Jiayi was the last one to get out of the car. After closing the door, she turned back, leaning against the window, trying to find Fang Zhenyue’s eyes in the glow of the street lamps.
Sergeant Fang was already very tired, resting one arm on the window edge, his left hand on the steering wheel, he raised an eyebrow and asked her, “What’s up? Remember something you want to say?”
“Brother Yue, thank you.” Her voice was hoarse from running around all day, and her eyes were tired.
She took a step back and bowed to him.
“Ha, why such a grand gesture?” Seeing her serious and solemn expression, Fang Zhenyue couldn’t help but smile with a lifted corner of his lips.
A person’s smile when they are exhausted can appear so languid and gentle.
“Madam told me that the police department originally did not want to issue a reward because it’s natural for police to catch criminals. It was you who fought for it for me.” Jiayi stood upright on the raised part of the pedestrian road, speaking with extra gravity.
To someone like Sir Fang, a wealthy second-generation, it would be impossible to understand what money means to a poor family.
Those unreachable dreams of buying a house, living in a big house, eating grand meals, buying beautiful clothes are all within easy reach for wealthy children. Many rich people might even find these poor dreams ridiculous and pitiful.
But Fang Zhenyue didn’t seem like that kind of rich young master. The reward, which Jiayi herself dared not dream of, might only be a small amount of money in his eyes, but he did not belittle it.
Brother Yue, a person who doesn’t really care about money, casually gives her 5000 yuan each month for the department’s dining welfare as if he fully understands their significance to the Yi family.
Thinking this, Jiayi felt like bowing again.
The impulse to bow for money, indeed hard to suppress.
Fang Zhenyue sighed uncomfortably, hesitated for a moment before expressing regret:
“Unfortunately, the team reward for killing the robber king was not approved. Jiayi, being a commander is supposed to consider things for the detectives. If you think I did the right thing, then in the future, I hope you can be such a Sergeant as well.”
“I will try. If I really become a Sergeant, I will definitely follow in Sir Fang’s footsteps.” Jiayi nodded sincerely, but hosting meals like he does, she really couldn’t manage.
Although she hadn’t become a Sergeant yet, she was already quietly and stingily complaining about him spoiling everyone.
Although, when she was on the receiving end of being spoiled, she felt nothing but happiness. But indeed, as they say, one’s perspective decides their thoughts; she hadn’t even become a Sergeant yet, and was already worrying about such distant matters.
Otherwise… if she really became a Sergeant, maybe she could occasionally treat everyone to Yi Ji, nothing more extravagant! She wasn’t that wealthy…
While Jiayi was sincerely troubling herself with these thoughts, Fang Zhenyue leaned back into his car seat, casting his features, expressions, and complexion into the shadows, and then coughed unnaturally.
Jiayi quickly regained her composure, her face turning red with embarrassment. Scratching her cheek, she said “Thank you” again, and after giggling, she couldn’t help but sincerely add:
“I’m really lucky to have a boss like Brother Yue. He’s truly the best boss in the world.”
Fang Zhenyue’s face and expression were obscured by shadows. He waved his hand hurriedly without responding and, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the accelerator, he hastily drove away.
Jiayi watched the back of Sir Fang’s car, smiling to herself for a while before turning into her new residential community.
The doorman at the gate wasn’t asleep; he earnestly asked Jiayi which unit she lived in and why she was returning home so late.
She took out her ID, explained earnestly, and was let through.
Walking on the cobblestone path, she occasionally looked up through the gaps between the lush tree canopies to admire the dark blue sky and the hazy moonlight.
The path under her feet was so smooth, the leaves by her hands were pleasingly oily and lush, the air was free of mold and dust, filled only with the fragrance of late-blooming osmanthus and the especially clear scent of grass and trees at midnight.
After exiting the walking path, having signed in the butler’s notebook, and while taking the elevator up, Jiayi suddenly became curious:
I wonder what it feels like to live in a villa?
Could I plant big, beautiful hydrangeas in a small yard?
A yard full of blooming flowers, with Jiajun reading in a small pavilion, Jiaru leisurely pruning the flowers and grass in her dress, and the eldest brother having a 20 square meter large kitchen where he can dance while cooking to soothing music…
If they also had a dog sitting by her side while she sunbathed in the yard…
They could have a small BBQ on their balcony, host parties inviting all their detective friends for fun and games, or throw a birthday party for Jiaru in the yard.
How happy they would be…
With a silly smile, Jiayi opened the door to her new home and found that her elder brother had left the living room light on for her.
The warm light shone on her face, and the air still carried the scent of delicious food from a previous feast.
Tiptoeing into the spacious new home where she could walk around without bumping into any furniture or clutter felt unfamiliar.
