Compared to Xu Man's surprise, Li Shijie seemed a little embarrassed: "Um, Brother Qin, I may not be able to leave here. Team Leader Feng is holding me and won't let go. Look at this..."
Qin Shen raised his eyebrows and looked at him: "What's the matter, did Lao Feng detain you?"
Li Shijie complained: "It's still the same thing as before. He still holds a grudge against me! I was wondering why my right eyelid kept twitching this morning and never stopped——"
"Okay, I get it." Qin Shen interrupted him impatiently, "Stop whining here, just do what Lao Feng asks you to do, and when he's willing to let you go, you can follow me to the scene."
"Ah?" Li Shijie screamed. Obviously, this result was not what he expected. "Brother Qin, why don't you help me talk to them? Just tell them that I want to follow you on a case. If I end up in the Intelligence Department, it would be inconvenient if there's no one to help you run errands, right?"
Qin Shen was amused by him, "Why is it inconvenient? Isn't there someone here? Xu Man," he called Xu Man with a smile, "Come on, follow me downstairs."
Being called out of the blue, Xu Man nodded and said "Oh" quickly, then followed Qin Shen out of the meeting room obediently. Li Shijie also followed, and pestered Qin Shen to go down from the second floor to the first floor, wanting him to take him with him. Unfortunately, not only was he ignored by Qin Shen the whole time, but he was also caught red-handed by the intelligence team leader Feng Xuanren in the hall. He had to let go in frustration and went to the Intelligence Department dejectedly.
The screams he made when he was dragged away were so tragic that most of the people in the hall stopped what they were doing and looked up to see who was making the pig-slaughtering screams. Even Xu Man, who knew the truth, couldn't help but look back a few times.
"Let's go." Qin Shen patted her shoulder. "He is just like that, noisy and always in the limelight. There's nothing to see."
Xu Man nodded and followed him closely as they left the detachment hall.
Arriving at the parking lot, Qin Shen stopped beside a police car and turned to ask her: "How is your driving skill?"
Xu Man heard that he seemed to want to drive himself, so she said, "Not bad." After saying that, she felt that this answer was a bit bad, as if he had no confidence in his driving skills, so she added, "No points were deducted."
"..." Qin Shen was speechless at her answer, "Then your driving skills are pretty good. How many times have you driven a car?"
Xu Man hesitated for a moment: "About five times...about that."
Qin Shen: “…”
Qin Shen: "Have you only driven a car when you were learning to drive?"
Xu Man blushed and felt embarrassed.
"I drove it twice when I went home during the summer vacation." She explained in a low voice, "I got my driver's license in my sophomore year, and I don't have the opportunity to drive at school, so the number of times is a bit less..."
Qin Shen sighed weakly: "Get in the car."
Xu Man blinked and pointed at herself uncertainly: "I'll drive?"
"I'll do it." Qin Shen opened the car door, glanced at her, and shook his head. "I feel uneasy when I see you like that. Come on in. I'll drive you."
Xu Man wanted to say something to save her image in his mind, but seeing that he had already got into the car and started the engine, she could only give up the idea, walked around to the passenger door, opened it and got in.
After closing the door and fastening her seat belt, she hesitated for a moment, then hesitated again, before finally saying what was on her mind: "Actually, I'm a pretty good driver...I drove alone twice during the summer vacation, and there were no accidents."
"Yes, a hundred percent safety rate is quite high." Qin Shen laughed, "But the number is a little insufficient, twice?"
"…Everything starts from scratch, right? No one has ten years of driving experience from the beginning." Xu Man pursed her lips unconfidently, "Driving experience is acquired through practice."
"Then you have to find some time to practice." Qin Shen stepped on the accelerator, turned the steering wheel to the right, and drove out of the detachment gate. "Don't let me ask you to set up a blockade to block people, and you ask me how to step on the accelerator and which direction to turn the steering wheel. There's no point in setting up a blockade, and the people will run away long ago."
Xu Man wanted to explain that she would never do such an unreliable thing, but when she thought about it carefully, it was really possible, so she could only smile awkwardly and swallow her words.
The car turned into the main road, drove on the motor vehicle lane, and passed one road sign after another. Xu Man sat upright in the passenger seat, with her hands clasped on her knees, staring intently at the scenery outside the front windshield, silently memorizing the road in her heart.
Regardless of whether she stays in the detachment or the municipal bureau, she has to intern in Mingzhou for half a year. The sooner she gets familiar with the roads, the better. In case someone asks her to drive in the future, she may have enough driving skills but she doesn't know the roads. It would be embarrassing for her to use the navigation to chase the criminals.
Noticing her silence, Qin Shen glanced at her with some curiosity. Seeing that she looked well-behaved and focused, staring out the window intently, like a student completing the homework assigned by the teacher, Qin Shen couldn't help but smile.
This girl is so cute and well-behaved, just like a little white rabbit.
…
According to intelligence, the dance class that Zhang Xiaojuan attended before her death belonged to a well-known chain education institution, whose full name is Children's Ballet Music Education Center, and is located on the 22nd floor of Building 3 in the center of Siyang District Commercial Plaza.
