Chapter 325: The Horse Leg is Exposed[1]

After finishing stocking the shelves in the morning, Ji Changxin sat at the door of the convenience store and lit up a cigarette. He had originally quit smoking many years ago and he only picked up this habit again yesterday. When he thought of the two policemen looking at him yesterday, he felt that he wouldn’t be able to escape this calamity.

But this does not mean that he intended to accept his fate. He will still struggle a little.

“Master Ji! Master Ji!” The manager ran out. “Didn’t I tell you to put the bread close to the expiration date in front? Why did you place them anyhow without checking?”

Ji Changxin was sitting on an electric delivery bike. He turned his head gloomily, staring at the indentation on the other party’s neck and said, “I will come in after I have finished smoking.”

“Who allowed you to smoke at work? If everyone was like you...”

“I'll come in after I smoke this cigarette!”

The manager felt that his authority was being challenged and pointed to his nose saying, “Don't think that you can do whatever you want just because you’re old. You’re still in your probation period. Without my consent, you won’t be hired permanently!”

“Fuck off!”

Ji Changxin flicked his cigarette butt away and lit up another one.

The manager's face went dark and he went back to phone the area manager in order to report him.

Ji Changxin felt a burst of pleasure well up in his heart. At that moment, a car drove by and he recognized that it was the policemen who had dropped by yesterday. The bitch, Gu You, had not accompanied them. Old Zhang stepped forward and said, “Mr. Ji, we have a few questions that we want to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“You stayed at Chenghai Road subway station for a while on May 7th, right?”

Ji Changxin had long thought about the appropriate response to this question. In order to behave naturally in front of the police, he had hypnotized himself and rehearsed the fabricated facts in his imagination.

He replied calmly, “I got off the train from there.”

“What time?”

“It should have been around six o'clock. I resigned from my job that day, drank some alcohol outside, got onto the train at Pingan Road subway station, and then got off at Chenghai Road.”

“You don’t seem to live there though!”

“There was a subway crash, wasn’t there? All passengers got off the train. I had to walk back for the rest of the way.”

Old Zhang didn't expect that he would respond so naturally. After a whispered reminder from his partner, he decided to attack from another angle, saying, “But some passengers said that you molested a girl on the subway that day and was beaten by a young man who acted righteously. You got off at Chenghai Road Station, and according to the subway schedule, it should have been around 6.15PM. That’s around five minutes before the accident happened, which is inconsistent with your statement!”

Ji Changxin shook his head, “I didn’t do anything like that. The time I got on at Pingan Road should have been 5.50, and I got off at Chenghai Road at 6.20. I was watching news on my phone all the way... You must have gotten it wrong.”

Old Zhang knew that he was lying, but he acted so naturally. To expose the lie, the police would have to spend a lot of time going through the surveillance video of Pingan Road subway station, which was likely to waste the opportunity, so Old Zhang said, “You said that you didn't do it, but what if I brought that person here to confront you?”

“You can do that.”

“Mr. Ji, do you think that you’re very skilled in lying? In my opinion, you’re the same as a kid who is denying responsibility. It won’t end well for you if you keep denying everything right now.” Old Zhang decided to attack forcefully.

Ji Changxin looked up and smiled, “I didn't lie. You can investigate it!”

“I believe that we will meet again.” Old Zhang said, before leaving resentfully.

As soon as Old Zhang returned to the car, he received a call from Gu You, “Officer Zhang, did Ji Changxin not admit to anything?”

“Miss Gu, how did you know?”

“We’ve been colleagues for many years. I know his sly personality. I want to give you a little help. Please connect your phone to the nearby Wi-Fi.”

“Are you going to send something? Sure, just send it!”

“I believe that this thing will be enough for you to bring him back to the bureau.”

A moment later, Gu You sent over a video. Old Zhang and his partner watched it in surprise. It was actually a ten-minute video of Ji Changxin molesting Gu You after hypnotizing her.

