Chapter 81 "Everyone is working so hard!"
Even in the most upscale sanatoriums, the beds for caregivers are not comfortable to sleep in; they are narrow. But Zhu Qing and Sheng Fang always sleep very soundly.
One was next to her mother, and the other was next to her older sister. When they opened their sleepy eyes at dawn, they were still groggy and lingered in bed for a while. When they opened their eyes again, everything was normal, which was reassuring.
Sheng Peirong has been awake for more than half a month since her surgery. This time it was not a dream, and both her uncle and nephew know it.
The accompanying bed wasn't very comfortable, but the blankets were fluffy and soft, specially chosen by Aunt Ping for Sheng Peirong. Sheng Fang first poked one small hand out from under the covers, then stretched out the other, and only after stretching did she officially get out of bed.
"Good morning, Big Sister and Qingzai."
"Good morning." Sheng Peirong pinched his cheek.
The little boy had long forgotten his complaints in his sleep last night. Sheng Peirong didn't know if her little brother usually had a bad temper when he woke up, but he certainly didn't now. He kicked and flung himself out of bed, making her want to pick him up and rub him. Unfortunately, Sheng Peirong couldn't lift him, but thankfully Zhu Qing could.
"Get up." Zhu Qing pulled Sheng Fang out of bed.
The sanatorium was quite a distance from the kindergarten in Kowloon Tong, so we had to leave early. Zhu Qing called the little one three times in the morning, but he seemed not to hear her. He just swayed his head and hummed a nursery rhyme while leaning against his pillow, and even his morning grumpiness disappeared.
"Go wash up quickly!"
"Big sister—" Fangfang kicked his short legs, "Look at Qingzai!"
"Mom," Zhu Qing mimicked his tone, "Look at the blooming flowers!"
Sheng Peirong loved hearing Fangfang drawl out "Big Sister," her heart melting when she called out to her in a coquettish tone. She also loved hearing Keke call her "Mommy." Despite being separated for twenty years, the bond between mother and daughter was innate. Now, Keke's tone was affectionate and natural, and sometimes Sheng Peirong felt as if they had never been apart.
“To be fair,” Sheng Peirong said slowly, “I won’t take sides.”
The family fought over the bathroom while washing up.
Fangfang, the little boy, was hugging his clothes and complaining that he was a little boy and needed his own space to change.
Zhu Qing brushed her teeth with her eyes closed: "Yours is fine, I'm not looking."
Sheng Peirong wrung out a warm towel, but before she could even wash her face, they pushed her wheelchair out.
The uncle and nephew finally realized that she neither went to work nor went to school, so what was she doing squeezing into the bathroom so early in the morning?
Such a morning was a novel experience for Sheng Peirong.
Where I used to live, there was never a shortage of bathrooms, and everything was orderly and organized, unlike the chaos we see now.
Yet it was precisely this noisy, warm morning that made her realize even more acutely that they were truly living together.
After washing up, the family sat down at the table for breakfast.
The sound of chopsticks and spoons clattering in the bowls and plates, and Zhu Qing's cheeks puffed up like a little hamster hoarding food, made her want to pack up the food, but her uncle stopped her.
"You walk by yourself." Fangfang ate with relish. "I want to finish eating slowly."
"Then how will you get to school?"
"If you're worried, you'll just have to wait for me," he said smugly.
Feeling the beauty of such trivial and tender moments, Sheng Peirong felt a lump in her throat and quickly turned her head away.
Such companionship was so precious that she almost missed it forever.
Therefore, we should cherish it even more.
...
The rivalry between the uncle and nephew was always evenly matched.
Sometimes, the uncle would succumb to the strictness of the adult Zhu Qing, obediently handing over his remote control, game controller, and mouse, hanging his head in anger but not daring to speak, dragging his aggrieved steps to bed. Other times, the niece would have to listen to her uncle, like now, waiting until he had eaten and drunk his fill before leaving the house, sitting in the back seat patting her round little belly, not forgetting to praise the nutritionist at the sanatorium for her excellent cooking.
And home is not a place for winning or losing.
As the car drove toward the kindergarten, Shengfang leaned against the window, watching the flow of cars and people outside.
His little head is always full of whimsical ideas. Fangfang will talk about the clouds in the sky, the little flowers by the roadside, the dogs taking a walk... In the past, Zhu Qing's gaze would never linger on these things, but now she can even casually join in his conversation.
