Chapter 88 Chapter 1 “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh”…

“Ah ...

“Someone’s dead!!!”

On the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 4:32 a.m., before dawn, the entire Cheongdam City was shrouded in fog. In an old residential complex in the north, a panicked soprano voice shattered the originally quiet atmosphere.

The sound was so sharp that even the sensor lights on the adjacent floors were turned on. A black stray cat that was rummaging through food near a trash can was frightened by the sudden noise and quickly hid in the bushes.

One after another, voices of inquiries came from the neighbors who lived nearby. Some asked what was going on, some asked who was making the noise, and some complained impatiently. Gradually, there were a few panicked shouts, and then the whole building became noisier and noisier.

The alarm center received a call from the public at around 4:45 in the morning. The police officer on duty, who had just arrived at work, had just answered the call and had no time to read out the sentence in the training manual before the trembling female voice on the other end pierced his eardrums.

"Come quickly! Come quickly! Come quickly! Someone has died in our neighborhood. There's so much blood! So much blood! Ugh—"

Dead?! The police officer, who was originally drowsy from working the night shift, caught the key words and his chaotic tiredness was swept away. He hurriedly asked for more information.

"Hello, ma'am. Hold on, which district are you in now? Can you hear me? Could you please tell me your exact location?"

There were quite a few people around the person who called the police, and even through the receiver one could hear the noisy background chatter from the other side, as well as heavy sighs from time to time.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"

The call was quickly passed to another person. This lady was calmer than the previous female voice and accurately reported the specific location of the community and some of the on-site conditions.

The residential community where the incident occurred is the Electric Power Bureau residential community directly opposite the Qingtan People's Hospital, and the unit building where the incident occurred is Building 3, Unit 4.

The alarm center quickly transferred this emergency information to the police station within its jurisdiction, and the nearest Nuojiang Road Police Station immediately dispatched on-duty patrol officers to verify the information.

At first, there was only a lone police car parked downstairs of the apartment building, and then two or three more police cars arrived and surrounded it. Soon, the entire building where the incident occurred was tightly surrounded by a long cordon.

"What's wrong?"

"What happened?!"

"Why are there so many police officers?"

"I heard someone died?"

At this time, less than an hour had passed since the alarm was raised. Other residents in the community who heard the noise stretched their necks outside the cordon and kept looking inside.

It was early morning, and all the residents in the community were wearing pajamas and slippers, with their faces unwashed. When they heard that someone had died, they showed an excitement that was almost joyful.

"Holy shit? When did that happen?!"

"It was probably around four o'clock when I heard a scream coming from Unit 4..."

"I thought I heard it too? But at the time I thought someone was arguing again. Hey, who saw it first? On that floor? Who was it?"

"I don't know..."

They kept their eyes fixed on the direction of Building 2, Unit 4. Every neighbor who came out of the building and had just been questioned by the police would be surrounded by other residents of the community as soon as they stepped out of the cordon, and a flood of questions would come flooding towards them.

"Hey, what happened in there?"

"Is there really a death? Who died?"

"Hey! What did the police ask you?"

"Has the murderer been found?"

“Who on earth did this…”

This time, the person who came out of the building was a female student wearing a school uniform and carrying a backpack. She was obviously not as good at dealing with these residents as the adults who came down before her.

"He's really dead... The police won't let me ask any more questions..." She buried her head and walked through the crowd with difficulty, responding one by one with difficulty, "Uncle and aunt, I, I have to go first, I have to go to school..."

Seeing that she failed to catch the girl, the auntie said with regret: "Why are you running so fast? You won't eat it. That's the one from the Jiang family, right? He has no courage at all and can't even speak properly..."

She complained, but that didn't stop others from enthusiastically discussing such a big thing as a death.

"Who died in Unit 2?"

"Is he the one who often beats his wife and goes to the police station?"

"No, that person doesn't live in Unit 2..."

"Oh, I don't know..."

Some people discussed the dead, while others complained.

"Really? If you're going to die, why not die outside? You have to die in the neighborhood? I just bought this damn house. Don't let it affect the housing prices in the neighborhood..."

“What bad luck…”

No one noticed that a black crow flew over the heads of the noisy crowd, flew over the treetops, flew over the row of apartment buildings, and flew straight in a certain direction.

In a booth by the window of a coffee shop in Qingtan City, bored and dazed Li Zheng looked up sharply and happened to meet the eyes of a small black creature outside the glass.

Is this... a crow?

This kind of bird is rarely seen in cities.

Its large, slightly curved bill, dark brown irises, long, pointed neck feathers, and distinctly layered, wedge-shaped tail all indicate that it is a...

"I really didn't expect that..."

The male voice on the other side interrupted Li Zheng's thoughts.

"Tell me yourself, it's been so many years since we last met. When did you come back? Weren't you in Yanjing before? Tell me the truth, how long have you been back?"

