Chapter 5 Disguise

◎A neat and standard salute◎

Meimei was wearing a single piece of clothing and standing barefoot on the blue-gray terrazzo floor of the corridor.

Tears welled up in her big eyes, and she asked in a weak and timid voice, "Sister, you came here with my mother, right? Have you seen my father?"

[You bitch, you stinky bitch! You are not a police officer, yet you come to my mother and talk nonsense. You are too lenient. I hate you, get out of here.]

The voice that came out of his mouth was gentle and soft, but the voice that came out of his heart was sarcastic and harsh. When these two completely different voices rang in his ears and mind, the corners of Zhao Xiangwan's lips turned down and a hint of sarcasm flashed in his eyes.

——At only eleven years old, he is already so good at pretending.

Zhao Xiangwan's eyes were sharp, and under his gaze, Meimei felt that her little thoughts were exposed, which made her nervous.

Meimei clenched her fists tightly, dodged Zhao Xiangwan's gaze, and saw Xu Songling's back through the double swing doors of the emergency room. She suddenly felt like she had found her backbone and ran quickly.

Snap, snap, snap…

The sound of bare feet stepping on the terrazzo floor was very loud in the corridor, startling the couple who were accompanying their child in the emergency room.

Xu Songling turned around, and Meimei ran to his side like flying, hugged his waist, and said in a voice full of grievance: "Dad, where have you been? Meimei is scared..."

Xu Songling saw the child standing barefoot on the ground and picked her up distressedly. Meimei snuggled in her father's arms, as if to draw energy from him.

Zhou Qiaoxiu stared coldly at her adopted daughter, whom she held in her hands and loved dearly, and tried to control her emotions. If Zhao Xiangwan hadn't helped, the baby might have been killed by the couple, or taken to the countryside to suffer. But Meimei, the instigator, had the nerve to appear in front of her and openly snatch Xu Songling's attention and love.

"Mom..." A faint call broke the heavy atmosphere in the ward.

Zhou Qiaoxiu threw all her love and hate behind her and rushed to the baby's side: "Baby, are you awake? Do you feel uncomfortable? Do you have a headache? Come, drink some water."

As soon as the baby saw his mother's face, he started to sob and put his arms around her neck: "Mom, baby, be obedient, don't run around, and don't sell me."

It was the first time Zhou Qiaoxiu heard her willful baby say such words. Holding the child's soft body tightly in her arms, she felt as if ten thousand ants were biting her heart. The tiny and dense pain made it difficult for her to breathe. Her throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton and she couldn't utter a word.

Meimei raised her head from her father's arms and looked down at the baby, her eyes full of joy: "Baby, you're back! It's great."

The baby didn't respond.

Because she was so frightened that she held her mother tightly and refused to let go, she refused to even call Xu Songling, let alone abandon her sister. She did not accuse her sister, but just held her mother and begged her not to abandon her.

Zhou Qiaoxiu coaxed the child softly while remembering the doctor's instructions to feed her water. When the child finally fell asleep, she turned around and faced Meimei.

This account must be settled now! Zhou Qiaoxiu simply couldn't wait to stay overnight. Even though it was already two o'clock, even though Meimei was barefoot, even though this was a hospital.

"You guys come out with me."

Xu Songling stood aside holding Meimei, feeling anxious because he was being collectively ignored by Zhou Qiaoxiu and the baby. When he heard Zhou Qiaoxiu's instructions, he immediately followed his wife to the corridor.

Before leaving, Zhou Qiaoxiu glanced at Zhao Xiangwan, her eyes full of apology: "Xiangwan, I'm sorry to have kept you for so long. I'll take you back to school after I finish my housework."

Zhao Xiangwan was always calm and nodded: "Okay."

Zhou Qiaoxiu stood in the corridor and took a deep breath: "Meimei, do you know where I found the baby? I have to thank you and Zhao Xiangwan for the information you mentioned, the back door of the park, the fried melon seeds. The back door of the park is crowded and easy to be found, so you took the baby through an old neighborhood and sent her to a small alley. There are three fried food shops there, and Lao Wu's Fried Food Shop is closest to the street corner. I heard from the neighbors that this couple has always wanted a daughter. You deliberately left the baby there. Did you calculate that they would hide her?

