Inspector Xie was a man consistent inside and out, someone who did exactly what he said. When he said he did not want to see you again, he truly meant to lay a Milky Way between the two of you so you would never meet. Over the following week, in his spare time, Lu Guang Ming secretly ran to the police station three times, yet not once did he manage to slip into Inspector Xie’s office—Xie Jia Hua had distributed Investigator Lu’s photograph and a packet of cotton to his subordinates, repeatedly instructing them over and over: upon seeing this person, quickly stuff cotton into your ears, and no matter what nonsense he spouted, swiftly bundle him up and throw him out of the police station.
Cotton inevitably had moments when it was not stuffed securely. One firm-hearted and bold young officer went to ask their boss, “Boss, that Lu guy said you slept with him and refused to take responsibility. True or fake?”
Xie Jia Hua was reading case files and did not even lift his head, his tone calm and light. “What do you think?”
“Of course it’s complete nonsense! Our boss is Lord Guan reborn, upright and just. How could you do such a low-down thing! The ICAC is best at wronging good people, especially that Lu guy. When he smiles, he looks like a black-hearted fox. One look and you can tell he’s up to no good! He must have failed to get information out of you, so he’s going around talking nonsense to smear your reputation! Only some big sweet potato with lard over his heart and blind eyes would sleep with him!”
“…” The big sweet potato with lard over his heart and blind eyes.
“Hehe, right, Boss?”
“Do taxpayers support you as a police officer so you can come here and flatter me?! Get out and patrol!”
After getting off work, the big sweet potato went to the training room and hit the sandbag for an hour.
Left hook, right hook, straight punch, then he grabbed the sandbag and unleashed a storm of knee strikes.
After venting, drenched in sweat, he walked wetly into the changing room to shower. The person in the mirror had a dignified face and a cold, severe expression. After removing his clothes, he revealed a body of lean yet elegant muscle, as though carved by knife and axe, with two smooth Apollo’s belt lines slashing diagonally into his abdomen. Even so cool, handsome, and well-built, looking at himself in the mirror still made him look like a foolish big sweet potato.
Xie Jia Hua slapped himself resentfully, then showered and changed in low spirits before driving home, wilted and dejected. Halfway there, the second phone hidden in the car drawer suddenly rang, and only then did his spirits finally lift.
He opened the phone and swept a glance over the contents of the message. Then he parked the car by the roadside, changed himself into a gangster outfit inside the car, and hurried off to the red-light district.
…
Lu Guang Ming sat on a chair in the corner of the disco and nearly laughed out loud.
One searched far and wide until iron shoes were worn through, only to obtain it without any effort at all. Inspector Xie had laid out a Milky Way so they would never meet, but heaven insisted on building a magpie bridge for the two of them—today, Lu Guang Ming had come to one of He Yi Society’s discos to follow a high-ranking official suspected of having dealings with Master Qiao. He had lost the person he was following, but had instead run into Xie Jia Hua, who had come here to meet an informant.
Lu Guang Ming lay over the table, covering his mouth while pounding the tabletop for a while, truly wanting to go out and set off a few firecrackers to celebrate.
From his angle, Xie Jia Hua and that informant appeared extremely intimate. Not only did they keep talking in low voices with their faces close together, but when they finally parted, Xie Jia Hua even affectionately hugged the other man’s shoulder—was this something that Inspector Xie, who rejected people from a thousand miles away, could do? How rare!
Lu Guang Ming could not help looking at that informant a few more times. Apart from the fact that the other man was genuinely a handsome guy comparable to a celebrity, he did not see anything especially unusual about him.
Once the informant left, Xie Jia Hua sat alone in the same spot drinking beer. Lu Guang Ming looked at his gangster outfit and found it extremely amusing. Inspector Xie wore sunglasses, ripped jeans, and a little black vest. Both arms revealed fierce-looking tattoo patterns—which looked like ten-dollar-a-pair stickers from a roadside stall. He looked both fierce and cold, utterly adorable.
Before Lu Guang Ming could finish sighing emotionally in his heart, Xie Jia Hua finished his beer, suddenly smashed the beer bottle, and pounced over! It turned out he had discovered Lu Guang Ming’s presence long ago!
Lu Guang Ming grinned as he was grabbed by the collar and pressed down onto the table. One of them above, one below; it was practically an embrace. Lu Guang Ming’s eyes turned, and imitating how that informant had addressed him before leaving just now, he called, “Brother Jia Hua, your gangster act is very realistic. Do you want to fight me here too? No need, no need. I surrender directly.”
“Now that you’ve finished watching the show, why aren’t you getting lost?”
“It’s rare for Brother Jia Hua to make an appearance, so I should at least deliver some closing remarks, right? Was that person just now your new informant? He looked very close to you.”
“It’s none of your business, Lu Guang Ming. I will never lend you my informant! Also, you are not allowed to appear in front of me again!”
“Hey, is this how you turn your face and deny knowing someone? Don’t forget, the medical fees from my last hospitalization have to be counted on your head!”
“How much do you want?”
“Give me your home address. I’ll mail you the bill.”
“If you have guts, mail it to my office.”
