Chapter 56
Yunnan border.
It is hot during the day but cool at night.
Chen Pu zipped up his jacket in front of the mirror on the sink with an expressionless face. Zhou Yangxin was lying on the bed, browsing his phone.
On this business trip, the two of them from the second team came and stayed in a standard room. Five days passed in a blink of an eye, and the whereabouts of Lu Xing and Li Meiling were finally found out.
As expected, the two of them smuggled out of the country. The human trafficker who was caught by the local police admitted that there was a man and a woman, about the same age as the two men, who followed their car, crossing the mountains and across the border four days ago.
Chen Pu took out the photo and asked the snakehead to identify it. The snakehead recognized Lu Xing. As for Li Meiling, the sun was strong and she was wrapped up tightly, wearing a hat, sun mask and sunglasses. But judging from her clothes and figure, they should be the same person.
The police also found the cabin where the two men stayed in the border village. It was in a mess, filled with instant noodle boxes, toilet paper, and several used condoms. The DNA extracted from the scene belonged to these two people.
The next step is more complicated, as we need to contact the police in neighboring countries to assist in the arrest. But the efficiency of the neighboring country in handling cases is not low. The whole day passed and they didn't say a word. It takes time for our police to go abroad to enforce the law and go through the formalities.
So this group of expatriate criminal police were stranded at the border.
After Chen Pu finished washing up and returned to the bed, Zhou Yangxin asked, "Pu Zi, do you want to go abroad to handle the case?"
This is also the first time for them.
Chen Pu propped himself up on the bed with one arm, brows lowered, and said, "It doesn't matter. I'll follow your instructions."
Even though Zhou Yangxin is a man, he would still stare at Chen Pu when he occasionally caught a glimpse of his appearance and temperament. For example, now.
The all-black windbreaker highlights Chen Pu's tall and thin figure. Black cloth also makes people look whiter. In fact, when Chen Pu first joined the team, he had fair skin, but he became much darker due to being exposed to the wind and sun every day. But this is still better than ordinary police. Some people just can't get tanned, but they can become white again by just covering up a little. There's no point in being jealous.
Chen Pu has always had a gloomy face recently and rarely smiles. Maybe cool men look more handsome. Several young girls from the local police station in Yunnan secretly gave Chen Pu a nickname, Chen Bian Mule. Zhou Yangxin thought, isn’t this an insult? But looking at the girls giggling and with wandering eyes, he felt that he did not understand the girls' hearts - after all, he, Zhou Yangxin, didn't even get the nickname Teddy.
However, despite his jealousy, Zhou Yangxin was still very concerned about the captain's emotional state. In fact, Chen Pu's behavior was not so obvious. He worked hard, ate seriously, went to bed on time, and cooperated actively with the Yunnan and foreign police. Chen Pu was the first to discover the hut where Lu and Li were hiding.
But who is Zhou Yangxin? Criminal psychology is his innate ability, and he quickly smelled something wrong from the clues.
In the past, Chen Pu would play with his mobile phone after get off work. Occasionally, he would be amused and would forward the jokes to other colleagues. But these few nights, the two of them lay in bed, playing their own games, and Chen Pu was like a dead body, without making any sound. There were several times when Zhou Yangxin spoke to him, but he didn't hear.
The same goes for work. Although Chen Pu is still capable and efficient, his eyebrows and eyes always look like they are now, as if they are about to fall into the mud. If you pay attention, you will find that his whole body is shrouded in a layer of coldness that keeps strangers away. This kind of situation has never happened before. Chen Pu is a capable and arrogant man, but he is always sincere and generous to his brothers in the team.
But yesterday, Zhou Yangxin wanted to eat at the local number one hotpot restaurant, but he was listless and said he didn't want to go and that hotpot made him feel heartburn. Finally, Zhou Yangxin said with great reluctance, I'll treat you. He still refused to go, and without batting an eyelid, he finished the work lunch boxes that everyone was almost sick of.
To sum up, Zhou Yangxin deduced that Chen Pu was in trouble.
