Chapter 11

【Why are you staring at someone like that?!】

【It’s just curiosity! Who lets their kid come to the police station to cosplay as an officer?】

Ye Qingfeng heard the system’s alert, looked up, and immediately met Qing Yi’s slightly displeased gaze—he quickly averted his eyes, but it was clearly too late.

“So this is the gentleman whose family heirloom was shattered while acting bravely?”

Qing Yi’s gaze openly scanned Ye Qingfeng, and after a moment, a flicker of suspicion passed through her eyes.

She had just come out of the robber’s interrogation room and learned the full account from his own lips.

She suspected the so-called family heirloom was fake, but why would he do this? It makes no sense...

Yet he genuinely stopped the robber—if this were just a scam, there’d be no need to go this far, especially not by targeting a police officer.

“Um... Senior Qing Yi?”

As Qing Yi struggled to make sense of it all, Zhu Yuan’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Ah... sorry, I just remembered something.”

Qing Yi cast Ye Qingfeng an apologetic glance, then stepped over and sat across from the two of them.

“Might we see the family heirloom that was shattered? Our police station will do our best to help you repair it!”

Qing Yi’s eyes locked onto Ye Qingfeng, trying to detect any telltale sign in his expression.

Ye Qingfeng felt utterly baffled—who was this kid? Could she be the police chief’s daughter? Why does Zhu Yuan have to call her “senior” under pressure from above?

Huh... Guoranzhezhongfubaidexianxiangbuguanzainageshijiedouhuiyoua ......

“Senior Qing Yi, Ye Qingfeng’s family heirloom shattered into pieces when he stopped the robber—it can’t be repaired.”

Zhu Yuan clearly didn’t catch Qing Yi’s implication; her face flushed with apology as she spoke up first.

While Zhu Yuan explained, Qing Yi kept her full attention fixed on observing Ye Qingfeng—not a trace of nervousness showed.

Normally, Qing Yi would have ended her inquiry by now, but something about this man felt far more complex than he appeared—she couldn’t let it go and asked again:

“...Then what about the shattered fragments of the heirloom? We need to examine them for official records.”

“Senior Qing Yi, our police station doesn’t have such a procedure.”

Zhu Yuan wasn’t foolish—after working alongside Qing Yi for so long, she sensed her suspicion, and a flicker of doubt stirred in her own mind. But when she turned to look at Ye Qingfeng, whose expression showed no anomaly, she quietly dismissed her doubts and frowned slightly.

Meanwhile, Ye Qingfeng also realized that the officer named Qing Yi was deeply suspicious of him—he was about to offer some excuse when the front door of the reception room was pushed open from outside.

“Here are the commendation banner and bonus for Mr. Ye Qingfeng.”

A police officer entered the reception room, holding a banner and a card in his hands.

“I’m off duty now, Zhu Yuan. You should get some rest too.”

Seeing the newcomer, Qing Yi swallowed her doubts—after all, it was just a passing curiosity. She waved goodbye to Zhu Yuan and headed for the door, pausing just before exiting to shoot Ye Qingfeng a warning glance.

“Goodbye, Senior Qing Yi.”

Only after Qing Yi had fully left the reception room did Zhu Yuan exhale in relief, then turned to face Ye Qingfeng, a pang of guilt rising in her chest.

He helped me stop the robber out of kindness—besides, how could he possibly fake a collision with a police officer?

But if it was fake, what was his goal? A few ten thousand Ding Ni more?

“Mr. Ye Qingfeng, please accept this banner. The card contains your bonus: three hundred thousand Ding Ni. It’s not much...” The officer handed the items to Ye Qingfeng with both hands, then softened his tone, “According to regulations, the reward can only be fifteen percent of the total amount stolen by the robber.”

“That’s unacceptable! Qingfeng’s family heirloom was shattered!”

Zhu Yuan now fully believed the broken glass object was Ye Qingfeng’s heirloom. She usually didn’t handle these final matters and wasn’t familiar with the rules—but three hundred thousand Ding Ni wasn’t small...

But compared to a family heirloom, it was far too little... He must be devastated right now...

I promised him the reward myself, and I failed to deliver it—I feel terrible about it...

Zhu Yuan quietly studied Ye Qingfeng’s expression and saw him forcing a smile as he accepted the items from the officer.

As expected... He’s clearly disappointed after all...

Ye Qingfeng’s disappointment wasn’t faked—anyone seeing a child freely giving orders inside a police station would naturally feel disappointed.

His main goal in doing this was simply to find an opportunity to smoothly approach Zhu Yuan—a casual attempt to boost her initial impression of him.

【Ding! Zhu Yuan’s affection increased by 10%. Current affection: 35%.】

The moment the system announcement sounded, his lips couldn’t help but curl upward—but he remembered his basic actor’s discipline, suppressing his grin to maintain the facade of forced cheerfulness.

Ye Qingfeng nodded to the officer, then carefully stored the banner and the card holding three hundred thousand Ding Ni.

“Um... Ye Qingfeng, wait outside the police station for me a moment. I’ll change clothes and come right out.”

Zhu Yuan hadn’t forgotten her promise to escort Ye Qingfeng home. After telling the nearby officer to get some rest, she hurried toward the changing room.

“Thank you for your hard work, Officer.”

Ye Qingfeng politely bid farewell to the dazed officer before leaving the reception room and heading toward the police station entrance.

Shortly after Ye Qingfeng left, the officer’s previously confused expression suddenly turned excited, as if he’d uncovered a massive scandal—he bolted out of the reception room straight toward his night-shift colleagues.

As expected, when Zhu Yuan arrived at the police station the next day, someone would ask her about her progress with Ye Qingfeng.

In the night of New Aelidu, the sky was like a vast black curtain, the hazy moon casting a silvery glow, and a cool breeze drifted in.

Ye Qingfeng stood frozen at the police station entrance, his thoughts in chaos, gazing blankly at the boundless sky.

Since arriving in this place called New Aelidu, he felt like an outsider—strangers, unfamiliar streets, everything here felt utterly alien.

Only the night sky, identical to the one in his memory, gave him a sense of reality.

Zhu Yuan, now in casual attire, hadn’t stepped outside yet, but through the glass she spotted a figure standing at the entrance. She immediately quickened her pace, stepping out the door with a complex gaze toward Ye Qingfeng, who stood there foolishly letting the cold wind blow on him.

“Why are you standing outside like an idiot? Don’t you know to come inside and get out of the wind?”

A gust of cold wind hit her, and she instinctively pulled her coat tighter, shouting at Ye Qingfeng.

“I was just remembering the past...”

Ye Qingfeng shook off his thoughts and turned to face Zhu Yuan behind him. Seeing her stare at him like he was an idiot, though he didn’t understand why, he patiently explained:

“I see...” Zhu Yuan lowered her head, lost in thought, then softly added after a two-second pause: “It must have been something truly worth remembering.”

“Yes...”

Yes... those miserable ten years were truly unforgettable.