Chapter 97: Make This Yellow for Me

Chapter 97: Make It Yellow for Me

Jian Ruochen pursed his lips, pondering for a moment before passing the document in his hand to the others.

After reading it, Bi Wanwan was livid, downing three cups of cooling tea to compose herself. "This plan is clearly about stirring up trouble to profit, now that they realize they can't hold onto power, isn't it?"

Most of the staff at the West Kowloon Regional Police Station were native Hong Kongers.

They handled major cases that challenged the interests of the top brass.

Whether it was sharing intelligence with the CIB to crack down on drugs, or solving violent assaults and serial killings in recent years, they were always going against the establishment.

Not to mention the recent takedowns of Jiang Mingshan and Lu Qian.

Both had risen with the tacit approval and support of British Hong Kong.

One controlled the most real estate and illicit funds in Hong Kong, the other the largest drug trade market.

Handling such cases often meant uncovering more inside information, so naturally, they had little loyalty to the British Hong Kong government.

The decrypted document only fueled their anger.

By the time it made its way back to Lin Yazhi, it was crumpled from being angrily passed around by the team members.

Lin Yazhi was silent for a moment, both exasperated and amused, as she smoothed out the document and tucked it into a folder.

She clapped her hands twice and said, "Alright, political matters will be handled by the higher-ups. Let's focus on doing our jobs well."

Lin Yazhi smiled. "Coordinate with the central bureau and transfer the wounded guards to them. Zhang Xingzong, prepare the transfer documents."

"You've all worked hard these past few days. Compensation for work-related injuries will be calculated based on the severity of injuries listed on the hospital bills and paid along with next month's salaries. Everyone, remember to check."

Jian Ruochen, preoccupied with his thoughts, absentmindedly picked at his fingernails.

Lin Yazhi changed gears. "This time, from capturing Lu Qian to driving a wedge between the Jiang and Lu families, arresting Jiang Hanyu, using public opinion to pressure Lu Qian into betraying Jiang Hanyu in court, and helping us interrogate numerous criminals—Consultant Jian was instrumental. Let's give him a round of applause!"

A round of enthusiastic applause immediately erupted.

Jian Ruochen was startled and clapped along in confusion before realizing Superintendent Lin had just praised him. His ears burned red, and he waved his hands dismissively, his mind going blank for a moment.

After a few seconds, he pressed the back of his hand to his cheek to cool down and said with a smile, "It was all thanks to Superintendent Lin's trust and willingness to cooperate with Team A, making calls to branch stations without hesitation whenever support was needed. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have gone so smoothly."

Lin Yazhi raised an eyebrow. "It's a shame Consultant Jian isn't a sworn officer, so he can't receive a medal or a bonus. How about this—I’ll treat Team A to a meal."

She pulled out a restaurant voucher and handed it over. "This place serves all kinds of specialty dishes. The chefs come from all over, and though it’s off the beaten path and not well-known, it’s unique."

"Thank you, Superintendent Lin," Jian Ruochen said as he accepted it.

Zhang Xingzong leaned over to look. "Wow! A 10,000 HKD voucher! Madam, how did you know our Consultant Jian likes trying new foods?"

Lin Yazhi flipped her hair. "I have my sources too."

She smiled. "After you finish transferring tasks to the central bureau today, take half a month off starting tomorrow. Focus on recovering from your injuries. I’ll handle the wrap-up for the search warrant."

Oh right, there was also that search warrant written with an "erasable pen."

Jian Ruochen’s eyes darted away.

Guan Yingjun was completely unrepentant. "Thanks for handling it, Superintendent Lin."

Lin Yazhi rolled her eyes and strode out of the Team A office in her high heels.

In the afternoon, the uninjured team members ran around handing over evidence and tasks, while those with minor injuries stayed in the office to write reports.

Once they finished their work, they headed home.

Guan Yingjun had a shoulder injury and wasn’t fit to drive.

So Jian Ruochen called his bodyguard to act as the driver.

Preoccupied with the case and its loose ends, he remained quiet for most of the ride until his hand was enveloped by a warm palm. Jian Ruochen instinctively glanced up at the driver’s seat, and seeing that the bodyguard hadn’t noticed, he tickled the man’s palm.

Guan Yingjun’s lips curved slightly as he looked down.

His palm itched, and so did his heart.

He wished he could kiss him right then and there.

Jian Ruochen blinked, a playful glint in his eyes, and began writing words on Guan Yingjun’s palm: *Stay at your place tonight?*

Guan Yingjun slipped his thumb into Jian Ruochen’s palm, creating space, and wrote in response: *Teasing me?*

Jian Ruochen’s ears flushed bright red. He stared at Guan Yingjun in disbelief, his toes curling.

