Chapter Twelve: Provocation

The murderer was soon thrown into prison, along with another accomplice—his young nephew, who happened to be Ruoqi’s boyfriend. Ruoqi was consumed by regret; that was why she appeared at the academy. She blamed herself for failing to keep her boyfriend in check, for not protecting Xiaoyu.

But regret could change nothing now. She wasn’t an accomplice, but neither was she innocent, so she was detained for five days as a warning. She had withheld information, betraying her conscience, especially since the victim was her close friend. How could her heart be so cold? If she’d spoken up earlier, everything would have been much simpler.

Faced with this affair, Molan felt the world was truly dark. It seemed Qianyin and she remained relatively untainted—at least neither would ever harm the other.

After Xiaoqi was released, the other officers were friendlier, their faces bright with smiles. Molan said nothing. Without An Feng’s evidence, her interrogation methods would have only startled the snake without catching it. She couldn’t fathom what there was to celebrate.

“Newcomer, do I impress you now? I know you’ve never really respected me,” Xiaoqi had no intention of letting Molan off easily, stepping forward to provoke her directly. That proud, challenging look in her eyes seemed to say to the others: Today, I’ll humiliate this woman—who dares to intervene?

The wind blowing outside kept Molan calm, allowing her to ignore this woman. Whose credit was it for solving this case? Shouldn’t she know? Yet here she was, pretending.

But Molan couldn’t understand how An Feng had obtained the evidence so quickly. Still, it was his private matter, not hers to pry into.

An Feng stood at the back, making no move to intervene, seemingly uninterested in settling disputes among his subordinates. In truth, he was waiting to see the drama unfold—otherwise, why hand the evidence to Xiaoqi? There were no weaklings in his team, so Molan had to prove her worth.

In that instant, the office grew icy cold. Molan was never one to be bullied or pushed around.

“Your abilities are plain for all to see. There’s no need to prove anything to me,” Molan replied with cutting brevity, mocking her. Even demoted, it wasn’t for a mere junior officer to ridicule her. Standing up from her chair, Molan strode over to An Feng, then turned back to the arrogant woman, continuing: “Even demoted, I’m still a vice captain. You, a low-ranking officer, have no place to judge me. Mind your own affairs before you meddle in mine.”

“Officer An Feng, shouldn’t we be focusing on the next case? We don’t have time to debate who’s more capable. If you have the luxury, stay here and discuss it. As for me, I’m busy, and my time is precious.” Molan’s glance at An Feng was strange; after all, he was the key to her demotion and the one who offered Xiaoqi the opportunity to humiliate her.

Was he truly so impartial, or did he simply want to suppress her, using Xiaoqi as his proxy?

At that moment, though the temperature outside was not low, the office felt several degrees colder. Some people started to shiver.

Molan had made up her mind: if peaceful coexistence was impossible here, she would stand alone at the summit.

Seeing no one speak, Molan opened the office door and strode out, the wind in her face, looking every inch the strong woman—without a trace of defeat.

“What kind of attitude is that?” Xiaoqi, unable to express her rage, swept everything from her desk onto the floor. Her angry shout echoed in the awkward silence.

Clattering sounds filled the room as papers, cups, even the potted plants fell to the ground. What had once been a pleasant workspace was now ruined, glass shards everywhere, water soaking the documents. The others hurried to clean up, picking up the mess.

An Feng watched coldly, then followed Molan out with long strides, paying no heed to the chaos behind him.

The others wanted to speak but didn’t know where to begin, so they kept their heads down, helping to tidy up. With Xiaoqi’s overbearing attitude, not one dared to whisper.

This was the police station; Xiaoqi would have to pay full compensation for the damages. Though the chief didn’t intend to interfere with An Feng’s affairs, he was surprised to hear about the destruction on the first day. He had expected Molan to lose her temper, but upon learning it was Xiaoqi’s provocation, he simply laughed and let the matter drop.

Molan had already received her next case—a curious coincidence, as it had occurred that very morning at ten o’clock, in the Mo family’s restaurant.

Just as she got into her car, ready to drive away, Molan received a call from the Mo family. It was that so-called father, and the matter seemed tricky.

“Hello,” Molan said, frowning.

“Molan, you know what’s going on, don’t you? Our restaurant has never used poison, so the fact that someone died from poisoning has nothing to do with us. Settle this quickly. It’s affecting us badly, almost impacting the entire group.” That so-called father never cared about her unless trouble arose, then he’d call Molan.

“I’ll handle it professionally. As for anything else, sorry, I can’t help right now. I’ve been demoted, and I have a lot on my plate—I can’t be fully in charge.” Deep down, Molan still craved her father’s affection, so she let slip her demotion, hoping he wouldn’t expect too much from her, yet still wishing he’d show some concern.

“How useless you are!” With that, her so-called father hung up.

Clearly, he planned to find other connections to settle the matter. In a big family, anything useless was discarded like garbage.

After the call, bitterness surged within Molan once more. She wanted a drink, but now was not the time. Restless…

She took a deep breath, determined to forget everything. Driving slowly, letting the cold wind blow, she tried to calm herself, telling herself that none of it really mattered. After all these years, it was time to let go.

An Feng, following behind, didn’t intend to chase after her. He’d glanced at the files and knew this was a semi-family matter, so he preferred to leave it to Molan alone. If bound by family ties, how would she choose?