TTS Chapter 58

They drove to the seaside, but the beach was packed with people too, so they continued driving until they finally found a boardwalk without a beach and went for a walk along it.

There was a sea breeze, but the sun was scorching, and even the wind felt hot. Fortunately, after walking for a while, they came across a sea banyan tree. There was a bench beneath it, so they went over and sat down.

Facing the sea and sitting beneath the tree, with the gentle sound of waves lapping against the rocks beside them, Xia Hang experienced a sense of peace and tranquility for the first time in his life.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Han Huaixiao sat slightly sideways, facing Xia Hang. “Do you want to sit on my lap?”

Xia Hang pinched his thigh. Sitting on those firm muscles would probably be much more comfortable than sitting on the cold, hard bench, but… Although there weren’t many people around, some still passed by occasionally. Sitting on his lap would be too intimate, and Xia Hang wasn’t used to displaying affection so openly in public.

“No.”

Han Huaixiao understood what he meant and didn’t insist, while Xia Hang leaned against his shoulder and took out his phone. Han Huaixiao glanced down and saw him browsing a food delivery app, so he asked, “Weren’t you full just now?”

“I am. I’m checking whether there’s a place around here that delivers iced coconut juice. Sitting by the sea should come with a cup of coconut juice.” Xia Hang searched, and sure enough, there was a place that delivered it, making him ask, “Do you want some?”

“Yes.”

So Xia Hang ordered two cups of iced coconut juice and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“I’ll get you a new phone when we get back to the city.” Han Huaixiao looked at the corner of the phone sticking out of his pocket and said.

“Why? This phone works perfectly well.”

“Because it annoys me.”

Xia Hang took the phone out again. It was just an ordinary phone, and he couldn’t understand what the problem was.

“How did it offend you?”

“Su Cheng bought it for you. He bought the same model he uses, so your phones look like matching couple phones.”

“…”

Xia Hang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“He did buy it, but I paid him back. He’s straight and already has a girlfriend. We’re just friends.”

“I’m still making you change it. How did you meet him? Had you been to Lang City before?”

“No, I met him in Myanmar. His younger brother was abducted and taken to Myanmar, and Su Cheng went there to look for him. Someone beat him so badly that he was seriously injured. I helped him and took him back to my place to treat his injuries. After he found his brother and returned to China, we lost touch. We only met again after I came to Lang City.”

Han Huaixiao looked at him without speaking.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Xia Hang reached out and stroked his face. “I’m fine.”

Han Huaixiao asked, “Were those years dangerous?”

“It was all right. I can tell you about it in the future. I’ll tell you everything.”

Han Huaixiao tightened his arms around him. After a while, he rested his chin on Xia Hang’s shoulder.

“Do you like the sea?”

“It’s all right.”

“Then when we have our wedding, we’ll find an island.”

“A wedding?”

“What, you don’t intend to give me a proper status?” Han Huaixiao asked, but Xia Hang quickly said, “…We only just got back together, and now you’re suddenly bringing up a wedding. I can’t quite process it.”

“Then do you agree to having a wedding or not?”

“Would it be a lot of trouble?” Xia Hang thought about it.

“I’ll take care of the arrangements when the time comes. You won’t have to worry about all the little details.”

“All right.”

A while later, the iced drinks Xia Hang had ordered arrived. When they were halfway through drinking them, a young woman approached with her phone and showed them the screen.

“Hey, handsome guys! I was walking behind you just now and saw how beautifully your silhouettes complemented the scenery. It looked so lovely that I couldn’t resist taking a photo of you. Have a look and see if you like it. If you do, I’ll send it to you and then delete it from my phone. If you don’t like it, I’ll delete it right now.”

Han Huaixiao looked at the photo on her phone. It was obvious that she had some photography experience; the composition was excellent. The sea filled one-third of the frame, the tree occupied the right third, and he and Xia Hang sat at the golden ratio points.

They were both wearing white T-shirts that day. Han Huaixiao had one arm resting along the back of the bench, loosely embracing Xia Hang, who was leaning his head against his shoulder.

He fell in love with the photo at first glance, and Xia Hang liked it too.

“You took a wonderful photo. Could you send it to us? Thank you for giving us a keepsake.”

