There were still some follow-up matters at the scene, and no one could leave yet. Xi Wan said, “Handsome guy, can you and the boss look after the kid for me?”

Ling Lie gave an “OK” sign.

Xi Wan locked the car door. Zhou Zongyi, still frightened, curled up near the door and didn’t dare move. He was a little scared of Ling Lie. This volunteer teacher was better-looking than anyone else and knew how to lead fun games. Zhou Zongyi used to play too, but he always lost. As someone who saw himself as a big brother, how could he lose? Losers even had to be punished. He refused to accept it and challenged Ling Lie. Whenever Ling Lie shouted “bang,” he would never pretend to fall down, so eventually, Ling Lie stopped playing with him.

“Come here,” Ling Lie beckoned.

Zhou Zongyi was wary. “What for?”

The car was small, but Ling Lie still tried to open his arms. “Weren’t you scared when the auntie downstairs took you away? Your neck’s bleeding. I have band-aids.”

There was a portable first-aid kit in the car. Ling Lie placed it on his lap. “Want one?”

After hearing the caring tone, Zhou Zongyi’s nose twitched. When Mei Ruixue had cut him, he hadn’t felt any pain—only fear. But now it hurt so much he felt like dying. He whimpered, “Teacher Ling!”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Ling Lie said gently. “But I’m not your teacher anymore.”

The wound needed disinfecting. Ling Lie applied alcohol and iodine, then wrapped it in gauze. It was a very shallow cut—accidental. It would heal in a few days.

Zhou Zongyi only whimpered during the alcohol application. The rest he endured with gritted teeth. Once the bandage was on, he said, “Teacher Ling, you have to blow on it after applying medicine.”

Ling Lie fulfilled the child’s request and blew twice over the gauze. “All better now.”

Zhou Zongyi’s tears finally flowed freely. He threw himself into Ling Lie’s arms and wailed, pouring out all the fear of the past two days.

Ling Lie patted his back. Once the crying subsided, he pulled out his phone. “Come on, let’s watch a video.”

After that, Zhou Zongyi no longer disliked Ling Lie. He thought he was the best teacher in the whole kindergarten and eagerly leaned in. “What are we watching?”

Ling Lie opened an educational video. It was about neighbors needing to respect each other and avoid disturbing others. In the video, a big family had elders who had moved in from the countryside. Unused to apartment life, they left their door open with the TV blaring and often chatted loudly in the hallway. A young woman next door was bothered but didn’t know how to speak up due to their age.

Then, the child in the family stepped up and told the elders not to disturb the neighbors, to close the door when watching TV, and to lower the volume at night.

After the video ended, Zhou Zongyi still looked confused. Ling Lie flicked his forehead lightly. “I won’t be coming to Moonflower Kindergarten anymore, but if you call me Teacher Ling one last time, I’ll teach you something.”

Zhou Zongyi immediately sat up straight, looking very obedient.

Ling Lie said, “If you want to practice basketball, do it at kindergarten. Don’t bounce the ball at home. Not even in the hallway. Otherwise, you’ll be like the people in the video.”

Zhou Zongyi shifted uncomfortably. “But…”

“But the kindergarten closes after 5 p.m., and your grandma won’t let you go downstairs alone,” Ling Lie said. “You’ll be in elementary school soon. You’ll grow up fast. Once you’re in grade school, you can play by yourself downstairs.”

Zhou Zongyi’s eyes lit up. “Actually, I can already—Grandma just won’t let me.”

“She’s thinking of your safety. You were taken away while you were at Moonflower, remember?”

Zhou Zongyi mumbled, “That was because…”

“Even people you know can’t be trusted too easily. Learned your lesson?”

Zhou Zongyi nodded.

“When you bounce the ball upstairs, it disturbs the older boy below you. He needs to study and rest,” Ling Lie added. “When Grandma says you can’t go downstairs, you have to be patient and wait until the next day to play basketball.”

Zhou Zongyi pouted.

“Learning to be patient is something every child must do. Knowing when to wait is part of growing up. Got it?”

Zhou Zongyi asked, “Are you patient too?”

Ling Lie replied, “I am. I’m very good at being patient.”

Zhou Zongyi sat up proudly. “Then I understand now. I definitely won’t bounce the ball upstairs anymore!”

“And?”

“And… and I won’t disturb the neighbors with anything else! If Grandma does, I’ll stop her!”

Ling Lie ruffled his hair. “Good boy.”

Ji Chenjiao handed the scene over to He Feng and returned to the car. Inside, the older and younger were watching cartoons on the phone together.

Ling Lie said, “This is the uncle who promised to buy me a water gun.”

Ji Chenjiao: “…”

Zhou Zongyi’s earlier fear had now completely subsided. He looked at Ji Chenjiao and asked, “Uncle, can you buy me a water gun too?”

Ling Lie pinched him lightly on the back. Zhou Zongyi added, “Uncle, can you also buy us chicken wings?”

Ji Chenjiao pointed at Ling Lie from a distance. “I’ve got questions for you later.”

The interrogation of Mei Ruixue was handled by the Beicheng branch police. She admitted that she had kidnapped Zhou Zongyi because she couldn’t bear the constant sound of basketballs bouncing upstairs and felt powerless to stop it.

