Ruan Qingzhi’s eyes turned cold.  

Instinctively, she wanted to twist and seize the person’s hand.  

But remembering that Shen Zhanwu was sitting beside her, she restrained herself and waited for them to apprehend her.  

However, before the person’s hand could touch her, a larger hand reached out from her side and gripped the other’s wrist.  

Ruan Qingzhi turned her head to look beside her.  

Shen Zhanwu remained seated, his sharp, blade-like gaze rising from below as he asked sternly, “Comrade, there must be a reason for your actions. What grounds do you have for arresting my wife?”  

The policeman frowned, clearly displeased at being interrupted in his duties.  

He sized up Shen Zhanwu for a moment before finally adopting an interrogative tone: “Who are you?”  

Shen Zhanwu glanced swiftly at the young woman beside him.  

“Her husband.”  

His tone was firm.  

The policeman, unsatisfied with the answer, clicked his tongue against his teeth.  

Then, with a cold laugh, he shook off Shen Zhanwu’s grip, rubbing his wrist as he said, “Your wife’s accent doesn’t sound like she’s from Shengyang. She’s from out of town, isn’t she? Does she have an introduction letter? If not… well, sorry, but your wife will have to come with us.”  

Shen Zhanwu had been on the battlefield and had killed enemies before.  

Now, his face was dark, an aura of lethal intent faintly radiating from him. His pitch-black eyes glinted with a chilling light that made one’s blood run cold.  

Faced with such a demeanor, the two policemen’s bravado diminished slightly.  

Shen Zhanwu, seeing this, smirked coldly. “You two don’t seem to be here just to check my wife’s introduction letter. Anyone would think you’re dragging her off to an execution ground.”  

The lead policeman awkwardly replied, “Comrade, please cooperate.”  

The other policeman took the opportunity to scrutinize Shen Zhanwu more carefully. Seeing that he was dressed plainly and nothing about him stood out—save for those intimidating eyes—he unhooked the handcuffs from his belt and clamped one end around Ruan Qingzhi’s wrist.  

“Why waste words on him? We’re just doing our job. If you keep obstructing us, don’t blame us for arresting you too. Do you even know what crime she’s committed? If convicted, the lightest sentence she’ll get is a bullet to the head!”  

Shen Zhanwu stared at the cold handcuffs encircling the young woman’s slender, pale wrist.  

His heart skipped a beat.  

His brows furrowed tightly, his eyes blazing with anger. “You wanted her introduction letter, didn’t you? It’s on the desk of the commanding officer at the Eastern District Headquarters. Want it? Go fetch it yourself!”  

The two policemen exchanged glances, hesitating.  

But just then, the sound of high heels clicking against the floor echoed from outside the ward.  

Lin Ruzhen walked in slowly, arms crossed, her lips curled in a haughty smirk. “Comrades, no need to doubt it. This little wretch is a human trafficker!”  

Ruan Qingzhi narrowed her eyes.  

Lin Ruzhen was calling her a human trafficker?  

Was she out of her mind?  

Shen Zhanwu cast a cold glance at her. “Do you have proof for such an accusation, Dr. Lin?”  

Lin Ruzhen, seeing how close he was sitting to that bitch Ruan Qingzhi, felt her anger surge. She raised her voice shrilly, “Zhanwu—”  

“Dr. Lin!”

The man mercilessly cut her off. “I’d appreciate it if you addressed me as Deputy Battalion Commander Shen. Though we are comrades-in-arms, we are not familiar enough for you to call me by my given name.”  

Lin Ruzhen clenched her teeth. “Zhan—”  

The man’s frosty gaze swept over her. “Now, tell me—what evidence do you have to prove my wife is a human trafficker? I’m all ears.”  

Though he claimed to be “all ears,”  

the icy indifference in his eyes suggested otherwise.  

Lin Ruzhen was utterly heartbroken by Shen Zhanwu’s cold hostility. Her chest heaved violently a few times before she finally forced out a triumphant smile. “Hmph, of course I have proof! It’s her—Ruan Qingzhi! She abducted a disabled child right off the street!”  

“I’m not making baseless accusations. These two officers have already questioned an eyewitness who saw Ruan Qingzhi carrying a disabled child away from the hospital! That coat is the evidence! With both witnesses and physical proof, Shen Zhanwu, are you really still going to defend her? I advise you to hand her over to the authorities now. No one will fault you, Deputy Battalion Commander Shen. In fact, they might even praise you for upholding justice at the expense of personal ties!”  

The woman spoke with smug satisfaction.  

Her condescending gaze shifted to Ruan Qingzhi’s face. “Ruan Qingzhi, let’s see how you keep up the act this time!”  

Ruan Qingzhi couldn’t be bothered to engage with this hysterical rich girl.  

Instead, she turned to Shen Zhanwu.  

Right now, all she cared about was what choice he would make.  

Shen Zhanwu didn’t look at the young woman beside him, but he could feel her pitiful gaze fixed on him.  

His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he reached out and grasped her slightly cold fingers.  

Yet his frigid eyes remained locked on Lin Ruzhen.  

When he heard the words “disabled child,” his brow twitched, and a surge of unease rose in his chest. In a low voice, he demanded, “Who is the child?”  

Lin Ruzhen blinked rapidly, a flicker of guilt crossing her face. “It’s… it’s the child you brought back…”  

“Bang!”

Shen Zhanwu slammed his palm down on the coffee table with terrifying force.  

The deafening impact sent a soda bottle crashing to the floor, shattering into pieces.  

The two sharp, jarring noises in quick succession sent a jolt through everyone’s nerves.  

The man’s hand, still pressed against the table, had clenched into a fist, veins bulging from the back of his hand in fury.  

Lin Ruzhen had never seen him this enraged before.  

She shuddered involuntarily.  

But she had a temper of her own. Indignant, she immediately launched into a self-pitying tirade. “After you were injured on the battlefield, you were unconscious the whole time! Three days—three whole days! My heart was in my throat the entire time. The doctors even issued a critical condition notice, saying if you didn’t wake up soon, you never would! What was I supposed to do? For your sake, not only did I beg for help for the first time in my life, but I also thought—since you brought that child back from the battlefield, he must mean something special to you! That’s why I brought him to the hospital to see you! But when we got downstairs, he threw a tantrum—he refused to come up! I had no choice but to leave him in the lobby for just a little while, and then—he was gone!”  

“Shen Zhanwu! She’s the one who stole the child, yet you blame me! Do you even have a conscience?!”  

Lin Ruzhen wailed dramatically, though not a single tear fell.  

But she sobbed as if heartbroken.  

“Anyway, I’ve done all I could. If you want to know where the child is, just ask the human trafficker beside you…”