Chapter 1: The Rebirth of a Good-for-Nothing

  Thirteen new works "Pursuit of Fugitive Special Task Force" is the country's first urban thriller to recover state-owned funds that have fled abroad, with ups and downs in the plot, strong picture quality, and a large-screen structure like an American drama, opening up a new era for web literature formats!

  Pretty young woman You Qian, carrying two large shopping bags got out of the taxi, paid the fare and walked into the residential area with a spring in her step. Although her hands were sore from the heavy shopping bags, she felt wonderful inside.

  A group of old ladies in the neighborhood were practicing Yangge dance, among whom there were some who knew Yu Qian, and when they saw her returning from shopping, they greeted her warmly:

  Qianqian is back.

  "You bought so many delicious ones."

  "Qianqian is smiling like this, what good news is there?"

  "You're so happy, what's the good news? Isn't it just that my husband is coming back?"

  "Ah, it's great to see you again after such a long time! You're back home visiting your family again, aren't you?"

  Yu Qian raised her head, raised an eyebrow and said: "Not visiting relatives, but transferred back. From now on, I will work at the Municipal Geological Monitoring Bureau." As she spoke, she felt that her hand was being strangled too tightly, so she simply put down the shopping bag and shook her red-strained hand. One of the shopping bags tilted to one side, a slaughtered and plucked chicken unwillingly poked out its head, its grayish-white eyes gazing up at the sky, as if complaining that it had been wrongly killed for human celebrations.

  The old ladies saw that Yu Qian was not leaving for the time being, so they gathered around her again, asking this and that, and commenting on the vegetables, fish and meat she had bought. One of them asked: "Qianqian, you should have been promoted this time when you returned from your hometown."

  "You said he got promoted, but actually he's just a technical cadre... He just published a paper in their international annual journal and won an award, which caught the attention of the leaders."

  The old ladies asked: "Got an award? The prize money and manuscript fee are quite a lot, aren't they?"

  You Qian made a careless appearance and said: "My husband, you all know, is just a bookworm. Staying up late to write articles can't make much money. This time it's just...". She paused for a moment, probably hanging the old ladies' appetite, before saying: "Around ten million." After finishing, she paused for another second or two before adding: "US dollars."

  The old ladies again burst into a chorus of admiration, and the envious praise made Yu Qian feel very pleased, feeling that her hand didn't hurt so much anymore. She picked up her shopping bag to leave, and the old ladies pretended to offer help, but were politely declined by her. As she walked away, she thought to herself: "You want to help me? If I really slipped and fell, I'd still be responsible! Hmph!"

  She thought very viciously, and those old ladies were also evil. Seeing her walk far away, they discussed: "Ah, the old man is back too."

  Another one said: "Yes, it saves us from having to put on a show every day, going out early and returning late."

  "Whatever."

  You Qian's excitement was truly heartfelt, not just for show. As the saying goes, even a salted fish can have its day in the sun. She has been married to Fei Chai for seven years now, and today she finally felt like she could hold her head high.

  When it comes to the name Fei Chai, there is quite a story behind it. At the time of his birth, communication between the north and south was not smooth, so the southern term "fei chai" (meaning useless or worthless) was not known in the north. If they had known about this saying, Fei Chai's parents would have rather died than give their son such a name, because even "fei mi" (useless rice) or "fei you" (useless oil) are better than "fei chai".

  Fortunately, Fei Chai is not a real waste, but rather a very talented person. Otherwise, You Qian would not have married him back then. Unfortunately, he is too honest and not good at socializing, which is okay, but also stubbornly insists on being right, so in the Geological Monitoring Bureau, he can only be a technical cadre, and his administrative level cannot be promoted. His professional title is slightly better due to his ability, but it's not impressive either.

