"It's nothing, you go ahead with your work, I'll talk to you about something after dinner." Lin Chuan said before diving into his room, leaving Nuo Xiaoxi bewildered and alone.

The dinner was still sumptuous, meant not only to nourish Nuo Xiaoxi but also to satisfy Lin Chuan's appetite. Consequently, Mrs. Lin had given almost half of her savings to Nuo Xiaoxi, telling her not to feel restrained and to buy whatever she wanted to eat. After all, they were now a family. Nuo Xiaoxi also considered herself the daughter-in-law of the Lin family, thus she took on Mrs. Lin's responsibilities. She visited the Lin family every now and then, cooking and doing laundry...

After dinner, Mrs. Lin excused herself to visit the neighbors next door, leaving the space for the youngsters.

After clearing the table, Nuo Xiaoxi timidly stood in front of Lin Chuan: "Brother Lin, I... I'll go fetch some water for you to soak your feet. It's very comfortable to soak feet in winter..."

"Oh, no need for now." Lin Chuan stood up and held Nuo Xiaoxi down on the sofa next to him.

Nuo Xiaoxi was somewhat nervous; she had fantasized countless times about sharing a bed with Lin Chuan and had prepared herself for it. Many girls in her class had given their first nights to their boyfriends, and Nuo Xiaoxi had learned some so-called bed experiences from them. However, she had never had any practical experience. Thus, she was a bit scared, having heard that the first time is painful. But how painful it was, she had no idea.

"Brother Lin, I…" Nuo Xiaoxi bowed her head, her hands nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, looking exceedingly cute when nervous, somewhat reminiscent of a Japanese girl, yielding and accommodating.

"Xiao Xi, there are only six months left until your college entrance exam." Lin Chuan took Nuo Xiaoxi's hands and said, "So, you shouldn't keep running to my place, it will distract you. What you should do now is to prepare for the exam seriously, aiming to get into a top university and then find a prestigious job, understand?"

"Brother Lin, do you think the food I cook isn't tasty?" Nuo Xiaoxi hurriedly looked at Lin Chuan and said: "I... I'll work hard to improve my cooking skills. My aunt said you prefer stronger flavors, maybe my food is too bland."

"No." Lin Chuan smiled: "The dishes you cook are very tasty, even better than what my mum makes. It's just that you are still a student, although your grades are not bad, you still need to work hard to aim for a better school, understand? Brother Lin regrets not studying well, now I can only work as a driver."

"I don't mind it." Nuo Xiaoxi's face flushed.

"So I can't let you end up unaccomplished like me." Lin Chuan said earnestly.

"I understand." Nuo Xiaoxi nodded seriously.

"So, you don't have to run to my house every day." Lin Chuan smiled: "Study hard, got it?"

"Yes." Nuo Xiaoxi nodded.

Lin Chuan smiled, pinched the tip of her nose and said, "Alright, hurry back to study."

"Brother Lin, you're so mean." Nuo Xiaoxi's face was flushed as she shyly ran off.

Watching Nuo Xiaoxi's shy demeanor, Lin Chuan couldn't help but laugh, thinking to himself, this girl is really clever. Lin Chuan sighed, Nuo Xiaoxi was a child born into hardship, with no money and no connections. If she wanted to change her life, she had to work hard in school to get into a key university and find a good job afterwards to improve her family's situation and change her life.

.........

Song Xiaojia had been very depressed recently, constantly fantasizing since the last time Lin Chuan touched and kissed her. Images of Lin Chuan getting handsy kept running through her head, to the point that she even dreamt of Lin Chuan sleeping with her at night, and it was distressing.

"Xiao Jia, what's been with you lately?" Zhang Wenhui curiously looked at Song Xiaojia: "You've been so out of it every day."

"Nothing." Song Xiaojia sighed and said: "Maybe I haven't been sleeping well."

"Really?" Zhang Wenhui showed his signature silly smile, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, and said: "Let's go get the results, they should be out by now."

"Okay." As soon as Song Xiaojia heard this, she immediately perked up as if a drug addict suddenly heard there was a fix waiting for them.

The two immediately got into a Santana car and sped towards the material laboratory at Jiangbei University. It had been a week since they sent the materials for testing. Checking various coefficients of the materials really did take some time. A week should be just fine.

They reached the school and entered the laboratory, finding the teacher responsible for their project.

"How is it?" Song Xiaojia asked anxiously.

"Don't rush." Zhang Wenhui appeared very calm, smiled, and asked: "Mr. Liu, are the material tests out yet? Is every data verified?"

"Yes." A long-haired female teacher, wearing frameless glasses, took out a set of results from a drawer and handed them to Zhang Wenhui, saying, "I've already removed the names of the testing institution and the verifier from the report. Our lab won't acknowledge this report, but I swear on my integrity that this data is one hundred percent accurate."