Unlike the indignant male voice, Li Zheng's eyelids drooped, and his tone remained calm: "It's been about eleven or twelve years since I graduated from high school, and almost three years since I returned to Cheongdam."

The crow disappeared.

I must have seen it wrong.

"Three years?! Damn it! It's been three years since you came back, and you haven't even thought about getting together with us old classmates. Do you have any conscience left?!"

The man opposite was becoming more and more agitated, slamming the table loudly, attracting the attention of several nearby guests, but he himself was completely unaware.

"Li Zheng, you're so mean. If I hadn't suddenly come to Chengbei for business last time, I wouldn't have known you'd returned to Qingtan. Didn't you ever plan to tell us? Huh? I'm asking you a question. Before the Chinese New Year, I specifically tagged you in the class group, asking if you would be back for the New Year, but you didn't say anything. Aren't you doing well in Yanjing? Why are you..."

"Hu Hui..." Li Zheng half-curled his fingers and tapped the table twice, his tone a little heavier than before, "Keep your voice down."

For a moment, Hu Hui, who was nearly 30 years old, thought he was back in Class 12 of Experimental High School.

At that time, during the morning reading time every day, the sky outside the window was foggy. Before the teacher came, the handsome boy who was the discipline committee member would always patrol back and forth in the class with a stern face. If he found someone making too much noise, he would not say anything too harsh, but would just walk silently to the side of the classmate and knock on the table twice as a warning.

Most of them would immediately shut up after being warned, and for the few remaining troublemakers, he would write down their names in a notebook and hand it to the teacher after giving them a warning.

During his three years of high school, Hu Hui was warned very few times, but he still remembers that crisp sound vividly.

In the extremely quiet atmosphere, the waiter brought two drinks on a tray from far away to near: "Gentlemen, please enjoy your meal. If you need anything, please call me..."

Li Zheng: "Thank you."

After the waiter walked away, Hu Hui's mood was not as excited as before, but his eyes kept wandering on the face of the man opposite him, and then faintly fell on the table.

"What's wrong with you? What happened? What's wrong with your leg?" He tried his best to keep his voice down, but his voice still revealed a bit of anxiety and worry that was about to overflow. "What happened to you all these years?"

In the absolutely democratic voting of Class 12, the one who is repeatedly elected as the class monitor due to a high number of votes is not necessarily the one with the best academic performance in the entire class, but is definitely the one with the best interpersonal relationships.

As a very responsible class monitor, he created the class group and took the lead in organizing regular class reunions after graduation. He knows the current situation of most classmates very well. If anyone really encounters something, they can call the class monitor, and as long as it is within their ability, he will do what he says.

As far as Hu Hui knew about Li Zheng, the top student who always ranked first in the class, he was admitted to Public University, passed the joint entrance examination after graduation, and successfully stayed in Yenching University to work. He was also named a hero a few years ago.

At that time, someone in the class group said that they had seen the former discipline committee member somewhere, saying that he had made great contributions on the front line and had been promoted several times. He would be very successful in the future.

It was before bedtime and many people were still awake, so more and more students started talking about this topic.

In fact, even before graduation, there were already a lot of rumors about Li Zheng in the class. After all, he was so mysterious.

During my three years of high school, I never met his parents once. Every time I attended a parent-teacher conference, the seat was always empty, and he himself almost never mentioned family-related topics, as if he had popped out of nowhere.

Some people said that he was actually an orphan, and some said that he was actually the illegitimate son of a wealthy man who was hiding his identity. In short, there were many different opinions, and Li Zheng never responded once.

Since not much public information has been revealed, his former classmates speculated whether he was promoted so quickly due to his family connections. Hu Hui also saw the message at the time and was worried about whether he was injured. He specifically tagged him in the group and asked how he was doing.

Li Zheng did not reply in the group at that time, but only sent him a private message with two words: "It's okay."

There was no news after that.

Every time Hu Hui sent a message to Li Zheng, he would sometimes reply and sometimes not. The longest time he replied to the previous year's New Year's greetings was the second year.

I also thought about asking other classmates, but they all said they couldn't contact him.

At least Li Zheng would occasionally reply to his messages, but everyone else's messages were practically ignored. Someone in the group chat sarcastically said that since he'd become successful, why would he still be in touch with his old classmates?

Hu Hui has never believed this.

"After graduation, I became a criminal police officer. After a year in criminal investigation, I switched to drug enforcement and applied for a transfer to the front lines. In my third year, I was shot and injured during an arrest operation. I was promoted to deputy captain and then transferred to Cheongdam City three years ago..."

Li Zheng summarized his life trajectory over the past decade in concise language, as if he were telling someone else's story.

“Is this a rising tone?”

Hu Hui was a little confused.