"Qingzai, it's time for us to buy a new house," Shengfang suddenly said. "When are we going to look at apartments?"
Zhu Qing gripped the steering wheel and slowly stopped at the red light.
Looking at the little one in the back seat through the rearview mirror, she couldn't help but think of the summer that had just passed.
At that time, the sunlight was dazzling. Fangfang tilted her face up and asked in a childish voice—
"How about I buy you an apartment?"
Now, little Fangfang solemnly announces: "If you're not going, then I'll go by myself!"
For Fang Fang in the past, buying a house was as simple as buying groceries.
Now, with his older sister as his support, the difficulty level has dropped to the level of as easy as drinking water.
"Wait a little longer," Zhu Qing said. "Let's go together after I close the case."
Fangfang tilted her head to examine the back of Qingzai's head, and finally reluctantly said, "Okay."
The car stopped at the kindergarten gate.
Fangfang swaggered smugly, taking a smug gait, but when she met Jinbao, she suddenly stopped and looked back.
Zhu Qing didn't even need to guess; she knew at a glance that Fang Fang was definitely telling Jin Bao that his niece was taking him to school today.
She rolled down the car window and waved to the two children.
Jinbao's eyes lit up immediately.
As she turned around, Zhu Qing couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that Sheng Fang had mentioned her quite a bit in class; she had become a popular figure among the children, known as Madam.
Just as the car sped away, two sentences of conversation drifted in through the car window.
"Our niece has left?"
"yes!"
Zhu Qing: ...
...
Zhu Qing entered the police station just in time; there were a few people standing at the reception desk.
The family members who reported the disappearance ten years ago have arrived.
When the family reported the disappearance, they only provided vague descriptions such as the victim's name, age, and the clothes the victim was wearing at the time of disappearance. Now, as the investigation deepens, the police have narrowed down their search and identified the suspect as a stunt double from the film crew at the time.
“My daughter…my daughter used to be a stunt double.”
He was a father with gray hair.
He sat motionless on the bench, clutching a photograph in his hand. The girl in the photo was a teenager, wearing a school uniform, smiling at the camera.
He handed the photo to the officer, his trembling voice echoing in the reception area: "Is...is it her?"
Ten years have passed, a full ten years.
The police received the photos, but no one spoke. The body exhibited gigantism; the face was deformed, swollen, and even ulcerated from being submerged in water. The face was unrecognizable, and they didn't even know what the body double originally looked like.
Haozai took the photo and went to find Lao Liu, the production assistant from the film crew back then, to compare and verify it.
Old Liu recognized her at a glance: "It's her, the young woman who used to be Gu Niman's body double. Officer, why are you suddenly investigating her?"
"What happened to the substitute girl?"
Haozai opened his mouth but ultimately didn't answer. He borrowed the phone to call back to the police station to report.
He knew that his colleagues at the police station would find it even harder to speak to that elderly father at this moment.
The following process was arduous at every step.
The father pulled a piece of paper from his old wallet.
"You said on the phone that I needed to bring a medical certificate." His hands were still trembling as he gently unfolded the paper. "Is a high school medical examination form okay?"
The blood type recorded above matches the one who died that year perfectly.
The father continued trying to recall.
“Oh, right.” He suddenly leaned forward. “She should be wearing a silver bracelet on her ankle, left by her mother.”
The air suddenly froze.
The officers who reviewed the case files all remembered that among the evidence in the "double suicide case" ten years ago, there was indeed such a silver bracelet. At the time, the body was swollen and deformed, and the bracelet was deeply embedded in the swollen flesh. Everyone assumed that it was Gu Niman's keepsake.
Gu Niman mentioned that Zhou Yongsheng knelt before her back then, his trousers covered in dust, crying as he begged her to stay.
The police could not have imagined such crying, but what they were witnessing was a father's heart-wrenching, almost uncontrollable weeping.
The officers turned their faces away, some with tears welling up in their eyes.
Knowing the truth was so cruel, this grieving father even wished he could have remained in the dark forever.
...
In the shadows at the corner of the corridor, several police officers leaned against the wall.
Inside the interrogation room, the sobs of the stand-in girl's father could be heard intermittently, and no one could bear to approach him.
