The summer vacation seemed to pass by unnoticed. When Zhong Jin went for his morning run, wearing just a short-sleeved shirt, he felt a slight chill in the air.
He couldn’t tell if it was the weather that had turned cooler or if it was his heart that felt cold.
In the past, there was always a little shadow who would jump out of bed happily at the mention of going out, following him on a scooter, gliding back and forth behind him.
But ever since her biological mother arrived, she no longer went out with him in the mornings. The mother and daughter duo would lie on the big bed covered with cartoon bedding, each leaning to one side, sleeping soundly behind tightly drawn blackout curtains. No matter how much Zhong Jin called out, they wouldn’t budge.
In the end, Zhong Jin walked over, checked their breathing to confirm they were just asleep, and then went out alone for his morning run.
After finishing his run, he stopped by the fresh produce supermarket downstairs to buy groceries for the day. When he reached the seafood section, he faintly heard a cute, childish voice say, “I want to eat a little shrimp today.”
He turned around, but amidst the bustling crowd in the supermarket, he couldn’t spot her small figure.
A strange sense of loss washed over him.
After buying the groceries and returning to the apartment, Zhong Jin used the shrimp heads to make shrimp oil and cooked rice porridge. He then went to wash the vegetables by the sink.
Qiu Sheng walked out, yawning, and said, “Morning.” Then, still yawning, she headed into the bathroom.
A while later, she came out with a toothbrush in her mouth, leaning against the kitchen door to talk to Zhong Jin. “Don’t you get tired waking up so early every day? Why don’t you hire a nanny?”
Zhong Jin didn’t respond.
Qiu Sheng knew Zhong Jin well. He was someone who lacked a sense of security, and due to his profession, he didn’t trust strangers at all.
Back when they were together, Zhong Jin had refused to hire a nanny. When he wasn’t on a mission, he would take care of all the household chores himself—cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry.
If he was away on a mission and Qiu Sheng couldn’t take care of herself, she would simply go back to her parents’ house.
Things were manageable when it was just the two of them, but now with a child added to the mix, the household chores had multiplied. Zhong Jin still had to go to work, and it was impossible for him to handle everything alone.
Seeing that Zhong Jin was as stubborn as ever, Qiu Sheng gave up trying to persuade him. Just then, Little Tong woke up, her hair a mess, yawning and stumbling out of the bedroom.
Qiu Sheng went to help the child get ready.
After breakfast, Zhong Jin said he would first take Little Tong to the police station and then find time to take her to register at the district experimental kindergarten.
Qiu Sheng peeled a large shrimp and placed it in Little Tong’s bowl. “You go to work. I’ll take her to register.”
Seeing the distrustful look on Zhong Jin’s face, Qiu Sheng got a little angry.
“Are you afraid I’ll take Little Tong away? Zhong Jin, is there no trust between us anymore? I won’t take her away without discussing it with you first. You know I don’t have a job. I can stay in Haishan and take care of her.”
Zhong Jin hesitated, staring at Qiu Sheng. He knew her all too well. She would say one thing but do another.
Back when they used to play an online game together, Zhong Jin would carry Qiu Sheng through the levels. She was terrible at the game and would only follow behind him, picking up dropped equipment.
Once, when Zhong Jin had to go on a mission, he told Qiu Sheng not to play the game without him. She even swore to the heavens that she wouldn’t.
But when Zhong Jin returned three days later, both their accounts had been ruined by her.
“Fine, don’t trust me. You take Little Tong to the police station. I’ll go back to sleep,” Qiu Sheng said, standing up and walking into the bedroom.
Just before leaving, Zhong Jin changed his mind. He saw a notice on the school’s app that a health check was required at the registration site, which would likely take some time. He wasn’t sure if he could spare that much time.
So, he slipped a children’s watch into Qiu Sheng’s bag, handed her the registration materials, and asked her to take Little Tong to register.
Before leaving, Zhong Jin ruffled Little Tong’s round head. “I’m leaving. You’ll go to school with Mom later to register, okay?”
The child, busy playing with building blocks, loudly said, “Bye,” without looking up.
Having her biological mother around really made a difference. Back when she was with Auntie Liang, Little Tong would cling to Zhong Jin and fuss for a long time before letting him go to work.
*
The case of illegal nitrous oxide trafficking that had been cracked during the typhoon days had finally finished interrogating all the suspects that morning. Just as Zhong Jin finished processing the suspects’ transfer to criminal detention, a woman carrying a child walked into the station.
The woman cried and made a scene in the mediation room, saying that her husband had been arrested by the police, their house and car had been seized, and she couldn’t afford to raise the child on her own. She wanted to hand the child over to the state to raise.
Her husband was the main suspect in the nitrous oxide trafficking case.
Zhong Jin happened to run into her and scolded her,
“You have hands and feet, and you’re mentally sound. How can you not raise a child? Do you know how hard it is for some people to get their children back? You’re taking your blessings for granted. Go home and stop causing trouble here.”
After sending the woman away, Zhong Jin checked the location on his phone. The children’s watch he had slipped into Qiu Sheng’s bag that morning had a tracking feature. The watch’s location showed it was nearby, moving in the direction of the district experimental kindergarten.
It was almost noon, and they still hadn’t reached the school. He had no idea what the mother and daughter had been doing all morning.
Rao Shishi walked in carrying a stack of documents. “Chief Zhong, these are the documents that need your review and signature.”
After putting down the documents, she glanced around the office. “Chief, why isn’t Little Tong at the station today?”
Zhong Jin flipped through the documents she handed him without looking up. “Her mom is taking her to register at the kindergarten today.”
“Got it,” Rao Shishi nodded, then turned and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.
