Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Upon receiving the report, the police initially found it hard to believe. What criminal in this country would be this brazen?

But the caller was insistent, listing various suspicious details about the suspect, and these details started to shake the cops' doubts.

The guy smelled of blood and had bloodstains on his shoes—maybe he'd just committed a crime and was in a volatile state. It wasn't that crazy to think he might storm the station in that state.

And that big, brand-new pressure cooker could've been bought specifically for it. The more they thought about it, the more suspicious it looked.

The officer on duty didn't waste any time and immediately reported it up the chain.

Xiao Ze got the message, quickly contacted the dispatch platform, pulled up the car's real-time location and the passenger's info, and made sure the other cops at the station were ready.

But pulling up that info took a few minutes, and while they waited, a sedan came into view in the distance.

"Captain Xiao, look—that car's plate matches the one the caller described." The officer on duty, already on high alert since the call, recognized the plate right away.

Xiao Ze saw the car too and started putting the plan into action.

If possible, they'd stop the car on an open stretch of road. But if the suspect made it to the station, they'd take him down as he got out of the car.

They'd seen the photo the driver sent—the pressure cooker looked big, and from what the driver first said, it was pretty heavy. The suspect had put the pot in the car first, then gotten in himself.

So when he got out, he'd have to step out first, then bend down to grab the pressure cooker from the car. That would be their chance.

"We need to move fast. When I take him down, you guys need to grab his hands—don't let him get anywhere near a detonator." Xiao Ze said seriously.

The other officers nodded nervously. They all knew that if that pressure cooker really was a modified bomb, it'd pack the punch of a grenade.

If it went off, they'd be dead or badly hurt.

As for why they weren't using guns—first, the guy was only a suspect, not confirmed. Second, even a fatal shot wouldn't guarantee he couldn't hit the detonator. Never underestimate how long a person can hold on.

...

Spotting the police station in the distance, both Shen Dongqing and the driver breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Dongqing now felt that buying a car couldn't wait any longer—running into a sketchy driver was way too scary.

The driver had even tried to take a detour earlier, and if Shen Dongqing hadn't reacted fast, the guy would've gotten away with it.

And that wasn't even the scariest part. The scariest was that the driver kept looking down at his phone while driving. If Shen Dongqing hadn't warned him in time, they almost hit another car.

Shen Dongqing decided that when he went to the market supervision bureau later, he wouldn't take a taxi. There was a direct bus there—he'd just take that instead.

The bus was way safer than a cab.

The car pulled up to the police station entrance. Seeing the driver still spacing out and about to drive past, Shen Dongqing said coldly, "We're here. Stop."

"S-sorry, I didn't notice." The driver snapped back to reality, met Shen Dongqing's cold stare, and apologized shakily.

Shen Dongqing initially thought the driver was way too irresponsible—spacing out behind the wheel—but seeing the guy's state, he couldn't bring himself to say more. He just tossed out, "Pay more attention next time. Keep driving like this and you'll end up in an accident."

Shen Dongqing didn't think he was cursing the guy. The driver's distraction was way too bad—not just irresponsible with his own life, but with everyone else's too. He wondered how the guy even got his license.

After saying this, Shen Dongqing expected the driver to get defensive, but the guy just nodded meekly, not daring to argue, which left Shen Dongqing feeling a bit helpless.

Since he had to carry the pot when getting out, Shen Dongqing paid the fare on his phone before pushing the door open.

What Shen Dongqing didn't know was that those few dozen seconds the car sat there had the officers lying in wait on edge, thinking the suspect might've noticed something.

Luckily, the door opened and someone stepped out.

Because the door blocked the view and the guy was getting out sideways, Xiao Ze only thought the figure looked vaguely familiar, but there was no time to think. He lunged forward, shouting, "Police! Freeze!"

What the hell?

Shen Dongqing didn't think this was aimed at him—he instinctively figured it was about the driver. He'd known the driver was sketchy.

Without overthinking it, Shen Dongqing turned and ran.

He didn't know what the driver had done, but from where he stood, he couldn't take the driver down anyway—he was too far from the car, having already gotten out. If he stayed put, he'd just be in the way of the cops.

If Shen Dongqing had stayed still, it would've been fine, but moving immediately set off the other officers.

