Han Dongsheng's old father-in-law had the surname Zhou. He was tall and thin, his hair was cropped short and close to his scalp, and he didn't speak much.

This old Mr. Zhou was literate and had the habit of reading in his free time. He carried his reading glasses with him everywhere. Wherever there was a place to sit, he would dig something out and read a few pages.

But his reading materials did not help to increase his knowledge. Other than baseless things like Introduction to Qigong, what he read were tabloids filled with stories of strange happenings in the city.

In recent years, traditional print media were not so popular. Magazine publishers were closing down one after another. The writers and readers of such stories had moved their base to the internet. Old Mr. Zhou, like many of his peers, did not know how to go online and was left behind, and could only look for old magazines from the past to read.

When he was done reading, he would put them aside. A few days later, he would take them out again to read. He couldn't remember what he had read anyway.

Fresh off the boat, Old Mr. Zhou did not know anyone. He was probably also not used to living there. There were quite a few times when Yu Lanchuan saw him taking a walk downstairs on his own, far away from the other groups of elderly, like an old dog that had accidentally barged into someone else's territory. Only Old Master Yang, who probably pitied him, would sometimes stand there and exchange a few words with him.

Old people were usually unwilling to change their living environment. But could he stop his grandson from attending a good school just because he was uncomfortable with strangers? Or could he chop off his hands that wanted to hand over money the moment he saw the word "healthy"?

Neither was possible, so his opinion was not important.

No one could have imagined that, barely a week after moving in, the police would come to look for this unremarkable and solitary old man.

On the night before the New Year, Officer Yu wished for "world peace" at Star Dreams but perhaps because he was only focusing on introducing the wares to his colleague and didn't spend money himself, the wish he made did not come true. A careless mistake.

Yu Yan came out of 804, went upstairs, and planted his butt on the sofa in Yu Lanchuan's home. "Why do I feel that I'm always coming here recently? There might be a problem with this place. Maybe there's a 'police magnet' or something in the ceiling, even changing residents doesn't make things better. I'm going to look for Teacher Meng-Meng later to get a fortune-changing charm."

Yu Lanchuan had just come home from work and hadn't even taken his scarf off yet. No matter how many times he heard the name "Teacher Meng-Meng," it still gave him goosebumps. "Straighten out your tongue before speaking."

Yu Yan didn't bother with courtesy and took out the plate of nuts from under the coffee table and helped himself to them. "Ai, it's really good that you moved here. At least I have a place to rest my feet."

"Comrade, what happened to not taking a single coin from the people?"

"You're not the people, you're obviously a running dog working for the capitalists, a member of the wealthy class who has to be overthrown." Yu Yan waved his hand and asked, "By the way, what time will Teacher Meng-Meng be back?"

"How would I know?" Yu Lanchuan rolled his eyes in annoyance. It had been a week since he went to "bump into" Gan Qing. To take revenge on him for exposing the tricks of "Teacher Meng-Meng" in his WeChat moments, that unbelievably outrageous woman had changed her WeChat profile picture to a dog's head. The moment she was brought up, Yu Lanchuan's anger rose. "Am I her manager?"

Yu Yan felt that it was extremely unfair that he was bearing the brunt of Yu Lanchuan's anger. "It's okay if you don't know. Why are you so angry?"

Yu Lanchuan asked, "What happened at 804 this time?"

Yu Yan sighed in despair. "Someone got lost."

Yu Lanchuan scoffed. "You? That's nothing new."

"I'm not joking. Someone's really lost." As Yu Yan spoke, he dug out a photo from his bag. "Lin Xiuhe, seventy-one years old, lives at No. 99 Rongxian Street, the neighbourhood right behind your place."

Yu Lanchuan took the photo for a look. It was an old lady who was dressed very simply. Her hair was tied in a bun and she was wearing a cotton padded jacket the colour of the earth, a pair of black cotton shoes on her feet. Her face looked like a collectible walnut that wasn't in a very good condition. In the photo, she appeared very strict and not very easy-going.

Yu Lanchuan asked, "How is it related to 804?"

"This Old Madam Lin isn't an amnesiac old lady. According to her family, she is still physically quite healthy and can take care of herself. Logically, she wouldn't lose her way when going out of the house. She doesn't have any hobbies, she just likes to listen to lectures about health supplements. She's the type that goes whenever she's invited and buys whenever she's hoodwinked. So, we're currently suspecting that her disappearance has something to do with the various MLM groups that go around selling health supplements. These groups are also quite unrestrained. We're planning to take advantage of the end of the year to crack down on them. The old man who just moved in downstairs is also a health supplement fanatic. We came here today to understand the situation from him. 'Tch, the old man was so wary and didn't say anything, as though we are reactionaries who are persecuting the good and loyal citizens."

Yu Lanchuan asked, "When did it happen?"

Yu Yan said, "It has been a week."

