The blue clouds covered the mountains from a distance while a thin layer of snow could be seen on the forest trail.

The air felt cold and refres.h.i.+ng, smelling of pine and snow. It was a nice and comfortable scent, making it ideal for a slow walk.

Alighting from the bus, Jian Yao looked around until she spotted a stone path. Following the path for 10 minutes, Jian Yao saw the grey-ish green roof of a European styled cottage. Ever since she could remember things, she had always seen this cottage at the outskirt of the hillside.

Despite the fact that twenty years had pa.s.sed, this cottage didn’t feel outdated at all even when compared to the modern infrastructure nowadays. This cottage had been left unoccupied for the past few years and there were even rumours that it was a haunted house.

Jian Yao had believed it when she was younger, since the house was always sitting alone amidst the darkness at the outskirt of the hillside. It was only when she got older then she learnt the truth. It turned out the truth was just that the owner of the house had went oversea with his son when his wife pa.s.sed away.

However, the house that stood in front of Jian Yao now was different from her memory. This cottage was given a fresh coat of paint and she could see the lights s.h.i.+ning from inside, the weeds surrounding the cottage was also pulled out.

Jian Yao was a fourth year student majoring in English. The reason she was here today was because her middle school teacher had introduced a part time translator job to her after knowing that she was on holiday.

Although the pay was rather good, her teacher had mentioned that this employer was very picky. This employer had rejected all of the previous applicants that her teacher had referred.

Removing her gloves, Jian Yao knocked on the front door. A man who looked to be in his twenties, wearing a thin sweater with black trousers, greeted her. He was tall, thin and had delicate features.

“Jian Yao?” He asked, giving her a cheeky smile.

Jian Yao’s cheeks were red, possibly from the coldness. Her breath came out in white mist and her eyes were slightly wet.

“Yes, I am Jian Yao. Nice to meet you.”

“Come in,” the man stepped aside to let Jian Yao entered.

Layers of dark purple curtains lined the window, there were large velvet couches with curved backrest. At the corner of the house, Jian Yao saw a fireplace with logs in it.

This felt very much like a typical European styled cottage.

At the side of the house, a deep brown wooden staircase led up to the second floor which was really quiet as though there wasn’t anyone there.

The only thing that felt out of place in this cottage was the metal railings that were fitted on the windows, not allowing much sunrays to come into the house. With his sleeves rolled up, the man washed his hands before handing a cup of tea to Jian Yao and gestured for her to sit down.

When he sat down opposite her, Jian Yao caught a very faint but familiar scent from him. A scent which Jian Yao couldn’t quite remember where she had smell it before.

The man gave Jian Yao a friendly smile, “I am Fu Zi Yu and the owner of this place is called Bao Jin Yan. We are currently looking for a translator to translate his English doc.u.ments into Chinese.”

Jian Yao nodded, wondering if the owner was related to the previous owner of the house or maybe he was a new owner.

Zi Yu took out a stack of papers and a pen, handing it over to Jian Yao. “So, let’s not waste any more time and start the test to see if you are qualified for this job. Within half an hour, please translate all the English articles here.”

Jian Yao flipped through the articles before looking up, “Is there a computer here?”

Zi Yu shook his head and a helpless smile appeared on his face. “Jin Yan likes things to be handwritten.”

“No problem,” Jian Yao picked up the pen and papers and started to work her way through the articles.

Zi Yu got up quietly and headed to the sink to wash his hands again before leaning against one of the windows, sipping his tea quietly.

“The victim had been s.e.xually a.s.saulted and there were signs that the victim’s hands had been tied together. There were also multiple wounds on her lower body – “ Jian Yao was a bit surprised by the content and paused in her translation. She looked up at Zi Yu who was impervious.

As Jian Yao had experience in translating such things in the past – except that it was not as gruesome as this, she got over her surprise rather swiftly.

She got back to translating the article until she came across a word that she did not know.

Briefly looking through the whole article, Jian Yao encountered quite a number of words that were rather uncommon. “Do you have a dictionary specialised in this field of work?”

Zi Yu pointed to the bookshelf at the side, “Feel free to use any one of them.”

