Chapter 61 Red Leaves 22
Late at night, after temporarily settling the elderly people, Luo Siwei and Chi Li led the team back to the Municipal Bureau.
After finishing the last meeting and summarizing the case, the police officers can finally go off work and rest.
Guo Zhengyao stood up and looked at the empty vending machine at the entrance to the conference room. Suddenly, he remembered something: "Fuck! I was worried there wouldn't be enough food, so I gave it all to the elderly. Now they're hungry and there's nothing left to eat!"
We have been busy with this case tonight. Many police officers only ate a few bites of dinner, and some simply didn't eat dinner at all. At this time, the hungry people looked at the wind and rain outside, and there was no place to find food.
Huo Cunsheng's eyes sparkled with hunger: "Is there any rice left in the cafeteria downstairs? I could go make some porridge there."
Guo Zhengyao slapped him and said, "What are you thinking? The canteen chef is long gone. Wouldn't it be like stealing food if you go there now?"
Huo Cunsheng rolled his eyes at him. "How can this be considered stealing? This is a reward for the officers on duty. Besides, I can explain it later and make up for it tomorrow, right?"
Guo Zhengyao waved his hand. "Forget it, forget it. I'd rather starve. It would be embarrassing if word got out that the officers had picked the lock of the city bureau cafeteria. Besides, it's several hundred meters to the cafeteria, and my freshly dried clothes will get wet again."
Listening to them, Luo Siwei remembered that she had missed dinner too. She said, "I still have some food reserves. If you're hungry, come get some."
She often works overtime, so she stocked up on instant noodles for convenience.
Upon hearing the news, the police officers' eyes lit up.
Shen Qing leaned over and said, "Captain Luo! I knew you were the best. Tell me what's going on?"
Luo Siwei said: "Don't worry, there is still half a box of instant noodles left, it should be enough for everyone to share."
The police officers followed Luo Siwei out noisily. Chi Li stood up after seeing them leave. His body swayed a bit, but he supported himself on the table to avoid falling.
Ni Xiang, who was packing her things, noticed Chi Li's abnormality and paused, "Captain Chi, are you feeling unwell?"
Chi Li didn't want to make her worry, so he waved his hand and said, "It's okay, I've been sitting for a long time and my legs are numb."
After getting caught in the rain tonight and being busy until now, Chi Li felt like he had the first signs of a cold. His head ached a bit, and his stomach started to hurt. After a day of running around, even he felt a little overwhelmed.
Chi Li's stomach isn't very good, and he often doesn't pay attention to it. As a result, now if he doesn't eat something after mealtime, his organs will protest.
But as the deputy captain, he didn't want to compete with his subordinates for things, and he didn't want to eat instant noodles.
When he was young, Ye Ling was always busy with work and often came back late, so he would just make two bowls of instant noodles to make do.
This is an extremely makeshift behavior, and Chi Li feels a little contemptuous of it.
He thought it was new at first, but after a while he started to try different flavors of instant noodles. He knew all the brands of instant noodles in the supermarket like the back of his hand. But after a while he got completely fed up with them. He would feel like vomiting after just a few bites or even the smell.
Little Chi Li learned to feed himself. After he learned to cook, he started to make some simple meals.
Ye Ling always let him eat first, so the conversation between them became: "The food is in the refrigerator, heat it up yourself."
But in other families, it is often the parents who say this to their children, but in their family it is the son who says this to his mother.
It was so late now, and Chi Li couldn't go out to buy food, let alone sneak a bite in the cafeteria. He went to get a cup of hot water and made it to the office, wanting to look at some more documents.
After looking for a while, Chi Li's vision began to blur and his stomach hurt even more. It felt like something was stirring in his body, and the pain became more intense with every breathing.
Chi Li persisted for a while before sighing and lying on the table. For some reason, the moment he closed his eyes, he remembered the scene where Luo Siwei was surrounded by police officers and taken to get the reserve food.
Just now, when the meeting ended and she left the meeting room, he was still sitting at the table. At that time, he had a stomachache so severe that he couldn't get up, but he didn't want others to see it.
