Liang Zhen was actually in so much pain that he could barely stand straight, his brows furrowed, and he took a sharp breath before his first words were not about his own pain, but asking Shao Mingyin, “Are you okay?”

Shao Mingyin stiffly turned around, supporting Liang Zhen’s shoulder to give him another point of stability. The crowd on both sides fell into silence at first due to the injury of this young man, and then murmurs began to rise. Shao Mingyin heard them all. After Liang Zhen managed to stand on his own, he turned around again and shouted at the group of outsiders, “Shut the hell up!”

The crowd quieted down again at the reprimand, not making another sound. Liang Zhen was surprised by the outburst himself, never expecting the always calm and gentle Shao Mingyin to get angry, let alone curse. He had known Shao Mingyin for almost half a year, but this was the first time he had seen Shao Mingyin truly lose his temper.

He looked down at Gao Yunxiao, whose hand was still covering his face but tears had stopped flowing. As clever and eloquent as Gao Yunxiao was, he was still just a seven-year-old child. When things really got out of control, he was just as stunned. As for the impulsive old man who swung the hoe, he couldn’t even hold onto the weapon anymore, his hands trembling, unsure of what to do, looking at Liang Zhen as if he wanted to say something but was intimidated by Shao Mingyin’s earlier shout.

“You can’t settle it here? Fine, we’ll settle it at the station! You, and you,” Shao Mingyin pointed at the old man and Gao Yunxiao, “get in the car with me! Everyone else, disperse!”

Shao Mingyin’s words brooked no argument, and nobody dared to oppose him. He drove the old Santana parked by the roadside, and after Liang Zhen got into the passenger seat, he opened the back door and waited for them to get in. Gao Yunxiao indeed stopped crying, and he stopped covering his face. It seemed like he was mustering up some courage. He was the first to get into the car. Once he did, Gao Yunge would surely follow. The old man, unwilling as he was, had no choice but to follow suit.

So, instead of having dinner at home, Liang Zhen and Shao Mingyin found themselves back at the police station. Baogang hadn’t finished work yet. Seeing Shao Mingyin bringing people to the station, he could connect it to the phone call just made. He decided to stay back and wait with Shao Mingyin for some resolution before heading home.

However, even after arriving at the station, both Gao Yunxiao and the old man persisted with their own versions of events, each accusing the other of lying. Despite the efforts of the officers on duty and Shao Mingyin to persuade them to compromise, neither side was willing to relent.

Since the mediation began until now, Baogang hadn’t said a word. But seeing the clock nearing ten o’clock and the situation showing no signs of resolution, he began to feel anxious. He had dealt with stubborn old men before, but encountering such a stubborn and defiant child was a first for him.

“This can’t go on like this,” Baogang said, running a hand through his hair, only to remember he was bald and let his hand drop. He muttered to himself, thinking of a solution. “Maybe we should separate them later and talk to the officers individually. If they still can’t agree, we’ll call in the Family Mediation Office.”

“The Family Mediation Office?” Liang Zhen was momentarily surprised. “Chief, are you talking about the one specialized in mediation, the ‘Qiantang Family Mediation’?”

“Or we can call the 1818 Golden Eyes hotline,” Baogang replied. Seeing that Liang Zhen was familiar with the situation in Zhejiang TV, Baogang felt some desire to communicate with him. “Sometimes we also contact the TV stations in Taizhou. The 600 News and 600 Hotline of our friendly station are efficient too.”

“Ah…” Liang Zhen learned something new. He realized he should pay more attention to these channels when watching TV in the future. Baogang got up and walked away. Now, only Gao Yunge remained by Liang Zhen’s side. Inside the mediation room, he remained silent and motionless, occasionally glancing at the clock on the wall, opening and closing his phone screen repeatedly.

“Do you have something urgent?” Liang Zhen asked him.

“Nothing,” Gao Yunge said as he turned off his phone screen again. “The bar owner asked why I haven’t come yet.”

“If you can’t afford to skip it, you can go now. We’ll take your brother back later.”

“No,” Gao Yunge forced a smile, his voice low. “Even if I go now, I won’t have time to change clothes and put on makeup.”

“By the way,” Gao Yunge asked, “you’re not injured on your back, are you…” he paused, wanting to apologize and thank Liang Zhen. Liang Zhen waved his hand generously, saying it was nothing.

“How could I let Shao… how could I let the child get hurt? It’s okay, it’s okay.” Liang Zhen looked at him, adding another sentence unnecessarily to ease the tension. “Actually, you don’t need to wear a wig or makeup next time. You look good just the way you are now.”

“Without cross-dressing, I’m just ordinary… but life forces me to, if I want to make that money, I need some gimmick,” Gao Yunge laughed, lowering his head with some embarrassment. But when he thought of his younger brother, the smile quickly faded.

It was already evening, and several rooms in the police station were locked. The duty officers found it convenient to take the people directly to the interrogation room. After a few more words, there was still no progress. Baogang, standing outside the interrogation room, sighed. He scrolled through his WeChat and found the business card of Reporter Xiao Wu from 1818 Golden Eyes. After the old man came out first, he asked if they needed media intervention in the mediation. The old man didn’t agree, but he didn’t outright refuse either.

Meanwhile, Shao Mingyin was still in another interrogation room talking to Gao Yunxiao. There were advantages to talking separately. Gao Yunxiao remembered Shao Mingyin leaping to protect him earlier, so he wasn’t as stubborn as he might have been facing other officers. But he still persisted. Shao Mingyin, despite his good temper, was no longer willing to waste time like this. He was considering taking the child out when the door to the interrogation room opened from the outside. When he saw who entered, Shao Mingyin stood up.

