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CHAPTER 13
PART 3
At 8:40 PM and 9:50 PM, Tan Yong patrolled the various floors and randomly checked some households. According to their agreement, Tan Yong always initiated a video call before entering anyone's house to 'verify identity', if there was no video call, the door remained closed.
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At 10:10 PM, Tan Yong said to Li Bin, "It's your turn this time."
Li Bin checked the time and said, "It's only been twenty minutes since the last patrol. Isn't this too frequent?"
"I want the perpetrator to know our patrols have no fixed pattern."
"Alright." Li Bin understood and left the room.
About five or six minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Tan Yong thought it was too fast and suspected Li Bin was being negligent. Before opening the door, he asked, "Is it Li Bin?"
There was no reply from outside, causing Tan Yong to be alert and ask again,
"Who?"
"It's me."
Tan Yong recognized his wife, Dou Hui's voice. He opened the door and saw his wife standing outside, asking, "Why did you come?"
"I came to bring you a late-night snack." Dou Hui entered and placed a double-layered lunch box filled with leek dumplings on the table. "I made dumplings tonight, thought you might like them, so I brought some for you."
Tan Yong complained, "Why didn't you tell me before you came? There's... you didn't know?"
"I thought... the perpetrator wouldn't target me, right? I'm not part of the 'big family'."
"But this building is still unsafe. Why didn't you tell me and just came over?"
Dou Hui didn't explain further, instead opening the lunchbox. "Eat while it's hot, want some vinegar?"
Tan Yong sat down and grabbed a dumpling. "Tasty and warm. But it's so convenient now, delivery services like Meituan can bring late-night snacks in minutes. Why did you come specially?"
"Missed you, wanted to see you. Is that not okay? Also, to see how the house you rented is."
Saying that, Dou Hui opened Tan Yong's bedroom, then glanced into the guest room. Tan Yong said, "That's Li Bin's room; don't go in."
"Li Bin also lives here?"
"Yes, this case is something he and I are handling together."
"Oh, that's good... Where is he?"
"He's patrolling upstairs."
Dou Hui nodded, sat opposite Tan Yong, watching him eat dumplings. After Tan Yong had eaten two, he suddenly stopped chewing, looked at Dou Hui, and asked, "How did you know I live here?"
"You told me."
"I only mentioned living in Yuehai Bay, didn't tell you the house number. How did you know which unit?"
Dou Hui lowered her eyes and remained silent. Tan Yong frowned, "Did you ask Li Bin?"
"No." Dou Hui shook her head.
"Then you asked Jiang... No, I didn't tell Jiang Ming the unit number. How did you find this place?"
"Ah, stop asking. I just inquired and found out, that's all."
"No, you tell me, who did you ask? The realtor? You don't know which realtor I used."
Dou Hui was pressured by her husband's questions and finally said, "I asked Li Xueli, and she told me."
Tan Yong was surprised, "Li Xueli? From my recollection, you've never met her. Do you two know each other? Do you have her contact information?"
"We've never met, but once when you were at her house for a gathering, she called me and invited me over for a meal. Although I declined, I saved her phone number." Dou Hui explained.
Tan Yong reminisced for a moment and remembered: "That was a year ago. You saved Li Xueli's phone number, and you never mentioned it to me?"
"I don't need to tell you everything, do I? Do I have to report every little thing, like saving a phone number to you?"
"Alright, you don't have to tell me. But if you come to find me without asking for the unit number and instead go ask Li Xueli, what does that mean?"
Dou Hui appeared a bit embarrassed. Just as she didn't know how to respond, Li Bin unlocked the door with his keys and upon seeing Dou Hui, said, "Oh, sister-in-law is here."
"Ah, brought some dumplings for Lao Tan. Do you want some too, Li Bin?"
"Sure, I'm a bit hungry." Li Bin washed his hands, picked up a dumpling, and started eating. After a few bites, sensing the strange atmosphere, both Tan Yong and Dou Hui remained silent. Li Bin sensed the tension and said, "I'll head back to my room..."
