Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The weather was hot, and the milk tea shop was packed. Fortunately, the staff were old pros and moved fast, so Shen Dongqing didn't wait long to get two cups of fruit tea.

"Smacked Fresh Orange and grape fruit tea—which one do you want?" Shen Dongqing asked.

Xiao Ze pulled his gaze away and turned his eyes to Shen Dongqing.

"Nah, I'm not really into these." Xiao Ze thought it over and figured the issue was he'd never said no to Shen Dongqing before, which had given Shen Dongqing a big misunderstanding about him. This was the perfect chance to set the record straight.

"Alright." Shen Dongqing nodded, then pushed the grape fruit tea into Xiao Ze's hand. "But if I drink both, I won't have any room left for hotpot, so you gotta help me out with one."

"It's fruit tea—in this weather, it'll go bad if left out too long." Before Xiao Ze could speak, Shen Dongqing plugged the loophole.

Xiao Ze looked at the grape fruit tea in his hand, remembering how yesterday Shen Dongqing had called the ride-hailing app's customer service over ten bucks, and now a cup of milk tea cost over ten bucks or so. After hesitating a moment, he nodded anyway.

"I don't really drink this stuff—don't get me any next time." Even as he took it, Xiao Ze made sure to stress this was an exception.

Shen Dongqing nodded eagerly, promising he wouldn't buy any more.

Xiao Ze seriously doubted Shen Dongqing's credibility, but looking into his incredibly sincere eyes, he decided to trust him for the time being.

Xiao Ze really didn't drink much milk tea or other drinks—not that he disliked them, he just rarely bought them. After all, those required a special trip, whereas water was way simpler.

So much so that Du Wei often teased him—he wasn't even that old, but he was one step away from putting goji berries in his water for health.

Shen Dongqing followed Xiao Ze toward the hotpot restaurant, but as they walked, Xiao Ze suddenly turned around, which Shen Dongqing found weird.

"What's wrong?" Shen Dongqing asked.

"We've got a tail." Xiao Ze furrowed his brow.

At first he thought he was imagining it—the mall was packed, and it was normal for people to glance at him now and then. But after walking this far, the eyes were still on him, so it probably wasn't just some random passerby.

Shen Dongqing didn't question whether Xiao Ze was imagining things; he immediately went on high alert. Was his halo acting up again?

Shen Dongqing took a deep breath. Yesterday he'd run into three criminals, and he'd thought today would be a quiet day—clearly, he'd been wrong.

Shen Dongqing edged closer to Xiao Ze without looking back. If someone was really tailing them, one person glancing back could be explained away, but if both of them did it, the tail would definitely know they'd been made.

"How many are there?" Shen Dongqing asked in a low voice.

"Three or four, maybe." Xiao Ze gave his assessment.

"We can't let them slip away." Shen Dongqing's expression turned serious—this was his approach to danger now: kill it before it grows.

It never crossed Shen Dongqing's mind that the tail might be after Xiao Ze—if he ran into danger out here, it had to be his halo's doing.

Anyone following him couldn't be up to any good. Three or four people—if they didn't handle this now, it'd come back to bite them later.

Should they call the police?

Shen Dongqing thought about it. Three or four people was still a high risk, and there were only two of them. Even with Xiao Ze being a cop, it was two against four, and they didn't know if the other side was armed. Going at them head-on was too risky.

After hearing Shen Dongqing's reasoning, Xiao Ze agreed and immediately called a few colleagues nearby to come over.

"Don't worry, they'll sneak in—those guys won't notice a thing." Xiao Ze knew what Shen Dongqing was worried about and reassured him.

Shen Dongqing nodded. Now it was just about stalling until the cops showed up.

...

Du Wei had always thought he was pretty good at tailing people—until this time following Xiao Ze. If it weren't for the crowded mall and the four of them working together, Xiao Ze would've spotted him ages ago.

Ducking what looked like a casual glance from Xiao Ze, Du Wei said in confusion, "Where the hell are they going to eat? I can't figure it out at all."

"Our reservation time's almost up—should we keep tailing them?" Zhou Hua asked. That hotpot place is insanely popular; on weekends you gotta book ahead, or you'll be waiting God knows how long for a table.

