Lu Linjiang answered without a second thought. Cheng Hao’s polite voice came through the line. "Captain Lu, good news. The preliminary tests came back negative."
Lu Linjiang let out a long, heavy sigh of relief. "Thank you. That’s good to hear."
Cheng Hao gave a thin smile. "However, this isn't the final result. Because there’s a window period, and considering the nature of this virus, we’ll perform two more tests at the twenty-four and seventy-two-hour marks. If everything is still clear after seventy-eight hours, you can fully relax."
Lu Linjiang gave Guo Junyi a thumbs-up. Guo Junyi, clutching his teacup, looked almost surprised. Even after Lu Linjiang finished his pleasantries and hung up, a dazed expression remained on his face.
Shen Lei, however, was the first to snap back to life. "Oh, thank god! You scared me to death!" She looked back and forth between their expressions. "Did you two know beforehand? How are you both so calm?"
"I didn't know a damn thing!" Guo Junyi’s hands trembled slightly as he held his cup. He took a deep breath, finally letting some fresh air into his lungs. "Your brother here was just being stoic in the face of death!"
the weight on Lu Linjiang’s heart had also lifted. His outward composure had merely been an attempt to keep from affecting Guo Junyi’s mood. "You’re just a 'scourge that lives a thousand years.' I feel like we need a drink tonight."
Guo Junyi didn't agree. "I'm not going. I haven't left the lab since yesterday, except for this morning. I’d rather go home and eat. There are still two more tests, anyway. Once those are clear, let’s invite Jiang Cheng and Jiang Langmin out so I can thank them properly."
With the alarm temporarily deactivated, Lu Linjiang was quickly ushered out by Guo Junyi. After seeing off a still-shaken Shen Lei, he finally had a formal reason to call Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng wasn't surprised by the result at all. "It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since the contact with the source. Under normal circumstances, the test wouldn't show anything. The second test will be a more reliable reference. If tomorrow is clear, then there’s a high probability everything is fine."
Lu Linjiang remembered that Jiang Langmin and Madam Tao were leaving the next day. He asked tentatively, "Will you be heading back to Denmark tomorrow then?"
Jiang Cheng looked at the thesis on his computer screen. "Not for now. I’ll wait until all the results are out before making plans."
"I have to go to Tuocheng tomorrow. When I get back, let me treat you to dinner. You’ve been a huge help this time."
"We'll see," Jiang Cheng replied, neither accepting nor declining. "I'll check my schedule then."
Having met a polite rebuff, Lu Linjiang could only resign himself to hanging up.
Wang Ling slapped the table, laughing at him. "Serves you right! What goes around comes around! There’s a saying: 'If you play, you have to pay.' How does it feel?"
Lu Linjiang took a sip of his drink and shot him a glare.
After he finished laughing, Wang Ling sighed. "Honestly, Little Cheng is so cool now! If he hadn't wasted his time on you back then... tsk tsk, it’s unimaginable what heights he would have reached by now!" He finished with a look of utter disdain for Lu Linjiang.
Lu Linjiang ignored the look. " I’m just a bit worried about him. I feel like Jiang Langmin isn't reliable."
Wang Ling scoffed, his face full of contempt. "What does his reliability have to do with you? It’s not like you’re the one living with him. Jiang Cheng is going to be thirty in a couple of years. He’s a grown man. If he hits a few bumps in his love life, he can pick himself up. Does he really need you worrying about him?"
He made a gesture for Lu Linjiang to shut up. "Besides, even if Jiang Langmin is unreliable, at least he’s gay. Could he really be worse than a straight guy? If Jiang Cheng could pull himself together three years ago, do you think he’d let a guy like Jiang Langmin drive him to do something drastic now that he’s older? Puh!" He spat at Lu Linjiang’s feet. "Stop flattering yourself!"
Lu Linjiang wiped his face. "You don't sound like my friend."
Wang Ling ordered another plate of onion rings. "It’s because I’m your friend that I know exactly what kind of creature is hiding under that sanctimonious skin of yours." He crunched into an onion ring as if he were biting into Lu Linjiang’s flesh. "You, stop worrying about other people. Look at Little Cheng—his life is flourishing without you. Why do you need to meddle? You’d be doing him a huge favor just by staying out of his private business."
Lu Linjiang remained silent for a long time. He understood what Wang Ling meant, and he knew Wang Ling was absolutely right. But he couldn't help but worry about Jiang Cheng. "I suppose I feel like I owe him. I’m just afraid he’ll meet another version of me."
Wang Ling gave a cold snort. "Shameless!"
***
The next day, Lu Linjiang and Yang Bo arrived in Tuocheng. It was reportedly snowing again in Jinghai, but Tuocheng was bathed in bright sunshine, warm enough that only a thick jacket was needed. Wang Qi from the local Criminal Investigation Unit was waiting at the train station. His first words upon seeing them were: "This is a big case."
Lu Linjiang’s lips twitched in a semblance of a smile. "I suspect the people at the CDC have a bigger headache than we do."