Jian Yao managed to find what she was looking for and she buried herself in translating the article again.

's.e.xhanges – , Parentiside – ……” It was not a surprise that she did not know such words as she continued looking through the dictionaries.

After she managed to translate everything, Jian Yao checked it thoroughly once more. Zi Yu looked at his watch and was rather surprised when he saw that only 25 minutes had passed since the start of the test. “I will be back in a bit after I hand this over to Jin Yan.”

After saying that, Zi Yu headed up to the second floor. Jian Yao simply sat the couch and waited for Zi Yu.

He was back in a short while and he went to the sink to wash his hands once more before drying it on his handkerchief. “He is looking through it now.”

“Okay,” Jian Yao nodded.

With nothing much to do, Zi Yu started to strike up a conversation with Jian Yao. “Are you studying at a University in B City?”

“Yes, I am graduating next year.” Jian Yao answered.

Zi Yu inclined his head slightly, “I see. We have been talking for quite a while, do you want to guess which profession I am in?”

The man in front of Jian Yao looked to be older than her by a few years and he was a very courteous person. Jian Yao had a good first impression of him. “Are you a doctor?”

Zi Yu’s smile got deeper, “How did you know?”

Jian Yao was rather pleased that she managed to guess correctly, her gaze landed on Zi Yu’s slender fingers. “It was just a lucky guess, since I saw you washing your hands a number of times which means that you are a person who placed great emphasize on cleanliness. I also smell a very faint disinfectant scent coming from you and your fingers… It looked rather doctor-ish.”

“I guess I will take those as compliments then,” Zi Yu replied.

They continued chatting about other things when the conversation somehow steered back to Bao Jin Yan.

At the mention of him, Zi Yu sighed. “I am leaving here in a few days, but I am worried about Jin Yan. To be honest, he is a fairly withdrawn person.”

Listening to him talking about Jin Yan, Jian Yao simply gave him a polite smile with no questions asked.

Zi Yu sneaked a glance at her before continuing, “Even though he has been back for quite a while, he still didn’t have any friends. I bet you don’t even know when he got back here.”

Jian Yao’s smile remains unchanged, looking as though she had no intention of continuing the topic. However, she saw Zi Yu looking at her intently as if he was waiting for her answer.

Although Jian Yao felt quite weird, she replied him nonetheless. “He came back last year, right?”

“How did you know?” Zi Yu asked.

“I passed by here last year during my holidays and I didn’t see any creeper. But when I entered the house just now, I saw that the creeper was about four to five meters tall. My house’s creeper grow about that much in a year.”

Unexpectedly, they had chatted with each other for half an hour. Zi Yu looked at his watch with a smile on his face. “It is rather late now, why don’t you head home first? I will call you later when we come to a decision.”

Jian Yao nodded.

“Thank you for coming today, if he decided to hire you, there will be a contract drawn up. You will be required to work here for twenty days straight and all translation works had to be done on the spot. Also all the information have to remain confidential, so you can’t bring home any of it.” Zi Yu informed her as he walked her to the door. “Jin Yan is currently recuperating so without any permission, you are not allowed to head up to the second floor. Regarding other details, we will discuss it when we sign the contract.”

When Jian Yao left the house, it was close to evening time.

The sun was setting, bathing the area in an orange glow. It had looked especially pretty when the rays landed on the crystal white snow and the leaves that were covered in snow.

Jian Yao was pretty confident about getting hired. Despite the fact that the employer hadn’t showed his face once, making him rather mysterious and a little eccentric.

But at the end of it, this job was referred to her by her teacher so it should be reliable.

After walking a few meters away from the house, Jian Yao turned back to look at the house once more.

From the window on the second floor, she spotted a tall and slender man, wearing a black cut suit. A rather striking sight if you asked Jian Yao. However, she was too far away from the house to see the man’s face clearly.

Once Jian Yao was gone, Zi Yu went up to the second floor straight.

Compared to the warm elegance on the first floor, the second floor was rather gloomy and cold. There were a number of sealed rooms and the walls were completely void of any decorations.

