Chapter 37

Chapter 37

While taking a break from drying the beef jerky, Shen Dongqing searched online but found no news about the pressure cooker bomb. He figured it was probably because the incident had just happened and the news hadn't spread yet.

Shen Dongqing didn't think Meng Xiao was lying just to get attention. If she wanted attention, she would've said it in the chat rather than privately messaging him.

Ten portions of beef jerky were ready, and Shen Dongqing continued the lottery. He had fifty portions total and had originally planned to give them all away at once, but his fans strongly suggested splitting it into five rounds, with winners excluded from subsequent draws—supposedly to boost their chances.

Shen Dongqing didn't quite get how that improved anyone's odds. The odds were exactly the same; it just went from one draw deciding everything to five separate draws. But since the fans wanted it that way, he went with it.

The winners were thrilled, while those who didn't win felt a little let down. But that feeling was purely about luck, since fans didn't have super high expectations for the taste.

Shen Dongqing continued baking the jerky. When he got to the last batch, he counted and realized he could squeeze out one more portion, though it was a bit smaller than the others.

He set that extra portion aside and checked the winner list. Meng Xiao wasn't on it, so he decided to send that leftover portion to her.

Meng Xiao had also been watching the lottery results. She was feeling bummed about not winning when she suddenly got a private message from Shen Dongqing.

"There's a little beef jerky left over. This isn't part of the lottery—it's a personal gift from me. Send me your address and I'll mail it to you."

"I'm not sending this privately because of your gift. It's because you stopped a tragedy from happening."

Meng Xiao initially wanted to say no, but after reading the second message, she hesitated for a moment before sending her address.

Since all the winners were in the livestream, Shen Dongqing quickly gathered fifty-one addresses.

He bought a vacuum sealer from the system mall to vacuum-pack the jerky. It was hot out, and even though beef jerky doesn't spoil easily, vacuum sealing would keep it fresher for longer.

Without wasting any time, Shen Dongqing took two boxes of jerky to the shipping place and used expedited cold-chain shipping, getting everything out the same day.

The shipping place owner was thrilled with such a big order, grinning from ear to ear as he helped Shen Dongqing package all the jerky.

Shen Dongqing entered each tracking number one by one and sent them to the winners.

After shipping everything, he got home and was greeted by a fragrant aroma of beef with a hint of sweetness.

It wasn't as rich as the potato beef stew from last time, but it was still super enticing—the savory scent curling into his nose, making him want to breathe in more.

...

So fragrant!

The moment Jiang Qiuhui got home, she caught the fresh beef smell. Following the smell, she unconsciously walked up to the fourth floor and found where it was coming from.

Shen Dongqing had just opened the oven to take out the beef jerky when he heard footsteps outside his door.

But those footsteps weren't Luo Meilan and her daughter's—he could tell.

He initially figured the person was just passing by, but then they stopped right in front of his door.

Shen Dongqing set down the jerky, grabbed a nearby spatula, and walked to the door to peek out. He didn't see anyone, but based on the footsteps, the person hadn't left.

Were they hiding?

His heart tightened, and he quickly pulled up the door camera feed.

Shen Dongqing stared at the monitor, falling into speechless silence.

He recognized the woman in the footage—his upstairs neighbor, who usually showed up well-dressed with flawless makeup. But now she was crouching at his door... was she sniffing the air?

His camera had audio, but at that moment, he didn't know whether to speak up. If he did, she'd probably be mortified.

But now he understood why Jiang Qiuhui was crouching at his door—she must have caught the smell of the beef jerky and couldn't resist.

Jiang Qiuhui was still entranced, breathing in the meaty smell seeping through the door, when her phone rang, snapping her back to reality. She quickly picked up.

"I'm already upstairs, almost home." Jiang Qiuhui explained briefly, then gave the door one last reluctant look before getting ready to leave.

But as she turned, she spotted the camera on the wall and froze.

Had her little moment just now been caught on camera?!

She tried to reassure herself that maybe the camera wasn't working, but then she remembered what her mom had said.

"I heard the people downstairs had a home invasion. If it weren't for the young man next door stepping in, Luo Meilan and her daughter might have been in serious trouble. Luo Meilan even bought a security camera—apparently it catches anyone standing at the door. Should we get one too?"

