The password is 563743675.
Ping An felt like a trapped beast, trying desperately to do something all morning, but to no avail.
After leaving the Hegui District Public Security Bureau, Ping An felt an unprecedented fatigue.
Dejected, he got into the RV, pointed home to Hei Dou, and then lay on the sofa motionless.
"Master, we need to see Jiaozi!" Su Tang, still immersed in her grief, tugged on Ping An's arm and whispered, "If all of this is for Jiaozi's own good, why don't I feel any happiness at all?"
"Be good, we should go home! What do you want to eat for lunch?" Ping An gently stroked Su Tang's head and said.
"You only know about eating, I can't eat anything!" Su Tang turned her head away, dejectedly saying.
"Solving cases is like this, do you think it's all like Sherlock Holmes, clairvoyant, calculating endlessly!" Ping An said, as if comforting Su Tang, or perhaps comforting himself. "Real case solving requires a little bit of exploration, taking detours, going the wrong way, and wasting effort are all commonplace. Perhaps, as the police currently have...evidence, Jiaozi's parents, oh no, it should be adoptive parents, would do those things for wealth!"
"But it doesn't make sense!" Su Tang said, "I've recorded the entire process of the case. If it was really Jiaozi's parents' scheme, what's the deal with the peeping case? Did the two cases happen to collide? What about the drone! What was the ultimate goal? Something that could be explained with a phone call, why go to such lengths to sneak into the neighborhood at night? It's too strange!"
Ping An looked at his apprentice with an appreciative gaze. She analyzed things thoroughly and had a very clear logical thinking process, grasping the key points well. She was indeed a promising candidate for a detective.
"It's really good that you can think of these things! But don't forget, the police will also think of these things. They want evidence, and evidence is the only thing!" Ping An said. "So, to reach this point in the case, we master and apprentice have officially entered the game. Whether we can find the problem and uncover the truth is our real skill!"
Ping An's comfort seemed to have no effect. Su Tang, biting her fingernails, was very much like himself when he was "possessed." To help his silly apprentice get out of the case as soon as possible, Ping An decided to treat her to a good meal.
Recently, a new market opened behind the sports district. It was rumored to have the freshest lamb in the entire Hechuan City, and Ping An had been wanting to visit it for a long time.
When they returned home, Ping An saw that the rain outside was about to stop. He told Hei Dou to go home and rest alone, then dragged Su Tang, who was stubbornly refusing to go, to the market.
The rain had just stopped, and the sun had not fully come out. The sky above the market was filled with steaming hot vapor. The robust people of Hechuan, who had been cursing the heavens for an hour, saying they were freezing to death, were now wiping sweat from their faces, muttering to themselves that it was too hot.
Even though it was a newly opened market, it couldn't escape the messy stench. Strangely enough, when Su Tang lived with Su Xia and his wife, she was capable of enduring hardship and hard work. Ping An heard from Su Xia's old colleague that once, while eating at Su Xia's house, he was surprised to see Su Tang, who was only 13 at the time, carrying a bundle of over ten pounds of old scallions home, regardless of the smell. How had she become such a delicate young lady in just a year with Ping An?
Being a detective and solving cases was a career, or for Ping An, a news reporter, it was more like a hobby. But eating was different. There was nothing more important in the world than eating. In recent years, Ping An had lived his life with increasing clarity. Sometimes he would tell himself that if he couldn't solve a case, it was fine, after all, he wouldn't be penalized. But eating was the most important thing in life. It was not worth sacrificing good meals for a hobby.
Having realized this, Ping An was now enjoying his trip to the market.
The lamb was good. Cut three catties of lean meat, stew it with radish and vermicelli at home, it would go well with rice!
The okra after the rain looked fresh. Blanch it in hot water at home, and eat it with soy sauce, it would go well with rice!
The bell peppers, just picked from the field, were pleasing to the eye. He picked one up and sniffed it. Mmm, it would be good stir-fried with eggs at home, it would go well with rice!