Xiao Ze charged forward, grabbed Shen Dongqing's right arm, and slammed him hard to the ground. Before Shen Dongqing could even struggle, he felt bodies piling on top of him. The rock sugar pear soup he'd drunk his fill of was about to be squeezed right back out of him.

Wait, what the hell?!

Shen Dongqing's mind was spinning. He noticed the car that had just pulled over suddenly speed off.

The driver's reasoning was simple: the pressure cooker was a bomb. Now that the cops had subdued the criminal, the bomb needed to be moved far away. Whether it was on a timer or remote detonation, getting it as far away as possible was the right move.

After driving a few dozen meters, the driver slammed on the brakes, shoved the door open, and ran back without a second thought.

Taking that risky drive had already pushed his courage to its limit. Now he just wished his parents had given him more legs—he was running way too slow.

While the car sped off, Xiao Ze quickly frisked Shen Dongqing, but all he found was a set of keys. Nothing else.

And the back of that head looked familiar!

"Did you guys grab the wrong person?" Shen Dongqing had run through many possibilities during those few seconds of being searched, finally landing on one explanation.

Though his head was down and he couldn't see clearly, he'd recognized the uniforms on the people who'd swarmed him—cop uniforms. The cops wouldn't arrest him without a reason, so it had to be a mistake.

If the back of the head wasn't enough for Xiao Ze to recognize Shen Dongqing, the voice definitely was.

"Shen Dongqing?" Xiao Ze said, shocked.

"What? Brother Shen?" Du Wei, who was still pressing down hard on the suspect's legs, blurted out in surprise when he heard Shen Dongqing and Xiao Ze talking.

"How is it you?" Xiao Ze relaxed his grip slightly but didn't fully let go. "Why are you at the station?" And with a pressure cooker?

"I made a big pot of pear soup with rock sugar and thought I'd bring you some," Shen Dongqing explained.

"Pear soup with rock sugar?" Xiao Ze repeated.

"Yeah. When we chatted yesterday, your voice sounded a bit hoarse. I'd been talking a lot the past few days too, and my throat was getting raspy. So today I went out and bought some pears, made it into pear soup with rock sugar, and had some myself." Shen Dongqing paused, then added, "Did you guys get the wrong idea?"

"We'll talk about that later. Can you get off me first? I drank a big bowl of pear soup with rock sugar before I came out. Keep pressing and I'm gonna throw up." Shen Dongqing said weakly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Xiao Ze apologized over and over, helping Shen Dongqing up from the ground.

Once up, Shen Dongqing hissed in pain. His knees and hands hurt like hell.

The others, hearing the exchange, realized this might've been a mistake. Seeing Shen Dongqing wince in pain, they didn't know what to do and instinctively looked to Xiao Ze.

Xiao Ze was even more at a loss. He hadn't expected the person he'd tackled to be Shen Dongqing. He'd put real force into that takedown, and in this heat, people wore thin clothes. The impact against the ground had been brutal.

Xiao Ze wanted to check how bad Shen Dongqing's injuries were, but wasn't sure if he was allowed to touch him. He quickly helped Shen Dongqing over to the side, had someone grab a stool, and let him sit down to catch his breath.

Shen Dongqing sat down and rubbed his knee. This really was a nasty fall—it hurt at the slightest touch.

Before, when Shen Dongqing watched police pin criminals down like that, he only felt a sense of satisfaction. But now that he'd been pinned down himself, all Shen Dongqing could say was that cops really are strong!

The driver came running back at this point and saw Shen Dongqing sitting on the stool, being cared for by the police. He was totally confused.

Wait, wasn't this guy a dangerous criminal? Why were the police treating him so well?

Shen Dongqing also noticed the driver and looked at Xiao Ze, asking, "So, what exactly was the misunderstanding?"

"We got a report that someone was bringing a pressure cooker bomb to the police station..." Xiao Ze explained the whole thing from start to finish.

The more Shen Dongqing listened, the quieter he got. Even the pain from his injuries took a backseat, replaced by pure helplessness.