Going to the room at the end of the hallway, he saw that the door was left ajar.

He pushed it open and leaned against the door. There was none of the refined elegant man left as he cursed loudly.

It caused the man who was reading a book to frown momentarily at Zi Yu. However, at the next second, he resumed his reading.

Zi Yu was nonchalant as he picked up Jian Yao’s translation work and handed it over to the man. “She has beautiful handwriting and translated perfectly.”

Zi Yu took out a paper from his pocket and unfolded it. On the paper, there were a few questions like what was his occupation, how long has Jin Yan moved here and etc.

Yes, those were the questions that Zi Yu had asked Jian Yao to guess just now.

He slapped the piece of paper on the table and said, “Regarding all these questions here, she had managed to answer all of them correctly. Are you satisfied with her?”

The man’s lips turned up ever so slightly.

Seeing that expression, Zi Yu was afraid that he was going to be picky again, he pulled out a chair and sat in front of him.

“If you are not satisfied with her, you can always translate it yourself. Besides, I am not your a.s.sistant and not to mention I will be returning to the city soon, so do not always count on me to help you run your errands.”

The man looked up from his book with a weird expression on his face as he replied Zi Yu.

“My time isn’t to be used doing those silly things.”

For a moment, Zi Yu did not know how to reply him.

“You are a homicide expert and she is just a translator, I don’t understand why there is a need to test her observation skills? I am willing to bet that she probably thinks that I talk too much.”

This time, the man revealed a very gentle smile.

“Obviously, I cannot allowed stupid people to translate my work. If the person isn’t meticulous enough, he will only be translating directly from the article. He won’t be able to translate the finer details and most definitely he won’t be able to grasp the true meanings behind those words.”

Zi Yu really didn’t know if he should laugh or be angry but he was all too used to him being like this. “So does this mean that Jian Yao is able to understand you?”

The man face went blank for a second. Then he went back to read his book and said, “No one will ever be able to understand.”

CHAPTER 2

Jiao Yao lived alone in the old house at the police compound during the holidays.

This was where Jian Yao’s family lived before her father’s death. When Jian Yao’s mother remarried, they moved out and this house was left vacant.

It was already late evening, the lights in the compound were mostly lit up and the smell of food could be detected. Similarly, the lights in the police office was also lit up while the police busied themselves

Jian Yao unlocked her house door only to see her sister, Jian Xuan, lying on the couch and munching an apple while watching the television.

When Jing Xuan saw that her sister was back, she turned around and complained a little, “Why are you home so late? I waited almost half a day for you.”

Jian Yao tossed her bag at her sister and sat down beside her. “My interview ended late. Besides, I thought that you will be home late? Weren’t you going to catch some sleep over at that place.”

By ‘that place, Jian Yao was referring to her stepfather’s house. Both of them had spent quite a number of years there, resulting in a close relationship with their stepfather. However, her stepfather’s house was rather cramped.

This was why Jian Yao chose to move out once she was of age. Jian Xuan spent her time alternating between the two places. But during festivals like Chinese New Year and such, the whole family would usually gather together.

Jian Xuan was currently studying aboard at a university. It took her ten hours to get home which explained why she looked rather haggard. However, once she heard the word ‘interview’, she had sat up immediately, her eyes briming with curiosity as she looked at her sister.

“So, I heard from mother that you went there for an interview?”

Jian Yao gave her a smiled before replying, “I did go over there for an interview.” She briefly recounted what happened during the interview without mentioning the content of her translation work due to confidentiality requirements of the job.

Jian Xuan expression turned enigmatic, “So, you haven’t seen that … Mr Bao yet?”

“No.” Jian Yao looked at her and asked, “Why?”

“Well,” Jian Xuan suddenly patted her sister’s shoulder and with a very dignified bitter tone said, “Sister, you must be prepared. I think I might have seen him before. He is simply too frightening.”

Suddenly, an image of the man emerged in Jian Yao’s mind. It was the image of the man which she had glimpsed on the second floor of her house. He looks scary?

Jian Xuan immediately described to Jian Yao what happened.