How many seconds had she been standing there?

She was definitely on camera!

Jiang Qiuhui tried to suppress her embarrassment but couldn't. Her face turned red as she grabbed her bag and hurried upstairs.

Shen Dongqing watched her walk away and felt embarrassed for her.

He thought that would be the end of it, but just as he was putting away the jerky, someone knocked on his door. Peeking through the peephole, he saw the old lady from upstairs.

When the door opened, the meaty smell got stronger. The old lady swallowed and said, "Xiao Shen, your beef jerky smells amazing. My daughter has a thing for this kind of food. Can you tell me how you make it?"

Shen Dongqing thought for a moment, then gave her his livestream account. He said he'd cut today's beef jerky session into a clip, and she could follow along with the video.

"Grandma, if you don't know what livestreaming is, have your daughter come over and I can—" Shen Dongqing started, considering she might not be familiar with it.

"I know, I know! I watch livestreams every day." The old lady cut him off, immediately following his account, and even praised him for having hundreds of thousands of fans.

"Xiao Shen, was that potato beef brisket from last time also yours?" The old lady asked, recalling something.

Shen Dongqing nodded.

"Xiao Shen, keep streaming. With your skills, making food videos will definitely make you big money." The old lady showered him with praise.

Shen Dongqing blinked. Something felt off.

The old lady got his account, praised him a few more times, and left.

"Mom, did you get it?" Jiang Qiuhui asked anxiously when she saw her mom come back.

"Why didn't you ask him yourself then?" Her mom shot her a look.

Jiang Qiuhui's face flushed again involuntarily. "Mom, you don't know how long I was crouching at his door. I—I just couldn't ask!"

"Alright, alright, I got it. Xiao Shen filmed himself making the jerky, but it was during a livestream, so either watch the replay or wait for him to cut a clip later." Her mom said.

"He's a streamer?" Jiang Qiuhui said, surprised. But thinking about Shen Dongqing's face and cooking skills, it all made sense. Someone good-looking like him becoming a streamer made more sense than working an ordinary job—that would just waste his looks and talent.

Once she learned his account name, Jiang Qiuhui quickly followed him. She noticed several past replays and clips. The thumbnails looked a bit odd—not like cooking videos—but she clicked on one anyway.

After watching for a while, Jiang Qiuhui looked up, a bit confused.

She had expected a handsome face and cooking skills, but the entire video was about how to spot a thief?

If Shen Dongqing's face hadn't kept popping up in the video, she'd have figured she followed the wrong account.

……

Shen Dongqing never thought he'd get this obsessed over food. He'd told himself the jerky was too precious to wolf down all at once.

But after seeing the old lady from upstairs off and taking a bite of the beef jerky, he was totally in the zone, scarfing it down like nothing else mattered.

It wasn't until his jaw got sore and his teeth started hurting that he realized he'd already eaten half the jerky.

That was a full two pounds of beef—even after drying, it was still a hefty amount.

And he'd just plowed through it.

Shen Dongqing stared at the remaining jerky, hesitated for a moment, and decided to show some restraint.

If he killed the whole bag, he'd be happy now but regret it later. He didn't have the Master Chef Card anymore, so he had to make this last.

Most importantly, this was a snack—using it as a meal replacement would be a total waste.

After vacuum-sealing the jerky and stashing it away, Shen Dongqing started scrolling his phone to take his mind off it and saw that word about the pressure cooker bomb was starting to get around.

The police weren't the first to break the story—someone at the bomb disposal scene posted a video. Even though the video was shot from far away and hard to see clearly, it was enough to draw attention.

……

Li Jia kept getting grilled at the detention center, because even though Li Jia said it was revenge on a scumbag boyfriend, who's to say he wasn't just using that as an excuse, since making a bomb for terrorism carries a way heavier sentence.

"Why did you insist on making a bomb to kill your boyfriend instead of using other methods to get revenge?" the police officer asked sternly.

That's what had everyone scratching their heads. There'd been crimes of passion before, but folks usually went with a knife or poison. But you go and build a bomb—that's overkill, like using a nuke on an ant.

