She pursed her lips, her right hand moving from the butt of her gun, she reached into her pocket and pulled out several banknotes, slamming them on the table, and then spoke again:
“I want all of Liu Fuqiang’s medical records.”
After speaking, she took out one last banknote and slapped it on the table.
As she pushed the money toward the middle-aged woman, her fingers pressed on the cash, she continued calmly:
“Or I’ll apply for a search warrant, bring a team to inspect, and get Liu Fuqiang’s medical records by another method. Or… I can call the police right now and have them check the legality of this clinic. You choose.”
“…” The ‘Old Miracle Doctor’ with his grey-white eyebrows over his somewhat cloudy eyes sighed softly and turned back into the room.
A few minutes later, Jiayi received all of Liu Fuqiang’s medical records and medication history.
And a signed statement voluntarily provided by the ‘Old Miracle Doctor’ with evidence and testimony.
“Thank you,” Jiayi took off her glasses, casually throwing them into the trash can at the clinic entrance, finally smiling broadly.
By this time, the “Old Miracle Doctor” and the middle-aged woman realized that the calm and composed police officer who had clearly arranged everything was actually the young and talented sharpshooting policewoman.
A misstep—had they known it was her, they wouldn’t have opened the door!
….
….
At the Yau Ma Tei Police Station today, Inspector Qiu Sushan did not finish work on time. Instead, she stayed late in the office, working overtime until the station grew quieter, until the time she had brought back Uncle Jiu yesterday.
She straightened her clothes and organized the progress documents for today’s “Liu Fuqiang case” on her desk before sighing and walking out of her office.
Inspector Qiu personally went to the detention area to help Uncle Jiu with the release process and signed his release.
As the officer opened the iron door, she saw Uncle Jiu sitting on the hard bed, his bedding neatly folded, and she smiled faintly, taking the lead in speaking:
“Your wife and the two kids are already waiting at the police station’s entrance. Fang Zhenyue and the others are eager to clear your name, so they went back to work on the case, leaving me to pick you up and bring you to your family.”
Uncle Jiu limped out, looked up at the time, and then at the weather outside, pressing his lips together without responding.
It was already late, and the sky was overcast, looking like rain. Everyone was still out and about.
For him.
“Don’t feel pressured, and don’t think it’s all for you. You know how hard Team B works on cases. Don’t feel burdened, just go home and rest well. Once the case is closed, you’ll be back with the team.” Qiu Sushan walked beside Uncle Jiu, slowing her pace to accommodate his inconvenient leg and foot from a fall.
“How’s the progress?” Uncle Jiu turned his head to ask.
“Very good, and the detectives are very motivated, don’t worry,” Qiu Sushan’s smile remained constant.
Uncle Jiu nodded.
As they approached the entrance, Qiu Sushan asked him, “There are a lot of reporters outside, they might take your photo, are you feeling pressured? Do you want to cover your face?”
“No need, at my age, what do I have to fear about being photographed?” Uncle Jiu gave a bitter smile.
“They all believe in you.” Qiu Sushan could already see the waiting media outside. Even if Officer Guo himself came to disperse them, they were a crowd that wouldn’t be easily dismissed.
“I know,” Uncle Jiu’s eyes slightly lowered, he pursed his lips savoring the meaning of Qiu Sushan’s words.
“So, puff out your chest and stride out confidently,” Qiu Sushan stopped, reaching the entrance of the police station, she needed not go further.
Uncle Jiu turned to look at Qiu Sushan, the tall woman in a white shirt and suit trousers nodded at him solemnly, her expression serious and her eyes worried yet determined.
Uncle Jiu paused, pulled his hands out of his pockets, looked at his reflection in the police station’s glass door, smoothed his hair twice, rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath to boost his spirits, and then looked again at Qiu Sushan.
Madam Qiu curled her lips into a smile, and he knew he had passed the image test. He then exhaled, stepped out of the police station boldly, ignoring and facing the cameras alike.
When the click-click of cameras sounded, Uncle Jiu thought that at least the young ones who couldn’t come to see him off today wouldn’t worry too much about him when they saw the newspapers tomorrow.
An elderly man striding through the crowd like a proud rooster would certainly not appear pitiful.
