Wei Muran remained silent since she was listless to explain her relationship with Qi Youxuan.

“Sergeant Jiang,” Bai Mo greeted all of a sudden. Her tone sounded the same but Wei Muran could detect the mellow and pleasant surprise in it.

Wei Muran raised her eyebrows curiously and turned around to glance at Bai Mo, who was smiling affectionately while trying her best to express her charm.

Wei Muran stared at Bai Mo dumbfoundedly before shifting her gaze to Sergeant Jiang. Something fishy seemed to be going on here.

However, Jiang Yuecheng—who treated everyone indifferently—merely nodded faintly in response, a contrast to Bai Mo’s enthusiasm. “Doctor Bai.”

Bai Mo stared at the handsome and phlegmatic man and walked beside him so that Wei Muran was separated from him, all while trying hard not to make her intention too obvious.

Jiang Yuecheng was well-reputed in the department not only due to his handsomeness or good temperament but also due to his family background. Everyone in the department knew that Jiang Yuecheng came here for training and was due a promotion after a few years.

“Sergeant Jiang, we’ve been colleagues for all these years and yet you’re still addressing me as Doctor Bai. It sounds like we’re unfamiliar with each other.” Bai Mo smiled faintly. Her voice sounded coquettish but it was not enough to induce disgust in others.

On the other hand, Wei Muran was eager to leave since she felt like a third-wheeler, but Bai Mo called out to her when she was about to excuse herself. “Muran, introduce your boyfriend to us some other time so that he won’t find excuses to come here every day. He lodged a police report after losing his phone, but that’s not part of our job scope too.”

Wei Muran was confused at this instant. Bai Mo’s intention to court Jiang Yuecheng was none of her business, so why did Bai Mo insist on dragging her into this matter? This was also one of the reasons why Wei Muran detested Bai Mo.

Fate could be quite marvelous and intriguing at times. When the seniors introduced Wei Muran to the department on her first day reporting to duty, she disliked Bai Mo at first glance before they even started initiating conversation.

This sort of aversion was related to the first impression and intuition as well.

“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Wei Muran answered calmly but felt uncomfortable after blurting out the response as if she was reluctant to admit it simply.

She squinted before adding on, “I’ll tell him to not keep creating problems.”

Jiang Yuecheng remained silent and glanced at Wei Muran before shifting it elsewhere.

Bai Mo returned to the forensic lab while Wei Muran followed Jiang Yuecheng into the criminal investigation department. Upon entering the office, they detected the fragrant scent of Tianjin-style Jianbing and Tofu brain[1] and saw Zhang Ming wolfing down the food on the table.

Wei Muran did not expect Zhang Mingming, who had an intimate friendship with Qi Youxuan since young, to work as a police officer too. He was given the name Zhang Mingming since birth but figured that it sounded too childish as a grown-up and thus decided to take the extra ‘Ming’ out of his name. Even so, Zhang Ming reckoned his name remained plain and dull.

Zhang Ming mentioned that even his name was not used in primary school’s English textbooks anymore and blamed his parents for not taking this seriously before bestowing the name to him.

Zhang Ming’s father was the chief of this department before he was transferred to the Ministry of Defense, so Zhang Ming might be following his father’s footsteps when he became a police officer. Initially, Zhang Ming’s mother intended to fund Zhang Ming for entrepreneurship without demanding him to earn a fortune. She merely wanted her son to live the rest of his life peacefully instead of involving himself in such a dangerous profession, but who could have expected Zhang Mingming to join the police force anyway?

Zhang Ming and Jiang Yuecheng’s family backgrounds were almost identical, but Jiang Yuecheng joined the police force earlier than Zhang Ming. Thus, according to the seniority, Zhang Ming was assigned as the corporal of the department, a rank below sergeant. After that, he gave an order that everyone must address him as Corporal Zhang instead of calling his name directly due to the embarrassing name his parents gave him.