"I... I didn't dare kill someone." Locked up in the detention center, Li Jia was clearly scared shitless and stammered out his answer.

"Didn't dare kill someone?" The cop almost thought he'd heard wrong. You were literally about to kill someone, and you're telling me you don't dare kill?!

"I... I didn't dare kill with my own hands." Realizing the cop might've misunderstood, Li Jia quickly explained, "I... I couldn't do it myself. I can't even kill a chicken. When I was a kid, my dad made me slit one's throat, and I couldn't do it—I could only hold its feet."

That explanation made it click for the officer. Killing someone with your own hands takes a huge mental toll. Even cops who'd been in shootings had used guns—hardly anyone ever used a knife.

"I thought about poisoning him too, but I never found the chance." Li Jia said, sounding defeated. He'd gotten his hands on poison, but every time he met up with the scumbag, it was straight to the bedroom—no chance to slip it in.

After wrapping up the interrogation, the cop stared at the transcript with a mixed look on his face. In the whole mess between Li Jia and his boyfriend, the boyfriend was clearly the victim—he'd had a bright future ahead of him, but after getting HIV, his life was basically over.

Wanting revenge was only human. Honestly, if he'd gone after revenge without dragging innocent people into it, yeah, they'd still have to arrest him, but the cops wouldn't have been so hard on him. But he picked the most dangerous option, and even when things went sideways, his first thought was to run, not fix it.

If Meng Xiao hadn't stumbled onto that pressure cooker bomb, it would've gone off on a bus during rush hour, and God knows how many people would've been hurt.

With the news already out and rumors swirling, plus the investigation wrapped up, the Chongshan police rushed out a short statement to stop the wild speculation online.

"Damn, I thought the bomb was fake news, but it's actually real"

"Oh my god, this bus route—that's the exact bus I take home. Please tell me I wasn't on it yesterday."

"Bro, if you were actually on that bus, you're one lucky SOB"

"Huge shoutout to the girl who caught it in time. If she hadn't, this could've been way worse"

"Who knew a pressure cooker could be rigged into a bomb with that much punch"

"I knew, but nobody thinks twice about a pressure cooker. Guess we all gotta be more careful now"

"This is just like that whole debate about ditching subway security checks because they 'waste time.' Buses don't have checks, and this thing got right on. If it'd been the subway, it would've been caught ages ago"

"Buses can't exactly have security checks either, but this is a serious problem"

If this were just about the pressure cooker bomb, it'd get some attention but not a ton. But the whole 'are subway security checks even necessary' debate had just cooled off, and now this news pops up, instantly tying back to security checks and rocketing to number one on the trending list.

A reporter caught wind of the buzz, dug up that Meng Xiao was the first to spot the bomb and helped the driver get everyone off safely, and went straight to interview her.

The reporter started by heaping praise on Meng Xiao's sharp eyes, guts, and smarts, laying it on so thick that Meng Xiao's head was spinning, then asked about the entire experience of discovering the bomb.

"Miss Meng, how did you realize the pressure cooker might be a bomb?" the reporter asked casually. In her mind, that question was just a warm-up, nothing juicy.

The real meat was how Meng Xiao handled things after finding the bomb—that's what people actually cared about.

"Because of a livestream," Meng Xiao said, totally serious.

The reporter blinked. Did she just space out? How did the conversation suddenly jump to livestreaming?

"My favorite streamer is this guy named Shen Dongqing. He streams on Tianfeng and does outdoor stuff."

The reporter got a weird feeling. Wasn't this supposed to be an interview? Why was Meng Xiao suddenly plugging someone?!

The reporter was about to stop her, but Meng Xiao kept going.

"He was bringing some soup he'd made to a friend, and since he didn't have anything else to put it in, he carried it in a pressure cooker. The driver got the wrong idea and called the cops, and it ended up being a total misunderstanding."

"So, that's what made you more suspicious of pressure cookers?" the reporter asked.

"Yeah, at first I thought it was hilarious, so I looked it up. I couldn't find any real photos, just concept art, but it stuck with me..." Meng Xiao nodded.

