Everyone went their own way. Lin Qiupu considered the case while facing the whiteboard full of photos alone in the meeting room. After momentary peace, the director came back and leaned against the door frame. “Captain Lin, the master you talked about isn’t at home.”

"Why wouldn’t he be home?"

"There was only someone with a fierce attitude who had turned up at the door to collect debts. He even asked us where the person surnamed Chen is. We don't know either!"

Lin Qiupu thought that it was most likely Chen Shi playing tricks again. The director noticed the crime scene photos on the whiteboard and ran in excitedly. His eyes gleamed, "Hey, is this the case that you talked about? Wow, they really had their throats cut. Ah! Master cameraman, come in and take a picture. Captain Lin, can we please trouble you to strike a thinking posture against the whiteboard?”

"No, no, you can’t take photos of these!" Lin Qiupu blocked the whiteboard with his body.

"The chief has asked you guys to fully cooperate with us, so you should cooperate with us. We won’t use these immediately after shooting them. We will censor these bloody photos as well. Please."

"You really can't take photos!" Lin Qiupu begged hard, and there was a feeling that he was a scholar who had met up with soldiers[1]. Amidst the panic, he redirected the misfortune elsewhere again. "Go to the forensics department. They’re conducting an autopsy. There must be something that you want to shoot there."

"Let's take a picture here first!"

"You can’t do that…”

Lin Qiupu finally got rid of them after a lot of struggle. He quickly collected the information and prepared to go back to the office to hide from them. After opening the door, he found Chen Shi sitting on his chair. "Are you playing with me?! We agreed at the beginning that my name wouldn’t be made public. You actually sent reporters to me?!"

"Who let you in?"

"I let myself in!"

"You’ve been playing MIA so happily these past two days. You’re not coming over even though there’s a new case.”

Chen Shi smiled. "Your second team is too dependent on me right now. You used to struggle by yourself previously. You don’t even do that anymore. Captain Lin, if you think you don’t have the skills, just say so clearly. I’ll rush over every time you have a case.”

Lin Qiupu was speechless facing his retort and glanced back. The cameraman was collecting source materials everywhere. He closed the door.

"It's not like we don’t pay you as a consultant. Your current income is higher than mine. There’s nothing to complain about."

Chen Shi shrugged. "Okay, okay, thank you for always thinking about giving me the opportunity to make money. By the way, why did you bring in the reporters?"

"They’re from the TV station. The chief said that he wanted to publicize a positive image of the police. These two days have been a headache and the case hasn’t been solved properly.

"Let me see!"

Lin Qiupu handed him the photo, briefly explaining the incident. On November 2nd, the police received a report from Anhua District, saying that there was a heavy stench of blood. When they got to the scene, they found a father and son murdered in their home. The cause of death were the slits across their throats. The time of death was presumed to be the night of November 1st.

The father, Zhang Haichang, had collapsed onto the ground. The blood stains extended from the sofa to the floor. He might have been attacked on the sofa, and then rolled off onto the floor in his struggle.

The son Zhang Chao's body was in the kitchen. While struggling, he had knocked over a bag of rice and his body was covered with rice.

No valuables had gone missing from the scene. Zhang Haichang had a bank card with 1.4 million in it on him. According to his wife, he had planned to buy his son a house with these savings. A key that Zhang Haichang carried with him had been thrown on his body. It was suspected that the murderer had used it previously...

No fingerprints. No hair. No murderer’s DNA.

Thiopental sodium had been detected in the bodies of the two. The killer had probably drugged the mung bean porridge that they ate, but the pot that had been filled with porridge was cleaned and the bowls had been taken away.

According to Zhang Haichang's pharmacy staff, his wife had lent money to her ex-husband. Zhang Haichang learned of the matter and quarreled with his wife. The wife ran back to her mother's house in anger. Zhang Haichang had sent several messages to his wife's ex-husband asking him to return the money. The ex-husband's name was Wang Zhenlong. Wang Zhenlong said that they haven't seen each other recently.

The borrowed sum wasn’t much. It was only a few thousand. Zhang Haichang's mobile phone had chat records between the two. Zhang Haichang mainly suspected that he was wearing a green hat because his wife and her ex-husband were still in contact with each other. He angrily rebuked Wang Zhenlong for being in contact with his wife.

In his counterattack, Wang Zhenlong's words weren’t very friendly either. He had said, "I’ve already played with her before. Who would want her?"

After talking about the whole case, Lin Qiupu found that he had been standing the entire time. Chen Shi was sitting in his office seat and it made him feel like a subordinate who reported to him. "Will you get up?"

Chen Shi was completely deaf to this sentence as he considered the case. "So you suspect Wang Zhenlong then?"

"Anyone would suspect him."

"Does he have a criminal record?"

"No, but this person's character isn’t very good. He often gets into drunken fights and violates discipline. Both he and Zhang Haichang were formerly medical sales representatives. The two have very different personalities. Once, due to dissatisfaction with his superior's work arrangements, Wang Zhenlong made a dummy on which he had written the name of his superior and hung it on the tree in front of the company’s entrance. News of this matter spread throughout their company. Therefore, Wang Zhenlong was never given an important position, and has remained a lowly salesman for many years. He doesn’t even have a house. On the other hand, Zhang Haichang relied on his own network and opened a pharmacy. The business wasn’t bad. After Wang Zhenlong's wife divorced him, she got together with Zhang Haichang who was a widower. However, there were rumors that the two had hooked up well before the divorce."

"As long as there’s a homicide, these scandals will always be dug out."

"Do you think Wang Zhenlong isn’t a suspect?"

"I don't know. I wouldn’t know unless I’ve seen him myself. Motive varies from person to person. For some people, losing a single yuan could make them furious, while others could lose 10,000 but not care much about it.”

"I asked Dongxue and Xiaodong to go and meet Wang Zhenlong."

"I want to see the crime scene. You come with me!" Chen Shi took the lunch box that had been placed beside him and opened it. It contained char siu pork[2], fried egg and rice. He handed over the chopsticks. "Try it!"

"What is this?"

"Char siu."

"I know it's char siu."

"I’ve been idle at home these two days and tried making it according to a recipe. I originally wanted to give it to Dongxue, but by the time I meet her, it’ll already be cold. Try it for me!”

Lin Qiupu raised his eyebrows and picked up the chopsticks to taste a piece dubiously. He had never eaten anything that Chen Shi had made before. He found that his skills weren’t bad. Chen Shi asked expectantly, "How does it taste?"

The char siu pork had been roasted until it was soft, the marinade had penetrated deliciously into the meat, and there was a fragrance of osmanthus. Lin Qiupu said, "Well, for char siu, it’s quite nice, but I don't really like this kind of sweet meat."

"Look at you. Just say it if it’s delicious. I’ll leave this box for you."

"Hey, I don't want it!"

Despite his objection, Chen Shi sealed the box and put it in the drawer, saying, "Come on, let’s go to the crime scene!"

1. It doesn’t matter if reason is on your side if the other party is unreasonable.

2. AKA Cantonese-style barbeque pork.