Chapter 10 There's something on him
Shen Zhenzhu thought something had happened to her sixth sister, so she hurriedly went forward.
Aye and Zhou Chuanxi moved the table, Gu Yanzheng put down the stools, and turned to greet Shen Zhenzhu: "Officer Shen, thank you for keeping the scene so well today. We just finished and stopped by for a bite to eat."
Actually, it wasn't really a casual stop; they just wanted to thank Sixth Sister for treating Hu Xianfeng last time. Gu Yanzheng initially wanted to refuse, but after considering it, he accepted.
He understood that Sixth Sister's personality meant she didn't want to owe anyone anything, and she especially didn't want Pearl, who was kept in the dark, to be inferior to others.
Besides... the craftsmanship is truly superb.
It was a worthwhile meal.
Seeing him sit down and break his chopsticks, Chen Zhenzhu asked without any hesitation, "Are you just eating a boxed lunch?"
Lu Ye blurted out, "Sixth Sister is going to cook for us, so we should accept. To be honest, just smelling the aroma from your house here really reminds me of my mom's cooking."
Shen Zhenzhu had no idea when Captain Gu and Sixth Sister had become so close, that Sixth Sister was even making an exception to cook stir-fries. Aside from the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, and pregnant women, Captain Gu was number one.
"Serve the dishes!" Sixth Sister called out, and before Pearl could go over, Lu Ye got up and went to the kitchen to serve them.
After two round trips, a few people had a variety of dishes laid out in front of them, including shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce, sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour pork, spicy crab, shredded pork with shredded eggs, scallion chicken, lotus root and pork bone soup, etc., a perfect blend of northern and southern styles.
The aroma of the dishes filled the dining table, making Lu Ye swallow hard: "Wow, so many dishes. They smell so good, even better than the food at my family's New Year's dinner."
"Sit down and join us?" Gu Yanzheng pulled out a chair next to him.
Thinking of the fruit shop case, Shen Zhenzhu sat down next to him with her rice bowl in hand.
Wu Zhongguo was the last to arrive after finishing his visits. He wasn't surprised to see Shen Zhenzhu, as he already knew this was her family's shop. However, he was somewhat surprised that she sat obediently to Gu Yanzheng's right.
"Zhang Jie went straight home after finishing her interview. Her family said her child was sick. She wouldn't be working overtime that night, so they asked me to help her ask for leave."
Gu Yanzheng didn't show much expression, seemingly used to Zhang Jie's family members constantly telling her to come home because her child was sick.
Shen Zhenzhu gently ate the sweet and sour pork, pondering how rarely she had seen this operator.
After a day of investigating the severed hand case, they inevitably started talking about it during their meal. They set up a table outside the shop, where there was no one else around. Since Chen Zhenzhu had been to the scene, there was nothing for her to hide.
Zhou Chuanxi is not tall, just over 1.7 meters, and has a handsome appearance. He looks like an office worker, but his eyes are bright and he has a professional habit of looking at everything with a sense of inquiry: "This has caused a lot of panic. A reporter even took a picture of the severed hand, which will probably be in the newspaper tomorrow."
"Xizi, do you think it might be the one we arrested?" Lu Ye ate heartily, enjoying his meal. His sixth sister's cooking was excellent, and he found the food increasingly appetizing. Taking a rare moment to ask, "I wonder if Sister Zhang can get anything out of her."
"Did you catch them?" Shen Zhenzhu glanced at Gu Yanzheng's expression and whispered, "How many?"
Gu Yanzheng finished a bowl of rice without realizing it. Just as he was about to get up to get more rice, he slowed down and stood behind Shen Zhenzhu, asking, "You also think it's not one?"
The hair on Shen Zhenzhu's back was about to stand on end. Ignoring the word "also," she licked her lips and said, "I'm just guessing. After all, the cut surface of the severed hand was formed in one piece, perpendicular to the wrist. There were no obvious signs of struggle, so maybe there was someone helping."
Instead of getting more rice, Gu Yanzheng sat back down and said with interest, "Continue."
Chen Zhenzhu muttered, "What are you saying?"
"What are your thoughts on this case?" Gu Yanzheng's eyes were long and deep. Shen Zhenzhu felt as if her heart was being dissected and examined when she was stared at by such eyes.
Not daring to expose her "discerning eye," she obediently put down her chopsticks, her knees together like a well-behaved student called on by the teacher, and honestly said, "Otherwise, it must have been a strong man who could control the person and perfectly chop off the hand."
Gu Yanzheng said, "Another possibility is that the body was dismembered after death, which can be done by one person. In this case, the murderer could be either male or female."