“We’ve already slept together. Whether I have guts or not, doesn’t Inspector Xie know? Yesterday, I ran into that young nurse on the street. She still sympathized with me so much, and even quietly asked me whether the police had caught that sodomizing rapist yet…”
“Shut up!”
“Your home address?”
“Get lost!”
“Then I’m really mailing it to your office?”
“Get lost!”
…
Lu Guang Ming happily rolled away from the disco in an excellent mood. He discovered that the moment he saw Xie Jia Hua, he became very happy, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting. Inspector Xie was both serious and cute; tease him a little and he would bristle. Ever since sleeping with Lu Guang Ming, he felt guilty whenever he wanted to hit him, and each time, he could not bring his claws down on him. He was so cute it could make a person’s blood vessels burst.
Although Xie Jia Hua felt heart-piercingly irritated every time he saw him, what did that matter? Who did not feel heart-piercingly irritated when they saw him? He had not been born to make people like him.
Lu Guang Ming went home and rummaged through his little Pandora’s box—this was where he stored all the corruption and criminal information he had privately collected over the years, cases that temporarily lacked conclusive evidence or had not yet been officially opened. He picked out an officer surnamed Wang, against whom the evidence had recently become conclusive enough for formal case-opening and arrest, then made a phone call, using the other man to inquire about the identity of Xie Jia Hua’s informant.
Then he went to the bathroom to wash up, touched the shallow scratch on his neck that Xie Jia Hua had accidentally made with the beer bottle, and climbed into bed wet and smooth, falling asleep.
…
The next day, he obtained the informant’s identity. As expected, it was just as he had guessed: the other man was not a real gangster, but an undercover police officer Xie Jia Hua had planted inside Xiao Qi Hall. With this in mind, he came up with another plan—of course, he would never do something like reveal the undercover officer’s identity, but using the matter of the undercover officer to threaten and entice Xiao Qi Hall’s boss’s wife was not impossible.
According to his investigations from many sides, Xiao Qi Hall’s boss’s wife, He Chu San, was a flourishing little white lotus unstained by the mud. He himself did not touch the slightest fishy or meaty matter, yet he and the boss, Xia Liu Yi, were deeply devoted as husband and wife. What He Chu San most hoped for was Xia Liu Yi’s transition into legitimate business, and what he worried about most was Xia Liu Yi being in danger. Using “the identity of an undercover officer who could put Xia Liu Yi to death” to tempt He Chu San into stealing Xiao Qi Hall’s account books for him was an excellent idea.
Choosing an auspicious day, he went to He Chu San’s office and fooled He Chu San for a while. He could tell that although He Chu San appeared righteous and stern on the surface, deep down, he had indeed been somewhat shaken. Smiling as he left He Chu San’s office, Lu Guang Ming then met up with his colleagues and officially arrested that officer surnamed Wang whom he had used.
When Officer Wang was arrested, he flew into a thunderous rage, pointing at the ICAC officers and cursing, “Someone among you set me up! Someone made a deal with me and used me!”
But Lu Guang Ming narrowed his eyes and smiled sweetly. “Officer Wang, without proof or evidence, please do not slander ICAC personnel. Walk too many night roads and you will eventually meet a ghost. Who told you to make a deal with the devil yourself?”
He had always prided himself not on being a hypocrite, but on being a true villain. His self-positioning was that of a devil full of schemes and willing to use any means necessary. If someone praised him like that, he would enjoy it as sweet wine.
As a result, the devil received his retribution that very night. Several of Officer Wang’s subordinates, indignant on behalf of their superior, secretly blocked him in the alley downstairs from his home on his way back from work, shoved a trash can over his head, and gave him a ghostly beating…
Xie Jia Hua once again worked overtime until deep into the night, yawning as he drove home. Halfway there, he suddenly heard an announcement over the radio, saying that a citizen had reported a brawl on XX Road and asking officers near XX Road to go take a look.
Xie Jia Hua happened to be nearby, so he replied to the announcement and took the call. Turning the steering wheel toward the scene of the incident, he saw Lu Guang Ming amid garbage and bloodstains that stank to high heaven, his face covered in blood and his whole body filthy and foul.
The officers who had ganged up on Lu Guang Ming had long since disappeared into the night. They had been wearing plainclothes, and the dusk was deep, so no one had clearly seen what they looked like or what their identities were.
Lu Guang Ming sat stinkingly in the garbage heap, unhurriedly wiping the blood from his face. Xie Jia Hua truly could not bear the sight and grabbed his arm to help him up, then handed him his own handkerchief.
While wiping the blood with Xie Jia Hua’s handkerchief, Lu Guang Ming still curved his eyes in a shameless smile. “Inspector Xie, this time, I didn’t appear in front of you on purpose.”
“Shut up, you!” Xie Jia Hua snapped irritably. “Where are you hurt? Should I call you an ambulance?”
Lu Guang Ming smiled and took half a blood-soaked brick out of his coat pocket, tossing it casually onto the ground. “Let’s save the call-out fee. I can’t afford it. Besides, this blood isn’t all mine. Since they dared come looking for trouble with me, how could I let them have an easy time?”
Futile Devices Scans 
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