While washing up, she enjoyed the scent of laundry detergent in her room and the fragrance of fresh flowers in the living room.
Returning to her bedroom and closing the door, Jiaru lay on the top bunk of the new and slightly larger bunk bed, enveloped in a mosquito net, sleeping like a piglet.
Even in the dim room, she could feel the sweet, pink ambiance.
It was said to be for fulfilling Jiaru’s childhood dream, but she herself had always longed for a beautiful all-pink cottage.
That was the secret room of a little girl in the deepest recesses of her heart, who never wanted to grow up.
Crawling into bed and wrapped in the soft, fluffy bedding, Jiayi sighed softly.
Her weary body soon pulled her into deep sleep, snoring gently…
Unfortunately, the dream did not project the beautiful pink scenes she wished for; it was all the same corpse she had been staring at as she watched the mind-flow footage repeatedly to capture more information.
…
The next day’s headlines in all major newspapers unanimously featured the photo of the corpse seated in the tram.
Some photographers seemed to have used all their skills to shoot the photo with an extraordinary cinematic feel—like that of a horror movie!
It genuinely scared the public. People walking on the streets, when passing by a tram, could not help but get goosebumps and look up to see if there was anything unusual, or they would dodge and hesitate to approach the tram.
Consequently, a strange scene appeared in Hong Kong today: no one dared to take the window seats on the upper deck of the trams, even if they had to go upstairs due to crowding, they just stood and never sat close to the seats.
The bus company had to post notices on the exteriors of their buses: “This bus is not a corpse carrier. The vehicle used as a corpse carrier has been recalled and fully disinfected, and rituals will be performed by a master.”
Therefore, whether now or in the future, the public can ride with peace of mind.
The farce will eventually cease, but the case continues.
Uncle Jiu stood with hands on hips in the center of the office, glaring at the words on the whiteboard.
His family had recently been urging him to quit smoking, which he found annoying, so he actually considered quitting.
In his pocket was a cigarette pack, which he took out only to find it filled with chewing gum, stuffed there by his daughter.
He took out a piece and fiddled with it in his hands, rubbing it until the wrapper frayed, but his anxious emotions remained unsoothed.
For someone quitting smoking, facing a difficult case felt like a monkey with its butt on fire—restless and pacing back and forth.
Liu Jiaming, disturbed by Uncle Jiu’s anxious mannerisms, began to feel nervous himself, and couldn’t help but say something inauspicious:
“Could it be that we won’t be able to solve this case?”
“Watch your mouth,” Uncle Jiu slapped him on the shoulder.
Jiaming immediately got up wisely, not waiting for Uncle Jiu to speak, and went to offer incense in front of the statue of Guan Gong.
Jiayi and Fang Zhenyue didn’t look good either. They had received all sorts of lab results and reports that morning, but so far, no one had reported a missing person, and the victim’s identity had not been matched from fingerprint records or previous missing persons files.
The photos of the victim in the newspapers were all blurred on the face at the request of the police and to prevent scaring the readers.
If they were close relatives, they should be able to recognize the person from the clothing and the general contours. Even if not relatives, if they were colleagues, they should be able to recognize them. After all, this colleague did not come to work as usual today and resembled the blurred photo in the newspaper; it was highly likely to deduce that it was the same person.
But so far, no one had called claiming to be the victim’s family or friend; all they could do was wait.
“The tram operates with a button system where it stops to pick up passengers who signal or wave; the stopping time at each station is not fixed.” The randomness was too high; any station along the entire line could be a possibility.
“We’ve now received information from two individuals claiming to have seen the deceased. We can only advance the time the deceased got on the vehicle to between 13:00 and 15:30. But we still can’t determine exactly where the deceased boarded the vehicle.”
“This morning I took that bus, getting off at each stop along the route to ask the nearby shopkeepers, salespeople, and street vendors. After several hours, no one remembered seeing the deceased. Only a vendor pushing a cart selling chestnuts thought he might have seen the deceased on a double-decker bus, but he wasn’t sure if he was mistaken.” Sanfu spent the morning running around, the wind and all the inquiries made him cough incessantly.
“…” Fang Zhenyue’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and his expression was grim as he stared at the whiteboard.
Deduction always needs to be based on existing clues. Given the current situation, solving this case is as difficult as building castles in the air.
“I’ll go for another ride on the tram this afternoon,” Sanfu scratched his head.
“Brother Yue, should we ask PR Department’s Sir Guo to place a missing person notice in the newspapers? Like blackening out the eyes of the corpse to make it clearer, and then releasing a photo,” Liu Jiaming looked towards Fang Zhenyue.
“I’ll make another trip to the forensic department,” Fang Zhenyue threw the marker into the tray under the whiteboard and turned to leave.
“I’ll come too,” Jiayi immediately followed.