It wasn’t the weekend, so Cute Pet Paradise still didn’t have many visitors.

Shen Xin spotted Bubu from a distance.

The monkey saw him too, immediately abandoning the couple he was with and scampering over. Then, with a practiced leap, he jumped into Shen Xin’s arms.

His favorability was still at eight bars, and he chittered excitedly at Shen Xin.

’He must be happy.’

Shen Xin broke off a piece of banana and placed it in his hand.

Yang Daoqiang also came over when he heard the commotion.

"Officer Shen, has the case been solved?" he asked, his face full of curiosity.

There had been quite a stir on the mountain, especially during the suspect identification. Since it involved a prisoner in custody, a lot of police cars had shown up.

It was also broad daylight, so many hikers had seen it happen.

Shen Xin nodded slightly and asked where Yang Huixia was.

"Sister Xia? I just saw her a moment ago." He turned his head to look for her.

When he found Yang Huixia, she was in the warehouse taking inventory.

Seeing Shen Xin, she hurriedly put down what she was holding and came forward to greet him warmly.

The last time he’d seen her was when she was identifying Zhu Guishen’s belongings. It had been a while.

"Sister Yang, try not to dwell on it. At least the case is closed now." Shen Xin handed her a gift.

It was just some fruit. Yang Huixia politely declined at first but then accepted it.

After thanking him, she said, "You’re right, Officer Shen. At least the case is solved. There’s some closure."

She said that, but a trace of sadness still lingered in her eyes.

Shen Xin guessed it was because of Zhu Yuchen.

’Even though the truth is out,’ he thought, ’Gou Jinlan had been filling the boy’s head with nonsense for too long. And he’s right at that rebellious age. The relationship between mother and son probably won’t improve much for now.’

’But they’re bound by blood. Once the boy gets older, he should be able to understand.’

"By the way, Officer Shen, my husband’s insurance claim was approved."

A light returned to Yang Huixia’s eyes.

With Zhu Guishen’s body found, she had successfully obtained a death certificate.

The insurance company had no reason to deny the payout.

Yang Huixia said, "They told me the money will be paid out soon. I was originally thinking of buying this farm back, but the owner won’t sell."

She looked out at the farm. The reason she’d never left was because this place held so many of her and her husband’s wonderful memories.

Even the arguments.

The sweet and the sour, the bitter and the spicy... That’s just life.

Shen Xin joked, "Then just keep working for him and earning his money."

After all, there was an agreement when she sold it: as long as Yang Huixia didn’t quit, she could work there until the park closed down.

Yang Huixia chuckled and shook her head. "Forget it. I’ve thought about it, and I’m not going to buy it back. I plan to use the money to buy a house in Peony Garden. It’s in a good school district, so it’ll be good for Chenchen’s education."

As she spoke, she sighed with emotion. "I always used to dream of buying a house there. I never thought that one day, when I could finally afford the house, the person I wanted to share it with would be gone."

Shen Xin fell silent, only able to say, "Sister Yang, things will get better."

Yang Huixia nodded and beckoned to Bubu, who was by her feet.

Bubu affectionately hopped onto her.

"Thank you, Officer Shen."

She thanked him again, a smile reaching her eyes.

Shen Xin nodded, didn’t stay any longer, and said his goodbyes.

After getting into his car, Shen Xin composed himself and prepared to head back to the station.

Just then, his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Zhang Qian, asking if he had to work overtime tonight. She wanted to go to the New Year’s countdown event in the city center with him.

"What do you think?"

Shen Xin texted back.

The busier the holidays, the busier the police.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Xin sent another message: "But if you go, we should be able to see each other. I have to go to the city center tonight to provide support."

Tonight, there was a pretty big New Year’s Eve event happening in the city center.

For a large-scale event like this, security could not be lax.

The sub-bureau had to send people over to help out.

It wasn’t originally Shen Xin’s turn, but a last-minute decision was made: he had to go.

He had to take Black Panther.

A K-9 unit, after all, had to be on patrol.

And Dou Dou and Tiger Stripes, too.

Their mission was bomb detection.

Such a situation was unlikely, but they had to be prepared for it.

Then there was the matter of preventing children from getting lost.

