As night fell, the narrow street became even more crowded, but the flow of people did not decrease at all. Each roadside stall casually set up a rack, hanging an orange-yellow light bulb from it, and in an instant, the entire alley was lit up again.
"Watch out!" Wang Shen suddenly pulled Xu Xiaolin, who was walking in front, to his side. They saw a motorcycle speeding past them not far ahead.
Xu Xiaolin frowned and glanced down at her shoes. Wang Shen reached into his pocket, took out a tissue, and bent down to wipe the dirty water that had splashed onto Xu Xiaolin's shoes by the motorcycle.
"Officer Wang is truly a gentleman." Xu Xiaolin smiled as she watched Wang Shen's gentle movements.
Wang Shen didn't answer. After wiping himself, he found a trash can and threw away the tissue. "Let's go over there. I have something I want to ask you," Wang Shen said, pointing to an open space ahead.
The two walked for a while, and the crowd thinned out. They finally stopped. "What exactly is your relationship with that family?" Wang Shen asked without turning around, his eyes fixed on the last rays of the setting sun.
“That family? Oh, they are beneficiaries of one of my charitable foundations.”
"A charity foundation?" Wang Shen turned around and looked at Xu Xiaolin with a puzzled expression.
“Yes. I set up a charity foundation specifically to help impoverished families suffering from serious illnesses, and this family happens to perfectly meet the criteria for the foundation I established.” Xu Xiaolin stretched her arms, tilted her head slightly, and took a breath of the air. “The people here really have a hard time living; even the air is filled with the smell of poverty.”
Wang Shen found it increasingly difficult to understand the woman standing before him. His impression of Xu Xiaolin was that she was sometimes innocent and sometimes profound.
"What?" Xu Xiaolin turned to look at Wang Shen. "Is it illegal to establish a charitable foundation? I followed all the proper procedures. You can check if you don't believe me." Xu Xiaolin pouted, deliberately pretending to be angry.
"Did you know that the male head of that family had an accident?" Wang Shen stared at Xu Xiaolin, wanting to see how she would react to the news.
"Who?" Xu Xiaolin widened her eyes slightly as she looked at Wang Shen. "Didn't you say he was away on a business trip?"
“You know I’m not a leader at their company. You should be able to guess why I’m here. So, let’s be honest with each other, okay?” Wang Shen shook his head, not at all appreciating Xu Xiaolin’s ability to play dumb.
“Okay, since you’ve put it that way, I’ll get straight to the point. What happened to the man of the house? He’s the pillar of that family; without him, the family would probably be finished.” Xu Xiaolin sighed, shrugged, and looked at Wang Shen.
He was in a traffic accident.
"A traffic accident? How is he? Is his life in danger?" Xu Xiaolin frowned, and pursed her red lips after speaking.
Wang Shen shook his head. "He hit and killed someone."
"He killed someone? Was he primarily responsible? I hope not. But his company must have taken out substantial insurance for the car. Anyway, it's not a big deal. There are so many traffic accidents every day, it's nothing unusual." Xu Xiaolin's brows relaxed, her delicate makeup became more relaxed, and even her tone of voice was nonchalant.
"Don't you care who died? You're really different from the Xu Xiaolin I used to know." Wang Shen turned his face away, no longer paying attention to Xu Xiaolin's expression. Wang Shen took out a cigarette case from his pocket, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and blew a smoke ring into the sky.
“We haven’t seen each other for years. People change. For example, you. I remember you never used to smoke.”
After listening to Xu Xiaolin's words, Wang Shen chuckled, nodded unconsciously, and took another drag of his cigarette. "Actually, you knew that person who died. In a sense, she even helped you."
"An acquaintance who once helped me? Now I'm quite interested. However, I hope I'm not too close to this person, otherwise I'll be upset."
“Sang,” Wang Shen said, directly stating the deceased’s name.
"Who?" Xu Xiaolin turned to face Wang Shen, looking up at him. "Her? How could this be?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you too, how could this happen?" Wang Shen extinguished his cigarette and looked down at Xu Xiaolin standing in front of him.
"Ask me? How would I know?" Xu Xiaolin's eyes widened, her gaze meeting Wang Shen's.
"Did you know that the driver who caused the accident and Sang had a conflict before the accident?" Wang Shen looked away, took a half step back, and continued to question Xu Xiaolin.
Xu Xiaolin turned around, her eyes fixed on the deep blue sky in the distance, and nodded. "I understand roughly that the woman seems to have hit a child. I happened to be at the hospital that day and happened to witness their argument. But since it wasn't my own business, I didn't want to get too involved, so that's all I know about their situation."
Wang Shen carefully compared Xu Xiaolin's words with the clues he had, finding no loopholes. "Please answer a few more questions for me. About Zheng Wu. How can you be so sure Sang will accuse Zheng Wu? And then, at the opportune moment, produce that prepared USB drive to make Zheng Wu confess?" Wang Shen hadn't expected to ask so directly. Now that the questions were out, given Xu Xiaolin's intelligence, she should have already sensed Wang Shen's suspicion. So the key now was Xu Xiaolin's answer.
“First, I wasn’t certain Sang would accuse Zheng Wu. Of course, I guided Sang in that direction. The result was unexpectedly satisfactory. Second, even if Sang didn’t accuse Zheng Wu, I would still present the audio-visual materials I have. I believe that with those materials, Zheng Wu would confess. Officer Wang, I wonder if your explanation satisfies you?” Xu Xiaolin tilted her head, a hint of displeasure showing on her face. She shifted her gaze from Wang Shen, brushed a strand of hair from her temple, and turned to walk a few steps forward. “If Officer Wang has nothing else, then I won’t keep you company.”
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
