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On the morning of the twenty-first, when Cheng Shuping arrived at the Zhou family home, the servants were busy cleaning up the accumulated water and blood in the courtyard, while the police were examining the two bodies of masked thugs left behind. Cheng Shuping walked through the courtyard and headed straight to Cheng Shuhua's room, pushing the door open without knocking.
Inside the room, Zhou Yuwan was still sound asleep, with Cheng Shuhua and Zhou Yuyao keeping watch by her side.
Cheng Shuping lowered his voice and asked Cheng Shuhua, "Sister, are you planning to take the child away?"
Cheng Shuhua countered, "Is it Junsheng Zhou who sent you to persuade me?"
Cheng Shuping sat down by the bed. "Both Junsheng Zhou and I will protect you. If you leave, where do you plan to go with the child?"
"The person who injected poison into Zhou Yuwan yesterday was likely sent by Zhang Zhaolin or Tao Gongjin. If I leave with the child, Tao Gongjin and Zhang Zhaolin will target her to force Junsheng Zhou to continue his experiments!"
"Where do you plan to go with the child?"
Cheng Shuhua looked confused. After her daughter was harmed last night, although she had considered leaving with Zhou Yuwan, she hadn't really thought about where they could go.
In the living room of Tao Gongjin's house, Tao Gongjin was pacing anxiously. The incident involving sending masked thugs to Zhou's house to inject poison into Zhou Junsheng's daughter was planned by him and Zhang Zhaolin. Now, he was waiting for the thug leader to report on the situation.
Finally, a thin thug with a scar on his forehead walked in.
"Guo Zhuanghuai, I've finally been waiting for you! What’s the situation at Zhou's house now?" Tao Gongjin immediately asked upon seeing the thin thug.
This thin thug was Guo Zhuanghuai, the leader of the thugs. He sat down in a chair, leisurely sipped a cup of tea, and then slowly replied, "Chairman, don't worry! Zhou Junsheng has already saved his daughter with an antidote!"
"Good!" Tao Gongjin was overjoyed. After thinking for a moment, he ordered Guo Zhuanghuai, "Tonight, Zhou Junsheng will have a social engagement. Bring more people and get his daughter back for me! This is what the General wants; if anything happens, he will take responsibility."
Guo Zhuanghuai felt troubled. "He has two daughters who look identical."
Tao Gongjin decisively said, "Then capture both of them!"
Zhou Junsheng placed more than ten bottles of 'living' antidote in Cheng Shuhua's room cabinet while saying, "When I'm not home in the future, you need to administer the antidote to Yuwan in a timely manner. Inject it every fifteen minutes, ten milliliters each time."
Cheng Shuhua, Zhou Yuyao, and the recently awakened Zhou Yuwan all looked at Zhou Junsheng.
Cheng Shuhua asked Zhou Junsheng, "From now on, will Yuwan be dependent on these antidotes?"
Zhou Junsheng paused his actions and shook his head helplessly. "Unless I can find a way to completely eliminate the 'biological' toxin from the body. But I've been researching for three years with no progress at all."
"Mom, I don't want to die!"
Cheng Shuhua hugged Zhou Yuwan tightly. "Mom knows. I won't let anything happen to you, absolutely not!"
Zhou Junsheng put away the antidote. "I have to meet a client tonight and will be back later."
Cheng Shuhua nodded. "Then you go ahead!"
Zhou Junsheng gently kissed Cheng Shuhua on the forehead and then picked up a bag from the table as he left the room.
Indeed, Zhou Junsheng had a social engagement that night.
A full moon hung in the night sky above the Zhou family's courtyard. Under the moonlight, shadows of black-clad figures quietly moved across the rooftops. Before the guards in the Zhou family's courtyard noticed, a thug descended and snapped one of their necks. The guard fell with a dull thud.
Cheng Shuhua sat in her room and heard faint noises outside the window. She quietly approached the window to look out: more than ten black-clad figures were stealthily leaping down from the rooftops and moving toward Cheng Shuhua's room.
Zhou Yuyao noticed her mother's strange behavior and asked, "Mom, what's happening outside?"
Cheng Shuhua turned back to her daughters and instructed, "You all stay quiet!"
Cheng Shuhua hurried to the cabinet and began gathering the antidotes inside into a bundle.
