“Police officers have discipline. Do you think they’d casually tell you things like that?” Li Shuping said disdainfully.

“Stop slandering the police. I think it’s you who made up that rumor and now you can’t defend it, so you fabricated some imaginary police friend to make your story sound credible.”

“Y-You knew?”

“Of course I knew,” Li Shuping replied. “I was the one who found the young girl’s body. How could I not know?”

“Her clothes were neat and tidy. There were no signs she’d been assaulted. Her family had reported her missing days earlier. It was over a fight about college. She had a small argument with her parents and ran out. Who’d have thought she’d run into a criminal and be killed?”

Compared to the middle-aged man’s gossip, Li Shuping, as the eyewitness who found the body, was clearly more credible.

“That’s right! That’s exactly what happened!” An elderly woman in a floral vest stepped forward.

“I live next door to Deputy Factory Director Zhang. Kexin was such a sweet and sensible child, always did well in school. She was set to take the college entrance exam in June. Zhang wanted her to apply to the top university in the capital, but Kexin wanted to apply to a medical college in Haishi. That day they argued over it, and she ran off. That’s when it all happened.”

“You wicked old man, spreading such disgusting rumors, even about the dead. Shame on you!” the old lady scolded the middle-aged man, pointing a finger at his nose.

“Scum…”

“Disgusting…”

People around began to criticize the man in contempt. He couldn’t even lift his head, glared at Li Shuping fiercely, and scurried away, pushing through the crowd.

Li Shuping glared right back. “What a joke.”

Then she turned to her customers with a smile. “What kind of dumplings would you like?”

Her daughter, Lin Xiaoyu, looked at her mother with admiration, stars practically sparkling in her eyes.

The dumpling stall returned to its normal rhythm.

After about ten minutes, Guo Zhenyuan stepped up to Li Shuping.

“What kind of dumplings would you like?” she asked, lifting her head and spotting him. She was momentarily surprised, then smiled.
“Captain Gu, you’re back again? Eating here today or taking some raw dumplings home?”

Guo Zhenyuan handed over two metal lunchboxes. “Takeaway, please. Fill both boxes halfway with beef & celery and the other half with chive & egg dumplings.”

Li Shuping quickly took the boxes and passed them to her daughter. “Xiaoyu, quickly fill Captain Guo’s boxes.”

“Sure!”

“Thank you for what you did earlier,” Guo Zhenyuan said.

“What?” Li Shuping looked up.

Guo Zhenyuan looked at her seriously. “Thank you for defending the image of the police and also protecting Zhang Kexin’s reputation.”

He had heard it all?

Li Shuping suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

“It—it was nothing. Just what anyone should do.”

She couldn’t stand seeing a victimized young girl being slandered like that. That’s why she spoke up.

But with Captain Guo thanking her so seriously, it made her feel a bit awkward.

The two lunchboxes were filled with enough for ten servings: five with chive & egg, five with beef & celery.

Guo Zhenyuan paid forty yuan, then left with the heavy boxes.

He drove home first, dropped off his own dumplings, then went to Building 17 to deliver dumplings to the Li family.

He rang the doorbell, and it was Jiang Peng, Elder Li’s grandson, who opened the door.

“Uncle Gu? Mom, Grandpa, Grandma—Uncle Guo is here!”

“It must be Xiao Guo delivering dumplings. Come in!” Elder Li’s hearty laugh echoed from inside.

As Guo Zhenyuan stepped in, the aroma of coffee greeted him.

A middle-aged woman dressed in a blue floral dress, a white trench coat draped over her shoulders, her hair up in a bun, pearl earrings glinting, skin fair and features delicate, was sipping coffee elegantly.

Suddenly she looked up, as if only just noticing him. Smiling, she put down her cup. “Zhenyuan, you’re here.”

Guo Zhenyuan gave a slight nod, his tone cold. “Sister Yunshu.”

“Uncle Li, Aunt Yu,” he greeted the elderly couple.

“These boxes are all my dumplings, right?” Elder Li asked, pointing at the containers.

Guo Zhenyuan nodded. “There’s beef & celery today too.”

“Perfect. Your Aunt Yu loves beef dumplings. Xiao Zheng—” Elder Li called to the maid in the kitchen.

Seeing her father so pleased, Li Yunshu asked, “Were these made by Aunt Mu?”

Mu was Guo’s mother’s surname.

“No,” Madam Yu replied. “Little Guo bought them from a food stall. He liked the taste, brought some home yesterday. We had dinner at his place, loved them, so we asked him to buy more.”

The moment she heard “food stall,” Yunshu frowned. “Food stalls are often unsanitary. How could you eat that? What if it upsets your stomachs? Your health is already fragile.”

Guo Zhenyuan frowned.

The elderly couple exchanged awkward glances and smiled apologetically at Gu Zhenyuan.

This adopted daughter was always this way—extremely concerned about their health, almost to the point of being overbearing.

Yes, adopted.

Li Yunshu wasn’t Elder Li’s biological daughter.

Years ago, Madam Yu, having lost her own daughter, fell into deep despair.

By coincidence, one of Elder Li’s subordinates died with his wife in service, leaving behind a daughter.

To comfort his wife, Elder Li adopted the girl.

It worked.

Madam Yu’s condition improved. Though they still mourned for Shushu, life returned to something close to normal.

“Zhenyuan’s food stall is very clean, right?” Elder Li winked at Guo Zhenyuan.

The latter nodded. “Yes.”

It really was very clean.

But Yunshu didn’t buy it.

She had seen those roadside stalls—greasy sellers, dirty cooking pots. People who ran stalls were often poor and lived in shabby homes.

They didn’t care about hygiene—how could the food be clean?

Not to mention the dust on the roads.

One gust of wind and dirt flew into the food.

“Zhenyuan, thank you for running the errand. But please take the dumplings back. In the future, no need to buy for my parents. Their health is fragile, I really can’t rest easy.” Yunshu said with some guilt.

Guo Zhenyuan nodded, said goodbye to the elders, and left.

Elder Li nodded stiffly.

He wasn’t happy, but knew his daughter meant well.

“Yunshu, even if you think the stall’s not clean, Zhenyuan already brought the food—just accept it and don’t eat it if you don’t want to. Saying that in front of him, isn’t it embarrassing?” Madam Yu frowned.

Yunshu replied, “If I didn’t say it in front of him, you’d want more next time, and he’d keep buying. If only I lived closer, I’d just stay here and take care of you both myself.”

Because of work, she only visited with her son on days off.

Madam Yu: “…”

Thankfully they lived far apart. If she stayed with them every day, they’d suffocate from her “care.”

..

At the Guo residence, the dumplings were already cooking. When Guo’s mother saw the lunchboxes back, she asked, “Why’d you bring them back again?”

Guo Zhenyuan replied, “Li Yunshu was there. Said food stalls aren’t clean, not good for Elder Li and Madam Yu. Told me to take them back.”

Guo’s mother rolled her eyes. “That Li Yunshu is just pretentious. Saying it’s about their health is just an excuse to act like she’s the perfect, filial adopted daughter in front of them.”

She never liked Li Yunshu—too calculating.

Originally, her name wasn’t even Yunshu.

When the Li couple adopted her, they didn’t plan to change her name.

But in her teens, she asked to change her name herself.

She specifically chose Li Yunshu, a name nearly identical to their lost daughter Li Yunshu.

People said it was to comfort her adoptive parents.

But Guo’s mother didn’t believe that. She thought the girl just wanted to replace the original daughter entirely.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Guo’s father frowned.

“But it’s true,” Guo’s mother muttered, pouting.