But he kind of hoped that she would turn around and look at him.
But the girl walked without hesitation.
Chi Li couldn't explain what he felt. Before, he was worried about Luo Siwei's integration. He was afraid that she wouldn't be accepted by the male team members. But now that she was so popular, everyone liked her very much. Young team members like Shen Qing and Tang Xi loved to hang around her. He felt a little jealous.
Before Chi Li had been lying down for long, someone knocked on the office door. Chi Li calmed down and looked up and said, "Come in."
Luo Siwei was standing outside the door. She pushed the door open and walked in, looking at Chi Li: "Captain Chi, the case documents have been sorted out. I heard from Ni Xiang that you went back to the office first, so I came to tell you."
Chi Li nodded and said, "Okay, put your things here."
Luo Siwei had long noticed that Chi Li was in a bad condition that night. His face was pale and bloodless, cold sweat soaked his forehead, and there was a sense of weakness that had never appeared in him before.
She didn't leave in a hurry, still leaning on the doorway, and mustered up the courage to ask Chi Li: "Captain Chi, are you hungry?"
Chi Li didn't hear clearly, and looked up at Luo Siwei: "What?"
Luo Siwei explained, "I've been busy all day. I called you over from the Fourth Precinct. You must have missed dinner... I left something for you..."
She placed the plastic bag she had hidden behind her back on the table. "There are also two boxes of instant porridge, two boiled eggs, and a sausage."
Luo Siwei said it easily. She tried her best to distribute the food fairly, but it was still a bit messy. The only remaining food reserves were snatched from a group of hungry male police officers.
After hearing his words, Chi Li felt relieved. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, the irritability in his heart receded, and even his stomachache seemed to be better. He asked, "You didn't have dinner either?"
Luo Siwei was seen through by him: "These are the only ones left..." She was afraid that Chi Li might not have enough, so she took them all.
Chi Li said: "Just give me a box of porridge."
Luo Siwei: "Well... okay."
Chi Li said: "Let's go have dinner together."
Three minutes later, the two of them sat in the lounge of the Municipal Bureau. Luo Siwei pointed to the two bowls of instant porridge in front of them and said, "Captain Chi, pick one from the two bowls of beef and egg porridge and the century egg and lean pork porridge."
Chi Li pointed at the one with preserved egg and lean pork, and Luo Siwei helped him open the lid of the instant porridge and put the only sausage in it.
Chi Li asked: "Is there only one left?"
Luo Siwei said: "You eat, I eat less."
Then she added hot water, and then took out her phone to count the seconds with a serious expression. When the time was up, she pushed the prepared porridge in front of Chi Li: "Alright, eat quickly."
Seeing Chi Li opened the lid, Luo Siwei opened the one in front of him, scooped up the steam and took a bite: "It's delicious, the seasoning here is particularly good."
Chi Li saw that she looked very focused and felt that drinking the porridge was like eating a big meal.
Even though he was starving and his stomach ached, he still gracefully opened the disposable spoon. Chi Li didn't rush to eat, but instead cut half of the sausage and stuffed it into Luo Siwei's bowl: "I can't eat that much."
Luo Siwei didn't refuse and took the sausage: "Drink the porridge while it's hot."
Chi Li lowered his head and took a bite. The warm food quickly soothed his stomach. After he ate a few bites, his stomachache was greatly relieved.
He commented, "Nice craftsmanship."
Luo Siwei said, "Captain Chi, you're teasing me again. What kind of skills are needed to make instant porridge..."
Chi Li said seriously: "There is a strange phenomenon when cooking porridge and stewing soup. They are obviously the simplest food preparations, but the taste of each person's cooking will be different."
Luo Si smiled and said, "Next time I'll let you try the conch rice noodle I cooked. It's the best."
Chi Li said: "Okay."
On a typhoon night, in the city bureau's lounge late at night, the outside world was in turmoil, but here it was quiet and safe.
Two detectives who had been busy all day sat opposite each other and enjoyed two bowls of steaming instant porridge.
Luo Siwei ate quietly but quickly, ending the battle quickly and then wiping his mouth with satisfaction.
