Kong Jianming froze for a moment. "You mean the joint military-civilian performance at the Red Star Auditorium?"
"You know about it too?"
"Y-yes! That was the day I took your pre... previous assignment and asked her out for the first time! The school happened to give us tickets, so I invited her to watch the show with me! Halfway through, she said she needed the restroom, and then..."
"And then what?"
"She never came back! I waited until the performance ended, but there was still no sign of her! Only later did I learn she'd gone home early!"
"Why did she go home early?"
"I don't know! But when we met again afterward, she was still... very, very eager to get close to me!"
Song Ning thought for a moment. "All right! Ask her what she saw or who she ran into when she went to the restroom. Don't ask outright-coax it out of her! I want the truth. Once you get it, I'll pay your interest!"
Kong Jianming lowered his head and rubbed his hands together, not agreeing immediately.
"What? You don't want to?" Song Ning asked.
"N-no, that's not it!"
Looking embarrassed, Kong Jianming said, "I'll need time to find Wu Tao Ying! I'm afraid that by the time I finish the assignment, those people's interest... will have gone up again!"
"Don't worry!" Song Ning said. "Finish the assignment first! Raising interest arbitrarily like that is illegal. It's extortion! I'll handle it for you!"
Kong Jianming looked up at the two soldiers accompanying Song Ning. Only after some hesitation did he answer:
"O-okay! I'll go find her as soon as possible!"
"Oh! You really should hurry! Her house burned down, and she's staying at the Guesthouse outside the Courtyard Compound! In three days, she'll be hard to find!"