Guan Yingjun chuckled softly. Noticing the bodyguard’s gaze in the rearview mirror, he shifted his leg.

The files on his lap slid aside, covering their clasped hands.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jian Ruochen swallow nervously and whisper, "Help me with this."

Jian Ruochen let go and picked up the blue file, asking casually, "Why didn’t you get it yourself?"

Guan Yingjun pressed his lips together. "My shoulder hurts."

He had Jian Ruochen figured out—soft-hearted and easily flustered. He loved teasing those close to him but couldn’t handle being teased in return.

A smile in his eyes, he watched as Jian Ruochen muttered under his breath but still leaned over to straighten the files. "Really want to stay?" he asked softly.

Jian Ruochen rubbed the back of his neck, tickled by Guan Yingjun’s breath, and glared at him. "No."

Guan Yingjun laughed.

The car slowly pulled up to the apartment building.

Guan Yingjun opened the door and thanked the driver, then turned to enter the apartment with his briefcase. As he pulled out his ID card, his right hand—whether from pain or something else—fumbled, and the card fell to the ground.

Jian Ruochen’s wavering resolve instantly softened.

Even though he suspected Guan Yingjun might be feigning helplessness, he said to the bodyguard in the front seat, "Head back without me. I’m staying here tonight."

Bodyguard: "?"

"But Mr. Luo said—"

Jian Ruochen cut him off. "There are unresolved issues with the case I’m working on. I need to discuss it with my colleague. The case takes priority. I’m going."

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, got out of the car, and shut the door on the bodyguard’s puzzled face. Quickly, he walked over to Guan Yingjun, bent down to pick up the ID card, and swiped it.

The two walked into the building together.

While waiting for the elevator, Guan Yingjun raised an eyebrow and asked, "No?"

Jian Ruochen scoffed, "On the day you got injured, you could still push through the pain and shake off the British superintendent, but now you can't even hold onto an ID card? Isn't that just—"

With a "ding," the elevator doors opened.

Guan Yingjun stepped inside, took Jian Ruochen's hand with one hand, pulled him in, pressed the floor button and then the close button, showing no sign of the pain that supposedly kept him from holding a card.

He held Jian Ruochen by the shoulder with one hand, pulled him close, and kissed him, swallowing every word from his lips into his own throat.

Jian Ruochen leaned his head against the elevator wall.

The weightlessness of the ascending elevator combined with the breathless feeling from the kiss made him dizzy and his heart race.

Jian Ruochen felt the hand on his shoulder slide downward, rest on his waist for a few seconds, then move further back and gave a light pat on his tailbone.

The elevator was nearing the top floor.

Only then did Guan Yingjun release him, his lips slightly parted as he breathed lightly, his eyes fixed on Jian Ruochen as he let out a quick, low chuckle. "Don’t keep teasing me—you’ll be the one who ends up suffering."

Jian Ruochen wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and thought, *We’ll see who teases whom!*

The elevator doors dinged open.

Outside stood a woman holding a Doberman. She wore a tight pink knit bodycon dress and carried a designer mom bag slung over her shoulder. She hesitated briefly when she saw Jian Ruochen, then nodded at Guan Yingjun.

The three passed each other.

The woman stepped into the elevator, the doors closed, and it descended.

Guan Yingjun said, "That’s the wife of ICAC Director Zhuo Yawen. Everyone in the building calls her Mrs. Zhuo."

Jian Ruochen frowned, instinctively bristling at the title.

Chairman Mao said it himself—women hold up half the heavens.

Even after marriage, one shouldn’t lose their own name and become "Mrs. So-and-So" or "So-and-So’s Mom."

Jian Ruochen asked, "What’s her name?"

"Dong Huixin," Guan Yingjun said, taking out his keys to unlock the door. "She and Zhuo Yawen have a daughter who attends Hengqiao Primary School. Her grades are pretty good."

Jian Ruochen sputtered, "You even know that?"

Detective Guan’s knowledge was truly a mystery.

Guan Yingjun set his keys on the shoe cabinet, closed the door, and slipped an arm around Jian Ruochen’s waist. "I have a lot of informants."

He leaned down and kissed Jian Ruochen’s amber eyes.

Jian Ruochen pushed him away, his hand brushing against the firm, elastic chest muscles hidden beneath the shirt and the small, hard nipple on top. His expression changed. "Guan Yingjun, you’re not in pain at all?"

Guan Yingjun said, "It’s fine."

It wasn’t entirely painless, but the injury really wasn’t that bad.

