Chapter 22
When Lin Xian woke up, she heard the hum of the kitchen range hood. She opened her eyes and saw it was eight o'clock.
He rarely slept so soundly. As soon as he opened his phone, a pile of messages were waiting for him to process.
"Editor-in-Chief Lin, President Yun said that this plan against school bullying is good, but she may not be able to cover it up if something goes wrong, so we have to be careful..." Chen Fei was followed by the wide-noodle tears emoticon.
There was also a response from President Yun himself: "You act as if you want to. You are already old, but you still want to play the role of the light of justice?" Lin Xian held his forehead with his hand.
The diligent editor-in-chief Lin responded to his subordinates with "OK" and his superiors with smiling emoticons. He quickly processed a pile of work information and then opened his email.
Amidst a pile of spam, the "Reverser" replied with four words: "I'll arrange it."
Tonight at 9 o'clock, Yulong KTV, room 302.
He showered in the bathroom, wiped himself off with a towel from the rack, and then strolled into the kitchen in his baggy gray cotton pajamas.
A fragrance spread throughout the kitchen; it was tomato and egg noodles.
As if his back had eyes, Lu Chengtian added ingredients to the bubbling, steaming soup while slightly tilting his head and saying, "Brother, are you awake? Go sit for a while. Breakfast will be ready soon."
Lin Xian looked at Lu Chengtian, dressed in black sportswear. He had obviously been out practicing his daily ten-kilometer running habit. He said, "Captain Lu is truly young and promising. He's so self-disciplined. Don't you even need to sleep?"
Amid the hum of the range hood and the gurgling of the pot, Lu Chengtian said lightly, "I'm used to it."
The fact is, he underestimated Lin Xian's presence - although Lin Xian slept very peacefully, only turning over occasionally, but that unignorable breath lingered in his mind, and he couldn't fall asleep at all, so he didn't sleep the whole night.
At five o'clock in the morning, when a faint ray of sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains, he felt as if he had been pardoned. He immediately got up quietly, changed his clothes, and went running.
But Lin Xian didn't realize this, thinking Lu Chengtian was sound asleep. He chuckled, washed, and blew his hair, meticulously styled to look like it could have gone straight to a fashion magazine.
When he came out in a respectable manner, two bowls of steaming tomato and egg noodles were already placed on the table. The soup was rich, the color was bright, and the aroma was tempting.
Captain Lu had never cooked for anyone else, so he watched Editor-in-Chief Lin put the noodles into his mouth with some trepidation. He pretended to ask casually, "Is it still edible?"
Lin Xian took a few more bites and drank some noodle soup. He said, "Nice cooking skills. Who did you learn from?"
"Just guessing." Seeing that Lin Xian was eating much faster than usual, Lu Chengtian raised a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
At this moment, the phone ringtone of "Cry On My Shoulder" rang.
Lin Xian thought it was his, so when he took it and looked at it, he found that it was actually Lu Chengtian's.
Under Lin Xian's silent gaze, Lu Chengtian answered the phone: "Director Guo."
On the other end, Guo Jingan spoke for a long time, which Lin Xian couldn't hear clearly. Finally, Lu Chengtian said "I know" and hung up.
"Brother, I can't accompany you today. You can go home by yourself after get off work. Just put the dishes in the sink, I will wash them when I come back." As he said that, Lu Chengtian placed a silver key in front of Lin Xian, put on a black sweater, took the jacket from the shelf, and prepared to go out.
Lin Xian slowly ate his richly souped tomato and egg noodles, his eyes lowered as he gazed at the key. His long eyelashes half-hid his amber pupils. "Be careful."
·
At the entrance of Jingguan magazine, Chen Fei got out of the gray Wrangler and ran into Lin Xian who took a taxi to work.
Looking at the noticeable scratch on the car door, Lin Xian felt a headache. Chen Fei stepped forward and said with a pout, "Editor-in-Chief Lin, I didn't mean to do it. The taxi driver during the morning rush hour was really crazy. He changed lanes without turning on his signal. I've already told him to go through his insurance claim. I'll return it to you once the paint is repaired."
"Okay, you drive first. How about the plan I told you last night? Do you have any ideas?" The two walked side by side into the building and met Yun Mengze in the elevator.
Chen Fei bowed her head and called out, "President Yun." Through the elevator mirror, she discreetly observed her boss's meticulously crafted waves, striking red lips, and high heels. She sighed, "No wonder he managed to hook the aloof, cold, and aloof forensic doctor." Then, she glanced at herself, dusty and dusty, and muttered, "We all sleep four hours a day, but why are we so different?"
Editor-in-Chief Lin, who was also dressed in a respectable manner, began to flatter, "I haven't seen you for a week. President Yun looks even more radiant and charming."
"You're no match for Editor-in-Chief Lin, a scumbag." Yun Mengze reached out and, seemingly considerately, straightened Lin Xian's perfectly straightened shirt collar. He said, "Don't ever use the official account to post that proposal you told me about yesterday. Otherwise, I won't be able to cover it up if something goes wrong. The agency now has five or six personal accounts with millions of followers. You can use any of them."
"Okay, the boss wants more stability than popularity, I understand." Lin Xian looked down at Yun Mengze's delicate makeup, cashmere coat, and silk dress, and raised his eyebrows: "I thought Forensic Doctor Shen was very busy recently and had no time for a date."
"Do you think everyone is like you, the eternal widower? Balancing work and life, how many times have I emphasized this in meetings? Look at Chen Fei, such a delicate girl when she first joined the company, and what has she become of her under your hands?"
Yun Mengze lovingly stroked Chen Fei's greasy hair, which hadn't been washed for two days, and then calmly concealed his disdain: "Hurry up and find a partner, Lin Xian, and stop tormenting the little girl."