"Hotpot can wait—we can eat that anytime. But this chance won't come around again. Don't you guys wanna know what's going on between Captain Xiao and that dude?" Xu Ling said.

At that, the two of them went quiet. The only reason they were tailing Xiao Ze was curiosity—what was Shen Dongqing to Xiao Ze that he'd ditch their team dinner for him?

"Based on the Captain's day-off behavior, there's a seventy percent chance the other party is his friend." Chen Wen, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.

"And the other thirty percent?" Zhou Hua asked instinctively.

"A blind date." Chen Wen adjusted his glasses, sounding uncertain.

"Impossible, impossible. Even if Aunt Xiao is desperate, she wouldn't set the Captain up with a male blind date."

Xu Ling shook her head vigorously. Although same-sex marriage was legally recognized, public attitudes hadn't changed that fast, and Xiao Min didn't seem like that open-minded a person.

"It's possible. The Captain has rejected blind dates so many times that Aunt Xiao might start wondering if the problem is the gender of the candidates." Chen Wen said seriously.

"Now that you mention it, that's actually plausible." Zhou Hua stroked his chin, deep in thought. "That guy just gave the Captain a drink, and they're strolling through the mall—that's a pretty standard blind date process."

"Have you ever been on a blind date? 'Standard process'—I remember when Sister Wang said she'd set you up, you ran faster than anyone." Xu Ling rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of which, I saw that guy yesterday..." Du Wei said.

"Where?" The three of them said in unison.

"At the station. The Captain smiled for a good while when he saw him." Du Wei said.

"Did he come specifically to see the Captain?" Zhou Hua was shocked.

"Why didn't you tell us this huge news earlier?" Xu Ling accused.

Chen Wen said nothing, just silently stared at Du Wei.

"No, no—he'd saved someone from the water and came to the station to submit video evidence." Du Wei only then realized he'd left out details and quickly added.

"Little Du, I never knew you could talk so much. With that gift of gab, you could make a living as a storyteller." Xu Ling grabbed Du Wei's shoulder in a headlock, grinning.

"Sis, I'm sorry—don't choke me." Du Wei was already gasping for air and begged for mercy.

"Tomorrow, one hour of combat training. I'll be waiting." Zhou Hua patted Du Wei's shoulder, saying flatly.

Before Chen Wen could speak, Du Wei quickly saved himself: "Let's stop messing around—the Captain came out of the store and is walking ahead again."

"The probability of the other party being the Captain's blind date rises to fifty percent." Chen Wen revised his assessment, then asked, "But if we keep following and get caught by the Captain, the probability of getting chewed out is eighty percent."

The three of them turned a deaf ear and followed straight ahead. Chen Wen had no choice but to go along.

Only, the route seemed a bit familiar—hadn't they walked this way before?

Chen Wen looked at the shops around them, his brow slightly furrowed, when he suddenly heard Du Wei telling him to hurry up—the Captain had reached a fork in the road, and if he didn't keep up, they'd lose him.

Chen Wen didn't have time to think it over and quickened his pace.

Du Wei walked at the front, hurrying to the intersection when a sharp shout came from the side: "Stop right there. Don't move."

Du Wei was still confused when he felt someone grab his shoulder and push him down.

He instinctively fought back, only to see a familiar face on his attacker.

"Old Zhong." Du Wei exclaimed in shock.

"You? What are you doing here?" Zhong Sheng also recognized Du Wei, equally shocked.

He had been called over by Xiao Ze and found that the person tailing him was very cautious and professional, leading him to assume they were some kind of dangerous threat. So he set a trap to nab them all at once, only to find out the tail was Du Wei, a coworker from the police station.

Zhong Sheng looked back—sure enough, they were all coworkers.

...

The group stood in the mall stairwell, all of them silent.

"Captain Xiao, did you call these guys directly, or did you call 911?" Du Wei asked cautiously.

The other three remained silent but perked up their ears at the question, praying it was the former. Otherwise, once those coworkers went back, they'd be totally humiliated.

"So you do know what shame is!" Xiao Ze sneered.