They even tried to secretly seduce the murderer into being male, but failed.
Shen Zhenzhu pursed her lips and said, "That hand-chopping technique is very strong."
Gu Yanzheng smiled: "There's a high possibility it's a male perpetrator. But—"
But what? There are no buts.
Shen Zhenzhu sat up straight again and looked at Gu Yanzheng with a puzzled expression.
Gu Yanzheng added, "Based on complaints from residents of the fruit shop, we learned that chopping sounds were heard coming from Xu Di's house late at night, and bloodstains were found at the door. In the afternoon, I went to her house to search and found a large pool of blood and splattered blood inside. We also found a cleaver, which matched the cross-section of a severed hand."
Shen Zhenzhu never expected that a man from out of town would suddenly appear. If she hadn't heard the accent of the man from out of town with her own ears, she would have been convinced that the murderer was Xu Di.
"...It couldn't be her." Shen Zhenzhu shook her head, her hands on her knees clenching nervously. She desperately tried to figure out how to tell Captain Gu that the murderer was a man from out of town!
Zhou Chuanxi didn't know why Captain Gu suddenly asked about Chen Zhenzhu. He tried to smooth things over by pointing to the kitchen and saying, "Could you please serve me some rice?"
"You can serve yourself if you want," Wu Zhongguo said, handing over a bowl. "And please serve me one too."
Lu Ye also raised his bowl: "I want one too!"
Zhou Chuanxi said speechlessly, "This is your third bowl already!"
Shen Zhenzhu thought she could finally breathe a sigh of relief after the conversation was interrupted, but suddenly Gu Yanzheng's voice came to her ear again: "The reason, why not her?"
Zhou Chuanxi looked at Chen Zhenzhu with pity; there was nothing he could do to help her.
No wonder the boss has been single for years. Now that an unmarried woman has finally appeared in their lives, he's probably going to be scared away again.
"I've seen her, and she doesn't fit my preconceived notions about the killer."
Shen Zhenzhu was grateful to Zhou Chuanxi for interrupting, which allowed her to quickly come up with a reason: "The murderer boiled the severed hand, considering the extremely cruel act of dismemberment. Therefore, I speculate that Cai Jingjing must have been murdered. Generally, perpetrators of dismemberment cases have extreme violent tendencies, are numb to violence, or have psychological trauma or even antisocial personality disorder. They lack empathy, cannot accept social norms, and may be psychologically abnormal, taking pleasure in torture and abuse. The murderer may have acted against Cai Jingjing out of hatred and revenge."
Wu Zhongguo put down his chopsticks, exchanged a glance with Zhou Chuanxi, and the two became focused. This young girl has something going on with her.
Shen Zhenzhu glanced up at Gu Yanzheng, sensing his signal, and continued, "But I've met Xu Di. She started working at seventeen, and she's warm-hearted and helpful. She has many friends, and everyone treats her sincerely. Last year, she even reported to our police station that someone was beating his wife. Another time, she found some medical expenses and, fearing the person wouldn't have the money for treatment, walked several stops in the middle of the night to deliver it to the police station."
“He has empathy, a warm heart, good social relationships, and conforms to the code of conduct for citizens.” Gu Yanzheng succinctly pointed out the key points, and his usually stern face finally broke into a smile. He stood up, picked up his bowl, and said, “Did you all hear Officer Shen’s analysis, A-Ye?”
"I heard it." Lu Ye almost choked on his fourth bowl of rice. Little did he know that Shen Zhenzhu's analysis was so logical and perfectly matched Gu Yanzheng's thoughts on solving the case.
He still thought Xu Di was the murderer and was preparing to exceed the 12-hour time limit for solving the case, and suddenly even the sweet and sour pork didn't taste good anymore.
Putting down his chopsticks, Lu Ye gave a thumbs-up in admiration and said, "Comrade Xiao Shen, you're wasting your talents in the police station. You're a hidden gem."
“That’s not necessarily true.” Shen Zhenzhu said shyly, “I usually like to read books on crime-solving and reasoning. I also studied criminal psychology and investigation at the police academy. I’m just applying what I’ve learned.”
Gu Yanzheng remained silent, his eyes sweeping over her dimples.
It was a genuine laugh.
A slight smile played on his lips.
The young girl really enjoys being praised.
Zhou Chuanxi teased Lu Ye, saying, "Did you forget everything you learned at the police academy?"
