Chapter 12

Chapter 12 The Tiger Within, Observing the World

The next day, 8:30 in the morning.

Yuan Ke sat in his private office, smiling at Qin Yu: “I’ll skip the pleasantries. Everyone who worked the case last night gets a 300-yuan bonus, coming out of the team’s operating budget.”

Qin Yu was briefly stunned, then immediately gave a thumbs up: “Solid.”

“Keep pushing the interrogation. I’m waiting for results.”

“You got it.” Qin Yu nodded: “Nothing else then, I’ll head out.”

“Hey, hold on a sec.” Yuan Ke opened his small cabinet and pulled out a pair of new leather boots: “What size are you?”

“43.”

“Perfect, same size as me.” Yuan Ke set the shoebox on the desk: “A friend gave them to me, never wore them. Take them.”

“This… these are pretty expensive.”

“It’s just a pair of shoes,” Yuan Ke waved his hand: “Take them.”

Qin Yu glanced down at the shoebox and suddenly felt that Yuan Ke’s loyalty wasn’t just talk. Because as long as you delivered, he would fight for every benefit he possibly could on your behalf.

“Thanks, Captain Yuan.”

“Don’t mention it, go on.” Yuan Ke smiled.

“Yes sir!”

Qin Yu left with the shoebox.

……

Over the next two days, the brothers in Group Three threw themselves entirely into the interrogation work. But what Qin Yu hadn’t expected was that Third Uncle and Ma Laoer were both incredibly tight-lipped. Although the two lackeys had already talked, these two were a different story — one played dumb, the other said absolutely nothing.

Interrogation wasn’t Qin Yu’s strong suit, because this wasn’t the Pending Development Zone, and most of his experience and methods didn’t apply here. When it came to pure interrogation experience, the others in Group Three were clearly far more seasoned. So he simply handed things off to Lao Hei, Guan Qi, and the others, and waited for leads and results himself.

Thursday afternoon, a little past 3.

Qin Yu was sitting in the office chatting and shooting the breeze with Qi Lin, Lao Hei, Xiao Liu, and the others, when Zhu Wei came swaggering back in from outside, having had a few drinks.

“Damn, nobody’s interrogating? Everyone just lounging around?” Zhu Wei let out a boozy belch and grinned.

“Yeah, just taking a short break.” Qin Yu nodded.

“Smack!”

Zhu Wei habitually swatted Qin Yu on the head: “Scoot over.”

Qin Yu smiled and shifted over: “Stop messing with me, why do you keep smacking my head?”

“Damn, what’s wrong with a little smack? You’re about to get your full badge and now you’ve got an attitude?” Zhu Wei teased.

“Why are you out drinking again during work hours?” Qin Yu asked casually: “I mean, even if your body can handle it, your wallet can’t, right? Drinks aren’t cheap!”

“Lots of friends, lots of social obligations, can’t help it.” Zhu Wei crossed his legs: “My family’s been pushing me to get married, set me up with some annoying woman. I went to meet her and had a few.”

“Ah.”

Qin Yu nodded, then deliberately reached into his pocket, pulled out a Zhonghua cigarette, stuck it in his mouth, and lit it with a lighter.

“What the hell?!” Zhu Wei froze, then immediately craned his neck: “You little bastard, didn’t you say you were out of smokes? How are you hiding stash from your own brother? Come on, give me one.”

“I’m out, this is the last one.” Qin Yu took a drag.

“Come on, stop taking advantage of the team leader. Those cigarettes aren’t cheap, why do you always mooch off him?” Guan Qi chimed in with a joking tone, then cheerfully held out his hand: “But I’m different from him. I had a breakthrough today, right? By all rights, you should give me one as a reward.”

If no one had been willing to joke around and goof off, probably nobody in the group would have actively messed with Qin Yu. But with a hothead like Zhu Wei around, constantly ribbing Qin Yu without any filter, everyone had gotten to the point where no matter the occasion, they spoke without much restraint.

“Really out,” Qin Yu said, pushing Zhu Wei away: “This is my last one.”

“Damn, don’t be so stingy, give me one.” Zhu Wei reached out and grabbed Qin Yu’s wrist.

“Captain, don’t be tight, share with everyone — half a cigarette each works too.” Lao Hei crowded in as well.

“I really don’t have any more.” Qin Yu leaned back in his chair, dodging.