Jian Ruochen glanced downward, feeling a little wary.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of *doing it*—it was just that Guan Yingjun was pretty big, so he was still a bit apprehensive.

Not that he couldn’t be on top, but judging by their physiques, he’d be flipped over by Detective Guan before they even started.

He definitely needed more practice.

Jian Ruochen’s thoughts tangled together, his train of thought derailed.

He quickly said, "I have actual business to discuss!"

Guan Yingjun reached up to touch Jian Ruochen’s cheek and smiled. "What are you afraid of?"

He set the files he’d brought home aside and gestured toward the interior. "Let’s talk in the study."

Jian Ruochen changed his shoes and followed closely on Guan Yingjun’s heels to the study. When he looked up, he saw Guan Yingjun take out a key and insert it into the lock.

He turned it three times to the left, twice to the right, then lifted the door handle upward before finally opening the door.

The door was entirely metal, gleaming coldly from the side, with one deadbolt after another. Inside the study was a cabinet with a dial handle, similar to a bank vault.

Further up, the walls were lined with acoustic foam, and the floor was covered with a soundproof rug.

Jian Ruochen: …

"Detective Guan, isn’t the confidentiality of this study a little too good?"

If Guan Yingjun did something bad in here, the victim could scream their head off and the neighbors wouldn’t hear a thing.

Guan Yingjun stood inside the room. "Come in."

Jian Ruochen stepped in and closed the door.

Guan Yingjun pulled him into his arms and sat down in the only chair in the room.

Jian Ruochen sat on his lap, his gaze fixed on the wall in front of him, which was densely covered with black-and-white photos of suspects. Thumbtacks pinned the top of each photo, their ends tied with red thread, connecting one to another to form a dense red web.

It was intense.

It looked like something straight out of a film noir.

Following the threads one by one with his eyes, Jian Ruochen spotted Lu Qian’s face. Beside Lu Qian’s photo was a blank space stamped with a thumbprint-sized red stamp that read "complete."

From Lu Qian’s tack extended a black thread. Following it, Jian Ruochen saw his own photo—quite conspicuous, a screenshot from an interrogation room camera.

It was the only color photo on the wall and the only one linked with black thread.

Jian Ruochen looked back at Guan Yingjun, suspicious. "Why am I connected with a black thread?"

It wasn’t that he thought Guan Yingjun still suspected him of something—it was just that black seemed kinda unlucky.

Guan Yingjun said softly, "You’re too important to take down, and I didn’t want you connected to anyone with a red string."

Hongkongers put stock in these things.

Jian Ruochen: …

After a moment’s thought, he licked his lips and said, "Then change mine to yellow."

If red, the color of the five-star red flag, wasn’t allowed, then yellow should be fine, right?

Nice and auspicious.

Jian Ruochen turned his head and kissed Guan Yingjun's jaw, then said bossily, "Change it to golden yellow."

Guan Yingjun had never seen Jian Ruochen act cute before; his heart melted instantly. Without any resistance, he actually fetched a roll of golden-yellow cotton thread.

As he watched, Jian Ruochen turned to serious matters: "Lu Rong’s motive for giving the key to Jiang Hanyu was probably to make sure that after I caught Jiang Hanyu, I’d find out someone was trying to harm me."

Guan Yingjun hummed in agreement and said, "He might have conflicting interests with whoever wants to kill you, aiming to solve multiple problems at once. But we can’t rule out the possibility that he himself is the one who drugged you. This could be a diversion to make you think he’s trying to befriend you and show loyalty."

Jian Ruochen tapped thoughtfully on his cheek.

The case was closed, but the doubts remained. It felt both secure and unsettling.

His gaze drifted vaguely toward Guan Yingjun’s trim, narrow waist.

After finishing with the thread, Guan Yingjun turned and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"At you," Jian Ruochen said with a smile.

Guan Yingjun stared at Jian Ruochen’s lips, slightly swollen and glossy from the kiss, and his heart skipped a beat.

He walked over and asked hoarsely, "At it again?"

Guan Yingjun’s mind flashed back to Jian Ruochen’s expression when they kissed in the elevator and how he wiped his mouth afterward.

Alone together in the room, and with Jian Ruochen being so young, it was natural for his mind to wander. Just as Guan Yingjun expected him to murmur something soft—

Jian Ruochen stood up and said, "Detective Guan, have a seat. Since you have the relationship chart here, I’ll use it to lay out my theory."

Guan Yingjun was speechless.

Jian Ruochen picked up a 30-centimeter ruler from the side to use as a pointer and pointed to the top: "Let’s start with Lu Jingchen."