Chapter 1167 — Who Is the Fiancée?

"Yes. And those things I have taught you, you must cultivate them diligently too. One day you will be like me — a formidable man!" Grandpa Zhu said with a faint smile.

"I will, Grandpa Zhu. Don't worry, I cultivate every day," Chen Xi nodded, a trace of envy in her eyes.

"But you must keep it absolutely secret. You must never mention this to anyone, understand? Not to your mother, not to your friends!" Grandpa Zhu warned her again.

"Yes, don't worry, Grandpa Zhu, I won't breathe a word! You don't want to reveal who you are — you want to be a hidden hero, living out of sight, don't you?" Chen Xi nodded very solemnly, then asked.

"This concerns Grandpa Zhu's enemies. You wouldn't want Grandpa Zhu to be hunted down, would you?" Grandpa Zhu said with a faint smile.

"So that's it!" A flicker of worry — and then of resolve — appeared at once on Chen Xi's pretty little face. "Don't worry, Grandpa Zhu. I won't tell a soul about this. Not even if they kill me!"

"Good child!" Grandpa Zhu patted Chen Xi on the shoulder, and the corner of his mouth slid into a sly smile too faint for anyone to notice.

"Oh! I was right after all — I really am Prophecy Shu!" Shen Yushu cheered excitedly, telescope in hand.

Gu Mengyao and Tang Yun could not help laughing at Shen Yushu's words. To them, this Xie Yufeng was no good sort, and that Grandpa Zhu was rather suspicious besides; whichever of the two beat the other, it was a case of dog biting dog.

Only Wei Zhao was lost in thought.

Songshan City — such a tiny speck of a place — and yet so many formidable fighters came and went here?

Wang Congming and Li Panghu had not called the police, only an ambulance. But among the good-hearted onlookers, someone had dialed the police emergency line.

Ordinarily Qiu Lingshan would not concern herself with a case of ordinary brawling. But these were no ordinary times: those missing persons had all vanished following just such ordinary brawls. So Qiu Lingshan had specially instructed the emergency dispatch center that any further brawl must be reported to the criminal investigation unit.

When the call came in and she heard that a brawl had broken out by the seaside, Qiu Lingshan wasted no time. She gathered her people and raced to the shore.

Arriving at the beach, she naturally made for the largest crowd of onlookers — and the first thing she saw was Xie Yufeng, beaten into a bloody mess.

"What happened here? Who saw it?" Qiu Lingshan strode over and asked.

Li Panghu and Wang Congming were both taken aback. Who had called the police? Xie Yufeng had no wish to lose face, so of course he did not want the police involved — especially since his "fiancée" was a police officer herself. The last thing he wanted was for Qiu Lingshan to learn he had been beaten up. That would be beyond humiliating.

Xie Yufeng knew Qiu Lingshan, but Qiu Lingshan did not know Xie Yufeng — and neither Li Panghu nor Wang Congming knew Qiu Lingshan either.

Xie Yufeng had meant to scout the place out today and then ask Qiu Lingshan to come out tonight. So Qiu Lingshan had no idea at all that the creature lying before her was her own "fiancé."

"It's nothing! There's nothing going on here, Officer. You can go back!" Li Panghu said to Qiu Lingshan.

"Nothing?" Qiu Lingshan blinked, then pointed at Xie Yufeng on the ground. "The man has been beaten to a pulp, and you call that nothing? Did you do this?"

"No, no — he's my boss. But these are just minor injuries, nothing serious. We'll go to the hospital ourselves in a bit — no need to trouble the police!" Wang Congming stepped forward and said with a smile at Qiu Lingshan.

This girl was rather pretty, actually. But she looked like a trainee officer; she ought to be easier to deal with. So Wang Congming spoke in a mild, pleasant tone.

"Minor injuries? How is this minor? Whoever did this is already looking at charges of endangering public safety. What exactly happened here?" The more Wang Congming tried to cover things up, the more Qiu Lingshan felt something was being hidden. Could this really be connected to those earlier disappearances? Had the attacker this time gone missing too?

Wang Congming and Li Panghu exchanged a glance, and their expressions changed at once. This cop clearly had no intention of letting it go. That made things somewhat difficult.

"Well... here's the thing. My boss's fiancée is a police officer too. He lost a fight, and he doesn't want to lose face in front of her, so he doesn't want this blown up. Officer, for the sake of people you know, can't we just let this one go?" Wang Congming hesitated, then decided to tell the truth. "Besides, we're the victims. We're not pressing charges. So, you see..."

"His fiancée is with the police too? Who is she? What's her name?" Qiu Lingshan frowned. If it was as Wang Congming said, doing them a favor was no great matter. He was right, after all: if the victims were not pursuing it, there was no need for her to cling on.

"My boss's fiancée is named Qiu Lingshan. She's the captain of the criminal investigation unit at the Songshan City Police Bureau!" Wang Congming said.

"Wait... wait..." Wang Congming and Li Panghu did not know Qiu Lingshan, but how could Xie Yufeng not? These past days he had been studying the material his father had given him about Qiu Lingshan; he had looked at her photograph several times over. Now she was standing right before him — how could he not recognize her?

He had been crouching on the ground with his face covered all this time precisely because he feared Qiu Lingshan might recognize him, which would be too humiliating. Who would have thought Wang Congming and Li Panghu would go and give him away? Did they mean to be the death of him?

But when he tried to speak up and stop them, he could not stop them in time. He was a step too late, and Wang Congming had blurted it out. Xie Yufeng covered his face, speechless with shame.

"Gah?" Qiu Lingshan's eyes went wide. She stared at Wang Congming as though she had seen a ghost. "You're saying his fiancée is named Qiu Lingshan? And she's the captain of the criminal investigation unit at the Songshan police bureau?"

"That's right!" Wang Congming studied Qiu Lingshan's shocked expression, and his own heart began to pound. But the words were out and could not be taken back. Though he had no idea what was going on, he could only nod.

"I am Qiu Lingshan, but I don't know him," Qiu Lingshan said mildly, pointing at Xie Yufeng on the ground.

"Huh? You're Qiu Lingshan? You... you're our sister-in-law?" Wang Congming looked at Qiu Lingshan in disbelief. He had never imagined such a coincidence — running into Qiu Lingshan here of all places.

"I am Qiu Lingshan, but I am not your sister-in-law." Qiu Lingshan frowned. What exactly were these people up to? Passing themselves off as her fiancé — did they have any idea what they were doing? Instinctively, she found the whole lot of them highly suspicious, and she waved a hand at Liu Wangli. "Take them all in. These people are up to something."

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