Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

"Is that alright? You're back so late, the food's still warm."

Lu's mother poked her head out of the kitchen, her hands still wet.

Lu Yike changed her shoes and put her briefcase on the coffee table. "Mom, don't serve the rice yet."

The living room TV was still on, and the evening news was broadcasting the news that the provincial party committee would restart the review of the self-inspection report the next morning. Sha Ruijin's name rolled past the subtitles.

On the balcony, Lu Zhengping, wearing an old sweater, was watering several pots of orchids.

Lu Yike opened her briefcase and laid out a few yellowed photocopies on the coffee table.

Lu Zhengping stopped holding the kettle.

"Dad, stop watering it."

Lu's mother wiped her hands and came out, looked at the father and daughter, then at the papers on the coffee table, "A case from work? I'll go to the kitchen then."

"Mom, you listen too."

Lu's mother stopped beside the sofa.

Lu Yike flipped to the handwritten note and pressed her finger on the line that read, "Abnormal throughput at berth 07, no response after reporting."

"Lu Zhengping, did you write this?"

Lu Zhengping put the kettle back on the balcony shelf, walked to the coffee table, and flipped through a couple of pages.

He reached out and closed the file.

"It's common for the case handler to sign. There's no need to take this case home and ask about it, even though it's over 20 years old."

Lu Yike didn't take his chance. "Would an ordinary old case have an abnormal phrasing listed separately on an appendix? Would an ordinary old case lead to a judge being transferred from Haizhou fifteen years ago?"

Lu Zhengping sat down, his back straight. "You work in the provincial department, so I don't need to teach you about case file discipline. You can't just take photocopies home without permission."

"A copy. The original is in my office drawer, and I have the key."

Mrs. Lu was unsure whether to sit or stand. "Old Lu, if this really concerns you, you should explain it to the child."

"There's not much to say."

"Then I'll speak."

Lu Yike opened the case file and pushed the pages one by one in front of Lu Zhengping.

"The judgment is too clean. The chain of evidence, from the customs declaration to the container number, all match up, but the thirty-odd pages of case file cannot explain the abnormal monthly throughput of the port."

Lu Zhengping did not reach out.

"At berth 07, the throughput over three months was nearly 20% higher than the total customs declaration volume, and the container entry and exit records were even broken into scattered attachments."

Lu Yike paused for a moment, "Dad, this isn't a typo."

On the balcony, the kettle tilted and hit the edge of the flowerpot.

Water flowed from the spout of the kettle, trickled over the soil, and dripped onto the floor tiles.

Lu's mother rushed over to help, "Oh dear, it's all spilled."

Lu Zhengping remained seated.

On the television, the news switched to the Jingzhou urban renewal project. Lu Yike picked up the remote and muted it.

The living room fell silent immediately.

After a while, Lu Zhengping picked up the file and turned to the page with the note.

"I wrote these words."

Lu Yike sat down opposite her. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because you shouldn't have touched this case."

"I've already touched it."

Lu Zhengping flattened the note. "Back then, the Haizhou Port smuggling case was ostensibly about several foreign trade companies smuggling goods. When the case was transferred to the court, the evidence was complete, the testimonies were solid, and the defense didn't argue much."

"Too smooth sailing?"

"Too smooth."

Lu Zhengping pressed his hand on the edge of the table. "When I was reviewing the pre-trial materials, I discovered that the throughput of berth 07 over the past three months was incorrect. The customs declaration only showed a portion of the data, while there were many extra internal transfer orders within the port area."

Lu Yike opened her notebook. "Did you suggest supplementary investigation?"

"It was mentioned."

"How did you reply?"

"The prosecution replied that the different monthly statistical methods used in Hong Kong do not affect the conviction."

"You didn't believe me, so I wrote a note."

Lu Zhengping nodded. "The note was to remind myself. Later, I submitted a supplementary report."

Mrs. Lu sat down, clutching the rag in her hand. "How come you've never mentioned this before?"

"I didn't tell you when you took Yike back to your maternal grandmother's house."

Lu's mother panicked, "You've kept this from me for over twenty years?"

Lu Zhengping lowered his head. "If I say these things, the whole family won't be able to sleep soundly."

Lu Yike didn't answer that question. "What did the report say?"