The young woman had initially worried that they might scold her for taking a photo without asking. But the scene had been so beautiful that she couldn’t resist capturing their silhouettes, even at the risk of being reprimanded. Hearing their praise, she happily sent them the photo, then smiled and left.

Han Huaixiao immediately changed his personal WeChat profile picture to the photo, but Xia Hang didn’t have a separate personal WeChat account; he used the same account for both personal and work matters. Although the photo only showed their backs, anyone familiar with him and Han Huaixiao could recognize them if they looked closely. Worried that some of their superiors might see it and that it could have a negative impact, he didn’t change his profile picture.

However, he asked Han Huaixiao to send him the photo and set it as his phone wallpaper. When Han Huaixiao saw that, he set it as his own wallpaper too.

Sitting beneath the shade of a tree, enjoying the sea breeze and sharing a cup of iced coconut juice with the person he loved, they stole a peaceful half-day from their busy lives.

………………………..

Early the next morning, they went to the Harbour City police bureau to find Yan Zhu. They had already discussed their plans for the day with her over the phone the previous day.

“Captain Han,” Yan Zhu said, “I got two sets of customs uniforms from the customs office.”

After Han Huaixiao and Xia Hang changed into the uniforms, Yan Zhu led them out. On the way, Han Huaixiao asked her, “Sister Yan, has Taiyi’s…”

As the deputy captain of the Harbour City Criminal Investigation Brigade, Yan Zhu had contacts at all the important locations in the city. She was the most convenient person to ask for help with this kind of matter, and she had already arranged for someone to keep an eye on the situation, so she quickly answered: “They’ve already arrived.”

Shunda Port was the main source of tax revenue for Harbour City. As an international hub seaport, it handled a significant portion of the city’s foreign trade, and its container throughput ranked among the highest in the world. It connected to more than five hundred ports around the globe. Trade was bustling here, with dozens of merchant ships docking or departing every day. The port was full of life, yet undercurrents swirled beneath the surface.

Han Huaixiao and the others were there to conduct some routine inspections before randomly selecting containers for examination. Among those selected were containers that Taiyi had just brought in. With shipping companies cooperating with international law enforcement, inspections of container cargo were stringent. However, drug traffickers had an endless variety of concealment methods, and their techniques were becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect.

Therefore, the instruments detected no problems with Taiyi’s cargo.

Customs officers randomly selected several containers, then picked out a few bags of cocoa powder from one of them and opened the packaging for inspection. They found nothing unusual.

The bags of cocoa powder appeared to have been arranged haphazardly, but in reality, their placement had been carefully chosen. Someone had deliberately reached for bags that were less likely to be selected during a random inspection. Drug traffickers would tamper with the packaging, making it look completely ordinary while still managing to fool X-ray machines.

After feeling more than a dozen bags, Xia Hang came across one whose packaging felt slightly different from the others. He memorized its position and continued checking, and he soon found several more bags with the same unusual texture.

Xia Hang glanced at Han Huaixiao, who understood what he meant and pretended to continue inspecting the cargo, slowly making his way over to him. Xia Hang secretly signaled to him.

Han Huaixiao adjusted his stance, using his tall frame to shield Xia Hang from view. Under his cover, Xia Hang quietly slipped one of the suspicious bags of cocoa powder out of the container.

After the cocoa powder came the durians. Some drug traffickers removed the flesh, hid drugs inside, then resealed the fruit so that it looked as though it had never been opened. The customs officers randomly inspected several durians in succession but found nothing suspicious.

After leaving Shunda Port with the customs officers, they saw them off, but once the two of them were alone with Yan Zhu, Han Huaixiao said, “Sister Yan, please arrange for someone to keep a close eye on where that batch of cocoa powder from Taiyi goes.”

Yan Zhu had noticed Xia Hang’s behavior at Shunda Port, so she looked at him and asked, “Did you find something?”

Xia Hang tore open the bag he had secretly taken and gave it a shake. A small packet of powder wrapped in a transparent white plastic bag emerged from inside.

Yan Zhu and Han Huaixiao exchanged a glance, both shocked by what they saw. Han Huaixiao had already suspected something was wrong, so he was less surprised, but his expression grew grave. Wang Cang and the others were still smuggling drugs despite having already attracted the police’s attention, and their concealment methods were so sophisticated that, had he and Xia Hang not come to Shunda Port, the shipment might well have slipped through undetected.

