Chapter 1: The Drowning Dancer

On a summer afternoon in 2010, in a commercial residential complex, a man wearing a baseball cap and a blue T-shirt cautiously scanned his surroundings.

Then he pulled out a tool resembling a thin wire from his bag and skillfully fiddled with the door lock in front of him. “Click!” A faint sound echoed as the lock sprang open.

The man smirked triumphantly, swiftly retracted the tool, took out a pair of shoe covers from his bag, glanced left and right with care, then gently pushed open the door and slipped inside.

Ten minutes later, he burst out in panic, his pants zipper wide open, looking utterly disheveled.

———

Zizhen City, Nanjiang Province.

June 21, a sweltering afternoon.

Ge Manli, a dancer from the provincial troupe who had just performed “Yanzhi Kou” at the Kaiyue Hotel, was drenched in sweat. For someone with her obsession with cleanliness, this was pure torment.

At that moment, the bathtub installed by her husband Ren Jia at home seemed to beckon to her; her heart had already flown back. Moreover, she deeply resented this kind of performative dancing.

She claimed she felt unwell from sweating and requested to go home to wash up. The troupe leader, Fu Tuan, aware of her obsession with cleanliness and frequent bathing, and impressed by her cooperative performance that day, arranged for driver Xiao Liu to take her home in the troupe’s Passat.

On this day, Ge Manli’s husband Ren Jia was on a business trip to Yiling City, over two hundred kilometers away. She decided not to return to the troupe that day; she planned to soak in a bath, then meet her friend Yang Liu for shopping and dinner out.

Ge Manli lived in a two-bedroom apartment on the third floor of Fenglin Garden, the most prestigious neighborhood in Jiangdong District. The complex bordered the commercial heart of Jiangdong—and indeed all of Zizhen City—always bustling with people.

Inside the apartment, she took out her phone, casually dropped her bag on the cabinet by the door, absentmindedly kicked off her high heels, and walked toward the bathroom while slipping off her light purple dress…

Soon, the sound of rushing water came from the bathroom.

More than twenty minutes later, a faint jasmine scent drifted from the bathroom, accompanied by Ge Manli’s soft humming:

“The past and present have passed and will never return,

Red leaves fall and lie buried in dust,

Beginnings and endings never change…” She loved this song, having mourned and been moved countless times by the tragic love between Zhu Zibao and Zi Xia.

She especially adored Zi Xia’s line: “He is a supreme hero who will one day come for me riding on a rainbow cloud!” Whenever she hummed this song, she felt sorrow for Zhu Zibao and Zi Xia, yet secretly rejoiced in her own fortune.

She believed she had met her own supreme hero—Ren Jia—bright, handsome, considerate, wealthy, and above all, utterly devoted to her, making every married or unmarried woman in the troupe envious.

Soaking in the scented bath, humming “A Lifetime of Love,” thinking of her perfect husband, the unpleasantness from the dinner party vanished completely.

——————

At dawn on June 21, the habitual thief Shu Jiaqing had arrived early at the old neighborhood alley opposite Fenglin Garden. From this spot, he could clearly see the entrance to Fenglin Garden.

At 5:30 a.m., he saw the tall, handsome man dragging a suitcase out of the complex, hailing a taxi heading west—he guessed it was toward the train station.

Shu Jiaqing rubbed his nose contentedly; all his days of preparation had not been in vain. He only needed to wait a little longer—until the beautiful woman left home—then he could return to rest.

After days of observation, he noticed that although the complex appeared tightly managed, the guards all huddled in their air-conditioned rooms between 3 and 5 p.m., leaving the entire compound nearly deserted—perfect timing for his crime.

At 3:25 p.m., he parked his electric scooter thirty meters from the entrance of a small park over three hundred meters from Fenglin Garden. He noted the surveillance camera there had been broken for a long time. Shouldering his black canvas bag and pulling his hat brim low, he walked toward Fenglin Garden.

At 3:33 p.m., Shu Jiaqing arrived at the door of Unit 2, Building 3, Apartment 301. After glancing left and right, he pulled out a thin wire from his bag and unlocked the door in about thirty seconds. Once inside, he looked around—the living room was empty—then turned and quietly closed the door.

As he turned, the words “Gongmao Home Appliance Repair” on the back of his blue T-shirt suggested he was an appliance technician. After closing the door, he took out a pair of disposable shoe covers from his satchel and neatly slipped them over his shoes; he had already been wearing cotton gloves since before entering.

Seeing the living room empty, he planned to check the two bedrooms and the kitchen and bathroom. Although he had seen the male owner depart that morning and the female owner leave for work, years of professional habit reminded him: caution ensured longevity.

Yet the two white high heels placed differently in the living room and the light purple dress outside the bathroom door triggered his alertness. Someone was home! It was the beautiful dancer!

Why was she home? Shu Jiaqing’s heart jolted. As a professional thief with years of prison experience, he knew the vast difference between a house empty and one occupied.

Just as he prepared to retreat, his gaze was drawn to a black bra lying on the purple dress. In that instant, his adrenaline surged; the woman’s graceful figure haunted his mind. Without thinking, he walked to the bathroom door, crouched slowly, trembling right hand picking up the bra, heart racing, face flushed. He brought the bra directly to his nose—the lingering scent of her body intoxicated him. He imagined the woman behind the glass door, and lost all self-control…

At that moment, a loud “Bang!” erupted from behind the bathroom door. The sudden noise jolted Shu Jiaqing awake. He frantically dropped the garment, spun to flee—only to see the bedroom door facing the living room suddenly swing open.

The afternoon sunlight was strong; he clearly saw a dark shadow flicker past the bedroom and balcony. Who was it? Was the noble, beautiful woman still home…? Shu Jiaqing’s mind flooded with filthy thoughts, vivid, sensual images flashing uncontrollably.

—————

At 17:32 on June 21, the Jiangdong District Public Security Branch received an alert from the city’s 110 Command Center: a female corpse had been discovered in Apartment 301, Unit 2, Building 3, Fenglin Garden.

Upon receiving the alert, Chief Gu Changzheng of the branch’s Criminal Investigation Unit immediately led his team to the scene. The informant was Yang Liu, a reporter for the city television station; the victim was her close friend—Ge Manli, a dancer with the Zizhen City Dance Troupe.