Chapter 46: Heartache

Finally back in Zizhen City, Gu Changzheng had Luo Fei drop him off at his office and told them to take half a day off.

He was used to going solo, never liking to stay at home—perhaps because it was too cold and empty there.

He locked himself in his office, dozed off briefly, and felt his spirits lift considerably. These past weeks had stretched his nerves thin with major cases; now that everything was finally over, he felt a strange sense of emptiness.

He thought of Ge Manli and Ren Jiahe, Liu Baoshan and Tan Yang, and couldn’t help but sigh.

Liu Baoshan and Tan Yang’s evil was obvious—they were destined for this outcome the moment they walked out of juvenile detention. They were the evil visible on the surface—but what of Ren Jiahe? What of Hu Feng? What of Chen Shuanger, who ruled the island city with an iron fist? What of Hu Zhuosi, boss of the Hu Corporation? Their evil hid beneath masks of respectability or appeared in the guise of elite, successful figures—yet wasn’t the horror of Liu Baoshan’s kind amplified by their silent encouragement?

Gu Changzheng recalled his shock upon seeing Tan Yang’s autopsy report on the island—his final resolve laid bare by the ten-centimeter steel needle, which had severed any last chance Liu Baoshan had tried to leave him.

He seemed to understand why Tan Yang had personally dismembered Ren Jiahe’s body.

“Heh!” He let out a bitter laugh—what a terrifying thought! He, a police officer, had just used the word “understand” about a murderer! What if he weren’t a cop? What if he were Liu Baoshan or Tan Yang—how would he have acted?

How could he even have such a terrifying thought? Gu Changzheng slapped his own head, as if he could knock the idea out.

As he drifted in thought, his phone rang. He picked it up and warmth rose in his chest.

“Hello, Master.”

It was Lu Haoxuan calling—he’d heard Gu Changzheng was back from the island and invited him over for dinner tomorrow night.

Gu Changzheng naturally accepted at once; only at his Master’s house did he feel the warmth of home.

The next evening, Gu Changzheng specifically bought salted duck—his master’s favorite dish. As someone from the Jiangnan waterlands, one bite of authentic salted duck instantly brought back the taste of home.

When he arrived at Lu Haoxuan’s home, Gu Changzheng suddenly felt something was off about the old couple today—he couldn’t quite say how. It wasn’t until a woman, seemingly in her early thirties, arrived just before dinner that he realized why: the two elders were dressed neatly, as if preparing for an outing.

“Come, Changzheng, let me introduce you—this is Teacher Tao Jingyi. Little Tao is from the same hometown as your Master, just transferred to Zizhen, and has no friends here, so I invited her over for dinner so we could all get to know each other!” Mrs. Wei Jie greeted warmly.

Gu Changzheng immediately understood—the dinner was secondary; his Master’s wife had her “matchmaker fever” again. She was setting him up with another potential wife.

He wouldn’t say a word aloud—he knew how deeply the old couple cared for him. Since joining the Jiangdong Criminal Police in 1990 and following his Master ever since, these two elders had long been family to him.

Tao Jingyi, as her name suggested, radiated calmness and serenity. During dinner, she spoke little, mostly watching with wide eyes as Lu Haoxuan and Gu Changzheng recounted past cases.

Unconsciously, she grew from initial shyness to relaxed ease, occasionally gasping in alarm at the dangerous parts of their stories. Mrs. Wei Jie watched with a beaming smile—seeing Tao Jingyi not only unafraid but genuinely interested in her husband’s and Gu Changzheng’s tales of catching criminals, her heart bloomed with joy.

What Mrs. Wei now worried about most wasn’t her daughter far away in another province, but this orphaned pupil of her husband’s. Though she knew Fang Jie’s departure had shattered him, even closing his heart off, as an elder, she couldn’t bear to see this lonely child remain alone for life. So two years ago, after Fang Jie had been gone three years, she began quietly trying to find him a suitable partner.

But she’d had no success—either the women couldn’t accept his job as a police officer, especially a dangerous detective, or they learned of his injuries and feared lingering aftereffects.

Gu Changzheng’s attitude had shifted from outright rejection to passive acceptance, yet he’d never shown real interest in any of them.

Yet Mrs. Wei grew more eager to set him up—this time, having just met the quiet, gentle Teacher Tao, she had “cleverly” arranged this meeting.

Then, as Lu Haoxuan and Gu Changzheng discussed Tan Yang’s deeper motive for dismembering Ren Jiahe’s body, Gu Changzheng suddenly mentioned the 1995 serial dismemberment case that Lu Haoxuan had led them to solve—Lu Haoxuan’s hand trembled slightly. For decades as a cop, that 1995 case had haunted him, becoming his heartache.