On the verge of exploding

The window was opened, the rain had stopped, and a gentle evening breeze blew into the room, bringing a touch of summer coolness. Gao Junxiao sat on the sofa, scrutinizing the two people who were tied up, and teased Chen Yao for being too ruthless. The prisoner's face was swollen bigger than a steamed bun, how could he possibly interrogate him?

Chen Yao sat in his chair and pointed his gun at the two "melons," blaming Gao Junxiao for just watching the show without making a move; these few melons weren't enough for him to cut.

Knowing Chen Yao's abilities, Gao Junxiao jokingly said that he had just taken a shower and didn't want to move, asking Chen Yao, who hadn't washed up yet, to bear with him.

Chen Yao, sitting on the chair, snorted coldly, as if he had suffered a great injustice, and glared fiercely at Gao Junxiao.

Between good brothers, nothing can't be solved with a meal; if one meal isn't enough, then two will do. Gao Junxiao told him to choose between Da San Yuan and Yi Pin Xiang tomorrow, and he'd treat him. Chen Yao didn't stand on ceremony and ordered three meals: Yi Pin Xiang tomorrow, Da San Yuan the day after, and Xin Ya the day after that.

"Trying to rip us off!" Just as Gao Junxiao was about to bargain with Chen Yao, the doorbell rang urgently again. Tonight was too lively; there were so many guests.

As soon as the door opened, a young man, panting, shouted, "Miss He, Miss He is missing. Tonight, a child went upstairs, and then Miss He rushed downstairs, and... and she got lost."

"Huh? You managed to lose such a big person? Ah Xiao, you should at least have a veteran scout following her. You're being too careless." Chen Yao put away his gun and said, "She probably has something going on at the newspaper. You should call the newspaper and ask."

Under Chen Yao's concerned gaze, Gao Junxiao dialed the newspaper's number, chuckling awkwardly to avoid Chen Yao's stare. After a few rings, the call connected: "Hello, I'd like to ask He Qingcheng, is Editor He there?"

Gao Junxiao, holding the phone, calmly walked to the window, waiting for the other party's reply: "Oh, Editor He, she's changing the manuscript. I'll forward it to you."

Hearing the reply, Gao Junxiao finally felt relieved. Thank goodness He Qingcheng really went to work. He sat back down on the sofa and waited for He Qingcheng. Finally, a familiar female voice came from the other end of the line.

"Qingcheng, it's me." Gao Junxiao directly revealed his identity.

"Why did you call my workplace so late at night?" Qingcheng's voice was somewhat displeased.

"Don't worry about that for now. Whatever you do, don't go home tonight. Find a nice hotel or just stay in the office. Call me tomorrow morning and I'll come pick you up myself," Gao Junxiao instructed, word by word.

"Were you assassinated again?" Kiyosumi asked with certainty.

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine," Gao Junxiao quickly replied. "You just need to protect yourself."

"Okay, hey, why is the power out?" Just as Qingcheng agreed, a loud crashing sound of tables and chairs colliding came from the other side. No matter how much Gao Junxiao called out, no one responded.

A moment later, the phone rang again: "Gao Junxiao, come to No. 11 Guangfu Road at midnight tomorrow. Bring the list to exchange for your woman. Come alone. Don't try anything funny, or a new female corpse will appear in the Suzhou River."

Hearing the busy tone, Gao Junxiao casually tossed the microphone aside. The glint in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a cold, razor-sharp light.

He tried his best to suppress the rage surging within him. Now was not the time to assign blame; the immediate priority was to consider how to bring He Qingcheng back safely. According to his subordinates, He Qingcheng had apparently gone to the newspaper office to work overtime, so how could they have received the news so quickly? It was too suspicious.

Gao Junxiao maintained his proper politeness and did not reprimand his subordinate. Instead, he said seriously to the young man, "Time is of the essence. Proceed according to the original plan. Also, find some people to silence the newspaper. Go."

Inside the room, Chen Yao punched and kicked the two prisoners again, cursing them: "Despicable! Don't you understand the principle of not bringing disaster upon your wives and children? Tell me, who sent you here?"

