The next morning, Yi Jiayi got up early and had a simple breakfast with her older brother before setting off on her bicycle.
Clutching a small map, she pedaled while glancing at road signs, heading straight for the scene of a case involving the theft of an infant and the murder of the mother.
The deceased’s husband worked as an accountant at a small company and was reportedly a junior manager with a decent income and good living conditions.
Yi Jiayi circled the neighborhood and finally found a spot where she could see the victim’s apartment building. Conveniently, there was a stall selling soy milk and fried buns nearby. She ordered a bowl of soy milk and a fried bun and sat down to start surveilling quietly.
Every time someone entered or exited the building, she would immediately stare intently to try and identify them.
Her eyes were red from staring, yet she hadn’t spotted any of the culprits.
After finishing her soy milk, she reluctantly ordered another bowl.
The stall owner, a middle-aged woman with a noticeable waistline, had already noticed Yi Jiayi’s odd behavior. As she brought over the second bowl of soy milk, she couldn’t help but follow Yi Jiayi’s gaze and then whispered mysteriously:
“Boyfriend cheating, trying to catch him in the act?”
“……” Yi Jiayi.
After downing the third bowl of soy milk, her stomach was full of liquid, and she still hadn’t seen any culprits coming or going, making her doubt whether the assumption ‘the culprit is the neighbor’ was reliable.
Yi Jiayi glanced at her watch; it was time to go to work.
Disappointed, she paid the bill. The stall owner also checked the time and couldn’t help but say warmly while giving change, “Tell me what your boyfriend looks like, what he’s wearing, and such. I don’t close until 10 o’clock, so I can keep an eye out for a few more hours.”
Yi Jiayi felt embarrassed, thanked her, and hurriedly rode off on her bicycle.
The stall owner watched Yi Jiayi’s departing figure and sighed: Such a beautiful girl, she could find any boyfriend she wants. Why waste energy following a cheater? Better to move on. Tsk, young women today, not as carefree as I was.
For the next few hours, whenever someone came to the stall to drink soy milk and eat fried buns, the stall owner would vividly recount the story of a young, beautiful girl who failed to catch a cheater and left sobbing.
Incidentally, she’d also reminisce, “Young man, don’t be fooled by my current barrel-like waist. Back in the day, I was also a famous beauty on United Road, with handsome guys lining up to chase me…”
…
After completing the tasks assigned by Sister Yin in the morning, Yi Jiayi delivered two boxes of archives that had been uploaded to the internal network and neatly organized to the archives room.
Returning to her small office, she took advantage of Sister Yin’s absence to read through six case files, diligently studying and taking notes.
Sister Yin had someone clean the water dispenser and, upon returning, casually brought up the gossip about the infant theft case that was keeping the Major Crime Unit awake at night:
“The newspapers reported on it, giving the case a horrifying name: ‘The Fetus Snatching Case.’ Tabloids declared with certainty that the culprit was a baby-eating demon, a baby-eating fiend who specifically targeted infants and children under one year old. My niece, eight months pregnant, was so terrified that she dared not even step outside her door.”
“It’s said that the victim’s parents are from the village, having raised six children by sewing shoe soles. The victim was the youngest, a beautiful girl who married well. She would often buy new clothes for her elderly parents and bring them chicken or fish, so very filial. Although she didn’t work, she was able to be a full-time housewife, and was quite happy.”
“However, the victim’s husband seems to be no good. According to his colleagues, he was keeping a woman on the side and often went out after work to play. He even frequently suspected his wife of infidelity, shouting during arguments that the child in her belly wasn’t his. Utterly inhuman! Pregnancy is hard enough without having to endure suspicions from her husband, and neighbors say she was always crying.”
“Her parents didn’t know anything. Each time she visited home, she told them her husband was very good to her; she didn’t want to worry them, poor child…”
By noon, Yi Jiayi hurried to change out of her uniform, planning to spend her lunch break continuing to stake out the crime scene.
Just as she was leaving the building, she ran into Liu Jiaming and others taking the victim’s husband in for questioning.
The man, with short hair slicked back with pomade and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, ranted as he walked, pretending to be insane:
“That woman must have provoked someone outside. Maybe it was her lover who showed up. The child was someone else’s and taken away by them.”
Gary walked behind the victim’s husband, visibly impatient.
Liu Jiaming, spotting Yi Jiayi, quickly approached, “Jiayi, your brother’s cooking is unforgettable, I must come to eat again soon.”
“Sure, Jiaming is always welcome to support the business,” Yi Jiayi responded, but her gaze stayed fixed on the victim’s husband, murmuring under her breath, “Scumbag.”