"This blood must be from when I stepped on something at the market this morning while buying beef." Shen Dongqing lifted his foot. "As for the gamey smell—I bought dozens of pounds of beef to make beef jerky. It's probably from cutting the meat. I just finished an hour ago, so the smell hasn't gone away. The sweet smell is from the rock sugar pear soup—it's naturally sweet and light. I made a whole big pot, so it's totally normal for it to have a smell."

"Then why did you use a pressure cooker to carry it?" The driver had been eavesdropping for answers and couldn't help but butt in. If it weren't for that pressure cooker, he wouldn't have gotten the wrong idea.

"It's a big pot of rock sugar pear soup, and the pears are whole. It wasn't worth buying a special soup container, so using a pressure cooker to carry it was the most practical choice." Shen Dongqing said helplessly.

"Then, in the car, you..." The driver brought up the stuff he'd noticed that seemed off.

Shen Dongqing answered each one, then added that from his perspective, the driver had seemed sketchy too—except he was just being cautious, while the driver had gone straight to calling the cops.

The driver went quiet. Neither of them was blameless, but looking at the outcome, his mistake was definitely the bigger one.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..." The driver apologized repeatedly.

Shen Dongqing rubbed his knees and waved his hand helplessly, not holding it against the driver. "It's good to be cautious. I can only blame this on too many coincidences."

"How about I drive you back later? Or wherever you need to go, I'll give you a free ride." The driver said. He couldn't offer any other compensation, so the least he could do was be Shen Dongqing's free driver for the day.

After saying that, the driver also tried to send back the fare Shen Dongqing had paid. He really couldn't accept that money.

Shen Dongqing stopped him. The driver was just being vigilant—the fare still had to be paid. The two went back and forth for a bit, and in the end, Shen Dongqing only agreed to let the driver take him to the Market Supervision Bureau and then drop him off at home. As for the fare he'd already paid, he flat-out refused to take it back.

The reason Shen Dongqing had the driver take him to the Market Supervision Bureau was that he realized his pressure cooker could really cause misunderstandings. If he took the bus like he'd originally planned, it might cause even more trouble.

Seeing how firm Shen Dongqing was, the driver had no choice but to agree.

"So, what about this guy?" The driver looked at Xiao Ze. Shen Dongqing knew this cop—he'd come to deliver the rock sugar pear soup, only to get pinned to the ground by him. Was he still going to give him some?

Shen Dongqing glanced at Xiao Ze and sighed. Was he mad?

How could he not be mad after being pinned to the ground? But after understanding the full situation and seeing how nervous and worried Xiao Ze looked, he couldn't really stay mad.

If Shen Dongqing had really been a criminal, Xiao Ze would've been the first to rush in—and the one in the most danger.

"I originally made you several rock sugar pears. You should eat one now." Shen Dongqing glanced at Xiao Ze. "Alright, go get it. I still need to bring some to the others at the Market Supervision Bureau."

Only then did Xiao Ze confirm that Shen Dongqing wasn't mad. He quickly went to the car and brought the pressure cooker back.

"Brother Shen, it's a bit sunny out here. Let me help you inside to rest for a bit." Du Wei was trying to get on Shen Dongqing's good side.

Though his suggestion did make sense. Xiao Ze didn't say anything, just followed along.

When Shen Dongqing got to the rest area at the police station and saw Xiao Ze still standing there holding the pressure cooker without moving, he couldn't help but sigh. "I'm not even mad at you, so what are you pouting about?"

Xiao Ze pressed his lips together slightly. He didn't know either.

Shen Dongqing glanced at Du Wei and the others nearby and told them to go grab some containers for the rock sugar pear soup. Whatever Xiao Ze couldn't eat, they could split among themselves.

The others hadn't reacted yet, but Du Wei and Zhou Hua's eyes lit up, and they quickly dragged the others out.

"Come sit next to me." Shen Dongqing patted the spot next to him, gesturing for Xiao Ze to come over.

Xiao Ze came over, set down the pressure cooker, and said quietly, "I'm sorry."

If he'd realized sooner that it was Shen Dongqing, this misunderstanding never would have happened.

"Do you think you messed up?" Shen Dongqing propped his chin on his hand and tilted his head to ask.

Xiao Ze shook his head.

Shen Dongqing let out a relieved breath, then suddenly slapped Xiao Ze's shoulder, his face scrunching up in pain.

