I don’t know if it’s because of the hot shower, or something that touched me, or perhaps the brain too stimulated from the evening’s investigative work, or maybe it was just from having too much fun during the day…
In any case, Jiayi collapsed onto the soft, spacious bed, enjoying the solitude of the space, yet she couldn’t sleep.
Moonlight spilled in, casting a layer of white frost-like carpet on the floor.
Lifting her head, she could see the shimmering reflections of the swimming pool’s water on the ceiling.
She got up, put on her clothes, wrapped herself in a coat, found her notebook and pen in her bag, and Jiayi quietly stepped out of the room, walking out of the villa to sit on a soft chair in the pavilion by the pool.
Turning on the small light in the pavilion, she opened her notebook, took a sip of hot water, and gazed out at the city and bay below, feeling her chest broaden with the view, and jotted down her scattered thoughts.
Brother Yue’s villa is really comfortable, a top vacation environment is just like this.
People really do live in such environments every day.
The notebook she bought on her first vacation after joining the company is now more than half full.
It contains hints and clues from each case, her own daily reflections and notes, and study notes.
Looking back through it, memories vividly come to mind.
She remember when she first arrived, discovering she lived in a cramped, decades-old public housing full of clutter.
Sharing bunk beds with her sister, one turn and she’d fall to the floor, one step and she’d bump into the desk.
Not having a few hundred or thousand in pocket money, with an older brother who took everything and fed off the whole family above, and two younger siblings crying for food below, the job she started wasn’t the simple, easy-to-pick-up kind but a police station clerk… Back then, she was completely in the dark, wishing she could die and go back.
Facing a completely unfamiliar environment, how scared she was, and then everything like postgraduate exams didn’t seem so scary anymore.
Then, she worked hard to observe her brother and siblings, read the previous owner’s diaries, access their memories, and carefully adapt.
Gradually, she opened my heart and tried to integrate.
The first time she reviewed files with Sister Yin, the first time she skipped work and had tea with her…
Back then, even Sister Yin often got her name wrong, calling her ‘Jiaqian’ or ‘Jiahui’ and the like. In the police station, those who recognized her would smile at her, and those who didn’t would just pass by without paying attention to a little girl.
Following Sister Yin to the police station meetings in uniform, the officer could pick her, the least noticeable person in the room, to serve tea and water.
In just a few months, it’s unbelievable how much she’ve gone through, how much has changed.
She’s still that little girl, but she’s no longer the girl she used to be.
Now, walking in the Yau Ma Tei ground police station, those who know her name and those who don’t, when they meet me, will nod in greeting. Some young uniformed police and civilian clerks even call her ‘officer’ or ‘madam.’
People like Sergeant Fang, Inspector Qiu, and Superintendent Huang, who once seemed so distant, now remember her name, and even admire her, praise her, and award her medals.
The proud detectives of Team B gradually showed their recognition of her.
Sometimes, Jiayi would even forget how unruly Sanfu and the others originally were, wild horses that were difficult to tame, and how she used to avoid Sir Fang at the entrance of the police station, as he was known for his stern demeanor.
Everyone’s behavior around her was slowly changing, which was also a reflection of her evolving status and personal circumstances.
When she first arrived, she was someone who didn’t even know what the detectives did all day, but now she had worked on so many cases with the CID detectives. Lately, her brother Yue had even tried to let her showcase her leadership and coordination skills.
Ah, that’s right.
Their family had moved from a rundown old community to a Scandinavian-style boutique community, from a tiny apartment to a spacious flat, into a bright and clean beautiful house.
Her older brother’s restaurant was attracting more and more customers, and she had started to save money.
Resting her chin on a small table, Jiayi turned to look out at the bay. The clouds came and went, scattering silver light over the sea, which sparkled beautifully.
Taking a deep breath, her brows relaxed, and she felt completely at ease.
She wondered where the original Jiayi had gone. Had she moved into her own body in a future era?
In that bustling future world, she would see different continents and lead a wealthy life. If she inherited the memories of the body, that Jiayi should be able to pass her exams smoothly, right?
Perhaps… could she get along well with her parents?
A child who grew up in the Yi family would be more considerate and more open-minded; perhaps she had already made her parents and even her classmates and friends feel warm and content.
Hmm… if that little girl had learned to play the Switch, would she enter Animal Crossing to take care of her little animals? A short but cool bass squirrel named Lightning, a dreamy-colored little bear named Mei Ling, a career-oriented cat named Jack who likes to wear glasses…
Tilting her head to take a sip of water, Jiayi tidied her short hair that had gotten messy when she was tumbling in bed earlier.
Bringing her thoughts back to reality, she flipped to the last page of her notebook, which recorded her accounts. The total of 1,110,000 Hong Kong dollars and some change was her current savings.
She had missed the major developments of Hong Kong in the 70s and 80s, and the 90s were already the peak of Hong Kong’s economic prosperity.
Although buying a house now was much cheaper than in later generations, it still fell short of the good old days of the 70s when one could buy large houses and prime storefronts for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What could she buy with the money she had now?
Jiayi sat for a while, then started doodling in her notebook again.