Last year, during the tomb sweeping festival, Jian Xuan had went back home. One time, when she and her friends went up the mountain to fish, she passed by the house and saw the man standing at the second floor.

During that time, Jian Yao was still working in the city and hence did not know what happened.

Although this happened a year ago, Jian Xuan could still clearly remembered what she saw.

She shivered a little, “He was all skin and bones, with sunken eyes and wrinkled skin – he resembled a skeleton.

Actually, he looked more like a monster! Later on another occasion, my cla.s.smates saw him in the street wearing a mask covering his face – he most probably did not want to scare anyone with his horrifying look.”

After hearing that, Jian Yao remained silence.

“Just a piece of advice, if that person is really Mr Bao, do not ever look at his face.” Jian Xuan added after a while.

Jian Yao smiled and say, “It’s okay. Come what may, he will not be able to scare me.”

After chatting a while more, Jian Yao looked at the time before turning to look at the police office that was opposite her house. There were still lights emitting from the office.

“Let’s call Li Xun Ran to eat dinner with us,” Jian Yao said to her sister.

“I have to meet my friends,” Jian Xuan suddenly told her sister before leaving in a hurry.

Once her sister left, Jian Yao headed to the window and called Xun Ran. “Xun Ran, it is me, Jian Yao. I am back.”

Xun Ran didn’t reply her immediately and that was when Jian Yao spotted a shadow appearing at the police office’s window.

“First stick your head out of the window, so I can verify your ident.i.ty with my binoculars.” Xun Ran instructed her and Jian could hear a hint of laughter in his voice, making her smile slightly.

The Li’s family and the Jian’s family were very close friend, Xun Ran and Jian Yao had known each other since young. Because of their family’s close relationship, the both of them had often hang out together even though there was a four years gap between the both of them.

After Xun Ran enrolled into the police academy, they hang out lesser. When Xun Ran finally graduated, it was Jian Yao’s turn to head to the university and they had even lesser time to hang out with each other.

Time passed and before she knows, 3 years had passed since Jian Yao last seen Xun Ran.

The sky was already dark, the street lamps slowly lighted up one by one until the end of the street.

Under the dark and hazy sky, Xun Ran was in his police uniform, causcally leaning against one of the lamppost and a lazy smile on his face.

Jian Yao walked over to him, a smile was on her face. Once she was in front of him, Xun Ran had hugged her before she could open her mouth to greet him.

“It has been a long time, Jian Yao.” Xun Ran said to her.

Jian Yao was rather surprised by his sudden action but she returned the hug after a while as her smile grew wider.

They headed to one of the restaurants nearby, Xun Ran had chosen a table that was near the window.

There was a screen that separated their table from the rest, secluded and quiet. While he was ordering food for them, Jian Yao simply looked at him quietly.

Not looking at her, Xun Ran continued pointing at the dishes he wanted to the waiter when he asked, “Why? There aren’t handsome guys at your campus?”

“Indeed,” Jian Yao answered him in all seriousness. A smile emerged when Xun Ran heard her answer.

Xun Ran’s looks belonged to those upright kind of handsome, neat and clean. Black brows, red lips and white teeth, everyone who looked at him would agree that he was extremely good looking. However, Xun Ran was rather arrogant since young making it hard for people to approach him.

Jian Yao felt that aura was more evident now after he was in the force for these past few years. He was more solemn, more serious and more unapproachable.

After he had finished placing orders, he placed one of his arms on the back of the chair beside him. He was quiet for a few seconds, staring at Jian Yao when he smiled. “Let’s go fis.h.i.+ng a few days later?”

When they were younger, the both of them would often run around in the mountains. Their activities included fis.h.i.+ng and digging vegetables from the field.

“Sure,” Jian Yao placed her chin on her hands. “I joined the fishing association when I was in school. My skills now is much better than before, you better prepared yourself mentally.”

Xun Ran laughed loudly when he heard her answer. After a while, he asked. “Managed to find a boyfriend yet?”

“No, you?”

“Haven’t, too busy.”

