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The children sat in a row at the Police Station, and the sight made Zhao Yuan's chest tighten with anger. They were so young. How could those monsters have dared? Her one consolation was that every one of them had come back bruised and swollen. Apparently, they had fallen while trying to escape arrest.

The police immediately notified the children's parents. Some arrived that very night and held their children, sobbing. One father spotted the principal in an interrogation room and, without a word, rushed in and punched him twice.

The Police Station stayed noisy all night.

Zhao Yuan didn't know when she had fallen asleep. When she woke, dawn was just breaking, and a police jacket had been draped over her. The children whose parents hadn't been able to come, who had waited with her in the meeting room, were asleep with their heads on the table.

As soon as she stepped out of the meeting room, she ran into Xie Siheng. Captain Xie had looked handsome and sharp the night before, but after a sleepless night, fatigue showed on his face. Up close, she could even see a trace of blue stubble.

"Up so early?"

Zhao Yuan handed him the jacket. "Thanks for lending me this." She glanced around the quiet station. "If there's nothing else, I should head back."

She had a good grasp of what had happened and needed to get back to writing her article. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could publish it. News was all about timing.

Xie Siheng took the jacket and, for some reason, smiled.

"What are you smiling at?" His smile baffled Zhao Yuan. She touched her face without thinking. Was there something on it? Had her makeup smeared?

"Nothing." Xie Siheng's lips still curved in a smile. "I