Luo Haifeng was startled by Lin Dongxue's violent uproar and desperately gestured for her to stop with his eyes.

The man at the door sneered, “You’re saying I’m a scumbag? Why don’t you ask her what she did! She opened a room with a random man of unknown origin. I care about her so much but she willingly let someone fuck her. When I think about her being pressed down by another man and screaming, my whole stomach is filled with fire[1]!”

“That's their freedom to do so!” Lin Dongxue scolded. “Before you get married, it's personal freedom to go and sleep with anyone you want!”

“It's because of women like you that society is so bad. It just gets worse and worse. Since you have such a perverted face, I bet your future husband will have lots of green hats to wear. I truly feel sorry for him!”

Lin Dongxue was so angry that if she had brought her gun, she really wanted to fire a few shots at the door.

Luo Haifeng busied himself signalling for Lin Dongxue to stop talking as he said towards the door, “Mr. Ma, please don’t verbally attack others. We are here to mediate your dispute...”

“Mediate? Did I ask you to come here? There’s people setting fires and killing people out there, but instead you’re bothering me, the law-abiding citizen? Big news broke two days ago. There was a pharmaceutical factory that used a toxic formula. There were so many people that got killed. Why don’t you handle that instead of bothering me?”

“Can you be polite and open the door? Let's talk about this properly.”

Lin Dongxue kicked the door. “Why are you pretending to be a tough guy behind a security door?!”

A sneer came from the door. “It's not that I’m not opening the door. She also has the keys to this place. You can call her!”

“What do you even plan to do when you see her?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“Kill her and then commit suicide. I’ve already sharpened my knife.”

“I’m warning you that I’m from the criminal police department!”

“Criminal police? Oh, I'm so scared. You’re here to arrest me before I even kill anyone?” A sick laugh came from the door.

Lin Dongxue was furious and hit the door with her fist. Luo Haifeng quickly took her outside to calm her down. Lin Dongxue realized that she was a little impulsive and said, “I'm sorry. When I see such a man, I just feel so angry.”

“I understand. Maybe your criminal police's approach to problems is not the same as us local civilian police. He is not a criminal, but a citizen. Do you know how to mediate?”

“Okay, I won't talk anymore!”

Lin Dongxue looked at the railings of the window and thought that it would be good if the man died inside from a gas leak or something like that.

Luo Haifeng went to find Miss Dong again and asked, “Do you have a key on you?”

Miss Dong shook her head desperately. “No, I won’t go. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to see him. I beg you to just take the cat out and leave. I don’t even need the house and I don’t need the furniture either! Can’t you find some special police to knock the door down?”

“This is not a criminal case. The special police you’re thinking of won’t come. Give me the keys so I can talk to him.”

“No, no, don't!”

The mother advised, “Give the key to the police. You won’t even need to go there yourself.”

“I'm afraid! I'm scared he’ll know I'm here!” Miss Dong cried as she covered her face.

“Sister, don't be sad.” Lin Dongxue sat down and patted her shoulder. “It's not your fault. In my opinion, it's better to break up with this kind of stubborn man earlier rather than later. You won’t know how much more you’ll suffer if you stay with him.”

Miss Dong seemed like she just had someone speak the words of her heart. She cried out and hugged Lin Dongxue as Lin Dongxue patted her on the shoulder.

“Aiya, how can this officer persuade her like that? Don’t you know it’s better to tear down ten temples than it is a single marriage? They can compromise when there’s conflict. It’s not a big deal.” When the mother saw that Lin Dongxue and her daughter were ignoring her, she said to Luo Haifeng, “You don't know the situation. The parents of the child both work in a bank. He’s the only child in the family so he may be used to being spoiled when he was a child. His personality is a bit awkward, but he sincerely loves my daughter. As parents, you’d obviously want to have your child marry properly into a good family!”

Miss Dong shouted, “If you think so, then why don’t you marry him then?!”

“What nonsense!” The mother glared at her. “How can two people not fight when they’re together?”

“Just like you and my dad? You’ve argued for decades!”

“But we’re still here! We’ve been there before, but you’re making such a big commotion and making people laugh just for a cat… We haven’t eaten yet. We’re starving here staying with you. Shouldn’t you be content?”

“I didn’t ask you guys to come. You can go!”

The father said, “Stop saying so much!”

The mother argued, “I'm her mother, why can’t I talk to her? Give me the key. I'll go in and talk to the child.”

While saying this, the mother reached for her daughter's bag. Ms. Dong guarded it with her body, and cried, “No! I would rather swallow it than give it to you! Just leave and stop interfering with this!”

“Give it here! How can you act like this?” The mother insisted and tried to snatch it from her daughter.

Lin Dongxue pushed her hand away. “What are you doing? Robbing in front of the police?”

“How can you say that? She’s my own daughter, so why can’t I control her? You’re just an outsider.” The mother was obviously a little angry.

“I see that your family has issues too!”

“Are you a police officer? How can you say that? Believe it or not, I will report you!”

“Go ahead!” Lin Dongxue stood up and stood guard in front of Miss Dong.

Luo Haifeng mediated, “Auntie, don't be angry. She is not from the local police station.”

“If she’s not from the station, what the hell is she doing here, spending all her energy to mess things up?!” The mother asked loudly.

“I just want to!” Lin Dongxue expressed her own stubbornness.

The mother was so angry that she threw all her anger on her daughter. She pointed at her and shouted, “This is something you started. You were cheap and went sleeping with other men. It wouldn’t be trivial no matter which household it happened to. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were killed, let alone a mere cat! How did I have a daughter like you?!”

“Stop saying so much!” The father shouted.

The mother was so angry that she left and didn't turn back. Luo Haifeng was going to chase after her but the father said, “Just let her go! I have never seen such a mother!” Then, he took out cigarettes for himself.

The sad cry of Miss Dong resounded at the ear and Lin Dongxue thought that this family really had some issues.

Luo Haifeng said, “I'll go talk to this man again. You should persuade Miss Dong in the meantime!”

“I'm sorry for not being of help.” Lin Dongxue said guiltily.

“No, no, you have already done a lot by accompanying me today. It was very helpful.”

Lin Dongxue asked Miss Dong if she was hungry. Miss Dong nodded, so she took Miss Dong out of the community first and asked her what she wanted to eat. She spent some time and then picked a Japanese restaurant.

The decoration of the Japanese food shop was quite fresh. Ms. Dong ordered some sushi and Lin Dongxue noticed a particularly bulky waitress, so she glanced a few more times at her.

“Miss police officer, I really didn't cheat on him!” Miss Dong said between sniffles.

Lin Dongxue comforted, “That's not the point.”

“No, I really didn’t cheat on him. I suspect he installed a GPS tracker in my clothes because as soon as I got home, he’d try everything to ask me where I was. I was so angry that I turned off my phone and stayed at a hotel that night. I intentionally wanted to take my revenge on him. That night, he rushed over. Who would believe that no tracker was installed? Fortunately, he was stopped by the hotel security. When I heard him yelling like a madman downstairs, I was delighted!”

1. An expression that means that they’ve got unsettling anger.