"Go away, what are you saying? I'm a qualified and excellent criminal investigation team member, okay? Besides, the blood test results aren't back yet. Maybe the murder happened at Xu Di's house. There are already witnesses confirming that she was chopping things up in the middle of the night. Who would be chopping things up in the middle of the night, boss? What do you think of what I said?"
Lu Ye clenched his fist. He was broad-shouldered and burly, and to Shen Zhenzhu, he was like a small mountain.
"It's not very good," Gu Yanzheng said. "Just eat your food."
Lu Ye said "Oh," picked up his rice bowl, and continued eating without a care in the world.
“I always tell you to use your brains more, and not to let your thinking become rigid just because you've handled so many cases. When you encounter Xu Di's family, your first reaction is to assume that it's the crime scene.” Gu Yanzheng brought back the food: “Let's wait for the blood test results to see if it really is Cai Jingjing's blood.”
His decision to hand Xu Di over to Zhang Jie for presiding over the trial indirectly proves that he wasn't very interested in her and that she wasn't his target suspect.
Wu Zhongguo and Zhou Chuanxi had long since figured out the key to the case and planned to continue investigating, while Lu Ye remained oblivious, still happy that the case was about to be solved.
"Speak with evidence, not speculation. Let's eat first." Gu Yanzheng picked up his chopsticks, and then saw that all six dishes were gone. In the time it took to get rice, Lu Ye had devoured everything.
Raising cattle is better than raising wild animals.
Shen Zhenzhu wanted to laugh. No wonder Lu Ye was such a good fighter; he was Gu Yanzheng's number one "fierce general."
She picked up two plates and scooped some food from the lunchbox.
Sixth Sister always thought these people were worldly-wise and drove high-end SUVs, so they definitely wouldn't be used to her stir-fries. Seeing the food completely devoured, Zhou Chuanxi even gave a thoughtful review: "Auntie, your cooking is absolutely amazing. It's even better than what I eat at restaurants. It looks, smells, and tastes delicious, and it looks so clean, just like what my mom cooked for me."
This praise made Sixth Sister beam with joy. What could be a better compliment than "Mom's cooking skills"?
Lu Ye spoke volumes without saying a word, devouring five bowls of rice by himself. If it were unpalatable, would he have eaten it like that?
The restaurant was bustling with customers, who were enjoying their boxed lunches and saying, "Sixth Sister's food is delicious and inexpensive, and the taste is always the same."
“My child only eats at my sixth sister’s house. We don’t trust other places to eat. Only her house is clean and hygienic. We’ve been eating there for many years. It’s even more delicious than the food we cook at home.”
"Sometimes I even come early, because if I come late, there won't be any food left. Everything else is great, but the place is a bit small, and there's always a queue."
Sixth Sister scooped up the leftover vegetables from the large basin and added a spoonful to each of the regular customers. She also added some vegetables for the leaders of the Criminal Investigation Team Four, and that concluded tonight's dinner.
As Shen Yuyuan walked back, reciting vocabulary words, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Before she could even put down her schoolbag, she grabbed Chen Zhenzhu's arm and said, "Big sister, are all the people outside from the Major Crimes Unit?"
"Yes, Team Four is the Major Crimes Unit. You have good taste. Under Captain Gu's leadership, they have solved many major cases."
"Wow, is that Captain Gu in the leather jacket? He could debut as a star in Hong Kong or Taiwan."
Shen Zhenzhu was thrilled to be able to idolize her idol with her best friend, and she kept recounting Gu Yanzheng's amazing past achievements to Shen Yuyuan: "In recent years, he has solved all the famous cases, such as the kidnapping of the son of a wealthy man in the Pearl River Delta, the cement-sealed corpse case at the Royal Dynasty Hotel, the massacre of thirteen people by an overseas group, and the preserved meat corpse case. Isn't he cool?"
"...Then...then he's pretty amazing." Shen Yuyuan was caught off guard by this brutally honest recommendation, and her hair almost stood on end.
Looking at Gu Yanzheng, I no longer feel like a Hong Kong or Taiwan star, but rather like Erlang Shen (a deity in Chinese mythology), and I can't help but want to kneel down to him.
Shen Zhenzhu didn't notice her younger sister's serious expression. Her eyes darted around Captain Gu, and she was overjoyed at having successfully convinced him.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Pearl: Today was another day of successfully promoting my idol!
Shen Yuyuan: Oh my god, bye Captain Gu, will this drive away the demons?
*
Please add this chapter to your favorites! There's a red envelope in this chapter!
[Panda head][Panda head]
Pearl's joining the criminal investigation team is also in progress, and the female eagle slowly spreads her wings.
See you tomorrow!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com