fingers rubbed against the namecard that was curling up at the edges in his pocket. "There was indeed… someone. At that time, she even pulled me back, but I'm not sure…"

One hour later, the serious-and-important Yu Lanchuan finally took his own sweet time to arrive. When he entered, he seemed in a rush. His pretense was quite good, as though the one who had acted so full of himself over the phone was a dog.

"You even dare help an old lady, do you think our family is made of money?" Yu Lanchuan drove his 'picked up at a bargain' younger brother home. Throughout the whole journey, he didn't rebuke Liu Zhongqi, nor did he comfort him. When they reached home, he made fun of him with a careless remark, then shooed him off to get some rest. "You must have been scared today. Take a shower and go to bed earlier. I'm going to talk to your Yu-ge."

Liu Zhongqi dawdled as he made a noise of assent. He furtively shot Yu Lanchuan a look, as though he was waiting for something.

Yu Lanchuan saw his little look and sighed inwardly. He took his phone out of his pocket. "All right, I'll send you a red packet to calm your nerves."

Liu Zhongqi's face immediately darkened. Without a word, he turned and left, and even slammed his room door shut.

Yu Lanchuan was a little startled. "Kids these days with their chuuni syndrome don't even want money anymore?"

By chance, Yu Yan was passing his shift over to his colleague. He lived not far from the place Yu Lanchuan was renting, so he got a ride home with them and conveniently came to spend some time at his childhood friend's place. Seeing what happened, he immediately thickened his face and came close. "If he doesn't want the money, I want it. Ge, do you still need a younger brother? Or, I can be your son."

Yu Lanchuan took out a soft drink from the fridge and tossed it to him. "I haven't even collected the money from you for the ride."

Yu Yan slumped back against the sofa. "Confucius said that 'An orchid grows in the deep valley, a gentleman's path is moral and righteous^[3]'—Master Lan, what happened to not coveting wealth?"

"If I don't covet wealth, what should I covet? You? Move over." Yu Lanchuan kicked Yu Yan's legs and dragged out the robotic vacuum that was lying dead under the sofa to charge it. "If I could squeeze the time out, I would have gone and be a DiDi driver. Don't you know that your daddy has a house loan now? Not only are you being unfilial, you're even stretching your hand out to ask for money."

"Then why don't you go back home to stay? Your mother is not here, there won't be anyone to bother you," Yu Yan said. "Renting is so expensive."

"It's far." Yu Lanchuan sighed. "Out of the ten most congested roads during the morning peak hour, I have to pass through three."

He remembered when he had first graduated, the morning peak hour started at seven in the morning. Now, it had shifted earlier to half past six. In two years time, these people could give up on sleeping.

Yu Lanchuan had gone back to stay for two days and felt that he wasn't going home to sleep. He was totally just going home to sign his attendance and it was even a waste of petrol.

Yu Yan thought a while and shook his head. "We destitute people who take the subway can't understand the sufferings of the rich."

Yu Lanchuan pointed at the front door. "Get lost if there's nothing else."

Yu Yan became serious. "Let me talk to you about what happened to your younger brother today."

"Make it brief." Half-listening, Yu Lanchuan took off his glasses and put them under the faucet for a wash. He said absent-mindedly, "After being taken advantage of a few times, he would learn to be smart in the future. Suffering losses is also gaining real world experience."

"I suspect that this group of porcelain scammers are people from your side," Yu Yan said. "There isn't anyone coming for you recently, is there?"

Yu Lanchuan paused. "Hm?"

Yu Yan said, "I saw it with my own eyes. A three-meter high wall—with just one strike, the person disappeared."

"What's so strange about jumping over the wall? You're making a fuss over nothing." Yu Lanchuan tsk-ed at him crossly and shook off the water from his glasses. He wiped them with the corner of his shirt. "If an adult man trained for a while, it's very normal for him to be able to reach three meters with one jump. Haven't you seen the armed forces do military drills for going up walls? Even the senior high school kids in the parkour clubs can demonstrate a five-second wall jump for you."

"So you're saying that there's a group of parkour fans running porcelain scams in our city-"

Yu Lanchuan cut him off impatiently. "I'm giving you an example by saying that those who do parkour can climb walls, I'm not saying that everyone who climbs walls is doing parkour. Old Fish, will you ever learn how to write the word 'logic' in your life?"

Yu Yan waved his hand patiently. "Ai, you become irritable the moment you meet someone foolish. Being irritable only harms your own liver. Furthermore, in this world, the foolish have strength in numbers and power. When you get angry with me all on your own, don't you feel powerless? Be more zen, be calmer. Handsome, don't forget that you're an expert in maintaining good health."

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

Unexpectedly, he could not refute.

Yu Yan said, "But your younger brother said that in this group, there was an old lady whose hair was completely white. She's around 1.5 meters tall. An old lady jumping over a wall barehanded, that's strange, isn't it? Of course, clever people like you will say that she might be in disguise-"

Before Officer Yu could finish talking, Yu Lanchuan had already picked up his car key and was walking to the front door to change his shoes. "Let's go."

Yu Yan said, "Huh? You're really going with me? I haven't finish analysing, if it was a disguise-"

"If I want to disguise you as an old lady such that the disguise would hold up even in close proximity, that would require a bone-shrinking technique." Yu Lanchuan recalled that "Be more zen" comment and forcibly swallowed the word "idiot." "Hurry up, I still need to review reports tonight."

Half an hour later, the two of them reached the blind alley.

"Right here." Yu Yan pointed it out to him. "When I came, that person was standing at this spot by the wall. There's still half a footprint there. The blind alley has walls on three sides. If he had jumped over the wall at the back, I can still understand. But he had jumped over from this side."

Yu Yan looked back and compared. Between the two walls facing each other on the narrow alley, there was just enough space for a person to stretch out their arms. "There's just not enough space for the approach to jump… What the hell!"

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Yu Lanchuan suddenly dash forward from beside him. In just two steps, he reached the opposite wall. He leaped and pulled himself up lightly with one hand on top of the wall, his whole body suddenly curling up in the air. The tip of his foot touched the wall and he used the force to push himself up.

At the same time, Yu Yan heard a tearing sound. A small item bounced off his face.

Yu Yan quickly switched on his flashlight and swept it around. He saw Director Yu crouching on top of the wall with a complicated look on his face, his hand clutching the front of his shirt. His movement had been too large. His shirt was torn.

On the ground, a seashell button rolled around.

"Wanton." Yu Yan covered his face and said. "Young hero, continue being wanton!"

Yu Lanchuan said, "...Shut up."

———

The author has something to say:

A monthly house loan payment of twenty thousand is not enough for a loan of seven million =口=

T/N:

A monthly house loan payment of twenty thousand is only enough for a loan of about four million :')

[1] Red packets (红包 hóngbāo) are traditionally given during festive occasions like Chinese New Year, weddings, etc. It's literally money put into a red packet, often printed with auspicious sayings or images. Nowadays, red packets can be given out via apps and its usage has expanded a lot—they are also given out for store promotions, for long comments on jj… for anything, really.

[2] Chuuni 中二 - basically means embarrassing teenager behaviour where one acts like they're more ~deep~ and edgy than other people.

[3] An orchid grows in the deep valley, a gentleman's path is moral and righteous

The full version of the quote is 芝兰生於深林，不以无人而不芳；君子修道立德，不谓困厄而改节 - basically it compares a gentleman's way of remaining righteous and moral even in face of difficulties with an orchid blooming in the deep valley even if there's no one to appreciate it.