Yi Ji was rented on a yearly basis, including the back kitchen and the small storage room where Sun Xin lived, totaling about 28 square meters, roughly the size of two side bedrooms.
Living in Aihua Street, Sham Shui Po, you’re close to the even busier Yau Ma Tei to the south and Mong Kok to the east. It’s a really nice central area, not far from the especially bustling pedestrian streets to the north.
Even as Sham Shui Po ages, areas like Aihua Street and Fuquan Street still boast some fantastic retail spots. They can’t compare with the super-prime shops in Causeway Bay, which go for tens of millions per square meter, but they’re still something she could dream about affording given her current financial situation.
The Yi Ji wasn’t as valuable back then, since the park next door wasn’t finished and the city hadn’t fully developed, but it was still priced high at HK$1.7 million!
Because it was expensive, it hadn’t sold yet, so the landlady continued to rent it out for use as the Yi Ji.
Jiayi figured that if she really wanted to buy, she could negotiate the price down with the landlady. Maybe a little over a million could clinch the deal?
Then… they would own their own Yi Ji shopfront, could decorate it nicely, and rethink the opening strategy. Maybe they could grow it into something much bigger and stronger.
If they managed to buy the Yi Ji and continued to earn and save money, they could think about buying a house.
The economic crisis around 1997 was a good opportunity.
And maybe after 1997, if conditions allowed, they could even consider buying property in Mainland China.
Making money in Hong Kong and buying villas in Mainland China would really be a financial windfall!
Wow… an excited heart, trembling hands.
However, considering working in Hong Kong and that her family was also there, it seemed they couldn’t really leave.
With money in hand, it was still better to first consider investing in property in Hong Kong.
Ah, the villa Brother Yue talked about would probably cost tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars now, so expensive.
She’d need a hundred Ye Yongqians standing in front of her as targets to shoot at, just to be able to afford it.
Houses in Sham Shui Po, even small ones, were already going for several million.
To buy a house faster, unless she went further north to Sha Tin or farther east to Tseung Kwan O, where the locations were too remote, and she could only buy tiny flats of a few dozen square meters.
It was too far from where her younger siblings in Sham Shui Po went to school and from the Yau Ma Tei Police Station, making it hard to add value quickly. Moreover, spending all their money and then having to pay a mortgage every month would affect their current quality of life.
Now that her family finally had some money, they didn’t have to wear patched clothes or eat leftovers with steamed buns. They could buy new clothes for the whole family every season and occasionally eat out at nice places, which also greatly reduced her older brother’s stress.
Money shouldn’t be spent carelessly; it had to be carefully considered.
They needed to buy the most useful things that also had a high potential for appreciation, without affecting their current quality of life. After all, ‘enjoying good food and being happy today’ was also very important.
In the next few years, housing prices would rapidly increase, until an economic crisis around 1997 when many people emigrated and sold off their homes and shops at low prices, leading to a significant drop in property values.
Living in Van’s large apartment now, they could save up and buy later, as long as the bank interest rates outpaced the speed of inflation.
After saving money for nearly 10 years, I wonder if I could amass ten million?
If I had that much, could I buy a villa?
The kind of mountaintop mansion in the old wealthy area where Brother Yue lives now costs tens of millions. No matter how much I save, I can’t keep up with the appreciation rate of these mansions bought and demarcated by early tycoons. Better not to think about it.
Perhaps I could consider the new affluent areas that developed later, like the Shek O Peninsula, Kowloon Tong where Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat live, or the luxury housing area in Stanley where Miriam Yeung resides…
I remember from celebrity gossip that Mr. Zhou bought a villa in Kowloon Tong in the early 90s for 14 million Hong Kong dollars, and by around 2020, it was worth about 200 million Hong Kong dollars—a twentyfold increase.
Ah…
Jiayi bent over her desk, focusing on calculating her salary.
After being promoted to senior police officer, my monthly salary is 18,000 Hong Kong dollars. With various bonuses and rewards for solving cases, let’s say 20,000 Hong Kong dollars a month. That’s 240,000 Hong Kong dollars a year.
I wonder how much more I could make as a police inspector—does Brother Yue make thirty or forty thousand Hong Kong dollars a month?
Scratching her face, maybe she don’t need a big villa; a large flat might suffice.
Like many later celebrities and new tycoons, buying a penthouse apartment with scenic views, featuring duplex layouts and rooftop garden balconies, isn’t it just as high as living on a mountaintop?
It should be much cheaper; if bought early, it might be a few million. Maybe she could even have a view opposite Mr. Ma, the former boss of Alibaba.
Thinking this, she couldn’t help but prop her cheek in her hand, lost in pleasant daydreams.
If I had a big house and a little car, I could live the life of ‘the bravest detective at work and the most lavish rich lady in leisure.’
Just the thought is so beautiful—enjoying life to the fullest, fighting boldly on the battlefield.
It’s like the heroines in martial arts novels, so admirable.
I must work harder in the future, earn well, and save well.
With this thought, she wrote “Criminal Psychology” and other topics in her notebook.