They were halfway through their meal when Xun Ran’s phone rang. Picking up his phone, his expression turned solemn when he heard what the person on the line was saying. After he hang up his phone, he took his wallet out from his coat’s pocket, “Something came up in the station, I have to go. You can take your time and eat slowly. Waiter, bill!”

“It is fine,” Jian Yao took out her wallet as well.

When the waiter arrived at their table with the bill, Jian Yao was about to take out her money when Xun Ran had grabbed her hands. His grip was surprisingly strong, making Jian Yao unable to move her hands.

After the waiter had given him his change, Xun Ran suddenly recalled about one of the cases he was handling. Waving a hand at her, Jian Yao moved closer to him. “Recently, there is a human trafficking organization that is in the move over here, their targets are mainly teenagers.

Even though you and your sister are too old to be called teenagers, both of you should also keep a lookout. This case is currently being investigated so it isn’t made known to the public yet.”

Jian Yao went blank for a moment when she heard Xun Ran’s voice again. “I was the one who found out what happened when I was sorting through the different cases. I found out that city as well as the area around here, there is a total of nine people who went missing. This number is twice higher compared to the previous year.”

“Then?” Jian Yao frowned.

“I went to do a more in-depth understanding. Out of the nine missing people, eight of them of them are teenagers and they went missing in the city. “He paused for a while before continuing. “According to the records as well as asking some of the other police from other department, I found out that there is indeed a human trafficking organization in the area. Those missing people are mostly likely sold.”

Jian Yao’s frown got even deeper after listening to what he said. Xun Ran had patted her on her shoulders, “I will crack this case.”

Jian Yao sent him to the entrance of the restaurant. Xun Ran had walked off when he stopped and turned back. He saw that Jian Yao was rooted to the same spot, looking at him. At this timing, the sky had already turned dark. The light from the moon as well as the street lamps’ light had woven together, illuminating the streets.

Jian Yao was dressed in a pale yellow sweater coupled with a pair of dark jeans, her long black hair draped off her shoulders, making her looked even more fairer than usual.

“Go in!” Xun Ran shouted and saw Jian Yao nodded. Turning his back on her, Xun Ran rubbed his hands together, blowing some air on them to warm his hands up as he walked towards the station.

At night, Jian Yao relayed what she heard from Xun Ran to her sister. Jian Xuan had appeared to be nervous and had even made plans to buy some self-defense tools to protect herself.

They had chatted a while more before heading to sleep when Jian Yao recalled whenever there is a case, the station would usually be extremely busy with no notion of the time outside.

This meant that the fis.h.i.+ng plan with Xun Ran had to be pushed back infinitely. She then suddenly thought of the interview, her priority now was that job.

The second day, Jian Yao was still in the kitchen, preparing breakfast when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, Jian Xuan saw a courier who handed her what appeared to be doc.u.ments. Taking it from the courier, Jian Xuan pa.s.sed it to Jian Yao. “Same city from us.”

Opening it, true enough, it was the contract that Zi Yu had told her about. Looking through the contract once more to make sure that she didn’t miss anything out, Jian Yao flipped to the last page of the contract when she stilled.

The other party had already signed his name, ‘Bao Jin Yan’.

Curious, Jian Xuan looked over her sister’s shoulders. “The monster send this? His handwriting is – “

“His handwriting style is just like him,” Jian Yao told her sister. “Even if he is a monster, he is a monster with character.”

“Oh,” Jian Xuan didn’t say anything more.

Jian Yao took out a pen from her bag and was about to sign her name when she stopped. Taking a piece of paper, she practiced signing her name on the paper for over ten times. It was only then when she finally picked up the pen again, signing her name beside his.

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CHAPTER 3

T City is located somewhere near the edge of a tributary of the Yangtze River. It is surrounded by mountains blocking the traffic which in turn caused the city to be a very backwater place.

However, when the highway was built in T City 2 years ago, the city suddenly have a tremendous development and become the economic centre of the province. Like other developed cities, people in T City want to get out to go North Guangzhou, while the surrounding people living near T City wanted to get in.

During the period when Jian Yao was in university, she went back home every year. Each time she went back to her hometown, she felt like the history of the place was slowly fading away.

Old building were slowly being demolished, real estate prices kept going up and the city felt more and more crowded.

