Chapter 617 — Qiu Lingshan's Suitors

And it was not that Qiu Lingshan lacked backbone — it was simply that her timing was rotten. She had barely taken up her post when one major case after another came crashing down around her. Back when Yang Huaijun had held the post of Criminal Investigation Unit chief, there had been criminal gangs too, but they were the usual sort: muscle for the underworld, bag-snatching crews, pickpocket rings. Those cases had been sizable enough, but the difficulty of cracking them was nothing compared to the tangled mess she faced now.

It just had to be Qiu Lingshan, a special forces veteran with a full arsenal of skills and nowhere to deploy them — how could she not be frustrated? When she had mustered out and come home, she had been brimming with ambition, dying to show what she could do!

That fantasy of hers — grappling with thugs, taking them down in a single clean move — had never materialized. In truth, such chances did exist; there were plenty of thugs, and no shortage of opportunities. But how many could one woman run into on her own? And even among thugs, how many were actually formidable?

How many thugs could possibly possess Yellow-rank strength? Qiu Lingshan was a mid-Yellow-rank fighter — even within the Song family, one of the four great houses, she ranked among the finest of the younger generation. For a thug to have Yellow-rank strength, he would have no need to be a thug at all; bodyguard work for some wealthy man would pay handsomely enough. Why risk robbery?

What a headache — why did these criminals keep rising up wave after wave? And why here, in Songshan City? Before the kidney-harvesting ring appeared, an underground organ market had indeed existed in Songshan, but since it was underground trade, a matter of negotiated prices between consenting parties, no one had reported it afterward. So long as these people did not go too far, Qiu Lingshan would not interfere — she couldn't have kept it in hand anyway.

But the current business of snatching people and cutting out their kidneys — that she could not ignore! Yet these people seemed to operate within a tightly knit organizational system, and uprooting them entirely would not be easy. Destroying even a single nest had already proven grueling work.

The crux of the problem was that these people had doctors and operating tables ready at hand; they did not need the formal medical system or clinics to perform surgery. Nor was the kidney sales operation local — at least, from what Qiu Lingshan had gathered, she had not found a single transplant patient who had bought a kidney from this gang.

Of course, kidneys bought on the black market did exist — but those went through shady brokers, with prices privately agreed upon with the sellers, and the transplant performed in a proper hospital. The brokers themselves took only a commission of ten or twenty thousand.

Several of those black brokers had been taken down, but they were all small fry, and did nothing to advance the case as a whole.

"Ring—" Qiu Lingshan's phone chose that moment to sound. Her ringtone was not one of those fancy melodies young men and women liked to set, but the plainest default tone — in keeping with her profession and her character: steady, unassuming.

"Hello, Qiu Lingshan of the Criminal Investigation Unit," she answered by habit, since the caller display showed an unfamiliar number and she had no directory on her phone.

"Lingshan?" A somewhat gruff male voice came over the line. "This is Chen Yuxuan!"

"Oh? Chen Yuxuan?" Qiu Lingshan paused a beat, and a frown flickered almost imperceptibly across her brow. "What is it?"

Hearing the coolness in her tone, Chen Yuxuan could only smile wryly. "Lingshan, I'm coming back to Songshan City tomorrow — I've got a assignment. Would you do me the honor of dinner together?"

"I'm busy with a case. I shouldn't have the time." Qiu Lingshan turned him down flat.

"Is that so..." Chen Yuxuan sighed. "Surely we could at least meet?"

"I really do have a case on my hands. Is there something important you need? If not, I'd rather not hold up my work," Qiu Lingshan said flatly.

"Does there have to be something important for us to meet? As old friends — childhood sweethearts — you wouldn't be this heartless, would you?" Chen Yuxuan said, rather helplessly.

"Chen Yuxuan, mind your wording. Old friends, certainly. Childhood sweethearts — that is out of the question." Qiu Lingshan corrected him. "Chen Yuxuan, I know what's in your heart. It's not that I never gave you a chance — you simply failed to make good on it. Who else is there to blame?"

"Lingshan, aren't you making things difficult?" Chen Yuxuan smiled bitterly. "Among the younger set of the great houses, you're one of the finest of your generation. You're already mid-Yellow-rank, and I've only just broken through to Yellow-rank. When am I ever going to catch up with you?"

"You know my character well enough, Chen Yuxuan. I've been competitive since I was a girl, and my man has to be stronger than I am! Otherwise, do you think his life would be easy?" At this, a note of pride crept into her voice. "Chen Yuxuan, I gave you the chance to challenge me, and you failed to seize it. I even told you — before I have a boyfriend, you're free to challenge me at any time! If you're coming to me with a challenge this time, I can spare you a meeting. If not, then I'm sorry: I have no time."

"Lingshan, from what I know, among the great houses — apart from some unknown factors in the Yu family — the Wu family's younger generation has Wu Chengtian at early Yellow-rank. Are you saying that unless a man is stronger than you, you'll never marry?" Chen Yuxuan could not help retorting.

"How do you know there are no fine fighters outside the great houses?" Qiu Lingshan shot back. For some reason, Wei Zhao suddenly came to mind! Where on earth had that fellow honed his skills? How was he so formidable? She didn't even seem to be his match — and worse, in front of him she had to swallow her pride and play the simpering fool. The more she thought of it, the more infuriating it became!

Yet she was held fast in his grip, utterly unable to resist! Was this still her own character? She, the illustrious eldest Miss Qiu of the Song family, actually tamed by him? How utterly humiliating!

Therefore, Qiu Lingshan resolved not to think of him! Absolutely not — because thinking of him only made her angry!

Chen Yuxuan sighed. Back when he had joined the special forces, two years of hellish training had only just brought him to the threshold of the Yellow Rank; then he had been transferred to the Armed Police Border Defense Brigade, where he fought drug lords crossing the border in life-and-death combat day after day, and only then had he finally broken through to the Yellow Rank and advanced to the early stage of the Yellow Rank! In the eyes of ordinary people, that was already no small feat, but Chen Yuxuan knew that compared with Qiu Lingshan of the mid Yellow Rank, he was not in the same league at all!