The two men lay on the ground groaning and begging for mercy, saying they knew nothing about what had happened. One of them, unable to bear the beating any longer, cried out, "I'll talk, I'll talk! It's An'an Anfu!"

Everyone was familiar with An Fu's deputy commander, but it was suspicious that he revealed the seller's information so easily. Gao Junxiao coldly glanced at the two of them: "Did he send you to kill me?"

Another prisoner trembled and quickly begged for mercy, "No, no, no, we just wanted to teach him a lesson. We won't do it again, we'll never do it again."

This spineless coward is probably just a thug picked up off the street. After listening, Chen Yao kicked the two men on the ground a few more times, but Gao Junxiao stopped him. He then asked the two men on the ground how they would settle their accounts with An Fu after the job was done.

The two people on the ground immediately began to vie with each other to reveal what they knew.

In the dim light, the bartender elegantly concocted a dazzling cocktail and handed it to a customer at the bar. Anfu held the glass, sipping it listlessly, a large leather suitcase beside him.

This was his sixth drink already; the taste of the cigarette and alcohol mingled with his pent-up frustration. He had already bought his ticket for the first train tomorrow, planning to finish this job and then head to Nanjing to stay with his sister. The waters of Shanghai were too deep; he didn't want to stay there a moment longer.

An Fu shook his head, the despair on his face replaced by grief and indignation. He thought to himself: Gao Junxiao dares not touch Chief of Staff Tang, so he and Staff Officer Xu, as Chief of Staff Tang's deputies, are being targeted by him openly and secretly.

Today they'll find some fault and get me whipped by the military court; tomorrow I'll be interrogated in the interrogation room for days and nights without sleep; the day after tomorrow I'll be moving equipment until I'm exhausted. If I hadn't kept a low profile and avoided them at all times, would I still be alive today?

If I were to touch Gao Junxiao's woman again, he'd dig up my family's ancestral graves. Chief of Staff Tang is using Gao Junxiao to get rid of me. Thinking of his tragic future, An Fu suddenly burst into wild laughter without warning. "Chief of Staff Tang, you're ruthless, so I'll be ruthless too!"

And Xu Xun, humph, how dare he call me trash! I'm going to give you a big gift! He raised his wine glass and clinked it against the air in the dim light.

Just then, the wind chimes on the door rang crisply, and a man with a bruised and swollen nose limped toward Anfu. As soon as he sat down next to Anfu, he started yelling for more money, saying that those two were too good at fighting and that his brothers were all injured.

An Fu casually said, "Get lost." He then tossed a heavy bag of silver dollars into the man's arms. The man glanced at the money in the bag, then left satisfied.

Suddenly, the money pouch he had just handed over was thrown heavily in front of him again. An Fu looked up in confusion, and upon seeing the person who had arrived, he spilled wine all over the floor. His limp body couldn't support him, and the world spun around him. An Fu lay sprawled on the ground, his empty eyes filled with despair.

He's here! He's here! The man's footsteps sounded like the ghostly sounds of the underworld. In the hazy light, a pair of leather shoes stopped beside him. Gao Junxiao helped him up with a smile on his face: "Deputy Commander An, the ground is cold. The injuries from the military law department last time haven't healed yet."

An Fu felt no pain as Gao Junxiao pressed down on his shoulder; instead, he felt his hair stand on end. Gao Junxiao's smile at that moment resembled the White Impermanence summoning a soul, his gleaming white teeth seeming as if he were about to bite through An Fu's throat.

"Hey, how much have you been drinking? You can't even speak properly anymore." Gao Junxiao patted his suitcase and asked, "Where are you going to meet your colleagues? Do you need a ride?"

A sharp, piercing threat flashed through his ears, and An Fu's face turned deathly pale. As if resigned to his fate, he said to Gao Junxiao in a trembling voice, "Commander Gao, please spare my life, and I'll tell you about Chief of Staff Tang's big secret, okay?"

"That depends on whether this secret is big enough to buy your life." At this moment, Gao Junxiao stopped pretending and looked coldly at the man who was trembling like a sieve.

The air was filled with a musty, rotten smell, which made one's throat slightly itchy. Qingcheng coughed softly, and her consciousness slowly returned.