Yu Lanchuan frowned and said, "She's gone missing for a week and you guys are only investigating now? What were you doing earlier? You try freezing in the cold for two nights in this Yanning winter. I think you can stop searching, the body has probably gone cold."

"You can't blame us for this," Yu Yan said. "The family has only just made a police report. Old Madam Lin stays with her son's family. That family of three went on a trip, combining their annual leave with the New Year's holiday to take a long vacation. They just came back to the country early this morning. They were tired and sleepy, and didn't realise anything wrong. When they woke up, the daughter-in-law finally realised that there was a layer of dust in the kitchen and that the leftovers in the fridge had gone bad. They knocked on the old lady's door but there was no one there. Only then did they rush to make a police report."

Yu Lanchuan asked, "In that case, how did they know when the old lady disappeared?"

"They ordered milk. No one was home, so the milk delivery was left at the electrical box at the front door. There were already six bottles." Yu Yan sighed. "The son was so panicked that his eyes were red. We couldn't really say anything either, but…"

His "but" was left hanging for a while and then he swallowed his words back in. "Family vacation" sounded cozy and relaxing but if they brought along an elderly mother, that wouldn't be the case.

To ask an old lady who had probably never left the province in her entire life to cross the seas and fly to an foreign country to lie on the beach—she herself would probably not be able to sleep. Her children and grandchildren had to take care of her and probably wouldn't have fun. It was like going out for a western meal; the black pepper sauce on the steak just had to be changed to fermented beancurd.

"This thing isn't looking too good at the moment. We're still checking the nearby CCTVs and haven't found anything yet. Those health supplement MLMs are also really crafty and have lots of escape routes. They're experienced in guerilla warfare and aren't easy to catch," Yu Yan said. "Master Lan, can we use your informants?"

He had just finished speaking when there was a noise from outside the door. It seemed that someone had returned home to the apartment next door.

"Ah!" Yu Yan leaped up. "It must be your neighbour. I'm gonna go ask for protection."

"It's not her." Yu Lanchuan took a photo of Old Madam Lin's picture and mass sent it to the nearby Beggars' Sect people, the jianbing groups and other large groups. As he typed, he said absently, "Maybe Old Madam Zhang is back from her trip... She doesn't lift her legs when she walks, her footsteps don't sound like this."

Yu Yan, "..."

After sending the message, Yu Lanchuan looked up and saw that Yu Yan's large face was so close to him that his gums could be seen, a "night shift pimple" on his forehead so red that it hurt his eyes. He felt that his glasses had increased by fifty degrees and he leaned back with a frown. "What are you doing!"

"Something's going on," Yu Yan said slyly. "Recognising people by their footsteps… Ai, Alliance Leader, what level of skill is this? Why don't you give me a crash course?"

"Anyone can do it," Yu Lanchuan said, cold and emotionless. "Get lost."

"That's not right." Yu Yan drew closer, not letting him off. "Don't think I don't know. You're not the type to focus on things not related to you and you block off all unnecessary information. In the past, you wouldn't even know if your neighbour changed their front door, much less identify them by their footsteps. On New Year's Eve, when you went to Star Dreams just for the sake of a few little cards, this pair of dead-fish eyes of mine already saw that something fishy was going on!"

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

Yu Yan said, "Who would have thought that you like this type, the contrast is too great. Could it be that in every man's heart, there is a wild stallion?"

"What nonsense are you saying?" Yu Lanchuan kicked Yu Yan back to his original position. "I was kidnapped when I was young. She was at Mudpool Backlane and happened to see it, and helped me once. That's all."

Yu Yan stared blankly, then said in shock. "So she's the…"

"Yeah."

"...unattainable girl of your dreams!"

Outside of work, Officer Yu probably read a lot of romance fiction. The words he used were too shocking. Before he finished eating a handful of cashew nuts, he was rudely thrown out the door by Yu Lanchuan. As he left, he coincidentally bumped into Gan Qing who had just come back from work and had a little tail following her. Due to the visit from the police, a new round of family battle had erupted in the Han family and Little Friend Han Zhou took the chance to slip out.

Little Friend Han Zhou was carrying a cardboard box. In the box was a little house and garden made of papier-mâché. There was even a butterfly bow tied around the box. He ran after Gan Qing, insisting on gifting it to her. "I got a prize for this in arts and crafts class. I just brought it back from school. I purposely asked my teacher for it so that I can give it to you!"

Gan Qing didn't really want it because she felt that this thing resembled the "house for the dead" made by funeral parlours. But she also couldn't hurt a little child's dignity, so she forced herself to accept it.

Little Friend Han Zhou twirled his naturally curly hair and said confidently, "You hold on to this. When I'm older, I'll buy a real one for you."

"Sure, thank you." Gan Qing stroked the little boy's sleek hair. "You don't have to go through all that trouble. When that time comes, you just need to burn this one for me^[1]."

Yu Yan greeted her with a chuckle. "Teacher Meng-Meng is truly charming, the young and the old all fall for you!"

