By the time Su Miaoyi snapped back to her senses, the man had already walked far away.
She looked at the run-down building before her, and once she regained her composure, she first ducked into an alley.
When the man who had walked off turned back to look at her, she was already out of sight.
After slipping into the alley, Su Miaoyi waited two seconds, then slowly peeked her head out.
She watched as the man turned into the alley entrance up ahead.
Su Miaoyi was fairly familiar with this area. She thought about where the man might go after entering the alley.
She didn’t dare follow directly, but instead circled around from her side of the alley.
She set the cat carrier on an old chair by the roadside, and as she walked deeper into the alley, she pulled out her phone and scrolled to Zhuang Yanzheng’s number.
She never expected that saving it in the early hours would come in handy the very same day.
The phone rang for a while before connecting: “Who is this?”
“It’s Su Miaoyi.” Su Miaoyi instinctively lowered her voice, and because she was walking, her breathing was a bit unsteady.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” Zhuang Yanzheng could tell something was off from her voice.
Su Miaoyi said, “I’m in the old city district. I just saw the man with the mole at the end of his eyebrow, and when I looked into his eyes, I saw a vision of him killing someone.”
“Are you safe right now?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked immediately.
“I’m safe.” Su Miaoyi whispered, “Hurry and have the local police station send people over. I’m afraid if I call them directly, they won’t believe me.”
“Give me your exact location.” Zhuang Yanzheng said.
Su Miaoyi told him the specific location, then asked, “Is this number linked to your WeChat?”
“Yeah.”
“Got it.” Su Miaoyi hung up after saying that.
On the other end, Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t even have the chance to tell her to stay safe.
He and Qi Feng had just come out of Xia Zhenghong’s house.
He immediately called the local police station…
Over on Su Miaoyi’s side, she added Zhuang Yanzheng on WeChat right after hanging up.
Once he accepted, she shared her location with him.
Then she put her phone away.
There were a lot of illegal structures in the old city district.
At first, the authorities tried to regulate them, but since this area was never redeveloped, gradually no one bothered anymore.
In the past, all the alleys were connected to each other.
Now some had walls built to seal them off.
Su Miaoyi looked around and saw no one. She took a running start and vaulted over the wall.
Whether at the welfare home or later in the old city district, she’d climbed walls plenty of times, so she was fairly practiced at it.
After scaling the wall, she hid beside a flower bed behind a resident’s house.
She crouched down, using the flowers as cover, and peered out.
Soon she spotted the man’s figure.
He walked along, his eyes darting around, then entered a residential unit building.
Su Miaoyi waited two seconds, then quickly pressed herself against the wall and moved over, waiting at the entrance to listen for footsteps going up the stairs.
She listened carefully until she heard the sound of a door opening.
Five floors total, four units per floor… Su Miaoyi calculated in her head, then found a corner with a good vantage point and sent Zhuang Yanzheng a message with a more precise location.
Zhuang Yanzheng replied: [Retreat to a safe place.]
Su Miaoyi sent back an “OK” sticker.
The local police arrived quickly.
Three police cars parked outside the unit building.
Su Miaoyi ran out.
The officer looked at her: “Su Miaoyi?”
Su Miaoyi nodded.
“The municipal bureau already gave us a heads-up.” The officer said.
Su Miaoyi didn’t waste words and said directly, “Fourth or fifth floor, on the west side of the building. I didn’t dare follow too closely, so I only judged roughly from the footsteps.”
“Alright.” The officer assumed she was from the municipal bureau and didn’t think much of it. He stationed people at the entrances of the fourth and fifth floors, then led the team upstairs.
Before long, Su Miaoyi heard shouts from downstairs: “Stop right there!” “Don’t move!”
Nearby residents gradually gathered to watch the commotion.
The officers remaining outside maintained order.
Soon the police came down with the man in custody.
The moment she saw him caught, Su Miaoyi breathed a sigh of relief.