"Three months of abnormal data, two labor service companies, and a customs review window."

"The name of the labor service company."

Lu Zhengping paused for a few seconds, "One was called Shun Gang Labor Services, and the other was called Hai Sheng Loading and Unloading. The names have been changed several times, so my memory might not be accurate."

Lu Yike paused, pen in hand. "Shungang labor services?"

"You found this name?"

"We also found it in Jingzhou. The cancellation date was nine days before the 30% discount acquisition."

Lu Zhengping looked up, then paused before continuing his sentence.

"Have you already located Jingzhou?"

"It wasn't us, it was Li Dakang."

Lu's mother interjected, "That Li Dakang, the Party Secretary of Jingzhou City?"

Lu Yike hummed in agreement. "He's taking the account books to the provincial party committee tomorrow. Sha Ruijin summoned him for a talk, citing organizational discipline as the reason."

Lu Zhengping closed the file, then opened it again. "This matches up. Shun Gang wasn't just a labor service company; it handled temporary port employment and warehouse receipts back then."

Lu Yike continued taking notes, "Why is the customs review window closed?"

Temporary maintenance, three days.

"Which three days?"

"Before and after the report was submitted."

Lu Yike tapped the paper with his pen, "In other words, the window was closed when the abnormal container should have been checked the most."

Lu Zhengping did not deny it.

Lu's mother covered her forehead. "Old Lu, who did you offend back then?"

"The transfer order came three days after I submitted the supplementary report."

Lu Yike looked up. "What's the reason?"

"Optimize cadre exchanges."

She scoffed, "That's a convenient word; it can be used anywhere."

Lu Zhengping glanced at her. "She later retired early, and it wasn't her lumbar spine."

Lu's mother immediately turned to him, "Weren't you in so much pain back then that you couldn't even go downstairs?"

"The pain is real, and so is the reminder from others."

Lu Zhengping took out an old box of medicine from the coffee table drawer; the corners of the box were already soft.

"Someone came to the courthouse staff quarters looking for me, leaving only one sentence: 'Don't touch the port again. Your back can hurt, and your life can hurt too.'"

The rag in Lu's mother's hand fell onto her lap. "You even kept this from me?"

"I thought at the time that once I stepped down, it would all be over."

Lu Yike pushed the medicine box back, "Dad, we can't go now."

Lu Zhengping looked at her and said, "Yike, you have a job, a position, and a promising future. This case is not an ordinary economic crime investigation case."

"I didn't come back today to listen to your advice to stop."

"I am your father."

"I am the investigator."

The only sound in the living room was the low rumble of the refrigerator. Old case files lay spread out on the coffee table, the edges of the pages curled up.

Lu's mother gently pressed down on Lu Yike's arm, "Child, your father hasn't had a good night's sleep in years, don't push him too hard."

Lu Yike pulled her arm out gently.

"Mom, Qi Tongwei just had stitches in his left arm. Qin Erhao is interrogating him to the limit. Someone in the evidence room went online at night, and the gray car from Haizhou followed us to the hospital entrance."

Lu's mother was stunned by what she heard.

Lu Yike continued, "Now that my dad's name is in an old case, if I don't find out more, the next car might stop downstairs at our building."

Lu Zhengping finally spoke, "The original report isn't in my possession."

"Where's the copy?"

"no."

"draft?"

"No, not at all."

Lu Yike put down her pen. "Dad, you've been handling cases your whole life. You wouldn't leave yourself without a backup plan."

Lu Zhengping rubbed his temples. "I hadn't learned this skill back then."

Lu Yike stared at the note on the coffee table. "Has anyone seen the report?"

Lu Zhengping remained silent.

"dad."

"Zhou Lan was the court clerk at the time."

Lu Yike wrote down the name, "Where is she now?"

He/She has passed away.

The pen tip rests on the paper.

Mother Lu added in a low voice, "Zhou Lan? The one who came to our house before and brought a basket of bayberries?"

It's her.

Lu Zhengping leaned back on the sofa. "Back then, she organized court hearing stenography and also helped me transcribe the draft reports. She read the complete content before I submitted the reports."

Lu Yike immediately pressed, "Where are her family members?"

"She has a younger sister named Zhou Qin. She used to run a small shop in Haizhou, but she moved away later."

"Where to move to?"

"I don't know."