However, there were still things left untouched. For example, the rivers around the city, the People’s Heroes Monument as well as that old and secluded villa.

At eight in the morning, she reached just on time and knocked on the door which turned out to be already open. Peeking in, she saw that the house was entirely silent with only the sunlight streaming in, there wasn’t anyone in the house.

Yesterday, Fan Zi Yu called to inform her that he needed to go back to B City. He told her to make herself at home in the villa, with the exception of the locked room on the first floor. It seems that this is the start of “make herself at home”.

The living room looks the same except for the white colored square table and chair near the window. There was a laptop on top of the table with a pile of old yellow doc.u.ment. According to the agreement, due to the large workload, it is requested for her to make use of the laptop.

Jian Yao sat down on the white chair.

Sitting down on the white chair, Jian Yao turned to look outside of the window.

There were mountains that were blanketed snow, she could also see the sunlight streaming through the pine trees, all of these made a beautiful sight.

Looking at the table, everything was neatly arranged – this made a good and comfortable environment to work in. Switching the laptop on, she saw that a word doc.u.ment was already opened. But there was no content in it except for the email address at the top of the page.

Getting up, Jian Yao decided to do a little exploring.

The kitchen is next to the living room and Jian Yao could smell pyrotechnic gas in the air which could mean Mr Bo usually cook at home. Placing the fruits she bought into the fridge, she saw that it was almost empty saved for the half eaten fish soup.

Close by the kitchen, there was a door which was connected to a hallway. Taking a few steps, Jian Yao discovered a fishing rod placed against the wall. It wasn’t a surprise since this place had a few water bodies and fishes could often be seen swimming in the water so most of the families here had one or two fishing rods at home.

What surprised Jian Yao was the brand of the fishing rod, “Red Tiger.” Not to mention that it was a limited edition and probably considered to be one of the most expensive in the world. This version of fishing rod was hailed as the best in many anglers’ mind.

Taking out her phone after a minute of admiring it, Jian Yao took a picture before she continued walking. Nearing the end of the hallway, Jian Yao halted her steps. In front of her was a rather dark small room. Heavy curtains were used to block out the sunlight, this room felt dull and cold. There wasn’t anything else in the room except for two tightly closed door.

Going into the room, Jian Yao headed to one of the doors and tried to pull it open only to realise that it was locked. She then made her way back to the living room since she had enough of exploring for now.

Making a cup of coffee for herself, she started working.

Time pa.s.sed rather quickly and Jian Yao never once stood up from her work station. While she was hard at work, Fu Zi Yu was in one of the rooms on the second floor, facing surveillance screens. His eyes were captured by the sight of Jian Yao before he turned to Bao Jin Yan. “She is rather well-behaved. I guess there won’t be any problems so I will be going back to the city tomorrow.”

Leaning against the couch with his long legs resting on the footstool, Bao Jin Yan’s sleeves were rolled up halfway as he picked up another grilled fish in his mouth. His eyes flicked up to the screen for a second before looking away. “Boring, she is just like a wooden doll.”

“Well, you did pick her yourself.” A smile was Fu Zi Yu’s face as he reminded him. Turning to the man on the couch, he saw that the plate was completely empty. It was just minutes ago when it was filled with fishes. “Will you die if you don’t eat fish for a day?”

Licking his fingers slowly, Bao Jin Yan’s lips curved up slowly. “No but I will turn violent if my needs aren’t met.”

After that dinner with Jian Yao, Lee Xun Ran started to get increasingly busy. He was busy enough with his usual work and added onto that was the missing teenagers’ case. As the investigation continued, it started to get harder to dig deeper.

The first stumbling block was the missing teenagers all came from different areas and the second stumbling block was the time that they went missing were all different as well.

Lee Xun Ran couldn’t find any link that these missing teenagers’ cases were related and they were abducted by an organisation, he had no way to prove that this organisation exist.

His supervisor did pay attention to his findings but without concrete evidence, this case couldn’t get the green light to start a formal investigation nor an increase in manpower.