Caught between these two old demons, Chen Fei muttered to himself, "No wonder the master said that my Mercury is in retrograde mode lately. It seems to be true!!!"
Arriving at the office, Chen Fei opened the planning document Lin Xian had sent him, which contained several photos of Du Han and other members of the campus bullying gang, as well as Liu Yaoyao's autopsy photos.
She skillfully opened the editing software and quickly generated a short video with the title "The campus bullying gang behind the No. 15 Middle School beauty's suicide case", and added a few lines of highly inflammatory text, which she released through several small accounts maintained by the society.
Within just half an hour, each account's average pageviews reached over 500,000. Nearly all netizens were criticizing the campus bullying ring led by Du Han, with many sharing their own experiences of bullying. Someone even dug up Du Han's family background in the comments section, claiming she was the child of a provincial leader and was allowed to do whatever she wanted. This comment garnered thousands of likes and was pinned to a prominent position.
Lin Xian's phone swiped across the comment section and sent a message to Chen Fei: "Good job! Your overtime pay will be increased by 1,000 this month. Go buy some clothes and stop getting scolded by President Yun."
After thinking for a while, he sent the short video link to Lu Chengtian again.
About five minutes later, Lu Chengtian replied: "Your company is really resourceful."
He then replied, "According to Articles 246, 293, and 234 of the Criminal Law, Du Han and her gang were convicted of insult and defamation, provoking disturbances, and intentional injury. They will be sentenced to at least three years. Although they were released, with public opinion so heated now, it's probably difficult for her father to protect her. Thank you, my journalist friends."
Lin Xian: "Captain Lu, I'm glad you're in a good mood. I'm happy to help."
Lu Chengtian sat at the conference table and smiled slightly.
Zhao Yiqing, who was standing by, whispered, "Who are you flirting with? Director Guo is asking you a question."
Team Lu turned off his phone and resumed his diligent and indifferent attitude: "Okay, Director Guo, I understand. The Criminal Investigation Team will do its best to provide security."
"Tonight's mission is of great importance. Following this clue, we might be able to figure out the previous owners of Galanxiang and Lanyan. Zhou Xinzhang, who we previously listed as a suspect, has been very cautious recently. Apart from occasional social events, he only goes between home and the company and has not carried out any charity activities. It depends on whether this clue can lure him out today." Guo Jingan picked up the thermos and took a sip of tea.
Zhao Yiqing said: "We have installed a pinhole camera in Room 302 of Yulong KTV in advance, and we will have control over the drug dealers' every move. In addition, we got a video from an informant, which is Liu Yaoyao's." As he said, he opened his foldable screen phone and showed the video to Lu Chengtian, Guo Jingan and others.
The lighting in the KTV room was already dim, and the hidden camera angle made the video blurry. But one could still see Liu Yaoyao, dressed in a Japanese-style sailor suit, her long hair loose, sitting on the lap of a middle-aged man. On the coffee table in front of the sofa, a few incense sticks flickered, emitting wisps of green smoke.
"From the footage, it seems she volunteered," Zhao Yiqing said. "She ordered the galan incense. The informant said she used this as a way to get customers addicted to drugs, then used it as an opportunity to distribute the galan incense and retain repeat customers."
"But it's almost certain that she was coerced into engaging in the shady business and distributing drugs. Luo Hua still refuses to confess. We can detain him for ten days to half a month at most. If we can't find any evidence, we'll probably have a hard time giving the deceased an explanation." Lu Chengtian looked down at the words "Liu Lei" written on the notebook and asked Ma Qiang, "Have her uncle Liu Lei been interrogated?"
"When Liu Yaoyao was in elementary and junior high school, he was responsible for picking her up and dropping her off, but he basically stopped caring about her after high school. Liu Lei's social relationships are relatively complicated. He has been a network administrator and has also worked on a nearby construction site. He is currently delivering couriers for a logistics company, but he can't stay in any of the jobs for long. He is almost 40 years old and still single. According to him, it is because his family is too poor and no one looks down on him." Ma Qiang said.
"Are there any drug-related suspicions?"
"The urine test was negative, and he doesn't look like he's involved in drugs. But these are all questions I asked him last time at his home. If he's listed as a suspect, we can call him back to the city police station for questioning."
The case seemed to be becoming increasingly confusing. This was a small internal meeting, attended only by a few key members of the Narcotics Control and Criminal Investigation Divisions.
Guo Jing'an looked at Lu Chengtian and said, "Be careful in tonight's operation, especially Yiqing. Chengtian, I believe you can bring everyone back safely."
Lu Chengtian nodded.
Zhao Yiqing's peach blossom eyes were filled with smiles: "My life and property will be entrusted to Captain Lu." As if this was something happy.
After the meeting, he followed Lu Chengtian leisurely, the aroma of cedar and amber lingering.
He suddenly said, "Captain Lu, I will never bother you again."
The lazy voice was seven parts casual and three parts serious. Lu Chengtian paused.
Zhao Yiqing still had a smile on his face, a strand of carefully groomed hair hung in front of his eyes, his clothes were straight, his leather shoes were shiny, but his whole body exuded an indescribable sadness.
Lu Chengtian stepped forward and patted Zhao Yiqing on the shoulder: "Yiqing, I don't have many friends, and you are one of them. If I owe you anything, I will make it up to you in other matters no matter what. I..."
Before he could finish, Zhao Yiqing raised his index finger and pressed it against his lips. The thin callus on his index finger rubbed his lips, as if with attachment.
Then, Zhao Yiqing withdrew his hand, gently kissed the index finger that had brushed his lips, and whispered, "You have paid off what you owe me."
After saying this, he resumed his usual dandy demeanor, "Walking through a sea of flowers without getting a single leaf on him." "Captain Lu, I wish you all the best in tonight's operation."
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