104 Do you want to see a stampede of thousands of horses?

“So, the grappling technique works really well, huh?” Xiang Yuanyuan chewed on a piece of licorice as she listened attentively to Li Qiyao’s vivid retelling.

Just after her cousin came out of the police station, still nursing her pain, she excitedly called Li Qiyao and recounted the entire ordeal in vivid detail. At that moment, the three of them had just finished dinner and were sipping tea in the courtyard. Li Qiyao repeated the story to Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan, who both reacted with animated exclamations.

Xiang Yuanyuan hadn’t had a drop of alcohol for several days now. She often kept a stick of licorice between her lips, chewing on it intermittently as a substitute for wine.

“Don’t get too cocky. After all, it’s just grappling, and you’ve only trained for three days—just scratching the surface. If you come across a dangerous criminal, your best bet is to run. Your cousin’s case was a family dispute, so that technique was effective there,” Du Ruo shook his head and quickly poured cold water on their enthusiasm. The danger lies not in lack of skill but in half-baked confidence.

“We know that. We’re not foolish. It’s just that… after training so long, it feels like a waste not to put it to use,” Xiang Yuanyuan said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. It was clear that abstaining from alcohol combined with practicing grappling had stirred up a fair amount of restless energy in her.

“Ah Qi, I think you should take her hiking tomorrow. She still has too much energy; burning it off might keep her from overthinking,” Du Ruo suggested to Li Qiyao, noticing Xiang Yuanyuan’s restless demeanor. The bitterness she was showing wasn’t really caused by grappling training—it was just a catalyst. The real culprit was her alcohol withdrawal.

Luckily, Li Qiyao was always by Xiang Yuanyuan’s side, keeping a close watch. Without her, no one else might have been able to manage.

“No way, no way. I don’t feel like hiking at all right now,” Xiang Yuanyuan said, flopping onto the tea table and biting her licorice impatiently when the idea was mentioned.

“Alright, looks like she’s having another episode. Let’s head back for now. We need to give her some medicine; she’ll calm down soon,” Li Qiyao said, pulling Xiang Yuanyuan toward the door. The medication to suppress her cravings had to continue.

They never expected Xiang Yuanyuan to quit drinking cold turkey. Their goal was just to help her heal her liver first. As long as she didn’t become a heavy drinker again, they wouldn’t say much—after all, she made medicinal wine. It wouldn’t make sense for her to stop drinking entirely.

Du Ruo didn’t linger either. After seeing them off, he prepared to stretch and drink some medicinal wine before going to bed.

These past few days had been quite comfortable for Du Ruo. Watching the three women practice grappling, he only needed to do the grocery shopping, and together they took care of the meals. But he suspected those easy days wouldn’t last.

Before sleeping, Du Ruo scrolled through his phone for a while. He rarely checked social media anymore; since it had been overrun by salespeople and advertisements, he preferred short videos instead.

His friends list was small: a few familiar villagers like Yang Chenguang, Yang Ling, Yang Juan, Xiang Yuanyuan, Li Qiyao, and also the mantis fist champion now renamed Tianma Qiangzi.

As he watched, he saw a video of Tianma Qiangzi standing on the grasslands, practicing on a punching bag while enthusiastically introducing local specialties. Only then did Du Ruo realize that this guy was actually a native of the grasslands who had just come to their university.

Watching him strike the bag, it was clear he had practiced a lot and was reaching an impressive level.

***

After some time browsing videos, Du Ruo set his phone aside and quickly fell asleep. But someone else was still working late.

Detective Huang’s day had been hectic but fruitful. The case had been solved, and suspects were interrogated overnight. Initially, the suspects refused to say anything.

However, when Huang laid out all of Du Ruo’s morning deductions and even brought in an officer to reenact the actions precisely, the suspects’ faces fell. They realized their capture was no accident.

Once their mental defenses crumbled, the interrogation proceeded smoothly. Only after everything was done did Huang finally relax, but more tasks awaited.

The rest of the team could take a half-day off, but he had to write up the case report for submission.

Sitting alone at his office desk, Huang wrestled with one issue he had never disclosed: whether to include it in the report.

When he accompanied Du Ruo to the morgue, he observed Du Ruo's reaction carefully. Many people, upon first seeing a corpse, become nervous or fearful; some even suffer severe physical reactions such as nausea, dizziness, or vomiting.

Huang’s concern was that if Du Ruo became sick and vomited, he might contaminate or destroy vital evidence on the body.