"Now, I would think it was a good thing whoever killed Zhou Yongsheng."
“Madam Zeng, be professional and mind your discipline.” Hao Zai lowered his voice, “If Mo Sir hears this, you’ll be called in for a talk again.”
"Okay, okay, never mind." Zeng Yongshan pinched her fingers and made an exaggerated zipping motion to her lips.
After an unknown amount of time, the door to the interrogation room was quietly opened a crack.
Xiao Sun poked his head out and said, "The deceased's father is more stable now, so we can continue taking his statement."
When I pushed the door open, the old man was awkwardly wiping his nose with his sleeve.
Zhu Qing silently handed over a pack of tissues.
Ten years later, the stand-in finally regained her original name.
Her name is Ruan Wenjing.
"Could you tell me about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance?"
"She insisted on joining the film crew, wanting to become a star. She said she met a famous director while doing odd jobs and wanted to learn acting from him... Why did the famous director choose her? There's no such thing as a free lunch." The old man clutched a tissue. "I advised her that it would be better to find a stable job and not dream of becoming a star."
Wenjing thinks I'm old-fashioned. She says I don't understand her.
"Maybe I really am out of touch with old ideas..."
The old man's voice began to tremble again.
“She slammed the door and left that day, and never came back.” His cloudy eyes were filled with tears. “For the past ten years, I’ve thought about it every day: if only I had gone along with her back then… if only I had gone along with her back then, would she have come home and told me if something had happened to her?”
Zhu Qing and Xiao Sun saw the old man's calloused hands constantly rubbing the tissue, as if only in this way could he stop trembling.
"How do you think she died? How could she have died in the sea?"
"Was it... an accident? Or—" His breath seemed to catch in his throat, and he couldn't finish his sentence for a long time.
The deceased, Ruan Wenjing, was two years older than Gu Niman.
The father, who is over sixty years old, opposed his daughter working as a body double back then and doesn't care about the gossip and scandals in the entertainment industry.
The old man said his wife had died young, and he had raised his daughter alone. Perhaps he didn't know how to be a good father; he only knew how to advise his daughter to give up those unrealistic dreams. In his eyes, Ruan Wenjing was plain-looking and had no connections. Finding a stable nine-to-five job was better than being forever someone else's shadow on the film set.
But it was this opposition that made Nguyen Van Ching even more determined to prove herself.
As the production assistant Lao Liu once said, she worked harder than anyone else on set.
They said she was too naive; she was just a substitute, at most she could only have a sip of soup with Gu Niman.
But perhaps, back then, Ruan Wenjing also wanted to carve out her own niche.
“Wenjing…she’s been very competitive since she was little,” Mr. Ruan murmured to himself.
"Did you know about Gu Niman and Zhou Yongsheng's double suicide ten years ago?"
Mr. Ruan shook his head in a daze.
At that time, he was preoccupied with searching for his daughter and had no time to think about anything else. Initially, he didn't think the worst, assuming his daughter was just being stubborn or had gone to another city with the new film crew. He remembered her defiant back as she slammed the door and left, vowing to make something of herself to prove him wrong.
But as the days went by, her daughter never returned.
Mr. Ruan knew his child well; although Wenjing was stubborn, she was the most filial and sensible. Even if she was angry, she would never refuse to come home.
Ruan's father gradually realized something was wrong and began searching frantically.
This search lasted for ten years.
Xiao Sun suddenly interrupted the old man and asked him about his whereabouts when Zhou Yongsheng died.
This exact time was unfamiliar to Mr. Ruan. He thought carefully, "It should have been at home."
Why ask that?
But he was clearly exhausted, and even though the police didn't answer, he didn't ask why.
Finally, he hunched over and asked cautiously, "That silver bracelet... can I take it home?"
As she stepped out of the interrogation room, Zhu Qing unconsciously gripped the edge of the case file.
After a long while, hushed discussions broke out in the CID office.
"He searched for his daughter for ten years. He used the most basic methods: posting notices and searching street by street in the places his daughter frequented."
“In the past, the father and daughter would argue whenever the topic of being a stunt double came up. Even if he wanted to contact people at film and television companies, he couldn’t find a single number in the family’s phone book.”
“Every missing person poster says, ‘I’m sorry, Wenjing, please come home…’”
"I really don't know how he got through those ten years."