There was no telling how many people would be at the venue, and there were bound to be some careless parents.

The help of the K-9s would be indispensable for that.

And since these three K-9s from the sub-bureau were all single-handedly trained by Shen Xin, his superiors would only feel at ease if he went along.

"Okay! I’ll find you then."

Zhang Qian replied.

That night, New Year’s Eve events were being held in several places across Nanjiang: Nanzhu, Lishan Ancient Street, the New District, and the city center.

The one in the city center was the largest and even included a balloon release.

The location was Xingning Square.

At 8:00 PM, the two streets surrounding the event venue were closed to motor vehicle traffic.

The crowds were growing larger and larger.

Ding Yuwei didn’t come; she was on duty at the sub-bureau.

Shen Xin came with Feng Kaiwei.

He was dressed in a full tactical suit, looking imposing and handsome.

Of course, Shen Xin didn’t look half bad either.

With the tall Black Panther on a leash in his hand, he looked downright mighty and impressive.

As they walked, plenty of people took photos of them.

Shen Xin was now waiting at Exit C of the Central Street Road subway station for Zhang Qian to arrive.

He didn’t expect to run into an acquaintance before Zhang Qian showed up.

Li Jiahui.

She was leading a Rottweiler, emerging from the subway exit with a colleague amidst the flow of people, and she spotted Shen Xin at a glance.

"Shen Xin!"

She immediately walked over to greet him.

"You’re here too," Shen Xin said in greeting, then looked at the Rottweiler before her.

"Is this the main K-9 you handle? What’s his name?"

Every handler has a primary K-9 they train.

He had previously seen Li Jiahui with a Springer Spaniel, Qiuqiu, who probably wasn’t her primary dog.

"His name is Simba."

Li Jiahui introduced him, then greeted Black Panther.

"Simba, come here."

Shen Xin called to the Rottweiler, then pulled out a beef jerky strip to entice him.

’Sure enough, this talent never fails.’

Simba, who had been looking straight ahead, immediately turned his head to look at Li Jiahui.

"Go on and eat, you little glutton," Li Jiahui said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Speaking of cats, she started discussing cat-rearing tips with Shen Xin.

Da Mei had given birth to three kittens.

Shen Xin had given one to Zhang Qian and another to Ding Yuwei, leaving only the last one, a short-tailed li hua.

As it got older, it became hyperactive, jumping all over the place, much to Da Mei’s annoyance.

After the shootout, Shen Xin and Li Jiahui had talked more, and she was surprised to learn that Shen Xin had a short-tailed Qilin Cat. She had taken the initiative to ask if she could adopt it.

Shen Xin couldn’t have been happier to agree.

So now, this Qilin Li Hua had been taken in by Li Jiahui, who named it Qixi.

"You don’t have to go to all that trouble making homemade cat food," Shen Xin said. "Look at me, sometimes Da Mei and Evil Bully just eat my leftovers, and they’re perfectly fine."

"But if you really want to do it, I’ll send you a friend’s contact later. He has experience."

He was talking about Zhang Ning.

That guy was a total cat slave and still kept in touch with Shen Xin, often showing off his pair of Ragdolls.

Li Jiahui nodded and said, "Oh, right, Shen Xin, since it’s the end of the year, our base is preparing to breed the next batch of K-9s. That means selecting the breeding dogs."

"Will you have time later? I know you’re a natural-born Druid. Could you come over and help us pick out which dogs are more people-friendly?"

When selecting police dogs, being friendly toward people is a very important metric.

"Who are you calling a natural-born Druid?"

Shen Xin shot her an exasperated look. "Fine. Just send me a message later."

’This is almost too easy for me,’ he thought. ’I’ll just pick the ones with favorability icons that pop up over their heads on sight. Guaranteed to be the friendliest ones.’

Just as the two were talking, Zhang Qian arrived, wearing a wool trench coat with a crossbody bag slung over her shoulder.

And the first thing she saw was Li Jiahui standing next to Shen Xin.

’It’s a good thing Ding Yuwei isn’t here,’ she thought.

’But who is this Li Jiahui?’

Zhang Qian frowned slightly. Her gaze fell on how Li Jiahui’s police uniform was filled out, then she silently glanced down at herself and instantly felt like she came up short.