Chapter 26

Chapter 26 The Wedding Banquet

“That woman has some background — do you know anything about it?” Yuan Ke asked coldly.

Tiger froze when he heard this: “Haven’t heard anything.”

“You didn’t even find out what kind of background she has before you brought people over to mess around. Wasn’t that a bit reckless?” Yuan Ke frowned deeply: “If you hadn’t run into Qin Yu today, and something had happened to that girl, do you know what the consequences would be? When my brother kidnapped her back then, he hadn’t figured out her background either — that’s why Songxia ended up in such a bad state. You’d be even worse off!”

“I… I didn’t think that much about it.”

“And another thing — the whole police bureau is cracking down hard on drug trafficking cases right now, and we’re the ones who called for it. You’re touching drugs now — are you trying to make me look bad? What did I tell you back then, huh?” Yuan Ke demanded in a low voice.

Tiger touched the bandage on his head: “It’s not like I wanted to touch drugs right now — it’s just that the goods have been piling up, and our guys have had to dump a lot of it…”

“Tiger, don’t let a little bit of small profit throw you off your game. Someone up top is covering for you on this — what are you panicking about?” Yuan Ke said with a helpless look, giving the order: “Whatever your reasons are, you need to follow the rhythm from above right now. Don’t say I didn’t warn you — if you make a move at a time like this, nobody will be able to save you.”

“Alright, I got it.” Tiger nodded.

“One more thing — Qin Yu is my guy, he’s working for me. Don’t mess with him from now on. In fact, if something comes up, you need to cooperate with him. Understood?” Yuan Ke knew Tiger was petty and held grudges, so he made a point of saying this.

“Xiao Ke, I just don’t get it — you’ve been in the police force so long, and you’ve got plenty of capable people under you. Why do you have to take in this hothead?” Tiger said through gritted teeth: “Damn it, I’ve been running the streets for this long and nobody’s ever dared to smash a gun against my head. This kid…”

“Tiger, when are you ever going to understand something?” Yuan Ke sighed: “There’s always someone better out there. You always think you’re the best, but do you know that Songxia, who was even more ruthless than you, got taken down by Qin Yu? What kind of times are we living in now? Times when people are so desperate they’d steal military rations; times when the streets are crowded and tough guys are everywhere… You never know — the guy picking up trash today might be rolling in money tomorrow. So a conflict with no stakes behind it isn’t really a conflict at all. You understand?”

Tiger curled his lip: “That mouth of yours is something else — sharp enough to plow a field… Fine, I’ll listen to you. I just won’t touch him, that’s all.”

“That’s that.” Yuan Ke dropped the line and hung up.

……

The following evening.

Qin Yu and Old Cat headed to Second Sister’s Restaurant as planned, because Qi Lin was hosting a wedding banquet today. Though “hosting” was a stretch — it was really just calling some friends over to eat and celebrate. After all, Qi Lin was tight on funds and couldn’t afford anything elaborate.

They arrived at the restaurant a little past eight in the evening. Qin Yu stood on the second floor and scanned the room — mostly familiar faces from the police bureau, along with some of Qi Lin’s neighbors and his younger sister.

“His mom didn’t come?” Old Cat asked from inside the hall.

“She’s not feeling well, so she stayed home.” Qi Lin smiled, pulling his blind sister over to introduce her to Qin Yu: “You haven’t met her yet, right? This is my sister, Qi Yu.”

“Hello, Brother Qin Yu.” Qi Yu looked to be about eleven or twelve, with sharp, defined features that gave her a spirited look — though it was a shame that she was blind, such a waste of a beautiful face.

“Hello.” Qin Yu greeted the girl, then turned to look at the bride Bella: “You look great today!”

Bella was wearing a simple red qipao. She smiled and nodded at Qin Yu: “Hello.”

Old Cat looked at Bella’s radiant glow and grinned: “Clearly been well taken care of.”

“Get lost.” Qi Lin cursed at him, then waved everyone over: “Come on, sit at the main table, wherever you like.”

Qin Yu and Old Cat took their seats at the main table and snacked on some light appetizers while waiting for the meal to begin.

About ten minutes later, Yuan Ke suddenly showed up on the second floor with Tiger in tow.

“Oh, Captain Yuan.”

“Here for the banquet, Captain Yuan.”

“……!”

The thirty-odd people seated in the room all stood up to greet Yuan Ke when they saw him arrive.

“Ha, just came by to have a look — sit down, everyone, sit down.” Yuan Ke exchanged a few pleasantries with the crowd, then pulled up a chair at Qin Yu’s table: “You lot, leaving your work undone and coming here to drink at a wedding, huh?”

Qin Yu grinned: “Came straight from an interrogation.”

Yuan Ke patted Qin Yu on the thigh, then turned to Tiger: “You two know each other?”

“How could we not — didn’t we just meet yesterday?!” Tiger pointed to the bandage on his head and said to Qin Yu with a smile: “Little brother, the impression you left on me yesterday was really something.”

Qin Yu saw his attitude and immediately reached out his hand: “I’m really sorry — I honestly had no idea you knew Captain Yuan.”

“Xiao Ke told me yesterday — said that woman had some connections, so you stepping in actually did me a favor.” Tiger shook Qin Yu’s hand in a very cordial manner: “What happened yesterday is in the past. Let’s start fresh. With Yuan Ke here, we’re practically family — spend some time with me and you’ll see what kind of person I am.”

“Sounds good!” Qin Yu nodded: “Let’s have a drink later.”

“Deal!”

After the two exchanged a few words, Old Cat leaned over to Qin Yu with a frown and whispered: “How do you know this piece of work?”

“I beat him up yesterday.” Qin Yu said casually.

