Chapter Eighty-Six: The Trap

Zhang Qinglin watched the police keeping order at the scene. Glancing to the side at the officer beside him, then toward Mr. Hu lying in a pool of blood, he felt the situation growing ever more strange. The club had only just had an incident, yet the police had arrived so quickly; that in itself was unusual. And Mr. Hu had been stabbed to death without rhyme or reason. It was too bizarre.

In that instant, Zhang Qinglin felt as though he had been dropped into a trap.

"What’s your name? Where are you from? Show me your ID. What is your relationship to the deceased?" the lean officer asked, staring at Zhang Qinglin.

Zhang Qinglin froze, then took his ID from the crossbody bag with his unbloodied hand and said, "I only met him once. We have no relation."

"Captain Wang, we found something."

Following the voice, Zhang Qinglin saw the officer standing beside Mr. Hu holding a black bag. Inside it, he had taken out a packet of white powder.

Captain Wang went over to inspect it. As soon as he finished looking, his expression tightened. His wary gaze swept over the crowd nearby, and he hurriedly ordered the scene sealed off. Everyone who had come into contact with the deceased was taken back to the police station.

Zhang Qinglin sat in the interrogation room, staring blankly at the table before him. This was far from the first time he had been brought in, but every previous time it had been for fighting outside with Cheng Che, and each time Cheng Che's father had found someone to get them out.

But this time was different. This time, a life had been lost. He himself had known the dead man, and the man had died right before his eyes.

The interrogation room door was pushed open. Captain Wang and Officer Xiao walked in. Captain Wang's already lean face was drawn so tight that his cheeks had hollowed out, making him look frightening.

He dropped the file in his hand onto the table and said, "Zhang Qinglin!"

Zhang Qinglin slowly raised his eyelids and met Captain Wang's gaze.

"Who is your superior? Were you here to collect this shipment?" Captain Wang asked sternly.

"Superior? What superior? I don't know what you're talking about, Officer. You’ve arrested the wrong person..." Zhang Qinglin said, growing agitated.

Captain Wang tapped the table with his pen and went on, "Fine, then let’s look at it this way. The deceased was Hu Ren, from Fang County in Wuzhou. He came to the capital three days ago. He was in contact with a man called Fifth Master to arrange a drug deal. The meeting place was originally supposed to be outside the city, yet today he ended up dead here. From our investigation, the reason he went to the club was because someone had arranged to meet him there, and that someone was you. We can rule out your involvement in the murder, but we cannot rule out your involvement in the drug deal. You'd better come clean. Otherwise, once we uncover your crimes ourselves, it won't be for sentencing anymore."

Zhang Qinglin heard all this in a daze. He had merely received a card out of nowhere, with words asking him to come to the club and find out his father's whereabouts. Nothing else was written on it. How had that turned him into a drug trafficker?

He hurried to search his trouser pocket, wanting to produce the card as proof of his innocence, but the pocket was empty. The card was gone.

No matter how Zhang Qinglin tried to explain that he had nothing to do with drug trafficking, they refused to believe him.

He sat alone in the interrogation room until ten at night. Then, suddenly, the door was pushed open, and he heard someone speaking.

"Captain Wang, I’m sorry to trouble you. I’ve handed all the proof over to the officer behind you. May I take the person with me now? Thank you, thank you!"

"Hey, why did you fall asleep? Wake up. Someone's come to pick you up," Officer Xiao said.

"Uncle Jiang!" Zhang Qinglin looked up and saw Uncle Jiang walking through the doorway. His heart surged with emotion. He sprang to his feet and ran to him.

"We've already cleared up what happened today, and the private club has been shut down as well. Those are not the kinds of places young people should be going to, so you adults should keep an eye on them in the future. You can take him home, but if we need his cooperation later, he has to come whenever he's called. I’ve already spoken to the Western City brigade as well. If anything unusual comes up, they’ll notify you right away," Captain Wang said.

Uncle Jiang nodded repeatedly. "All right, all right, understood. Then if there’s nothing else, Captain Wang, we’ll head back now."

Zhang Qinglin stood off to the side, too afraid to make a sound, and followed Uncle Jiang out.

Outside the police station, Cheng Che and Jiang Xinyue were also waiting. When they saw them come out, they hurried over to ask Zhang Qinglin what had happened.

Zhang Qinglin said nothing. He had never imagined he would be mistaken for a drug dealer. Suddenly he felt utterly useless, and deeply ashamed. He had known what kind of place it was, and still insisted on going in.

Uncle Jiang said nothing. He did not reproach Zhang Qinglin either. Back at the courtyard house, Cheng Che took a cab and left.

That night, Zhang Qinglin barely slept. Hu Ren's death was truly baffling.

Over the next few days, business at the teahouse was fairly good. Probably because the holiday travel season had begun and there were more people out shopping, Zhang Qinglin and Jiang Xinyue stayed at the teahouse all day. After all, Sister Zhou could not handle everything by herself. Uncle Jiang would occasionally go out to eat with a few business owners, and time passed quickly; in the blink of an eye, a week was gone.

He had thought these busy days might last longer, but recently Zhang Qinglin discovered that he was being followed.

One day, as he and Jiang Xinyue left the courtyard house and walked toward the street corner, he noticed several pairs of eyes watching him from not far away.

At first Zhang Qinglin did not pay it much mind, but this time, when Jiang Xinyue bent down halfway to tie her shoelace and asked him to hold her bag, he unintentionally caught sight of the two suspicious figures behind them from the corner of his eye.

Both men had sullen faces, brutish features, and the kind of mannerisms and clothing that made their rough character plain to see. They were the picture of ruffians.