…
Following the lead provided by Ding Baoshu, even though Fang Zhenyue felt that finding evidence from decades ago was a long shot, he still sent Sanfu to check the underground clinics near Xi Ming’s former residence, hoping to find a decades-old dental record that might not even exist.
If such a thing existed, perhaps it could confirm whether Xi Ming and Liu Fuqiang were the same person.
Meanwhile, he headed straight to the forensic department, coaxing Brother Da Guangming into working overtime to carry out a new round of footprint inspection at the Baishana security booth and patrol routes.
Since the search warrant wasn’t approved yet, they couldn’t search Liu Fuqiang’s home and had to operate in public areas, which no one minded.
But it was a tough job.
“This is a footprint photo from Xi Ming’s old case file.” Fang Zhenyue handed the photo to Brother Da Guangming and continued, “If we can find a footprint that matches this one from Xi Ming, is there a chance to prove they are the same person?”
“I really haven’t finished work at a normal time for a month, and today I finally can go home early… Can’t you just let it be, Sir Fang!” Brother Da Guangming complained, sitting in Fang Zhenyue’s jeep, turning on the car light, and carefully examining the photo.
“The media at the police station entrance, they all came to photograph Uncle Jiu. Once Uncle Jiu’s 24-hour detainment ends, he’ll have to burst through those malicious reporters to get home.” Fang Zhenyue frowned and said sternly:
“Do you know how they will report on Uncle Jiu tomorrow? How they’ll take advantage of the situation and critique the Hong Kong police? If such voices continue for a few days, what kind of public opinion will the media lead?
“We’ve been working hard month after month, and no one knows about it, only to be falsely accused by the media—”
“Alright, alright, I’ll do my best and stop complaining, okay?” Brother Da Guangming quickly waved his hands, showing he was intimidated.
Fang Zhenyue nodded in satisfaction.
“Everyone has their own walking quirks, which tend to intensify with age. Xi Ming’s footprints are heavier on the outside and lighter on the inside, and he walks with his feet pointing outwards. His shoes are usually worn thin on the outer edges, making the soles uneven. Unfortunately, the deceased was wearing new shoes, so we can’t corroborate this aspect,” Brother Da Guangming explained while taking prints at the security booth.
As they left the booth, the young security guard taking over from Liu Fuqiang entered.
Brother Da Guangming printed the new security guard’s shoeprints before continuing to walk with Fang Zhenyue along the security’s daily patrol route, searching for places where footprints might easily be left.
After collecting a few more footprints, it started to rain heavily, and Fang Zhenyue finally let Brother Da Guangming go home.
Holding several footprints collected in evidence bags, Fang Zhenyue drove back to the police station. He planned to store these pieces of evidence in the forensic department, waiting for tomorrow when Chen Guangyao would perform a detailed comparison of the footprint characteristics with Liu Fuqiang.
He also took the opportunity to organize the case details, evidence, and clues.
…
When Fang Zhenyue got out of his car, the rain had intensified, changing from a drizzle to a downpour, bringing up the smell of mud and rust.
A real man walking in the rain never covers his head, merely flicking away some of the raindrops with his hand as he enters the police station.
Returning to Team B’s office, he found the lights on and Jiayi sitting at her desk by the window, sorting files and taking notes.
After a day’s hard work, the split leaders of the two small teams were reunited.
Jiayi seemed to sense something, lifting her head to see Fang Zhenyue standing at the door, rain dripping down his wet hair. At first glance, it looked as though he might have been quietly crying there.
If a real man knew that his indifference to getting wet could be mistaken for ‘secretly crying’, he would never allow himself to be drenched again.
“Sir Fang,” Jiayi quickly stood up and saluted, then shook a medical record on the desk, “I’ve got it.”
Thanks to some painfully expensive bribery.
“Not bad, I’m not too shabby either,” Fang Zhenyue raised the footprints and a camera encased in evidence bags.
“Gary and Jiaming also had some gains; a resident mentioned seeing Liu Fuqiang clutching his chest and taking pills. They also said Liu Fuqiang speaks softly and quietly, and is very sensitive to noise because of his poor heart, which cannot withstand shocks.” Jiayi lifted up some notes.
“I can’t bring out anything more than that, so you win,” Fang Zhenyue smiled as he leaned against the doorframe.
Jiayi smiled proudly and then seriously said, “Sir Fang, to get that medical record, I gave that Mongolian doctor 300 Hong Kong dollars.”