Old Cat shot a disgusted look at Tiger and warned in a low voice: “Keep your distance from him going forward — he’s not a good person.”

“How so?”

“Last year he got into a conflict with a boss on our street, then secretly ran over the guy’s wife with his car and killed her.” Old Cat said with a dark expression: “She was over six months pregnant — he smashed her head in… “

Qin Yu was stunned for a long moment: “He wasn’t convicted?”

“Convicted my ass — the boss had two kids and got pressured into submission, so he didn’t push the issue… In the end it was ruled a traffic accident, and he paid some money to settle it.” Old Cat’s voice was hoarse: “The man’s an animal.”

After hearing this, Qin Yu gave Tiger a cold look and didn’t speak to him again.

Not long after Yuan Ke arrived, the banquet got underway, and everyone clinked glasses and made merry.

Throughout the meal, Yuan Ke kept pulling Qin Yu into conversation: “Brother, there aren’t many people I take a liking to, but you’re one of them… These days, someone with both guts and brains is valued everywhere. As long as you do good work, I’ll never shortchange you.”

“I know, Captain.” Qin Yu nodded, his face flushed.

“Hold on.” Yuan Ke patted Qin Yu on the arm, poured himself a cup, stood up and called out: “Everyone quiet down for a moment.”

The guests at the three tables all looked over at Yuan Ke.

“Our Qi Lin from the team is celebrating a big occasion today — we’re all friends here. Come on, let’s all raise a glass to him.” Yuan Ke held up his cup and called out to the crowd with a smile.

With Yuan Ke leading the way, everyone stood up and toasted Qi Lin.

The newlyweds beamed with joy, poured their own drinks, and drank along with everyone.

After Yuan Ke drained his cup in one go, he poured another and spoke again: “I also want to say a couple of things — young Qin Yu here hasn’t been with the team long, but we get along very well, and he’s helped the bureau crack quite a few cases recently. Director Li is very pleased… His promotion is only a matter of time, so I hope everyone will look out for him at work going forward.”

With just those words, Qin Yu practically became the center of attention — colleagues from the bureau, whether he knew them or not, all began coming over to toast him one after another.

If it had been someone else being praised like this by Yuan Ke, they might have gotten a little carried away — but Qin Yu was a seasoned operator who had come up through the unplanned zones, so instead he felt a strange unease in his heart.

Qin Yu had indeed been standing out lately — the Songxia case was cracked, the drug trafficking case had a major breakthrough, and both of these had Qin Yu at the center. So he felt it was only natural that he’d receive attention from above — after all, leaders always favor capable subordinates. But at this moment, Qin Yu felt that Yuan Ke’s attention toward him had gone beyond mere appreciation — it was a little too special… And the two of them had no personal ties whatsoever. Just because of two cases, Yuan Ke was treating him like this — wasn’t that a bit unusual?

Qin Yu was puzzled.

……

After several rounds of drinks and many courses of food.

Yuan Ke glanced down at his watch, then said quietly to Qin Yu: “Come outside with me for a bit.”

“Sure!” Qin Yu nodded, stood up, and followed Yuan Ke downstairs.

Back inside, Tiger — who had already had quite a bit to drink — pulled Qi Lin over with a sly grin: “Let me ask you something.”

Qi Lin was a veteran on the team and knew Tiger, so he asked politely: “What is it, Tiger?”

Tiger stared straight at the bride Bella, reeking of alcohol: “Where’d you find this woman?”

Qi Lin was taken aback, glanced back at Bella, and said quietly: “I won’t hide it from you — I bought her from a residential area north of Songjiang.”

“How much did she cost?” Tiger’s eyes lit up.

“4500.”

“Damn, 4500 for a foreign beauty for life — that’s pretty worth it!” Tiger said something quite crude.

Qi Lin smiled but didn’t respond.

“Hey, introduce me to the broker sometime — I want to go take a look too.”

“……!” Qi Lin was taken aback: “Tiger, don’t you already have a wife?”

“So what, can you have too many wives?” Tiger said, picking at his yellowed teeth: “Money’s just sitting there doing nothing — might as well buy one for fun.”

“Alright, I’ll introduce you sometime.”

“Deal!” Tiger looked at Bella and nodded approvingly: “This woman’s really something — fair skin, long legs.”

Qi Lin felt a bit awkward and quickly grabbed a bottle: “Come on, Tiger — Bella and I will toast you.”

“Sure.”

“Come here, honey — come toast Tiger.” Qi Lin called out after pouring the drinks.

Bella walked over gracefully and nodded: “Tiger, nice to meet you.”

“Sister-in-law, let me tell you — Qi Lin has had such a hard life…” Tiger grabbed Bella’s arm under the influence of alcohol and started rambling on in a low voice.

……

Downstairs, Yuan Ke sat in the passenger seat, turned to Qin Yu and said: “You drive — let’s head back to the bureau and talk.”

“Alright.” Qin Yu drove off.

……

Over an hour later.

The banquet ended and everyone went home. Qi Lin’s sister went to their mother’s room, while the newlyweds got ready to go to bed and “have a chat.”

“Knock knock!”

Qi Lin had just undone his belt, preparing for a deeper kind of meeting, when he heard someone knocking on the window outside.

“Who is it?”

“Come out.” A figure that had visited the house a few days ago called out in a low voice.

Qi Lin was startled. He threw on his clothes and walked out of the bedroom.

In the dim moonlight, Ah Long — wanted by all of Songjiang — turned to look around and said: “Little brother, find somewhere quiet — I need to have a word with you.”

Qi Lin stood there stunned for a moment, then rushed forward with red eyes: “Are you out of your mind — you son of a bitch nearly got me killed!”