Ping An's shopping basket was getting fuller and fuller. Su Tang followed behind, pouting and not speaking, breaking off pieces of garlic sprouts she had somehow obtained from a stall and scattering them all over the ground.
"Hey, hey, such good garlic sprouts, you've broken them into garlic seedlings. Wipe your hands with a wet wipe, they're all smelly!" Ping An looked back at Su Tang, saying with displeasure.
When the sun climbed to the top of the sky, the master and apprentice finally finished their shopping for lunch and walked home leisurely.
At the doorstep of their house, Gao Da was sitting on the steps, smoking and lost in thought. Seeing Gao Da, Ping An chuckled, put an arm around the old man's neck, and enthusiastically invited him inside.
"I'm not going into your house, just outside, I have something to say!" Gao Da seemed unhappy, and his stubbornness was something most people couldn't handle.
"Let's talk inside, have some air conditioning, and drink some tea!" Ping An looked at Gao Da and felt that the other party was indeed not right. He pointed to the shopping basket and asked Su Tang to take it home first, while he prepared to ask Gao Da what had happened.
Watching Su Tang reluctantly enter the house, Ping An squatted on the steps like Gao Da.
"Speak, what's going on?" Ping An asked softly, making sure there were no outsiders around.
"That, you asked me to keep an eye on that person. I've been watching him for the past few days. Everything else is normal, nothing out of the ordinary." Gao Da glanced around warily and then said cautiously, "This person is very alert, I almost got exposed. If you have some bad plans, hurry up and execute them. I'm afraid the person will wake up if it takes too long!"
It turned out that after the incidents in the wind power community three nights ago, Ping An always felt like someone was watching him, so he quietly found Gao Da and had him disguise himself again, acting as his third eye hidden in the corner.
"No, if there's nothing wrong, why are you so angry? Did someone provoke you?" Ping An didn't hear what he wanted and was a bit confused by Gao Da's state.
"It's not that, following that person, I went to the flower old man's place opposite the community to keep watch, and I accidentally discovered that Wu Lan was dancing with the flower old man inside the house!" At this point, Gao Da's face turned red. He said angrily, "A lone man and a lone woman! In the same room! In the heat of summer, Xiao Wu was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and that old man was only wearing short pants. They were sweating profusely, and they were dancing close together, dancing! Pfft! Shameless!"
Ping An never expected that the nearly sixty-year-old Gao Da, who had come here in the heat of summer, was not there for any proper business but was actually eating jealous vinegar.
"Old Gao, they're just dancing, is there anything wrong with that! What kind of dance is it?" Ping An tried to suppress his laughter.
"What dance?" Gao Da said, then glared back at Ping An. "You played matchmaker, don't you know what kind of dance it is?"
"Heaven knows, Old Gao, I wasn't the one who said that!" Ping An quickly protested.
"Bullshit! Officer Shui Ping went to the community for interviews this morning and asked me about flower old man's situation. It was then that I found out you'd been investigating cases in the community these past few days, and knowing that Xiao Wu wanted to participate in the community dance competition, you deliberately told her that flower old man knew how to dance, knew how to dance that damned cha-cha!"
"Ah, I didn't mean it like that at the time. I said I heard him playing cha-cha music in Uncle Hua's shop, and then, then Sister Wu came to my door herself. You can't blame me!" Ping An said aggrievedly.
"Get lost! You never had any good intentions, you thought I was blinded by love and wouldn't work as hard as before, so you planned to break us up! Ping An, it's not easy for me either. Your aunt left early, and I've been holding back for over ten years! Ten years! Every day I have to watch you young people being in love, I can't hold back anymore!" Gao Da's face had already turned dark red, which was not a good sign. The old man was truly heartbroken.
"Old Gao, you didn't say this before. You used to hide it! You wouldn't tear down that window paper even if you were beaten to death. Now you can be considered to have helped me, pushed me a step forward. Look, you've started to admit that you like Sister Wu, right? This is a good thing!" Ping An said, making up lies with wide eyes. "Admitting it is the first step, and an important one. The next step is to face it directly, confront the other person, and confess completely!"
