No. 45, Longdu Road, Fenglin District, Yunhai City.
This was the address on Shi Lan's identity documents, listed as the home of Qi Pingxia's family.
Shi Lan put away the documents, found a hotel, and stayed the night. At dawn the next day, she hailed a cab and went straight to the bank.
She didn't hesitate to fill in the check Hao Fei had given her for 6.2 million.
After opening a bank account, Shi Lan transferred two million directly into Zhang Guang's account, withdrew 200,000 in cash, and deposited the remaining four million onto a card.
Fenglin District lay close to the suburbs. With a small bag on her back, Shi Lan spent over half an hour on the bus before reaching the area around Longdu Road.
She walked along the roadside and stopped in front of a two-story house, then knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock..."
Creak—
After a long while, the door slowly opened. A middle-aged man with graying hair stood there, his eyes bright and alert.
"You are..."
"I'm... a friend of Sister Qi's."
"Come inside. We'll talk."
Shi Lan stepped in. As soon as she entered the living room, she saw the black-and-white photograph displayed on the cabinet.
In the photo, Qi Pingxia wore her police uniform, her expression stern, her eyes seeming to shine. In the incense burner before the photograph, half a stick of incense still smoldered, thin wisps of smoke rising from it.
On a nearby sofa sat a haggard-looking woman, her expression dazed, as though every last ounce of vitality had been drained from her. Her eyes were dull.
Hearing the noise, she looked up at Shi Lan. She managed to force a faint smile onto her face and stood.
"We have a visitor..."
The middle-aged man poured Shi Lan