Through the crack of the door, Yu Lanchuan looked out with a gloomy face.

Gan Qing smiled the moment she saw him and voluntarily greeted him. "Little Master Yu, it's the dog-"

Yu Lanchuan slammed the door shut.

"...year, so Happy Year of the Dog." Gan Qing turned an innocent face to Yu Yan. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing. The springtime of one's youth is when a person gets easily embarrassed and also has a lot of mood swings," Yu Yan said, chuckling. "Our Master Lan is the type whose youth is extra long, perhaps lasting two hundred years. It'll be fine once it's over. Teacher Meng-Meng, do you have any items that can increase luck? The kind that can help me find a person…"

Once the Gregorian calendar year was over, it was the "end of the year" according to the traditional lunar calendar. This period of time was always exceptionally chaotic.

The people who were longing for the holidays were restless at heart, yet there were exceptionally more petty matters to handle. There were endless meetings and social events, yet the year-end bonus was always slow to come.

The petty thieves in the subway and the scammers on the phone lines were embracing the once-a-year peak season and were exceptionally lively. The MLM corporations were also starting to work towards their yearly sales target, grinding away on their journey to become the next Charlie Munger. The unfortunate little police officers were so busy their heads were spinning.

Old Mr. Zhou finally caught a chance to slip away from home. He furtively avoided the old people playing weiqi in the garden, left through a side gate and got on a bus. The leather repair master was preparing to open shop and the moment he opened the door, that was what he saw. He dug out his phone and snapped a picture of the back of the bus, then sent the picture out.

At the same time, many eyes stared at the bus as it travelled along its route. The beggars and the scrap collectors who had gone to the bus stops to collect rubbish exchanged looks; the boss of the fried chicken cutlet stall glanced towards the road every now and then. Three stops later, Old Mr. Zhou got down and staggered into a maze of small alleys. He entered an old building and went down to the basement.

The basement was gloomy and damp. Old Mr. Zhou knocked on the door. A cautious voice spoke from the inside, "We didn't order food delivery."

Old Mr. Zhou answered, "I'm delivering newspapers."

"Which paper?"

"Tomorrow's evening paper."

The password was correct. The door opened with a creak. Inside, the chain was still fastened. After they identified Old Mr. Zhou, an old lady finally opened the door and quickly took a look around. "Old Zhou is here. Come in, quick."

There were five or six people in the little room in the basement. The youngest was nearly sixty years old. All of them were talking in lowered voices, like they were conspiring undercover agents.

"The police came to my house yesterday, what about you?"

Old Mr. Zhou said, "They came to my house too. They were asking about Old Lin. Two young 'uns came, I fooled them. I was very careful on my way here, just in case someone was following me."

"Actually, it doesn't matter if they follow us. We're not breaking the law."

"Ai, Professor Xu's goods are for export purposes and are five times more expensive if bought in the market. He secretly moved some out directly from the warehouse as a bonus for us. He didn't go through the proper channels so we have to be quiet too and don't cause trouble for him… How's the infrared knee brace that you've been using, good?"

Old Mr. Zhou pulled up his pants leg, revealing a knee brace, and said in satisfaction, "It's good. My joints are warm and my knee cap isn't cold anymore. I hide this thing under my pillow and secretly put it on under the blanket every day. I can't let my daughter see it. These young people don't know anything. If you want to talk to her, she'll be busy with this and that, and don't have the time to listen to you. Silly girl, I've eaten more salt than she has rice, hmph."

"If it works, that's good," the old lady who opened the door said and pointed towards the paper box at the door. "Professor Xu brought us some free-range chicken eggs, the chickens aren't given any manufactured feed. Later, everyone can divide them up. Ah, that's right, Professor Xu said that recently he has taken too much goods from the factory and was found out. Someone at the factory was jealous and made a report. We have to be careful. The location for the next 'healthy living' talk will be changed and we'll be informed when the time comes. Professor said that when the time comes, he will fight for it and there might be a free health check so we shouldn't eat breakfast then."

One by one, they all went to select the "free-range eggs," their faces joyful as though they had gotten a good bargain.

However, Old Mr. Zhou did not move. He stood where he was for a while, then asked hesitantly, "Old Lin… has really gone?"

"The day before New Year's, according to the police."

"Just look at how resolved she is!" The old lady who opened the door gave a thumbs-up. "She didn't talk about it every day, she just mentioned it once and then, without saying a word, she made up her mind and just went! Right now, there's no one I admire other than Old Lin!"

Old Mr. Zhou looked up. There was suddenly a bit of light in his murky eyes. "Then, what do all of you think? Can the plans we made previously still go ahead?"

T/N:

[1] It's customary to burn offerings during Chinese funerals, in the belief that the items burned will go to the dead. The offerings are usually made of paper and can be things such as houses, cars, phones, televisions, clothes, shoes, etc.