Southern District Bureau.

"It’s him, officer, he’s the one who did this to me." Rafael saw Lin Feng being escorted by the police into the gates and immediately stood up from his chair, yelling fiercely at Lin Feng as he was overwhelmed with anger. Having just argued with Lin Feng in the morning, he was inexplicably beaten up by several people right after lunch. Who wouldn’t be frustrated after encountering such an incident?

"On what basis do you assume it was my doing?" Lin Feng thought, looking at the battered Rafael, telling you about the ’Blood Disaster’ and you wouldn’t listen.

"Do I even need to ask? We just argued this morning and, by the afternoon, I was randomly attacked. How could that be a coincidence?" Seeing Lin Feng’s nonchalant demeanor, Rafael was even more infuriated. You’re responsible for my condition, and you’re proud of it, aren’t you? Just wait and see who really has the upper hand.

"So, just because we argued in the morning and you got beaten in the afternoon, you conclude it was orchestrated by me? Do you even have a brain?" Lin Feng shot back, not about to indulge him.

"Didn’t you also warn me to beware of some ’Blood Disaster’ coming my way? With what happened at lunch, who else could it be but you?!" Rafael said viciously, glaring and breathing heavily at Lin Feng.

"I also said the world was going to end in 2012. How come I haven’t seen you dead yet?" Lin Feng was not at all angry; quarreling with someone else was a loss the moment you let yourself get angry first.

"Mr. Officer, you can’t let this criminal go. You must watch him closely; better yet... make him go to jail." Rafael shouted in his imperfect Chinese from the sidelines.

"Both of you, quiet down. Lin Feng, come with me to the interrogation room. We need to take your statement. And you, sit over there and wait," a middle-aged police officer in his 40s could no longer bear it, saying just that. To himself, he thought, can’t you two just stop the endless squabbling? Let’s separate you first and talk later.

When Rafael saw Lin Feng entering the recording room, he also quieted down and began to think about what to do next, whether Lin Feng could actually go to jail, and if he should make another phone call to his uncle to exert more pressure and ensure Lin Feng couldn’t turn the tables.

Just as Lin Feng was entering the interrogation room, Leng Mei had also arrived. She glanced at the police station’s lobby and, not seeing Lin Feng, only saw Rafael who had just been bandaged up, bruised and battered, awkwardly drinking tea, and she was very speechless. After thinking for a while, she decided to go over to Rafael to find out what exactly had happened so she could get Lin Feng out.

"Rafael, where’s Lin Feng?" Leng Mei walked over and asked directly.

"Mei, is that you? Are you here to see me?" Rafael stood up happily upon seeing Leng Mei.

"I’m asking, where is Lin Feng?" Leng Mei repeated her question.

"He’s in the interrogation room; no telling when he’ll come out," said Rafael, pointing towards the interrogation room door.

Following Rafael’s gesture, Leng Mei saw the sign on the interrogation room door, her expression froze, and she began to think about how to get Lin Feng out...

"Mei, did you see? Look at the state I’m in, and you don’t even care a bit?" Rafael, watching Leng Mei stare at the door of the recording room, was beyond angry. Initially, he was overjoyed thinking that Leng Mei came for him, but as soon as she stepped in, her focus was on Lin Feng. She didn’t even acknowledge his state and seemed to space out just staring at the interrogation room door. Is this still the same aloof beauty Leng Mei from before? What charm does Lin Feng possess to sway her so deeply?! The more Rafael thought about it, the more jealous he became.

"Rafael, what exactly happened today? I don’t believe that Lin Feng is the one who beat you to this state," Leng Mei turned back, staring coldly at Rafael.

"If I say it’s him, then it’s him. What’s the point of questioning it so much? Anyway, if he’s instructed someone to beat me, a foreigner, to this condition, he’s definitely getting a sentence. Why do you care so much about him?" Rafael shouted back, discontent with Leng Mei’s attitude.

Back when Leng Mei went to France, he met her and then followed her thousands of miles from France to China. An aristocrat from France teaching French at a Chinese university, all to pursue Leng Mei.

He felt he was the closest to Leng Mei at a time when everyone else seemed without hope, the first one who could warm Leng Mei’s heart.

But when Lin Feng appeared, he panicked because the current Leng Mei had never been this way towards any man before, including him. How could he not be jealous?

Seeing Rafael’s response, Leng Mei felt a headache brewing. It seemed impossible to get Rafael to withdraw the complaint. How then could she get Lin Feng out? That’s it, she should call her classmate Wang Min. She’s now a renowned lawyer; she must have a way...

As people outside grew anxious, brainstorming for solutions, inside the bureau’s conference room, a tense meeting analysing the case of today’s international incident was underway.

.................

