Chen Shi thought about it for a while, turned around, and walked into the housing district. He went to Lin Hui’s house and took out the unlocking tools to pry the door open. Lin Dongxue hurried to stop him. “Don’t do anything rash. We’re investigating a case outside our city right now. Stick to the regulations more!”

"Lin Hui is missing right now, but the gang is still monitoring her house, indicating that there are clues here."

"But don’t pry the door open! I'll call Lin Hui's husband back."

Chen Shi laid down the tools in his hands and pondered, "We can say that his house might be bugged and need to have a look?”

Lin Dongxue smiled. "Okay, we’ll use this reason. I’ll make the call!"

Li Xiang claimed that he could only head back after he got off work and that he would call them when he went back. However, Chen Shi insisted on waiting there to prevent Li Xiang from coming back and tidying up the house first. At the moment, he didn’t understand the core of the case yet, and he couldn’t trust any of the related parties too much.

The waiting process was naturally very boring. Lin Dongxue had long been accustomed to this and took out her phone to read novels. Chen Shi had been thinking about something. "You said that the car was very similar to mine?"

"Ah?" Lin Dongxue looked up from her phone. "You mean the one parked here last night? It should be Li Xiang's friend!"

Chen Shi seemed to have thought of something but kept silent.

At 6:00 in the evening, Li Xiang came back carrying a bag of vegetables in his hand. He said with a smile, "You two have been waiting for a long time. Would you like to eat together?"

"No, we didn't plan to come to find you. We found suspicious people nearby this afternoon. I was wondering if someone has bugged your house with listening devices, so I want to come in and have a look." Chen Shi said.

"What? Listening device? What can they eavesdrop from this family? I only come back every day to play games and watch movies... Haii, I don't know who my wife has attracted."

Chen Shi’s eyes fell on the vegetables in his hands. It was a full bag. It looked like there were a lot, but the leaves weren’t very fresh. They looked like they were casually picked up from the supermarket. He said, "You bought so many vegetables."

"I place them in the freezer to eat slowly. Please come in!"

Upon entering the house, Li Xiang apologized, "The house is messy. Please just sit down as you please."

"The house is quite big. Do you have a toolbox?"

"I’ll find it for you."

Li Xiang entered the bedroom and closed the door, as if he was packing something up. Chen Shi whispered to Lin Dongxue, "He’s hiding something!"

Then, Li Xiang came out. "I remembered it wrong. It’s in another room.”

He brought the toolbox out. Chen Shi took a screwdriver to remove the electrical panel on the wall and checked areas that weren’t noticeable. No wiretapping equipment was found. At this time, there was a garbage truck that came to collect the garbage. Li Xiang packed up two bags of garbage and was ready to throw it out.

Chen Shi said, "Let me do it!"

"No, no, the garbage in the toilet is very dirty. I'll do it myself." Li Xiang said with a smile on his face.

"I’ll do it!"

"No need, you can just take a seat."

"Open it and show it to me!" Chen Shi's eyes became serious.

Li Xiang also retracted his smile. "Officer, you aren’t suspecting me, right? I was at home when my wife disappeared."

"Let me take a look."

Li Xiang could only put down the garbage bag. Chen Shi put on gloves to check the rubbish. It was full of used toilet paper and the smell was unforgettable. There were several used condoms at the bottom, and Li Xiang explained, "It was a prostitute I found on WeChat. My wife isn’t at home, but I also have normal physiological needs! The reason I didn’t let you see is mainly because I also need a little privacy, right?"

"Understood." When Chen Shi stuffed the condoms back, he hid one in his palm, then tied the bag up and gave it to Li Xiang, "OK, you can go throw it out!"

After Li Xiang went out, Chen Shi wrapped the condom in the gloves and was ready to take it back for testing.

Five minutes later, Li Xiang came back and asked, "Is there anything else you need to ask?"

"I want to see your call logs."

Li Xiang took out his mobile phone. "Go ahead."

Chen Shi turned over and pointed to a number with the contact called Zhang Rui. This number was frequently contacted. He said, "This is your buddy?"

"Yes, we often eat together."

"Where does he work?"

"A parts processing plant."

"It can be seen that your relationship with each other is quite good."

"Yes!" Li Xiang looked a little embarrassed.

They asked some irrelevant questions before the two were ready to leave. At this time, Li Xiang suddenly stopped them. "Officer Chen, did you take one of the condoms away?"

Chen Shi turned back.

"Is this necessary? To take a condom back for testing, do you suspect me that much?"

"Doubting everything is our profession."

"What can a condom tell you? My wife is cheating outside and I can't have my own life?"

"Even if you say so, we will still test it."

"Don’t bother. Let me tell you the truth. That condom is for me and Zhang Rui."

Lin Dongxue was slightly surprised.

"So he comes often not to play games with you."

"Yes!" Li Xiang admitted with a blush. "I'm gay, and he is as well. We aren’t buddies, but we met at the bar. This is mainly the reason why my wife and I have a bad relationship. I’m not even slightly interested in women. I even feel disgusted when I see the stars who show their chests and thighs.”

"Then why did you get married?" Lin Dongxue asked.

"What can I do if I don't get married? My family kept reminding me that if I don't get married at this age, others will gossip about me. My parents couldn’t lift their heads high in front of outsiders! I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s a big matter for my family and I don’t have the courage to come out. My parents would be really sad. I could only find a random woman to marry over a blind date… Of course, my nature is my nature. I thought I could change, but I couldn’t do it. The more you want to suppress it, the more you want it. Just like Officer Chen. If you were made to be lovey-dovey with a man, you would only be in a state of painful suppression!”

"Does Lin Hui know?"

"Living together, even if I didn't say it out loud, she would have discovered it already. She scolded me saying that I ruined her youth and that I was helpless. If she wants to blame anyone, she should blame it on this society full of discrimination. I told her that the house would belong to her if we divorced, but we’d divide this house in half."

Chen Shi walked in front of Li Xiang. "Since you’re being frank, let me tell you something as well. There’s a lot of money missing along with Lin Hui.”

"How do you know?!" Li Xiang was shocked and immediately realized that he was acting abrupt. He explained, "I mean, what money? How do you know about it? Was it her own savings or some unjust profit?"

"We’re still checking this. Do you know anything about it?"

Li Xiang shook his head. "I deceived her, but I didn’t deceive you guys."

"Okay, I believe in you." Chen Shi slightly smiled in a baiting[1] way. "Right, I want to see the house. The one you rented out."

"Right now?"

"It’s best if it’s now!"

1. You need to let them go before you can catch them.