She quickly grabs the arm and stretches out her foot to kick.

“Zhengzheng, it’s me!” It’s Yang Tao’s voice.

Fu Zhengzheng turns around and finds that it is Yang Tao.

She looks around and pulls him into the shadows. “Why do you come here?”

“I can’t get in touch with you. I’m worried.”

“I accidentally lost my cellphone.” Fu Zhengzheng tries to hide what happened during the day.

“I know.” Yang Tao raises his hand and says, “Here’s your cell phone.”

Fu Zhengzheng is shocked. She grabs the phone and looks at it with the street lamp, finding that it is indeed the small cellphone that Yang Tao bought for her. When she looks closer, she finds that he is also carrying her handbag which was substituted.

“What, what’s the matter?” Was it Yang Tao who stealthily substituted her handbag? How come!

“Someone found this bag in the grass, and then the police called me with your cellphone, so I took it. Check if you lose anything in the bag.” Yang Tao hands the handbag to Fu Zhengzheng.

Fu Zhengzheng immediately opens the handbag and checks it, finding that everything is in it, including cash, bank cards and mobile phone.

She now finds that the cellphone bought by Han Siqi has been shut down. Fortunately, that cellphone is out of power. If the handbag were handed to Han Siqi, the small cellphone would be found by him, and there would be some misunderstanding.

“Zhengzheng, I have seen that post on the Internet. You pack up things tonight, and I will see you and Fu Xing off tomorrow morning.”

“No!”

“Why? Didn’t you agree last night?”

“I,” Fu Zhengzheng stammers, “Han Siqi…”

“Did he threaten you?” Yang Tao’s eyes flash.

“No, I find I haven’t paid off debts yet.”

“How much do you owe him? I’ll give it to you.”

“No, there is also Xu Yan’s money. I told you last time that Xu Yan was almost punished because of me. I work as a maid for Han Siqi for a month is to pay the debts for her. It hasn’t been a month yet.” Fu Zhengzheng feels that she is evasive herself.

Yang Tao looks at her disappointedly and suddenly asks, “Is it the only reason?”

Fu Zhengzheng asks, “What other reason do you think?”

Yang Tao is speechless.

Although in the dark, Fu Zhengzheng can feel Yang Tao’s gloom. She doesn’t want him to be unhappy, so she changes the topic, “Zhou Bing and Li Xiaomeng both return to B city, and Zhou Bing has been gathering his old pals. Do you think it is related to the case of Li Ming six years ago?”

Although they all seem to have been keeping their noses clean.

“Zhengzheng, your task in B city is to investigate whether Weihan Group is involved in drug trafficking. Now the police station has almost confirmed that Weihan Group has nothing to do with that case. Your task has been completed and you don’t need to worry about anything else. I am waiting for you to agree to send you back to A city.”

Fu Zhengzheng immediately says, “But after all, Fu Xing has taken Han Siqi as his daddy and I have a month’s agreement with him. If I suddenly disappear with Fu Xing, I am afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble. You know the influence of Weihan in B city. What if he does something unexpected to find us? I think I might as well wait for an opportunity to find an excuse to leave a month later.”

Seeing Yang Tao keep silent, Fu Zhengzheng says hurriedly, “Our original purpose is to maintain stability, so we can’t do the opposite, can we?”

Seeing Fu Zhengzheng refuse to leave, Yang Tao doesn’t say anything more. He sighs and says, “Zhengzheng, I believe you have your own reasons. I wait for your call and I can arrange for you to leave anytime.”

Fu Zhengzheng watches Yang Tao at the door until his lonely figure disappears completely. Then she turns around and climbs up the rooftop again, and then sits down on the bench.

The sky is gloomy and a sharp cold wind blows through. Fu Zhengzheng doesn’t come into the room. She feels that the cold wind makes her more sober.

From Yang Tao’s vague words, she can clearly tell that he has known something about Zhou Bing’s behavior, but he let her ignore it. Why?

Maybe what Yang Tao knows is what she wants to tell him today? Do Zhou Bing and Li Xiaomeng appear in B City to look for the small vault?

When she came out of the supermarket in the afternoon, she sat in a corner of a park and thought for a long time. After linking up what had happened in the past two months, she got the above idea.

Before that, she always linked Weihan with the drug trafficking case, but didn’t think of the vault. In fact, in the dialogue between Han Siqi and Min Zhongxu, she heard something about the small vault, but she didn’t take notice at that time.

Fu Zhengzheng knocks her head with her long fingers while pondering over it.

It suddenly occurs to her: has Ji Muxian been investigating it too? Last time Zhou Bing appeared with Ji Muxian on Lvyin Road, and she was hunted down by Li Ming’s subordinates in the vicinity of Lvyin Road. Is that just a coincidence?

After Li Ming’s death, the key to the small vault is nowhere to be found. They must have come to look for the key.

Did Li Ming accidentally drop the key when he and his subordinates hunted down her? Was the key dropped near Lvyin Road?

Fu Zhengzheng laughs at herself. Even if the key was lost here six years ago, it would have disappeared. Even if someone found it, he didn’t know that it was the key to the small vault.

To find the key, they must get the key map.

Yes, she needs to find Zhou Bing!

She stands up excitedly and finds something floating in front of her eyes. Looking at it carefully, she finds it is snow!

The first snow in early winter!

Sure enough, it snows. Fu Zhengzheng wraps up her clothes and goes into the house.

*

The first snowfall in early winter is so fierce that it takes three days to stop, and it decorates B city into a white world.

Because of the heavy snow, the expressway is closed and passenger traffic is stopped at airports and wharfs.