Even so, everyone in the police department knew Corporal Zhang’s full name, all thanks to Qi Youxuan who would still greet him as Zhang Mingming loudly. Zhang Ming was so exasperated at that time, he started an argument with Qi Youxuan immediately.

Zhang Ming swallowed the last of Tianjin-style Jianbing and gulped down the Tofu brain after noticing Jiang Yuecheng and Wei Muran walking into the office together.

Zhang Ming’s gaze drifted across both Jiang Yuecheng and Wei Muran before he used rubbish disposal as an excuse to leave the office and dialed a phone number stealthily. “Youxuan, Jiang Yuecheng and Muran came into the office together this morning.”

If Wei Muran overheard Zhang Ming’s report, she would have figured out the reason why Qi Youxuan knew everything about her whereabouts like the back of his hands. There was a spy in the department all along!

…

…

After hanging up the phone call, Zhang Ming returned to the office and opened the windows so that the scent would not linger in the room.

“Sergeant, Corporal, we have a problem.” Zhao Yiyang fought the urge to quench his thirst and announced upon entering the office. “We received a report stating that a corpse was found in Xijiao.”

Then, Zhao Yiyang poured a glass of water for himself before continuing. “The victim is an elderly man but other details remain unknown. The informant is a villager living nearby, but he was scared to death.”

“Tell everyone to suit up and head to the scene.” Jiang Yuecheng took his cellphone and car key before leaving the office.

Wei Muran and the rest followed behind promptly.

…

…

Bai Mo was examining the corpse in the meantime. Wei Muran started her work in the police force just recently and she did not expect her first case to be so gory and gruesome.

The corpse was initially buried at the foot of the mountain but there was a downpour two days ago that lasted until last night, which had probably washed away the mud and revealed the corpse underneath.

“Sergeant Jiang, the first witness is Zhao Zhengguo, a forty-one-year-old man who lives in the Zhao family in a nearby village. He came here to catch some cicadas to sell in the market today and saw a section of a lower limb after the mud was washed away by the heavy rain. He noticed the corpse at seven o’clock in the morning and ran back home out of fear to explain the situation. He was then told to report this incident to the police afterward,” briefed Zhao Yiyang.

Bai Mo, who was wearing a surgical mask and a pair of gloves, knelt beside the corpse for a thorough examination. After that, she stood up, removed the surgical mask and reported. “The victim aged between seventy to seventy-five years old. Estimated time of death was between eleven to one o’clock, postmortem examination is required for the determination of an accurate time of death. There are four stab wounds on the deceased’s chest so far, but they’re starting to fester and decompose. Detailed analysis will have to wait until we return, but this stab wound in the middle of the chest is the cause of his death. It’s also obvious that this isn’t the primary crime scene too.”

Bai Mo frowned before continuing, “Many pieces of evidence were washed away after the downpour.”

Jiang Yuecheng nodded and instructed the corpse to be transferred back to the department first.

“Sergeant Jiang.” Xing Jiadong returned after finishing the questioning with the villagers. “I’ve asked everyone and none of them recognized the victim. It seems like the victim doesn’t live anywhere near this village.”

Jiang Yuecheng was not expecting to identify the deceased here since Bai Mo mentioned that this was not the primary crime scene. “Put him into the system for cross-referencing later.”

…

…

The squad returned to the police department and saw the police technician, Yang Shaozhan standing in front of the office with a peculiar look on his face.

“Muran, he came to lodge a report again!” Yang Shaozhan yelled at Wei Muran like she was his lifesaver.

“…” Wei Muran was stupefied.

“Hey, what did he lose this time?” asked Zhang Ming with a wink.

“…” The dumbfounded Yang Shaozhan then answered, “Wallet.”

“This isn’t part of the criminal investigation division’s job scope,” Zhang Ming’s thunderous voice pierced into the office.

“…” A stupefied Wei Muran walked into the office and saw Qi Youxuan sitting on the chair in a relaxed manner like he was enjoying himself at home.

