Chapter 12

After tidying up briefly at the office, Su Yan didn’t delay and headed home while it was still early. She had thought Zheng Hui wouldn’t be awake at this hour, allowing her to leave quietly with her bag. But to her surprise, as soon as she stepped through the door, she found Zheng Hui sitting stiffly in the living room watching TV, her face stern. Hearing the noise, Zheng Hui lifted her head and shot her a frosty glare.

“You finally decided to come back?” Zheng Hui slammed the remote control onto the coffee table with a loud ‘thud.’ “Your father and I waited for you at Skysea Pavilion for hours yesterday—and with Xiao Fei’s family there too! You’ve completely humiliated me!”

“Sorry, Mom.” Su Yan swallowed a deep sigh and obediently apologized, not wanting to waste time on pointless arguments. “I really had something urgent yesterday and couldn’t get away from work. Didn’t I tell you before? I was transferred from the office to the Special Task Force.”

Zheng Hui choked back her words, clearly recalling the ‘spectacular’ scene she had witnessed upstairs at Skysea Pavilion yesterday. The images had left a deep impact on her—she barely slept all night, her mind filled with visions of her daughter moving as swiftly and powerfully as an athlete, like a leopard. After a long pause, she huffed irritably, “Special Task Force—it doesn’t sound like a good place at all! Who makes someone who just recovered from an injury work overtime? How long has it been since your car accident? Don’t you care about your own health? You got lucky this time, but do you think you’ll always be this fortunate?—”

Seeing Zheng Hui’s rant gaining momentum, Su Yan quickly cut her off. “Mom! Our unit is actually great. The leadership noticed how hard we’ve been working lately, so they’re organizing a trip to Great Peace Village today! You know Great Peace Village, right? The one—”

“Of course I know Great Peace Village! Didn’t I go grape-picking there with your aunts last year? Wait—today’s the weekend!” Zheng Hui suddenly realized and shouted at the figure already darting upstairs. “A perfectly good weekend, you should—”

Su Yan moved like a whirlwind. In less than a minute, she was downstairs with a backpack slung over her shoulders, breezing past Zheng Hui at lightning speed. The sound of the security door slamming shut was accompanied by a breezy “Bye, Mom!” tossed over her shoulder.

…

Choosing not to take the flashy sports car she had just driven back, Su Yan hailed a taxi to the bus station. There were regular buses from the city to Great Peace Village, with more frequent departures on weekends than weekdays.

The bus was naturally slower, stopping and starting for nearly three hours before finally arriving at the village entrance. Though not as packed as before, the bus was still fairly crowded—people’s memories were short-lived, and after just a week, visitors had already started flocking back.

While queuing to disembark, Su Yan overheard two young women ahead of her. One muttered, “I told you we shouldn’t come! Didn’t you hear about the murders in Great Peace Village? It was all over the news! You might not be scared, but I am. They say the killer specifically targets women.”

“Oh, relax! The owner of the Agritainment I know posted on social media last night—the killer’s been caught,” the other replied, pulling up the post on her phone to show her companion. “See?”

Su Yan was slightly taller than them, and with a slight downward glance, she could see the content on the phone screen. The accompanying image in that social media post was the scene from last night when they went to Zhang Liang’s house to collect evidence. She could guarantee now that almost ninety percent of the villagers in Great Peace Village had posted similar updates. No one cared about the truth or whether Zhang Liang was really the murderer—what they cared about was this summer’s tourist numbers and the tangible income it brought.  

“That’s good…” The two muttered as they got out of the car.  

Adjusting the backpack she had been carrying in her hand, Su Yan quickly followed them out of the vehicle. Just as she was about to step toward the village, someone called out to her from the side.  

“Miss Su!”  

She turned toward the voice and saw Yan Fei standing in front of a polished luxury car, waving at her with a perfectly measured smile. His outfit today was much more casual, and his overall demeanor wasn’t as pretentious as it had been that night.  

In just a few seconds, Su Yan figured out why Yan Fei was here. She really couldn’t understand why Zheng Hui and Yan Fei’s family were so insistent.  

“Mr. Yan,” she acknowledged, stopping in place.  

“What a coincidence! Work has been too busy lately, so I thought I’d find a place to relax. A friend recommended this spot. The scenery is indeed beautiful, but I came in such a hurry that I didn’t have time to research online. It’s perfect timing running into you here, Miss Su. Do you have any recommendations for accommodations?” Without waiting for her response, Yan Fei quickly circled to the other side of the car and opened the passenger door. “It seems like there’s still some distance to the village. Can I give you a ride?”  

Su Yan knew there was no avoiding this today. On second thought, having someone like him around might actually be helpful. Since she wasn’t a stranger to the people of Great Peace Village, his presence might divert some attention away from her. So she smiled slightly in thanks and got into the car.  

The walk into the village would take about ten minutes, but by car, it was only two or three. Yan Fei seemed determined to avoid awkward silences and kept trying to make conversation—from boating to fruit-picking, none of which sounded like someone who hadn’t done any research.  

You had to admit, he was somewhat talented. In just this short time, he had seamlessly transitioned from calling her “Miss Su” to using her first name. When she didn’t react negatively, he secretly rejoiced.  