Chen Qiaolan shakes her head while carrying the vegetables that worth more than ten yuan per jin. Fu Zhengzheng is fretful for not being able to go out. Only Fu Xing is happy every day. He now plays hide-and-seek with Fu Zhengzheng, now asks Chen Qiaolan to tell stories to him.

Han Siqi came twice on foot and helped Fu Xing build two big snowmen. But every time he came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

Standing at the door, Fu Zhengzheng feels sentimental while looking at the snowman that was made by Han Siqi.

The post has been deleted, which might be done by Han Siqi, she guesses. But she doesn’t ask him, because he didn’t ask about the details of the incident either.

She knows that he was angry that day not because it was posted on the Internet, but because she did not think of him and call him in the first time.

Why should I call you? Do you want me to interfere with your date with the beauty, Qiao Keren? She thinks to herself.

Nevertheless, she found an opportunity to tell him about her bag “coming back by itself”, saying that it had been found by someone, who called her with the cellphone inside the handbag. Han Siqi, though suspicious, did not ask much.

“Mommy, Miss Xu is calling.” Fu Xing runs over with a mobile phone in his hand.

Fu Zhengzheng hurriedly answers the phone, and hears Xu Yan’s cheerful voice, “Zhengzheng, how about we take Xingxing to the north of the city to see the rime? I heard that it is very beautiful.”

Because of the poor transportation caused by heavy snow, companies have taken vacations, including Weihan.

“The north of the city?” The first thing that comes to Fu Zhengzheng’s mind is the Ten-Mile Sunshine Resort in the north of the city.

Xu Yan thinks Fu Zhengzheng minds the long distance. “It’s not too far. It just takes us about two hours to walk there. Anyway, we have nothing to do at home, so why not come out and take a walk to exercise? Don’t worry about Xingxing. Yicheng has made a “sleigh” for him, and he will be sure to like it.”

Fu Xing, who is grabbing Fu Zhengzheng’s hand to listen to the phone, becomes excited at once when he hears “sleigh”, screaming, “That’s great! We will go early tomorrow.”

“OK, we will wait for you at the main intersection tomorrow.” Then Xu Yan hangs up the phone.

Since Fu Zhengzheng was fired by Han Siqi, Xu Yan and Xiao Yicheng have been worried about Fu Zhengzheng and her son’s livelihood. Fu Zhengzheng couldn’t bear to cheat her anymore, so she told Xu Yan about their temporary stay in Han Siqi’s residence. Xu Yan feels worried and relieved at once. At least, they don’t need to worry about basic necessities of life, do they?

After hanging up the phone, Fu Zhengzheng deliberately says, “We can’t go tomorrow.”

“Why?” Fu Xing shouts.

“Your daddy doesn’t allow…”

Fu Xing quickly covers Fu Zhengzheng’s mouth and says mysteriously, “Let’s sneak out tomorrow and don’t let Grandma Chen find out.”

Just then, Chen Qiaolan comes out with a basket to trim vegetables for cooking. Fu Xing immediately raises the irregular little stars in his hand, saying, “Mommy, let’s play hide-and-seek.”

Fu Zhengzheng understands. She smiles and closes her eyes, saying, “Then make a mark quickly and Mommy will look for you later. Be well hidden.”

Fu Xing blinks and runs inside in excitement.

The irregular stars were given by Han Siqi. When Fu Xing played hide-and-seek with Han Siqi, he always liked to use some secret signals like in movies, such as drawing some special marks on the wall for guidance. Fu Zhengzheng often joked that it was “a clumsy denial that results in self-exposure”, because the marks had already indicated where they were. Were they playing hide-and-seek?

However, Fu Xing enjoyed it very much. Fu Zhengzheng scolded him for the messy paintings on the white walls. Although Han Siqi didn’t mind, he customized some sticky magnet stars for Fu Xing. Now Fu Xing is even happier.

Chen Qiaolan, who is trimming vegetables for cooking, smiles when she watches the scene.

*

Qiao Keren’s home in Shangcheng Villa District, Junlin City.

Qiao Yunhan, Mayor Qiao, is sitting on the broad sofa, looking smilingly at his daughter who is on the phone.

After his daughter hangs up, he asks with a smile, “Did you call Siqi again?”

“Can’t I?” Qiao Keren pouts and jumps forward to twist Qiao Yunhan’s cheek.

“Yes, yes, of course you can!” Qiao Yunhan bursts out laughing. “I didn’t know what is “absence sharpens love” until today!”

“You laugh at me again! Hum!” Qiao Keren twists her body, trying to look angry on purpose.

“Yo, yo, little Keren is angry! Anyu, bring me an oil bottle.”

Qiao Keren’s mother, Deng Anyu, comes up with two cups of hot milk. She says with a smile, “You always pamper our daughter. Come on, Keren, have a glass of milk.”

Qiao Keren opens her mouth, and Deng Anyu picks up the milk to feed her.

“Look, you pamper our daughter too.” Qiao Yunhan bursts out laughing, “We have only one baby girl, and how can we not pamper her? Not only do we need to pamper her, but we shall also ask Han Siqi’s family to pamper her.”

After finishing the milk, Qiao Keren lies down on Qiao Yunhan’s leg and says sweetly, “Daddy, I’m going to the north of the city with Siqi tomorrow to watch the rime.”

“Okay, I’ll have the road cleaned up overnight, so you can drive to watch it tomorrow.”

“It’s very kind of you, Daddy.”

Qiao Keren happily holds Qiao Yunhan’s arm.