Chapter 174 — Sister-in-Law and Sister-in-Law

As a former special forces instructor, Qiu Lingshan had nothing to fear. At worst, she could always get herself out of trouble. As for Wei Zhao... well, if you bring trouble upon yourself, you have no one to blame but yourself.

In Qiu Lingshan's eyes, Wei Zhao might move well enough, but he could never have undergone professional training or fought battles where life and death hung in the balance. There was still a considerable gap between them. If even Wei Zhao dared go, what did she have to be afraid of?

"Heh, then let's get moving." Wei Zhao paid no attention to Qiu Lingshan's heated reaction.

Qiu Lingshan felt like she was playing music to a cow. She had just delivered a rousing declaration of her bold intentions, and surely he ought to say something in return -- even a compliment about her courage would do. Yet Wei Zhao had said absolutely nothing.

"Based on the urban surveillance footage we pulled from the city management bureau, as well as traffic camera recordings from the major roads, we've determined that the suspect is hiding somewhere in these woods ahead," Qiu Lingshan said, forcing down her irritation as she explained to Wei Zhao. "We also found the kidnappers' vehicle nearby. And in a warehouse at that abandoned factory over there, we discovered the bodies of Baldy and Ma Laoliu..."

"The kidnappers are sitting on a huge amount of cash. If they tried to leave the area carrying that money, they'd certainly attract attention at the nearby checkpoints. So our judgment is: if those kidnappers care about the money, they must still be somewhere around here."

"I see. So if they ditched the cash, they could have slipped away?" Wei Zhao nodded and asked.

"You could put it that way," Qiu Lingshan said. "But if we can recover the stolen cash, then the case is more or less half-solved, and I'll have something to report back."

"If it's people you need to find, I can help. Cash? You expect me to dig that up? What do you think I am, a police dog?" Wei Zhao rolled his eyes. "Oh right, doesn't your captain call himself a Bloodhound? You could let him have a go..."

"Screech --" A piercing screech of brakes rang out as the Liebao slammed to a halt by the roadside. Both Qiu Lingshan and Wei Zhao lurched forward from the momentum.

"Are you out of your mind?" Wei Zhao frowned, unable to understand what had provoked such an extreme reaction from Qiu Lingshan.

"How dare you insult Captain Yang! If you insult him again, get out of my car!" Qiu Lingshan glared at Wei Zhao with blazing eyes, as if she wanted to devour him. She bore more than a passing resemblance to the lioness Wei Zhao had described.

So that was the reason? Wei Zhao was momentarily struck dumb. Qiu Lingshan actually defended Yang Huaijun this fiercely -- could it be that this woman had feelings for Yang Huaijun?

"Do you have a thing for Yang Huaijun?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Please don't tarnish the pure bond of brotherhood and sisterhood between Captain Yang and me!" Qiu Lingshan corrected Wei Zhao's improper assumptions with solemn, unyielding conviction. "Don't you dare use your filthy mind to think about my relationship with Captain Yang! I defend him because I respect him, I revere him. He's been like a teacher to me -- from the day I first walked into the bureau, he taught me step by step, encouraged me, and watched me grow..."

"Heh..." Wei Zhao smiled faintly. "Then tell me -- if Yang Huaijun called you a police dog, would you get angry?"

"Huh? Me?" Qiu Lingshan blinked, momentarily taken aback at Wei Zhao's sudden question. Still, she shook her head and answered honestly. "How could I? Captain Yang is like a master to me. Joking around with him -- isn't that perfectly normal?"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao chose not to explain further. Similarly, when Yang Huaijun had first joined that special operations squad, he had been just as green and callow. Wei Zhao had led him through growth step by step. The bond between him and Yang Huaijun, therefore, ran even deeper than the one Qiu Lingshan shared with the man. That kind of friendship forged between life and death -- it was irreplaceable.

So even if Wei Zhao had pointed straight at Yang Huaijun's nose and berated him to his face, the man would have simply smiled and taken it in stride. In truth, though the old Wei Zhao had defended his squad members fiercely in front of outsiders, behind closed doors he had been merciless in dressing them down. He still remembered how Yang Huaijun -- a full-grown man back then -- had been reduced to tears by his team leader, a man younger than himself...

Of course, Wei Zhao couldn't very well tell Qiu Lingshan any of that.

"Fine. You defend him, so I'll stop putting it that way." Wei Zhao nodded. "Though you can always ask Yang Huaijun about it later. I don't think he'd take offense at what I said..."

"?" Qiu Lingshan blinked, not quite understanding what Wei Zhao meant. Professional instinct had long ago made her suspect that some undisclosed secret lay between Wei Zhao and Captain Yang. But because it involved Yang Huaijun -- the person she respected most in the world -- Qiu Lingshan had deliberately avoided digging any deeper. She believed Yang Huaijun was a man of integrity; there was no way he would associate with anyone truly wicked.

But now, looking at the accumulating evidence, it seemed Wei Zhao and Captain Yang shared countless secrets -- secrets she knew nothing about. The curiosity was maddening. She didn't dare press Yang Huaijun, but Wei Zhao was fair game. This kid -- she was going to coax something out of him one way or another. Qiu Lingshan thought to herself...

"Perhaps I got a bit too worked up." Qiu Lingshan restarted the engine, no longer wearing the icy expression she had before; her face had softened considerably. "Wei Zhao -- you and Captain Yang... did you know each other from before?"

Qiu Lingshan began working the subject in from the side.

"I suppose you could say that, though it was a long time ago... I've more or less forgotten all about it. If he hadn't recognized me that day, I doubt I'd even have been able to recall him." Wei Zhao explained this with perfect composure, but Qiu Lingshan refused to believe a word of it.

Forgotten? The way Yang Huaijun had acted, he'd been happier than he would have been at catching a criminal suspect. How could it possibly be as simple as Wei Zhao made it sound? Qiu Lingshan could tell that Captain Yang had been genuinely, deeply moved that day, so much so that he'd come close to babbling incoherently.

"Is that so? Then how did you two meet?" Qiu Lingshan asked.

"Didn't your superior ever tell you not to ask questions you shouldn't? I hear you worked as an instructor in the special forces. You ought to know better than to be so ill-disciplined." With a single sentence, Wei Zhao blocked every question she had: "There's a confidentiality system, you know. Haven't you heard of it?"

"......" Qiu Lingshan was speechless. What sort of confidentiality system was this? You're not part of the police system, nor the military. What could you possibly have to keep secret? Even if Captain Yang is a police captain now, just telling me how you two met couldn't possibly have anything to do with confidentiality, could it?

"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't!" Qiu Lingshan tried a little provocation of her own: "It's not like you're on a mission — what's there to keep secret?"

"Mm, once you become my sister-in-law, or Yang Huaijun's sister-in-law, I'll tell you." Wei Zhao looked at Qiu Lingshan with a smile as he spoke.

"???" Qiu Lingshan was utterly bewildered. What did he mean, his sister-in-law? Yang Huaijun's sister-in-law? Who on earth was Wei Zhao talking about? Did she even know them?