I really underestimated you for being so meticulous. It was you who deliberately took the baby to the back door of the park and abandoned it, but you told us and the police that the baby let go of your hand at the playground and you didn't remember where you went. You are so cruel! "

Zhou Qiaoxiu's voice was very calm at the moment, but beneath that calmness was brewing a huge storm. After more than ten years of marriage, Xu Songling saw his tolerant and generous wife like this for the first time, and his face suddenly turned ugly.

If what Zhou Qiaoxiu said is true, then the eleven-year-old child in his arms is a devil!

Meimei stared at her mother blankly, tears in her eyes, and choked up as she said, "Mom, I really don't know. The backdoor and the snack shop are all stories told by my sister. I was scared too if the baby got lost. Please believe me."

Meimei struggled to get out of her father's arms, stood barefoot on the ground, rushed to Zhao Xiangwan, raised her little face and spoke in a crying voice.

"Sister, why do you want to hurt me? I don't understand the questions you asked me. Why do you say that I deliberately got rid of my sister? The day my parents adopted me from the orphanage, I was really grateful. I thank God for sending me such good parents after my biological parents abandoned me. I know how to be grateful. I study hard and take good care of my sister. I will repay my parents. How could I do something like deliberately getting rid of my sister? The baby is my mother's life. How could I be so bad!"

However, Zhao Xiangwan heard her heart screaming madly.

[You bad woman! If you hadn't been so nosy, the crybaby would have left this house long ago. Mom will be sad for a while but then she will accept the reality. She and Dad will only love me and will always love only me!]

Facing Meimei's tearful eyes, Zhao Xiangwan said calmly, "If my sister is gone, you will be the only child in this family. Your parents will always love only you, right?"

Meimei felt that the tall and thin stranger in front of her was too scary, as if she could see through her dark heart. Every word she said made her feel short of breath and her heartbeat quickened. An unprecedented sense of crisis surged in her heart. She widened her eyes and said, "You are talking nonsense!"

Zhao Xiangwan did not continue to tangle with Meimei, and looked up at Xu Songling: "Officer Xu, facial expression is the first neural reaction when a person encounters an effective stimulus. It occurs before rational thinking and is more real than language. I can judge whether a person is lying by the changes in his facial expression, and I can also find out the truth by setting questions. The questions I asked Meimei before were all intentional, and the fact that I was able to quickly find the baby in the snack shop is proof of this. So... please believe Teacher Zhou's judgment. Meimei is definitely not an innocent child."

As a criminal police officer who often deals with criminals, Xu Songling naturally has a set of experience in identifying lies. When he first heard that someone could accurately find out the truth through facial expressions and conscious questions, he thought it was simply a fantasy. If such a person existed, wouldn't Zhao Xiangwan be able to directly ask difficult criminals and the truth would be revealed? Why would the police interrogate them?

It was too fantastic. Xu Songling subconsciously refuted: "Impossible."

Zhao Xiangwan took a step forward and moved closer to Xu Songling: "Officer Xu, you were unable to take the children to the park today because you had to perform a temporary mission. Why don't we guess what mission you were on?"

Xu Songling's voice echoed in her mind.

[Two headless female corpses were found in the suburbs of Chengbei. Chengbei Police Station and the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Bureau have set up a special task force. Because the case is serious and fears of causing panic among the public, they have requested that the secret be kept strictly confidential. Currently, no one except the people involved in the case knows about this. I don't believe this little girl can guess it.]

"It's a vicious case, right?"

Xu Songling looked Zhao Xiangwan up and down and snorted.

"Kidnapping, robbery, or homicide?"

When he heard the word "homicide", Xu Songling's left eyebrow twitched noticeably.

"Someone has died and strict confidentiality is required. It seems the impact will be very serious...dismembered body? Dismembered? Beheaded?" Xu Songling's facial muscles began to become stiff.