“Get him!” Zhu Wei breathed boozy fumes, pressing down on Qin Yu’s arms and hollering: “Come on, pin him down, dig through his pockets, split everything he’s got. Damn, this kid doesn’t know the rules, being this stingy right from the start…”

“Lao Zhu, stop messing with me, I really don’t have any.” Qin Yu laughed and insisted.

“Come on, pin him down. Xiao Liu, hold his legs.” Zhu Wei kept calling out.

The atmosphere had been whipped up, and every member of Group Three except Qi Lin and the two injured Thai brothers who weren’t around rushed over to the chair, pressing down on Qin Yu and grabbing for cigarettes.

“Damn, stop it, I really don’t have any…”

Qin Yu laughed as he wrestled with everyone, and the group of sturdy young guys followed Zhu Wei’s lead, roughhousing with Qin Yu.

“What a day, acting like they’ve never smoked before.” Qi Lin smiled and got up to pour some water.

“Damn it, I’ll get you yet, come on, hand them over.” Zhu Wei pinned Qin Yu’s arm and reached toward his pants pocket.

At that moment, Qin Yu suddenly grabbed the police-issue knife on the desk, pinched the blade between his thumb and index finger, and drove it down hard.

“Thwack!”

One stab, and Zhu Wei froze on the spot.

“Stop messing with me, I’ll stab you again if you keep it up…” Qin Yu called out with a smile, pinching the blade tip with his right hand, pulling it out and stabbing again toward Zhu Wei’s thigh.

“Thwack!”

The second stab landed on Zhu Wei’s leg, and he stumbled back two steps.

The moment the others saw blood, they all froze in place, and Qi Lin stood there staring at Qin Yu, eyes wide with shock.

“Oh damn, what happened, did I actually get you? I was just making a move.” Qin Yu pretended to be startled for a moment, then immediately gripped the knife and stood up, looking down at the cut on Zhu Wei’s leg: “You okay?”

Zhu Wei was in serious pain and instantly got a flash of anger, shoving Qin Yu: “What the hell, you pull a knife while messing around?”

Qin Yu looked up, still smiling: “I told you to stop messing with me. I don’t know my own strength, and you kept joking around with me. See, now I actually got you.”

Everyone in the room fell silent at those words. When they looked at Qin Yu, the playful expressions from moments ago were completely gone.

“Don’t mess with me anymore, you hear me? Heh.” Qin Yu smiled, set down the knife, and reached out to help Zhu Wei up: “Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary.”

Zhu Wei hesitated for a moment, looked at Qin Yu, and didn’t get angry again. He just lowered his head and followed him to the infirmary.

……

After that minor incident, not a single person in Group Three dared to take jokes too far with Qin Yu anymore — that included the hothead Zhu Wei — and no one continued to treat him like a new recruit.

Qi Lin had watched the whole thing from the sidelines and seen clearly how Qin Yu had handled Zhu Wei. It suddenly struck him that when Qin Yu was smiling and chatting with you on the surface, his mind might be somewhere else entirely. You thought you’d gotten close to him, that you were friends, but when you crossed a line, he could find a way nobody would ever expect to let you know you’d gone too far — and still leave you your dignity. At the same time, Qi Lin recalled that Lao San, who had always been the bully of the team, hadn’t dared to give Qin Yu any trouble ever since the kidnapping case. What did that say? It said Qin Yu had dealt with that problem privately too.

From that moment on, Qi Lin realized that maybe someone like Qin Yu was exactly the kind of person who could make it in an environment this complicated.

Bold, careful, socially aware, and worldly-wise.

Over a decade of being forged in the Pending Development Zone — maybe all of it had been leading up to taking flight here.

……

After parting ways with Zhu Wei at the infirmary, Qin Yu remembered he’d rented a place, but had been so busy these past few days he hadn’t even been there once. So he called up Lao Mao and headed over to Courtyard No. 88.

At the same time.

Inside a warehouse somewhere on Tuzha Street, an old man of around sixty leaned on a cane and said: “Qin Yu. Never heard of him before.”

“I had someone look into it. He’s new.”

“Just arrived and he already nabbed Xiao Er and Da Min. He’s got someone backing him, doesn’t he?” The old man mulled it over for a moment, then turned and gave his instructions: “Take some people and go find this Qin Yu.”