Volume 4: Another Family’s Child

That night, Lin Qiupu asked everyone to eat mutton at Dong Laishun as part of their case-solving celebration feast.

When Peng Sijue received the text message, he was still finishing up his work at the office. He had been so busy the past few days that he almost died. As a result, the office was a complete mess and it was unbearable for him.

He put all the trash into garbage bins and organized things by putting them back where they belonged. After all his hard work, Peng Sijue nodded to himself in satisfaction. The amount of sleep he had gotten these past two days totalled to less than ten hours, which made him look horrible and lifeless. Honestly, he had no appetite at all. He just wanted to go back home and have a good night’s rest.

Suddenly, he thought of something. Peng Sijue took out a photo from the bottom of one of his drawers. It was a photo of him and another male police officer. He was five years younger in the photo than he was now, yet his expression was exactly the same.

The other person in the photo who was smiling happily was his former colleague, Song Lang.

He rubbed the photo for a moment whilst he reminisced about the past. He suddenly stood up, walked out, took his own car and went straight to the crime scene.

At this time, it was already eight o'clock at night. The sky was completely dark and the whole building was without lights. Peng Sijue went to the floor where Kang Xing Company was located, and used a gloved hand to push away the tape the officers used to cordon off the area to get to the corridor.

He held a cotton bud in one hand and a flashlight in the other. He was searching for a certain bloodstain on the ground.

However, he couldn’t find anything no matter how hard he searched.

He pressed his finger over the area he believed the blood stains were originally and sniffed his finger to confirm that there was the smell of ammonium hydroxide. Only seasoned criminals knew that ammonium could remove blood. Of course, senior police officers would know this information too.

“Bastard!”

He stood up and walked towards the window-sill. Suddenly, he saw a car leaving the parking lot. The model was very similar to that of Chen Shi’s car.

At this time, Lin Qiupu called. He asked, “Old Peng, why haven’t you arrived yet? We’re going to finish all the meat soon!”

“Is that driver there yet?”

“He said that he is still driving a passenger to their destination and that he will be here soon.”

“Well, I will come over now!”

Peng Sijue went downstairs and rushed to the restaurant, but didn't go in. He stood at the door and stared at everyone who went in.

Finally, Chen Shi’s smiling face greeted him. “Hm? Did you just arrive as well?”

“Where have you been?” Peng Sijue asked coldly.

“I took an order on the way here.”

“Oh really?” Peng Sijue suddenly grabbed Chen Shi's hand. Although he was someone that looked like he could be blown away with just a gust of wind, his strength was great. He grabbed Chen Shi's hand and pulled it under his nose. However, he couldn’t smell anything on the hands after sniffing them.

Chen Shi pulled his hand back. “What are you doing Captain Peng? Are we this familiar with each other now?”

Peng Sijue snorted coldly and turned away from the restaurant. He muttered to himself as he walked towards the road, “I must find out your identity!”

The headless female corpse case quickly entered the legal process. In front of concrete evidence, the fat manager confessed to all the crimes. However, he was very dissatisfied with the result of the trial and pointed to his employees at the auditorium. “Those people killed her! I don't care! I want to appeal! I want to appeal!”

On this day, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue also went to listen to the trial. “He doesn’t even know where he went wrong even until the end,” Chen Shi rebuked.

Lin Dongxue thought about the trial. “Now that I think about it. For such a terrible thing to happen, it’s completely related to the atmosphere of the company and this kind of boss who wants to trample on the dignity of others.”

“Did you want to say that fortunately you don't have to work in this kind of company?” Chen Shi laughed.

“On such a serious topic, you’re actually laughing?!” Lin Dongxue hit Chen Shi with her fist.

The relevant reports of this case soon became public. On the headlines, Lin Qiupu made great achievements and there was nobody who could compete with the limelight he received. Chen Shi was only a “good-hearted citizen” who was barely mentioned by the reporter, but he couldn’t care less about it.

Many people on the Internet spontaneously prayed for Meng Xiaoli, the victim of the case. However, such acts faded in only a week and life continued on as per usual.