  But just as Professor Yi Zhongtian said, 'Talents are like pregnancies, and after a long time, they will naturally appear.' Half a year ago, Fei Chai's paper suddenly won a big award internationally, and the invitation letter was sent to him to attend the awards ceremony. This is when he got attention from within the system. The leaders not only considered this as his personal honor but also as the honor of the system, department, and even the leadership collective. They organized a delegation to go and receive the award. However, just before boarding the plane, everyone realized that something was off because although the delegation had all its members, one person was missing - Fei Chai, the winner. Even the leader who led the team found this strange. He remembered that at first, when they were compiling the list of delegates, Fei Chai's name was right after his own, but later on, as the list got longer, Fei Chai gradually moved to the back and somehow disappeared. The leader was very angry, but work had to continue, so the delegation became a representative team and went to the venue in the United States. However, they were rejected at the door because only the winner and their assistant or spouse were allowed in. The concept of leaders didn't exist there. This didn't deter the representatives; they found a travel agency run by Chinese people and happily spent a week touring America before buying some souvenirs to take back home. Before leaving the United States, the leader said with deep emotion: "Comrades, you've all seen this. When we return, let's work hard for the country's prosperity. Only when our country is strong will we not be looked down upon. We came all the way here to receive an award, but because we're Chinese, they blocked us at the door and wouldn't let us in."

  Everyone echoed and denounced the evil capitalist system after that, then boarded the plane back to their country.

  Fei Chai doesn't seem to have any opinion on not being able to go abroad to receive the award, but You Qian is furious, almost to the point of exploding, and would have scolded him if she could. In fact, it's impossible for her to do so because Fei Chai has been working in the wilderness for a long time, and whenever You Qian gets angry, he chooses to escape from home. This is actually another sore spot for You Qian, and just mentioning it makes her angry. Because the geological monitoring bureau's fieldwork is on a shift system, with each shift lasting five years, but Fei Chai has been doing it for ten years, and now he's heading into his third five-year term.

  But when the heavens also can't bear the injustice of the world, honest people will have their day. Just less than two weeks after the delegation returned home, a group of delegates' photos of wining and dining abroad somehow went viral online, and the entire delegation became famous overnight. The higher-ups sent someone to investigate, and surprisingly, they found that the big leader had economic problems. This immediately caused an explosion, pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud. Someone took advantage of the situation, and as a result, a batch of official hats was changed. Fei Chai also gained some benefits from this, not only did his rank rise, but he finally ended his outdoor work career and was transferred back to the Nanquan City Geological Monitoring Bureau, and there were even rumors that he would be directly promoted to deputy director.

  On the other hand, the awarding institution also sent him the medal and certificate by international express delivery, and asked him to provide a bank account number. The prize money of $173,984 was transferred within 24 hours. I really don't know what kind of award this is, it even comes with decimal places.

  Who says good fortune never comes in pairs? Now that Fei Chai has won the prize, he can finally relax and be reunited with his family. The prize money is a substantial amount, enough to solve their housing loan problems and more. After struggling for so many years, they have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

  Fei Chai's comeback made his wife, You Qian, even happier. So early in the morning, she went to the market and bought chicken, duck, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, red wine, and candles. When her husband came home that evening, he was greeted by a warm and romantic scene. It had been a long time since they'd felt this way, except for a few days before their wedding. For a while, You Qian even thought she and Fei Chai wouldn't make it through the "seven-year itch".

  In order not to ruin this romantic atmosphere, Yu Qian specially instructed her parents to pick up their son Fei Xiaomiao later and have him stay overnight, so that she and her husband could spend a romantic night together before picking him up the next day.

  "I won't go to the airport to pick him up, he must be very disappointed." Yu Qian thought as she went upstairs. "It has to be this way, the more disappointed he is, the bigger the surprise!" She entered her home, put away the groceries in the fridge, changed her clothes, and hastily cooked a bowl of noodles for lunch. Then she rolled up her sleeves and busied herself in the kitchen, washing, chopping, stir-frying, and stewing until late afternoon. When dinner was almost ready, she took a shower, changed into new clothes, and put on makeup. She even changed the sheets and tidied up the entire house, making everything spotless and fragrant.

  Everything was ready, she took another look at the wall clock, and the hour hand had already pointed to 7:30. So in her heart, she silently calculated: "The flight arrives on time at 6:30, the airport bus takes 40 minutes, after getting off the bus and taking a taxi... so in 20 minutes at most, her long-absent husband will ring the doorbell of their home.