"The missing person..." Uncle Li sighed, "No matter how hard we search, it's all in vain. Once someone is dead, they're dead."
Zhu Qing's gaze fell on the three large characters "Love Suicide Case" on the cover of the case file.
The case ten years ago was not a suicide pact, but a murder.
Zhou Yongsheng brutally murdered Ruan Wenjing.
“Everyone thought that a dead person couldn’t commit a crime. So no one ever suspected that Zhou Yongsheng killed her.”
"And the deaths of the Gu family members," Zhu Qing said. "Because there were no suspicious points on the surface, the case was classified as an accident."
In the office, the officers all thought of the same possibility.
“One is one thing… but all three are gone. Gu Niman has no family left in this world. Do you think they might also die at Zhou Yongsheng’s hands?” Haozai frowned. “If that’s the case, he’s too ruthless.”
“If he hadn’t been ruthless, Nguyen Van Ching wouldn’t have died an innocent death.”
“And Gu Niman’s face—he talks about how much he loves her, how could he be so heartless.”
"But why did he do that?"
The answer is obvious.
Only by completely isolating and leaving Gu Niman helpless can he possess her forever.
Over the course of ten years, Gu Niman's parents and younger brother passed away one after another; all three died in accidents.
Is it really just such a coincidence?
Mo Zhenbang ordered in a deep voice: "Retrieve the case files of Gu Niman's parents and brother."
Murder, perhaps more than once.
Zhou Yongsheng's crimes involved far more than just Ruan Wenjing's life.
...
During their lunch break, the Major Crimes Team B learned from their colleagues on duty that Gu Niman had arrived early in the morning.
She sat on a bench outside the police station, without wearing sunglasses to conceal her identity, simply remaining quiet.
Whenever a police officer passed by, she would tilt her head slightly and ask softly, "Sir, is there any progress in Yong Sheng's case?"
Zhu Qing and Zeng Yongshan held their coffees and watched her from a distance.
"My feelings are very complicated," Zeng Yongshan said. "From a moral standpoint, she was a third party who broke up someone else's family. But she was only eighteen years old back then, what did she know?"
Just like now, after being controlled for ten years, she has long lost the ability to live independently.
Without Zhou Yongsheng, she didn't even know how to survive.
The police went back and forth and noticed that she always sat like that.
No longer wearing the camel coat and matching scarf of the past few days, today she wore a dark green coat, which made her skin look even paler.
"What do you think she would look like now if she hadn't been disfigured?"
"If those things had never happened back then...maybe she would be a big star now? Walking the red carpet, radiating glamour, realizing how foolish her so-called love at eighteen was, and talking candidly about her naivety back then in interviews."
“A check of records from ten years ago shows that Zhou Yongsheng never called the police. He meticulously planned the ‘disfigurement’ using highly concentrated sulfuric acid, just to ensure that she could stay by his side forever.”
Gu Niman didn't press the matter, only speaking when a police officer stopped for her. She didn't say much, as if she had mustered up her courage, and after receiving a response, she fell silent.
The answer she always received was "still under investigation," but she refused to leave.
Zeng Yongshan sighed, "Perhaps, she doesn't know where to go."
They used to live in that white house in Ping Chau, an outlying island district.
Zhou Yongsheng and Gu Niman were in love—at least in her eyes. Ten years of living together day and night, setting aside the hurt and confinement, meant that to Gu Niman, Zhou Yongsheng was an impeccable, perfect lover; he was the one who saved her.
The police knew perfectly well that harm done in the name of love could never be forgiven. The sulfuric acid not only ruined her appearance, but also her life, which had just begun.
But at this moment, Zhou Yongsheng is dead, and for Gu Niman, her only support has died. At least in the short term, it will be difficult for her to get over this shadow.
Footsteps sounded in my ears, approaching from afar.
Gu Niman slowly raised her head and saw two policewomen standing in front of her.
She sat up straight instinctively.
"Has Zhou Yongsheng ever made enemies with anyone?" Zhu Qing asked.
She gently shook her head: "I don't know."
When the topic turned to her family, Gu Niman's voice became even softer.
"My mother fell from a building, and my father had an accident while fishing. These were all things that happened a long time ago."
“My brother was also in a car accident, Yongsheng heard about it.” She raised her hand to touch the scar on her cheek. “He went to see my brother off on his final journey in my place.”
