Stealth tracking

Author: Li Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Chapter 17, Jiang
In the evening, Leng Feng selected practice pieces for Yu'er and Xue'er, set the bedtime, and then rode his tricycle alone to the riverside again. After each killing, he was accustomed to coming here to blow the river breeze and take a look at whether the stars in the sky had indeed diminished. The laughter of the tricycle driver remained cheerful, and the lovers still pledged their eternal love, unchanging for millennia. The world had not changed at all because a few drug dealers had died today. Only the group of retired elderly who often practiced chess under the old locust tree seemed a bit agitated. One after another, like fighting roosters, they were full of passion, commenting on the corruption in society, sometimes cursing the corrupt officials. This showed the extent of freedom of speech in today's society. At the same time, it could also be seen that the Chinese people had reached a point of deep aversion to the unfairness and corruption in society.
As Leng Feng was idly thinking along with the elderly, he noticed Tang Jingying walking behind him.
"How did you come here?" Leng Feng asked without turning his head.
"How did you know I came?" Tang Jingying asked in surprise as she quietly walked behind Leng Feng.
"Because of the scent of perfume on you."
"Balderdash! I never wear perfume."
"Then it must be your natural fragrance." Leng Feng stood up.
"Ah! You're beating around the bush to tease me!" Tang Jingying pointed at Leng Feng's nose.
"You're not just here to tease me, are you?" They walked along the riverside where no one was around.
"Of course not. It sounds like you really enjoy me teasing you?"
"Is that so?"
"Of course. I won't argue with you. I just wanted to tell you about what happened earlier today."
"Is that all? We can talk about work tomorrow too."
"Sigh!" Tang Jingying sighed. "Please! Can't you just pretend to be ignorant and let me play a little trick?"
"Okay, okay, okay." Leng Feng raised his hands in surrender. "As you wish."
Tang Jingying sighed helplessly, hesitated, and then turned back.
"I can't sleep anyway," she said.
Tang Jingying stuck her hands in her police uniform pockets and quietly watched the river. She didn't speak, and Leng Feng didn't speak either. They just stood there quietly.
Finally, Tang Jingying broke the silence: "My recently divorced husband has come back and asked me to remarry."
"He thinks divorce is fun?"
"He says divorce is to put a period to our past misfortunes and that he wants to start over. Since the divorce papers were signed, he's called every day and sent flowers every day. But today, there were no flowers or calls."
Leng Feng laughed. Women were such strange creatures. Sometimes they were like little deer, running frantically when a man chased them, refusing to let him catch up. But when the man grew tired and gave up, she would stop and wait for him, turning around and asking, "Hey, why didn't you chase me?"
Leng Feng rubbed his nose. He guessed Tang Jingying was hoping to get some encouragement from him.
"You can call him and ask if he's sick or something."
"I'm not," Tang Jingying wanted to argue, but then she gave up the idea.
She sighed. It seemed like her efforts were wasted this time!
"Hey, let me ask you a riddle," Tang Jingying decided on her second plan. The question was: "If you fall in love with someone, you know they don't dislike you, but you don't know if they love you or if they're willing to marry you, what would you do?"
"I love her, but she might not love me. She doesn't hate me, but I want to know if she's willing to marry me?" Leng Feng repeated Tang Jingying's question.
"Right." Tang Jingying nodded.
"It's simple," Leng Feng said. "Find an opportunity to rape her, and then give her two choices: either marry me or have me sent to prison."
Tang Jingying raised her head, surprised, and stared at Leng Feng for half a minute.
"Did you ever do that before?" she asked cautiously.
"Yeah, I thought about it." Leng Feng said regretfully. "But I never had the chance."
Tang Jingying breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
"Is it disgusting?" Leng Feng asked for her opinion.
"Relatively. It's just a bit disgusting."
"But the safety factor is high. The chance of going to prison is almost zero. The probability of agreeing to marry me and then angrily slapping me and ignoring me forever is fifty-fifty."
Tang Jingying imagined Leng Feng being slapped and couldn't help but laugh happily. But she didn't think Leng Feng's suggestion was a good idea. At least she didn't dare to do that to Leng Feng, let alone rape him.
Tang Jingying sighed deeply. Leng Feng was always hard to figure out.
"Oh, right," Tang Jingying suddenly remembered. "During the day, we also found a live person in the drug dealer's room. I was busy and forgot to tell you."
Since this operation had gone beyond Tang Jingying's jurisdiction, but to keep the operation confidential, she hadn't informed the local public security department in advance. So after Leng Feng and his team completed the mission, Tang Jingying spent the afternoon dealing with the local public security department, eventually promising to hold a banquet to apologize and credit them for the success of the drug crackdown, which led to a happy ending for everyone.
After a busy afternoon, she forgot to tell Leng Feng about the live person found at the scene.
"Still alive?" Leng Feng frowned.
"A woman, quite attractive."
"Woman?" Leng Feng frowned even more. According to the intelligence, only eight drug dealers had entered, and none of them were women!
