Chapter 30 Attitude, Photos, Small Help: Find an Opportunity to Replace Him...
The next day, Fu Ze was pulled out of bed by Yuan Jianxing.
"Are you planning to get marked absent...late on your first day of work?"
Clearly, what Hara Mihoshi originally wanted to say was "absenteeism".
After giving a muffled reply, Fu Ze felt the hand that had lifted him into the air and held him up suddenly release his grip, leaving him to fall freely onto the rather hard bed in the hotel, accompanied by a slightly embarrassed and stingy sigh.
no?
Is this something a human being could do?
Oh, if it's Harami Hoshi, then it makes sense; that guy isn't human at all.
Fu Ze crawled out of bed, picked up his phone, and when he saw that the alarm clock wouldn't ring for another half hour, he immediately felt furious.
Forcibly suppressing his rage, Fu Ze pretended to "discuss" with Yuan Jianxing, saying, "By the way, I checked the map yesterday, and it only takes a short time to get to the adjudication branch from here by public transportation..."
“You checked the map in the middle of the night, of course it’s fast.” Yuan Jianxing, who was adjusting his collar badge in front of the full-length mirror, interrupted Fu Ze’s “discussion” and said resolutely, “We will be passing through the areas that Du Yang mentioned before, which are always congested on weekdays. Don’t take any chances.”
Upon hearing Yuan Jianxing mention Du Yang, Fu Ze's anger subsided considerably.
He had a good impression of this junior executive and therefore did not want the other party to suffer any undeserved misfortune because of him or Yuan Jianxing.
After replying "Received," Fu Ze nimbly jumped off the bed, squeezed past Yuan Jianxing from behind, and began washing up.
Listening to the sounds of running water, the clanging of bottles and jars opening and closing, and the rubbing of toothbrushes against teeth coming from the bathroom, Yuan Jianxing couldn't help but subconsciously touch the web of his right hand.
Two symmetrical, faint tooth marks remain there.
The teeth marks evoke the sensation of being licked by a warm, soft piece of flesh.
...
Yuan Jianxing suddenly felt a surge of irritability.
This person is really unpredictable! If they want to escape, they should just bite, not lick!
And yesterday at the restaurant!
Do you even know that you are a well-trained, high-achieving executive officer who passed the selection process? Why don't you retreat when your superior orders you to?
They even dragged a freezer over to put on top of it, how ridiculous! What if the freezer wheels get stuck due to old age? Don't they think about the consequences of their actions?
Do you know you're a valuable undercover agent for the Kangming Group? You're... a crucial part of my plan? Do you think your life is your own?
Oh, right, when this person turned around to check the explosives, he secretly took two ice cubes from the freezer and put them in his mouth.
The attitude is problematic.
Yes, this person's attitude is problematic! They're not serious or attentive enough; they need a major overhaul!
Having reached this conclusion, Yuan Jianxing immediately turned around and said sternly, "Moving so slowly, were you like this when you were in the Executive Officer Special Selection Team?"
On the other side, Fu Ze almost choked on a mouthful of foam.
What's wrong with this guy? Only three minutes have passed since he pulled himself out of bed!
It would be strange if he could put on that suit, which was layered from the inside out and looked like a bamboo shoot, in three minutes!
What a typical example of crossing the river and then burning the bridge, criticizing the cook after eating one's fill, and talking without understanding the pain of others' suffering.
After rinsing his mouth with water, Fu Ze walked out of the bathroom and dressed while secretly making a decision—
Find an opportunity to have him grab Yuan Jianxing!
-
Perhaps to prove that Du Yang's words were true, Fu Ze and Yuan Jianxing were indeed stuck in traffic for quite a while before they barely made it to their current location, the L City Trial Division, before work hours began.
This adjudication branch is located on the east side of the old town of L City, and its overall decoration style is very "antiquated".
The word "覆古" was used by Fu Ze to save face for the other party.
In fact, in his view, the infrastructure gap between this L City adjudication branch and the V City adjudication headquarters was about the size of a banana and a person.
It's hard to imagine that these two would actually share the same responsibilities in real life.
Just as Fu Ze and Yuan Jianxing sat down at their newly cleaned, cramped workstations under the guidance of the branch office executive officer, two familiar figures strode in and headed straight for them.
They are the recorder and the team leader I met yesterday.
Judging from their expressions, they must have stayed up all night and received no useful information.
