Hualian AU ~ 10. The Brocade Immortal/At the Gates of Mount Tong'Lu

Part 1

CW: neglect/exploitation of a special needs young person, mental health issues

"Here is your pass, access to all areas; here's an Administrator login. And here", Ling Wen paused, "is the corporate card for your expenses". She smiled.

"Thanks a lot", Xie Lian replied.

"Why of course. Please use it in any canteen at The Heavens. Like I said, Officer Quan Yizhen requested you personally, so when you barged in his investigation, somehow you still caused a good impression".

Ling Wen was always extremely polite, but at the same time she managed to sound so...

"I'm more than happy to help", he said.

Just then, Jun Wu came in, "Ah Xie Lian", he said, "I can't thank you enough for your assistance. However, remember this affair must be under wraps. I'm counting on your discretion".

"Sir, this goes without saying", he smiled. "Well, thanks again, I better go".

"Already? Come have a salty caramel latte", Jun Wu invited, having noticed Xie Lian's favourite hot drink at the few times they met like that.

"Thank you, but Quan Yizhen must be arriving any minute now so I better show up".

He gave them a polite nod and left. In spite of Ling Wen's sarcasm, the few who knew about Black Water Island were impressed by that request for Xie Lian, but he himself knew better: Quan Yizhen was weird, he probably only requested him because he wanted someone he knew.

'Or, he wants make sure I don't stick my nose in this investigation again', he thought, pursing his lips.

Quan Yizhen was doing audits at The Heavens, proceeding with the investigation of Shi Wudu's fraud and financial crimes – and Xie Lian was specially chosen to show him around and assist him. He was given The Heavens' official blessing too: passes, login and a corporate card.

He was more than happy to help, as he said to Ling Wen; that'd keep him busy. That other night made him realise that maybe he was seeing Hua Cheng as more than just a friend – walking and talking together on the beach at night, getting very close, and then... nothing. He decided to stay away for a while to sort his feelings out.

He wasn't confused about his sexuality at all – Xie Lian always thought it wasn't about the gender, but about the person – but they were good friends to start with, and he knew for a fact Hua Cheng liked someone. And liked them a lot. What chance would he have, if he decided to try his luck?

On the next days he was with Officer Quan Yizhen everywhere at The Heavens; that also gave him an excuse to turn Hua Cheng down every time he texted inviting him for something. Hua Cheng was busy too, organising the promotion of Gambler's Den pop-up at Tong'Lu Festival.

But no matter how busy he was, he never stopped texting, sometimes for no reason at all; it made Xie Lian wonder if he actually didn't have any other friends. He felt even worse, like he was tossing Hua Cheng away, a proper backstabber.

A few days later, Quan Yizhen asked somebody to bring him a laptop, and as they went out to meet them, Xie Lian had a surprise: it was PC XiaXian Yue. Quan Yizhen beamed, exclaiming,

"Shixiong!"

Pc XiaXian Yue just said, "What's up Q-Y", and handed over the laptop.

Quan Yizhen grabbed the laptop and walked away; Xie Lian had to ask, "Shixiong?"

He snorted. "Yeah, well I was his senior at the police college, so he calls me Shixiong. He thinks we trained in a Shaolin Temple, apparently". He smiled, then asked, "So, Xie Lian, how have you been? I'm sorry you're stuck with this guy now, he's weird".

Xie Lian smiled, "I'm good, thanks. He's alright, just doing his job."

Pc XiaXian Yue shrugged, "I guess. Not as much fun as going off with Hua C, crashing some gang gathering", he said, laughing heartily. Xie Lian couldn't help but laugh too – it was funny now, even though it was damn scary at the time. This reminded him of Hua Cheng, and, hoping he sounded cool enough, he asked,

"Hum, have you seen him, lately? He's alright?"

"Oh? I thought you guys were mates, hanging around all the time?"

"We're so busy these days. That bar he has a part on is doing a pop-up at Mount Tong'Lu Festival. And besides my classes I'm..." he nodded towards Quan Yizhen walking in the distance. He knew that saying 'we're busy' sounded bad, but what else could he say?

Pc XiaXian Yue didn't seem to think much of it, and simply said, "I haven't seen Hua C in a while", then he added, "He must be busy, as you say. Or", he paused teasingly.

"Or?"

"You know what it means when people disappear", he winked at Xie Lian, "He must be dating someone, finally!", and laughed heartily again.

Xie Lian played along, "Oh, right. Yeah, hahaha".

"Anyway, I gotta run", Pc XiaXian Yue said, and nodded towards Quan Yizhen, "I think he's waiting for you".

"Oh ok, coming!", he shouted at Quan Yizhen, then turned to Pc XiaXian Yue, smiling, "See you!"

"See you Xie Lian", he paused, "If you see Hua C, say hi for me. Ask him how's his hot date".

Xie Lian knew by now Pc XiaXian Yue liked to tease, and he surely noticed Xie Lian's embarrassment! He went to meet Quan Yizhen by the door; he felt Pc XiaXian Yue's eyes on him, his thoughtful smile getting bigger and bigger as Xie Lian walked away.

"Sorry to keep you waiting", Xie Lian said, opening the door with his fob, "So, where to now?"

"To the Palace of XianLe", he replied.

"..."

Jun Wu got a small meeting room booked for Quan Yizhen to use whenever he needed a private space; Xie Lian told him it was The Palace of XianLe as a joke, but Quan Yizhen kept calling it like that. That guy was just too literal.

They went in, and Quan Yizhen plugged his laptop in to run some cyberforensics tools. When Xie Lian got back with two coffees, Quan Yizhen's normally emotionless face looked beyond shocked and excited, staring at running scripts on his screen. Xie Lian went to look over his shoulder, but only saw rows and rows of numbers going down.

"What is it?", he asked, out of curiosity.

"An abnormal number of cryptocurrency transactions", Quan Yizhen replied.

"Yeah? Shi Wudu went into that too?"

"No. These are of a different nature. And they're in real time".

Xie Lian widened his eyes, "Oh? Can you pinpoint where they're coming from?"

Quan Yizhen, now back to his emotionless self, looked at Xie Lian and replied, "Of course".

Xie Lian knew that, if you have the IP, the geolocation data would be easy to find, but he wondered within The Heavens, if they could accurately...

"The Palace of Ling Wen Zhen Jun".

"What?", Xie Lian said. Who could possibly be doing that under Ling Wen's nose, she was such a control freak! Xie Lian then thought: wait, did he actually know Ling Wen at all?

"You understand this is strictly confidential and you're legally required not to discuss it with anyone", Quan Yizhen said, "I'm afraid this is a lead for further investigations".

Speechless, Xie Lian watched Quan Yizhen produce reports of these so-called cryptocurrency transactions, dates and time of their occurrence, and then proceeding to access information from Ling Wen Palace staff, comparing days and times of their attendance.

"So you're gonna start digging dirt on Ling Wen Palace staff", Xie Lian commented.

Quan Yizhen nodded, and replied, "Starting with Ling Wen herself".

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