She propped herself up despite the pain in her neck; her head was still spinning, and everything in front of her seemed swaying and rotating. Qingcheng wanted to tell herself both bad news and good news.

The bad news was that she had been kidnapped and was now being held in what looked like a warehouse. It was almost completely dark, with only a few slivers of light coming through the fan on the wall, indicating it was daytime. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her feet were tightly bound with rope.

The good news is that the map that Comrade Li Sheng gave her was still there, and she wasn't searched.

Just then, she heard the clattering of leather shoes on the cement floor outside. She quickly pretended to faint and fell to the ground, and the roller shutter door was slowly pulled open.

Qingcheng listened intently to the kidnappers' conversation. One of the two men was Deputy Commander An, and the other was a henchman reporting the situation. She seemed to have seen Deputy Commander An at Mr. Tang's banquet before; that man didn't get along with Gao Junxiao.

Before long, Deputy Commander An chased away his henchmen and slowly walked to Qingcheng's side. The strong smell of alcohol on him kept wafting into her nostrils. Qingcheng could feel him squatting down to examine her carefully, and he even smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead.

Faced with such a frivolous act, Qingcheng held her breath, suppressing her physical discomfort and reminding herself not to act impulsively. The man seemed to find it amusing, chuckling a few times and exhaling a breath mixed with alcohol.

Just as his hand was about to touch his cheek, a voice came from the doorway: "Stop."

Then came the sound of clothes rubbing together. The owner of the sound continued to warn Deputy Commander An that if he got drunk, he should go elsewhere and cause trouble, and that he should hand the woman over to Gao Junxiao that night.

Hearing her boyfriend's name, Qingcheng felt nothing. Oh, so she got caught up in it again. Haha, she's used to it. She just can't work overtime when Gao Junxiao is causing trouble.

But Deputy Commander An was a tough nut to crack. He said that he had been treated so badly by Gao Junxiao, so what was wrong with playing with his woman? Before he could finish speaking, the sound of flesh colliding came from above, along with Deputy Commander An's slurred curses: "Xu Xun, I'll fuck your mother!"

Haha, they've fallen out! They've fallen out! But why are they cursing at other people's female elders? Why not male elders? That's so unfair! But it's strange, the Deputy Commander An I remember was rather timid, how come he's so arrogant? Did he drink too much and get bolder?

The warehouse returned to darkness. Hearing no more movement, Kiyosumi slowly got up. She should be safe until she got what they wanted. Her guards were patrolling outside; no one came in, probably thinking she was a weak woman and posed no danger.

This actually provided her with a very convenient opportunity to save herself. It was truly a case of kidnapping her at the worst possible time, when she had something important to do. Qingcheng glanced at her watch; it was already 3 PM. She wondered if her open-ended advertisement had been sent out yet. If it had, then the rendezvous had failed, and she would have to find another opportunity.

Qingcheng rolled over and wrapped her arms around her body. She carefully observed the knot and realized why the first practical lesson taught by Lao Wang was about tying and untying knots. This kind of knot was easy to untie. With a regular twist of the wrist, the rope would automatically fall off with a bite of the teeth.

The moment her hands were freed, Kiyosumi immediately transferred the map into her bra. She could get hurt, but the map couldn't. Then she untied her feet and looked around for a suitable weapon. Her stomach was rumbling; it seemed she'd have to overcome her hunger too.

When the roller shutter was pulled up again, it was completely dark. A group of men marched in through the gate in perfect unison. Qingcheng couldn't help but think that only an army could produce such synchronized footsteps. Two henchmen cut the ropes binding her feet, completely unaware that the ropes had long since come undone.

Qingcheng heard the wind outside, rustling through the reeds and concrete buildings. Was she by the river? Before she could even process what was happening, the henchmen pressed a gun to her back and forced her out of the warehouse. She immediately put on an innocent and frightened expression.

Under the pale moonlight, the waterway, sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, gleamed with a faint white light. It seemed to be the western side of the Suzhou Creek. This area was mostly warehouses for major foreign firms, sparsely populated and within Chinese territory, so making a commotion wouldn't be a problem. Qingcheng glanced at the surrounding scenery, confirming in her mind the general direction of her escape.