Yet Du Ruo displayed an extraordinary calmness, even showing excitement when examining the wounds—a highly unusual reaction. Normally, first encounters with a corpse cause discomfort.

Still, Huang had reviewed Du Ruo’s background and found nothing amiss.

At the time, Huang didn’t think much of it, but now, in hindsight, it seemed suspicious. He hesitated whether to report it.

Suddenly, the phone on his desk rang loudly in the quiet office.

“Hello? Didn’t you just get a few days off? Why are you calling at this hour? Are you feeling unwell? Wait for me—I’ll come take you to Master Du, or I’ll call him to come here,” Huang said, tense as soon as he answered.

The caller was the young officer who had been injured earlier that day. Huang had been told about his condition when the female officer returned. Although Du Ruo said he was fine, Huang had granted the young officer five days off to rest.

“No, no, Master, I’m feeling great now, really! I’m in good shape. Can I not take the full five days? It’s way too boring at home,” the young officer’s voice was surprisingly robust.

“You ungrateful brat! Others beg for time off, but you get it and don’t appreciate it. I don’t even get five days off during the New Year! Just hang up—I’m busy,” Huang snapped, returning to his seat. The report needed to be finished as soon as possible; he might have to present it tomorrow.

“Don’t, Master! It’s just that once I’m on leave, my family sets me up on blind dates. Tomorrow I’m supposed to meet a doctor, then the day after, a high school teacher. It’s terrifying—I’d rather deal with the case,” the young officer whined over the phone, sounding as if he were about to endure medical treatment followed immediately by teaching high school.

“Huh… I forgot to tell you something. You disobeyed orders and acted recklessly today, almost causing the operation to fail. When you return to work, write me a ten-thousand-character handwritten reflection. If it’s not sincere enough, I’ll make you rewrite it. That’s all. Hang up now.”

Huang nearly exploded hearing the young officer’s words, especially knowing how reckless the officer had been and the injury he sustained. If the young officer had been taken hostage, who knew what chaos might have ensued? After hanging up, Huang didn’t want to hear any more sobbing.

Lighting a cigarette, Huang dove back into the report. This time, he didn’t hesitate; he simply wrote down exactly what he told Deputy Director Shi.

“Perhaps martial artists have stronger psychological resilience, especially someone like Master Du. There might be chances for collaboration in the future—just keep observing,” he mused.

***

“Boss Du, last night Yuanyuan’s withdrawal symptoms were pretty severe. She barely slept, was restless, and even felt nauseous this morning,” Li Qiyao arrived early in the yard to find Du Ruo.

“Where is she? Isn’t she usually loud and restless at this time?” Du Ruo stood before the punching bag, casually patting it with the back of his hand. Given how much she drank, withdrawal reactions were normal. Once she got through these few days, it should be fine.

“She’s catching up on sleep. I’m going to buy some porridge for her. Boss Du, do you have any better ideas?” Li Qiyao looked worried and weary. Seeing Xiang Yuanyuan suffer had kept her up as well.

“Half of quitting drinking is psychological, half physical. You should take her out to play or eat and drink around—see some beautiful scenery, lift her spirits. That always helps. These next few days are critical—maybe three or four days. Survive that, and she’ll be fine.”

That was also why Du Ruo had suggested hiking yesterday.

“The problem is, she doesn’t want to go anywhere or do any physical activity now. It’s probably the withdrawal making her resist. Boss Du, do you know any good places? I want to take Yuanyuan traveling. If not, I’ll just take her back to my home,” Li Qiyao said. She hadn’t traveled much over the years because whenever she tried to relax, people would bother her. Only after meeting Xiang Yuanyuan and Du Ruo had things gotten better, so she cared a lot about Yuanyuan.

“A good place? Actually, yes. Wait a moment, come in…” Du Ruo stopped patting the punching bag and suddenly remembered Qiangzi.

He pulled out his phone, found the video, and showed it to Li Qiyao.

“You mean we’d go to the grasslands? To Yili? To see the Tianma Festival?” Li Qiyao asked, recalling Qiangzi’s video talking about the upcoming festival where he’d no longer be able to practice on the punching bag all day but would prepare to participate—possibly even riding a horse.

“Yeah. So, what do you think? Want to go horseback riding on the grasslands? Watch the stampede of thousands of horses?” Du Ruo said. He hadn’t given it much thought before, but Li Qiyao’s mention reminded him.

***