Xinyan opened the window of the car while Yuze focused on driving. At the midway of the intersection, Yuze suddenly braked the car.
"What is it? Did you hit someone?" Xinyan was freaking out but Yuze looked at her with a straight face.
"Do you think I'm that type of person." He unbuckled his seatbelt and went out to help an old lady picking up her fruits that she bought.
"Grandma (In Chinese culture, we say grandma/grandpa for elderly people no matter if they're related to us or not.), let me help you. It's dangerous walking along this intersection. Do you have someone with you?" The old lady shook her head, "I bought these apples for my grandson. He will be home soon." Yuze signalled Xinyan to come out of the car.
"Xinyan, stay with her. Call the taxi and bring her back. Our meeting place will only be a ten minutes walk for you." Yuze left Xinyan with the old lady while Xinyan made a are-you-serious face because she felt like he ditched her. She sighed and took care of the grandma while sitting on the bench waiting for the taxi to arrive.
"This Yuze... just you wait." Xinyan checked her watch out of habit and the old lady asked, "Is he your boyfriend?"
"Oh no, he's my boss. We're not related in any ways." Xinyan smiled awkwardly and looked the other way.
"You're a really a nice lady. He seems like a good person." The old lady smiled and took an apple from her bag.
"Young people these days are so hardworking. Please have one, young miss." Xinyan initially rejected but then she changed her mind and thanked the old lady.
After the taxi arrived, Xinyan told the address to the driver and the old lady thanked Xinyan before heading back. Xinyan texted Yuze that she will be on her way. As she walked through the intersection, there were many couples holding hands and some of them showed their affections to each other. Xinyan checked her phone for any updates and there were none.
In about ten minutes, she will be at the meeting place. The weather was dry and hot during mid-afternoon and the uniform wasn't helping at all. It made her much hotter. She tried not to get distracted by all of the cold drinks some of the cafes were selling. Xinyan wanted to focus on her work, she could get the drinks after work is over. For now, work is priority.
Yuze was talking to another officer who was responsible for blocking the road off.
"Have you seen this car yet?" He asked the officer and he shook his head, "I haven't seen this car yet. I'll check with my colleagues whether they've seen it or not." After a while, the radio came on and Xinyan arrived just in time.
The officer's colleague on the radio reported that a suspicious person was driving the car that they were trying to locate. But he failed to stop.
Yuze and Xinyan went into the car again and drove to that area. Since the person was caught, they had to use this opportunity to find the missing girl. The location wasn't too far so they were able to get to the location with no problem.
As they got to the location, they were brought to the interrogation room at another police station. Yuze and Xinyan observed the interrogation session and the person who was caught was tight-lipped about everything. About half-an-hour later, they weren't able to get information about the missing girl.
Just as they were about the leave, they received a phone call from a panicked woman. The suspect smirked as if he knew it was going to happen.
"Officer Jiang, the missing girl you were trying to locate is dead. The woman was walking her dog when she discovered a corpse in one of the bushes. The forensic team and detectives confirmed the body belonged to the missing girl." Yuze got the phone and his expression totally changed.
"Are you sure it's her?" He asked and the other officer confirmed it.
Xinyan was speechless, she couldn't believe it. That poor girl, she thought. Yuze clenched his fist then went outside. Officer Lu and Officer Han came to the police station after getting a text from their team leader. It was their first failure. They failed to locate the murderer and they failed to locate the girl as well.
Xinyan looked at the ceiling light while waiting for the next instruction. They all needed time to cool down.
Yuze came out of the room after talking to the officer. His expression became stern again. He didn't say anything else besides asking them to get into the car.
Xinyan didn't make any comment nor did any of them. Just then, Yuze received a call from the higher up. They were disappointed in them and asked Yuze to find the criminal as soon as possible. After hanging up, Yuze closed his eyes as his headache came back again.
"Office Jiang, have you taken your medicine yet" Xinyan got the medication from her pocket then gave it to Yuze.
"You brought my medication?" Yuze was surprised since no one had done that for him.
"Who else would? Here you go. I don't want your cold to become worse. We still have a lot of work to do." Xinyan gave the medicine to Yuze. Officer Han and Officer Lu looked at each other and whispered. "Since when did they become close?"
After a while, Yuze was feeling better so they drove the victim's mother's house to give her the most horrifying news.
Xinyan thought about a lot of things once they left. Since this mission was a failure, that doesn't mean the rest of the mission will be a failure. They still have hope, even just a bit. She sighed as she looked outside the window.
As she closed her eyes, her brother came into her dreams.
"Xinyan... Xinyan? Can you do me a favor?"
"What is it, gege (older brother)?"
"Do this for me. Don't give up." Xinyan opened her eyes again and they're at the victim's mother's home.