Well, Qi Youxuan came here daily with different excuses, so it was natural that he had already familiarized himself with this place.

Qi Youxuan lost his credit card two days ago, his cellphone yesterday, and his wallet today. He would lose one of his belongings every day anyway.

Qi Youxuan would still come here to “lodge a police report” even though he was informed that the criminal investigation division was not in charge of lost and found.

Qi Youxuan had lost his chubby appearance at present. His facial features remained the same but he appeared stern and cold whenever he kept quiet. Well, it was only limited to the time when he did shut his mouth.

“Muran, a word please,” Jiang Yuecheng announced all of a sudden.

Wei Muran glanced at Qi Youxuan before leaving the office with her head lowered.

“Muran, I don’t care about your relationship with Qi Youxuan, but I hope you’ll take this job seriously and as your priority in the police force. He’s your friend, and that’s the only reason why we didn’t chase him out despite his daily visit. I hope this won’t be an interference to the job, especially when there’s a case right now and we won’t have time for him,” Jiang Yuecheng’s tone was calm and steady and yet it induced embarrassment in Wei Muran.

“I apologize for the trouble, Sergeant. This won’t happen again,” replied Wei Muran while avoiding direct eye contact with Jiang Yuecheng. She then rushed into the office and dragged Qi Youxuan out again.

Wei Muran was holding Qi Youxuan’s tie like she was taking her dog for a walk, which left Qi Youxuan speechless.

“Mumu…” Qi Youxuan whined at the back.

“Can you please stop playing the fool?” Wei Muran pulled Qi Youxuan into a corner and rebuked, “Don’t disturb me ever again. I’ve been very busy recently and there’s a major crime case today. I really don’t have time for your nonsense.”

Qi Youxuan wanted to say that he was not playing the fool but before he could mutter a response, Wei Muran returned to the office without giving him a chance to defend himself.

Qi Youxuan stared at Wei Muran’s back as she hurried back to the office with narrowed eyes.

A major crime case?

…

…

“Sergeant Jiang, we’ve identified the victim.” Yang Shaozhan passed the deceased’s personal information to Jiang Yuecheng before continuing, “The victim’s name is Zheng Wentao, a seventy-two male who lived in unit fifty-two in Xiang Yang Street, Nancheng Subdistrict with his wife. He was blessed with a son, two daughters, a grandson and three granddaughters, but none of them lived together with the victim. He went missing a week ago and a police report was lodged at the local police station at that time, but his whereabouts remained a mystery until now. I’ve notified his family members regarding this issue.”

Jiang Yuecheng nodded and said, “Jiadong, follow up with Doctor Bai to check if there’s any postmortem examination report.”

“Sergeant Jiang can just give me a phone call.” Bai Mo, who had a white coat on her, walked into the office with a faint smile on her face and a document in her hands.

“The result came out?” Jiang Yuecheng was stunned.

Bai Mo nodded and passed the document to Jiang Yuecheng. “The time of death was between eleven to twelve o’clock last night, and he was tortured for a period of time before his death. There isn’t much food in his stomach which indicated that there was prolonged fasting before this. There are flagellation wounds and abrasions on his body, and some of the flagellation wounds were newly created yesterday. The stab wounds on his chest are the cause of death. There are a total of six stab wounds on his chest and the entrance of each wound is messy, suggesting that the assailant was stabbing the victim in a panic state. The first two stab wounds missed the vital organs, but the third stab wound was the actual cause of his death. The following three stab wounds were created when the assailant panicked and was unsure if the victim was dead.”

“He must be in so much agony to die in such a way,” replied Wei Muran with a frown.

How spiteful could the assailant be to torture a seventy-two years old man in such a way?

“Muran, since we’re discussing the case, let’s be serious here and allow me to finish my report, alright? You can express your sympathy after work.” Bai Mo was annoyed at the sudden interruption and expressed her dissatisfaction in a professional manner. It brought a message that Wei Muran was unprincipled in handling her work and used her personal feelings to aid the investigation.