The four hung their heads, looking sheepish. Bottom line, it was their fault—either their tailing skills were good enough that Xiao Ze never noticed, or so bad that he spotted them right away. Either way, it wouldn't have led to this misunderstanding.

"Alright, I didn't call the cops. I just called them directly." Xiao Ze said, looking at their dejected faces, annoyed.

The four let out a sigh of relief. A direct call meant it wouldn't get spread around—otherwise, they'd be mortified.

"Your tailing skills have gotten a lot better." Xiao Ze remarked.

"That's all thanks to you, Captain. If it weren't for your special training, we wouldn't have gotten this good this fast." Zhou Hua flattered.

Chen Wen shot Zhou Hua a silent glance. He could tell Zhou Hua was trying to smooth things over, but he had his doubts.

Captain Xiao taught you tailing techniques—so you could use them on him? Saying that would just make Captain Xiao even angrier.

Xiao Ze narrowed his eyes and clapped Zhou Hua on the shoulder: "Since you've improved so fast, the next stakeout and tail job is yours."

Du Wei and Xu Ling thought they'd dodged the bullet and were feeling relieved, until Xiao Ze added, "And you two—you three will take turns."

Chen Wen, though...

Xiao Ze glanced at him. He figured Du Wei and the other two had dragged Chen Wen along, so he just told him to finish the report early and let him off without any other punishment.

Du Wei and the other two shot Chen Wen resentful looks. All four of them were at fault—so why did Chen Wen get off so easy?

After wrapping things up, Xiao Ze walked out and saw Shen Dongqing standing at the entrance to the stairwell.

"Sorry, it was all a misunderstanding. My coworkers were tailing me." Xiao Ze said apologetically. If he'd noticed earlier, he wouldn't have scared Shen Dongqing like that.

When they first came out, Shen Dongqing was in a good mood, but once he mentioned being followed, Shen Dongqing had been on edge the whole time.

Du Wei and the others followed him out, apologizing profusely to Shen Dongqing. What they did was totally out of line.

Shen Dongqing accepted their apologies but was a little curious.

"Why were you tailing Captain Xiao?"

The four exchanged looks. Should they come clean?

Maybe they could lie? Du Wei glanced at the others.

If they lied now and Captain Xiao grilled them for the truth later, they'd be in even more trouble. The other three shot him a look that said exactly that.

But telling the truth would get them scolded too! Du Wei felt wronged.

After the exchange, Du Wei spoke first: "In the past, on days off, Brother Xiao would always have dinner with us. So when we saw you two together, we got a little curious about what your deal was."

"Yeah, yeah. We've never seen Captain Xiao this close with anyone, so we were just curious." Zhou Hua followed up. Whether Shen Dongqing was Xiao Ze's friend or a blind date, the words worked.

"I was curious too, so I tagged along." Xu Ling said.

"They all went, so I did too." Chen Wen summarized.

"Your team really cares about you!" Seeing Xiao Ze's face darken, Shen Dongqing laughed.

Did they, though?

Xiao Ze narrowed his eyes. The four's excuses were passable, but his gut told him it might be a lie.

But the tailing incident had already delayed them so much, and their dinner reservation was almost up, so continuing to interrogate would waste too much time. Xiao Ze decided to handle it tomorrow.

Seeing Xiao Ze stay quiet, the four assumed the matter was dropped and breathed a sigh of relief.

Watching Xiao Ze and Shen Dongqing leave, they didn't dare follow and decided to go get hotpot instead.

"Tailing someone really wears you out. I feel like I could eat a whole cow." Du Wei said, rubbing his stomach.

"I'm hungry too. Let's hurry—that hotpot place is super popular. If we're any later, there won't be any tables." Xu Ling was hungry as well.

The four rushed to the hotpot place, but they were too late. The place was already full, and the wait would be at least an hour.

"An hour? I'd have low blood sugar by then!" Du Wei didn't think he could last that long.

"You get low blood sugar?" Xu Ling frowned, grabbing a mint from the self-serve basket nearby. "Eat this quick, don't pass out."

"I was just exaggerating." Du Wei muttered, but he unwrapped it and ate it anyway.

"These are the free mints from the restaurant. Want one?" Xu Ling took another and asked the other two.

