Lin Wan: @Luo Yun, are you still in touch with Luo Liang?
Lin Wan: We just arrested a suspect in a fraud case. He confessed that Luo Liang and Dong Jun were his accomplices, trained together overseas!
Lin Wan: Has he asked you to invest with him?
Luo Yun: No way!?
Luo Yun: He said he had insider info to make money, and his millions came from that!
Huang Xiu Min: He’s scamming you! Trying to trick you into mortgaging your property!
Su Mengmeng: You didn’t agree, did you?
Huang Xiu Min: Quick! Contact him! Ask where he is, we’ll go now!
Luo Yun: Can’t reach him!
Luo Yun: I agreed and gave him three million!
Lin Wan: Add me as a friend, call me!
Lu Zheng clicked his tongue, recalling the two dashing male models from that day, indeed similar to Lin Jingnan.
He thought Luo Yun was level-headed, yet she was scammed for three million in a blink.
Lu Zheng set down his phone, resisting the urge to call Lin Wan.
If she needed him, like during the kidnapping case, she’d reach out. He trusted her expertise and judgment, avoiding interference in her professional matters.
As expected, no call came that evening.
But the next morning, Luo Yun shared good news in the group.
Luo Yun: Thanks @Lin Wan, thanks @Huang Xiu Min, we got him.
Luo Yun: T^T
Su Mengmeng: @Luo Yun, don’t be sad, it’ll be okay.
Su Mengmeng: Let’s meet up this weekend.
Luo Yun: Sounds good, everyone come, I need to properly thank Sister Wan and Sister Xiu Min! @everyone
Lin Wan: No problem, let’s meet this weekend.
Huang Xiu Min: Don’t worry, we’ll make sure he gets what’s coming!
Lu Zheng sent a comforting emoji, agreeing to join.
Near noon, Lu Zheng got a call from Lin Wan, picked her up at the city bureau, and had lunch with her and Huang Xiu Min, who was also off duty.
“How’d you catch him? Can I ask?” Lu Zheng said.
“The guy’s caught, evidence is solid, nothing secret about it,” Lin Wan replied, shaking her head.
Huang Xiu Min laughed. “Luo Liang bolted, and it’s partly because of you two.”
Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“That viral video of the female cop taking down a thief, hitting Top 1,” Huang Xiu Min said. “Luo Liang saw it, recognised Lin Jingnan and Lin Wan, sensed danger, and ran.
We found Dong Jun first, had him contact Luo Liang, tracked his location through tech analysis, and arrested him at 5 a.m.”
Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. “Dong Jun?”
He remembered the guy who had eyes for Lin Wan.
Huang Xiu Min said, “He’s a bit of a coward, not in the game anymore. He’s living well off a rich woman, so he cooperated quickly.”
Lu Zheng: (°ー°〃)
Lin Wan nodded. “Through Luo Liang, we recovered 2.4 million from his account on that site.
Luckily, he planned to scam more from Luo Yun, so he hadn’t touched the money.”
“Wasn’t it three million?” Lu Zheng asked.
“The site’s server is overseas; we could only recover 80%,” Lin Wan explained.
Lu Zheng frowned. “Can’t trace it?”
Lin Wan nodded, helpless. “International money laundering is beyond your imagination. It’s untraceable.”
Huang Xiu Min added, “Haven’t you seen movies? Billions in dirty money flow through countless global accounts daily, impossible to track.”
Lu Zheng nodded. “Impressive! Scary!”
He wasn’t short on cash now, but if he needed it, ten strands of fate’s light could probably make him a player in the global black money scene.
He’d jot it down later to avoid forgetting.
“Junior brother!” Yuan Jing called.
“Senior brother Yuan Jing!” Lu Zheng welcomed him inside, asking Li Bo to serve tea. “Tough journey?”
Yuan Jing shook his head. “Not tough, just delivering a message. I also went back to Pingtan County with the Demon Suppression Bureau.”
“Oh?” Lu Zheng’s eyes lit up. “To find that rat demon?”
Yuan Jing nodded. “A whole nest, nearly twenty.”
“That many!” Lu Zheng was shocked.
“Several had decent cultivation. Old Lady Yi had nearly two hundred years of practice,” Yuan Jing said. “No wonder she aimed to rule in the Southern Border; she had the strength.”
“And they…?”
“Wiped out by the Demon Suppression Bureau,” Yuan Jing said, scoffing. “Just a nest of rat demons. If they’d stayed quiet, fine, but colluding with a Southern Border shaman? They got what they deserved.”
Lu Zheng nodded, thinking the bureau was indeed formidable. This mini-boss, second only to King Yelan, was taken out before even appearing.