“Haha, Muran was a fresh graduate and joined the police force for only a couple months. Everyone would experience this initially too.” Zhao Yiyang mediated a dispute and said, “Doctor Bai, please continue.”

Bai Mo shook her head at Bai Muran disappointingly before shifting her gaze to a stoic Jiang Yuecheng and continued, “There aren’t any signs of struggle other than the wounds inflicted on his body, but it’s possible that the evidence on his body may be washed away by the downpour. I’ve taken his clothes for analysis, hoping that we can find something else which can help in the investigation.”

Then, a heart-wrenching wail pierced through the door and traveled into the office after Bai Mo finished reporting.

“Husband! My husband!”

They went out and saw an elderly lady wailing under the support of her two daughters, on the brink of collapse.

The elderly lady shoved her daughters’ hands aside and rushed forward after noticing Jiang Yuecheng and his squad. “Police officer, you must catch the murderer and bring justice to my husband! Police officers!”

Despite the constant sniveling, the elderly lady’s emotion was stabilized when Wei Muran returned after preparing tea.

“We have some questions for you, so please try your best in providing details to us that could aid in our investigation to locate the murderer,” said Jiang Yuecheng.

The elderly lady continued to shed tears while nodding. “Ask all you want, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“When did Mr. Zheng go missing?”

“Exactly a week ago. He usually goes to the market every morning and purchases ingredients for everyday meals, but he didn’t return home after leaving the house that morning. If I knew… If I knew things would end up this way, I wouldn’t let him leave the house on that day.”

“Was there anything suspicious about Mr. Zheng lately?” asked Jiang Yuecheng.

“No, it was the same as usual,” The elderly lady shook her head, looking blank.

“Did Mr. Zheng incur hatred from anyone recently?” Jiang Yuecheng asked again.

“No, my husband has a good temper and won’t even start an argument with others, not to mention any enmity that would take his life away.” The elderly lady hesitated before answering the question, looking confused and blank.

Jiang Yuecheng threw a few more questions but the answers were not helpful to the investigation until Xing Jiadong came over and whispered something to him.

Jiang Yuecheng froze momentarily before glancing at the elderly lady again. “I think that should be all. We’ll come to you again if there’s any problem.”

“When… When can we take my husband back home?” asked the teary-eyed elderly lady.

“When the case is closed. There might be clues that we’ve yet to discover on the deceased,” answered Jiang Yuecheng.

“Are… are you guys going to dissect him?” The elderly lady wailed after imagining the bloody scene. “He passed away in agony, his soul can’t leave this world in peace, and his corpse can’t even be left intact.”

“I’m sorry, but I can assure you that the corpse will be dealt with as intact as possible. I believe you’ll find the murderer answering to his crime at the earliest more important than this issue,” Jiang Yuecheng replied in a professional manner without showing much sympathy.

“That’s right, Mom, it’s more important to locate the murderer in any case. Dad won’t be able to rest in peace no matter how intact his body ends up.” One of her daughters comforted the elderly lady.

The elderly lady gave up on her request and left the office with a howl.

“Which university did the victim’s granddaughter study in?” asked Jiang Yuecheng.

Before Xing Jiadong could answer the question, Qi Youxuan walked into the department again.

“Why did you come again? We have a case right now and have no time for you.” Xing Jiadong was irritated at the sight of Qi Youxuan returning to cause trouble again and complained without attempting to hide the detest on his face.

It was tolerable for Qi Youxuan to visit the department when they were not caught in cases, and he was Wei Muran’s friend after all, so they basically treated him as one of their colleague’s family members.

However, Qi Youxuan was acting without regard to priorities when he came over at this hour. Xing Jiadong even blamed Wei Muran as he eyed her annoyingly.

