Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

That same afternoon, in the provincial song and dance troupe's individual rehearsal room, the heating was on full blast. Zheng Hongwen leaned back in his leather chair, with opera excerpts to be rehearsed in a couple of days spread out on the music stand in front of him, the pages swaying slightly in the breeze from the heating.

He didn't read a single word, his fingers repeatedly scrolling through Su Wan's Moments, from the most recent post to six months ago, enlarging every selfie before finally exiting and scrolling down.

The screen was on a photo Su Wan posted three days ago. The background was a school playground under the setting sun. She was wearing a navy blue tracksuit, her hair was tied in a high ponytail, her face was flushed from exercising, and there was a faint smile on her lips.

Zheng Hongwen zoomed in on the photo and pointed his finger hard at her face.

This woman is much better than those women in the dance troupe with their surgically enhanced faces; she's clean-cut and compliant.

He slowly traced her face on the screen with his thumb, leaned back in his chair, and a lewd smile appeared on his lips.

He exited his WeChat Moments, opened his contacts, and found the number he had photographed from the sign-in sheet the day before yesterday. It was already saved, with the note "Teacher Su".

He stared at the string of numbers for a few seconds, pressed his tongue against his back teeth, and pressed the dial button.

The phone rang three times before being answered.

A gentle female voice came from the other end: "Hello?"

Zheng Hongwen narrowed his eyes upon hearing the voice.

Her voice was clear and bright, not the kind of sweetness that comes from a forced, strained tone; it was genuine.

He cleared his throat and spoke in a very formal tone: "Teacher Su, I am Zheng Hongwen from the Provincial Song and Dance Troupe. I saw your school's classic recitation case at the year-end performance preparation meeting a couple of days ago. Our troupe happens to have a public welfare cooperation activity for primary and secondary schools, and I would like to connect with you."

Su Wan paused for a moment, her tone polite but somewhat hesitant: "A collaborative activity? We haven't received any notification from the Education Bureau..."

Zheng Hongwen smiled, his tone becoming more casual: "It's not a unified arrangement by the Education Bureau; it's a public welfare project initiated by our group itself. It's just been approved and hasn't gone through the Education Bureau's procedures yet. Teacher Su, when are you free? I'd like to invite you for a coffee so we can discuss the specific details in person. It won't take up much of your time."

Su Wan was silent for a few seconds, then said, "The school is having midterm exams recently, and I have a lot of papers to grade, so it might be inconvenient."

Zheng Hongwen's smile faded for a moment.

He could tell she was pushing him.

It's okay, the more you push, the more interesting it becomes. It's only when you're flirting with a proper woman like this that it's truly exciting.

He feigned a gentle and sincere tone: "Then we won't have coffee, so as not to take up your time grading papers. I've already prepared all the materials for the collaboration. I happen to be going to Chenxi City tomorrow to take care of some business, so I'll deliver them to you on the way. Just pick them up, so you don't have to make a trip to the Cultural Bureau again."

Su Wan paused again, seemingly hesitating.

Taking advantage of her hesitation, Zheng Hongwen asked directly, "Is six o'clock tomorrow night okay? I happen to be passing by your school's staff quarters. I'll call you when I get there, and you can just come downstairs to pick it up. It'll only take five minutes."

Su Wan finally relented: "Then... thank you, six o'clock is fine."

Zheng Hongwen's lips curved into a smile again: "Okay, I'll call you when I arrive."

After hanging up the phone, he placed it face down on the music stand, leaned back in his chair, and his mind was already on tomorrow night's plans.

He tapped his fingers on his thigh, feeling that it was pretty much true. This kind of naive female teacher could be easily won over with a few small favors.

The wind blew a page of the opera excerpt on the music stand, but he didn't even glance at it.

------

Gu Mingyuan sat in the General Administration's office, the computer screen in front of him displaying the schedule of Su Wan's protection plan, as well as Zheng Hongwen's call log.

