The tumultuous night was over. The next day was a Saturday but the number of customers at the roadside jianbing stalls was no less than other days. As usual, before seven o' clock, a long line was forming. Yu Lanchuan still had to put in extra hours at work, the Beggars' Sect disciples had to take advantage of the weekend to go to the hot spots packed with people to meet the requirements of their profession, and even Gan Qing, who hid behind the scenes and didn't reveal her face, had to open shop on time and prepare to welcome the next round of Mercury retrograde. Thus, everyone dispersed.

Only the retired Sect Leader Yang had nothing to do. Together with Boss Jiang, they escorted the dazed and lost Yan Hao back to the laundry shop, and closed the shop to give him a lecture.

Yu Lanchuan went home and took a nap. Then, he took a speed shower and tidied himself up at the fastest possible speed until he was gleaming and presentable, and got ready to go to work. At the door, he suddenly thought of something. He took the white musk cologne spray near the door and sprayed a couple of times at his hair. His legs that were heading towards the elevator made a turn. Bathed in a perfumed cloud, he knocked on the neighbouring apartment's door.

Gan Qing had eaten until she got an upset stomach yesterday night. She didn't go out in the morning and had made herself a bowl of congee. When she heard someone knock on the door, she thought it was the girl who delivered milk to Zhang Meizhen, and came out with a soup spoon still stuck in her mouth.

Word had it that the weather was going to become colder in these two days and the heating in the apartment was especially warm. At home, she wore the long shorts and basketball jersey she wore in summer while squatting by the roadside and gnawing on a corn on the cob… and she wasn't wearing underwear.

The two of them—one inside the door and one outside the door—stared at each other for a few seconds, shocked to the core by this disastrous scene.

After all, the variety of living things on Earth was so wide, so abundant.

Gan Qing's nose was prickled by the smell of the cologne that had yet to dissipate and she wanted to sneeze but she still had a soup spoon in her mouth. She tried to keep the sneeze in. She gritted her teeth and bit down on the spoon, which made the handle swing up and hit her directly on the bridge of her nose. Her eyes immediately reddened; she had hit herself until she was tearing up.

Yu Lanchuan looked down to avoid seeing what he shouldn't see and stared at Zhang Meizhen's doormat. "You… Aren't you cold?"

"Cough, I'm fine." Due to... certain reasons, Gan Qing reached a hand out to hold on to the door frame and used this posture to hide half her body behind the door. She sucked in her chest rather awkwardly. "What's the matter?"

"Oh," Yu Lanchuan said. "Yesterday-"

"What about yesterday?" Gan Qing cut him off. From behind the door, she revealed a pair of crafty eyes. "I went home right after work. I don't know anything."

This was yet another round of "being uncooperative and shirking responsibilities." Yu Lanchuan took out Yan Hao's figurine, his face expressionless.

"There is a type of person who would rather look at the map and spend an entire day and night walking the wrong way than to stop and ask for directions. Unless they absolutely have to, they would definitely not talk." Gan Qing was completely unmoved. "I'm guessing that the little sparrow won't voluntarily give me up. Little Master Yu, what do you think?"

"So what you're saying is, the person who was bored and still wandering around outside late yesterday night was me, the person who bumped into Yan Hao knocking Nie Ke out was also me, and the person who chased him through a few streets and still couldn't catch up to him, and had only picked up a doll and brought it back was also me." Yu Lanchuan was nearly angered to the point of laughing. "Was I so busy?"

"You're being modest. If you're not always on standby, how could you be the alliance leader? Thanks, yeah." Gan Qing spoke properly for barely three and a half sentences before her mouth again slipped. "Next time I'll…"

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

He didn't dare believe that she was still shameless enough to say the words "treat you to a meal."

Gan Qing was stuck for words. She suddenly realised that this bizarre man cloaked in a bizarre perfume in front of her was a weirdo who would claim his free meal on his own volition. Hence, she stiffly changed her words. "...I'll definitely attend when you hold an assembly to give a commendation to yourself. The capable ones work the hardest, heroes acting in the name of justice."

This time, even supper was not on the table.

There was nothing Yu Lanchuan could say. He passed Yan Hao's figurine across the doorway. "I won't be home. That Yan Hao has a habit of climbing up people's windows so keep this with you for a couple of days. We'll discuss this again after Grandpa Yang has taken care of that troublemaker. With this confiscated, he won't run. Of course, you can also use it to threaten Yan Hao and make him not expose you."

Gan Qing said regretfully, "Little Master Yu, listen to what you just said. You sound like a bad guy."

His appearance and his manner were even more like a bad guy, the type in domestic television series that wouldn't survive past three episodes.