Before the man was shoved into the police car, he glanced at her.
When their eyes met again, Su Miaoyi didn’t see anything this time.
The man was taken away, and the police drove off.
Su Miaoyi also headed back, retrieved the cat from the alley on the other side, and continued home.
She told Zhuang Yanzheng about the vision she’d seen.
She also told him that the scenes took place in a room, but she didn’t know the exact location. So the overpass wasn’t the primary crime scene.
After telling him, she put her phone in her pocket.
It wasn’t until she met up with her uncle and aunt and chatted for a long time, then took out her phone, that she remembered the shared location on WeChat was still on.
She quickly turned it off.
Good thing he wasn’t a bad person—he was a police officer—otherwise her residence would have been exposed.
…
Su Miaoyi stayed at home for three days, and all three mornings she got up early to help her uncle and aunt sell vegetables.
Cheng Yong stepped away for a moment, then came back holding two grilled sausages and an ice pop: “Here, Miao Miao.”
“Thanks, Uncle.” Su Miaoyi took them.
Cheng Yong gave Ge Yu an ice pop and had one himself.
“It’s so hot out. Let’s head back.” Ge Yu said.
“It’s fine.” Su Miaoyi was wearing a sun-protective jacket and a sun hat. “I’m not hot.”
“The kid finally comes home for a visit, and look at you—why are you shooing them away?” Cheng Yong said.
“You’re really something. You’re not young anymore, and you’re starting to stir up trouble.” Ge Yu said. “It’s so hot out, and the kid is here helping out, all tired and sweaty. How come you don’t feel a bit of concern for the child?”
“Now you’re the one stirring up trouble.” Cheng Yong said. “How am I not concerned about the kid?”
Su Miaoyi smiled from the side.
It wasn’t until someone came to buy vegetables that the two quieted down.
Su Miaoyi attended to two batches of customers, then took out her phone and opened the Writer’s Assistant app.
For the past three days, she’d been typing away on the computer at home.
The novel she was currently writing was performing better than her previous ones. She had more readers, and naturally, more comments as well.
Su Miaoyi replied to a few.
Seeing someone standing in front of the stall, she put away her phone: “Hello, what would you like to buy?”
As she spoke, she looked up and met Zhuang Yanzheng’s gaze.
Su Miaoyi: “…”
Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her wearing an oversized sun hat, having to tilt her head back to see him.
The weather was too hot, and a few glistening beads of sweat clung to the side of her face.
After a moment of eye contact, Su Miaoyi flipped up the brim of her hat, carefully glanced left and right, and lowered her voice: “Is there a case nearby?”
“No.” Zhuang Yanzheng said. “I came to find you.”
Su Miaoyi let out a sigh of relief: “How did you know I was here?”
“Shared location.” Zhuang Yanzheng said.
Su Miaoyi: “…” Before she turned it off, she’d been at this stall.
“What do you need me for? Am I a suspect again?” Su Miaoyi asked in a very hushed tone.
“No.” Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at Cheng Yong and Ge Yu, who had been looking over this whole time. “I need your help with something.”
“Oh.” Su Miaoyi’s eyes darted around as she said, “The vegetables are very fresh today. Take a look and see what you’d like.”
Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her.
Su Miaoyi smiled in a perfectly practiced manner: “What would you like?”
Zhuang Yanzheng lowered his gaze to look: “Just pick whatever you think is good.”
“Alright.” Su Miaoyi said. “Please wait a moment.”
She weighed out a bit of everything, and Cheng Yong and Ge Yu came over to help bag it up.
Su Miaoyi did the math: “That comes to three hundred and two. I’ll round it down for you—four hundred.”
Zhuang Yanzheng let out a scoffing laugh: “Do you know what I do for a living?”
Su Miaoyi felt like she could be handcuffed and taken away at any second. She cleared her throat: “Three hundred. And I’ll throw in two tomatoes for free.”