Although Yi Jiadong complained about “having to start work early in the morning,” he still went to work ahead of time to prepare a protein-packed breakfast for the voracious men of the Major Case B Team.
“No choice, Sir Fang gave too much~” Yi Jiayi stuffed money into her elder brother’s hand and giggled as she ran down with the thermal box.
“I’ll buy you a car later,” Yi Jiadong suddenly shouted from upstairs.
Yi Jiayi turned around to wave at her brother, patting the bike frame that bore the English logo “Magge,” “This bike is sturdy and useful, I’m reluctant to replace it.”
Her long hair fluttered under the helmet as she pedaled swiftly like a tomboy, whizzing around the building and disappearing in the blink of an eye.
“Such energy,” Yi Jiadong couldn’t help but mutter, “Police school seems pretty good, keeps you strong and healthy.”
After saying that, he swung his fists in the air; his arms stretched a bit too far, and he quickly rotated his arms to ease them. It seemed that the muscles developed from flipping spoons were different from those used in boxing.
Regretting that he couldn’t partake in the deeds of punishing the wicked and promoting the good, Yi Jiadong closed the window and turned back inside to prepare breakfast for the little ones.
Fortunately, there were plenty of leftover ingredients from cooking for the B Team detectives, enough to easily pull something together for the kids.
…
The early morning was beautiful, with the sun having rested all night and a rare cool freshness in the air, indicating that the oppressive heat of late summer was finally leaving.
After parking her bike in the parking lot, Yi Jiayi immediately grabbed the thermal box and ran towards the police station, the food still steaming hot; she had to deliver it quickly to the starving ghosts.
She ran with the box, focused solely on the food, completely unaware of the figure that surged up in the corridor facing the parking lot just as she stopped her bike.
As she rushed into the police station, someone happened to come out to meet her.
It was Liu Jiaming and Gary, escorting two men out of the station, the man in front was Zhang Jintu, followed by a buzz-cut guy.
Yi Jiayi immediately fixed her gaze on Zhang Jintu, one of the suspects, and paused before turning to greet, “Morning, Brother Jiaming, Brother Gary, the food’s here.”
Liu Jiaming caught the lunchbox, said “Thanks for the hard work,” and dashed towards the B Team office.
Jiayi turned to look at Gary, who casually asked with a smile, “Are those two providing new clues for the King’s Park case?”
“Yes, they came to give their statements. The one in front is Zhang Jintu; he used to work with the male victim. The one behind is Li Zixiong; he went fishing at Ship Bay with the victim,” Gary said, seemingly casually. After finishing, he hurriedly watched Yi Jiayi’s expression, seeing her lost in thought, apparently not noticing his overly detailed and specific response, nor suspecting it resembled a report, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Ah, this is even harder than catching criminals.
Yi Jiayi silently noted the name Zhang Jintu, the only one among the five murderers not listed on the whiteboard.
Zhang Zixiong, whom she had never met, did not appear in the mental imagery and was clearly irrelevant; there was no need to pay him any mind.
She was completely focused on the case, following Gary towards Office B.
She planned to introduce breakfast to everyone soon, and while they were eating and discussing the case, she intended to discreetly inquire about everyone’s progress from the night before, then collect the thermal boxes.
She completely missed that Zhang Jintu, who had just been escorted out, was pressed down by Lin Wangjiu, lurking in the delivery, handcuffed, and taken back to the station.
Another man with a crew cut and short stature was merely making a friendly cameo, greeted Uncle Jiu, and left.
…
Avoiding the Major Crime Team B corridor, Lin Wangjiu delivered Zhang Jintu for detention, then hurried back, pretending he had been outside smoking.
His acting was quite poor, but luckily Yi Jiayi did not notice him at all.
“Hey, have you all started eating?” he called out and then sat down to focus on his breakfast, occasionally glancing at Yi Jiayi.
No matter how he observed, he thought the young policewoman looked naive and cute, totally unrelated to the “ghost hands” suspected by Sir Fang.
Even if it wasn’t anything supernatural, it shouldn’t…
The air conditioning was blowing loudly, and everyone ate quickly to prevent the food from cooling.
