Chapter 500 A Heart Full of Worries

Zhou Xiye didn't return until almost noon, carrying a box of honey-glazed pastries and a bag of peach crisps.

Shangshang tilted her little head up, smiled at her father, and clapped her little hands: "Daddy, buy, buy, yummy food!"

Zhou Xiye carried the snacks in one hand and bent down to pick up Shang Shang with the other, then went over to greet Fang Guozheng and Cong Meilan.

Fang Guozheng smiled and said, "Nishino is in Beijing now, and we can only see each other during the Chinese New Year."

Cong Meilan glared at him: "You're so busy every day, I hardly ever see you. Who else can I see? You never come to Fang Hua's place."

Fang Guozheng laughed heartily: "It is indeed very busy, but it will be better next year. I will retire next year, and then I can relax, go fishing, take walks, and enjoy life."

After chatting for a while, Zhou Xiye gave the snacks he was holding to Jiang Zhizhi. As soon as the little ones saw them, they immediately surrounded Jiang Zhizhi again.

Shang Shang hugged Jiang Zhizhi's leg and sweetly called her "Mommy".

Little Zhou was clinging to the edge of the coffee table, repeatedly shouting, "Eat, I want to eat this."

Jiang Zhizhi smiled and opened the package, giving each of the two children a honey-glazed pastry.

Fang Hua glanced at it and exclaimed, "Why did you buy this for them? They'll get it all over their faces and bodies. Last time, Xiao Zhou's hair was all stuck together from eating it."

Because it's sweet, the two little ones love it especially.

Little Zhouji is even worse; he puts food in his mouth, spits it out to look at it, and then puts it back in his mouth, making his little hands sticky. If he can't see it, he'll grab it onto his hair and body.

Jiang Zhizhi smiled and watched from the side with a wet towel. She noticed that Zhou Xiye seemed to have something on his mind when he came back.

However, he was used to hiding his emotions, so there was no clue to it at this moment.

During the meal, Fang Guozheng asked Zhou Xiye to have a couple of drinks with him: "It's rare for us to have a break during the New Year, so let's have a couple of drinks together."

Zhou Xiye did not refuse, and Fang Hua smiled as he took out the Moutai that Zhou Chengzhi had hidden.

"He still has to go to the grassroots level during the Spring Festival, so let's give him this wine, and your wife can have some too?"

Cong Meilan didn't refuse: "Let Chengyu drink with me. You have a heart condition, so you shouldn't drink alcohol."

Fang Hua smiled and said, "A small cup is fine. It's a rare time to be happy during the New Year. Besides, Zhizhi is here with me. She'll agree to let me drink a little."

Jiang Zhizhi nodded: "Yes, a small cup is fine. It's the New Year, so you can have some to celebrate."

They drank while she looked after the two children, secretly observing Zhou Xiye.

He was still the same as before, quiet and reserved, but you could clearly sense that he was still hiding something on his mind.

Fang Guozheng and Zhou Xiye drank most of the bottle of wine, but they were only slightly tipsy.

Fang Guozheng called the driver to pick them up. After leaving with Cong Meilan, Fang Hua looked at Zhou Xiye, whose face was slightly flushed, with concern: "Is Xiye alright? Should we make some hangover tea?"

Zhou Xiye waved his hand: "I'm fine, don't worry."

Shangshang then pestered Zhou Xiye to hold her and play with her, and pointed to the bedroom: "Daddy puts me to sleep, Shangshang wants to sleep."

Zhou Xiye smiled and carried Shangshang to take a nap. Little Zhou followed along on his own. When he saw his father put his sister on the bed, he quickly kicked off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, pulled the pillowcase over his head, and went to play with Shangshang.

Shangshang, who was originally fussing about going to sleep, is now fighting with Xiaozhouji over playing with the pillowcase, laughing and having a great time.

Jiang Zhizhi came in and saw Zhou Xiye sitting on the edge of the bed. She reached out to stop him, afraid that the two children might fall off the bed if they went too far.

He walked over and said, "Did something happen today? You seem to have something on your mind."

Zhou Xiye was slightly surprised: "No, I was just wondering if Chen Liqin is really dead or not? Brother Song said he wants to reinvestigate this case..."

Jiang Zhizhi reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder: "It's okay, if he's not dead, we'll find him eventually. You don't need to worry about it."

She could sense that Zhou Xiye's mind wasn't on this matter, but since he didn't want to talk about it, she didn't press him further.

The two children were tired from playing, so they lay down to sleep on the spot.

Zhou Xiye bent down to cover the two children with blankets, then touched Shangshang's little face, his eyes filled with even more affection.

Jiang Zhizhi watched from the side and said, "I've noticed that you're a bit biased. You're more patient with Shang Shang, but very strict with Xiao Zhouji."

Zhou Xiye chuckled: "Because he's a boy, he'll have to be responsible in the future, so he can't be too spoiled."

Jiang Zhizhi didn't speak, quietly watching Zhou Xiye touch his daughter's little hand and then her little face, as if he couldn't get enough of looking at her.

...

The next day, Song Dong brought news that Chen Liqin's case needed to be reinvestigated and the courtyard needed to be inspected again. He asked Zhou Xiye if he had time to go to the courtyard together.

Jiang Zhizhi went along too.

Because the case was being reopened, the police arrived early in the morning and set up a cordon around the area, which made the neighbors very curious, and they all came out to watch from a distance.

The courtyard was covered with a thick layer of snow. Stepping inside, there were three dilapidated little houses and a few main rooms. People used to live there, but they all moved away because they disliked Chen Liqin. The rooms were empty now, but locked.

The eccentric old man lived in three small, dilapidated houses on the north side. One of them was half collapsed, and the other two were also on the verge of collapse. Various kinds of clutter were piled up under the eaves, and you could smell the stench when you got close.

Song Dong personally came down and directed his men to move all the odds and ends under the eaves to see what they were.

Without disturbing the scene, they brought Zhou Xiye and Jiang Zhizhi into the house.

As soon as the door was opened, a stench hit you – the stench of rotting corpses.

Song Dong prepared gauze masks in advance for everyone to wear, but even so, the stench could still seep through the layers of gauze.

Jiang Zhizhi couldn't help but frown. How could a room where people lived smell so bad?

Xiao Chen was also surprised: "We checked the house before and found nothing unusual, and it didn't smell this bad. I don't know what's going on."

Song Dong looked around and saw a wooden fence in the middle of the room.

He pointed to the wooden board: "Take down this partition."

Xiao Chen called someone over and used a chisel to break open the partition.

Unexpectedly, there was a hidden layer in the middle of the partition. The moment it was smashed open, a bunch of bloody and mangled things poured out.

Even though Jiang Zhizhi was bold, she was disgusted.

It was full of snake and toad corpses.

The hairs on my body stood on end, and I quickly left the room.

Song Dong cursed and quickly retreated. Zhou Xiye glanced at him one last time before following him out.

The group left the courtyard, still feeling the stench. They didn't want to think about it, but the scene from earlier had powerfully invaded their minds and wouldn't leave.

Song Dong exclaimed "Holy crap!" several times: "What kind of mess is this? How did you even investigate back then?"

What's even more infuriating is that the people below, just to close the case, didn't investigate it thoroughly!

Zhou Xiye frowned: "Why collect these things?"