Chi Li ate slowly. He looked at Luo Siwei and thought, he is really easy to feed. He can be so satisfied with just Filet-O-Fish and instant porridge.
Luo Siwei tidied up the table in front of her: "Qi Moxue just confessed something about this case."
Chi Li nodded.
Luo Siwei said, "I confirmed with her that there were more elderly people who died than the two thrown into the well. There were also many more elderly people who died in their homes. She found a better way to deal with them, so she stopped throwing the bodies of the elderly people into the well."
Chi Li asked: "What's the solution?"
Luo Siwei said, "They sold the bodies. Each body was worth 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. And those landlords... they didn't sell them because they were afraid of being exposed." At this point, Luo Siwei wiped her hands with a tissue. "Really, I didn't expect that buying and selling bodies still existed nowadays. What did those people do with the bodies?"
Luo Siwei had only read in a book that in the past some medical students would buy corpses for dissection research, but this is no longer necessary now.
Chi Li pondered for a moment: "Maybe he has some special hobbies?"
When Luo Siwei heard him say that, even though she had seen many perverts, she still felt a little disgusted.
She frowned, "But those corpses are all elderly, and they collect them very frequently. Basically, they come to help take away the bodies as soon as someone dies... The young ones can be arranged for ghost marriages, but what can the old men and women do?"
Chi Li said: "Maybe they took the corpses for other uses. Some of the old people's corneas can still be used."
Luo Siwei thought about it carefully. There are hundreds of millions of people on the earth, and people go missing every year. In a large city, with so many ravines and corners, how many unknown disappearances would there be?
After everything was sorted out, Luo Siwei asked Chi Li: "Captain Chi, how will this case be handled later?"
"The judgment should be made based on the actual situation." Chi Li paused and said.
Luo Siwei said: "When I was helping other elderly people arrange their rest just now, I asked them how they planned to live in the future. One elderly person told me that even if Qi Moxue was gone, they would try their best to live well."
Chi Li said: "I called my mother and told her the result of the case. She said she would report it to the provincial department. I will also discuss this matter with Director Chen to see how to better settle those elderly people and handle it properly."
Luo Siwei felt warm in her heart when she heard Chi Li say this: "Captain Chi, thank you."
Chi Li added: "This incident will attract social attention, and the lives of these elderly people will be helped. However, if we want to solve these problems, we can only rely on more and more perfect systems. Many things are difficult to change by one or two people. Even if you help a few poor people, there may be more helpless people struggling in places that people can't see."
Chi Li's words were rational and realistic.
Luo Siwei heard his words and felt a sense of familiarity. She had heard some similar words from Thinker. She watched Chi Li clean up the dishes and felt an urge in her heart to ask him something.
Luo Siwei suddenly called him: "Chi Li."
"Hmm?" Chi Li raised his head.
Luo Siwei forgot what she wanted to say again, and finally waved her hand: "Good night."
Chi Li said: "Good night."
The typhoon will eventually pass, and tomorrow will be another calm day.
A few days later, the police report on the case was finally issued.
In a short period of time, media news releases flooded the screen, and almost every app you opened would see people discussing this strange case.
The reason is simple: everyone ages. As society ages, the proportion of elderly people in the population gradually increases. This is something that concerns everyone.
Luo Siwei had just arrived at the Municipal Bureau that day when Su Yenan privately messaged her: "Luo Luo, do you have any inside information about that new case?"
Luo Siwei said, "It's probably similar to what's circulating online now."
Su Ye Nan said, "Alas, I was out interviewing all day today. I just felt that this matter was so ironic. It was clearly a very tragic thing, but the interview turned it into an absurd drama. I haven't edited this video yet, and I don't dare to post it. I don't think it will pass the review of my boss. Can you help me take a look first?"
She sent a compressed video, and Luo Siwei clicked it to watch.
It was an interview on the streets of Donglan, a typhoon-washed street with blue sky and white clouds, and a sunny day.
Su Ye Nan interviewed people about their opinions on this case.
The first respondent was an elderly woman buying groceries on the street: "Oh, I don't think that woman is wrong. She's kind-hearted enough to take in those homeless elderly people. Why do those landlords have so many properties? They should be subject to property taxes and be investigated more!"