The executive captain pulled out Fu Ze's chair and sat down with an air of authority, then handed a USB drive to Yuan Jianxing, saying, "Brother Xiaoxing, here are some documents about the Kangming Group. Take a look."
Unlike the computer over there that booted up at a snail's pace, Yuan Jianxing got into work mode almost immediately. "No news from the furniture store?"
"After obtaining Cui Ya's video recordings yesterday, we immediately sent people to search the furniture market using the blueprints currently on file." The executive captain shook his head. "Although everyone returned this time, we still found nothing. We didn't find a trace of the plainclothes officers, Du Yang, or the guns."
When were the blueprints updated?
“Three years ago, there have been no major construction projects in the furniture market since then.”
The two leaders engaged in a lively exchange, while the recorder and Fu Ze, who were of lower rank, could only stand at the back and listen.
Is the furniture store currently open for business? Are regular customers entering and exiting normally?
"Yes. The adjudication bureau is currently keeping the news under tight control, and it hasn't caused any panic among the public yet." The executive captain paused, "Are you planning to go there yourself? No, it's too dangerous."
“Of course it wasn’t me.” Yuan Jianxing turned his head and gestured to Fu Ze, who was standing behind him looking rather bored. “It was him who went.”
Fu Ze snapped out of his daze the moment he was called out, adopting a "I love my job, and my job loves me" attitude.
The saying goes that when you're out in public, you should give your superiors face, and any conflicts should be resolved privately behind closed doors.
Although the executive captain had doubts about Fu Ze's personal abilities as an executive officer who looked too young, and thus reserved his opinions on Yuan Jianxing's decisions, the only person he could rely on and depend on at the moment was indeed this former chief transferred from V City who was absolutely impossible to have any dealings with the Kangming Group.
Even so, he still kindly suggested, "Aren't you afraid he'll end up like Du Yang...?"
“Of course, he didn’t go alone as an executive officer.” Yuan Jianxing pulled up the template for the assistance order on his computer, filled it out quickly, then got up and took the still-warm document from the printer next to him, and finally stamped it with the official seal of the Adjudication Bureau.
"Isn't there also a photographer who can be hired to freely enter and leave the furniture store and casually set up a few time-lapse cameras?"
-
"Can't!"
When Fu Ze and Yuan Jianxing returned to Cui Ya's photography studio, those three chilling words were immediately heard.
"Ha, a coloratura soprano, huh?" Fu Ze quipped wryly, then fell silent under Yuan Jianxing's watchful gaze.
"Mom, calm down." In the studio, Cui Ya was forced to retreat amidst the woman's screams. Finally, when he had nowhere left to go, he huddled in a corner of the studio and desperately covered his ears.
"I'm very calm." The woman's shadow was illuminated by the light behind her, making her appear extremely imposing, easily capable of taking on three Cui Yas. "My demands are also very clear: you, now, immediately, move with me."
"My studio is right here..."
"I'll pay for you to rent another one!"
"The orders aren't finished yet..."
"Is that small penalty for breach of contract more important, or your life?"
"Then my shop..."
"What? Aren't you supposed to be the best manager, with customers flocking to your place as soon as you start something new?"
After several rounds, just as Cui Ya was about to be forced to his knees and surrender, Yuan Jianxing finally intervened in the conversation between the mother and son.
"Excuse me, gentlemen."
Perhaps it was Yuan Jianxing's voice that was too calm and authoritative, or perhaps it was the pair of gleaming badges on his collar that had an effect; in any case, Cui's mother, who had been relentlessly pressing forward, finally stopped her siege of Cui Ya.
On the other side, Cui Ya, upon seeing Fu Ze and Yuan Jianxing, felt as if he had seen a savior. He rolled to his feet and rushed to their side as if fleeing.
"Mom, let me introduce you. These two are the officers who dealt with the bomb at the scene."
Upon hearing Cui Ya's words, Cui's mother immediately abandoned her previous aggressive demeanor, tidied her appearance, and solemnly said to the two officers, "Thanks to the two officers, my child's life was saved."
Senior executive Hara Kenshin was already adept at handling this situation and knew that accepting the other party's gratitude would actually reduce their psychological pressure, so he let the lady, who was more than two decades older than him, bow to him three times.
Fu Ze, however, felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Firstly, he rarely receives thanks from others.
Secondly, he knew his and Yuan Jianxing's true intentions in coming to their door...
Sure enough, after Yuan Jianxing explained his purpose, Cui's mother changed her previous demeanor and reverted to her fierce lioness attitude, pointing her finger at the door of Cui Ya's studio and shouting angrily: "Get out! You executives can't even do this right, why should my son go to his death?!"