Yan Zhu immediately called her team and arranged for people to monitor the distribution of Taiyi’s cocoa powder shipment. She then reported the situation to her superiors, while Han Huaixiao called Chief Yan Zheng to brief him.

The leadership of the two city bureaus reached a decision soon afterward: the anti-drug squad and criminal investigation officers in Harbour City would track the shipment’s movements, following the trail to uncover the people behind the transaction.

…………………..

A yacht slowly left the harbor and headed toward the open sea.

Ah Tai stood behind Wang Cang, and sitting opposite them was a short, slight man. If Xia Hang had been there, he would have recognized him as one of Sheng Jun’s former clients, a man named Shen Yongchang. Standing behind Shen Yongchang was Ah Qiang, the trusted aide Xia Hang had seen on the snack street.

Wang Cang made a gesture, and Ah Tai placed a packet of cocoa powder on the table. He slit open the packaging and took out a small bag of powder wrapped in transparent plastic. Then he cut open that bag as well.

“Brother Chang,” Wang Cang looked at Shen Yongchang with a smile, “have a look. You won’t find any fault with the quality.”

“You’ve got some nerve.” Shen Yongchang looked back at him. “You actually managed to get the goods through.”

“Maybe I don’t have much else,” Wang Cang replied, still smiling, “but I’ve certainly got courage and the nerve to take risks.”

“No wonder He Qi handed this deal to you.”

“It’s my first time doing business with you, Brother Chang.” Wang Cang continued to smile. “I have to make sure you’re satisfied. The shipment has already passed inspection and is sitting at Shunda Port. Just say the word, and you can collect it immediately.”

Shen Yongchang gestured as well, and Ah Qiang began inspecting the goods. When he had finished, he nodded to Shen Yongchang.

Shen Yongchang watched Wang Cang from the corners of his eyes, finally saying, “Give me a three-point discount, and I’ll take the entire shipment.”

Wang Cang held his gaze for a moment, then leaned back in his chair with a smile. “I’ll give you two points off, but the money has to be transferred to a different account.”

Shen Yongchang had expected to haggle over the price for a while, so he hadn’t anticipated Wang Cang agreeing so readily. But as soon as he heard the condition, he understood what Wang Cang meant.

“So what you said was true after all,” he said meaningfully. “You really do have more courage and nerve than I expected!”

“I never make empty promises.” Wang Cang smiled. “Well, Brother Chang, what do you think of my offer?”

Shen Yongchang looked at him for a moment. For him, as long as there was money to be made, it made little difference whether he did business with Wang Cang or He Qi.

“Deal.”

Late that night, two large trucks entered Shunda Port and drove away with four containers. The people keeping watch from the shadows immediately notified Yan Zhu and the others, for they already knew which bags of cocoa powder were suspicious. Now, in the middle of the night, there were two trucks carrying those very containers, the ones loaded with the suspicious cocoa powder. The police had secretly installed tracking devices on all four.

Han Huaixiao and Xia Hang sat in the conference room of Harbour City’s anti-drug squad, watching the route displayed on the large screen by the technical team. The tracking data showed that after leaving the port, the two trucks had first taken the ring expressway before joining the Baogang Expressway.

Xi Linzhou, captain of Harbour City’s anti-drug squad, frowned. “Are they leaving the province?”

“This expressway passes through eight provinces,” Yan Zhu said. “We don’t know their destination. If we pursue them over such a long distance, we risk exposing ourselves. It would be much better if we knew where they were headed, so we could notify the local police and coordinate with them.”

“Conservatively speaking, this shipment weighs around two hundred pounds and is worth more than two hundred million,” Xi Linzhou said. “There aren’t many people capable of taking on a shipment that large. One is Lin Kun, who has been hiding out in various Southeast Asian countries for years. The other is Shen Yongchang, who has been based in Russia for a long time.”

Han Huaixiao turned to Xia Hang. Xia Hang also remembered Ah Qiang, whom he had encountered on the snack street, so he said, “Then it’s quite likely to be Shen Yongchang. I saw his trusted aide on the snack street yesterday.”

“You know Shen Yongchang’s trusted aide?” Xi Linzhou looked at him.

“I do,” Xia Hang replied.

