Ye Ying originally wanted to take a quick look at what the script was about, but she didn't expect that she couldn't stop reading it.

The story begins with the police receiving a major case in which Zhao Chengheng, a well-known educator and school teacher, was stabbed to death in the school office while on night shift. His wife did not see her husband come home until midnight, so she called the school to inquire about the cause of the incident.

Zhao Chengheng has a great influence in this city and even in the whole country. He has published more than ten educational works and is best at studying children and adolescent psychological problems. People around him respectfully call him Professor Zhao. Therefore, the police station attaches great importance to this case. After receiving the report in the early morning, the police immediately led people to the school. However, the results of the on-site investigation were incredible:

Zhao Chengheng died in the chair in front of his desk, his eyes wide open, his head tilted up, his throat pierced by a pen, blood flowing down the chair onto the ground. Apart from that, the scene was clean, with no fingerprints left, including the murder pen. The forensic doctor speculated that the time of death was between 9 and 10 p.m., but the junior high school did not have evening self-study, and the school gate was completely closed on July 7. The surveillance also showed that no one had left the gate since it was closed, and there was no other place to climb over the wall to leave the school. Therefore, the police speculated that the murderer was most likely someone inside the school.

After checking, it was found that the only people who stayed in the school before 9 pm were Zhao Chengheng, a security guard, two teachers, and a dormitory manager. Apart from them, there were only students living on campus. Fang Ye took the four adults back to the police station for questioning, and at the same time investigated his relationship with Zhao Chengheng at school, but found that the four had no time or motive to commit the crime.

The case suddenly became confusing, and Fang Ye suddenly came up with a ridiculous guess: Could the murderer be a student living on campus?

But the school has strict management, and students living on campus are not allowed to leave the dormitory building after 9 pm. All surveillance cameras have not captured any traces of students on campus at 9 pm. So is it true that a student under 16 years old would sneak into the school office while carefully avoiding all surveillance cameras, kill Zhao Chengheng with a fountain pen, and then calmly return to the dormitory to continue sleeping?

Putting aside the question of whether there are children with such strong psychological qualities, Zhao Chengheng was a 46-year-old man. How could he be killed so easily by a student?

The case was still under investigation, but there was no progress, and the higher-ups kept putting pressure on him. Just when Fang Ye was getting anxious, Fang's mother suddenly called him and said, "Put your doghouse in good shape. Your cousin will come live with you tomorrow."

Fang Ye was completely confused: "Where did my cousin come from?"

Fang's mother: "Do you still remember your deceased aunt's house?"

It turns out that Fang's mother has a younger sister, Jiang Yun, who was determined to marry a man her parents disliked when she was young, and resolutely left her hometown and cut off ties with her family. However, many years later, the Jiang family received a notice from the police that Jiang Yun and her husband were unfortunately killed by robbers, and his nine-year-old son was also kidnapped by robbers and disappeared.

This case became an unsolved case and became a headache for Fang's mother. Unexpectedly, just a while ago, an 18-year-old boy found her and said he was Jiang Yun's son Song Yingbai.

"He really is!" Fang's mother said excitedly on the phone, "He looks exactly like Xiaoyun, and he has an old photo of Xiaoyun with him!"

Fang Ye thought for a moment and said, "You seemed to have said before that he was kidnapped?"

"Yes. Xiaobai said he was sold to a family, but that family abused him, so he ran away secretly and grew up in an orphanage." Fang's mother said, "He was admitted to a university here this year. I vaguely remember that his mother's hometown is here. After many twists and turns, he finally contacted me."

Fang's mother's words were filled with deep heartache and guilt for this poor child. She wanted to take care of Song Yingbai herself, but Song Yingbai happened to be admitted to a university in the city where Fang Ye worked, and it was very close to Fang Ye's unit, so Fang's mother gave this important task to her son.

"I know you're busy, but Xiaobai is very sensible and won't cause you much trouble." Fang's mother advised, "He has classes during the day, so you can let him stay at your place at night. Chat with him more and care about his life and studies. Got it?"

Fang Ye is a workaholic who has been on the front lines of criminal battles all year round and rarely goes home. When he heard his mother's request, he was immediately overwhelmed. But he understood his mother's importance to her late sister's flesh and blood, so he agreed.

The next day, Fang Ye went to the station to pick up this cousin whom he had never met before. As a boy, the other party had an overly handsome appearance, but his personality was indeed sensible and polite as Fang's mother said, which surprised Fang Ye.

It's not that he is biased, but his years of work and experience have made him see too many children whose parents have died, whose families have broken up, and even those raised by murderers. Most of these children have sensitive, extreme, or even dark and twisted personalities, and it is difficult for them to integrate into society normally. Song Yingbai witnessed his parents being killed when he was less than nine years old, and he himself experienced all kinds of bad things, but he still managed to become such an excellent person. It is really too rare.

Fang Ye took Song Yingbai back to his messy home - even though his mother called him yesterday to tell him to clean up, he had no time to clean up, the case at hand was driving him crazy.