"They would be terrified if they saw me like this."
Perhaps it was because she hadn't seen her family for so long, but when she mentioned them, her tone was blank.
After ten years of living in seclusion, nothing remained in her life except Zhou Yongsheng.
"You should go home soon," Zeng Yongshan could only whisper in the end.
...
In the meeting room, clues were listed one by one on the whiteboard, some marked with eye-catching question marks, and others circled with red markers.
“Continue to investigate more thoroughly,” Mo Zhenbang said seriously. “All suspicious individuals must be screened repeatedly.”
Zhou Yongsheng's wife, Jiang Xiaowei, and son, Jiang Yifan, were originally prime suspects. The rumors and embarrassment left behind by Zhou Yongsheng and his lover's suicide pact provided them with the most direct and compelling motive for murder.
However, both the mother and son had solid alibis at the time of the crime. Their alibis were impeccable and had been verified by the police multiple times.
"It would be better if it weren't them. We've wasted ten years of our lives on this person, are we going to ruin the rest of our lives too?"
"In fact, before Zhou Yongsheng's 'resurrection,' Jiang Xiaowei and Jiang Yifan had gradually emerged from the shadows and started a new life."
"Even if he were to come back to life, it would only make them realize his true nature more clearly. Looking back now, the tears we shed for such a person were truly not worth it."
Xu Jiale flipped through the notes: "Could it be that male lead?"
"During filming, the director only had eyes for Gu Niman, treating him as a dispensable supporting character. Later, when the film was released, the focus of public opinion was entirely on the topic of the director and the female lead being 'too immersed in their roles,' and no one paid any attention to the male lead."
"He even revealed that the crew used a body double for Gu Niman."
“Lu Yongyan was on vacation abroad at the time of the incident, and there are flight records.” Zhu Qing shook her head. “I was the one who specifically went to the airport to intercept him on his return trip.”
The investigation has shifted its focus back to Liu Wei, a fervent film fan.
"He said he lost them. He followed them all the way from the cemetery to the tea restaurant, and the next stop was the theater, but at this crucial moment, he lost them?"
"Ten years, and he still couldn't get over it. His house was covered with photos of Gu Niman; she was both his idol and a ray of light during his student days. The motive for killing someone because of such a memory is very clear."
Police began to re-examine Liu Wei's movements that day.
Did you walk or take a ride? If you took public transportation, you need to find the driver at the time to verify.
“Go to Xiaguang Theater again,” Mo Zhenbang said. “Have all the staff identify Liu Wei’s photo.”
Liang Qikai looked up: "This has already been identified last time."
“Check again. Maybe he was in disguise. This time, bring photos of Liu Wei from different periods. Especially those of him wearing a mask and hat—make sure they see them carefully,” Mo Zhenbang insisted. “Also, check the nearby shops. He went to Fu Nian Tea Restaurant. Do the shopkeepers at other shops along the way remember him? We asked the staff on duty at the time. What about the staff on the morning and evening shifts? Newsstands, roadside stalls… make sure we don’t miss anything.”
"At the same time, we will investigate other die-hard fans and the remaining crew members."
"We also need to find out whether Zhou Yongsheng has made enemies with anyone over the past ten years."
At this point, Mo Zhenbang's gaze unconsciously fell on Gu Niman, who was sitting at the end of the corridor.
She was looking out the window.
The bright sunlight shone on her intact right cheek. Gu Niman closed her eyes and quietly awaited the final result.
...
The children know the way well and ride their bicycles straight to the police station after school.
While his colleagues drive police cars to handle cases, he now has his own tools. With his short legs, he pedals lightly and steadily parks his bicycle next to a police vehicle.
"Isn't the young master on patrol today?" Aunt Ping asked.
Sheng Fang tugged at her collar: "I'm going upstairs to work today."
He put his hands behind his back, slowed his pace, and looked around.
Let's see if we can catch a loafer.
Aunt Ping followed the young master into the police station. It wasn't until they reached the CID office and saw the badges casually placed on the desks by the other officers that she realized the young master's earlier action of tugging at his collar was imitating the adults wearing their police badges. Shengfang, having attended kindergarten for a few months, has become even more adept at pretend play.
Shengfang came specifically to pick up her niece from get off work.
It's so strange. Last night, Qingzai was so free and we had so much fun at the nursing home. How come she can walk like she's flying all of a sudden?