"Take the dumplings and eat them inside," Tan Yong said.
"What about you?"
"I just ate."
"Alright." Li Bin took the lunchbox and went inside, closing the door.
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After a brief silence, Tan Yong remembered Dou Hui's actions upon entering and suddenly began to understand the purpose of her visit. He said, annoyed, "Late-night snack? You came here to 'inspect' me, didn't you?"
"No, you're thinking too much..."
"Am I? Then explain why you didn't tell me before coming, why the sudden attack? Why didn't you ask me for the unit number but went to ask Li Xueli? Why did you come and check my room? Am I thinking too much? I think you're the one overthinking things!"
Faced with Tan Yong's series of questions, Dou Hui couldn't deny it anymore. She murmured softly, "I just felt a bit worried... In society these days, there are so many temptations. Let's not talk about others, even those from the 'big family' are quite a few gorgeous women. When you said you wanted to protect them, I thought, what if..."
Tan Yong looked at his wife in surprise, finding it hard to believe. "What are you thinking? After being married for twenty years, do you still not understand who I am? Do you think I'd come here under the guise of investigating... messing around? I'm almost fifty, do you think I'm some desirable commodity? And these 'gorgeous women,' they could very well be murderers! You... I don't even know what to say to you!"
Seeing her husband furious, Dou Hui hurriedly apologized, "I'm sorry, Lao Tan, I do understand you. I don't know what happened to me tonight. I lost my mind and wanted to check on things. Maybe after so many years, rarely being apart from you, I started having wild thoughts... I was wrong, I won't do this again."
Tan Yong, still annoyed, shook his head. "The problem is, how do you think Li Xueli feels? She must have guessed your thoughts. She might think, in your eyes, I'm that kind of person!"
Dou Hui, realizing her fault, continued to apologize. Tan Yong didn't want to say much more, said irritably, "Alright, alright, let me take you back."
The couple left the house, Tan Yong escorted Dou Hui to the community gate, hailed a cab for her, and watched it leave before returning to the rental in Yuehai Bay.
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As soon as he entered, he saw Li Bin sitting at the dining table, smiling at him. Tan Yong asked, "What are you grinning about?"
"I heard your conversation just now," Li Bin stifled his laughter, "Sister-in-law actually thought you were hiding someone here for a secret rendezvous. Turns out, it's me, hahaha..."
Tan Yong raised his fist, and Li Bin quickly jumped away. Tan Yong scolded him, "You rascal, you have dumplings to eat. Isn't that enough? Why eavesdrop on our conversation?"
Li Bin said, "I wasn't eavesdropping; your voices were so loud that it was hard not to listen."
Tan Yong had no response. He sat down, poured himself a large glass of cold water, and downed it in one go. Li Bin said, "Lao Tan, there's no need to get angry over this kind of thing. If your wife comes to check on you, it shows she cares about you. If you were to move out for ten days or two weeks and she didn't bother, then that would be a problem. It would indicate there's no emotional connection left between you two."
Tan Yong gave Li Bin a side-eye. "After being an old married couple, if there's not even this modicum of trust, why should I be happy about it? Should I thank her for checking up on me?"
"No need for that. I think you handled it very well just now. You need to make her feel like her suspicion was completely unreasonable, so she won't do it again next time. But speaking of which, isn't this how women are? Towards the man they deeply love, they're always extra concerned, full of doubts, always trying various ways to test things out. That's what's annoying about women, but it's also their charm."
Tan Yong glanced at Li Bin. "Since when did you become an expert on women?"
Li Bin chuckled, "I started dating in high school, so I have quite a bit of experience in that department."
"Alright, enough of that topic. In half an hour, go for another patrol."
"Huh? Another patrol? Isn't it enough for tonight?"
"The later it gets, the more dangerous it becomes. We can't let our guard down. We absolutely cannot afford another incident!"
"Okay, got it," Li Bin agreed.
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