This was why he decided to meet up with one of his seniors for dinner. Both of them went to a nearby hotpot restaurant which was the perfect meal on such a chilly day.

“Honestly, you have too much free time on your hand.” His senior told him after Lee Xun Ran told him what he was investigating.

Lee Xun Ran gave him a smile. Well, he did have a little more time on his hand but now that he was involved, he wasn’t going to just give up so easily.

He lit a cigarette and took a puff of it. “I trust my instinct. My sixth sense is telling me that these few cases are connected and they are done by the same person.Other people wash their hands off it but I can’t. I can’t let more children disappear again.”

“It is not going to be easy,” his senior said after a while. “Our country is so big, how are you planning to start? The organisation is smart enough to not leave any traces behind.”

“But you have to understand that – “

“There is two ways to crack this case. First, you find an expert. This kind of case isn’t something that normal people like us can solve. But nowadays, finding an expert isn’t that easy. All of them are just all talk with their deduction but no actions were taken. So this brings us to the second way, you can choose to work undercover but unlike the past, trafficking organisation isn’t going to be as easy to infiltrate. One of the cops in the past managed to infiltrate but that was after days and days of disguising himself as a beggar. He eventually cracked the case but he died soon after. ”

Lee Xun Ran didn’t say anything as he drowned another can of beer.

His senior sighed before changing the topic, he had no doubt that Lee Xun Ran was going to continue with his investigation.

“I saw a woman with you the other day, is it Jian Yao? She has grown up rather well, getting prettier day by day. It isn’t easy to find a suitable partner in our line of work so you better treat her well and propose soon.”

“What propose? She is just my sister.” Lee Xun Ran said.

As per usual, just like every other day, Jian Yao will send her completed work to the email address in the laptop during afternoon time. The next day, she will get a read receipt but still, Bao Jin Yan never once replied her email nor showed his face.

Well, she believed that no news meant good news.

However, now that she had seen Bao Jin Yan’s fishing rod, her fis.h.i.+ng addiction started to kick in. It has been quite a while since she last fished. After working continuously for a week, she picked a day with the perfect weather to take a break.

“h.e.l.lo?” Lee Xun Ran answered his phone. He was currently in disguise, wearing tattered clothing to make himself resembled a beggar. After talking to his senior, he choose to do what that cop had done. It had been a few days but still, there wasn’t anything.

“Fishing? I am currently in the midst of an investigation.”

“Is that so?” Jian Yao asked.

“How about this? I will meet you later on at our secret spot but I can’t give you an exact timing now.” Lee Xun Ran hung up after he told her that. Looking at her phone, Jian Yao placed it on the table before packing her fishing gears.

She was surprised that Lee Xun Ran still remembered their secret spot. They discovered that spot when they were still kids.

The place is rather remote so not many people know about it and that was probably why the fishes are always bountiful in that area.

Since then, Lee Xun Ran coined that place to be their secret spot.

Another reason why such a good place weren’t discovered earlier by other people might have to do with the fact that it is located near Bao Jin Yan’s house which was rumored to be haunted and making people stayed away from it.

Now that she think about it, she realized that she could see this spot clearly from Bao Jin Yan’s living room so their secret spot weren’t exactly a secret anymore.

Well, that aspect might have changed but the memories that remained were worth reminiscing about.

Jian Yao set out after lunch when it was the warmest hour of the day, not too hot and not too cold either. The sunlight filtered through, s.h.i.+nning on the small path that crossed the villa, leading further into the forest. Between the black and the brown stones, hidden was a small trail of sparkling water. The water continued to flow, connecting to an even bigger water body.

This is the secret place.

It was relatively quiet with no one around. Jian Yao headed to the largest tree to sit before she started to fish. It was only then when she saw that the opposite tree had a fishinrod underneath but there wasn’t anyone tending to it.

Her phone rang and she saw that it was Lee Xun Ran. “Urgent situation, I won’t be able to go."

“But I am already here!” Jian Yao told him.

“You can fish by yourself then. But remember to take care of yourself and call me if you encounter trouble. Gotta to go now.”

Jian Yao sighed softly, “Bye.”