Uncle Jiu was the last to return but the first to start eating. “I’m going to smoke a cigarette,” he said, dropping his chopsticks and running off.
“Me too,” Liu Jiaming stuffed the last dumpling into his mouth, dropped his chopsticks, and mumbled as he followed Uncle Jiu.
“Sanfu, come with me to check the records,” Fang Zhenyue stretched lazily, rinsed his mouth with water, picked up Sanfu, and also left the room.
Gary looked up at this group of people and muttered, “Everyone’s gone. I need to visit the male victim’s neighbors, just leaving me to clear the table.”
“I’ll help you, Brother Gary,” Yi Jiayi said with a smile, standing up and occasionally glancing at the whiteboard, where several names had been added, including Zhang Jintu whom she encountered that morning.
She finally matched the last murderer’s face and name, and hurried to circle it out for Sir Fang and the others to know, identifying him as one of the murderers!
After tidying up, Gary grabbed a bottle of mineral water, eager to leave.
Leaving only Yi Jiayi to collect the thermal boxes.
After organizing the thermal boxes, she walked to the door and looked around.
At this time, colleagues were just arriving at the station, either changing into their uniforms to patrol the streets or brewing coffee to fend off a busy day.
Thus, the corridor was deserted, absolutely no one around.
Now was the moment!
Jiayi swished around and strode to the whiteboard, grabbed a marker, and with a flourish, circled the name ‘Zhang Jintu’, then capped the marker and tossed it aside.
The movement was fluid, clearly well-practiced.
Looking at the last suspect she circled, Jiayi’s face broke into a proud smile.
“Humph, the nets of heaven are vast yet let nothing through.”
Pleased with herself, she smacked her lips, turned around, and walked out of Team B’s office, ready to take a few steps that “cut all ties with kin” as she swaggered back to her small office upstairs.
However, as soon as her gaze followed her turning head, she spotted a figure who should not have been there at that moment.
Fang Zhenyue leaned against the door of Qiu Sushan’s office, his hand resting on the top frame, his posture relaxed and his eyes amused.
“…” Jiayi’s heart pounded, her body stiffened, and she said rigidly, “Sir Fang.”
She didn’t know when he had come out of Inspector Qiu’s office, nor how long he had been standing there.
“Morning~” Fang Zhenyue’s smile lingered on his lips; he had just had breakfast with her, and yet, he strangely greeted her good morning again.
The door behind him was open, and Qiu Sushan, sitting in her office, looked through the gap between the man and the door at Jiayi.
The young policewoman nodded, smiled, and was about to leave when Fang Zhenyue spoke again:
“How did you know Zhang Jintu was the murderer?”
Jiayi’s heart skipped a beat. She stared wide-eyed at Fang Zhenyue, opened her mouth, then closed it again, her posture gradually straightening.
Across the hallway, four detectives, looking for excuses to leave, suddenly appeared.
Liu Jiaming quickly joined Jiayi’s side, peeking into the office: none of the other newly added miscellaneous names were circled, only the name Zhang Jintu they met this morning was circled prominently.
“Wow—” Liu Jiaming slapped his own head, looked Jiayi up and down, back and forth, as if seeing her for the first time.
He bit his lip incredulously, shook his head, rubbed his forehead with his fingers like a child with ADHD, and after a long pause, finally blurted out:
“It really is you, Jiayi, wow, such a great act, I had no idea it was you.”
He slapped his forehead again, then, recalling the moments when the murderer was circled during the investigation of these cases, he couldn’t help but step back and repeated the ADHD-like behavior, exclaiming loudly:
“How did you do it? When I still had no clue, how did you know who the murderer was? Wow! Wow…”
He pinched his nose, utterly amazed and speechless.
It was astonishing.
It was like the brother who grew up with you, who would spit into the wind with you or pee against the waves, suddenly telling you he was actually a woman.
It’s as if you’ve been eating “urinating beef balls1“Urinating beef balls” (撒尿牛丸) is actually a playful and humorous name for a type of Chinese meatball, often made from beef. The name does not reflect the ingredients; instead, it refers to the juicy quality of the meatballs. When bitten into, the juices are released, which can squirt out somewhat forcefully, humorously likened to urination. ” for over twenty years, and one day the boss tells you they’re actually made with urine;
It’s just like…
In short, it’s astonishing!