“How come there are so many scumbags nowadays? I wonder if it’s something about that building’s feng shui.” Liu Jiaming continued, “This morning Gary and I were investigating there, and while we were drinking soy milk outside the community, the shop owner told us, believe it or not, that in that very building where the murder occurred, there was a man juggling six women.”
Yi Jiayi finally turned her gaze away, looking at Liu Jiaming with a sense of foreboding.
“Six women, impressive, really,” Liu Jiaming held up six fingers, clicking his tongue in wonder. “This morning, the man’s official girlfriend came to catch him in the act. She was drinking soy milk and crying. So sad.”
Yi Jiayi, could it be…
“Hey? I heard that the official girlfriend also wears a milk-yellow hairband and a striped polo shirt.” Liu Jiaming raised his eyebrows, inadvertently laughing as he pointed at the butterfly knot on Yi Jiayi’s old hairband.
Yi Jiayi was speechless, just about to scoff, ‘Rumors! Pure rumors! The milk-yellow hairband is innocent!’ when she heard the victim’s husband ranting again as he passed through the corridor:
“I knew I shouldn’t have married a woman from Tin Shui Wai1Tin Shui Wai: primarily consists of public housing and some private residential complexes. The area has faced social issues such as poverty, isolation, and community problems, often highlighted in the media, contributing to its sometimes negative public perception; Sometimes referred to as the “City of Sadness” due to a series of high-profile social issues and tragedies that have occurred there, including cases of domestic violence, suicide, and mental health crises. . The feng shui there is bad, a place where misfortunes often occur. I really was blind to—”
Yi Jiayi walked to the entrance of the police station and saw the parents of the deceased sitting on plastic chairs along the corridor. The noise of cursing grew louder as the deceased’s husband passed by them.
The elderly couple simply let him curse without saying a word.
The woman secretly wiped her tears while the old man clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly. His head was bowed low, his temples bulging under his receding hairline, and his ruddy cheeks were now a swollen purple.
Fang Zhenyue walked out of the interrogation room, glaring fiercely at the deceased’s husband, and said to Gary, “Take him to the interrogation room.”
Upon receiving Sir Fang’s stern look, the husband finally fell silent. Gary grabbed his arm and hurried him along, pulling him forward two steps before he suddenly burst into loud sobs.
“What’s he crying about?” Yi Jiayi, initially indignant, heard his mournful cries and was suddenly unsure how to react emotionally.
“Who knows, maybe he still has some conscience left,” Liu Jiaming shrugged at Jiayi as he headed to the interrogation room, leaving only the remark: “Maybe he regrets killing. Or perhaps he finally remembered he’s human and thought of his wife’s death, shedding a few crocodile tears.”
Yi Jiayi watched the old man who used all his strength to clench his fists, pursing her lips.
Seconds later, she put on her sun hat, stepped quickly out of the police station, and rode her bicycle to continue surveilling outside the neighborhood where the crime occurred.
This time, she bought two cups of iced cola, a hamburger, and a box of fried chicken, diving into the building where the crime had happened.
She bribed the building’s caretaker with the iced cola and sat next to him on a small stool under the guise of “finding a shady spot to wait for someone,” munching on her hamburger while she waited.
The caretaker, wary of the cold, sipped the cola and chewed the chicken slowly, covertly observing Yi Jiayi for a long while before he finally couldn’t help but ask:
“Young lady, does your boyfriend live in this building?”
“Ah? No…” Yi Jiayi raised an eyebrow, confused.
“Don’t fool an old man like me; I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice. You’re the one everyone’s talking about, aren’t you? The friend who’s stalking her cheating boyfriend, ready to catch him in the act?”
“…” Yi Jiayi.
She never expected to become known in this area in such a manner.
If she comes back to surveil tomorrow, does she need to disguise herself a bit?
“Listen to an old man’s advice, it’s easy to find another man; why bother so much over a lousy one. If there’s no suitable young man around you, let me introduce one. My son’s brother-in-law is a fine choice, a university graduate, handsome and charming—consider it—” The chatty caretaker, likely bored, found Yi Jiayi’s ‘storied’ presence too intriguing not to play matchmaker, getting more and more carried away with excitement.
Yi Jiayi, with a mind full of black lines, was thinking whether to clarify the misunderstanding or just go along with it, when suddenly the elevator at the corner dinged as it arrived.
She turned her head to look, her posture casual from too many disappointments, not even a hint of hope left in her heart.
But when she clearly saw the face of the newcomer, her pupils suddenly constricted, her muscles tensed, and her scalp exploded, almost jumping off the stool.
It was her!
The old woman who had restrained the victim’s freedom at the time of the murder!