The car raced forward through the quiet night.
Old He sat in the passenger seat, arms crossed, head tilted back comfortably against the headrest. His eyes were almost narrowed to slits.
But he wasn't asleep.
His gaze pierced through those narrow slits, fixed on the rearview mirror—Feng Zhi was sitting in the back seat.
Of course, this wasn't about taking Feng Zhi to the police station. Old He had "casually" extended an invitation as he was "leaving": "Oh, didn't you say you really wanted to go back and see Xu Ruyi? Why not go today? Go ask for leave. You can ride back with me. I'm heading back tonight anyway, and it's on the way. You'll save yourself a high-speed train ticket."
Feng Zhi naturally had no reason to refuse. He agreed happily.
So, Old He accompanied him back to school to request leave, and then to his dorm to pack.
This, of course, was also intentional on Old He's part.
The four-person dorm room. Feng Zhi slept by the window. Whether it was his bunk, the desk below, or his personal cabinet, everything was neat and tidy.
He also got along very well with his roommates.
Hearing he was leaving suddenly, his three roommates all patted their chests, promising to take good notes for him during his absence and handle his club duties.
While Feng Zhi packed, Old He stood to the side.
He saw it with his own eyes—that short jacket adorned with a tiger head emblem on the back.
Feng Zhi didn't have many clothes. He'd sorted them into two piles by season. The jacket was in the winter pile, at the very bottom of his few outerwear items.
Old He pulled it out—the jacket was folded neatly, the creases deep, clearly not worn for a long time.
"Sis bought me this jacket," Feng Zhi said, taking it gently. "Must have been my freshman year. She saw it while shopping one day, thought it looked cool, and bought it for me. Sis has always treated me like family."
He lightly stroked the fabric. "I can never repay Uncle Xu, Aunt Min, or Sis for their kindness in this lifetime. But Sis always tells me that studying hard and achieving something is the best repayment. Whatever Sis says, I do. So I study diligently, as hard as I can. Not wasting time, not wasting life. Like she says, become a useful person in the future."
He spoke sincerely, openly.
The jacket didn't look like it had been worn recently either.
So, really nothing to do with him?
Old He watched the sleeping figure in the back seat through the rearview mirror—Feng Zhi had chatted warmly with them at first, talking about his university life, how Xu Ruyi's parents treated him well as a child, his impressions of Qin Guan. Later, tired from talking, he quieted down and fell asleep.
Yes, he could sleep. In a police car.
His head tilted to the side, sleeping soundly and peacefully. His even breathing and relaxed posture radiated openness.
If he had anything weighing on his mind, if he felt even a shred of guilt, he wouldn't be able to sleep—Old He's own son was a junior in university, about Feng Zhi's age. The last two Qingming Festivals, Old He had taken him back to their hometown to sweep the graves. Both times, sitting in the back seat at night, the kid had stared silently out the window, not sleeping. Asked, he'd just say he couldn't sleep.
Old He knew his son had burdens—he'd been deeply attached to his aunt since childhood. When the incident happened, he'd just started middle school. Picked up from school, he completely broke down. He'd raged at Old He: "Aren't you a cop? Didn't you catch the killer? Why let him go? Why? Are you even a cop? Is this how you do your job?"
Later, as he grew older, he stopped asking such questions. But he also never smiled at Old He again, let alone opened up to talk.
The house was still a home, but the one who was gone had become an impassable chasm between them.
…
But then again, you couldn't always tell—Old He shifted position, pushing aside those heavy memories and pulling Qin Guan back into his thoughts. Xiao Wu had mentioned that the night they took Qin Guan to the Lakeside Charm Hotel, Qin Guan had slept soundly the whole way.
A murderer could sleep peacefully too.
So, what about this Feng Zhi? Was he like Qin Guan, possessing extraordinary mental fortitude?
Yet Feng Zhi truly seemed to have no motive or means.
First, the timeline completely ruled him out—from before the incident until now, Feng Zhi had been at school. The figure in the short jacket captured on surveillance at the Lotus Hotel and Jiayuan Residential Complex, as mentioned by Qin Guan, couldn't possibly be Feng Zhi.
On the day Qin Guan claimed Xu Ruyi was "scheming" at the aquarium and Lotus Hotel, Feng Zhi was in class.
On the day Qin Guan met Qi Min at the Lakeside Charm Hotel, Feng Zhi was tutoring.
And before that, Feng Zhi had participated in a three-day club event at school. He was present the entire time, with photos and testimony from seventeen or eighteen classmates to prove it.
Second, no evidence suggested Feng Zhi had accomplices.
The friends Feng Zhi usually hung out with at school were his roommates. Teachers and classmates all confirmed the four were close, practically inseparable. But the other three also had no time to commit the crime—they'd been constantly at school too.
The phone registered under Feng Zhi's name showed calls and video chats to Feng Xiangping, and occasionally to Xu Ruyi. But none aligned with the timeframes Qin Guan mentioned.
Their messages were all ordinary greetings and interactions—Old He had already thoroughly checked this area.
Yes, he'd investigated early, investigated meticulously, investigated deeply.
He'd never been an exceptionally clever cop. Since becoming a detective, his only method was to dig, dig deep, expand the scope and dig—it was a clumsy method, but an effective one. All the cases he'd encountered before were solved by this exhaustive pursuit of the truth.
But this time, the clumsy method seemed utterly useless.
The car sped down the highway. The murky darkness ahead was like thick ink. The headlights strained forward, pushing out only a small stretch of light.
Old He's mind felt like that ink-black night.
Was the Feng Zhi lead truly a dead end? Then why was Qin Guan so fixated on it? Was the sinister lawyer scheming for his own salvation, or was this seemingly innocent, sunny university student actually deeply calculating?
It had to be Xu Ruyi.
If Feng Zhi was involved, it was naturally because of Xu Ruyi—but was this level of intricate plotting really Xu Ruyi's doing?
Old He pulled out his phone. It was silent—no messages. Meaning "Zeng Demei" still hadn't been found. Qin Guan had provided a new lead: "Zeng Demei" might have a criminal record. Xiao Wu was already checking the registered offender system.
The problem was, the woman's criminal record likely wasn't local. Even if it was, without a name or hometown, searching with only a blurry photo would be an immeasurable drain of time and manpower.
A real headache.
Feng Zhi was a dead end. If "Zeng Demei" remained unfound, what should his next move be?
Close the case? Submit this case riddled with doubts? Ignore the consequences?
Old He shifted restlessly, unable to sleep. Before he knew it, dawn had broken—the car exited the highway and entered the city just waking up. Soon, they reached their destination.
Guanlan Court.
The lover who likes to vanish.