Take a break and take care of yourself. Take small steps to the tea room, tiptoe to pour yourself a warm cup of chrysanthemum tea.
Aunt Ping tried her best to coax him to go home.
If only the young master could be this obedient. The little rascal darted around the office area, finally knocking on the door of Weng Zhaolin's office before slipping inside with a "whoosh," completely shaking off Aunt Ping.
"John!" Fangfang peeked out, "Look who's here—"
Just then, Weng Zhaolin was being scolded by his boss on the phone. He had just hung up the phone with a "bang" and his face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
"They say gossip magazine reporters are more diligent than us police officers, digging up new dirt on Zhou Yongsheng every day," Weng Zhaolin gritted his teeth. "Why don't we just let those paparazzi do the work!"
Sheng Fang took a sip of chrysanthemum tea and exclaimed, "Ah—it's so delicious!"
He held the paper cup in his two chubby little hands and offered it to Zhaolin: "Want some?"
Weng Zhaolin's brow relaxed slightly: "You drank it?"
"I've already drunk it." Fangfang climbed onto the swivel chair opposite his desk, braced her little hands on the edge of the desk, and spun the chair halfway around. "Are you still disgusted with me?"
Weng Zhaolin chuckled, took the cup, and took a sip.
The chrysanthemum tea that Sister Zhen brews every morning has now lost its bitterness, which has just calmed his anxiety.
When Weng Zhaolin got up to inspect the office, Fangfang followed him like a little tail.
The two walked through the office area without the officers noticing, as they were busy looking through documents or rushing around.
"Look how hard our Qingzai works," Fangfang said, praising her niece. "Everyone is working so hard!"
Weng Zhaolin couldn't help but sigh softly.
Yes, the people in Group B are usually joking around and not serious, but once they get into work, they all work incredibly hard.
“We need to give them some time,” Sheng Fang said seriously, her tone like that of a chief superintendent showing concern for his subordinates.
Weng Zhaolin couldn't help but chuckle and handed the teacup back: "It seems this chrysanthemum tea is really good for reducing internal heat. Would you like some more?"
Fangfang tilted her little face up and refused in a cute, childlike voice: "No, that's not hygienic."
Weng Zhaolin: "..."
Aunt Ping took the opportunity to coax the little darling home, but little did she know that Fangfang had moved in a powerful backer.
"Aunt Ping, you can go back now." Weng Zhaolin waved his hand. "Let him stay in my office."
As he said this, Fangfang sat obediently on the sofa in Zhaolin's office, blinked her eyes, and waved to Aunt Ping: "Bye-bye."
When it was lunchtime, the office door was pushed open.
Fangfang's fluffy little head peeked out again and knocked on the door a few times.
"How can you work if you haven't even eaten your fill!"
Everyone looked over.
Weng Zhaolin pursed his lips. He hadn't even spoken yet, but this little spokesperson had already announced that dinner was served.
The officers remained motionless.
Shengfang, the little boy, flashed his signature little expression again, staring longingly at John.
His niece is still hungry.
Even when surrendering, Weng Zhaolin was still impatient: "Let's eat."
Thanks to the young master of the Sheng family, the group was finally able to temporarily put aside their work.
On the way to the police station cafeteria, Fangfang skipped and jumped beside Zhu Qing.
When the adults ordered food, he had to point his toes almost straight to see the menu that was hanging particularly high today.
Suddenly, Fangfang's short legs lifted into the air, flapping wildly.
He was lifted up and allowed to breathe the air at an altitude.
The idle person who had been wanted for several days was finally released.
Fangfang Baby squinted her eyes: "Huh! So this is where I was!"
...
Zhu Qing sat down in the police station's dining hall with her tray, her gaze unconsciously following that round little figure.
A blooming hem of clothing flashed past the restaurant entrance, and a mischievous child stood tall and proud, exuding confidence.
Haozai complained, "He just pulled Dr. Cheng aside and said, 'Let's talk in private.' And the tone of his voice was like that of a gangster!"
Zhu Qing looked out.
The child leaned against the wall, his cool little face tense, as if he were negotiating with Dr. Cheng.
Zeng Yongshan laughed out loud: "Didn't you say you were going to control his TV time?"
“There’s nothing I can do.” Zhu Qing looked away. “I can no longer tell which lines he learned on the spot and which were old.”