The calm life continued until the end of October. On this day, a flustered young man jumped into the car and urged, “Hurry and start the car!”

“Hey, this is an online taxi service and you haven’t placed an order.” Chen Shi reminded.

“Less nonsense, just start your car!” The young man took out two hundred yuan and pushed it over to Chen Shi. Chen Shi took the money and smelled it. There was a heavy scent of sweat on the notes.

Chen Shi asked, “Where are we going?”

“Are you blind? What’s wrong with your eyes? We need to go to the hospital!” It turned out that the guy’s leg was injured.

“I’ll head to the nearest Third People's Hospital!”

“No, no, just find a small clinic.”

Chen Shi sneered but still started his car. However, whilst he was on his way, he sent a text message to Lin Dongxue.

The car drove directly to a road next to the city police station. The young man was playing mobile games on his phone, so he had his head lowered the whole time. When the car stopped, he looked up and found that something was wrong. He cursed, “You stinking driver, where did you take me?!”

“We’ve arrived. Get off.”

“Fuck right off! I’ll stab you! We’re right next to the city bureau! Are you blind? Wait… Huh?!”

At this time, a group of police appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the car. The guy pushed open the car door and got ready to run away. However, he was grabbed by Xu Xiaodong in one swift, beautiful motion. Xu Xiaodong then handcuffed him on the car. Chen Shi extended his head out of the car and cautioned, “Be careful! Don’t scratch my car, okay?”

“Don’t worry Brother Chen!” Xu Xiaodong reassured.

The guy glanced at Chen Shi, who smiled and advised, “Next time, be more alert. You need to be cautious rather than taking the first car you see.”

“I'm afraid there is no next time.” Lin Dongxue looked at her phone and confirmed, “There’s no mistaking it. This guy is one of the members of the robbery. Bring him back!”

Xu Xiaodong and the rest took the criminal away while Lin Dongxue took the opportunity to get in the car. She patted Chen Shi’s shoulder. “You’re really something. How could you tell that he was a fugitive?”

Chen Shi pointed to his forehead. “Didn’t his forehead have the words “bad guy” clearly written on it?”

“Nonsense!” Lin Dongxue grinned and punched him. “How have you been recently?”

“Why? Did you miss me?”

“Oh, stop it!”

“I am still the same. What about you guys?”

“Haii, it’s been super busy. We’ve been catching little criminals every single day.”

“Does Miss Lin want a case to happen that causes a big sensation or something?”

“Of course not! Of course not!” Lin Dongxue desperately denied. “Long’an City should be safe and secure, so ideally there won’t be anything like family massacres and the like.”

“Speaking of massacres, we seem to have never had a serial killing on this feng shui[1] treasure of a land here in Long’an.”

“Shut up, you crow's mouth![2] Don't say things like that!”

Chen Shi took Lin Dongxue to the front door of the station and said, “I still need to do more rounds of orders. I won’t stay to chat with you today. I’ll drop by one day!”

“Right, can you come by to my house tonight?”

“Want to invite me to dinner?” Chen Shi joked while laughing.

“I am embarrassed to ask, but will you fix my ceiling light for me? The chandelier on my ceiling fell down completely, but the landlord’s whole family went on vacation. I don't know who to ask... I’ll treat you to dinner!”

“Prepare beer!”

Lin Dongxue wanted to promise, but then she suddenly had a thought. “You can't drive after drinking though? Surely you’re not asking to spend the night at my house, right?”

“If you’re offering, I have no opinion.”

“Screw off! You perverted old uncle!”

“Alright, alright, I will come over to your place after I get off work at night.”

“Bring tools! I don’t have anything like that at home.”

1. Chinese pseudoscience that dates back to the ancient times. There are systems that govern spatial arrangement and energy in order to harmonize or bring benefits to individuals through the utilization of their current or potential surroundings.

2. Someone who says bad things. It refers to people who provoke or cause negative feelings through the words they say, and it is assumed that this will bring about bad luck that may cause the negative thing they’ve mentioned to become reality.