Zhang Ming walked toward Qi Youxuan quickly to drag him away. “We’re really caught in a major crime case this time, and everyone is very busy at the moment. Jiadong wasn’t complaining on purpose so don’t take it to heart, alright? You’re a busy man too, so stop visiting us every day, will you?”

Wei Muran’s cheeks were flushed pink with awkwardness and embarrassment when she walked toward Qi Youxuan, but before she could mutter a response, the department chief entered the office.

“Hey, why are you guys blocking the entrance?” The chief glanced at Zhang Ming and Wei Muran kindly before shifting his gaze to Qi Youxuan with more fondness on his expression.

“Come, let me introduce him. He’s Qi Youxuan, who’s also my good friend’s son. I’ve heard about the case today and coincidentally, he has time to spare, so I swallowed my pride and invited him over to aid in your investigation,” explained the department chief.

“Chief, I don’t think it’s appropriate for an outsider to assist in our investigation,” Xing Jiadong frowned and complained without attempting to hide his loath.

“Haha, it’s natural that you’ve not heard of the name Qi Youxuan, but at least you were aware of the major case that happened in Huai City, right?” The chief shifted his gaze to Qi Youxuan. “Young man, still like to be low profile, huh?”

“I’m always acting low profile.” The smile on Qi Youxuan’s face was extremely warm and gentle but somehow made the others wish to connect their palms with it.

“It’s said that they received help from an expert to solve the crime in Huai City one year ago, but none knew his identity and he wasn’t even a well-reputed expert throughout the world. Chief, do you mean—” Zhao Yiyang’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Qi Youxuan.

This young man appeared to be in his twenties, almost the same age as they were at present.

“I’m here to help, but don’t forget to keep this a secret. I prefer to stay low profile because the stress will be overwhelming if I become famous. To be honest, the reason why I came here to lodge police reports for the past two days was to test your investigation skills, haha,” Qi Youxuan explained with a grin.

Bloody hell!

What a shameless and brazen man!

Everyone in this room roared silently in their minds at this exact moment.

How could a lost cell phone and wallet possibly test the police officers’ investigation skills?

However, Qi Youxuan mentioned it like this was the truth. What a shameless bastard!

“Alright, Yuecheng, please explain the case to Youxuan,” the chief instructed before leaving.

Jiang Yuecheng frowned slightly while Zhang Ming informed Qi Youxuan of every clue they had obtained so far. Then, he could not help but complain after finishing the explanation, “You’re not being a good friend, mate. You didn’t even inform me that you were the one solving the case in Huai City.”

“Why are you complaining when Mumu doesn’t even know about this?” Qi Youxuan rolled his eyes in response.

Everyone shifted their gazes on Wei Muran when Qi Youxuan blurted out her nickname affectionately.

Blush seared through Wei Muran’s cheeks at this instant.

Qi Youxuan was the only one who would address Wei Muran as Mumu since young, but they were working in the department at this moment, so what the hell was he doing?

Jiang Yuecheng glanced at Qi Youxuan before shifting it elsewhere. “The forensic science division reported that they found traces of Zheng Xiaorui’s blood in the victim’s blood. Zheng Xiaorui was the victim’s granddaughter.”

Then, Xing Jiadong added further information. “Zheng Xiaorui, aged nineteen years old, studied in a fine arts course at Jiao University last year. Even though her house is in B City, she stays in the hostel and returns only on weekends.”

“Muran, follow me to Jiao University,” instructed Jiang Yuecheng while ignoring Qi Youxuan.

____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

[1] Douhua (Chinese: 豆花; pinyin: dòuhuā) is the short form of doufuhua (Chinese: 豆腐花; pinyin: dòufuhuā). It is a Chinese snack made with very soft tofu. It is also referred to as tofu pudding and soybean pudding. In northern China, douhua is often eaten with soy sauce, thus resulting in a savory flavor. Northern Chinese often refer to douhua as doufunao (豆腐脑; dòufunǎo; “tofu brains”, often shortened to 豆脑; dòunǎo).