The team had been busy all day, and finally, in the evening, they could pack up and go home.

Su Hui got in the car and checked his phone. He said, “Director Liao suddenly asked if I was free. He wants to have dinner near the school.”

Lu Junchi had accompanied him to the criminal academy’s defense meeting before and knew that Director Liao and Su Hui didn’t get along well. Hearing this, he found it a bit strange and asked, “Why does he suddenly want to have dinner with you?”

Su Hui shook his head and said, “But I heard from your brother that Director Liao is now teaching the public lecture I used to teach. I think I should go.”

He hadn’t completely quit his teaching job at Hua Police and didn’t want to have a falling out with the school’s teachers.

Lu Junchi was concerned and said, “Let me go with you.”

Su Hui hesitated a bit and asked, “Should I inform Director Liao?”

Lu Junchi asked, “Did Director Liao mention what he wants to talk about in the evening?”

Su Hui shook his head and replied, “He didn’t say. He just mentioned wanting to have dinner with me.”

“He didn’t say everything, so why worry?” Lu Junchi figured that Director Liao might have hidden intentions. He analyzed, “You’re not close, and he invites you to dinner to discuss confidential matters? Moreover, I know Director Liao too. In case he has any ulterior motives, I can back you up.”

Su Hui had always been indifferent to these social affairs, otherwise, he wouldn’t have received such evaluations at the academy.

But Lu Junchi was different. He guessed that Director Liao might have an agenda. Now that he found Su Hui and voluntarily mentioned having dinner, it could be that he wanted to trouble him or shift blame onto him.

If Director Liao honestly wanted to discuss official matters, Lu Junchi would stay silent. If he had other plans, Su Hui didn’t have to refuse, and Lu Junchi wouldn’t be polite.

Director Liao took the initiative and arranged to meet at a Cantonese restaurant near the school, giving Su Hui the name of a private room.

Su Hui reported to the waiter and they were led upstairs.

Once inside, they saw a large table. Su Hui realized he might have been overthinking things. Looking at the size of the private room, it was clear that more than one person would be coming.

Director Liao waved warmly and said, “Professor Su, you haven’t been to the school this semester. It’s been a long time.” Then he smiled at Lu Junchi and said, “Captain Lu is here too?”

Lu Junchi replied, “I happened to finish work and gave Teacher Su a ride here.”

Director Liao didn’t mind and said, “That’s great. Let’s have dinner together. Just one more pair of chopsticks.”

The waiter came in and asked, “Hello, how many people are there tonight?”

Director Liao replied, “A total of five. Everyone will be here soon. You can start serving the dishes.”

Just as he said that, two more people walked in from the doorway of the private room, a man and a woman. The woman looked a bit older, in her thirties, wearing glasses, while the man was slightly younger, with a gentle demeanor.

Director Liao quickly stood up to greet them and introduced them to Su Hui. “Let me introduce everyone. These two are reporters from Huadu Legal Daily. This is Professor Su, and the other one is the team leader of Huadu Bureau’s Major Crimes Unit, Captain Lu Junchi.”

The female reporter adjusted her glasses and introduced herself, “Hello, Captain Lu, Professor Su. I’m Lu Qingqing, a reporter from Huadu Legal Daily.”

The male reporter also introduced himself, “Hello, everyone. I’m Jiang Li.”

They all took their seats, and the dishes were served. Director Liao enthusiastically arranged, “Come, come, Huadu is not that big of a place. We’re all moving in the same direction, so let’s be friends. Let’s enjoy the meal without hesitation.”

Su Hui glanced at the scene, picked up his chopsticks and took a few bites of food, keeping his head lowered without saying a word.

Lu Junchi turned his head and exchanged a few words with the two individuals.

After eating for a while, Director Liao finally got to the point, “Well, Teacher Su, Huadu Legal Daily wants to do a special feature on criminal profiling recently. I heard that you teach at Huadu Police and also serve as a consultant for the Major Crimes Unit at the Municipal Bureau, so they would like to interview you.”

At this point, Lu Qingqing became interested and chimed in, “That’s right, I heard that you, Professor Su, have a pen name called Mr. Wu and have written many papers on criminal profiling.”

Su Hui humbly replied, “I have only published a few…”

Jiang Li added, “Coincidentally, Captain Lu is here too. The Major Crimes Unit recently solved a live-streaming murder case, and I heard that criminal profiling played a significant role in it… That’s how they were able to apprehend the killer in just one night and prevent further tragedies.”

“Criminal profiling doesn’t have such a significant impact. Many people romanticize it, but in reality, solving cases is the result of collective efforts,” Su Hui said, lowering his head as he scooped the soup in front of him with a spoon.

Jiang Li was persistent and asked more questions, trying to dig out some details.