“Shen Yongchang’s trusted aide wouldn’t show up in Harbour City for no reason,” Han Huaixiao continued. “Given the connection to this shipment of drugs, he most likely came for it. Shen Yongchang wouldn’t entrust a deal this large to one of his subordinates. He should be in Harbour City himself, and if he’s personally involved, Wang Cang must have shown up in person as well. Now that the deal is complete, they’ll leave soon. Shen Yongchang’s whereabouts have always been a mystery, so we need to seize this opportunity to bring him in.”

“I know this is a rare opportunity,” Xi Linzhou said, “but we don’t have his exact location. We can’t organize an arrest without knowing where he is.”

“Shen Yongchang meditates every day, so he prefers quiet places. However, he doesn’t like high-rise buildings and favors traditional courtyards instead. We can start by narrowing down the locations that fit those criteria.”

Xi Linzhou immediately instructed the technical team to search Harbour City for places that matched the description. The results came back quickly, and six locations met the criteria. Two were inside well-known tourist attractions, two were in the suburbs, and one was on an island.

The island was surrounded by the sea, offering an excellent view of the surrounding waters. Anyone approaching would be spotted quickly, and speedboats could be kept there for a rapid escape in an emergency. In the end, everyone agreed that the island was the most likely place for Shen Yongchang to be hiding.

“Captain Han, what do you think?” Xi Linzhou asked.

Han Huaixiao studied the six points marked on the map. After a moment’s thought, he pointed to one of the suburban locations. “I think this place is also a strong possibility. If everyone thinks the island is the most likely spot, Shen Yongchang might come to the same conclusion. An island offers a good vantage point and allows for a quick escape in an emergency, but if we deploy a helicopter, he still won’t be able to get away. This place, on the other hand, has mountains to the west and the port to the south. It would be more convenient for escaping and hiding.”

“You make a good point,” Xi Linzhou nodded. “How about we split into six teams? I’ll take a team to the location you mentioned, while you and Officer Xia lead a team to the island. What do you think?”

Xia Hang glanced at Han Huaixiao, looking as though he wanted to say something but hesitated. Han Huaixiao understood what he was thinking and replied, “Since Shen Yongchang is most likely hiding at the suburban location, Xia Hang and I should lead the team there. Xia Hang has interacted with him before and has some understanding of him, which will make it easier to track him down.”

“What about Wang Cang?” Yan Zhu asked.

“The journey from the port to Shen Yongchang’s territory is a long one, and things could go wrong along the way. Shen Yongchang will certainly insist that Wang Cang escort the shipment safely before paying the remaining balance. Wang Cang should be following the two trucks from a distance right now. Once we capture Shen Yongchang, we’ll be able to locate Wang Cang using the tracking devices on the cargo.”

“Captain Yan, can you handle Wang Cang?” Xi Linzhou asked.

“No problem,” Yan Zhu replied.

After dividing up the tasks, Han Huaixiao and Xia Hang led a team of officers toward the suburbs. On the way, Han Huaixiao received a call from Wen Yu. The two sets of records he had asked Wen Yu to investigate were finally ready, and Wen Yu was calling to report the findings.

“Captain Han, Chai Bo has very close ties to Zhu Heng from Harbour City Customs and to Guo Gangyi. I also found records showing that Guo Gangyi secretly transferred money to them through overseas accounts.”

“Good. Send me the evidence. I’ll hand it over to the Harbour City Public Security Bureau so they can make the arrests.”

“I’ve sent it to your email. How much longer will you and Brother Hang be staying there? When are you coming back?”

“If everything goes smoothly, tomorrow.”

“In that case, could you bring me a cake? There’s a bakery called Qiqi near the west gate of Harbour City University. Their cheesecake is especially delicious. I tried it once when I visited, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Could you bring me one?”

“Got it.”

Wen Yu happily ended the call and lowered her head to pack up the computer, not noticing a figure quietly slipping out of the conference room.

After hanging up, Han Huaixiao turned to Xia Hang.

“How many words have you written for your ten-thousand-word self-criticism?”

“…”

He hadn’t mentioned it in a while, and Xia Hang had completely forgotten about the assignment.

“…165.”

Han Huaixiao let out a cold laugh. “Stay behind me later and follow my orders. If you act on your own again, I’ll add another twenty thousand words to your self-criticism. And you’ll have to stand in public and shout ‘Husband’ ten times.”

Xia Hang: “…”

………………..