Bingxin slept soundly, curled up with her hands under the pillow. Her loose pajamas slipped down to reveal a pale collarbone, yet she lay asleep as unguarded as a child.

Had this been Xiaotao, I might’ve blushed. But I felt nothing for Bingxin. She was just like a sister to me.

I carefully slid out of bed and tucked her in. Then, I gathered a set of bedding and quietly sneaked to the other room to sleep.

The next morning, Bingxin woke up and asked, "Song Yang-gege, how did I fall asleep in your bed last night? Did you do anything to me?"

"I swear to God I didn’t!"

“Ding, ding, ding…” Bingxin gesticulated with her hands.

Knowing that she was up to her tricks again, I played along. "What does that mean?"

"That’s the sound of my rising goodwill towards you,” she laughed.

I quickly changed the subject. "Go and wash up. We have to meet Officer Ma at the bus station."

"I want you to braid my hair!" Bingxin willfully begged.

"Don’t you usually wear your hair up in a ponytail? What decade is this? Braided ponytails have long gone out of fashion!" I argued.

"No, I want you to braid my hair! Otherwise, I’m not going," Bingxin refused to back down.

Once that stubborn temper of hers acted up, there was no way around it so I had to braid her hair. This being the first time I did anything of the sort, I felt that the finished hairstyle was hideous. However, Bingxin seemed rather satisfied when she inspected her reflection in the mirror.

As we arrived at the bus station, I couldn’t help but wonder what Officer Ma looked like. We sat there waiting anxiously for what seemed like forever. At around eight, an old man in outdated clothes asked me the way. He was wearing a khaki jacket, brown trousers, and a pair of muddy military rubber-soled boots. The man was carrying a crumpled plastic bag and looked as if he were visiting relatives in the county.

While I was still in the middle of a conversation with the old man, Bingxin suddenly covered her mouth and tried to stop her laughter from spilling out. She jumped out and cried, "Hello Uncle Ma!"

The old man's eyes brightened. "Sun Bingxin, why are you here?"

"Are you Officer Ma?" I asked in surprise.

The old man grinned, revealing with his teeth that still had a piece of garlic chives stuck between them. "Right, you must be the Detective Song that Xiao Sun mentioned!"

I thought to myself, Is this man really an officer? Why does he look like a grandpa who works in a farmer’s market?

On our way to the police station, Bingxin explained that Officer Ma used to be Sun Tiger’s teacher. He worked as a civilian police for more than forty years and his lifelong wish was to be a police officer. Only on the eve of his retirement did he finally realize his dream which Sun Tiger had arranged. However, he retired after only a year and never took part in any cases.

This time, Officer Ma was so excited to be appointed as the head of the Special Investigation Team that he failed to get a good night’s sleep, going through criminal investigation books all night. I said, "Officer Ma, just leave this case to us. All you need to do is give your command and oversee the case!"

“How can I take credit for the hard work of you young ones? Let's see, you can use me as an errand boy. Let me know if you need anything. By the way, have you had your breakfast? I bought some tea eggs and steamed buns. You can eat them if you like," added Officer Ma.

We said we had our breakfast, to which Officer Ma replied, "Xiao Sun has actually explained the situation, so I’m merely here in name. So I'll be under your orders and won’t interfere in your actions."

I couldn’t help liking Officer Ma because he seemed like a kind old man. I asked if he was tired and whether he would like to go to my place to rest, but Officer Ma motioned with a wave of his hand, "Solving the case is more important. Let’s head to the station first."

When we arrived at the county police station, Officer Lu was already waiting for us outside. The city bureau had sent a notice last night informing the county police that a Special Investigation Team would be sent to take over the case. Assuming that a group of people would be sent, Officer Ma arrived at the station early in the morning to await their arrival, only to be greeted by an old man accompanying us.

Officer Lu blinked his small eyes in consternation and asked, "Consultant Song, why is there only one person with you? Is this the city bureau's Special Investigation Team?"

"This is Officer Ma, the city bureau's oldest police officer, with a rich working experience. He will be in charge of this case," I introduced.

Apart from that, I didn't know how else to introduce Officer Ma since I was terrible at lying.

Officer Ma smiled at the policemen and pulled out some snacks from his plastic bag. "It’s my first time here so I brought you some specialties from Nanjiang City. It’s but a small token to show my respect!"

The smile on Officer Lu's face turned into a frown. "Consultant Song, what do you mean by asking an old man to take over the case? You’re deliberately doing this so I can’t make any contributions!"

Since he had torn off his mask of diplomacy, I rudely shouted, "Yes!"

His face turned red with anger. "What are you trying to do? You’re not a even member of the police force. Why won’t you let me take credit? Do you think it’s easy to get a murder case in this small county?"

I was completely unwilling to help such an officer climb up the rungs of the bureau but I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I said, "I’m a selfish man! With the thousands of yuan I get from my bonus for solving the case, I can buy the skins I like on League of Legends!"

"You-you-you fu-" Officer Lu pointed at me, face red as a tomato. His lips mouthed the word, “fuck,” but he refrained from cursing out loud.

"If you want credit, then solve the case yourself. I already shared many clues yesterday. If you solve the case before I do, then the credit goes to you. We would never rob you of that. But don’t complain if we solve it first!" I said.

"I certainly don't believe you. When I catch the murderer, you’ll definitely take credit. Even if the city bureau sent an ordinary officer, his position would still be greater than a small county captain. The superior oppresses his subordinates–do you think I don’t know this trick?"

The man used his despicable mind to understand how us upright folk thought, going so far as to confuse us with corrupt officers mixed up with dirty officials.

"Officer Ma, what’s your rank?" I asked.

"I used to be a superintendent, but I’ve retired.”

I continued, "A retired Superintendent, a consultant with no real authority, and an intern coroner–there aren’t any high-ranking officials who can oppress you. You can investigate the case without any worry."

Officer Lu cast a doubtful glance at Bingxin and asked, "Her father is the director. If you take away my credit, who am I supposed to complain to?"

"Believe it or not, if I wanted to do that, would I give you a heads up? Here’s a piece of advice–if you want credit, use your own abilities. You’re not going to solve anything with talk alone." I turned to Bingxin and said, "Come on, let's continue with our investigation."

"Shouldn’t we continue with the autopsy?" asked Bingxin.

"There’s no need," I assured.

At this point, I realized that Officer Ma wasn’t walking with us. When I turned around, I saw him talking to Officer Lu briefly before he came up to us. "Officer Ma, what did you say to him?"

"I told him young people shouldn’t be so eager to get a name for themselves. It’s most important to do your job well," he explained.

I almost burst out laughing. Officer Ma was truly a sincere, warm-hearted man. "Xiao Song, I’ve got some criticisms for you too!" exclaimed the man.

"Oh? What did I do?" I wondered out loud.

"You mentioned that you would buy gaming skins with your bonus. Indulging in online video games is very bad for you. It’s been said on television that this can be a sort of mental drug. Many young people who lose themselves to this addiction eventually become lazy and destroy their own future,” he lectured.

I blushed with shame. That was merely an excuse I had simply made up casually. I quickly “repented,” saying, "I’ll never play video games again. If I do, I’ll chop my hands off!"

"There’s no need to punish yourself like this. Bingxin, you should also watch over your boyfriend and remind him to spend less time on video games."

I was about to explain that we weren’t in a relationship but Bingxin was already a step ahead. "Uncle Ma, Song Yang-gege isn’t my boyfriend," she said.

"Oh!"

Smiling sweetly, she grabbed my arm and announced, "To tell you the truth, I’m pregnant with his child. We’ve already secretly obtained a marriage license!"