Chapter 1: The Unsolved Case

The vice president's office at the Haidai Provincial Police Academy was filled with smoke, and the air was filled with an oppressive and solemn atmosphere. Vice President Lu Zhiyao sat behind his desk, his square face, with wrinkles and fury, "Jifeng, are you deaf? I say again, get out!"

Sitting across from him was Ji Feng, a burly figure with a dark complexion and a strong, defined face, exuding the ruggedness of a Langya man. If it weren't for the slightly fashionable black-framed glasses that added a touch of elegance to his demeanor, he would have looked more like a fitness trainer than a university professor.

Faced with Dean Lu's impatience, he looked helpless: "My dear Dean Lu, I've only been here five minutes, and you've chased me away three times. At least let me finish what I'm saying."

"You don't understand Chinese, right?" Lu Zhiyao said as he stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and pointed outside. "Do you want to leave?"

Ji Feng's expression suddenly changed. He stood up from the sofa, saluted, stood at attention and said, "Dean, I won't leave." Then he changed into a playful look.

"You..." Lu Zhiyao glared at him.

"Jifeng, you've angered the dean again." Following a crisp Sichuan accent, a female officer in a crisp uniform strode in. Her well-fitting uniform accentuated her capable yet graceful demeanor. Behind a pair of thin-rimmed glasses, her calm and intelligent eyes radiated the delicacy and intellectuality of a university professor. Her fair, oval face, gently polished by time, hadn't left any marks on it, but rather, it had been imbued with warmth and grace, a soft glow. Her ponytail, pulled low and held in place with a black satin ribbon, a few strands of hair cascading down her ears, adding a touch of softness and elegance.

"Hey, Little Pepper, you came at the right time. You must not be afraid of power and must uphold justice." Ji Feng said with a grin.

"You still have justice? No one would believe it." Hua Ailing's pure Sichuan dialect sounded so pleasant.

"Dean Lu, please don't be angry. It's not worth it to be angry for him." Hua Ailing said while glancing at Ji Feng.

"You say I'm dishonest, I admit it, but you can't say I'm unjust. I came here for justice. Dean Lu didn't even let me finish my words before kicking me out. I feel more wronged than Dou E."

Lu Zhiyao said with lingering anger, "Shut up right there." Then he closed the door and returned to his seat.

"Dean, please calm down and drink some water." As he said this, he picked up the cup and handed it to Lu Zhiyao.

Lu Zhiyao took a sip of water from the cup, then put it heavily on the desk. He gasped and said to Hua Ailing, "This little bastard came to cause trouble for me so early in the morning. It pissed me off."

"Hurry up and pour a glass of water for the dean!" Hua Ailing picked up Lu Zhiyao's cup and handed it to Ji Feng. Ji Feng quickly took it and walked to the water dispenser, saying as he poured the water, "Please let me finish what I'm saying..."

"No matter what you say, I won't let you go." Lu Zhiyao said sternly.

"Sister Hua, look..." Ji Feng looked at Hua Ailing with an innocent face.

"Are you still serious? Which one is your sister? You can't even behave yourself in front of the dean!" Hua Ailing said angrily.

"Okay, okay, Professor Hua Da, please give me your opinion."

"I just wanted to go to the Lan Valley Criminal Police Team to solve that old case, but I was halfway through my words when they started to scold me."

"Shouldn't you scold? Humph, so stupid!" Lu Zhiyao said, taking out a cigarette from the General brand cigarette box on the table. Just as he was about to take out the lighter to light it, Ji Feng grabbed it in his hand quickly, and with a "pop", he brought the flame in front of Lu Zhiyao's cigarette.

Hua Ailing finally understood something and said, "Do you know how well the dean is doing? It's all for your own good." After saying that, she winked at Ji Feng.

Ji Feng understood and said, "Of course I know, but I'm already forty years old and I know very well what leaving the academy means. But I really don't care about those empty names. I know what I really want."

"I'm not doing this for his own good. The college has been expanding its enrollment over the years, and the faculty is already tight. If you resign now, won't that just cause me more trouble?" Lu Zhiyao pressed the cigarette butt in his hand hard into the ashtray, not caring about the painful burn on his fingertips.

"I don't think this is causing you any trouble," Ji Feng said. "On the contrary, it would be an honor for the academy if we could solve that long-standing case."

"So many experienced detectives couldn't solve the case, and you, a university professor, think you can solve it? You're overestimating yourself."

"The veteran detectives are all older comrades with rich practical experience. However, their theoretical knowledge is not as good as mine. I want to put years of theory into practice to test it, and then feed the results back into the theory to promote teaching. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"

"Let me ask you, who will fill your position after you leave? Who will make the keynote speech at the National Police Academy Criminal Investigation Hot Topics Teaching Seminar hosted by the academy in the second half of the year? The academy's application for a first-level doctoral program has faculty requirements. Do you know all this? You're naive!"

When Ji Feng heard this, he glanced at Hua Ailing. Hua Ailing pretended not to see it, but Dean Lu saw it.

"Why are you looking at Xiaohua?" Dean Lu's eyes were as big as bells.

"It's useless even if he stares at me. I won't bother with him." Hua Ailing said proudly.

"Sister Hua, you are the most kind person in the world. You are beautiful and kind-hearted, like a Bodhisattva descended to earth, a Buddha reincarnated. You can be called a modern-day Lei Feng. I will never forget your great kindness."

Hua Ailing chuckled, her fingertips circling the green ivy vines on the desk: "I'm not at your level, oh, you're the youngest senior professor in our college."

"I don't care. Zhenggao is for you."

"Tsk~." Hua Ailing said with disdain.

"You are a senior officer, but look at your own image. Which senior officer would dress like you? If you were given a dog-beating stick, you would look like a beggar in police uniform." Lu Zhiyao pointed at Ji Feng and scolded him.

"What's wrong with my image?"

"What's wrong? What else do you want? You wear shoes with holes in them but spray perfume every day. The smell makes me sick. Stay away from me."

"This is my regular police uniform."

"I was saying, aren't you wearing a regular police uniform? The academy just gave you this police uniform, right?" Lu Zhiyao said as he pointed at Ji Feng's worn cuffs.

"Isn't that frugal of me?"

"How dare you say you are being frugal? Let me ask you, who put breakfast fried dough sticks in an LV bag? You think you are being frugal? Just for this reason, I won't let you go. If you go to Lan Valley, you will bring shame to the academy." Lu Zhiyao glared at Ji Feng and said.

"At least it's not a waste. Criminal police are usually in plain clothes, and I will definitely wear plain clothes when I go there." Ji Feng was obviously lacking in confidence.

"Oh, plainclothes officer, with your crazy brain, isn't that even more unrealistic? I really can't imagine what you'll come up with. The colleagues in the Lan Valley Criminal Investigation Detachment will be so shocked that their eyes will pop out."

"Hahahaha! It's just like that. The fight has become a scene in Lan Valley!" Hua Ailing laughed so hard that her body shook.

"I dress casually, not so exaggerated." Ji Feng muttered softly, looking at Hua Ailing with pleading eyes.