She wept and talked about the helplessness and fear of being a single mother. The old woman upstairs didn’t take her seriously at all. That household had many people, including men. If she called the police or got property management involved, not only would the problem go unsolved, but they might also hold a grudge.

She didn’t care if they hated her—but what if they came after Zongzong? She couldn’t risk even the slightest danger to her son.

“If I had a man in the house, someone to yell at them, that old lady would never dare let that kid bounce a ball again.” Mei Ruixue slumped over the table, exhausted. “I really didn’t know what else to do…”

Outside the interrogation room, Mei Zong stood upright in his school uniform, carrying a backpack. His face was expressionless, his eyes fixed quietly on the door ahead, his figure thin and lanky like most teenage boys.

No one knew when the questioning would end. A female officer, seeing how tired he must be, tried to persuade him to sit.

He bowed politely to her but insisted, “Sister, my mother did something wrong. I shouldn’t sit. I want to wait for her here.”

The female officer felt a pang of sadness and sighed, keeping Mei Zong company as they waited.

Finally, the interrogation room door opened. Mei Ruixue walked out with her head hanging low, eyes downcast, not realizing her son was standing right in front of her.

“Mom,” Mei Zong called out.

Mei Ruixue flinched and looked up in shock. “Zong… Zongzong? What are you doing here?” As she spoke, her motherly instinct surged, and she immediately pulled Mei Zong behind her. “I did it all myself! My son doesn’t know anything! Don’t make things hard for him!”

He Feng said, “We’re not making things hard for him. He asked to see you.”

“Mom,” Mei Zong tugged on her sleeve. Mei Ruixue instantly turned around and hugged him tightly. Her frail shoulders and the hands that had held up the whole family were trembling.

“Zongzong, I’m sorry!” Mei Ruixue sobbed. “I’m useless! If I had listened to Aunt Zhang and found a man to rely on, we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

“I’ll eat properly in the school canteen—every meal, I’ll eat till I’m full.” Compared to his emotional mother, this fifteen-year-old boy showed more composure and maturity. He gently patted Mei Ruixue’s back. “I’ll also study hard for the entrance exam, making sure I get enough sleep and put every minute into preparation.”

“The police have already spoken to the neighbors upstairs. That child won’t be bouncing balls anymore.” He glanced at He Feng and the female officer who had waited with him for quite a while. “They’ll protect me too. The people upstairs won’t be able to retaliate. Mom, don’t worry. I’ll take care of myself for these last two months and get into a top school.”

Mei Ruixue cried harder. “That’s good… that’s good… I’m so sorry, son!”

Mei Zong shook his head. “Mom, I’m a man too now. I’m taller than you already. I was wrong too. I should’ve gone up and asked them to manage their child. Instead, I hid behind you and pushed all the trouble onto your shoulders.”

“Mom, I’ve grown up. From now on, we’ll face the family’s hardships together—just the two of us.”

After his medical check-up and injury assessment, Zhou Zongyi returned home with the water gun bought by Ji Chenjiao. The first thing he did was tell his grandma that he would never bounce balls upstairs again. Zhou Lin and Fu Jiajia, his parents, were filled with regret when they learned what had happened. Zhou Lin immediately promised that from now on, every weekend he would take Zhou Zongyi and his older son outside to play basketball.

At the city bureau, in the Major Crimes Unit, Ling Lie frowned at the green, low-fat meal in front of him.

It was a takeout box from a health food store Ji Chenjiao often frequented. The meal was well-balanced, attractively arranged, and nutritious.

Recently, Ji Chenjiao had been extremely busy, either eating in the cafeteria or grabbing greasy fast food from roadside stalls. Today, as he passed by the health food store on his way back to the city bureau, he bought two boxes.

As the one being “fed,” Ling Lie had no say in the food—whatever Ji Chenjiao gave him, he had to eat.

He opened the bag, saw the price tag on the box, and nearly rolled his eyes. When he opened the lid, he saw a green bed of vegetables, sprinkled with yellow corn, red tomatoes and carrots, purple cabbage, and white chicken breast.

It didn’t stimulate his appetite in the slightest—in fact, it made him want to gag.

Ling Lie: “Ugh—”

Ji Chenjiao: “……”

Ling Lie found the only packet of sauce in the package, poured it on, and it was gone in a few drizzles. He sneakily glanced at Ji Chenjiao, who hadn’t opened his sauce yet. He reached over and stole it.

Ji Chenjiao saw the whole thing clearly. But it was just a packet of sauce—not worth fussing over.

Deeper than that, this kind of low-fat meal was something he loved. Sharing something you love with others, you naturally don’t want them to hate it. Most people don’t like diet food at first—maybe more sauce would help?

But even with two packets of sauce, Ling Lie was still unhappy. The chicken breast had no fat or moisture, just a few flips in some black pepper—did that even count as meat? And all those vegetables—without stir-frying them in oil and garlic, were they even food? Might as well be grass. Real grass!

Still, Ling Lie finished the meal in big bites.

Ji Chenjiao took the empty boxes and threw them away, then tidied up the table. “Alright, tell me—how did you know Mei Ruixue had a gas canister prepared the moment you heard she kidnapped Zhou Zongyi?”