A few sentries stood scattered along the riverbank, guns in hand. A masked man said to her, "Miss He, please cooperate. Don't make a scene or try to escape. Your boyfriend will come to pick you up later. Of course, there's another possibility: you're not as important to him as fame and fortune."

Isn't that Xu Xun, the one who got yelled at after arguing with someone? Qingcheng didn't know his military rank, but she could tell from his clean hands that he was a clerk. Qingcheng pitifully asked for food; she was so hungry.

“No, just bear with it.” Deputy Commander An suddenly appeared from the side. “What’s the use of wearing a mask? Do you really think Gao Junxiao can’t find out that it was the two of us who kidnapped his woman?”

By the firelight, Qingcheng could finally see Anfu clearly. He looked somewhat listless, his face flushed, and he still had a stubble of beard. He was completely different from the fresh-faced young man at Mr. Tang's banquet. Good heavens, what kind of torment has he been suffering lately?

"What's the point of arguing about this now? Whether you tie up his woman or not, Gao will still make things difficult for her." A hint of impatience flashed in Xu Xun's eyes.

"Then after we get the list, we'll get rid of this woman and make her regret it for the rest of her life. Do you dare?" Deputy Commander An widened his eyes and made a throat-slitting gesture.

Xu Xun hesitated for a moment, then decisively refused. Qingcheng was speechless, thinking to herself, "Is this Deputy Commander An a drunkard to the point of alcohol poisoning? My death would do you no good at all. Gao Junxiao is as protective of his own as he is of his enemies. You see him every day, you should know his character better than I do."

Deputy Commander An hiccuped and said, "What, you're scared of being messed with and want to leave yourself a way out? Don't worry, Chief of Staff Tang will definitely make me take the blame for you in the end. You are his prized student."

Seeing that Xu Xun remained silent, Deputy Commander An continued to mock, "But don't be so smug. He didn't say a word to help us when Gao Junxiao was targeting us. Once the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked. I still have connections in Nanjing, so I can just transfer to another unit. But you, a poor kid, are pitiful."

"Stop talking!" Xu Xun seemed to have been touched on a sore spot and his emotions instantly spiraled out of control.

Kiyosumi stood cautiously to the side, observing their infighting. The chirping of crickets in the grass, accompanied by the urgent chirping of cicadas in the trees, made her feel uneasy.

Suddenly, the two of them shut up and nervously pulled her close. In the moonlight, Qingcheng recognized at a glance the man walking alone towards her—Gao Junxiao.

But his advance was stopped by two sentries with guns, and they disarmed him.

The sentry post blocking their path now seemed as insurmountable as the Milky Way. Gao Junxiao could only reassure her with his eyes, but her anxiety was instantly filled with peace the moment she saw him.

"Wow, what a loving couple! I'm so touched. Is Inspector Gao dressed like that for a date?" Deputy Commander An's annoying voice rang out again.

"I'm just a lonely man who doesn't understand romance. Of course I'll dress up before seeing my sweetheart. I'm not here to see you, so don't flatter yourself." Gao Junxiao glanced at Deputy Commander An with disdain.

He then shouted loudly to Xu Xun, "Hey, Staff Officer Xu, stop hiding! We're not ugly, don't act like a shameless lackey."

Xu Xun, realizing his identity had been exposed, subconsciously adjusted his mask. Seeing his obvious attempt to conceal something, Qingcheng cast an admiring glance at her boyfriend.

"Did you bring the goods?" Xu Xun shoved Deputy Commander An aside, pointed a gun at Qingcheng's head, and threatened, "I'll ask you one more time, did you bring the goods?"

“I brought it.” Gao Junxiao took out a stack of letters from the inside pocket of his suit, and the sentry immediately snatched them and handed them to Staff Officer Xu. Qingcheng stood next to Staff Officer Xu and watched him open the letters. It was a list, which included names, unit numbers, and ranks.

As she watched Xu Can burn the list, Qingcheng felt a pang of heartache and tried to blow out the flames, but the flames continued to burn along the white paper and soon turned into a pile of ashes.