Zhou Yangxin then used the process of elimination to confirm one by one:
Although Chen Pu had difficulties in investigating the case in the early stage, Zhou Yangxin had been his colleague for several years, so an occasional mistake in the direction of the investigation was nothing. Moreover, it was Chen Pu and Li Qingyao who were the first to discover that Lu and Li had escaped, which was considered a small contribution. So it can't be about work.
It is even more impossible economically, as Chen Pu is a recognized large pig farmer.
That leaves only...
Zhou Yangxin looked at him with sharp eyes and said shockingly: "Are you heartbroken?"
Chen Pu was drinking water from a thermos cup and nearly choked. He coughed violently a few times, his eyes cold and bright under his dark brows: "Why do you ask that?"
"Who figured it out?"
Chen Pu turned his head, continued to drink water, and said, "No one, where can I go to meet girls?"
Zhou Yangxin really didn't think of Li Qingyao. She was a teammate, a female criminal police officer. They always treated her as men, not girls.
"Then why haven't you been happy these days?"
Chen Pu smiled: "Is it obvious?"
"The more you try to hide, the more obvious it becomes. There is nothing you can hide."
Chen Pu praised her for being "cultured", took off his coat, threw it on the chair, and lay down on the bed, with his hands behind his head. He said, "It's a family matter, I don't want to say more. It has nothing to do with feelings. I don't have feelings."
Zhou Yangxin believed it, sighed, and said, "Me too."
However, he did not ask more about Chen Pu's family affairs. He did not want to get involved in the feuds among the wealthy families. What did Chen Shuai get more or less tens of millions more had to do with him?
Seeing that he had fooled Zhou Yangxin, Chen Pu put one hand behind his head and played with his mobile phone. Perhaps touched by Zhou Yangxin’s words, he couldn’t help but click on WeChat.
His conversation with her stopped a few days ago, the day when Li Qingyao went to talk to Luo Huaizheng.
In the morning, he sent a message asking: [Are you awake? 】
She said: [I’m having noodles today. 】
[Okay, I’ll wait downstairs.] 】
Then, under the big tree filled with sunshine, she trotted towards him for the first time like a light and graceful deer. At that time, he thought that after some time, he would be able to open his arms and let her jump into his arms. result……
Stop, Chen Pu, why are you thinking about it again?
Chen Pu's face became increasingly cold and he was a little angry, but he was angry at himself.
He looked at the dialog box that had been dead for several days, resolutely clicked into the editing mode, and began to click on the chat records between the two one by one, selecting all those that were not related to the case.
He selected more than a hundred items in one breath. He looked at the screen, his thumb moving slightly, but it never reached the "Delete" key.
He thought again, is Chen Pu childish? We are not boys and girls. I won’t play the game of “delete the chat history if you don’t love me anymore”.
No need to delete.
He exited WeChat, ignoring the slight feeling of surviving a disaster in his heart, and raised one arm to cover his forehead.
More than a week had passed, and his emotions had completely calmed down, just like the sea surface where a boat accidentally capsized, the broken ship would eventually drift away with the wind, and after it became completely dark, the water surface would eventually return to calm. He admitted that he was indeed very excited at the time, and the look in their eyes and the tears they exchanged really shocked him deeply. So her mind was filled with the thought that they were the true love, and he was just an outsider who expressed the wrong feelings and misunderstood.
When had Chen Pu ever fallen into such an embarrassing situation in his life? For a moment, I was naturally furious.
But now, he has calmed down and recalled what happened that day. A glimmer of shameful hope arises in the depths of his heart: Could it be that Li Qingyao was just reminiscing about his lost love that day? Could it be that she was just angry at him for not fighting back and that was why she was looking at Luo Huaizheng with such resentful eyes? Could it be that those tears bring destiny instead of love? This makes sense, right?
As for what Luo Huaizheng thought, Chen Pu didn't care at all. Why bother him? Even if other men love her terribly, as long as she doesn't...
But, does she really not love Luo Huaizheng anymore?
This is an unsolvable problem for Chen Pu.