Following Su Yan’s directions, the car stopped in front of “Sunny Agritainment.” Hearing the commotion, Boss Zhao hurried out from the courtyard. When he saw Su Yan standing there with her backpack, he froze. “Ah… Officer, I remember you. Why are you back? Didn’t you take the suspect away yesterday?”  

Su Yan patted her backpack and smiled lightly. “Boss Zhao, you’ve misunderstood. It’s the weekend, and I had nothing to do, so I came with a friend to relax.” She gestured toward Yan Fei with a tilt of her chin.  

“Oh…” Boss Zhao’s expression turned knowing, and he gave her a teasing grin, leaning in to whisper, “Boyfriend, huh? Quite the handsome one!” Without waiting for her to explain, he waved them inside. “Come in, come in! For the officer’s sake, I’ll give you a discount!”

As they walked into the courtyard, Boss Zhao kept muttering, “To be honest with you, officer, you’re the first guest I’ve had in a while. Just for that, I’ll add two extra dishes to your lunch!”

Yan Fei suddenly stopped in his tracks upon hearing this and tugged at Su Yan’s sleeve from behind, his face tinged with unease as he asked, “…Boss… what do you mean by that?”

Su Yan grinned at him, though her voice was deliberately hushed, audible only to the two of them.  

“Because this agritainment just had a death recently.”  

Yan Fei vaguely heard her say this, and for a moment, he felt his vision darken, nearly stumbling where he stood.  

……  

Boss Zhao merely pursed his lips in confusion at the two of them booking separate rooms but didn’t press further. Su Yan chose the second-floor room where Ni Yue and her boyfriend had stayed on the day of the incident, while Yan Fei outright refused to set foot upstairs after hearing about it.  

Boss Zhao was deeply moved by what he saw as her act of “cleansing the bad luck” from his rooms. On the verge of tears, he gave them a fifty percent discount on their stay.  

After Su Yan went upstairs to drop off her backpack, she came back down. Yan Fei had gone into his room without a sound—whether he was still reeling from the shock or not, he was likely either hugging the toilet to vomit or clutching the bedsheets in tears.  

She walked straight out of the small building. Across the way, Boss Zhao and his wife were bustling about in the kitchen, probably discussing what to prepare for lunch. She strolled over and made casual conversation with them. The couple were straightforward folks, warm and hospitable.  

Seeing them both occupied with their tasks, Su Yan took over peeling the potatoes. Cradling a small basin of potatoes and a peeler, she squatted by the kitchen door, idly peeling while fishing for information about Great Peace Village.  

“…So, Great Peace Village has developed to this point—Secretary Pei must have played a huge role, right?” She listened as the couple reflected on how their living conditions had gradually improved over the years, then casually offered the compliment.  

“Well… you could say that,” Boss Zhao replied, peeling garlic. “Mostly thanks to good national policies, but Secretary Pei is indeed a good leader. It’s just a shame his wife passed early. All these years, for the sake of the village and his daughter, he never considered remarrying. Living alone with a cold stove and empty pots isn’t easy.”  

“As for Secretary Pei’s daughter…”The boss lady sighed and subtly pursed her lips.” “She’s been a handful since she was little. A household without a woman just doesn’t function right. Eventually, Secretary Pei’s younger sister took pity on her brother and took Sha Sha in for a few years. Who’d have thought she’d come back just as troublesome, getting tangled up with that Zhang Liang in the end.”  

“Secretary Pei has a sister?” Su Yan feigned mild surprise but didn’t press further, quietly filing the detail away. “Zhang Liang… does he live alone?”  

Boss Zhao nodded. “Yeah, otherwise how could he have had the chance to kill someone without anyone noticing? That damned bastard—my poor business is all his fault!” His words dripped with fury.

However, the landlady had a different take: “With his disabled condition, how could a grown man take care of himself? Every weekend, a woman would come from outside to look after him. Occasionally, we’d see her pushing him around for walks, and we all assumed she was Zhang Liang’s girlfriend. Who would’ve thought he’d end up getting involved with Pei Shasha…”

“Who knows if that woman will come this weekend. If she finds out her man’s been snatched away by some young girl, imagine how heartbroken she’d be.” The landlady’s voice grew softer until she was practically muttering to herself.

Su Yan paused her peeling, frowning. A woman from outside?

As she crouched there pondering, Yan Fei unexpectedly emerged from the small building and stood at the kitchen doorway, eyeing her curiously. “Su Yan, what are you doing?”

Snapping out of her thoughts, Su Yan replied without turning her head, “Peeling.”

“Let me help!” Yan Fei took a big step toward her, bending down to grab the peeler from her hand. “We can’t have a girl doing manual labor. I’ll take care of it—”

“No need.” Her tone was slightly cold as she dodged his outstretched hand, causing Yan Fei to stumble and nearly land butt-first into the bowl of potatoes.

Just then, a teasing voice came from the direction of the courtyard gate: “Whoa! What kind of pose is that?”

Su Yan, holding a potato in one hand and the peeler in the other, twisted her head from her crouched position to look outside the kitchen. There stood Xiang Yang, grinning at her while carrying a travel bag, while Jiang Li maintained his usual detached, indifferent expression.

Su Yan: …

Boss Zhao quickly rubbed his hands together and stepped forward. “Officers, is there anything else you need to ask?”

Xiang Yang slung the not-too-heavy travel bag over his shoulder. “It’s the weekend—we’re here to relax!”