"Is that so? Thank you." Yu Lanchuan let out a fake laugh. "I see that you don't have to worry about this. After all, the trademarks of a demonic villainess is a large chest and a thin waist."

Gan Qing, "..."

Director Yu brushed off the nonexistent dust from his clothes and let his thin eyelids fall downwards, his manner insufferably arrogant. "Why are you hiding? My myopia is about a hundred degrees. The way you are, there's nothing I can see even if I wear a microscope."

Oh my, a provocation?

Upon hearing that, Gan Qing lightly licked her teeth and then, unexpectedly, swaggered out from behind the door. She leaned against the door frame, her long limbs unfolding. She was also no longer sucking in her chest. With a smile that was not quite a smile, she said, "My sincere apologies for bringing down the appearance of this city."

Yu Lanchuan was dumbstruck. The fake cocktalker had met a real hoodlum and he was so shocked his gaze shifted 180 degrees. He couldn't force out even a single word and had to beat a hasty, flustered retreat.

"Be careful on your way, Little Master Yu," Gan Qing said, waving the soup spoon at his back. "Don't let me delay you from your beauty contest!"

Due to the fact that he had been stimulated until adrenaline coursed through his body early in the morning, Director Yu's mood was very explosive when he charged into the office and he had a thick murderous aura. His colleagues who were feeling rather lazy because they had to work extra hours on a weekend were intimidated by this murderous aura and their effectiveness all increased. Unexpectedly, they finished their work by noon and could all go home to take a nap.

Yu Lanchuan rested for a while in the office. Then, for reasons he couldn't explain himself, he entered "domestic violence, psychological abuse" into the search engine. There were a lot of related results. He skimmed through them; they were mostly in government-related official language. Hence, he looked up "evidence of psychological abuse." The results were all either unreliable things such as "video and audio recording" or telling him frankly that "evidence is difficult to collect, the offence is difficult to define."

Yu Lanchuan closed his laptop and walked to the window. He took off his glasses and looked into the distance, alleviating the strain on his eyes.

Furthermore, even if they could prove that Nie Ke was a scumbag, so what? It was fact that Xiang Xiaoman tried to murder him and failed. She was indeed abetted by other people and she also had mental health issues, so she didn't have to go to prison. But when someone was in that mental state, they could be anywhere and it would still be a prison to them. What was the difference?

Yu Lanchuan shook his head. This matter lingered in his heart for a few seconds and then was wiped away like he was sweeping off dust. He put on his coat and went to report to his boss. They ended up touching on the Hang Seng index, and thus spent half an hour chatting about the regulations on stock market transactions.

In every trade and profession, at every level, the games between adults had numerous rules, both on the surface and hidden beneath. Yan Hao was completely ignorant of the ways, perhaps because no one had brought him to play games when he was young.

But this was not something for Yu Lanchuan to worry over. That sparrow was Tang Qian Yan's only descendant anyway. No matter what, Old Master Yang and Boss Jiang wouldn't abandon him. In the future, they just needed to keep him on a tight leash and not let him out to cause trouble, and it would be fine.

He took advantage of the beautiful weather in the afternoon to walk home. The rare warm winter sunshine made him sleepy. But in the end, he had just reached the bottom of No. 110 Courtyard when his contentment disappeared—two Beggars' Sect members were hiding sneakily at the corner of the wall, poking their heads into the courtyard to look around. When they saw him walk over, they signalled at him with their eyes. Yu Lanchuan followed the line of their gaze and saw that there was a police car at the bottom of the building!

The one who had called the police, Nie Ke, sent two police officers off. One of them was Yu Yan. Nie Ke looked very exhausted, his eyes drooping like a chain smoker's. Yu Lanchuan heard him talking non-stop. "...The gang that was arrested previously, did some of them escape? I suspect that they have other accomplices and that they are targeting me! Will they cut out my kidney? Officers, as a taxpayer, my contribution is very large. You must protect me…"

Yu Lanchuan made out the words and his heart jolted. He had a bad premonition.

As he expected, after taking care of Nie Ke, Officer Yu Yan came to look for him.

"I saw you downstairs just now. Why are you back so early today?"

Working half the day on a Saturday was called "back early." Yu Lanchuan turned this phrase over in his mind and felt rather disheartened. He didn't feel like chatting and asked directly, "Why are you guys here? Did something happen on the eighth floor again?"

"I don't know. This dude might have been infected by his wife, he keeps muttering on and on," Yu Yan said. "He made a police report just now, saying that he was kidnapped yesterday night after leaving the supermarket, and that the kidnapper could even fly."

As he spoke, he watched Yu Lanchuan's face.

But Yu Lanchuan only raised an eyebrow with a touch of indifference and impatience. Nothing was shown on his face.