Seeing the list destroyed, Gao Junxiao reminded Xu Xun that it was time to release the people. To his surprise, Xu Xun's expression changed, and he said, "You misunderstood. What I need isn't this list, but the original copy. After all, with the original copy, writing another list won't be difficult for you."

If a gun hadn't been pointed at his head, Qingcheng would have kicked him. "Why are you burning it if you're useless?" she thought. Gao Junxiao, seemingly having anticipated things wouldn't be so simple, calmly retorted, "Do you think I would carry the original with me?"

"Then I'll have to trouble Inspector Gao to retrieve it. Miss He will be waiting for you here. If I don't see the original copy by dawn, I can expect to be collecting the body." Staff Officer Xu knew that further discussion was pointless, so he directly stated the consequences.

But Gao Junxiao didn't leave. Instead, he found a muddy mound nearby, dusted off the dust, and sat down, talking to himself. This action successfully plunged Xu Xun into a state of self-doubt, and Qingcheng wanted to laugh again as she looked at Xu Xun's incredulous profile.

"Gao Junxiao, aren't you leaving yet? Do you want to collect the corpse right now?" An Fu couldn't hold back any longer and rushed forward to shout at Gao Junxiao.

As a result, Gao Junxiao's single "hmm" left Qingcheng speechless, both amused and exasperated. "Big brother, please speak properly. Don't be impulsive. She still needs to deliver maps and intelligence to her superiors."

"Then I'll take it..." Staff Officer Xu slowly pulled the trigger, and Qingcheng helplessly closed her eyes to await death.

"I'll collect your corpse." Gao Junxiao spoke with heavy breathing, startling Qingcheng so much that her heart pounded. What kind of time is this to be so cheeky? You bastard.

Before Staff Officer Xu could get angry, Deputy Regiment Commander An rushed forward and pointed a gun at Gao Junxiao's head: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll kill you first."

Gao Junxiao did not look at An Fu, but instead exchanged glances with He Qingcheng through An Fu, their hearts in perfect harmony.

Even with a gun pointed at his head, he remained fearless and said, "As long as I don't go to the office tomorrow morning, Chen Yao will naturally submit the remaining list and the original copy to Commander Xiong. At that time, it won't just be the two of you who will be buried with us; your superiors will also be affected."

"Hmph, this list isn't as important as you think," Staff Officer Xu scoffed at his assumption.

"Is that so? Then let's wait until dawn and see who dies first." Gao Junxiao glanced at Staff Officer Xu calmly, appearing full of confidence.

The incessant chirping of cicadas shattered the shadows of the trees on the ground. The psychological battle was a test of composure; An Fu was clearly the first to break down, acting like a mad dog, clamoring to kill Gao Junxiao.

Seeing that Anfu was getting out of control, Staff Officer Xu shouted, "Stop messing around!"

Perhaps his attempts to dissuade him were ineffective, and the two had a long-standing grudge. Without hesitation, he fired at An Fu's feet. Just as his gun left Qing Cheng, Qing Cheng suddenly rammed the back of his head into Staff Officer Xu's face, while at the same time, the iron skewer in his hand pierced his thigh.

The instant he screamed, An Fu suddenly turned his gun around, and almost simultaneously Gao Junxiao rushed towards He Qingcheng, grabbing her and dragging her to the reeds.

After the loud gunshot, Qingcheng saw a brilliant splash of blood erupt from Staff Officer Xu's shoulder; the one who fired the shot was Anfu.

Hehe, Qingcheng could probably guess who "Anfu" was. She happily mouthed, "Little Shanhai, you're being disrespectful to me." Lei Shanhai was originally taller than Gao Junxiao, so how could he become a man of medium height? It's amazing.

Shan Hai looked utterly astonished, as if he'd seen a ghost, and ran away, touching his face. Qing Cheng wanted to laugh but was afraid Gao Junxiao would discover her mistake, so she could only silently recite in her heart, "Classes are a product of human society's development to a certain stage... Ultimately, through social revolution, we transition to a higher, classless society."

After reciting Marx, she felt a kind of spiritual elevation, and she no longer felt like laughing. At the same time, she also gained a deeper understanding of the internal struggles within the headquarters.