This guy's muscles were way too hard. That one slap had hurt him more than it hurt Xiao Ze.

"You really didn't do anything wrong. When facing danger, you have to act without hesitation—hesitating will only get you hurt." Shen Dongqing tried to pinch Xiao Ze's muscle again. After all, slapping had backfired and hurt him, but pinching shouldn't hurt.

But as soon as he moved, Shen Dongqing realized he still hadn't recovered from the fatigue of cutting meat. Big movements were fine, but small ones left him with no strength.

Shen Dongqing withdrew his hand awkwardly and wrapped it up: "Alright, if you feel bad about this, just teach me how to counter someone's moves later."

After being pinned down like that, Shen Dongqing realized he was terrible at breaking free. He might as well find someone to teach him.

Hearing this, Xiao Ze nodded eagerly and asked, "When are you free?"

"Not anytime soon. I need to recover from this fall first, and then I have to get my driver's license. At least half a month from now—I'll hit you up then." Shen Dongqing calculated his schedule and said.

"Should you, uh, put something on that?" Xiao Ze looked at Shen Dongqing's knee.

Shen Dongqing rolled up his pant leg and saw that the wound was just a little red. It would probably bruise later, but the skin wasn't broken, so it was fine.

Seeing that it wasn't as serious as he'd feared, Xiao Ze also relaxed and quickly went to get an ice pack to put on Shen Dongqing's knee.

After the cold compress, Du Wei and Zhou Hua came back with bowls. Shen Dongqing opened the pressure cooker. While its insulation wasn't the best, the weather was hot, so when he opened it, a fresh, sweet smell spread through the air.

"You guys..." Shen Dongqing didn't know them very well and wasn't sure how to divide things up.

"I'll handle the distribution. How many do you need for the Market Supervision Bureau?" Xiao Ze took over the conversation and asked.

"Eight for the bureau." Shen Dongqing said. He'd spent four days there and knew quite a few people. They weren't close, but they'd worked together, and he couldn't play favorites—everyone had worked hard during those inspection days.

Xiao Ze knew what to do upon hearing the number. He counted the whole pears in the pot and started splitting them up.

There were only five cops present, so each could have half a pear.

Xiao Ze's hands were steady, and he picked pears of similar size—half a pear and a bowl of soup for each person.

The other two officers didn't know Shen Dongqing and didn't really want to come over for this. In their view, Shen Dongqing was only sharing to be polite. But Du Wei and Zhou Hua were especially enthusiastic, so after a moment's hesitation, they went along with the crowd.

Once they smelled the rock sugar pear soup, the other two officers couldn't help but swallow. It smelled way too good.

When the rock sugar pear hit their mouths, no one had room in their minds for anything else—they just felt grateful they'd managed to get in on this. Thinking about how other colleagues had tasted such delicious food while they'd missed out would've been devastating.

Du Wei felt like he'd barely eaten anything before the whole big bowl of rock sugar pear soup was gone. But he was still craving more—he could eat another bowl.

Just as he looked up, he saw Xiao Ze standing guard by the pressure cooker and immediately kept his mouth shut.

"You want some?" Xiao Ze had finished handing it out to the others, leaving only his own half of the pear dessert, and asked Shen Dongqing.

He remembered that sweets make people happy.

"Go ahead and eat yours. If I want some, I can make it anytime." Shen Dongqing thought Xiao Ze was still feeling guilty about what happened earlier and rolled his eyes at him. He'd never seen Xiao Ze so hung up on something.

Seeing Shen Dongqing acting like his usual self, Xiao Ze didn't ask again and focused on eating.

Looking at the remaining half of the pear dessert, Shen Dongqing waited for Xiao Ze to finish before having him deliver it to the driver, since he couldn't exactly bring it to the bureau.

The driver felt even more awkward and thanked him over and over. He really didn't deserve it.

And after tasting it, the driver finally got why Shen Dongqing had gone to all that trouble to bring the pear soup.

He'd thought it was weird to send a friend such a small treat. But now he got it—if you've got something this good and you share it instead of hogging it, that's a real friendship.

The driver suddenly felt jealous of Xiao Ze.