Fan Ming, the director of the Southern District Public Security Bureau, had just started his afternoon shift when he received a phone call from a deputy secretary-general of the municipal party committee. Mr. Dole, the Deputy Consul at the French Embassy, had lodged a complaint with him: his nephew Rafael had been assaulted in Tianhai, and was on his way to the Southern District Bureau to file a report, demanding that Fan Ming handle the matter strictly.

As soon as he heard this, Fan Ming immediately felt troubled. The most difficult cases to handle were those involving foreigners because they involved a question of scale. Having been a people’s police officer for so many years, Fan Ming had seen plenty of such cases. In these problems, the bias was generally towards foreigners. Of course, if the parties involved had particularly solid backgrounds, the situation could be handled in reverse. These things were understood by everyone.

Yet, just as he had hung up the phone, within less than 2 minutes, it rang again. Fan Ming thought to himself, What’s going on today? Why so many calls?! Picking up the phone, he said somewhat impatiently, "Hello? Who is this?"

Fan Ming, is that you? This is Li Feng, did a Frenchman called Rafael show up at your place?" A voice came through the phone, one that was not unfamiliar—Li Feng, the executive deputy mayor of the municipal committee..

Mayor Li, yes, indeed, what instructions do you have?" After identifying the caller, Fan Ming responded cautiously, but at the same time, he wondered what the matter could be that would make an economic executive deputy mayor call his humble station.

Nothing much, just that Mr. Dole from the French Embassy had given me a call. He asked that we handle this matter well because Rafael’s family has invested over a billion in Tianhai. If we don’t resolve this satisfactorily, the other party claims they will withdraw their investment. While we’re not afraid of them withdrawing, the impact would be bad. If international enterprises hear about such an incident, who would want to invest in Tianhai? When safety can’t be guaranteed, what’s there to say about the economy? Do you understand?"

Oh, I understand. Rest assured. Understanding the gravity of the situation after hearing this, Fan Ming fully grasped what was at stake. He really wanted to know who that young man was to have caused such a big mess.

Mm, just remember, you must enforce the law impartially, and not let any criminal go free, but also not hurt the feelings of our foreign friends." Li Feng thought for a moment, worried that Fan Ming might not handle it correctly, and added one more statement.

Mm, understood, rest easy, Deputy Mayor Li, we’ll certainly handle this impartially. It’ll be satisfactory to everyone. Fan Ming, who had navigated officialdom for many years, understood the implications and assured his superior that the matter would be handled ’impartially’.

Alright then, I’m hanging up. Receiving a satisfying response from Fan Ming, Li Feng hung up, relieved, and considered that if the matter was handled well, perhaps in the future Fan Ming could be brought up the ranks, becoming part of his team.

Fan Ming put down the phone and thought to himself, Finally, an opportunity has come. What does it mean to be an economic executive deputy mayor?! If he managed this well, he could ally with Deputy Mayor Li, and his future path would be much more accessible; he had long heard about Deputy Mayor Li’s impressive background. Since this was an opportunity, he absolutely had to seize it, or he might regret it for the rest of his life.

Just as he was thinking this, someone knocked on the door.

"Knock knock"

"Come in."

"Director, you should go down and take a look—it’s the case of the foreigner being assaulted." A young officer was a bit panicked, obviously having no experience dealing with such situations and feeling at a loss.

Mm, I’ll go down right away, you go on ahead. Fan Ming dismissed the officer and then considered at his desk: How to handle this situation properly? He didn’t care about much else—what mattered was that the authority of an executive deputy mayor was far greater than that of a district bureau director. Having influence in the municipal bureau was still possible, but if he mishandled the case, being dismissed wouldn’t be surprising. That’s the nature of officialdom. Though not much was said, Fan Ming still grasped the meaning...

When Fan Ming descended the stairs, he saw Rafael, his nose blue and face swollen, sitting in a disheveled state on a chair, and was somewhat surprised. He thought, The assailant has got some nerve, to beat up a foreigner to this extent.

"Director." An officer downstairs saw Fan Ming descend and quickly brought a chair over for him.

"Have you figured out what happened?" Fan Ming asked.

Director, the process is very straightforward. This morning, a colleague named Lin Feng told this foreigner he was in for ’Blood Disaster’, and then he was inexplicably beaten up by several people," the officer summarized succinctly.

"Get me Lin Feng’s information and bring it to my office. Notify everyone that we’ll have a meeting in the conference room in 10 minutes to discuss how to handle this," Fan Ming gave the order and then went back to the conference room.

Just as he was about to go up the stairs, he suddenly remembered something and added, "Have Captain Wang arrange for two people to bring in this Lin Feng."

Fan Ming had barely sat down for two minutes when the officer below had already printed out Lin Feng’s personal information and delivered it to Fan Ming’s desk.

Picking up Lin Feng’s personal information, he looked at it carefully, not for any other reason but to ensure that this case was handled properly without leading to any difficult-to-manage consequences.