After the interview wrapped, the reporter went back to edit the footage. When she saw that opening question, she was about to chop it out completely. But then she remembered how Meng Xiao kept asking if the whole thing could air, so she hesitated and decided to include the full story—just without Shen Dongqing's name.

The interview hit the news fast. People who saw it couldn't get over how insanely coincidental it all was.

"So according to the girl who found the bomb, if she hadn't watched that livestream, she probably never would've noticed it"

"I used to think watching livestreams was a total waste of time, but now I see it's not all bad—you can actually pick up stuff from them"

"Nah, the real MVP is that driver who called the cops. Without him, the streamer wouldn't have known a pressure cooker could be turned into a bomb either"

"That driver's got some serious knowledge"

"When you trace this whole thing back, it's pure luck. If the driver had just minded his own business and not made a fuss, the girl never would've known about it, and then..."

"I looked up the bus route. According to the cops, the bomb would've gone off right by a middle school. Some of those kids take the bus home. If it'd blown... thank God it didn't"

"Holy shit, it would've gone right past a middle school. That guy who planted the bomb is a straight-up monster"

"I heard when they caught him, he was running and didn't even give a damn about the bomb. That's pure trash"

"I've heard this guy's story—apparently he caught HIV from some scumbag. I actually felt bad for him at first, but after seeing the interview, why didn't his own bomb take him out?"

Someone in the drivers' group saw the news and thought the story sounded familiar. After thinking about it, wasn't this what Xiao Liu from their group had dealt with? They immediately hit him up.

Driver Xiao Liu had been feeling guilty ever since he realized he'd misjudged Shen Dongqing, especially after Shen Dongqing handed him a bowl of rock sugar pear soup. That made him even more ashamed, and he swore he'd stop being so quick to suspect people.

He was mid-drive when his phone started blowing up with group messages. He tapped in and saw the news.

So even though he caused a misunderstanding, he actually ended up doing a good thing!

...

Shen Dongqing woke up early and noticed his Fame Points had gone up a bit. Then he saw Meng Xiao's news story.

Looking at the story Meng Xiao shared, Shen Dongqing could see her intention—she was probably trying to help promote him.

However, since the reporter didn't mention his name, the Fame Points didn't increase much, but Shen Dongqing didn't mind—it was an unexpected bonus.

Shen Dongqing got up, and since it was still early, he went out to exercise and bought some groceries on his way back.

As he headed upstairs, Shen Dongqing overheard an argument.

"Mom, I'm not moving." A young woman's voice rang out.

"Even if someone deliberately set the fire, that doesn't mean it was him. Don't overthink it."

"How could it not be him? Your life was so peaceful before. He just got out of prison, and now this happens to you—he must have tracked you down." The middle-aged woman's voice sounded anxious.

"If it really is him, my knife isn't just for show. I'll be waiting for him."

"If you actually use the knife, you'll ruin your life. You'd end up in prison too. Besides, he's a man, stronger than you. What if he takes the knife from you?"

As the two argued, they noticed a stranger approaching and fell silent.

Shen Dongqing walked past them, and just as he reached his door, the argument downstairs resumed.

"I'm not moving, Mom. I already moved here from my hometown. If he can still track me down, moving won't help. Mom, you be careful, and don't come to my place. I know what I'm doing."

Shen Dongqing was pretty observant about what went on around him. When Luo Meilan and her daughter came back, he asked about the situation downstairs.

"You're talking about Xiao Ye? Did you hear something?" Luo Meilan asked cautiously.

Shen Dongqing thought for a moment and then repeated what he had heard when he got home.

"I'm worried something might happen." Shen Dongqing said.

"Ah, Xiao Ye is from my hometown. She moved here from back home. She's had a rough life." Luo Meilan sighed and began telling Ye Hao's story.

Two years ago, a man from the same town tried to rape her. Fortunately, someone passed by and intervened, and the man was arrested for attempted rape and sent to prison.

"That man was yelling at the time that when he got out, he would definitely get revenge on Xiao Ye. Everyone in our town knows he's a loose cannon. Attempted rape doesn't get you a long sentence. Xiao Ye moved out of her place and came to stay with me back then. Now, figuring the timeline, he should be out of prison by now. He might really come looking for her." Luo Meilan sighed.