While still in a daze, he felt a gentle pat on his head. Gao Junxiao asked with some concern, "Silly girl, does your head hurt? You've never practiced Iron Head Kung Fu, why are you trying to spar with him? I told you to break free from him and run to the side. And how did you untie the rope? Where did you pick up the iron skewer?"

"Hmm~ I don't know, I have a headache." Qingcheng buried her head in her boyfriend's chest and acted coquettishly. Sure enough, he didn't ask anymore. Old Wang's tricks were shameless, but they were quite effective.

"I'm sorry, I startled you. I'll rub some medicated wine on your head when we get back," Gao Junxiao said sincerely, gently rubbing the back of Qingcheng's head.

"Oh, you can't date other girls in the future, they're too timid." Qingcheng said this in a very soft voice.

"What did you say about finding someone else? What girl?" Gao Junxiao didn't hear clearly and pressed for an answer. Qingcheng blushed and shook her head, gritting her teeth and not saying a word, but the rumbling of her stomach replaced her original answer.

"Let's go eat at the place where you first treated me to wontons." Hearing Gao Junxiao mention that there were wontons, Qingcheng's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously.

A waning crescent moon, as if pinched off by fingernails, appeared and disappeared among the clouds, yet it cast its silvery-white light just right.

Snap, snap... Searchlights along the riverbank flashed in succession, and police officers in black uniforms had surrounded the kidnappers. The sentries fired only a few shots before realizing the situation was turning against them, they threw down their weapons and surrendered.

Qingcheng scoffed, "Hey! That's it!" Just then, an officer dressed in black slowly entered from outside the encirclement. It was none other than Pang Minyou, the captain of the anti-smuggling team.

He yanked off Xu Xun's mask, revealing his angry face, and pulled out an arrest warrant from his pocket. With a forced smile, he said, "Our anti-smuggling team received a tip from a concerned citizen that someone was trading smuggled cigarettes here tonight, so we sent an informant to pose as a merchant."

"Gao Junxiao, no matter how much we fight, it's a matter within the headquarters. How dare you join forces with outsiders to deal with your own people?" Staff Officer Xu said with a pained expression, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

"Don't mistake us for your own people, I don't know you well." Gao Junxiao led Qingcheng out and thanked Pang Minyou, "Brother Minyou, thanks to your good command, there were no casualties."

"You're too kind, it's all our duty as an anti-smuggling team." He clasped his hands in a warm greeting, then suddenly leaned close to Gao Junxiao's ear and whispered, "During that standoff between the military and police two years ago, he killed several of my brothers. I have to treat him well and show him the hospitality of a good host."

“I need this guy, remember not to hit his head. But you can let him go hungry for a few meals, just make sure he doesn’t starve to death.” After Gao Junxiao finished speaking, the two of them smiled knowingly.

Qingcheng noticed that Gao Junxiao's gaze towards Xu Xun seemed familiar; he had looked at Xiaoshanhai in the same way at headquarters.

"This must be Miss He. She is indeed a beautiful and elegant woman. You are truly blessed," Pang Minyou said with a smile, noticing Qingcheng standing beside him.

Gao Junxiao smiled slightly at her, his eyes filled with indescribable tenderness. Qingcheng lowered her head shyly, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up.

"I'll take her back now. I'll trouble you to maintain order, Brother Minyou. I'll visit the anti-smuggling team again tomorrow morning." Gao Junxiao bid farewell to Pang Minyou.

Leaving the bustling crowd, Qingcheng suddenly remembered her open-ended advertisement. She immediately found a nearby phone booth and called back to the newspaper office, only to learn that after she was kidnapped, her colleagues had been put on a gag order and dared not publish her advertisement.

Thankfully, it hadn't been published yet. Qingcheng breathed a sigh of relief; she had already written the article and just needed a colleague to publish it for her. The best-case scenario was that she could see Comrade Li Shifa at the church tomorrow.

As soon as they stepped out of the phone booth, Gao Junxiao grabbed her hand. Every time they held hands, he felt that this feeling was so wonderful, as if the two of them could walk to the ends of the earth together and see all the beautiful things in the distance.

The night illuminates not only the streetlights, but also two sincere hearts.