"More than one victim? Man, woman? One, two, three?"

After asking this question, Zhao Xiangwan narrowed his eyes slightly, his amber eyes sparkling under the light: "Officer Xu, two female victims and a headless female corpse, right?"

Xu Songling looked at Zhao Xiangwan in disbelief: "I didn't say anything!"

Zhao Xiangwan curled his lips slightly: "Words can deceive people, but expressions and movements cannot. Eyebrows, eyes, mouth, nose, facial muscles, their changes combine to express countless emotions. Because they are too subtle, they are called micro-expressions and micro-reactions. Others may not be able to see or distinguish them clearly, but... I can."

Zhao Xiangwan began to acquire the ability to read minds at the age of ten. She gradually developed a unique way to read people by knowing the truth in advance and then observing the other person's reaction and expression. This method can conceal her ability to read minds and make it seem more scientific and reasonable.

"Lao Xu, Zhao Xiangwan is my student. I knew her abilities, so I asked her to help overnight. We were able to find the baby so quickly, thanks to Zhao Xiangwan." Zhou Qiaoxiu is now convinced of Zhao Xiangwan and wants to announce her outstanding abilities to the world.

Seeing that her parents believed Zhao Xiangwan's words, Meimei knew that something was wrong. She quickly ran to her father, took his hand, bit her lip and said pitifully, "Dad, I'm so cold."

Xu Songling let go of her hand, his expression turned cold: "If you feel cold, go back to bed."

Meimei panicked when she didn't get the response she deserved. She turned to her mother and said, "Mom, I'm so hungry. I want to eat the egg pancakes you made. I never had such delicious pancakes when I was in the orphanage."

These words successfully touched Zhou Qiaoxiu's heart.

I thought of the first time I saw Meimei in the orphanage. She was thin and small, with a pair of unusually large eyes, and she timidly pulled at the corner of her clothes: "Mom, are you my mom? I'm so hungry."

The kind-hearted Zhou Qiaoxiu couldn't bear to see the child suffer, so she immediately took her in and went through the adoption procedures. The first meal she made for her when she brought her home was egg pancakes. Unexpectedly, the child still remembers it.

Zhou Qiaoxiu's eyes softened, but Xu Songling hardened his heart: "You can tell a child's future from his age when he is three, and his character from his old age when he is seven. At the age of eleven, you have such vicious thoughts, causing your baby to be poisoned by alcohol. Xu Zhenmei, we can't afford to raise a daughter like you! Tomorrow morning, the police station will interrogate the two kidnappers, and we will handle everything according to the law. Whatever happens, we will do it."

Meimei's face turned pale and she stood there blankly on the ground, forgetting even to shed tears. She felt like she had been abandoned by the whole world.

Late at night, on the cold floor, a little girl stood barefoot, her face covered in tears. The scene was tragic.

Zhao Xiangwan didn't feel a single bit of emotion in her heart. A girl who deliberately abandoned her sister in order to monopolize her parents' love was not worth protecting, let alone being forgiven.

A tall figure blocked the light from the fluorescent tube. In the shadow, Zhao Xiangwan saw the serious Xu Songling approaching him with a solemn and resolute expression: "Classmate Zhao Xiangwan, thank you for your help, thank you very much!"

After that, Xu Songling clasped his five fingers on his right hand, stretched out his palm, raised it to his right eyebrow, and then put it down. The policeman's neat and standard salute expressed respect and recognition, which made Zhao Xiangwan feel proud and proud.

The mind-reading ability she acquired by accident once made her childhood confused and painful, but now she can use her ability to help teachers and the police.

Zhao Xiangwan responded with the same standard salute, puffing out his chest and saying, "As I should."

Her voice was clear, with a hint of girlish tenderness, like a clear stream flowing through a quiet valley, hitting the bluestones on the mountain, making a ringing sound.

Xu Songling and Zhou Qiaoxiu looked at each other, and at that moment they both had a feeling: calm, cool, not arrogant or irritable, and extremely capable, the girl in front of them had a bright future!