"Look, I know it sounds cowardly to say this, but Xiao Ye should still move away. You can be on guard for a thousand days, but you can't guard against a thief forever." Luo Meilan shook her head.

Of course, besides that, Luo Meilan also had a little selfish thought—if the rapist came to get revenge on Xiao Ye, would he also do something else while he was at it?

Luo Meilan decided to go talk to Ye Hao later and convince her to leave.

Ye Hao had lived here for a long time, so her address might have been figured out. As long as she found a place where he couldn't find her, she'd be safe. Why risk a confrontation?

Before hearing Ye Hao's story, Shen Dongqing thought the odds of something happening to her were about fifty percent. After hearing the full story, he thought they had risen to ninety percent.

The remaining ten percent was the possibility that the police had already caught the arsonist. If he was in prison, then he couldn't get revenge.

"That rapist has probably already started his revenge." Shen Dongqing mentioned the clothes on the balcony catching fire. "If I'm not mistaken, it was probably him."

As for who the rapist was, Shen Dongqing, for some reason, thought of the person he had run into last time when he came back from buying meat.

"Does the rapist look like this?" Shen Dongqing said, describing the person he had seen.

"No, no." Hearing Shen Dongqing describe the person as skinny and scrawny, Luo Meilan shook her head repeatedly.

"People who know him call him Donggua. He's fat and short, and ugly too. Otherwise, he wouldn't have struggled to find a girlfriend even in his twenties. His family tried to set him up on blind dates, but none of the women were interested."

"Could prison have made him lose weight?" Shen Dongqing offered a guess.

Luo Meilan hadn't thought of that. At that point, Shen Dongqing had already pulled up the surveillance footage from two days ago and showed it to Luo Meilan.

"This... doesn't look like him!" Luo Meilan frowned, confused.

Shen Dongqing looked at the surveillance. The camera hadn't captured the person's face directly, and due to the camera angle, the face looked a bit different from how it normally looks.

"Luo, take a look at this." Shen Dongqing picked up a pen and paper and sketched a face.

Shen Dongqing's drawing skills were practically nonexistent, but he was great at nailing facial features. Luo Meilan looked at the face, then at the surveillance footage, and her jaw dropped: "It really does look like him, just thinner."

Although the face was much thinner, you could tell it was him at a glance.

"Oh no, it really is him. Shen, can I show this to Xiao Ye?" Luo Meilan said.

When Shen Dongqing nodded, she hurriedly took the sketch and rushed downstairs.

Ye Hao heard the knock on the door, cautiously peered through the peephole, and only opened the door when she saw it was Luo Meilan and no one was with her.

As soon as Luo Meilan came in, she first noticed the knife sitting on the shoe cabinet and silently sighed.

She could tell that although Ye Hao said she wasn't afraid, she was actually on edge.

She could understand Ye Hao because she had been the same lately. After the incident where Zhao Zhi almost killed her, she had stashed weapons all over her home, just in case.

Luo Meilan didn't beat around the bush. She simply told Ye Hao about Shen Dongqing's discovery and showed her the sketch.

Ye Hao clutched the sketch tightly, looking at the face that was both strange and familiar, her body trembling slightly.

"It really is him."

Ye Hao's phone rang—it was the police calling. They had also identified the person who threw the cigarette butt from upstairs, and it was Wang Song, who had just been released from prison.

But they hadn't caught him. He was in hiding.

"He's hiding, so that means he definitely wants to get revenge on you." Luo Meilan, overhearing the call, became anxious.

"Xiao Ye, ask them what your options are. Can the police protect you?" Luo Meilan had originally wanted Ye Hao to move, but now she changed her mind. If Wang Song had already targeted Ye Hao, moving wouldn't help at all.

The police, learning that Ye Hao might be the target of Wang Song's deliberate revenge, said they could apply for a protection order for her and would arrest Wang Song as soon as possible during the protection period.

"But what if they never catch him?" Hearing this, Ye Hao's eyes dropped slightly, looking at the knife beside her. "You can be on guard for a thousand days, but you can't guard against a thief forever."