"Hmm? That's not right. You're bullying me because I'm slow-witted and trying to fool me. I just want to find a companion, it doesn't need to be earth-shattering. We can just do it quietly ourselves. Why should you let you know my feelings? I don't live by your expressions." Gao Da was furious, grabbed Ping An by the collar, and was about to make a move.
"Sister Wu likes to listen to suona!" When Gao Da's large fist was less than three centimeters away from Ping An, Ping An finally shouted a life-saving sentence.
"Really? Did she tell you?" Gao Da's angry expression turned into a compassionate smile at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his tone softened.
"A few days ago, while investigating in the community, we were eating in the community canteen at noon. Su Tang and Sister Wu were chatting, and she mentioned that when she was young, she liked a young man who had gone down to the countryside. That young man lit a white candle for her, prepared a plate of pig's head meat, a plate of peanuts, and a plate of candied tomatoes, and then played suona for her while watching her eat..." Ping An was telling the truth, but in that era, when young people couldn't get good food, being able to prepare such a good meal with three plates would surely impress a young girl, or a greedy young girl's heart.
"Oh, that's called romance, isn't it!" Gao Da gradually let go of Ping An's hand, and a burst of laughter came from his dark, thick lips. Then he was about to leave.
"You still have to keep watching for me!" Seeing Gao Da leave, Ping An quickly reminded him.
"Got it, this old man knows what he's doing!" Gao Da left without looking back.
After placating Gao Da, who had fallen in love, Ping An returned home with a smile, ignoring Su Tang who was lost in thought on the balcony. He tied on his apron and went into the kitchen.
Gao Xiaofei always arrived at Ping An's house just in time for meals. According to him, this was a skill.
The lamb stew with radish soup on the dining table exuded a rich aroma. The okra, coated with Shanxi black soy sauce, lay on the plate, covered in a tempting dark red. The local eggs from Gao Da's house, stir-fried with tender, watery bell peppers, filled the whole house with fragrance. The pork tenderloin, carefully selected from Hei Dou's butcher shop, was dipped in egg liquid, fried in oil, and then stir-fried with black fungus, garlic sprouts, and onions. Before serving, a circle of fragrant vinegar was added along the edge of the pot, and a classic dish of "guo you rou" was ready...
"It's better to arrive early than on time! Give me a big bowl of rice!" Smelling the aroma, Gao Xiaofei walked into the dining room, drooling, and clapped the table, ordering his goddaughter around.
"You dog's life is really good. I rarely cook, and you show up every time you do, without fail!" Ping An said, while taking the steamed cabbage with vermicelli out of the steamer. He patiently waited until the oil in the ladle turned a beautiful dark red, then poured it over the vegetables in one go, releasing a fried vegetable aroma that was irresistible.
No one spoke at the table. Ping An and Gao Xiaofei each held a large bowl, eating rice with the dishes. Su Tang didn't like greasy food much. She scooped a spoonful of rice, poured half a bowl of lamb soup over it, and mechanically fed it into her mouth with a spoon.
"That was satisfying!" Gao Xiaofei ate until he was sweating profusely. After a long time, he put down his bowl, let out a satisfied burp, and said, "By the way, I forgot to tell you. I came to tell you that the drone we shot down at the foot of Hushan mountain has been stolen!"
"What!" Ping An almost choked on a piece of lamb.
"Oh, but don't worry, the drone was only lost for twenty minutes, and then it was found!" Gao Xiaofei scooped a bowl of soup for himself with a soup spoon, gently blew on the coriander on the surface, and drank it slowly.
"Sigh, you scared me to death. How could something so important be lost?" Ping An coughed for a long time before recovering.
"It's not like that. Director Xiang is going crazy, especially after it was lost again less than ten minutes after being found. He said some very harsh words..." Gao Xiaofei shook his head and sighed.
"Lost again? Who was guarding it? Are they brainless?" Ping An wasn't choked this time, but he was almost furious.
