Chapter 1 The Next Day, Early Morning

This was an ordinary street, nothing special, with heavy traffic flowing endlessly.

The alley in the middle of the street was dark and gloomy, with residual water on the ground. Several black trash cans, already full, were placed in the corners. Leaning against the wall was an old, faded tent.

The zipper of the tent wasn't closed.

Inside, one could see a cotton quilt wrapped around a human-like shape.

With a rustling sound,

an old woman slowly lifted the cotton quilt,

sat up, rubbed her sleepy eyes, and poked her head out of the tent.

She was about sixty years old, with a rather bloated figure, wearing a brown jacket and black pants.

Her hair was messy, her face full of wrinkles, her eyes were small, her eye sockets were dark, and her eye bags drooped.

She looked to be in poor spirits, with a lingering anxiety and panic between her brows.

The morning breeze blew,

and the aroma of food from the breakfast shop on the street corner drifted into her nostrils.

The old woman swallowed her saliva,

slowly retreated back into the tent, glanced down,

and saw several empty mineral water bottles and compressed biscuit wrappers scattered in the corner of the tent.

"Gurgle."

Her stomach rumbled.

The old woman instinctively prepared to get up and crawl out of the tent,

but her hand had barely touched the ground,

when she retracted it as if she had been electrocuted.

No, she couldn't leave here.

She looked at the public security building across the road, licked her chapped lips, glanced left and right,

and whispered to a white-collar woman walking past, "Miss, miss?"

The white-collar worker, in a hurry, was playing with her phone. Hearing the call,

she glanced out of the corner of her eye at the beggar-like old woman in the dirty tent, and a look of vigilance appeared in her eyes.

Without saying a word, she simply quickened her pace and left the alley.

"..."

Watching the white-collar woman ignore her and walk away, the old woman pursed her lips, a clearly visible helplessness flashing in her eyes.

She hid in the tent and called out for a while,

but the passersby either completely ignored her and walked straight past,

or casually took out some loose change and threw it in front of the tent.

"Gurgle."

Her stomach rumbled even louder. The old woman sat in the tent, feeling somewhat discouraged.

At this moment, a handsome young man wearing a black and white hooded sweatshirt, loose blue jeans, a buzz cut, and an earring walked down the street,

stopping right in front of the alley, constantly turning around, looking left and right.

The mechanical female voice of the map navigation software sounded from the phone he was holding.

The old woman seemed to have grabbed a lifeline, and hurriedly stuck her upper body out of the tent, with an eager smile on her face, she called out to the young man, "Young man, young man?"

The buzz-cut young man turned his head, a hint of wariness in his eyes. "Are you calling me?"

"Yes, yes."

The old woman nodded with a smile, "Can you help me buy something to eat? You don't have to go to the breakfast shop, just buy some bread and mineral water at the supermarket next door."

The buzz-cut young man frowned, about to refuse,

when the old woman hurriedly added, "I'm really not a beggar! Here, this money is for you. Just help me buy more food, and you can keep the rest."

She hurriedly reached out and grabbed the banknotes on the ground, and then took some more money from the tent, holding it in her hands, pleading, "Please, do me a favor, help me."

The buzz-cut young man asked suspiciously, "Are your legs crippled, lady?"

The old woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Yes..."

"...Alright."

The buzz-cut young man hesitantly moved his feet, took out two of the cleanest-looking twenty-yuan bills from her hand,

frowning slightly, and said warily, "Just bread and mineral water, you don't care about the type, right?

I'll bring it to you later, don't try to scam me.

I'm recording this."

"I won't scam you, I won't scam you."

The old woman breathed a sigh of relief, watching him walk along the street into the roadside supermarket, and after a while, he came out with a bulging plastic bag.

"What you wanted."

The young man placed the plastic bag on the ground not far in front of the tent, slowly straightened up, took two steps back, and wiped the fingers that had been strained by the plastic bag on the side of his jeans.

The hungry old woman nodded gratefully, poked her head out of the tent, used one hand to support herself on the ground, and used the other hand to hook the plastic bag, dragging it into the tent.

After rummaging for a while, she took out the bread, unscrewed the bottle of mineral water, and eagerly ate and drank.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Because she was eating too fast, she coughed violently.

The buzz-cut young man was putting on his earphones, saw the uncomfortable expression on her face, and couldn't help but remind her, "Eat slower, lady."

"Eh."

The old woman responded and slowed down her eating speed a little.

The buzz-cut young man pursed his lips. "Lady, where's your family?"

The old woman's movements paused for a moment, and she said softly, "They don't want me anymore."

"Don't want you?"

The young man raised an eyebrow. "Abandoning the elderly, huh? Why don't you call the police? Have them arrested?"

"..."

The old woman silently chewed the bread, not answering the question.

The young man felt he had asked a pointless question, and he curled his lips unhappily, "Tch, never mind."

"...They,"

the old woman's eyes were somewhat wooden, "dislike my bad reputation."

————

Special Affairs Bureau, employee cafeteria.

Wei Linglan, wearing a white shirt, sat alone behind a dining table, with an untouched exquisite meal and a file folder placed on the table.

"Qi Lianxiang, Qi Lianxiang..."

Colleagues came and went around her.

She pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose, tapping the file folder with her fingers, and murmured softly.

She had earphones in her ears, and the earphone wire was connected to a small portable tape recorder. Through the glass cover of the tape recorder, she could see the tape inside slowly turning.

"Sister Lan, what are you muttering about?"

Chu Yin walked over with a tray and sat opposite Wei Linglan.

She picked up the chilled cola from the tray, ignored the straw, took a big gulp straight from the can,

and then slammed the can down with a "pah" sound, making a satisfied "ah~" sound, and slumped into the chair.

A smile flashed across Wei Linglan's face. She also picked up the juice from her own tray and took a sip, and said with a smile, "Drinking cola so early in the morning?

Why aren't you eating with Hui Jin today?"

"He's too boring. He's been attending all kinds of training courses in the Bureau lately, and he's busy all day."

Chu Yin curled her lips helplessly, glanced at the file folder, and asked casually, "What's this?"

"Just some information."

Wei Linglan said lightly,

as the interrogation record played in her earphones from the tape recorder.