As expected of the experienced Yuan Jianxing, he endured Cui's mother's insults and venting without uttering a word until she was so thirsty that she had to stop before continuing his actions.
He took out the photo he had taken out in the restaurant yesterday, pointed to one of the figures with his finger, and then held it up to show Cui Ya behind him.
Before he could say anything, Cui Ya reacted first.
"Do you know any recent news about Wan Chuanqiu?! How is he doing now?!"
Upon hearing the name, Fu Ze felt it sounded familiar, as if he had heard it not long ago but it hadn't left a deep impression.
Stealing a glance at the photo, Fu Ze felt a strange melody called "fate" playing and echoing in his mind.
In the photo, a teenager named Cui Ya is standing on the left, laughing and looking at the camera. Standing next to him is Fu Ze's previous body, Wan Chuanqiu, who is being touched by Yuan Jianxing's fingertip.
Standing on the other side of the minor internet celebrity is Fu Ze's superior body, the manager of the brothel who "committed suicide" in the office.
*
Fu Ze could certainly understand that, apart from those sudden and unexpected tragedies of passion-driven murders, there were often some entanglements between the victims and the perpetrators.
But he himself, as a bizarre being who, due to some inexplicable reason, inadvertently replaced both the victim and the perpetrator, didn't really have much interest in understanding the details of those loves and hates.
In other words, as long as he switches bodies and gets rid of the subsequent troubles from the executor, the one living in the world is Fu Ze, or rather, Fu Ze with a different name.
Through repeated experiences of "dying and being reborn," he has personally witnessed the power of "debts being absolved upon death."
Love and hate, for the people involved, can both end in the moment when their heart stops beating.
So when Fu Ze saw the photo, he felt a sense of novelty and then began to think about Yuan Jianxing's intentions.
Is the plan to use the relationship between this minor internet celebrity and Cui Ya to trick Cui Ya into risking her life to work for the Trial Bureau?
Wow, he truly lives up to his reputation as a CEO who embodies the principle that "procedures don't matter, justice does."
However, to Fu Ze's surprise, Yuan Jianxing's first words were—
"Wan Chuanqiu is dead."
Before Cui Ya could react, he added two more sentences, as if the matter wasn't serious enough:
"Died in the Trial Bureau of V City."
"Killed by the Kangmingji people."
These three sentences are like pebbles thrown one after another into a still lake, gradually expanding the already obvious ripples circle by circle, until they finally reach the shore and turn into a shallow wet stain.
Although Yuan Jianxing presented the facts in a nonchalant manner, they struck Cui Ya's eardrums like thunderclaps.
His joyful expression froze the moment Yuan Jianxing uttered his first words, as if the body's owner's mind had gone blank.
Immediately afterwards, Cui Ya blinked, trying to extract and digest the information he had just heard.
The smile quickly faded, replaced by a blush appearing at the corners of her eyes and the sides of her nose.
Cui Ya looked like she was about to cry.
Perhaps his rational mind realized that the current situation was not suitable for a grown man to break down, or perhaps the emotional outburst was too fierce, so that he could not express anything in the end. In any case, Cui Ya became very calm after covering his mouth and nose with one hand and rubbing it vigorously.
Only his lower lip would occasionally tremble slightly and unnaturally.
Slowly raising his hand, Cui Ya took the photo from Yuan Jianxing's hand. Changing his usual habit of using exaggerated body language and passionate tone, he said calmly, "Let's go, I agree."
On the other side, Cui's mother immediately shifted her focus of attack to her son again: "Agree to what?!"
However, unlike his previous defeated and even somewhat humiliating demeanor, Cui Ya simply raised a finger to his lips and looked earnestly at his mother: "I just said, I agree."
Perhaps it was the first time she had encountered such non-violent non-cooperation but resolute resistance from her son, and Cui's mother fell silent, unable to utter a word for a long time.
Yuan Jianxing went along with it: "There's no time to lose, let's finish this quickly."
“I can pack up and leave right away.” Quickly packing away her emotions and regaining her composure, Cui Ya put the two cameras into the black equipment case, turned to examine Fu Ze, and said quietly, “But this gentleman may need a little help.”
Feeling Cui Ya's gaze, which was as if he were choosing cabbages, Fu Ze suddenly had a bad feeling.
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Author's note: Wishing everyone a happy National Day!
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