“I’ll help you apply for reimbursement from madam tomorrow, how about that?” Fang Zhenyue’s eyes slightly curved, a drop of rainwater from his left bangs incidentally falling, his left eye blinking reflexively.
Jiayi, watching Fang Zhenyue unwittingly wink at her, suddenly couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“What’s up?” Fang Zhenyue pulled a piece of paper from a desk at the entrance to wipe his face, pushing all the bothersome hair back. The wet, messy short hair that gave a lazy wildness suddenly disappeared, replaced by the aggressive maturity of a slicked-back look.
Jiayi took a deep breath, Sir Fang was still playing with a 5-second hairstyle change in front of her late at night.
“It’s nothing, pretty handsome,” Jiayi said with a smile, setting down her notes and files, preparing to sit down and continue working.
“As long as it looks good.” Fang Zhenyue casually remarked, glancing at the clock on the wall.
It was already 23:46, and she still seemed uninterested in going home—had Miss Yi from the Yi family turned into a workaholic who never goes home?
“Hey! A meteor!” Fang Zhenyue suddenly spoke.
Jiayi was just about to sit back down when Sir Fang’s comment made her immediately stand up straight and peer out the window into the sky, scanning left and right in search of a meteor.
Fang Zhenyue chuckled, “It’s pouring rain, Officer Yi, can you really see the stars when it’s cloudy?”
“…” Jiayi incredulously turned back around, unable to believe that Brother Yue would deceive her!
“Your brain isn’t working anymore, huh? Why are you still working overtime? Go home,” Fang Zhenyue said as he patted the wall, “I’ll go put the evidence in the forensic department, you pack up, I’ll give you a lift in a bit.”
After saying that, he turned and left, his footsteps fading away with imposing authority.
Jiayi stretched lazily, twisting her waist in the office.
She also had days when she worked overtime until midnight. Indeed, striving is the norm in a career. Always walking by the river, how could one not work overtime?
By the time Fang Zhenyue returned, Jiayi had already donned the pink raincoat that Sanfu gave her, wrapped up tight, looking far from formidable.
Even a bit cute.
Thinking of her commanding presence during the day while arranging teams, Fang Zhenyue couldn’t help but think, do all women have two faces? One for work, another after work.
And how come this lady doesn’t care about maintaining a public image?
A formidable policewoman, eh? If there were paparazzi outside the police station at this moment, wouldn’t they capture her in this raincoat look?
Walking side by side with Yi Jiayi out of the police station, Fang Zhenyue suddenly began to wonder if he was too concerned with appearances? Focusing too much on appearances wasn’t that the lack of professionalism he always detested?
A few years younger, he deliberately dressed casually at the police station to show his full dedication to his career, undistracted by anything else, and was continuously complained about by Qiu Sushan.
Looking at the back of Jiayi’s head, protected tightly by the raincoat, Fang Zhenyue playfully poked at the air.
Quite good, indeed. Detective Yi Jiayi possesses a sincere heart devoted to justice and her career, earning the recognition of the police station’s renowned hard worker: Here is someone even more focused and pure than he, unconcerned by others’ views, focused on her own tasks, and diligently working on cases. Thinking about it, she seems quite dashing.
Like the character Lu Xiaofeng from Gu Long’s novels, this young woman actually carries a sense of chivalry.
As Fang Zhenyue’s jeep started, the dashing female hero dozed off in the passenger seat.
Perhaps because his driving was really smooth, maybe the sound of rain had a lulling effect, or possibly because the formidable aura of this fierce detective was absent, allowing one to feel at ease and sleep comfortably when alone with him in the cozy little space.
The jeep entered Yongfa Garden community, stopping below Yi’s apartment building.
Fang Zhenyue glanced back at Jiayi; the hood of the raincoat had been rubbed off, her face flushed with sleep, her slender sword-like eyebrows relaxed, her lips slightly parted…
He watched her for a moment, then she suddenly furrowed her brow, her mouth moved as if cursing someone. Perhaps she was dreaming of confronting a criminal; her dainty yet spirited features regained some fierceness.
Quite beautiful in any way.
Fang Zhenyue took a breath, looked up at the building, the 10th-floor window showing a faint warm light, probably the light Yi Jiadong left on for his big sister.
The little girl belongs to the Yi family, but he kind of didn’t want to return her.