"Brother Ye, don't worry about me. The police must be busy, right? Just go to work." Song Yingbai's eyes were curved when he woke up, which made him look more lovely. He didn't look like a college student at all. "Will you come back for dinner after work tonight? I can cook at home."

Fang Ye was too embarrassed to say, "No need. I'll bind a card to you, and you can order takeout when you're hungry. The city center is just two blocks away, so you can take a taxi to buy whatever you need."

He really didn't have time to take care of people, so he said apologetically: "I'm busy and I come back late at night. If you have anything, you can call me."

Song Yingbai had no complaints and carefully saved Fang Ye's phone number: "I will."

Fang Ye solved the problem and continued to work on the case. He expanded his investigation into Zhao Chengheng's social relationships to see if there were any potential enemies. But the people around Zhao Chengheng spoke highly of him. His wife also said that her husband devoted all his energy to education and often did charity work, donating to Hope Primary School and orphanages many times. It was hard to imagine that such a good man would have an enemy.

Everyone in the task force was exhausted. Fang Ye had been working hard for two days and two nights. He could no longer hold on and went home to take a shower and change clothes. But when he walked in, he almost thought he had walked into the wrong place.

The house was clean and tidy, the floor was shiny, and all the dirty clothes thrown on the sofa and bed were washed and hung on the balcony. The restaurant was lit with warm lights and the aroma of food. Song Yingbai was holding a bowl of steaming soup on the table. Hearing the movement, he turned back in surprise: "Oh, you're back!"

Fang Ye was shocked: "You cleaned this up?"

Song Ying said with a frown, "I had nothing to do after class, so I just cleaned it up. Do you mind?"

How could he mind... But Fang Ye, a 30-something adult, felt ashamed to have a half-grown child help clean up this doghouse-like place. Not only that, Song Yingbai also said, "It just so happens that I cooked too much dinner, Brother Ye, can you eat it together?"

So the two cousins ​​took the opportunity to have a good chat during the meal.

Through the conversation, Fang Ye found that Song Yingbai had a very good personality, gentle and generous, and his demeanor and tone of voice made people feel comfortable.

"You must be popular in school." Fang Ye sighed.

"Brother Ye, that's right. I heard from Auntie that you've solved many big cases. You're amazing." The boy's eyes sparkled with a kind of hero worship and admiration, which made Fang Ye's face hot. He coughed and said, "It's not that exaggerated. I'm a boring person. I don't have any other hobbies besides work."

Colleagues all say that he is a work machine that never gets tired and joke that he will probably be single for the rest of his life.

"Because being a police officer is hard work. Only with you around can ordinary citizens feel safe." Song Yingbai said, "I saw a news report recently that someone was murdered in a school? Is that what you've been busy with recently?"

Fang Ye: “Yes.”

Song Yingbai showed a look of regret: "I heard from the media that this school man is good. His wife said in an interview that he gave up his family for the sake of education and didn't even have children. But since he likes children so much, why doesn't he have one himself?"

Fang's ambition was slightly moved. That's right, a person who wanted to live in a school and was called a spiritual mentor for children, why didn't he have any children himself?

Is it because of your busy career?

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have proposed this while we were eating." Fang Ye's thoughts were brought back to reality by Song Yingbai's voice. The boy picked up a few pieces of braised pork for him and reminded him considerately, "Eat first. It will be cold soon."

Fang Ye said: "Okay."

Because of the unexpected meal, the relationship between the two quickly became familiar, and the cold and empty home finally had a warm atmosphere. Fang Ye gradually developed the habit of going home for dinner as much as possible, and chatting with Song Yingbai became his only way to relax during his busy work.

However, misfortunes never come singly. Before Zhao Chengheng's case was solved, a few days later, a well-known entrepreneur, Yang Hongliang, was murdered in a hotel suite. His throat was slit with a knife, and nothing was left at the scene except blood.

The whole city was in turmoil, various speculations were rampant, media reports were flying everywhere, and the pressure on the police station became more and more serious. The task force focused its investigation on Yang Hongliang's competitors, but Fang Ye accidentally discovered in the investigation that Yang Hongliang had also been engaged in charity activities for many years and had donated to several orphanages many times.

This coincidence touched Fang Ye's keen mind. He looked up Zhao Chengheng's information and compared it. Sure enough, he found that both of them had sponsored an orphanage named "Xinxin" many times!

Fang Ye did not alert the enemy, but quietly disguised himself as a reporter to visit the orphanage. The orphanage was located in a quiet place with a beautiful natural environment and complete internal facilities. The children inside seemed to be well fed, well dressed and in good spirits, and seemed to be living a carefree life. Just when Fang Ye suspected that he had made a mistake in judgment, an eight-year-old boy suddenly showed a strange reaction when he saw him: his pupils dilated, his whole body stiffened, and his face turned pale, which was frightening.

The staff explained that the child was in poor health and took the boy back to the house. However, Fang Ye became completely suspicious and tried every means to get close to the boy. Finally, from the boy's vague words, he deduced that people like him in suits and ties often came to the orphanage and did terrible things to him.