Being promoted from deputy detachment commander to detachment commander seems like a promotion at first glance, but can a capital city be treated the same way as Cheongdam? Cheongdam is just an ordinary county-level city, so this is clearly a promotion in name only, a demotion in reality. Could it be that he was being targeted and marginalized?

In an instant, many images flashed through Hu Hui's mind.

His father was a businessman, and Hu Hui had always been smarter and quicker-witted than his peers. He knew that in this world, in the end, not only personal ability but also background was important...

His father had been around for years and was just an ordinary person. Let alone a young man like Li Zheng, who had no background and no way to make connections. He was so stubborn that he might have offended anyone without even realizing it. To have made it this far was quite impressive; it wasn't an exaggeration to say he'd earned it with his life.

"Hey...you...actually, this is fine. It's fine. The competition in the big city is so fierce. It's better to go back to your hometown, right?" He sighed deeply and said in a softer tone, "Hey, are you married?"

Li Zheng shook his head.

This guy was a quiet, taciturn person in school, and Hu Hui was used to it. He continued gossiping, "How could that be? Weren't you dating Su Xinyue from the class next door? Back then, rumors about you two were everywhere in school. She came to class every day to see you, and later followed you to get into a university in Yanjing. How come you two didn't end up together?"

"We've split up."

"Is it impossible to get back together?"

"Her child is three years old."

"This...ah...never mind." Hu Hui sighed again, subconsciously reaching for a cigarette, but found nothing. He could only casually pick up the watermelon juice in front of him and take a big sip. "Hey, don't mention it. I haven't had anything young people drink in years. ...Hey, don't give me a cigarette. I can't smoke recently. My wife is pregnant..."

Li Zheng didn't refuse and put the unopened pack of brand new hard-packed Zhonghua cigarettes back into his bag. There was a rare hint of emotion in his tone: "Time flies. You're already a father. How long has it been?"

"The due date is around the end of the year, right? I invited you to my wedding last time, but you didn't come. If you don't come to this full moon party, I'll go to your police station and tie you up..." Hu Hui's smile gradually faded as he chose his words carefully. "...How have you been these past few years?"

"well enough."

His hand, which had been hidden under the table, unconsciously pulled out a wrinkled packet of Double Happiness from his other pocket, then slipped a corner back inside. All his movements took place under the table.

Hu Hui looked hesitant, as if he wanted to say something. He stammered a few times before regaining his composure.

"Hey." He seemed to suddenly think of something and suddenly started talking about another unrelated topic. "By the way, do you remember that troublemaker in the class? The one you had a particularly bad relationship with before. Did you have any conflicts later? He was always asking around for news about you for a while..."

Li Zheng's eyelids drooped, and there was no obvious change in his expression: "I don't know."

"I guess you two aren't familiar with each other." Hu Hui took a big sip of watermelon juice and asked in a gossipy tone, "Are you still in touch with Liu Yingying?"

Li Zheng took a sip of his hot drink, a look of obvious confusion on his face: "Liu Yingying...who is she?"

"She's from our class, the one with the glasses, Liu Meijie, who doesn't talk much. After graduation, she asked me for your contact information, and she's been asking me about you from time to time. Um... I ran into her before the Lunar New Year. She's also in Cheongdam, and she's still single. What a coincidence, she's a teacher at the lab we used to study at. You two could add each other and chat."

Li Zheng was not interested: "Forget it, given my situation, I'd better not bother the girl..."

"What do you mean by 'Huo Huo'? After all, you were a famous handsome guy in our school back then, and many people liked you. Now I've gained weight, but you haven't changed much, which is really enviable. And what are you thinking? Just meeting her once doesn't mean anything will happen, right? It all depends on fate... You said you were going back to Cheongdam, and she was there too. We're old classmates who know each other well, and neither of us is married. What a perfect match..."

The more Hu Hui spoke, the more he felt that this was a promising idea, and his tone unconsciously rose again: "Then it's settled. I'll be the lead. When you're free, I'll make an appointment for the two of you. If this really works out, I'll have done a good deed..."

Li Zheng was about to knock on the table to ask him to be quieter, but the buzzing phone in his pocket stopped him.

"Hello, it's me."

Hu Hui, standing across from him, clearly saw Li Zheng's expression change from confusion to increasingly serious. After just a few words, the old classmate who had said he was taking a day off and had arranged to have dinner together later simply said, "Sorry, I can't have dinner. I have to go back to the bureau." and quickly stood up to leave.

When they first met, he walked slowly, and Hu Hui only thought he had a minor problem with his right foot. He was relieved that it wasn't a big deal, at least he had made it back safely. But as he took longer and faster steps, the problem with his right foot became more pronounced, and when he walked faster, one shoulder was noticeably higher than the other.

It turns out it’s so serious.

As he was thinking, a gust of wind blew across his face. When Hu Hui looked up, Li Zheng was gone. Hu Hui was stunned.

"Damn, he can run so fast even though he's lame, that's awesome..."

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