Fox's Scheme

In the end, Wen Yiqian still did not agree. He used the excuse of needing time to think it over and left it at that.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. He was afraid he wouldn’t be good enough.

If a murder case came in and the police were counting on him to solve it, and he couldn’t deliver, just thinking about it made him cringe.

Back home, showered and changed, he looked at the new phone he’d bought and then at the original owner’s old phone sitting beside it.

After the Outstanding Citizen bonus, he had considered finding someone to crack the old phone’s password. Modern people kept too many secrets on their phones, and there might be something useful inside.

Unfortunately, today’s expenditures had cleared him out again. Facing the familiar problem of not being able to afford meals, the unlocking would have to wait.

Then the new phone lit up.

Someone was calling.

Wen Yiqian’s eyes narrowed slightly. So far, the only person who had this number was Li Weiguo.

The number on screen was not Li Weiguo’s.

He went through it silently. It felt faintly familiar.

He answered.

A soft, unhurried voice came through. “Haven’t gone to sleep yet?”

Fox.

“Why are you calling?” Something flickered in his expression.

If she had this number, she had likely been watching him at some point during the day and knew where he’d bought the SIM.

“Just checking in. Don’t forget, you’re a member of Mask now,” Fox said, her tone easy.

“I haven’t said anything to the police,” Wen Yiqian said.

“It wouldn’t matter even if you had.” She didn’t seem particularly concerned. “Get some rest. Let’s find time to meet in a few days. There are things about Mask I need to tell you in person.”

Wen Yiqian had no grounds to refuse and said something noncommittal.

After hanging up, he let out a long breath.

He had never been in the habit of assuming the best about people’s intentions, and he wasn’t going to start now.

In this whole incident, Fox had clearly favored him. She had even passed him information about Sea Hare: specifically, the knife-only preference, no firearms. And she had said nothing to Sea Hare about Wen Yiqian’s plan. Sea Hare had gone in completely blind and walked straight into it.

That was deliberate favoritism. Wen Yiqian didn’t believe it had anything to do with his personal charm.

He had already formed a rough picture in his mind.

Fox had been dissatisfied with Sea Hare for some time. The cleanup operative, the one who handled what she didn’t want to touch directly. In all likelihood, she had been looking for a reason to be rid of him.

So a plan with two possible outcomes had presented itself.

She had ordered Sea Hare to provoke Wen Yiqian on the bus before killing An Zhi. With Wen Yiqian’s ability to read situations, he would identify the killer after An Zhi’s death and contact Fox. At that point, Fox could put everything on Sea Hare and watch the two of them settle it between themselves.

If Wen Yiqian lost, it would only confirm he wasn’t qualified for Mask. If Sea Hare lost, Fox would be rid of an operative she had grown tired of, and An Zhi’s death would be settled at the same time. Two birds, one stone.

Thinking it through carefully, Wen Yiqian felt a chill work its way up his back.

It was speculation. He had no evidence. But the likelihood was not low.

Whether it was An Zhi, Liao Tong before that, or Sea Hare now, this woman’s intelligence was not ordinary. He found himself wondering what position she actually held within Mask. If she was a senior core member, that was one thing. If she was simply an ordinary member, the organization was more frightening than he had allowed himself to imagine.

With that thought turning over in his chest, he fell asleep.

“Who is it now!”

The doorbell dragged him awake. He checked the phone: just past seven in the morning.

He had learned enough by now. Whenever someone rang that bell, it was never good news.

One of these days he was going to rip it out of the wall.

He lay there for a moment, hair in disarray.

“Maybe I just pretend I didn’t hear it?”

He dismissed the thought almost immediately. Last time he’d done that, Li Weiguo had arrived with officers and destroyed his lock. If he ignored it again, they might take the door off its hinges. He couldn’t afford the damage.

Reluctantly, he got up, pulled on some clothes, and went to look through the peephole.

He opened the door.

Two familiar faces: Grandma Xu, Xu Xuanmei’s mother, and the little girl Xiangxiang, standing side by side in the corridor.

“What are you doing here?” Wen Yiqian asked, puzzled.

Grandma Xu explained, one hand against the wall, the other pressed to the small of her back.

The place she’d been staying was too far from Xiangxiang’s kindergarten. She had moved into her daughter Xu Xuanmei’s apartment the day before and had meant to come by, but Wen Yiqian hadn’t been home. She had since gathered from the police who he was and what he’d done, and she was not the kind of person to hold a grudge about her daughter’s arrest.

“Is it your back?” Wen Yiqian asked, noticing how she was standing. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“This old back of mine. It comes and goes.” She shook her head. “But I won’t be able to take Xiangxiang to school today. I was hoping to ask a favor.”

“Me?” Wen Yiqian glanced at Xiangxiang, who was standing very quietly beside her grandmother.

“You’re the only one I trust here,” Grandma Xu said simply. A short pause. “Is it too much to ask?”

“Not at all,” Wen Yiqian said quickly.

He had never been good with small children. But this wasn’t a large thing to do, and she had helped him when he needed it most. A small favor was nothing by comparison.

He got the kindergarten address, helped Grandma Xu back to her apartment to rest, cleaned himself up, and took Xiangxiang downstairs in the elevator.

Inside the elevator, Xiangxiang blinked up at him and reached out her small hand to take his.

Wen Yiqian recoiled as if he’d touched a live wire. He pulled his hand back and pressed himself into the corner of the elevator, looking genuinely alarmed. “Men and women shouldn’t hold hands! Don’t do that, or I’ll be arrested and sent to jail!”

Xiangxiang tilted her head. “Why?” Her small face was entirely serious. “I always held Father’s hand when we went out. He was never arrested and sent to jail.”

(End of Chapter)