At this moment, the adults in Major Crimes Unit B—
They started helping Zhu Qing come up with ideas and teaching her how to deal with children.
"The TV remote can be purchased separately, so there's no point in putting it away."
"But there's a trick: when you get home from get off work, touch the TV. If it's hot, it means you've just watched it."
Amidst the laughter, the topic unconsciously returned to the case.
The Gu family's files were just transferred from another police station, so we need to revisit them.
From the very beginning, they suspected that Zhou Yongsheng might have silenced the Gu family. After the "love suicide case" came to a close, Zhou Yongsheng's motive became clearer: he wanted to leave Gu Niman completely without support.
Now, Gu Niman's parents and younger brother have all passed away, and Zhou Yongsheng is also dead.
But the truth cannot be buried. Whether it was murder or an accident, there must be an explanation.
“Ruan Wenjing’s father… had an alibi when Zhou Yongsheng was murdered. He was cooking at home at the time, and a neighbor came to borrow some ginger. The two chatted for a while. Ruan’s father lived in a public housing estate in Kowloon. The Ha Kwong Theatre was on Ferry Street, and it would take at least forty minutes to go back and forth. There was simply no time to do that.”
"It's clear that Mr. Ruan really doesn't know the details of the suicide pact case from back then."
"I actually hoped that someone could avenge Ruan Wenjing. At least that would prove that someone still remembered her. But unfortunately, there's no one else in the Ruan family."
“Ruan Wenjing was only twenty years old at the time. What did she do wrong? Just because she was similar in build and had the same blood type as Gu Niman, she was chosen to be a scapegoat.”
"Perhaps even until she boarded the yacht, she still thought it was a rare audition opportunity given to her by Director Zhou. She thought she could finally prove herself to her father..."
The officers ate their dinner in hushed tones, their conversation revolving entirely around the case.
Suddenly, they noticed that Uncle Li and Liang Qikai had returned.
“We just went to the Xiaguang Theater again and found an important clue.”
"More than a decade ago, Xiaguang Theater was also a glorious place. At that time, the premiere of a commercial film was held there, and Zhou Yongsheng, a washed-up director, attended as a guest, but reluctantly."
“The theater manager had already joined the company at that time, but when questioned on the day of the incident, he pretended not to know Zhou Yongsheng.”
Where are they?
"They've brought them back. They're waiting in the interrogation room. We'll have a meal before we start interrogating them."
...
Fangfang asked to speak in private, and after many steps, they reached the corner of the corridor outside the restaurant.
Dr. Cheng slowly moved forward, answering Sheng Fang's questions as she walked back into the restaurant.
Are you pursuing my niece?
Cheng Xinglang continued walking, a smile playing on his lips: "You figured it out?"
"Wow!" Sheng Fang's eyes widened, and she hurried to block his way with her short legs. "You actually admitted it!"
Fangfang thought he was going to make excuses, but to her surprise, he was actually quite confident.
"Dr. Cheng, as usual?" Sister Xiao asked with a smile at the cashier.
After Cheng Xinglang ordered, Sheng Fang came up to him again.
The police officer was allowed to begin the interrogation, but because he was momentarily thrown off balance, he needed to reorganize his thoughts.
Cheng Xinglang was open and honest, and squatted down to look him in the eye.
She was genuinely pursuing him, but lately she'd been so busy she didn't even have time to eat. Even when she asked Zhu Qing to go to the movies the other day, Zhu Qing looked down at her notebook and said, "Of course I'm busy."
She doesn't seem to have realized her feelings yet.
"Coming, coming." Sister Xiao handed over a drink at just the right moment.
Cheng Xinglang presented the young master of the Sheng family with both hands his favorite food—
Cream and fresh milk.
"Did you buy me a drink?"
Sister Xiao marked the menu with a ballpoint pen, her eyes constantly scanning for the most up-to-date information.
Dr. Cheng is trying to win over the children by appealing to their elders.
Holding the glass in both hands, she couldn't wait to take a big slurp, her cheeks puffing out like little balloons.
"Little rascal," Cheng Xinglang said, putting his arm around Fangfang's little shoulder, "what does your niece like?"
"Glug—" Shengfang Baby swallowed the creamy milk in her mouth and said sincerely, "Ultraman, and Transformers."
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