"Don't even get me started. When the CDC got the notice from your side yesterday, the whole place exploded," Wang Qi said as he drove. "This isn't the kind of thing we can go public with yet, but if we don't, we risk being held responsible if something goes wrong. The CDC is currently dragging the Bureau of Industry and Commerce and the Urban Management Bureau along to check everything. I left a bit late this morning, and even the breakfast stalls were gone."
"Does Guzman’s import-export company have business here?"
"We checked. There are two e-commerce firms. The man’s business was quite large. I’m taking you there now. With the traffic, we should arrive just as they start work."
The traffic was frustratingly slow. By the time they crawled to a fresh food company, they indeed arrived right at the start of the workday. The air was thick with the salty, fresh scent of seafood. Wang Qi showed his ID, and the receptionist led them into the CEO’s office.
The "CEO" was just a young man in his twenties. Seeing three police officers looking for him, his face went blank with confusion. "I’ve paid all my taxes! All the imports passed inspection and quarantine! What is this about...?"
"Do you know Guzman?" Lu Linjiang asked.
"Yeah, the boss of Guiman Seafood. He came to go over a contract with me last week. Why?"
"He’s dead."
"Holy shit!" Liu Zizhe jumped up. "What happened? It had nothing to do with me! He was alive and kicking when I saw him off!"
"Don't be nervous." Lu Linjiang watched as Liu Zizhe clumsily knocked over his water cup. "We just want to ask about his itinerary. Specifically, did you take him out to eat wild game?"
Liu Zizhe’s eyes darted around, his expression becoming strained. "Well, that... that..."
"If you really did eat it, that’s not our jurisdiction. But if you lie to me, I won't be polite," Wang Qi added.
"Of course we didn't," Liu Zizhe said. "Really. Our contracts are signed annually. Usually, the legal teams just handle it, or their company’s legal rep comes down. This year, for some reason, Guzman came himself. It was just a formality. As the host, I had to treat him to a few meals, right?"
"So, you took him to eat some 'fresh' things?"
"Where did you go?" Lu Linjiang asked.
"Yizhuoxian, Tanglu, No. 3 Private Kitchen, Tianguan, Jiu Cheng Pin... and Liucheng Island in the suburbs. That’s it. I usually like seafood, and I mostly eat what my own company sells. I rarely go out to restaurants."
"When hosting a guest, you can't be too casual..." Liu Zizhe’s tongue tied itself in a knot, and he fell silent.
Wang Qi turned to Lu Linjiang. "The others are fine, but Liucheng Island... there are quite a few farmhouse restaurants hidden there."
Lu Linjiang understood immediately. Farmhouse restaurants used the lure of "fresh and rustic" to attract people. Once customers got bored of chicken, duck, goose, and fish, the owners would inevitably start dabbling in illicit options.
Seeing that they didn't seem to be there to cause him trouble, Liu Zizhe’s curiosity finally surfaced. "Excuse me, what exactly happened to Guzman? How did he die?"
"We just asked if you ate wild game. What do you think?" Wang Qi countered.
Liu Zizhe looked at them in disbelief. "No way..."
"Why not? Haven't you heard that illness enters through the mouth? You’re in the fresh food business; do I really need to remind you to be careful about what you eat?" Wang Qi looked at him with amusement. "By the way, you really didn't go with him?"
Liu Zizhe held up both hands. "Really. If I go, I have to pay. I finally ran into a guest who didn't need me to accompany him; why would I go looking for trouble?"
Leaving Liu Zizhe’s office, Wang Qi drove straight toward the suburbs.
"We’ll skip the ones in the city for now. There was a crackdown in August and September; they won't have the guts. Liucheng Island is a different story. We’ll check there first."
Lu Linjiang had already done a quick search. "This Liucheng Island seems like quite a unique place."
Wang Qi shook his head with a wry smile. "It used to be a small fishing village, nestled against the mountains and facing the sea. Later, it was developed into a tourist scenic area. People around here love their food and aren't picky about what they eat. Farmhouse cooking is all about things you can't get in the city. Back when there were no regulations, it became quite a scene. Later, when the crackdowns started, it turned into a game of cat and mouse. It’s almost impossible to eradicate."
Lu Linjiang nodded in agreement. Wang Qi suddenly asked, "Hey, have you checked his phone? There might be clues there."
Yang Bo sighed. "Mr. Guzman was a pragmatist. There were hardly any photos on his phone. Why couldn't he have had that habit where you can't eat without taking a picture first? If he did, we could just pull up his album and find the place. We wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."
Lu Linjiang felt the same frustration. These days, flipping through someone’s phone usually yielded a wealth of information. For those active on social media, a single phone could summarize their entire life, and nine times out of ten, you’d find clues related to the case.
Guzman was an anomaly. He was like an alien; his phone was so clean it looked like it had been intentionally wiped. But Lu Linjiang had the forensics department check—his social media accounts were linked, he just never posted anything. He only followed about a dozen influencers, all of them pretty girls, and occasionally gave them a 'like.' Other than that, he left almost no trace on the internet.
***