"Who else could it be? Cheng Jian! But don't worry, both times it was lost were misunderstandings!" Gao Xiaofei said with a smile.
It turned out that after Ping An set up the trap to lure the drone, the police with special equipment immediately shot it down. Ping An and his group hurried to understand the situation and left first. Cheng Jian and others were responsible for taking the drone back.
However, as soon as the drone was tied to a pickup truck for the first time, the police officer driving received a phone call. As he was about to start the car, he happened to glance at the truck bed and found that the drone was missing.
There were still three or four police officers left at the scene, and Cheng Jian had not left. When he heard that the drone had disappeared right under the noses of the police, he was furious and immediately ordered everyone to search. Soon, on a village road leading to a village at the foot of Hushan mountain, Cheng Jian saw an old man collecting scrap metal, working hard to push a tricycle up a slope. He walked up to the tricycle, and without searching, saw the drone.
The old man who collected scrap metal claimed to be from the village, lived on a meager pension, and usually collected junk. He had seen a drone on a pickup truck when he passed by Hushan mountain before. His greedy heart stirred, so he quietly took the drone when the police weren't paying attention.
Hearing the old man say this, Cheng Jian was amused to the point of laughter. He planned to notify the local police station to handle it, but because there was no signal and he was anxious to return to research the case, Cheng Jian grabbed the scrap metal collector by the collar and threatened him, or rather, educated him, before taking the drone and letting the old man go.
This was a minor incident, and Cheng Jian didn't take it seriously. He pulled the drone and headed back. When the car entered the courtyard of the Hegui District Public Security Bureau, Cheng Jian got out of the car and looked at the pickup truck bed, and was stunned again. The drone was gone again.
The police convoy had left Hushan without stopping much. Although the pickup truck was at the back, the police officer driving the pickup truck adamantly said that after putting the drone back in the truck bed for the second time, he was afraid of being seen and attracting curiosity, so he covered the drone with a plastic bag. He had been staring at the plastic bag through the rearview mirror the whole way, so there shouldn't have been a problem.
Although his subordinates wouldn't betray him, the drone was lost. Cheng Jian finally lost his temper and personally led people to search the road back carefully. Sure enough, they saw another old man collecting scrap metal, slowly riding a tricycle with the drone.
They stopped the old man. No matter how unreasonable he was, Cheng Jian gave him a lesson in law before asking the old man how he had taken the drone. This scrap metal collector was quite honest, saying that when the pickup truck was waiting at a traffic light, he noticed the drone wrapped in a plastic bag at the back of the pickup truck, so he openly and quietly took the drone, leaving the plastic bag as it was.
"Just now, Cheng Jian called me. Guess what? That scrap metal collector in the city turned out to be Uncle Hua, the boss opposite the community." Gao Xiaofei said. Although the drone was lost again and again, it was not a major issue. Cheng Jian did not want to cause trouble. He educated Uncle Hua and did not arrange for the police to handle it, and took the drone back to the bureau.
The drone was lost and found, lost and found again. It all seemed a bit strange.
After lunch, Ping An sat in the living room with Gao Xiaofei, while Su Tang washed the dishes in the kitchen.
"If you're going to wash them, wash them properly, don't just fool around!" Seeing his apprentice looking dejected, Ping An asked anxiously, "What's Jiaozi's situation? Do you know where she went?"
"The person who followed her back said she went directly to the wind power R&D department in Huangzhuang, where Liao Yuanchao has been living for years." Gao Xiaofei said, "The police who went back said they didn't see Liao Yuanchao. Our people expressed that they wanted to provide close protection for Jiaozi, but her old housekeeper casually said 'please do as you wish' and then took Jiaozi upstairs. Several service staff then came to serve them, arranging rooms and food, but they wouldn't let them see Jiaozi. Our people were very angry and returned."
"I need to find a way to see this Director Liao!" Ping An said. "It's a pity that public opinion, and even our own people, now think that Liao Yuan and I are in cahoots."