When Su Hui was at the Municipal Bureau before, he was always protected and hidden behind the scenes. He didn’t like dealing with reporters, but he also felt that directly refusing would be disrespectful to Director Liao and the two individuals, so he responded with some polite words.

Lu Junchi saw his dilemma and spoke up, “Director Liao has been teaching at the school and may not be familiar with the internal procedures of our system. We have a unified media communication approach at the headquarters, and everyone has signed confidentiality agreements. The process of solving cases and the details of the cases cannot be discussed with the media. Although Su Hui is considered a teacher at Huadu Police, he is more of a consultant for our Major Crimes Unit and part of our headquarters. Any interviews or articles would need to go through our headquarters.”

Lu Junchi shifted the matter to the headquarters with a single sentence.

If they followed the formal process, Director Tan would understand the reasons behind it, and he would naturally help Su Hui handle it.

The reporter named Jiang Li smiled, “Captain Lu, you’re overthinking. We work for a legal newspaper, and we have contacts with people from various departments, including criminals and even leaders from the headquarters. We understand your procedures. If Professor Su is willing, we can just go through the motions. Rest assured, we know what can be written and what cannot be written…”

Lu Qingqing, sensing Lu Junchi’s soft approach, looked at the silent Su Hui and interrupted Jiang Li, explaining, “Oh, we saw the interview Professor Sui did with Capital Daily before, and it was well-received. We thought we could do something similar here, so we asked Director Liao for assistance. Since Captain Lu said so, then it’s fine. Let’s consider it getting to know each other.”

Seeing that Lu Junchi had helped him handle the situation, Su Hui humbly expressed a few more words, saying that Professor Sui had more experience and was more suitable for interviews.

Lu Junchi thought that he shouldn’t offend Director Liao completely, so he chimed in, saying that Director Liao was also well-versed in criminal psychology and had initially come to consult him on a case. He received guidance from Director Liao. Moreover, Director Liao was on the school side, so perhaps his oversight wasn’t as strict as theirs.

Upon hearing this, Director Liao finally smiled and mediated, “It’s okay, it’s okay. I was just trying to be helpful. Who would have known that the headquarters had such strict regulations? We can discuss the matter of the article later.”

On the newspaper side, Director Liao initially used his connections to arrange the interview. He thought his own papers were enough, but he also wanted to enhance his reputation through media publicity. Unexpectedly, the two journalists felt that his credentials were not sufficient, so they mentioned hearing that Mr. Wu was also teaching at the school and insisted on his introduction. They said that if they could interview Mr. Wu, they would apply for a large feature with the leadership.

Although the reach of print media is not as extensive as online media nowadays, Huadu Legal Daily’s public WeChat account is doing quite well and has a significant influence in society. Director Liao saw this as an opportunity to enhance his reputation.

He was worried that without the introduction, the feature article would be canceled. That’s why he coaxed Su Hui into having this meal.

Before Su Hui came back, Director Liao had already calculated the situation. He knew that based on Su Hui’s status and personality, he wouldn’t cooperate with this kind of thing.

When they all met, they realized that Su Hui couldn’t help, and naturally, they would still need to find him.

After finishing the meal, Lu Junchi claimed that there was something to attend to in their team and needed to return early. He accompanied Su Hui out of the private room.

Before they could get into the car, the male journalist named Jiang Li rushed out of the room and called out to them, “Professor Su, Captain Lu, I’ve been writing about legal topics for years. It’s nice to meet you all tonight. Can we exchange WeChat contacts?”

Lu Junchi could tell from his demeanor that he hadn’t given up on the exclusive interview. He took out his phone and said, “You can add me. If there’s anything, you can contact me.”

Jiang Li didn’t insist and added Lu Junchi’s WeChat. Then he went back.

Lu Junchi looked at Su Hui and sighed, “Director Liao is indeed someone who doesn’t waste his efforts.”

Su Hui generously responded, “It’s okay. The food here is quite delicious.”

At night, Su Hui had already gone to rest, while Lu Junchi finished compiling the information about the new case. Then he lay down on his bed.

He couldn’t fall asleep for a while as his mind was filled with many thoughts—the words the poet had said to him, the cases they had worked on together…

And those shining stars, one by one.

Two years ago, for a long time, he deliberately avoided thinking about it.

Because Poet had sealed away that part of their past. But now, because of Su Hui, he wanted to break those seals and find out what had really happened back then…

At that time, he was on a short business trip outside the city. They had already arranged to meet when he returned, but he suddenly received a voicemail message: “I’m sorry, we can’t meet anymore.”

The tone of the message was as calm and rational as ever.

When he first received that message, Lu Junchi was taken aback. The words came out of the blue. Just a few days ago, they were still discussing where to meet and passionately discussing various topics.