But another fact is before our eyes.
He has been on a business trip to Yunnan for five days, and Li Qingyao has not even sent him a message, let alone a phone call. If she had any feelings for him or were attached to him, she should have asked him a question or two, right?
She really didn't care at all.
At this time, Fang Kai called.
Recently Chen Pu was on a business trip and Fang Kai was leading the second team. The two would talk on the phone every other day to exchange information, and Fang Kai would tell him about the team's work. Today, as usual, after finishing his talk, Fang Kai said, "By the way, I have something to tell you. Yesterday morning, Li Qingyao greeted me and went to find Lao Ding. She asked to continue investigating Xiang Siling after get off work. Lao Ding agreed."
Chen Pu: "Okay, I understand."
"You have been investigating that line, so I told her to report anything directly to you without going through me."
"good."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Pu turned the phone in his palm several times.
Li Qingyao has to act alone now. Although it should be safe, Fang Kai will take care of him. But he was her captain. It seemed unreasonable for him to keep silent and give some advice after knowing about this. After all, everyone is the captain's responsibility.
He immediately clicked into the dialog box, thought for a while, and sent a message:
[I heard that you were investigating Xiang Siling. Be careful and report if anything happens. 】After thinking about it, he added another sentence: [I will decide the important matters when I come back. 】
Very good, impartial, upright and selfless, and close-knit.
Then Chen Pu stopped playing with his phone and didn't sleep. He just lay there, with the phone turning in his hand all the time, from his left hand to his right hand, from his right hand to his face, and then taken off his face.
About ten minutes later, the phone rang, and Chen Pu immediately clicked on it.
Li Qingyao: [This is a task I personally applied for to Team Ding. I will take my own responsibility. It has nothing to do with you. 】
Chen Pu stared at the line of words for a few seconds, put down his phone, charged it, covered himself with the quilt, turned off the lights, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
In the past five days, he has been sleeping very well, without any dreams, and always sleeping through the night.
But this day, at around five o'clock, before daybreak, he woke up without any warning. The room was pitch black. Zhou Yangxin was snoring softly on the bed next to him, but Chen Pu felt as if he was completely awake and couldn't fall asleep no matter what.
Getting up and washing would disturb Zhou Yangxin, so Chen Pu simply took out his cell phone, turned his back to him, and scrolled through it out of boredom for a while.
The darkness seems to be able to hide all the self-degradation of human beings. At a certain moment, he suddenly clicked into WeChat again, only to find that there were two new unread messages from Li Qingyao.
His finger paused for several seconds before clicking. I even laughed at myself. Damn, I was really afraid that she would say something hurtful again.
However, after seeing the content of the message, Chen Pu sat up suddenly.
The message was sent by Li Qingyao at around 3 a.m.
Article 1: [If possible, reply quickly. 】
The second one is a photo taken with a mobile phone and placed on the table. The photo has a bit of yellowing around the edges, but the quality is otherwise sharp. There are quite a few people in the photo, but the protagonist in the center of the picture is undoubtedly Luo Hongmin.
Luo Hongmin was wearing a suit and speaking at a podium, with half of his body exposed. He looked several years younger than he is now, and had a radiant look. On the stage behind him, there was a row of people standing, both men and women, each holding something similar to a trophy in their hands, apparently participating in an award ceremony.
With Chen Pu's keen eyesight, he recognized the man standing in the rightmost corner at a glance. Judging from the photo, he is only in his early twenties, very young, with handsome features, tall and thin figure, and a shy smile. He was also wearing a beige suit, and his hair was combed up with a Moss comb. He looked similar to how he would stand on the podium many years later, but also not quite.
That's Liu Huaixin.
Three months ago, the person died in his own home by cutting his wrists. There were many suspicious circumstances and the case was finally concluded as suicide. The young teacher who was full of justice and wanted to find out the truth about Zhang Xiyu's death, the modern ascetic monk who was selfless and dedicated, and the 28-year-old young man who made all the teachers and students in the school feel sad and regretful.
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