“And the Southern Border shaman?”
“That’s why I’m here,” Yuan Jing said, frowning. “The rat demons didn’t know the shaman’s whereabouts, only that he’d return.
So, the shaman’s still at large, likely in Yizhou, possibly contacting other demons.
Junior brother, keep an eye out in the county. If you spot anything, report to the county office; they’ll reach the Yizhou Demon Suppression Bureau.”
“Got it,” Lu Zheng nodded seriously. A shaman bold enough to infiltrate enemy territory and deal with a two-hundred-year demon was no weakling.
After a cup of tea, Yuan Jing stood. “I’m off.”
“It’s late, stay the night,” Lu Zheng urged.
“No need, the temple’s quieter,” Yuan Jing declined, then added, “Besides reporting to the county, let me know at White Cloud Temple. In thirty years, I’ve never seen a Southern Border shaman.”
Lu Zheng smiled and nodded. “Alright!”
He saw Yuan Jing to the door, where they met Old Man Liu and Liu Qingyan returning home.
“Uncle Liu, Qingyan,” Lu Zheng introduced. “This is my senior brother, Daoist Yuan Jing.”
“Senior brother, this is Uncle Liu and Qingyan, the doctor family I mentioned, my neighbours.”
“Greetings, Daoist Yuan Jing!” Old Man Liu and Liu Qingyan bowed.
“Boundless Heavenly Venerable, a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Liu, Miss Liu,” Yuan Jing returned, saluting with a palm to his chest.
After introductions, Lu Zheng bid farewell to the Lius and walked Yuan Jing to the end of Tongyi Lane.
“Alright, junior brother, take care,” Yuan Jing said, nodding before leaving.
The next week, Lu Zheng settled into a routine in Tonglin County.
Mornings, he practiced a set of fists, a blade routine, and a sword dance, then had breakfast. He joined Liu Qingyan at Benevolent Heart Clinic to see patients. Lunch was at the Lius’, cooked by Mrs. Liu. Afternoons, when Hu Zhou took over, he returned home to cultivate—or sometimes slipped back to the modern world.
Keeping an eye out in the county?
No way. Let the big shots handle it. Yuan Jing was curious, but Lu Zheng had no interest in meeting a Southern Border shaman.
Why court trouble?
He even paused his favourite activity of listening to stories at Leping Tower. For restocking Sweet Food Studio, he had Shitou pick up orders from Tongyi Lane.
“Stay low for ten days or half a month, and it’ll blow over. The Demon Suppression Bureau isn’t incompetent; they won’t let a foreign expert hide forever,” Lu Zheng thought, skillfully taking a patient’s pulse and prescribing medicine.
Old Man Liu marvelled, “Lu, you’re a natural at medicine. It’s tough, varies by person, and even cultivators struggle to learn. You’ve mastered diagnosis and prescriptions in no time. Truly remarkable!”
Lu Zheng grinned. “It’s mostly thanks to a great teacher.”
Across the room, Liu Qingyan, smiling faintly, withdrew silver needles from an elderly woman’s hand. “Grandma, how’s it feel now?”
The woman moved her wrist, delighted. “No pain!”
“Don’t strain it yet,” Liu Qingyan said, smiling. “Apply a hot cloth tonight, and it’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Dr. Liu!” The woman paid five copper coins and left happily.
Liu Qingyan glanced at Lu Zheng, pocketed the coins, and moved to the next patient.
Charging for minor treatments was Lu Zheng’s firm insistence.
Previously, Liu Qingyan treated simple cases like the woman’s without charge, calling it a small effort.
But Lu Zheng, referencing other clinics, urged her to charge something.
Her skill outshone other clinics, fair enough, but free minor treatments disrupted the market and undercut competitors.
As the saying goes, help in emergencies, not poverty. A small kindness can breed entitlement, leading to greed and demands.
Not every commoner is a saint.
Lu Zheng also shared stories about double standards: a good person does good their whole life but is condemned for one mistake, while a villain is praised for a single good deed.
Convinced, Liu Qingyan started charging, initially shy but soon accustomed. She discounted only for the truly poor.
Surprisingly, this didn’t harm her reputation; it enhanced it, earning her more gratitude.
Liu Qingyan pondered this, looking at Lu Zheng with awe.
“Lu, I’ve read many storybooks, full of calls to do good and sacrifice. But when it comes to understanding people, I’m far behind you!”
Lu Zheng scoffed. “Storybooks are all about a perfect world with happy endings. Fun to read, but only a fool would believe them.”
Wait… why did the mood suddenly turn awkward?
Still, this experience seemed to mature Liu Qingyan. Her treatments, needlework, and interactions became more poised and measured.
