Chapter 40
When the investigation was completed, dusk had already fallen. The two had a quick meal on the roadside and drove to Yingzhu Mountain as planned, which was the camping base where Xiang Siling and her daughter stayed on the night of the incident.
After the trip to Mingya Lake, Li Qingyao was convinced by Chen Pu. Now, Chen Pu took her to recheck all the possible routes that Xiang Siling might have taken to reach the scene, both reasonable and unreasonable, those that others had thought of and those that others had not thought of. Li Qingyao really had a feeling that if Chen Pu got really ruthless, not even a mosquito could fly out of his palm.
Precisely because of such a detailed and thorough investigation, Li Qingyao felt that the probability that Xiang Siling had been at the scene that night, or had personally taken action, was very, very small. Even though the results of the eight surveillance videos given to Ding Guoqiang had not come out yet, Li Qingyao had a hunch that nothing would be discovered.
But sometimes, not discovering something is itself a discovery.
So she casually asked, "Do we still need to go to Yingzhu Mountain?"
Chen Pu held the steering wheel with both hands, tapping it with his index finger. His eyes looked cold against the night sky. He replied, "I want to go."
Li Qingyao was a little surprised. He did not answer whether it was objectively necessary, but said that he wanted to. This is a rare thing for Chen Aojiao, who is always logical.
"Why?"
"I want to understand Xiang Siling thoroughly, but now I feel like I'm still in a fog." Chen Pu said, "My dear disciple, I will teach you a piece of Chenmen experience for free - logic and evidence are important, and they will always be the cornerstone of our investigation. But when you have great doubts about someone in the process of solving a case, and you don't feel comfortable until you figure it out - then don't worry about whether she is the murderer or whether she has the conditions to commit the crime. You have to -"
Chen Pu turned his head and looked at her with a clear and penetrating gaze: "Like the sharpest knife, all criminal investigation methods are your tools. Analyze this target clearly, inside and out, from the past to the present. You must understand all the stories that happened to her. Then in the end, even if she is not the murderer, she will be the protagonist of the truth. You can still solve the case."
Li Qingyao's heart was shaken. She wondered, was this also the intuition of the old detective?
She had always known that Chen Pu was a very proud man. He was a young and promising young man, capable of shouldering important responsibilities. Even in front of his master and the leaders of the bureau, he was stubborn. He has a high reputation in the second team and his word is final. When Li Qingyao first came, he was crazy for some reason. Didn't he look at her with disdain during that time?
Later, the two of them gradually became familiar with each other, especially after Chen Pu gave her a wake-up call last time, the two of them seemed to have truly become partners who could talk about anything. In front of her, Chen Pu gradually became Chen Xiaopu, who allowed him to be manipulated and ordered around by her without any temper at all.
But now, when he talked about his criminal investigation experience, that kind of cold arrogance seemed to flow from the short black hair beside his ears and settle into his hard bones, making people unconsciously feel awe.
However, even if Li Qingyao gave Chen Pu 99 points in his heart, he could only give him 50 points verbally. If he gave more, he was afraid that Chen Pu would become proud; if he gave less, he was afraid that he would be too discouraged. She definitely won't be able to pass the passing line. Chen Xiaopu sets such low standards for himself in front of her that she will be so proud if she passes the passing line.
So she looked at him sideways: "You have some truth in what you said. However, I have very high requirements for my master. I have to be there whenever I am called, serve tea and water, clean the house, and run errands diligently. I dare not go west when I tell him to go east, work hard, be sensible and obedient - just thinking about it makes me look forward to it. Brother, can you do it? If you can, I will change my mind immediately."
Chen Pu pressed his hand to his mouth, tilted his head to look out the window and smiled. He was really completely convinced. His master had not lied to him. The woman down the mountain was really a tiger, biting at random with her steel teeth.
"I strongly recommend Yan Yong for this glorious position," Chen Pu said seriously.
Li Qingyao sneered and also laughed.
The night was getting darker and darker, and the two were very tired after running around all day. Li Qingyao yawned and felt sleepy. Chen Pu glanced at her and said, "If you feel sleepy, take a nap."
Li Qingyao hummed and looked at him again. He looked ahead intently, his eyes still clear and he didn't look sleepy, only the corners of his eyes were slightly red. She asked with concern, "How about you? Are you sleepy? If you are, let's pull over and take a nap."
"You go to bed," he said. "I don't need it, or it will be too late there. Do you mind if I play some music to wake you up?"
Of course Li Qingyao didn't mind. Chen Pu plays music and automatically connects to the mobile phone's Bluetooth. The first song is the long-lost "Like You". But this time, Chen Pu did not interfere and changed the song. Li Qingyao slowly closed his eyes to the melodious and soothing music.
——
When Li Qingyao woke up, he saw the winding mountain road outside the window, the dense forest, and a few stars hanging above his head. The sky in the suburbs is much cleaner than in the city. The night sky is dark blue and everything is quiet.
In sight, there was only one car, theirs, driving through the dark mountains.
The sound of music was still lingering in my ears, but the volume was much lower than before. Li Qingyao raised his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Chen Pu's strong and lean arms, and then his profile, which remained clear and focused. He hummed softly along with the music in a very low voice:
[Like a boat drifting on the sea, I can't even see the Big Dipper.
Who can raise the sail and get away from this black tide?
Angel Angel I hope you are by my side
Angel Angel please hold my hand tightly...】
It’s still a very old song “Angel”.
Li Qingyao had never heard Chen Pu sing before, so he was just humming casually and couldn't tell whether it was good or bad. However, Li Qingyao had a very fresh feeling - it turned out that the mature criminal policeman Chen Pu could also be like an ordinary young man, humming love songs while driving silently all the way.
Li Qingyao looked down at his watch: It was almost 9 o'clock.
As soon as she moved, Chen Pu noticed: "Awake?"
Li Qingyao took a nap and recovered fully. He took out a wet towel and wiped his face meticulously. He drank some water and chewed a piece of gum before speaking: "Sure enough, you just like this kind of love-making songs. I can't tell, Xiao Pu, that an old tree is in love."
Chen Pu was slightly startled, and then just smiled.
He was probably tired and had no strength to resist - Li Qingyao pursed his lips, took out a bottle of mineral water from the storage compartment in front of him, unscrewed the lid, and handed it to him.
Chen Pu took it and drank it naturally, then handed it back to her. He looked at her with his warm and cool black eyes before saying, "These weren't the songs I liked to listen to at first."
Li Qingyao:?
"These were the playlists on your brother's phone before he disappeared. I've listened to them over the years and gotten used to them."
Li Qingyao was silent.
I see. My brother has always been a person with delicate and rich emotions. These songs, with their life-and-death lyrics, are indeed the style he likes.
How many kilometers has Chen Pu driven over the years? Maybe his journey was too boring, so I listened to it over and over again for seven years.
Li Qingyao reached out, turned up the music volume, closed his eyes, and listened quietly.
【Angel Angel hopes you are by my side...】
After a while, the two couldn't help but hum along with the music. The two voices overlapped for the first time and were surprisingly harmonious, both so soft and low.
This time, Li Qingyao rarely did not complain about Chen Pu.
Chen Pu felt that the night was extremely cool and the starlight was so gentle. He could even smell the fragrance of grass and trees outside the window and hear the crisp chirping of cicadas and frogs in the summer night. The two of them didn't say a word, they just sang together all the way, and Li Qingyao was always out of tune. But his heart seemed to be basking in the warm sunshine even in the dark night, and he felt more relaxed and comfortable than ever before. As he sang, he tilted his head and gave Li Qingyao a brilliant smile. But she rolled her eyes.
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