Qin Shen parked his car in the underground parking lot in the center of the commercial plaza, and took the elevator to the first-floor sales floor with Xu Man. Then they turned into the entrance of Office Building 3 and took the elevator to the 22nd floor.
Originally, each floor of the office building was rented by several companies. However, the dance class that Xu Man and her team wanted to investigate belonged to a wealthy educational institution that had booked floors 15 to 23 of the entire building. Each floor offered different types of classes, including but not limited to children's English, mathematics, music, and dance. Therefore, the entrances and exits on both sides of the elevator room on the 22nd floor were all blocked by glass doors, with "entrance" written on one side and "exit" on the other.
Xu Man walked to the glass door marking the entrance and rang the doorbell at Qin Shen's signal.
Soon, a receptionist came out, opened the door with a smile and invited them in, with a dignified and friendly attitude: "Hello, welcome."
Qin Shen walked in and glanced at the company name on the wall at the front desk: "Are you the Children's Ballet Learning Center?"
"Yes." The receptionist showed a typical smile, "Excuse me, are you two here to enroll your children in dance classes?"
Xu Man was stunned. She had not expected that others would have such a misunderstanding. Although she and Qin Shen were not wearing police uniforms, and were of the same age, and came to this place, it was normal for others to mistake them for a couple. However, her face still turned red with embarrassment, with a strange feeling that she could not explain.
"No, we—"
"Police." Qin Shen's calm voice sounded, interrupting Xu Man's explanation. He pulled out a police ID from his pocket, opened it and held it up to the receptionist, "I'm here to investigate something, and I hope you can cooperate."
The receptionist's smile froze on his face, but he forced one out again after a few seconds, but his tone was obviously not as professional as before. "Please come in. I'll go get our person in charge."
Qin Shen nodded.
The receptionist brought them into the meeting room, poured two glasses of water, said "Please wait a moment", closed the door and left the meeting room. About ten minutes later, a slightly plump middle-aged man pushed open the door and walked in.
The man wore gold-rimmed glasses on his nose. His slightly shrewd eyes behind the lenses swept over Xu Man and Qin Shen, and then he accurately extended his hand towards Qin Shen.
"Hello, police officer. I am Yang Wenqing, the person in charge here."
Qin Shen shook hands with him. "Qin Shen, Criminal Investigation Brigade." He briefly showed his police ID. "Are you the person in charge here?"
Yang Wenqing glanced at his police ID card, and the smile on his face widened a little more than before: "It turns out to be Officer Qin, nice to meet you. I am the principal of the Mingzhou Siyang branch of Xuele Education Institution, and I am the general manager here."
Xu Man noticed all the changes in his expression and was quite amazed. She thought to herself that he was really a smart guy. When he found out that the person who came was the captain of the criminal investigation detachment, his attitude changed. He became much warmer and more polite than before, but the change was so natural that it was difficult to notice.
Qin Shen didn't care about that. After introducing himself, he took out a photo from the pocket inside his collar and held it in front of Yang Wenqing: "Principal Yang, do you have any impression of the female student in this photo?"
Yang Wenqing glanced at the photo and said, "Is it Zhang Xiaojuan? Officer Qin, do you have any news about her?"
After receiving a report from Zhang Xiaojuan's parents about their daughter's disappearance, the police from Siyang District Police Station launched an investigation into the matter, which naturally included the teachers and students of this educational institution. It was not surprising that Yang Wenqing knew Zhang Xiaojuan and knew about her disappearance.
Xu Man was a little confused about this. The police had already questioned the teachers and students of this educational institution but did not get any useful information. Why did Qin Shen bring her here to investigate first? Don’t you trust the Siyang District police?
"Yesterday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, we found Zhang Xiaojuan's body in the woods of the wetland park." Qin Shen said, "So there are some things we want to investigate further."
The smile on Yang Wenqing's face disappeared. "A body?"
Qin Shen nodded: "She was murdered. Zhang Xiaojuan's parents have come to claim the body. It's their missing daughter."
"This..." Yang Wenqing's face changed. He obviously didn't expect Qin Shen to bring him such news. He lost his previous attentiveness and became serious. "I'll go call Zhang Xiaojuan's homeroom teacher over. She has always been taught by Teacher Lu when she has classes here. She knows much more about Zhang Xiaojuan than I do."
After getting Qin Shen's permission, Yang Wenqing left the reception room and walked in a few minutes later with a female teacher with her hair tied up.
Xu Man looked over and found that the female teacher had a graceful figure and light steps. It was obvious that she had practiced dancing and her manners and demeanor were particularly elegant.
"Teacher Lu, these are the two police officers I told you about." Yang Wenqing first said this to the female teacher, then pointed at Qin Shen and introduced him, "This is the captain of the Mingzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, Qin Shen, the captain of the team."
Xu Man noticed the change in his words. It seemed that Qin Shen's identity as the team leader had also elevated her status. She was no longer a police comrade, but a police officer.
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