“Are you hungry?” Liang Zhen said as he walked up to him. “I made some noodles, why don’t you go out and eat first?”

“You—” Shao Mingyin had been busy mediating and hadn’t had time to eat or properly ask about Liang Zhen’s injury. But just as he was about to relax his shoulders to indicate that he wasn’t in pain, he noticed the child looking at him. He couldn’t help but come up with a plan. He pretended everything was fine, but anyone could see that something was wrong.

“Why don’t you go eat noodles first?” Liang Zhen half-pushed Shao Mingyin to the door, and when they were close, he lowered his voice, “Let me talk to the kid alone?”

Shao Mingyin wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of a better solution. Liang Zhen was too convincing. He stood outside the interrogation room, regretting not giving Liang Zhen a massage when they met just now.

Inside, it wasn’t really an interrogation. Liang Zhen sat where Shao Mingyin had been sitting, sharing a small table with the child. Gao Yunxiao had a blank expression at first, but when Liang Zhen magically took out a small cake from his pocket, Gao Yunxiao’s mouth twitched slightly.

“You must be hungry,” Liang Zhen empathized, not waiting for Gao Yunxiao to speak. He tore open the plastic packaging and handed it to him. Seeing Gao Yunxiao hesitating, Liang Zhen directly stuffed the cake into his hand. “Go ahead and eat.”

Liang Zhen usually spoke standard Mandarin, but facing Gao Yunxiao, he deliberately spoke with a dialect accent and common tone particles, such as adding “zhe ne” after verbs. Lanzhou and Baiyin are neighboring cities, and when Gao Yunxiao heard this, he realized that Liang Zhen was a fellow native. This reduced his vigilance, and coupled with Liang Zhen helping him earlier, as he ate the cake, he felt a bit uneasy.

Seeing that he finally started eating, Liang Zhen smiled. “What a coincidence, I also know your brother. It’s a small world.”

Upon hearing this, Gao Yunxiao hadn’t even swallowed what was in his mouth yet, and he stuttered, “How do you know my brother?”

“We sang at the same bar,” Liang Zhen said casually, “Your brother sings really well.”

“Then you—” Whenever Gao Yunxiao mentioned his brother, he lost his eloquence, unlike when he confronted the old man earlier. “You, have you seen him wearing—”

“Of course I have,” Liang Zhen interrupted him, “It’s this era, everyone has the right to wear whatever they want. What’s so strange about it?”

Gao Yunxiao was stunned, as if he had never heard such reasoning before. He stared blankly at Liang Zhen, not continuing to eat the cake, but tears welled up again. If the tears shed earlier during his confrontation with the old man were more about acting, the tears now were genuine. Shao Mingyin also noticed his unexpected change and turned on the audio equipment in the interrogation room so that everyone outside could hear what they were talking about.

“But others don’t say the same…” Gao Yunxiao wiped away his tears forcefully, restraining his emotions. “Others would say my brother…”

Gao Yunge, who was standing on the side, heard this. He looked at his younger brother in the interrogation room, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh.

“Who are these others?” Liang Zhen gently prodded.

“That old man, our rented house is on the second floor of his house, and I overheard him once.” Gao Yunxiao’s eyes were red. “I heard him talking about my brother when my brother came back wearing a skirt. He said bad things about my brother.”

Liang Zhen began to understand. Tonight’s outburst was just the tip of the iceberg, there must have been a trigger before.

“It’s not right for that old man to speak ill of others behind their backs, but…”

Liang Zhen wanted to say that the old man was old and might not even know that being gay was no longer a crime. He probably couldn’t accept men wearing women’s clothes and felt it was appropriate to talk about it in front of acquaintances. He probably didn’t expect that Gao Yunxiao would hear it so coincidentally.

But as the words reached his lips, he realized he wasn’t good at giving comfort, and he felt that this reason was too superficial. Just because the old man gossiped about his brother, Gao Yunxiao didn’t have to escalate the situation like this.

“So…” Liang Zhen continued, feeling that the problem lay here, “Why did you curse at the old man like that?”

Liang Zhen was a rapper after all. Whether insinuating or straightforwardly cursing someone, he was good at it. But no matter how he cursed, he almost never used words like “pervert” or “demon”. These two words were not common in ordinary quarrels. Gao Yunxiao, who was so eloquent and could summon so many outsiders with just a word, how could he use these two words to curse the old man?

Gao Yunxiao lowered his head without hesitation. The impression was too deep: “Because he said my brother was neither man nor woman, he said that about my brother.”

Everyone outside the interrogation room heard this. They all silently shifted their gaze to the old man, who was also surprised. It was a momentary slip of the tongue. He couldn’t remember saying that about Gao Yunxiao’s brother.

But words spoken unintentionally could still be heard with intent. Although the old man forgot as soon as he said it, Gao Yunxiao, who relied on his brother for everything, would remember it for a lifetime.

“Why did you call him a demon then?”

As soon as this question came out, an answer flashed through Liang Zhen’s mind. Connecting the boy from Baiyin who was in front of him with the recent sensational news, Liang Zhen could guess that what the old man said, although he might have forgotten after saying it, must have included more than just calling his brother a pervert.

“He also said…” Gao Yunxiao squeezed the cake he hadn’t finished eating.

“He also said Baiyin, said Baiyin produces all sorts of strange people.”