As soon as Zhang Wenhui heard it, he immediately realized the seriousness of the matter. Mr. Liu spoke so confidently, which meant that the materials sent for testing were substandard. Zhang Wenhui hurriedly took the test results. He scanned them briefly and immediately understood.

"Okay, thank you." Zhang Wenhui took the test results and left the laboratory.

"Captain Zhang." Song Xiaojia quickly followed him and asked anxiously, "Let me take a look, I haven't seen it yet."

"No need to look." Zhang Wenhui said with a smile.

"What happened?" Song Xiaojia asked urgently.

"The hardness of the furnace structure materials at the Vanguard Chemical Factory is only eight. The National Quality Supervision Bureau and the international standards commonly require that the hardness of materials must be above ten, even demanding twelve." Zhang Wenhui, holding a cigarette, stood at the entrance of Jiangbei University and said with a cold smile, "There must be a problem here."

"What?" Song Xiaojia was shocked, she hurriedly took the test results and glanced at them, indeed, there were issues with the material hardness. Additionally, the testing of the chemical agents was problematic. Song Xiaojia had been investigating this case for over a month and knew the data by heart. Compared to the data announced by Vanguard Chemical Factory, their published data was false. Song Xiaojia's expression turned grave, "Captain Zhang, we should go to Director Chen."

"It's useless to go to anyone." Zhang Wenhui said with a disdainful smile.

"Why?" Song Xiaojia asked, puzzled.

"The matter is very deep." Zhang Wenhui once again showed that devilish smile, saying coldly, "The existence of nepotism will make it impossible for you to investigate further."

"Then what should we do?" Song Xiaojia asked urgently, "Are we just going to let it go?"

"Let's first probe Director Chen's intentions," Zhang Wenhui suddenly said with a smile.

The two rushed to the police station feeling urgent, Director Chen was in his office savoring a cup of Da Hong Pao tea that someone had given him. At that moment, Zhang Wenhui and Song Xiaojia walked in.

"Do you two need something?" Director Chen asked curiously.

"Director Chen." At that moment, Song Xiaojia handed over the materials she had just acquired, saying, "This is the test report for the furnace materials and chemical agents from Vanguard Chemical Factory, severely substandard. Please immediately file a case, put together a special task force, and thoroughly investigate this matter."

Director Chen was stunned, he didn't even look at the report and directly tucked it into a drawer.

"Old Zhang." At this time, Director Chen said earnestly, "You are an old party member and veteran policeman, why are you still so impulsive and rash? Some things are not as simple as you think. How many times have I told you, let's end this matter here."

"Why?" Song Xiaojia frowned.

"Because the results will never be found." Director Chen glanced at them and sneered, "Besides, there are so many other matters in Jiangbei City that you're not attending to, yet you persist in futile efforts. Is this interesting? Don't let down the expectations of the party and the people, understand the bigger picture?"

"Director Chen!" Song Xiaojia exclaimed urgently.

"Alright, both of you leave." Director Chen glanced at them and said, "This matter ends here. No more persistence."

Since coming in, Zhang Wenhui hadn't said a word. Seeing Director Chen's attitude, he nodded slightly, thoughtfully, and immediately turned around to leave. Seeing Zhang Wenhui leave, Song Xiaojia also hurriedly followed out. As they left the director's office, Song Xiaojia appeared somewhat disheartened and disappointed.

"What? You can't muster up any spirit?" Zhang Wenhui looked at Song Xiaojia with a smile, his yellow-stained teeth showing.

"Sigh…" Song Xiaojia sighed, saying, "I am becoming more and more confused, am I still the me of before? Back then, I was determined to be a police officer, even going against my father's wishes. It was because I wanted to be a righteous police officer who serves the people. But now, everything seems different from what I imagined."

"Silly girl, you'll get used to it over time," Zhang Wenhui sighed and said, "You and I were so similar when I first started. Every new officer starts wanting to uphold justice and serve the people. But what about later? It's always different."

"Captain Zhang..." Song Xiaojia, confusedly looked at Zhang Wenhui, asked, "Do I also have to become like them, smoothing out my edges, turning into a smooth, vulgar person?"

"You always have to remember my words." Zhang Wenhui looked at Song Xiaojia, "Some people might look bad, but they aren't necessarily bad people; and some that look good aren't necessarily good people either."

"So, being somewhat bad doesn't necessarily mean a bad cop; being good doesn't necessarily mean a good cop?" Song Xiaojia asked curiously.

"Yes." Zhang Wenhui nodded, saying, "Actually, there's something I've always wanted to tell you."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.