Zhou Yuwan was puzzled by her mother's actions. "Mom, what are you doing?"
Cheng Shuhua tied the burden to her body and took up a long knife. "Don't talk, just run outside when we get out. Whatever you do, don't look back!"
Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan were frightened after hearing this. They rushed into Cheng Shuhua's arms, both with tearful voices, "Mom!"
Cheng Shuhua stroked her daughters' heads. "Don't be afraid!" She then hid her daughters behind her.
Cheng Shuhua looked up at the doorway, where the noisy footsteps outside had stopped. She raised the long knife.
Just as a Thug suddenly kicked open the door, Cheng Shuhua swung her knife and killed the first Thug who charged into the room, followed by the second and third...
Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan retreated in fear.
Alone, Cheng Shuhua fought her way out of the room, and the sounds of battle awakened others in the courtyard. A dozen servants armed with shovels and clubs rushed in from all directions. Finally, Cheng Shuhua carved a bloody path at the entrance. She shouted into the room, "What are you waiting for? Run outside! Hurry!"
Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan hesitated as they looked at the chaotic scene outside.
"Run now! If you don't run, there won't be another chance!"
At last, the twin sisters overcame their inner fears and charged outside with all their might.
In the courtyard of the Zhou family, amidst the chaos between the servants, Cheng Shuhua, and the Thugs, Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan shot out from Cheng Shuhua's room like arrows, directly heading for the main gate of the Zhou family.
"They're running! They're running!" someone among the Thugs shouted.
Half of the Thugs had already been cut down by Cheng Shuhua, while the rest were surrounded by the Zhou family's servants. Watching from atop a roof, Guo Zhuanghuai was extremely dissatisfied.
"What a bunch of useless fools!" Guo Zhuanghuai cursed as he leaped out of the Zhou family's gate to chase after Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan. Seeing this, Cheng Shuhua quickly feigned an attack, slipped out from the fighting at the doorway, and pursued towards the courtyard gate.
In a narrow alleyway ahead, Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan were desperately running forward, with Guo Zhuanghuai chasing after them, and behind him was Cheng Shuhua, rushing to rescue her daughters.
"Stop! Stand still!" Guo Zhuanghuai shouted.
Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan hurriedly turned around, the distance between them and Guo Zhuanghuai closing in.
Cheng Shuhua was frantic, desperately chasing after them and shouting to her daughter, "Don't look back, keep running!"
Ahead of them was a bustling night market, where Zhou Yuyao was pulling Zhou Yuwan as they ran towards it with all their might.
Guo Zhuanghuai finally caught up with Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan just a few dozen meters from the night market, grabbing one of them in each hand. Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan struggled fiercely; Zhou Yuyao lunged forward and bit Guo Zhuanghuai's arm. In pain, Guo Zhuanghuai swung his arm, throwing Zhou Yuyao heavily to the ground. At that moment, Cheng Shuhua arrived behind Guo Zhuanghuai and swung a knife at him, shouting, "Put my daughter down!"
Cheng Shuhua aimed for Guo Zhuanghuai's head, but he used Zhou Yuwan as a shield. Zhou Yuwan screamed, forcing Cheng Shuhua to retract her strike. Guo Zhuanghuai turned to grab Zhou Yuyao again, but Cheng Shuhua quickly swung her knife to stop him. The two clashed.
On the ground, Zhou Yuyao painfully got up. "You bad guy, let go of my sister! Let go of my sister!" Finally seizing an opportunity, she hugged Guo Zhuanghuai's thigh and bit down hard on his leg. Guo Zhuanghuai winced in pain but continued to fend off Cheng Shuhua's long knife while ignoring Zhou Yuyao. Meanwhile, his other hand was occupied holding onto Zhou Yuwan. When Cheng Shuhua's knife came down again towards him, Guo Zhuanghuai had no choice but to drop Zhou Yuwan and kick Zhou Yuyao away with his other foot, creating some distance of three or four meters. It was then that he realized his mask had been pulled off by Zhou Yuwan when he let her go.
"Guo Zhuanghuai? So it really is you!" Cheng Shuhua exclaimed.
"Now that you know, don't expect to survive this!"
Guo Zhuanghuai pulled out a handgun from his waist and aimed it at Cheng Shuhua. Zhou Yuyao and Zhou Yuwan were terrified and quickly hid behind Cheng Shuhua, who held onto their arms tightly.