"He even said that the moment he opened his eyes today, he realised that he was lying down in his own home and that he hadn't even taken off his clothes. We checked, the items he bought are all there. One bottle of alcohol was empty. We guessed that he must have drank until he forgot what happened and wasn't even aware of it himself," Yu Yan said. "But Nie Ke very firmly rejected that idea. He said that he is very fussy about cleanliness and definitely wouldn't go to bed without taking a shower. He also said that he definitely did not hallucinate being kidnapped because after the kidnapper knocked him out, the kidnapper used his phone to send a WeChat message."

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

Why did this Yan fellow have such meddlesome hands!

"But his WeChat log is indeed very strange. One second earlier, he was still flirting with a girl and asking her out on a date. They were all voice messages and he didn't sound like he was drunk. The next second, he sent a bunch of crazy messages, things like 'This man is a liar,'" Yu Yan said. "Master Lan, this matter sounds a little peculiar."

Yu Lanchuan's expression remained unchanged. In his heart, he tossed Yan Hao around in a pan, stirring and frying him thoroughly. "What are you trying to say?"

"If it was really members of that gang taking revenge, they would have long since chopped this guy up into pieces. Why would they let him go back and lie down in his own bed, completely untouched? And even helped him bring back the things he bought from the supermarket? I think that if it wasn't something wrong with his mental state, then it has to be…" Yu Yan extended a leg and kicked lightly against Yu Lanchuan's shin. "Fess up, Master Lan. Did you not sleep well yesterday night? Whose mess were you cleaning up?"

Yu Lanchuan kicked him right back, then crossed his legs and pretended to be an upstanding member of society. "Comrade Officer, you have to back up your words with proof. Be careful or I'll report you for slander. You may leave now, if there's anything, you can chat with my lawyer."

"Ai, you're the only one who can pull off this weird combination of trying to be cool." Yu Yan sighed. "No more joking, Master Lan, we can't ignore requests from 'taxpayers' like Nie Ke. If we don't manage it well, he might even put us up on Weibo. When we go back, we need to check all the nearby CCTVs based on the location he gave and the time the messages were sent. I came to give you a heads-up, be careful."

Yu Lanchuan rubbed the spot between his brows, well aware that his afternoon nap was gone now.

Yu Yan stood up and straightened his uniform. "The capable ones work the hardest, Alliance Leader!"

When Yu Lanchuan heard the phrase "the capable ones work the hardest" now, he would feel his head getting heavier. He forced his words out from behind clenched teeth, "Say that again and our friendship is over. Get lost."

The Beggars' Sect people hung around the area all year round. They were jianghu veterans and should know how to avoid the CCTVs. There was no need to ask Gan Qing; that person was slippery as an eel and wouldn't expose herself like that.

The problem was that Gan Qing had lost Yan Hao for a while when chasing him. During that time, no one knew where Yan Hao was.

Yu Lanchuan hastily went to the laundry shop downstairs and caught Yan Hao by his collar.

The moment Yan Hao saw him, his eyes reddened again. "Give her back!"

"The hell I will." Yu Lanchuan asked, "When you carried Nie Ke away yesterday, where did you go? Which road did you take? Did you avoid the CCTVs?"

Yan Hao looked utterly confused. It was obvious that he had no idea about the CCTVs.

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

In ancient times, the alliance leader of the martial arts world could call the wind and summon rain. In their daily lives, tens of thousands of people knelt before them. If they saw anyone they didn't like, they could declare that person demonic and order their disciples to teach them a lesson when they had nothing better to do.

Such a wonderful profession!

Why was it that the current day alliance leader was like a poop scooper, rushing everywhere to help these mentally deficient people wipe their asses?

No wonder it was so easy to take up the position. There wasn't even anyone putting up a token fight out of courtesy.

Old Master Yang's brain worked fast and he very quickly realised something. "Nie Ke made a police report?"

Yu Lanchuan glared at Yan Hao, then shared the news that Yu Yan had furtively given him. After listening to him, the two old men faced Yan Hao and sighed repeatedly, one after another.

Boss Jiang asked, "What should we do now?"

Yan Hao shrank back and hunched his shoulders, curling up beside a large washing machine. His entire person was gloomy and depressed, so sorrowful that he was near tears.

Yu Lanchuan glanced at him and thought, Why do I have to take care of this annoying matter?

Old Master Yang said, "Xiao-Chuan!"

Yu Lanchuan said, "...No one was harmed and there was no monetary loss in this matter. Furthermore, it does indeed sound incredulous. It will take some time for the police to get access to the CCTVs. Within this time, as long as Nie Ke himself admits that he was hallucinating after drinking too much, those people at the police station probably wouldn't continue investigating… Hey, Spiderman, tell me in detail about Nie Ke giving money to that doctor from the clinic."