Free? Then they had to grab one.

Zhou Hua and Chen Wen each grabbed a mint and ate it, ready to take a number and wait.

"Whoa, is that Brother Xiao?" Du Wei looked up and spotted Xiao Ze standing by a table. "Wait, Brother Xiao's coming to this hotpot place too?"

Then what was the point of tailing him all this time, even missing their own reservation?

If they'd just come to the restaurant early, they could've watched Xiao Ze and Shen Dongqing hang out without any risk at all!

"Sir, there are only two of you. A large table might not be ideal—how about a small table instead? That way you can sit closer together." The server suggested.

"Do you have any small tables left?" Shen Dongqing didn't care about large or small, but if he remembered right, the place was packed. There were no small tables left.

The server paused for a moment: "Well, actually, no. You'd have to wait."

"Then no need to switch. I'll just take the large table." Shen Dongqing shook his head. If he had to wait anyway, there was no point in switching.

The server looked troubled. She knew she was asking too much, but the boss had a rule: too few people couldn't sit at a large table, and if they got caught, the hostess would be fined.

"Sir, the large table is too big. You wouldn't even be able to sit closer together, and it'd be awkward to reach across and share food." The server decided to give it one more shot. Usually, couples or people on blind dates wanted to sit close together when they came for hotpot.

If she could win one over, the other would be easier to deal with.

Shen Dongqing frowned slightly, feeling that the server was acting a little off.

Just as Shen Dongqing was about to speak up, he suddenly spotted Du Wei and the others standing at the restaurant entrance. Du Wei was staring at them in shock, his face cycling through surprise, dawning realization, and then regret—a whole show.

"Xiao Ze, looks like your teammates are here for hotpot too. Want to have them join us?" Shen Dongqing nudged Xiao Ze. "With more people, we can order more variety."

Xiao Ze turned around and met Du Wei's mournful gaze. He didn't really want them to join, but after a moment's hesitation, he waved them over.

"Xiao Ge, so that's why you asked me about this hotpot place yesterday—you were planning to come here too." Du Wei rushed over.

"If I'd known..." Zhou Hua started, then glanced at the nearby staff member and trailed off.

Xu Ling and Chen Wen both greeted Shen Dongqing, realizing he was the one who'd invited them over.

"No big deal. Six people fit perfectly at a large table." Shen Dongqing said, then looked at the server. "We have six people now, so we can use the large table, right?"

The server nodded quickly, told them to scan the QR code to order, and hurried off.

"What happened just now?" Xu Ling asked.

Shen Dongqing filled them in on what had happened and speculated, "Maybe it's about turning tables faster. Two people at a large table would hurt the boss's profits."

"This is all on Xiao Ge. Why'd he book a large table?" Du Wei shook his head.

Xiao Ze took a sip of water. He always booked large tables out of habit and hadn't expected this place to ban two people from using one.

"This place has a terrible attitude. That comment just now was basically telling customers to get lost." Zhou Hua clicked his tongue.

"Maybe the food really is that good. I heard from a friend that this place's attitude is indeed bad. Last time they ate here, they lingered a bit too long and got dirty looks from the staff. If the food weren't so good, they'd have bailed a long time ago." Xu Ling said.

"You'd put up with that just for good food?" Du Wei was shocked.

"Maybe people with real skills can afford to be picky. Look how packed this place is—they've got no shortage of customers." Xu Ling said.

Shen Dongqing looked around. The restaurant was completely full, with plenty of diners happily digging into their hotpot.

At the next table sat four young women who'd ordered a ton of dishes. In their thin summer clothes, he could even see their bellies sticking out from all the food, yet more food kept coming.

"This hotpot is way too good. I literally had this yesterday and the day before, but when you invited me today, I came anyway. I told myself I was going to diet, but after this meal, I'll put on another three pounds."

"It's fine. Hotpot's just meat and veggies—all healthy stuff. There's not much oil in the broth, so you won't get fat." Her friend comforted her.

"But eating like this is wrecking my wallet. This place is pretty pricey. Once in a while is fine, but too often and I can't afford it."

"I think I'm crashing from all the carbs. I feel kinda dizzy."