Su Ye Nan said: "Uh...it seems that one of the elderly people involved said that he had wanted to return to the countryside for a long time and had been detained here."
The aunt said, "You're not satisfied with having food, shelter, and medicine provided? That woman is a female bodhisattva. We should have more people like her in society so that the elderly can have a home..."
Su Ye Nan asked again: "Auntie, will you consider this kind of retirement plan when you are old?"
The aunt glared at her and said, "How can you be so speechless, little girl? If I get old, I will definitely have a son to take care of me. But those who don't have children... Look, my son is not married yet..."
In the camera, Luo Siwei clearly felt that Su Ye Nan and the old man snatched the microphone before he got it back.
The second person interviewed was a couple who appeared to be recent college graduates.
The girl said, "I also saw the news online. It's quite terrifying when you think about it. The murderer basically imprisoned those elderly people in those houses. They all lived together in a communal environment. She arranged their food and accommodation, and all their money had to be given to her. Some elderly people wanted to leave but were not allowed to return. It's quite abnormal. If it were me, I would rather die than live in a place like that."
Su Ye Nan asked: "How old are you this year?"
Female student: “I just graduated this year.”
"Have you found a job?"
"Few of our graduates have found jobs."
Su Ye Nan asked the boy next to her: "What about you?"
"I've worked for a year and just lost my job. I'm planning to take the postgraduate entrance exam or the civil service exam."
"Have you ever thought about what you will do when you are old?"
The female student smiled and said, "I'm still far from old. We'll talk about it later."
The boy next to him said, "Maybe they won't live to old age."
The third person interviewed was a white-collar male: "I hate those shared housing arrangements the most. A nice neighborhood, but a bunch of dirty rats have to move in, and the property management doesn't even respond to my complaints."
Su Ye Nan said: "Then you can call the police and protect your rights."
"If I call the police, won't they know it was me? What can the police do? Let them stay at their house? Then they'll try to trick the police and leave, then send someone else to stop me. How can I be sure of my personal safety?"
The man suddenly realized, "Hey, where are you going to broadcast this interview? This part has been cut. Don't broadcast it. What if someone comes to look for me later..."
A middle-aged man was interviewed later: "That woman is simply hating the rich. The landlord's house is her legal property. Why would she go to such lengths to kill someone just to live there for free? But those landlords are too bad. The elderly are quite pitiful. I think we should strengthen care for the elderly, at least give them a place to live..."
Su Ye Nan asked: "Uncle, do you have a house?"
"Oh, there are two sets."
"Then are you willing to rent your house to elderly people who don't have a house?"
The middle-aged man's face flushed for a moment, and he stammered, "There are so many nursing homes and retirement homes, and some people have even more houses. I only have two, and they're not enough for them. Oh, don't look at me saying this, it's not that I'm immoral, it's the truth. Who would be willing to rent to an elderly person? What if they die in the house? I still need to rent out the house to save money for my retirement."
Some people have incorrect values, some people think it is none of their business, some people are dissatisfied but cowardly, and some people say you can live anywhere but not in my house.
The world seems to be the same as before, nothing has changed.
After Luo Siwei finished the interview, he sent a message to Su Yenan: "..."
"It can't be broadcast, right? If you react like this, my boss will be even more upset! My whole day has been wasted." Su Ye Nan responded with a desperate and crazy expression.
Luo Siwei thought for a moment and sent a message to Su Ye Nan: "I don't have any more inside information, but there is a progress I can tell you. After our leaders discussed with the government, they arranged for the elderly to be admitted to a public nursing home. People from all walks of life donated money and materials to the elderly, enough for them to spend their later years in peace and comfort. See if you can find some information from this aspect."
Luo Siwei knew that Chi Li had contributed a lot to making all this happen.
Su Ye Nan sent her a tearful expression.
Luo Siwei turned around and looked out through the glass window. Donglan City was so big, a bustling city with a lot of traffic.
She thought that among these tall buildings, wide streets, and shady trees, there must be some space that can accommodate the elderly...
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