Hanging up, Jian Yao sat for a little while before heading to the fishing rod that wasn’t tended by anyone. It was a little unexpected but at the same time, she kind of expected it. This was the same fishing rod that she saw before.

Her excitement started to grow as she looked around the place. But still, she didn’t see any traces of a person being here. Just as she was about to walk off, she heard the sound of a bell being rang rapidly signaling a fish had bit the bait.

Reeling the carp up, she placed it into the basket. Seeing the empty hook, Jian Yao hesitated for a while before looking down to find something. As expected, she found a box of baits.

Hooking one of the baits on to the hook, she placed the fishing rod back to its original position.

Perhaps, a branded fishinng rod really makes all the difference and coupled with the nice and cozy weather, the fishes were more enthusiastic than usual. Before she could return to her spot, another fish had bit the bait again.

Within half an hour, Jian Yao had caught six fishes. But there was still no sight of Mr. Bao. Even if he was called away by an urgent matter, simply leaving such an expensive fishing rod around was unthinkable.

Luckily, she was the one who saw the rod.

Eventually, Jian Yao moved her equipment over and she even hooked her own specially created bait onto his fishing rod. A branded fishing rod coupled with a high quality bait is a flawless combination. When the skies started to darken, Jian Yao had caught enough fishes to fill up two baskets.

She exerted more than her usual strength to carry the two baskets back to the villa. Jian Yao even helped to place the fishing rod back to where she had seen it in the house. After a while of thinking, she decided to email her employer.

“Mr. Bao, I saw your fis.h.i.+ng rod when I happened to go fishing just now. I am unsure if you were called away by an urgent matter so I took the liberty to help you pack your equipment and brought it back to the house. I’ve also brought back the fishes that were caught by your fishing rod. If this offend you in any way, I seek your forgiveness.”

After sending the email, Jian Yao selected a few fishes that she caught to bring home. It was during dinner time when her phone signaled that she had just received a new email. Opening it up, she saw that it was a reply from Mr. Bao; the first ever reply.

“The fishes are good. Thank you.”

Turning up at the villa the next day, there was still no one. Not putting much thought about yesterday, Jian Yao started to bury herself in her work.

During a short break, she went to wash some of the fruits she brought. Entering the kitchen, she sniffed a waft of fish being cooked, needless to say, it smelt delicious. Opening the fridge, she was momentarily shocked – there were so many fishes in the fridge.

Unlike yesterday where it was completely empty, the fridge was filled to brim today. There were all kind of fishes that were cooked in a variety of methods; braised fish, steamed fish, pickled fish head, fish slices and fish soup – the fridge was filled to the brim with these dishes and all of it looked to be leftover.

Closing the fridge, Jian Yao suddenly felt like laughing as she imagined her employer who cooked all of these in the middle of the night.

This Mr. Bao must have liked to eat fish a lot.

Each day continued to pass just like per usual after that when it was yet another day with nice weather. Jian Yao went to the secret spot with her sister this time. Jian Yao didn’t want to disturb Lee Xun Ran at work plus his phone was off completely this time, making it felt as though he had disappeared without a trace.

Upon reaching, she saw that familiar rod once again. Jian Xuan saw the brand of the fis.h.i.+ng rod before exclaiming. “Whose fishing rod is this? How can the person leave such an expensive rod lying around.”

Jian Yao’s curiosity started to grow too – why did Mr. Bao leave his fishing rod here without anyone tending it?

Jian Xuan lifted the fishing rod out of the water. “Hey, there is no bait. Did one of the fish bite the bait? If that is the case then where is the fish? This kind of hook isn’t easy for the fish to get away.”

Hearing what Jian Xuan had said, Jian Yao looked around for a box of baits but there wasn’t anything save for this fis.h.i.+ng rod.

Jian Xuan had also discovered the same thing, “Is this person another *Jiang Tai Gong?”

Jian Yao understood by now as the end of her lips curved up slightly, “No, he isn’t waiting for fish.”

He is waiting for her.

*jiang tai gong: “Taigong Diaoyu, Yuanzhe Shanggou” is a famous Chinese idiom about a willing victim letting himself be caught.

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