Fang's ambitions stirred up a storm. The orphanage with beautiful scenery and exquisite decoration suddenly became gloomy. The children's rosy and happy faces seemed to have turned into a welded mask, which was weird and almost scary.

He immediately returned to the police station to report this important clue, and suspected that someone was using the orphanage as a cover to conduct a crime of sexually assaulting young children. However, the investigation of the "Xinxin" orphanage did not find anything unusual. All the children in the orphanage said that they had not been assaulted, and even the boy who had leaked the information to the other party before shut up tightly and did not say a word.

The police returned empty-handed. Upon hearing the news, the head of the detachment scolded Fang Ye: "Two murders have not been solved yet, and you are wasting time investigating an orphanage? Didn't I say that we should focus on Yang Hongliang's business rivals to solve the case? Fang Ye, you are really going against me, right? If you do that again, I will make you get out of here!"

The boss had always been rude to Fang Ye, because Fang Ye was young, promising and hardworking, and he was afraid that he would take his place. Fang Ye did not hold back his anger this time, and the whole police station knew that he had a serious quarrel with his immediate superior.

Although his idea was rejected by the higher-ups, Fang Ye did not intend to give up this clue. As he continued to track down Xinxin Orphanage, he was obstructed by an extremely powerful mysterious force. Fang Ye was outnumbered and even nearly faced life-threatening danger. In the end, he returned home in a mess with injuries.

Song Yingbai was horrified by the wounds and blood on his body. He gritted his teeth and cried while helping him treat the wound. Fang Ye endured the pain and comforted him: "It's okay, the wound is not deep, you won't die."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Song Yingbai glared at him with red eyes and asked, "How could the injury be so serious?"

Fang Ye was upset and couldn't help but tell Song Yingbai about the conflicts in the police station.

He used to keep things to himself, but since Song Yingbai came, he gradually learned to talk.

Song Yingbai thought for a moment and said, "I think you still need to get on good terms with your boss first."

Seeing Fang Ye frowning deeply, Song Yingbai said, "Listen to me - judging from the situation, the murderer should be a gang. No matter how powerful you are, you can't fight it alone. You must rely on the police force in the bureau. Your team is actually afraid of you, afraid that you will solve the case and take the credit for it. In my opinion, you should apologize to him and hint that he will give the credit for solving the case to his commanding leader. If he gets the benefit, he will not deliberately restrict you."

"I think that compared to honor, Brother Ye, you must want to catch the murderer as soon as possible, right?"

Fang Ye looked into the boy's clear and soft eyes, and his frown slowly relaxed: "I didn't expect... that you could understand me so well."

Song Yingbai said: "Because you are a good policeman."

Fang Ye's heart softened, and he reached out and touched the boy's head: "Okay. Then I'll do as you say."

Song Yingbai's hair turned white, and he remembered something: "It just so happens that my classmate's family is in the tobacco and alcohol business. I will ask him for a few cartons of good cigarettes tomorrow, and you can send them to your leader's home."

Fang Yeshi wanted to say that you, a little kid, don't worry so much, but when he looked at the other person's sincere and serious eyes, he changed his words and said, "Okay. Thank you for your help."

The next day, Fang Ye went to the detachment's house with cigarettes, and the other party's attitude softened, but he still disagreed with him continuing to track down the orphanage. Fang Ye pretended to agree, and privately found a few brothers who had a good relationship with him, and continued to track down the clues he had found before.

He had previously investigated all the orphanages funded by Zhao Chengheng and Yang Hongliang, and except for "Xinxin", they all looked normal. But there was also an orphanage called "Heaven", located in the remote southwest. Fang Yeren went there in person, but found that the Heaven Orphanage had been closed many years ago and now it had become a deserted site.

But in this long-abandoned and dilapidated building, Fang Ye Ren found a large amount of old bloodstains that even time could not erase.

The cold wind howled, blowing the withered branches and leaves above the wasteland in rage, as if countless wronged souls who had not been freed were screaming and wailing in fear day and night.

Just then, Fang Ye received a call:

Captain Zhou Yong died in his own home. There was a box of cigarettes scattered on the scene, and tests revealed high-purity drugs that were lethal.

The cigarettes were sent by Fang Ye, and the type of drugs found in the cigarettes was exactly the one that Fang Ye had seized when he killed a drug lord in the Golden Triangle. He and Zhou Yong had a fierce quarrel not long ago - all the evidence pointed to Fang Ye, proving that he was the suspect in the murder of Zhou Yong.

The voice on the phone seriously ordered him to go back and surrender immediately, but at that moment Fang Ye could not hear anything. The person he was thinking of was another person.

He thought of Song Yingbai. He thought of Song Yingbai who was also from an orphanage, thought of the black rose that appeared on his waist when he changed clothes, thought of what he said to him, thought of the gentle smile on his face when he handed him the cigarette that day.

…

Ye Ying finished reading the script in a deep voice, and her heart could not calm down for a long time.

The script included an audition clip, and the role that He Pingqiu recommended him to audition for was Song Yingbai.