"Don't worry," Tang Jingying smiled and patted Leng Feng. "This woman isn't one of the people you're supposed to kill. She might have been kidnapped. When we found her, her mouth was taped with adhesive tape, her hands were cuffed to the bedpost, her skirt was lifted to her back, and her thong was torn and thrown on the floor, as if she had just been raped."
"What did she say?"
"She just cried and didn't say a word. When we asked her name and where she lived, she said, 'If my relatives and friends find out, how will I face them?' It seemed she was afraid this would get out and she'd be embarrassed, but we're disciplined, and she has too little confidence in us."
"That's understandable. The image of the public security isn't great; many officials break the law while enforcing it, acting above the people."
"Who said that? It's just a small number of people who are bad." Tang Jingying defended her department. "Your national security agency hasn't left a bad impression on the public because the public doesn't even have an impression of you! This is thanks to the nature of your work. First, although you have a lot of power, you generally don't deal with the affairs of ordinary people, so the public doesn't need to ask you and therefore doesn't have to look at your face. Spies and secret agents do need you, but they can't tell you, 'I'm a spy, please take good care of me in the future,' or they'll be caught red-handed. In other words, your national security agency doesn't even have the chance to be corrupt! Second, your national security agency's work often involves the nation and the nation, belonging to the category of 'great righteousness,' while our public security work, in comparison, belongs to the category of 'minor details.' In the face of 'great righteousness,' people are naturally more likely to distinguish right from wrong and know what they should do. But in the face of 'minor details,' people are relatively more likely to lose themselves and do some 'unconventional' things. So, although your national security agency is outwardly more corrupt-free than ours, it doesn't mean that the quality of your personnel is much higher than ours. In other words, if you and our positions were swapped, you might be even more corrupt than our public security!"
Leng Feng was about to refute Tang Jingying's argument, but Tang Jingying immediately seized the opportunity and raised her hands in a "stop" gesture:
"Stop! The Ministry of Public Security isn't yours, and the Ministry of State Security isn't yours either. There's no need for us to argue about this. I've registered Yu'er and Xue'er for summer camp."
"Didn't you already register them for swimming lessons?"
"Swimming is swimming, and summer camp is summer camp. It doesn't cost any money, so why not go?"
"It doesn't cost money, but it still involves owing favors."
"They owe me a lot! It's an honor for them to use me once. They're happy just to get the chance! The important thing is to let Yu'er and Xue'er have a good time. Do you think I'm just a 'mother' for nothing? Okay, I'm leaving."
Tang Jingying put on her police cap. It seemed her good intentions for the evening had been ruined by Leng Feng's rambling.
"Rape?" Tang Jingying suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Leng Feng asked.
Tang Jingying didn't answer, just stood there thinking quickly.
"If you were to rape a woman," Tang Jingying asked Leng Feng thoughtfully, "if the situation was relaxed and you had plenty of time, would you rape her from the front or from behind?"
Leng Feng could tell Tang Jingying was serious. He thought for a moment and answered confidently:
"From the front. There's nothing in this world that's worse than seeing only a woman's bare back while not being able to see her face. That would make a man feel terrible."
Tang Jingying nodded slowly. As she thought, she used her hands to gesture and muttered to herself:
"Backward-facing, hands cuffed to the bedpost, hands can't support themselves. If you rape her from behind, you can only press her flat on the bed. At that point, the hands are hanging, and the center of gravity should be downward. This way, the wrists would definitely be injured during the rape!"
Tang Jingying suddenly had an epiphany.
"Do you suspect the woman had something to do with it?"
After Tang Jingying mentioned it, Leng Feng also thought the woman found at the scene was suspicious. Logically, these drug dealers had come with a purpose, and they wouldn't risk exposing themselves by raping a woman.
"I'm going to the Public Security Hospital. I'll call you later!" Tang Jingying walked quickly toward her police car, which was parked nearby.
The intelligence was wrong? Watching Tang Jingying drive away in a hurry, Leng Feng also thought deeply.
Leng Feng had already known Xiao Hui had been standing behind the tree. So when Xiao Hui suddenly jumped out from behind the tree, it didn't surprise him. It only surprised Xiao Hui a little.
"Do you know her?" Xiao Hui asked, looking at Tang Jingying's retreating back.
"Yeah," Leng Feng nodded, his mind elsewhere. "She's a friend."
"Ah," Xiao Hui pouted her tongue. She thought Leng Feng was exaggerating. Of course, she knew who Tang Jingying was. How could someone of Tang Jingying's status be friends with a taxi driver?
"So," Xiao Hui teased Leng Feng. "Have you ever been with her?"
"I didn't even dare to think about it." Xiao Hui laughed more. She thought Leng Feng was quite amusing.
She took a stack of money from her pocket and handed it to Leng Feng: "This is the money Lan gave you for the car."
"Too much, you don't need so much."
"Think it's too much? Are you afraid the money will bite you?" Xiao Hui crossed her slender waist. "Do you have a grudge against money? You idiot! Who among us isn't living hard for money?"
Xiao Hui forcibly shoved the money into Leng Feng's hands. "I really don't know what you're thinking! Want to be like Lei Feng? Can you take me home for free later?"
P126-131