To better harness her special abilities, she need to delve deeper into criminal psychology and profiling, and she should also watch the relevant American TV series she can access. These are intangible things, but they can unleash the power of her special abilities to help solve cases.
On the other hand, there are many tangible things she also need to study well.
For instance, compared to the basic deductive method commonly used by detectives, the inductive method is what detectives actually use in real life.
In subsequent practical situations, one accumulates more experience and learns from everyone about their methods and strengths in solving cases.
One must also address physical weaknesses, such as strengthening muscles and learning more about self-defense and grappling techniques.
During an arrest, even if one cannot compare with the likes of Qin Xiaolei or Brother Yue, the formidable men, one must at least be more capable. Whether facing ordinary citizens or suspects, one must be able to hold one’s ground in a fight.
One must also be able to run, as sometimes catching a criminal does not require combat; having a gun is enough. But if you can’t catch up with the suspect, even a gun is useless.
Right, one also needs to diligently practice shooting skills.
All things considered, there really is a lot to learn, and that’s not even counting the vast amount of knowledge one needs. After all, a truly excellent chief detective might need to have a broad range of knowledge, almost like a living computer or encyclopedia.
After spending a good part of the early morning daydreaming in the mountain-top villa, Jiayi finally felt sleepy.
She tidied up her things and returned to the guest room.
Crawling into bed, wrapping herself in a new blanket, and finding the most comfortable sleeping position, she closed her eyes and couldn’t help but sigh.
Living in a villa is really comfortable…
There are still so many beautiful things in the world waiting for her to pursue, and Comrade Yi must continue to strive.
…
Despite staying up late the night before, Jiayi got up early the next day.
With expectations for the future, she energetically went out for a run, ready to work hard to strengthen her body and address all her weaknesses.
As she left, Brother Yue was doing squat jump training on the steps in the yard: another hard-working talent from the Major Crime Squad B.
Jiayi and Brother Yue high-fived, expressing their mutual recognition and encouragement. Then, she bounced off, running up the mountain road against the morning breeze.
When Jiayi returned from her jog, Fang Zhenyue had moved to a different spot, hanging from a 2-meter high horizontal bar by the pool. However, he wasn’t performing pull-ups to train his upper body muscles; he was just hanging there.
Jiayi stood by the door, curiously arching her eyebrows, and followed Brother Yue’s gaze only to find that he was looking at a window.
The window revealed the large kitchen on the first floor of the villa, where her eldest brother, Yi Jiadong, was busy preparing breakfast.
Fang Zhenyue’s expression was calm, his gaze deep.
In that moment, he resembled the frost-covered green pines Jiayi saw during her morning run.
Verdant and erect, yet every pine needle seemed to hold dewdrops that could be shaken off by a breeze, so he dared not move. He feared that any slight tremor might disturb the thousands of dewdrops, turning into a rustling dew shower.
He was thus carefully holding his emotions, daring not to stir.
He blinks only after a long while, as if he is looking at the scene in the kitchen, or as if he is gazing through the building at something far, far away.
Jiayi finds it hard to discern his emotions. Brother Yue’s face shows no strong emotional reaction; he is calm and tranquil.
Yet, she feels as though she senses something daunting and too poignant to interrupt, so she stands at the villa’s doorway, silently for a long time.
It is not until Jiaru, having freshened up, steps out from the room and bathes in the sunlight at the villa’s entrance, cheerfully shouting “Good morning, Brother Yue!” to Fang Zhenyue, that he snaps back to reality and jumps off the horizontal bar.
Only then does Jiayi open the gate and walk into the villa’s courtyard.
At this moment, Yi Jiajun also pops out from behind Jiaru, greeting Fang Zhenyue with the same lively spirit: “Morning, Brother Yue!”
His voice, unaltered by puberty, is ambiguous in gender but also spirited and enthusiastic, showing his deep respect for Fang Zhenyue, matching today’s warm and bright morning sun.
Fang Zhenyue takes a deep breath, shedding the inexplicable sense of age weighing on him, and smiles.
As Jiajun comes closer, he places his large hand on Jiajun’s head and then bends down to lift the young boy high up.
Jiajun excitedly shouts, tilting his head back, stretching out his arms, and grabbing the horizontal bar 2 meters above.
Fang Zhenyue then helps Jiajun do pull-ups; the young boy, lacking real muscle strength, pretends to do the arm motions earnestly, counting as if he is doing it all by himself.
After Jiajun laughs and counts to “10”, Fang Zhenyue puts him back on the ground, pats his back, and says, “Go have breakfast.”
Jiaru, standing at the villa’s doorway with crossed arms, basking in the sun and watching Fang Zhenyue play with Jiajun, turns to her elder sister and can’t help but say:
“Sister, Mr. Fang is such a good person, I don’t know why, but he feels like Dad just like big brother.”
It’s probably because of his dependable aura.
People’s first impressions of men seem to always stem from their fathers.
Responsibility, reliability, strength, wisdom, standing tall and firm…
“Come on, let’s go help big brother with the dishes,” Jiayi, pulling her sister’s hand, turns around and takes the opportunity to hide the fleeting gleam in her eyes.