As soon as she stepped out, Little Wang and Gu Le gathered around her. “Well? Did you find out?”
Rao Shishi gave them an OK sign. “Yep, it’s Little Tong’s mom.”
“Did you ask Chief Zhong if they’re planning to remarry?” Gu Le asked.
Rao Shishi and Little Wang both gave him a look that said, *Are you out of your mind?* Only a lunatic would ask something like that.
But soon, the group huddled together to gossip. Since the mom was back, they speculated that a remarriage was likely.
Then Little Wang suddenly fell silent. “Why are we so sure the mom is the ex-wife? Couldn’t she be a new mom?”
And so, fueled by their wild imaginations, the group spun tales about Chief Zhong’s otherwise dull personal life, making it sound more exciting than it really was.
After finishing the documents, Zhong Jin picked up his phone and checked the location again. The tracker showed that the target had arrived at the district kindergarten and was now stationary.
They must be going through the registration process.
An hour later, he checked again, and the location was still at the kindergarten.
Did registration really take this long?
Suspicious, Zhong Jin exited the children’s watch tracking app and logged into another tracker. That morning, when he had ruffled Little Tong’s hair, he had discreetly placed a small tracking device in her hair tie.
The tracker now showed that they had crossed half the city and were already at Haishan Airport.
Zhong Jin immediately opened his phone and checked the flight information. In 58 minutes, a flight from Haishan to Jing City was scheduled to depart.
“You’ve got some nerve, Qiu Sheng.”
Zhong Jin grabbed his car keys and stormed out of the office.
In the hallway, he ran into Hu De, who was leisurely carrying a thermos. Zhong Jin quickly changed his approach and strode over to him.
“Old Hu, I need to report a crime. My ex-wife has kidnapped my daughter. I need you to dispatch officers and come with me to the airport to intercept them.”
Hu De looked like he was sleepwalking, his shiny bald head radiating confusion. “...Huh?”
“No time to explain. Bring the police lights and come with me.”
*
While Hu De and Zhong Jin were speeding toward the airport in a police SUV with flashing lights, Qiu Sheng was comfortably lounging on a large sofa in the airport VIP lounge. A small cart next to her was stocked with complimentary snacks and drinks.
Little Tong stood by the cart, picking up a yogurt and a small cake. She walked over to Qiu Sheng and tossed them onto her lap. “Open these for me.”
Qiu Sheng opened a bag of snacks and handed it to her. The child, holding the snack, crossed her little legs and leaned back on the sofa, leisurely sipping yogurt.
"Mom, aren't we bringing Dad along?" Little Tong asked casually after taking a big gulp of yogurt.
It seemed like this kind of situation, where Mom excluded Dad, had happened often before, so the child wasn’t fazed by it.
Qiu Sheng took off her black sunglasses and gently patted the child’s round head. "Tongtong, call me 'Mom' from now on, not 'Mother.' 'Mother' sounds too old-fashioned."
The mischievous child slurped up more yogurt. "Okay, Mom. So what should I call Dad?"
Qiu Sheng thought for a moment. "Hmm... call him 'Big Head Zhong.' He had a big head back in school, and that’s the nickname we gave him back then."
Little Tong tossed the empty yogurt bottle into the trash and started munching on a chocolate-flavored cupcake. Holding the cake with both hands, her cheeks puffed up as she mumbled,
"Let’s call him 'Auntie Zhong.'"
Qiu Sheng lovingly stroked the child’s hair but suddenly paused, her fingers feeling something in the strands. She pulled out a small round disc.
"What’s this?"
She turned the disc over curiously, and when she saw the red blinking light on it, her expression changed drastically. She cursed under her breath,
"Damn you, Big Head Zhong."
Qiu Sheng stood up anxiously, pacing around the lounge a couple of times before finally tossing the tracker into the trash. Then, she grabbed Little Tong’s hand and hurried out.
By now, Zhong Jin was surely on his way to catch her. Staying here wasn’t an option. She planned to find a nearby place to hide for a while and then make her escape.
As Qiu Sheng and Little Tong stepped out of the terminal building, they saw Zhong Jin’s SUV approaching with its police lights flashing. Zhong Jin leaned out of the driver’s window and shouted, "Qiu Sheng, stop right there!"
And just like that, the mother-daughter duo’s attempted escape ended in failure.
Hu De, with his innocent yet strikingly noticeable bald head, braced himself to follow procedure in the tense atmosphere of the car.
"Since Director Zhong reported this, I’ll need to take you two back to the station for a statement." This was probably the most polite Hu De had ever been on duty—he even used the word "please."
Little Tong reached over from the passenger seat, giggling as she patted Hu De’s bald head.
Zhong Jin shot her a look. "Sit properly."
Feeling the low-pressure aura from her dad, the child didn’t dare misbehave. She shrunk back into her child seat and sat still—for about three seconds—before starting to rustle around, opening another snack.
Once they arrived at the police station, Hu De couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and immediately went to find Mao Feixue.
"Deputy Director Mao, there’s a situation that needs mediation. Could you handle it, please?"
Mao Feixue put down the file she was working on. "What’s going on?"
"It’s Director Zhong and his ex-wife. They’ve reported each other over a custody dispute. Honestly, I don’t dare mediate this. Maybe you should take it."
"How did this even happen?"
Though puzzled, Mao Feixue stood up and headed toward the mediation room.
Meanwhile, back at the station, the mischievous child was having the time of her life. With her little backpack on, she rode her scooter around, checking out all the commotion. When she reached the mediation room where Zhong Jin and Qiu Sheng were, she poked her round head inside.
"You two, better behave yourselves, okay?"
Then, giggling, she scooted away, expertly heading to the next exciting scene.