Lin Wangjiu always had his head tilted, his mouth covered, and his neck twisted, his eyes flitting between Yi Jiayi and the whiteboard in the office. It seemed like everything on his body was frozen except his eyes.
To think that Yi Jiayi, this young policewoman, had made headlines for discovering the murder weapon in such a short time after joining the force, and not just by luck! No!
Now, it seems she was the first to identify the culprit in several cases. Just thinking about this, he couldn’t take his eyes off Yi Jiayi, amazed!
But then, thinking about his own foolishness in desperately praying and worshiping, he…
Turned around, wishing he could go outside through the corridor and smoke an entire box of cigarettes.
“So, the female victim in the King’s Park murder case didn’t just go to the park to read books by herself—you figured that out through deduction, not just a random thought. And… you had already identified these people as the culprits? How did you find out?” Gary’s eyes grew brighter as he thought about it, his gaze on Yi Jiayi was like looking at a deity:
“So, you also solved the baby theft case…”
Everyone was immersed in shock, unable to snap back to reality.
Qiu Sushan saw them, each throwing out comments, almost to the point of exasperation, and had to push aside Fang Zhenyue, who had always been blocking the doorway trying to look cool, to stop this farce.
She put on a gentle senior officer’s expression and invited Yi Jiayi:
“Shall we talk?”
After saying this, she stepped aside, gestured with her hand to come in.
Fang Zhenyue nodded encouragingly at Yi Jiayi, went into Qiu Sushan’s office first, and sat boldly on the sofa against the wall, before turning his gaze to Yi Jiayi.
His eyes were especially serene, like a deep, mysterious high mountain lake.
Yi Jiayi’s right eyelid twitched: could Sir Fang have known it was me all along?
She took a deep breath, under the complex gazes of Liu Jiaming and others, torn between reverence and astonishment, and slowly walked into the inspector’s office. She bypassed Fang Zhenyue on the sofa and obediently sat down in the chair across from Qiu Sushan’s desk.
She sat upright, legs together, hands resting on her thighs.
Qiu Sushan closed the door, circled the desk, and took a good look at the young policewoman before her.
The sunlight penetrated the large window behind her seat, casting light into the room and onto Yi Jiayi’s face, dusting her long eyelashes with gold, making them appear exceptionally soft.
The fine, soft hairs at the young policewoman’s temples also turned a wheat-yellow, reminiscent of the phrase used to describe little girls: “yellow-haired lass.”
It was such a tender and young blonde girl who, with her unique sharpness, was the first to discover the murder weapon and the first to see through the murderer, making the veteran detectives of the Major Crime unit run around in circles.
No wonder Fang Zhenyue applied to have Yi Jiayi transferred to his team.
Qiu Sushan unconsciously sat up straight, and before she spoke, she involuntarily glanced at the man on the sofa.
Fang Zhenyue smiled at her and nodded, as if encouraging her to ask anything she wanted without fear.
Qiu Sushan’s brow furrowed, sparked by Fang Zhenyue’s irritating demeanor, and she finally regained some of the authority of a leader when facing ‘Circle Ghost Hand’ Yi Jiayi.
“Yi Jiayi, you drew those red circles, didn’t you? How did you know those people were the murderers?” Qiu Sushan raised her eyebrows, speaking softly yet authoritatively.
Yi Jiayi fiddled with her trousers with her fingers, feeling the piercing gaze of Fang Zhenyue from behind her left side.
Taking a deep breath, she pretended that the toes she was picking at in her leather shoes were not her own, that the heartbeat racing like the protagonist showing off in *Whiplash* was perfectly normal, and that madam and Sir Fang were just naive sons of landlords who could be fooled with just a lollipop.
Slowly straightening her shoulders, she looked directly into madam’s eyes, trying to show a stance of ‘I am not afraid, I am not guilty, I am the strongest.’ Then, she took a deep breath—
And began her performance.
how she gonna bluff this out🫣