He tried calling back, but the phone was already turned off.

Lu Junchi hurriedly finished the case he was handling and rushed back to Huadu. That’s when he found out that something had happened during the time he was away. A severe explosion occurred a few days ago, causing numerous casualties. Soon after, all information about the case was sealed, and the Behavioral Analysis Unit was disbanded.

That case was extremely sensitive, and the media was eager to know the truth. The higher-ups had ordered a ban on discussing the case internally and externally among the police officers.

Since then, Poet’s account never logged in again.

Later, when the Behavioral Analysis Unit disbanded, the poet’s account showed as deactivated. Lu Junchi tried calling the poet’s phone number, but it was never answered.

All these events left Lu Junchi confused. He had wanted to find out what had happened back then and had even checked all the casualty lists. He visited the injured police officers involved in the explosion case, but none of them matched Poet’s description.

At that time, Lu Junchi felt like he was going crazy. He tried every possible way to contact the Poet. He wanted to understand the sudden message and, above all, confirm the poet’s safety.

However, shortly after that, Lu Junchi received a transfer order to take over the Major Crime Unit. He couldn’t say whether it was due to being extremely busy and unable to handle many things or if it was because he wanted to escape from those matters and invest more time in his work.

When he had occasional free time, Lu Junchi couldn’t understand why, if the poet was still alive, they had never appeared again and had never contacted him. Was the poet on some special mission?

What truly made him despair was a period of time after the explosion case. One day, he went to meet with Director Tan to submit the closing case report and accidentally overheard Director Tan talking on the phone.

At that time, Director Tan’s tone was extremely surprised. Lu Junchi heard him say, “What? The poet?” After a moment, he asked again into the phone, “Has it been confirmed that they are dead…? Don’t make this public for now. I will go to the hospital later…”

Director Tan spoke quietly, but Lu Junchi was sure he didn’t mishear.

In that moment, Lu Junchi felt his thoughts come to a halt. He couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe. He forgot how he had walked out of Director Tan’s office.

Then, he took three days off and locked himself in his room, sleeping for the entire three days.

Fortunately, there were no important cases during those three days.

What should have been the sweetest season in his life turned into the coldest summer.

Lu Junchi remembered asking the poet, “Why do you want to be a profiler?”

The poet had countered, “Why did you become a police officer?”

He had replied, “Being a police officer was my childhood dream. When I saw classmates being bullied, I would stand up for them. Fairness and justice are important to me, and my mother also taught me that. Later, my uncle got into the police academy and became a police officer. I followed in his footsteps and studied related fields.”

“I am different from you. Initially, I entered a related school because I was interested in criminology. There are so many evildoers in this world, and the reasons they take the path of crime are varied. Studying them is fascinating. Later, I met a great teacher who said I had talent. Since I had this ability, I couldn’t waste it. Who doesn’t want to live in the applause and praise of others?”

The poet paused for a moment and continued, “But when I truly started this job, I realized that what I faced was different from what I had imagined. It was the darkness in the city, the hidden secrets that ordinary people would never know. I found that I could do things others couldn’t, and it stirred compassion in my heart. I hoped to solve those mysteries and change the fate of certain individuals.”

For the sake of bringing more light into the world, he was willing to delve into darkness.

The poet, who initially only wanted to receive flowers and praise from others, had become someone who wished to fill society with flowers and sunshine.

Lu Junchi felt that perhaps he shouldn’t compare the poet to romantic poets because those poets sought a more beautiful world. The mundane world held too much evil and disappointment, which couldn’t retain such a beautiful Poet.

The Poet was already dead.

After accepting that fact, Lu Junchi packed up everything related to the Poet, leaving only the jar of stars. He threw himself completely into his work.

He speculated that the final message might have been left by the Poet, knowing what was about to happen.

A polite rejection in a text message still left a glimmer of hope, better than the sorrow of losing a lover. The poet probably didn’t want his youth wasted, waiting in vain for someone who would never return.

Time continued to pass. After experiencing confusion and despair, Lu Junchi, like a seriously ill patient, finally recovered.

But later on, it became a scar he didn’t want to touch…

When Lu Junchi first saw Su Hui, he noticed that his ideas, personality, voice, and the poet were completely different. Given this premise, he considered the possibility that Su Hui might be the Moonlight. However, after their interactions during this period, he began to doubt Su Hui’s identity.

Lu Junchi turned over in bed.

Recently, he had tested Su Hui a few times, and he felt like he was getting closer to that answer.

The results could only be one of two possibilities: either Su Hui was not the poet or Su Hui was the poet…

Now he wanted to know the answer, but he was also a little afraid.

Lu Junchi could sense that his fondness for Su Hui was growing day by day.

He wanted to understand him, protect him, and get closer to him.