Tomorrow evening at 6 PM, which is the handover period between the day and night shifts, there will be a 15-minute gap in the main gate duty, as is the usual arrangement.

This vacancy wasn't supposed to be a loophole. The people at the front gate had left, but the people at the back gate were still there, and the outer patrols were handed over normally, so there shouldn't be any problems.

But what if the perimeter patrols happen to be absent as well?

Gu Mingyuan stared at Zhou Chenghai's name on the screen and tapped his fingers twice on the table.

He opened the internal encrypted communication interface, entered Zhou Chenghai's employee number, and issued an instruction: "At 5:45 pm tomorrow, the system detected abnormal signal fluctuations in the Suwan area. Arrange for the second group to take shifts ahead of schedule. You will personally lead a team to investigate the perimeter. The fixed posts at the main gate and back gate will remain unchanged for the time being. The handover will take place after you have completed your investigation."

The last sentence was cleverly written: the fixed posts remain unchanged for the time being, but during the investigation, the people actually guarding the perimeter have been transferred away.

The route he specifically chose for the investigation extended from the perimeter of the family quarters to the entrance of the Third Middle School, a round trip that took at least twenty minutes.

The twenty-minute gap was enough for Zheng Hongwen's car to drive directly to the entrance of the building, and enough for an "accident" to happen.

Gu Mingyuan clicked send, closed the interface, leaned back in his chair, and lit a cigarette.

I've already handed you the knife, Zheng Hongwen. Now it's up to you.

Don't let me down.

When Zhou Chenghai received Gu Mingyuan's message, the second group of surveillance personnel responsible for protecting Su Wan was holding a routine meeting in the General Administration's briefing room.

He glanced down at his phone screen, saw the sender and the instructions, then expressionlessly flipped the phone face down on the table and continued listening to the person on stage.

After the meeting ended, team member Xiao Wu stopped him: "Brother Zhou, there was an anomaly in today's communications screening. The target, Su Wan, received a call from an unknown number yesterday. The call lasted four minutes, and when we called back, it turned out to be a landline from the Provincial Song and Dance Troupe."

Xiao Wu handed him the printed contact information, which clearly stated the caller: Provincial Song and Dance Troupe, contact person: Zheng Hongwen.

Zhou Chenghai took the call record and glanced at it, immediately recognizing the person in his mind.

This is the knife that Commander Gu arranged.

He folded the communication record neatly and put it in his pocket, saying casually, "I checked. It's a public welfare cooperation project with the Department of Culture, just normal official communication. There's no need to write a report about this, so as not to add unnecessary pressure to Su Wan."

Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment: "But according to regulations, all unconventional contacts must be entered into the system..."

Zhou Chenghai looked at Xiao Wu, his gaze lingering for two seconds. His tone remained unchanged, but each word was enunciated clearly: "I said, it's normal official communication. Do you not trust my judgment, or do you think I can't even distinguish between normal and abnormal?"

Xiao Wu fell silent and lowered his head to organize the folders beside him.

Zhou Chenghai withdrew his gaze, stood up, and patted the shift schedule in his hand: "There is an abnormal fluctuation warning for the Suzhou Evening News area tomorrow night. The second group will be on duty half an hour earlier. Xiao Wu, you stay at the main gate. Lao Zhang, come with me to the perimeter to check for signal sources."

Old Zhang opened his notebook to confirm the route, and Xiao Wu nodded. No one raised any further objections.

Zhou Chenghai placed the new shift schedule on the table and asked the two men to sign it.

The original schedule indicated that someone would be on duty at the main gate during the handover period at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

Now, the shifts start half an hour earlier, and the person is transferred to the outer perimeter for investigation, leaving the position at the main entrance vacant.

He tucked the folder away and walked out of the briefing room. The lights in the corridor hummed, but he didn't look back.

He neither returned the communication record with Zheng Hongwen's name on it nor entered it into the system.