"Don't see him today. Tomorrow morning, I'll lead a team to find Jiaozi to take a statement. Liao Yuanchao will appear as the guardian proxy at that time." Gao Xiaofei subtly pointed to Su Tang in the kitchen and said, "You can arrange to go with him. As for Su Tang, let's skip it. People will think it's too childish."
"Alright! What are you doing this afternoon?" Ping An asked.
"What are you planning to do? Didn't you just make a fuss by the river district? Did you find anything?" Gao Xiaofei asked.
"Liao Yuan and Yang Jie both acted very normally. They don't seem like they're doing anything wrong!" Ping An shook his head.
"Mm, it's the same situation on my end. Director Xiang invited an authority on criminal psychology, and he also said that Liao Yuan and Yang Jie were not lying." Gao Xiaofei said. "If that's the case, then where did the problem lie?"
"Take me to see the drone this afternoon." Ping An said.
"Can you understand it?" Gao Xiaofei said. "That thing is not a person, it's just a pile of parts. The technical department brothers might have already started dissecting it!"
"So soon! Then let's go." Ping An whistled towards the kitchen, called out Su Tang, and prepared to leave.
"So soon? It's not even the end of working hours yet!" Gao Xiaofei looked at his watch, surprised.
"Don't rush, let's go pick someone up first." Ping An said mysteriously.
Since Hei Dou wasn't around, Ping An didn't bother to drive and got into Gao Xiaofei's car.
"Picking someone up? Who?" Gao Xiaofei asked curiously.
"You'll know when we get there!" Ping An said with a mysterious smile.
Hechuan City is a major mining and agricultural city. The plains along the entire Hegui District are planted with various crops. In the Hegui District area, there is a popular proverb: "Hechuan is abundant, and Shanhe is full," meaning that if the grain in the entire Hegui plain is harvested, there will be enough grain to feed the entire Shanhe Province. Therefore, Hegui District is also known as the "granary."
West of the Hegui District People's Government building is a six-story small building. It looks unremarkable with its white paint and red roof, but it is actually a key research institution of the National Agricultural Science Academy in Hechuan City, specializing in researching new agricultural machinery products. The renowned Agricultural Drone Research Institute is located in this institution.
The person Ping An wanted to pick up was a drone expert from this institution. And the connection to this institution was thanks to Lin Dang.
It turned out that Lin Dang had accidentally attended a training class on the operating theory of agricultural drones. The teacher responsible for opening the class was named Chang Suo. After graduating, Lin Dang had maintained communication and contact with this teacher.
When Ping An began investigating the wind power case, he unintentionally mentioned the drone to Lin Dang over the phone. Lin Dang couldn't be there to support his lover, so he proactively contacted Teacher Chang Suo. Unexpectedly, the other party was also interested and agreed to help research this drone in an expert capacity.
"Chang Suo, how old is he? Is he married? Does he chat with your Lin Dang often? What are you thinking?" On the way to Hegui District to pick up the person, Gao Xiaofei said insidiously after hearing Ping An's introduction. "Are you really at ease! Lin Dang is inexperienced, but you are an old fox. You are at ease letting your girlfriend chat with another man for a year?"
"Can you be any more disgusting?" Su Tang was still saddened and had voluntarily stayed home to rest in the afternoon. Now that only the two of them were in the car, Ping An didn't need to hold back his words. He cursed, "As a reporter, you have to interact with all sorts of people. It's a professional requirement. Don't talk nonsense!"
"Do you think everyone is like you, liking to play detective games when they have nothing else to do? Most people don't want to get involved in cases, first because it's bad luck, and second because it's dangerous. If Chang Suo has no ulterior motives, would he agree so readily!" Gao Xiaofei continued to provoke Ping An.
"Drive your car!" Whether it was because he disdained to answer Gao Xiaofei, or because Ping An had indeed had such thoughts himself, now that his heart was exposed, he was unwilling to discuss the matter further.
Gao Xiaofei, who was only half-joking and half-serious in teasing Ping An, saw Ping An frown and naturally stopped talking.