"Maybe you drank too much and your blood sugar spiked. Why don't you rest a bit?"

"No, I gotta keep eating. I'm not full yet."

Still not full?

Shen Dongqing figured if they kept eating, they wouldn't even be able to walk without puking.

He scanned the room again and noticed plenty of tables in the same boat. He couldn't remember if diners at other hotpot places were this into their food, but here, customers seemed to eat an insane amount.

His gut was telling him something was off.

Even though he'd been wrong about the tailing thing before, Shen Dongqing still trusted his gut.

While the others were picking their broth and ingredients, Shen Dongqing glanced at the staff bustling around nearby, leaned in and whispered to Xiao Ze, "Captain Xiao, you get the feeling something's off about this place?"

"You picked up on it too?" Xiao Ze withdrew his gaze from scanning the surroundings and said in a low voice.

Shen Dongqing hadn't expected Xiao Ze to be that sharp too. He nodded and quietly shared his observations.

"Can good cooking alone make customers this obsessed?" Shen Dongqing was skeptical. More importantly, the attitude here was awful. Even with great food, they shouldn't be this cocky—this wasn't confidence, it was pure arrogance.

If this were some other type of cuisine, Shen Dongqing might chalk it up to the chef's personality. But hotpot, which is made in bulk, clearly didn't fit that explanation.

The two exchanged a look, both sensing something was seriously wrong. Glancing at the other four, Chen Wen was scoping out the place while Du Wei and the other two were still debating what to order and how much.

"I'm gonna make a call. Keep an eye on what they order." Xiao Ze got up, asked the server where the bathroom was, and walked off.

Meanwhile, the three had finally settled on their picks but hadn't placed the order yet, asking Shen Dongqing if he wanted to add anything.

Shen Dongqing looked at their order—it came to nearly eight hundred yuan. If their suspicions were right, ordering all that would just be throwing money away.

He crossed off the pricey meats, leaving only the cheaper cuts and veggies. That kept the number of dishes high but cut the cost way down.

A bit later, Xiao Ze came back just as the broth arrived—glossy, dark, and murky with red oil.

A few plates of food were brought over. Before Shen Dongqing could say a word, Du Wei dumped a whole plate of meat into the pot. Shen Dongqing winced, feeling bad for the meat.

If the meat hadn't been dumped in, once the place got investigated, they could've taken it home to eat. After all, the meat itself probably wasn't laced with anything—that'd be too obvious, and the owner wouldn't be that dumb.

But once it hit the pot, the meat was done for.

Xiao Ze's lips twitched, and he couldn't help asking, "Are you that hungry?"

Du Wei nodded eagerly, explaining why: "For this hotpot, I only had breakfast. I skipped lunch completely."

"The broth'll take a while to heat up anyway, and this won't fill you up. Maybe grab something else to eat first." Shen Dongqing suggested. "I saw a bakery outside. You could pick something up there."

Du Wei shook his head.

"Bread's too sweet. I'm in the mood for something spicy."

"I want some. Go get me some." Xiao Ze said flatly, then looked at Zhou Hua. "You go with him. And while you're at it, help me go pick up a few people. Make sure to take the back way up."

They'd just circled the whole mall, so they knew exactly which routes had the least foot traffic and were least likely to draw attention.

Du Wei's eyes went wide. Wait, since when did Xiao Ge start acting so high and mighty? But Zhou Hua sensed something was off—it seemed like Captain Xiao didn't want Du Wei to eat. Why?

Zhou Hua looked around and suddenly noticed something weird about how the other diners were eating. He glanced at Du Wei, who was practically drooling from hunger, and grabbed him, dragging him toward the exit.

Du Wei, though reluctant, grumbled as he got dragged off.

Xu Ling wasn't as starving as Du Wei, but she also caught on to what Xiao Ze was doing. Thinking about the restaurant's reviews, it suddenly hit her.

"Captain Xiao..." Xu Ling swallowed hard, nervous.

"Just a hunch. Nothing's been tested yet." Xiao Ze said quietly, staring at the broth on the table.

"But this place has been packed for a while now. That means..." How many people had been affected?

Xu Ling looked around, anger boiling inside her.