“Great, now we have a reason to arrest him!”

The two got out of the car and went to find Ji Changxin again. At that moment, Ji Changxin was organizing the stock. When he saw the police come back, he was startled. Old Zhang went straight to the point, asking, “Why did you resign that day?”

“I didn’t want to work there anymore. It's tiring to be a psychiatrist.”

“Really? Would you like to look at this?” Old Zhang showed him the video.

Ji Changxin didn’t expect that Gu You would send the video to the police. He gritted his teeth and crushed the bag of bread in his hand. Old Zhang kept calling in his ear, “Mr. Ji... Mr. Ji ...” He repeated it many times before he snapped out of it.

Ji Changxin stared gloomily at Old Zhang, who said, “Come back with us!”

“What if I say no?”

“You don't have the right!” Old Zhang took out his handcuffs.

Ji Changxin stepped back, “Cops wouldn’t just blatantly watch people die without helping, right?”

“What?”

Ji Changxin started humming the tune of “Cloudy Day”[2]. Suddenly, the store manager and the two store assistants stopped their tasks, ran out the door and rushed toward the road opposite.

Old Zhang's eyes widened. Although he didn't quite understand what was going on, it was obvious that Ji Changxin had hypnotized those people.

“Save them! Save them!”

Old Zhang shouted as he ran out with his partner. The partner tackled a shop assistant to the ground. The thin girl kept struggling and the police officer almost failed to subdue her.

Old Zhang pushed the other store assistant back hard. He saw a finger mark on the person's neck. He shouted, “Wake up! Wake up!” However, the store assistant's eyes were dull. He kept pushing Old Zhang forward with amazing strength like a clockwork toy that had been wound up.

The store manager, who was the first to rush out, was already on the road. The cars on both sides braked urgently. The store manager stood motionless in the middle of the road. The drivers smacked their doors and yelled at him.

There was the sound of a car honking. Old Zhang looked up and saw that Ji Changxin had actually driven his car away and was waving at him.

Old Zhang gritted his teeth. It was impossible for him to catch up. He could only pull out his mobile phone to contact Lin Qiupu, “ Captain Lin, we are in big trouble. Hurry and send a few more people over!”

At the same time, Lin Dongxue, who was at the school, received a text message, saying, “Ji Changxin escaped!”

“No way? It's really him... Should we help out?”

“No, Captain Lin has already brought reinforcements with him there.”

Fan Lixue’s class was currently attending their physical education class. Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong could only stand on the sidelines, waiting. At that moment, the boy named Song Hui ran up and said, “Police Elder Sister, are you here to look for Fan Lixue?”

“Can you call her to come over?”

“Wait a moment.”

Fan Lixue came soon after, and Lin Dongxue noticed that she had additional scars on her face which she had deliberately covered up with her hair. Lin Dongxue asked, “Did someone bully you?”

“Didn’t you come to investigate the case? This is none of your business.”

Lin Dongxue said in a soothing tone, “If someone bullies you, we can protect you. You must tell us, okay?”

Fan Lixue mumbled for a long time, but in the end, she said nothing. Lin Dongxue thought that the child’s heart was too closed-off and had to give up.

1. While the literal translation of this saying is “to expose a horse’s leg”, the word “horse” used in this expression doesn’t actually have anything to do with horses. There’s an interesting story that accompanies this saying and although it differs slightly from source to source, the main points are the same – Due to the empress (surnamed “Ma” which translates to horse, which is where the “horse” part of this comes from) of Ming dynasty emperor Hongwu having large unbound feet which were considered unsightly during that era, she was reluctant to show them off and had extra-long dresses made to cover them up and keep them hidden. Then one day while she was out in the city, a big gust of wind blew her dress up and exposed her legs – and so the saying goes… to expose a horse “馬” leg came to mean to accidentally expose a secret.

2. This is an traditional nursery rhyme in Chinese dialect but there is also a well-known pop song by Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun with the same name which references the original nursery rhyme.