  "Hehe……" Just thinking about it, Yu Qian couldn't help but laugh out loud, her heart beating faster. She looked in the mirror and wasn't quite satisfied with her outfit, so she touched up her makeup and changed two pieces of jewelry. Checking the time again, she saw that there were still five minutes to go, so she took out the silver candle holder that had been given to her by her parents at her wedding and lit all the candles. Then she sat down on one side of the dinner table, propped up her chin with her hand, and waited quietly.

  "Ding dong..." The doorbell finally rang at the scheduled time, and Yu Qian almost cheered out loud. She jumped up and ran to open the door, but just as her hand was about to touch the doorknob, she stopped again. She pulled down on her clothes once more, calmed herself down a bit, and waited for the doorbell to ring twice before opening the door.

  Then her smile froze on her face, because standing outside the door were two people, not just Fei Chai alone, but also their adopted daughter Fei Yangyang. Why was it her?! She had carefully planned this romantic atmosphere, but somehow hadn't factored her in.

  When Fei Chai took the luggage out of the airport, he saw a girl jumping and waving at him from afar, smiling sweetly. It had been several months since they last met, and his adopted daughter, Fei Yangyang, seemed to have grown taller again. He wanted to rush over immediately, but there were still many people in front of him, and he was always a rule-abiding person, so he patiently followed the crowd step by step, smiling lovingly at the girl at the same time.

  Fei Yangyang is the orphan of the Fengcheng earthquake six years ago, and at that time, he didn't know his age, only relying on visual estimation, about ** years old. Now she has grown into a lively and lovely girl. Her parents disappeared in the Fengcheng earthquake six years ago, and no one knew whether they were dead or alive. It was likely that they were buried underground. She suffered too much trauma, not only forgot her past but also had language disorders. Although Fei Chai adopted her for many years, she still didn't say a word. However, her big eyes sparkled like they could talk, and she could express most of what she wanted to say, which was a kind of compensation.

  Fei Yangyang is a very beautiful girl, which is probably because Fengcheng is a multi-ethnic city, so she also has some mixed blood, gaining the advantage of mixed blood. Her nose bridge is high and straight, her eye sockets are deeper, and the color of her pupils is slightly green. Her hair is even more impressive, with a head full of curly brown locks. Actually, this head of curly hair had once caused a joke. After Fei Chai adopted her, he took her to school to register, but the teacher said to him with a serious tone: "As parents, you should give your child positive things from a young age. Why did you dye her hair at such a young age?" This made Fei Chai explain for half a day.

  As soon as they got out, Fei Yang immediately flew into Fei Chai's arms like a little bird, rubbing her head against his chest for half a day, just like she was a little lamb that had just grown horns. Fei Chai stroked her hair and asked, "Just you? Where's your mom?"

  Fei Yangyang smiled and shook his head, blinking twice, then immediately grabbed his arm again. Fei Chai looked around and indeed there was no one else, so he raised his hand as if to hit him and said: "It's only Thursday today, don't tell me you skipped class, huh?"

  Fei Yang lowered his head and stuck out his tongue, pulling him as he walked outside. Fei Chai pretended to be angry and said, "Next time you skip class, I'll break your legs!"

  Fei Yangyang pulled his father's arm tighter, with a somewhat arrogant and spoiled expression, tilting his head back, eyes slightly closed, as if to say: "Go ahead and hit me if you dare."

  At this time, Fei Chai only felt that his elbow was pressed on a "small bun", so he pulled out his elbow and changed the subject: "Let's go home quickly, your mother must be waiting anxiously." But Yang Yang seemed to be anxious, the more Fei Chai pulled out his elbow, the tighter she grasped it, and her eyebrows were also furrowed. However, Fei Chai finally smiled and pulled out his elbow, turned around with warm hands and gently pinched her neck, pushing her forward as they walked, laughing and saying: "Yang Yang, you're all grown up now. Let's go home!"