Something was wrong. Wenjie knew it, the moment the plane took off. It put him on alert inside and kept him from resting. During the entire flight, he expected an unexpected event to occur. But nothing happened. 

Neither the cabin crew, nor the passengers behaved strangely. There was also no sign of any pursuers, or strange news in the form of gifts. Everything seemed normal. 

His friends watched movies for half the flight, until they fell asleep. His father read a book. Nothing unusual happened. That might Wenjie's main issue. The events, half a year ago, had left a lasting impression. Maybe he was just imagining his bad feeling. 

"Do you want to talk about it?", his father suddenly asked him. "You're just as restless as Ding Wei was a few days ago."

Xiao Dao had been nervous? He hadn't even noticed, since he'd been so absorbed by his thoughts about the gift. Unfortunately, that didn't help him to overcome his worries, on the contrary, it intensified them. 

"Did he talk to you about it?"

Yaobai shook his head. Then he put the book back in his backpack. He glanced briefly over at Ding Wei. 

The young man looked relaxed as he sat there in his armchair and slept. Only a small furrow had formed between his eyebrows. Wenjie would have liked to blame it on the uncomfortable sleeping position. But he couldn't. Involuntarily he suspected, that his friend was keeping secrets from him. Perhaps, he was not entirely innocent. After all, Wenjie had given the older man every reason not to burden him with his own problems over the past few days. 

"I hoped, he would talk to you about it," Yaobai snapped him out of his thoughts. 

"I didn't tell him about the gift either," Wenjie confessed. Only his boss from the restaurant, Captain Luo and his father knew about it. He didn't want to worry any of his friends. 

"You'll have time to do that in the next few days. You should talk to them about what's bothering you. It will help you."

Wenjie looked out of the window again. He could see the sea from his side. "Our worrying might be unnecessary. Captain Luo is right, I shouldn't let the past rule over me. No one followed us. The sender of the package is still in Quingcheng and the police are on his trail."

If it weren't for Ding Wei. Could there be a connection? He looked cautiously past his father to Xiao Dao.

"My first thought was, that he knows something that's bothering him. It could have something to do with the gift," Yaobai expressed what his son was thinking. 

Wenjie swallowed and sank into the back of his chair. "I'll talk to him when we reach the hotel." They had rented a bungalow there. It offered them more space and options as a group. Everyone had a bedroom for themselves and they could get together in the living room. As they were self-catering, they were also not tied to fixed meal times. 

"Have you looked at the brochures I brought you from the travel agency?" his father steered the conversation towards the vacation. 

And so they spent the rest of the flight talking about vacation plans. This made Wenjie forget his worries, temporarily. Until they were standing at the baggage claim after landing and Ding Wei's eyes caught his.

"Are you looking for someone?"

Xiao Dao winced. Then he smiled and ran his hand over his short hair. "No," he said quickly. 

Wenjie frowned. "You can talk to me about anything if you want. A group journey like this is also new for me."

"Mmm ... feels surreal," Ding Wei murmured. His gaze was almost frantically glued to the conveyor belt on which the suitcases were moving. 

"When we get to the hotel, I have something to tell you." Wenjie's words were no longer directed solely at Xiao Dao. 

Lin Zhiyue stepped next to him and casually took his hand. He felt her warm handshake and read in her facial features, that his worries had not escaped her notice. 

Ding Wei turned to them. "Have you seen anyone again?"

"No." His gaze wandered around the hall. He didn't see any suspicious people. There was no one in their immediate vicinity, who might inadvertently overhear. Wenjie waved to Zhijian, who was standing at a vending machine and had bought something to eat. His friend immediately rushed over and handed them something too.

But Wenjie declined with thanks. He had actually wanted to talk about it later, but now it just bubbled out of him. "A few days ago, a package was dropped off at my workplace. It was the same evening, Captain Luo invited me to dinner. The package contained a magnetic weiqi board. That wouldn't be anything unusual if the sender hadn't left a position on it that no one except Captain Luo, my father, Ding Wei, Xu Zhengqing and I knew." 

Ding Wei blanched. "Xu Zhengqing is alive?"

"If the weiqi board wasn't a bad joke on your part," Wenjie replied and punched him in the shoulder. 

Xiao Dao's face took on color again. "You overestimate me. I couldn't work out from the numbers what the position on the board must look like. I've never seen Luoshen."

"And you would have cleared up a possible misunderstanding by now at the latest." 

That was, because he didn't want to worry him. Instead, he had confirmed his suspicion that Xu Zhengqing was behind it. 

"He's not here, he's in Quingcheng. Let the police do their job and enjoy your vacation. You can still deal with police work when you go to the academy," Yaobai interrupted them. He had already fished his and his son's suitcases off the conveyor belt.

The others' suitcases were also already there. It was time to go to the hotel. 

On the way, Wenjie caught himself glancing at his cell phone. There was no message from Captain Luo. He would probably get in touch, only if there was something important, or if he had to warn them. If at all. They weren't part of his police team. Luo Jian had already told him once, that he didn't owe him any information about his work. In fact, in the past he had often told him more than he was actually allowed to. 

to be continued ...