"Kids, run with me!"
Cheng Shuhua suddenly turned around and dragged her two daughters towards the night market. Guo Zhuanghuai decisively fired several shots until his gun was empty. Cheng Shuhua was hit three times in the back but still pulled her daughters forward without looking back into the chaos of the night market that erupted from the gunfire. Guo Zhuanghuai discarded his empty gun and chased after them.
Cheng Shuhua rushed into the night market with her daughters, followed closely by Guo Zhuanghuai. Everyone in the market was in a panic trying to escape; amidst the chaotic crowd on the street, the figures of Cheng Shuhua and her daughters were soon lost and confused among the throng…
Time passed swiftly; seven years went by in the blink of an eye.
Now it was 1947 in Shanghai. In the bustling city center stood a police station.
Wang Zhiyuan leaned against the window at the end of the second-floor corridor of the police station, smoking with a look of melancholy. Tao Ziwen walked over with a cup of water.
Wang Zhiyuan said, "Did you hear? Recently, the Thorned Rose has been getting more and more rampant! Don't you think it's strange that they only target your Dow Group's Reagent and not engage in robbery?"
"I think it's my father's enemies!" Tao Ziwen replied dismissively.
"How about we bring it up with the Sheriff during the meeting and see if we can work on this case?"
"This matter concerns our family business, and we've only just started working here. Do you think the Sheriff will let me get involved?"
"How will we know if we don't try?"
Wang Zhiyuan turned around and saw the officers behind them heading into the conference room.
"Come on, let's go!" Wang Zhiyuan patted Tao Ziwen, who was drinking water while looking out the window, and they walked together toward the meeting room.
This was the police station's weekly meeting. As soon as Wang Zhiyuan proposed his idea to investigate Thorned Rose with Tao Ziwen, he was met with ridicule from some senior colleagues in the department. One of them, a detective team leader named Wang Junpeng, bluntly remarked that they were "newbies who aren't afraid of tigers." He then laughed and said, "You've only been here for three months, and you want to take on this major case? This is a Thorned Rose case; it's serious business. Aren't you afraid that if you don't catch anyone, you'll end up losing your lives instead?"
At the conference table, Tao Ziwen and Wang Zhiyuan became the focus of everyone's scorn.
After a round of discussions among the attendees, the Sheriff finally spoke: "The higher-ups are very concerned about these Thorned Rose cases and hope we can solve them quickly. However, these cases are closely related to Dow Pharmaceuticals, and since Tao Ziwen is from the Tao family, he should recuse himself. Wang Junpeng, you're an experienced officer; why don't you handle this case?"
Wang Junpeng stood up proudly and saluted the Sheriff: "Yes, I will definitely capture the Thorned Rose as soon as possible!"
All the colleagues in the police station breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Junpeng shot a provocative glance at Tao Ziwen and Wang Zhiyuan. Tao Ziwen and Wang Zhiyuan looked unconvinced.
The Sheriff continued, "In addition to this case, there has been a bizarre murder case in town recently that has also attracted attention from above. Does anyone want to take a crack at it?"
All the officers lowered their heads in silence, but Wang Junpeng suggested, "Sheriff, why not let the newcomers handle this case? Didn't Tao Ziwen solve a locked-room murder case before he transferred here? This case is similar in nature!"
"Wang Zhiyuan" scoffed, "This murder case..."
"Tao Ziwen" quickly grabbed "Wang Zhiyuan," saying, "I accept! We will handle this case!"
"Good! Today's meeting ends here!" With that, the "Sheriff" and all the officers began to pack up and prepare to leave.
As "Tao Ziwen" and "Wang Zhiyuan" stepped out of the conference room, "Wang Junpeng" chased after them from behind: "Newcomers should act like newcomers; stop always thinking about handling major cases! This is the police station, not your police academy!"
With that, "Wang Junpeng" walked away with an imposing demeanor.
"You..."
Watching "Wang Junpeng's" arrogant back, "Wang Zhiyuan" felt anger rising again but was stopped once more by "Tao Ziwen."
"Forget it, let's not stoop to his level. We still have a case to investigate; let's go!"
After "Tao Ziwen's" persuasion, "Wang Zhiyuan" suppressed his anger and followed "Tao Ziwen" in another direction.
They were heading to the "Morgue."
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