Others in the police station were also jealous of Xiao Ze. As they walked Shen Dongqing out, Du Wei watched him leave, looking wistful, and couldn't help asking, "Brother Xiao, do you think Brother Shen will come back again?"

If it were him, he probably wouldn't want to come back. But if Shen Dongqing didn't, that'd be a huge loss for them.

The others didn't say anything, but their eyes said it all.

Xiao Ze stayed quiet. Honestly, he wasn't sure if Shen Dongqing would come back.

...

The driver drove steadily and brought Shen Dongqing to the entrance of the market supervision bureau. By the time they got there, the bureau was about to close.

Fortunately, everyone at the bureau knew Shen Dongqing. Seeing him hauling a big pressure cooker, they didn't think much of it. When they found out he was there for Jiang Chao, they quickly called him out.

Jiang Chao came out grinning, and his smile got even wider when he saw Shen Dongqing.

"Brother Jiang, you're grinning like you found a wad of cash." Shen Dongqing joked.

"No cash, but something even better." Jiang Chao clapped Shen Dongqing on the shoulder, and Shen Dongqing let out a hiss.

;

Jiang Chao gave Shen Dongqing a once-over and noticed some dust on his clothes. "What happened? You take a spill?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah, you could say that." Shen Dongqing filled him in on the misunderstanding from earlier.

Jiang Chao eyed the marks on Shen Dongqing's wrist and couldn't help blurting out, "Xiao Ze went way too hard."

Shen Dongqing dropped the subject and got to the point.

"I don't really know the others that well, so it's awkward for me to hand these out. Mind helping me pass them out?"

"No problem, I got you." Jiang Chao said. "Take a seat, I'll go hand them out."

He rushed to pass them out before everyone clocked out.

After handing out the pear desserts, Jiang Chao came back and couldn't help saying, "Man, your cooking is insane. I meant to come right back after handing them out, but the second I popped the lid, I just ate mine on the spot."

If he didn't eat it right away, he was scared his share wouldn't make it.

"Alright, hand me the pot, I'm taking off." Shen Dongqing was about to head out after dropping everything off, but Jiang Chao suddenly looked like he wanted to say something.

"What's up? Something on your mind?" Shen Dongqing raised an eyebrow.

"It's only been two days—there's no way those guys are already causing trouble." Shen Dongqing was confused. Nobody's got balls that big.

"No, no, nothing like that." Jiang Chao shook his head and laid it all out.

Turns out the food safety crackdown by Ningchuan's market supervision bureau had blown up online and caught the attention of other cities. Seeing how well it worked in Ningchuan, those bureaus wanted to do the same thing, but their results weren't as good.

The main issue was their inspections were too slow, and a lot of stuff had to be sent to labs for machine testing. So they wanted to know if Shen Dongqing had any tricks up his sleeve.

"I told them you could sniff things out, but they still wanted me to ask if you had any other tricks." Jiang Chao sighed.

Shen Dongqing was about to say the trick was his nose, but then he remembered that as the Master Chef, he actually did have some tricks.

The Master Chef wasn't just a great cook—he was also a pro at spotting food fraud, which was why he could flag bad ingredients so fast.

"Wait, there are actual tricks?" Jiang Chao was shocked. "I thought you just smelled them?"

"I can use my nose, but even without it, I can catch problems from certain details." Shen Dongqing said. "It's just that there are a ton of details, and just writing it out might not be clear enough."

"Oh, that reminds me—ask them if they want me to come by and help. I can film some stuff while I'm there." Shen Dongqing said.

"Footage?" Jiang Chao was puzzled.

"I'm just one guy; I can't check the whole country. Food safety needs more eyes on it." Shen Dongqing's plan was simple: put together two versions of a guide. One would be for internal use by the market supervision bureaus, spelling out how food gets faked and how to spot the bad stuff.

The other would be for the public, showing them how to pick good ingredients and what bad ones look like.

This idea hit Shen Dongqing after today's livestream. He'd gotten his Fame Points from netizens. Some stuff he couldn't share, but this kind of know-how was perfect to pass along.

The only catch was that bad ingredients were hard to come by, and even when he found them, getting clear photos was a pain. Shen Dongqing was stressing over that when Jiang Chao came through, which made him even more sure his idea was the way to go.