"But weren't Hu Jia and the others being followed during this time?
'Isn't it normal for cats to follow people? Feed them if you have food,' Lü Qingqing said after a half-second pause. 'Unless you have a way to stop them from following you.'
'Right, stop them from following, eliminate future trouble.' Li Yongqiang formed an inverted 'ok' gesture with his fingers.
Lü Qingqing understood.
Li Yongqiang was referring to being followed.
'I sometimes see a black cat at school. It sneaks around, and if I try to catch it, it runs away very fast,' Lü Qingqing immediately chimed in.
'Yes, they run around everywhere. Last Tuesday I even saw them enter the auxiliary staff dormitory, and again on Thursday. Oh, and yesterday too,' Li Yongqiang said with a smile, adding specifically, 'a female cat.'
Lü Qingqing's eyes didn't blink as she silently noted the changes in Li Yongqiang's hand gestures.
'A female cat? How cute. If it were willing, I'd really like to see it,' Lü Qingqing said, sounding very excited.
'That might be difficult, they're elusive. But I always see them in the morning.'
As he spoke, Li Yongqiang quickly made a cross gesture and then wrote a '9' on the table.
Lü Qingqing nodded, her signal received perfectly.
The followers had appeared at the school twice, both times around 9 PM.
Once last Tuesday, and again this Monday.
Don't ask why Li Yongqiang mentioned three times when Lü Qingqing only confirmed two. It was because Li Yongqiang used three different hand gestures when stating those three times.
Circle, cross, circle.
This meant the Thursday sighting was fake.
The reason for saying this was to mislead the person listening through the bug.
Oh, and one more very important piece of information. It wasn't a female cat.
This meant the person was male.
...
As soon as she returned to the classroom, Lü Qingqing hurried to check the duty roster. She needed to see which auxiliary staff members were on duty at the school last Tuesday and this Monday.
After all, only auxiliary staff on duty would be staying in the dormitories.
Li Yongqiang definitely knew the answer, but he couldn't say it.
Lü Qingqing quickly scanned the list. Last Tuesday, there were three auxiliary staff members: Mo Yun, Zhang Jiehui, and another one, Tong Hua!
A cold smile flickered across Lü Qingqing's lips. It seemed this matter was likely related to Tong Hua.
To confirm her suspicion, she immediately flipped to last night's duty roster.
However, the result of her search surprised her a bit.
Tong Hua was not on duty last night, but a name she had just seen, Mo Yun, was among those on duty.
Mo Yun?
Why Mo Yun?
What was his relationship with Hu Jia? Why had she never heard anyone mention him before?
...
Meanwhile, in another room, a man put down his listening device.
'These two, with nothing better to do, chatting about stray cats in broad daylight. They made me leave my meal unfinished.'
...
As soon as school ended that afternoon, Lü Qingqing went to the Special Operations Team to find Li Yang.
'Hey, hey, why did you have to come today of all days? It's so annoying!'
'Hmph, I came specifically to catch you, you little lazy bug. Let's see where you can run.'
Hu Jia and the others were out on a mission and hadn't returned. Yu Yue was about to slip away early when Lü Qingqing arrived, causing her to spend the entire afternoon scolding Lü Qingqing for being inconsiderate.
Lü Qingqing knew Yu Yue was just teasing her and decided to chat with her. However, after waiting for over an hour and Hu Jia and the others still hadn't returned, Lü Qingqing had to go home.
But as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Duo Bao and Wen Wu saying goodbye to a man in a long gown.
'Duo Bao,' Lü Qingqing called out, stopping him.
'Ah, sis,' Lü Duo Bao exclaimed when he saw Lü Qingqing. 'You're finally back. Brother-in-law is injured.'
What? Hu Jia was injured?
Lü Qingqing glanced at the man in the long gown, assuming he was the doctor.
To the point of needing a doctor, how serious could the injury be?
Lü Qingqing bolted upstairs.
'Sister-in-law!' Li Yang quickly greeted her when he recognized who was running in.
'What happened?' Lü Qingqing rushed to Hu Jia's side. He was sitting in a recliner, his jacket off, his right arm wrapped in a bandage.
'It's nothing, just a minor injury,' Hu Jia said dismissively.
'Still smiling? It's going to hurt like hell,' Lü Qingqing said, reaching out to touch his arm, but then pulling back.
She was afraid she would hurt him.
Duo Bao and Wen Wu also followed in. 'Sis, where did you go? Brother-in-law hasn't eaten yet.'
Lü Qingqing shot Duo Bao a glare. He was young, yet he knew how to show concern.
And he was concerned about an outsider.
'Li Yang, come help. I'll cook everyone some noodles,' Lü Qingqing called Li Yang into the kitchen.
'Who injured him?' Lü Qingqing asked hurriedly.
'A small accident. Someone was attacking people with a knife on the street, and boss injured his arm while disarming them,' Li Yang explained.
'Heh, it really is rare for someone to be able to injure him.' Relieved that it was an accident, Lü Qingqing felt a weight lifted. She had been worried the stalking had turned into an assassination attempt.
'It's often the best swimmers who drown,' Li Yang mused while peeling garlic. 'A random punch can defeat a seasoned fighter.'
'By the way, do you know an auxiliary staff member at our school named Mo Yun?'
'Mo Yun?' Li Yang thought for a moment. 'No, I don't.'
He didn't know him?
This puzzled Lü Qingqing even more. She then recounted her meeting with Li Yongqiang.
After hearing Lü Qingqing's story, Li Yang was also perplexed. 'It seems we need to investigate him and figure out everything about him.'
'Alright, I'll stake him out tomorrow night,' Lü Qingqing volunteered.
'I'll go. It's too dangerous for you to go alone.'
'I'm a student there now. Even if I'm discovered, I'll have an explanation,' Lü Qingqing retorted.
'Then we'll go together. I won't be at ease if you go alone,' Li Yang insisted.
'Okay.'
...
When the noodles were served, everyone ate, sweating profusely, exclaiming how delicious they were. Only Hu Jia looked troubled.
'What's wrong? Not tasty?' Lü Qingqing knew what Hu Jia was struggling with but pretended to be clueless.
'It's not that it's not tasty, it's just that my mouth has no flavor,' Hu Jia said, trying his best to be diplomatic.
'Hahaha...' everyone burst into laughter.
Because Lü Qingqing had served Hu Jia a bowl of bland, watery noodles, with only salt and nothing else added.
'Patients should eat less spicy food.'
'But I'm from Chongqing. I can't live without spice.'
'Then protect yourself better next time you're on a mission.'
With that, Hu Jia was silenced. Seeing the man staring at the soup noodles in Li Yang's hand, Lü Qingqing found it amusing. 'Look at you. Wait here!' Lü Qingqing took Hu Jia's bowl and went into the kitchen.
Hearing the clanging sounds from the kitchen, Hu Jia felt an indescribable joy.
It had been a long, long time since he had felt the happiness of being cared for.
A moment later, Lü Qingqing emerged from the kitchen. The noodles were the same, but now topped with a bit of minced meat and a fried egg.
'Wow, sister-in-law. This is so unfair,' Li Yang was the first to protest.
'There's only one egg left in the kitchen. What, you want it? Ask your boss to share some with you,' Lü Qingqing said, shrugging with a smile.
Hmm? Hu Jia heard this and immediately took bites from the edge of the fried egg.
He grinned, as if to say, I've already tasted it all, do you still want some?
Everyone looked disgusted.
This sent Lü Qingqing into peals of laughter. 'He's just like our village pups protecting their food.'
Hu Jia: '...'"