Chapter 52: White Mist in the Woods 17
Yi Ke slept until four in the afternoon. The bedroom curtains were drawn tight, with only a faint sliver of light coming through. On the bedside table lay an open, overturned copy of “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.” Zhuang Ningyu didn’t actually read much Japanese literature, but Yi Ke knew why he had suddenly pulled out this old book. In the book, the young monk, out of a distorted admiration for the beauty of the Golden Pavilion, eventually went down an extreme path, choosing to set the entire temple ablaze. “If I cannot possess beauty, then let beauty be destroyed with me,” which had some similarities to Tong Yishuai’s final madness. In the blank space of the page was a line hastily written by Zhuang Ningyu—when beauty becomes an obsession, is destruction the only way for humanity to find release?
Yi Ke took out a pencil and drew a little person shaking its finger and saying “No” behind it, with an added sentence—Live in the moment, don’t overthink. Then he stretched lazily on the bed. The covers were soft, the pillow was soft, comfortable. As expected of my wife’s fragrant bed!
He played a piano piece on his phone as background music for waking up. The music reached the living room. Zhuang Ningyu didn’t want to ask again which romantic BGM this was for their umpteenth meeting, so he chose to hear but not listen. Yi Ke, to the tinkling sound of the music, went back to the guest bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. In his peripheral vision, he saw the clothes he had changed out of last night neatly folded on the washing machine, already washed clean, with a very pleasant jasmine scent.
I can’t bear to wear them!
Zhuang Ningyu, while looking at the documents, said, “Then you can just run back naked.”
Yi Ke refused at once. No, I can’t do such a thing that lacks masculine virtue. Some places, no one can see but you. He was still wearing the 100% pure cotton love-themed home clothes. He bent down and rested his chin on Zhuang Ningyu’s shoulder, casually picked up an empty packaging bag from the table, and frowned as he read, “Snowy Mooncake Rose Freshly Baked Flower Cake. Is this what you ordered for lunch?”
Zhuang Ningyu’s body trembled. “Shut up.”
Yi Ke pouted but didn’t shut up, continuing with disgust, “It’s not even as good as the Huang’s Qiaojiao Beef downstairs.”
Every word was a stab to Captain Zhuang’s heart. Although to avoid any unwanted questioning, he had already proactively blacklisted Huo Ting and had no intention of releasing him anytime soon, the thought of what had happened in the morning still gave him a headache. And the culprit was currently still blissfully unaware, tearing into a flower cake. Zhuang Ningyu snatched it away. Don’t eat it!
Yi Ke looked at him with an innocent face. After a moment, he suddenly leaned forward. Unfortunately, the kiss on the cheek was unsuccessful. Zhuang Ningyu promptly took out a book and frantically hit him with it, furious. Yi Ke held his head and squatted on the ground, protesting with howls, “Who uses a hardcover edition to hit people!”
Zhuang Ningyu threw the book to him and went to the kitchen to make Ms. Zhong’s calming tea. Yi Ke caught the flying “The Wizard of Oz,” put it aside, and also followed him into the kitchen. There was still some seafood left from last night. Yi Ke checked the seasonings and asked, “Do you want it spicy stir-fried or steamed?”
“Neither.” Zhuang Ningyu had no appetite. He was in a very Zen state, planning to live on calming tea for the rest of his life. No answer was also an answer. Yi Ke: “Understood, half spicy stir-fried, half steamed.”
Zhuang Ningyu was too lazy to engage and went back to the living room to continue working, leaving the vast kitchen to him. Li Maosheng’s daughter, Li Meng, had already rushed to Jincheng to claim the remains. Regarding the police’s suggestion of what Li Maosheng had done at Qingquan Mountain back then, she showed great shock and denied it at once. “Ever since my mother passed away, it’s not that we haven’t advised him to find another partner, but my father has always strictly refused, having no interest in such things. He usually just does calligraphy or photography. How could he possibly… be into that? Besides, his heart is not good and can’t take too much excitement. We don’t even dare to speak loudly around him.”
Zhuang Ningyu flipped through the latest information uploaded by the police. Li Maosheng did indeed appear very normal on the surface, but there were still some clues that could be found. For example, he had been hospitalized for food poisoning thirteen years ago, the cause being a braised deer penis from a private kitchen that was contaminated with norovirus. This restaurant’s specialty was aphrodisiacs, and it operated on a membership basis, making it difficult for ordinary diners to get a reservation. And according to the restaurant owner, Li Maosheng was a “regular customer.” Yi Ke poked his head out of the kitchen and asked him, “What are you looking at with that expression?”
“Just marveling at Li Maosheng’s diet,” Zhuang Ningyu looked up. “Would you voluntarily eat an animal’s urinary system?”
Yi Ke’s features contorted. The crab leg in his mouth instantly lost its fragrance. “I do eat stir-fried liver and kidneys, but your description… I’m not eating it anymore.”
Zhuang Ningyu chuckled. “The stir-fried kidneys at the People’s Canteen on Back Street are quite delicious. Want some? I can order takeout for you.”
“No,” Yi Ke ran back to the stove. “Wash your hands, get ready to eat.”
His position in 201 was becoming more and more stable. Besides his own slippers, he now also had his own bowl, blue with a lace pattern. The setting sun cast a golden, warm glow outside the window. Yi Ke, while peeling a crab leg for him, asked, “Is there any progress on the investigation team’s side?”
“Not for now,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Li Maosheng’s children all claim to know nothing. They said that if they had even a single clue back then, they would have provided it to the police at the first opportunity. They keep saying ‘the old man’s life is the most important,’ and repeatedly guarantee that they would never delay the rescue for selfish reasons. But I think, even if they knew, they might not tell the truth. On the contrary, they might even cover it up more tightly.”
“Indeed. Li Hong, as the ‘seller,’ doesn’t want things to be exposed. Li Maosheng, as the ‘buyer,’ is also breaking the law.” Yi Ke handed over the peeled crab leg. Zhuang Ningyu opened his mouth, but Yi Ke put the crab meat into his bowl.
Zhuang Ningyu: “…”
Yi Ke: “…”
Zhuang Ningyu took out a tissue. “I carefully looked at the police report from the Li family back then. I found that they were more like they were following the normal procedure for a missing relative. Although they appeared very anxious, they were clueless about many things and didn’t put much pressure on the police to solve the case. They even proactively and ‘considerately’ suggested whether to control the online public opinion.”
Yi Ke asked pitifully, “Can I feed you again?”
Zhuang Ningyu was unmoved. “Eat your food!”
“Come on, come on.” Yi Ke moved his chair over with a clatter.
Zhuang Ningyu dropped his bowl and ran. “Get lost!”
The sound of footsteps “thumped” down to the floor below. Fortunately, Grandma Xiong was not at home today.
Yi Ke was getting a little too fond of living in this lively little street. So that night, he tried to stay over again, his reason being, “Anyway, I have to pick you up for your physical check-up at eight tomorrow morning.” Zhuang Ningyu was leaning on the sofa watching TV. “Do you have to rest your head on my shoulder to talk?”
No refusal, there’s a chance! Yi Ke was delighted. He lay next to him and continued to flip through “The Wizard of Oz.” Zhuang Ningyu slapped him and reminded him, “You’ve come out of the rule zone, shouldn’t you go home first?”
“My dad is on a business trip, and my mom is busy entertaining guests. She told me to come back on the weekend.” Yi Ke held his hand. “Don’t you always try to chase me away?”
Now you’re playing the victim. Zhuang Ningyu tried to pull his hand back, but failed. Yi Ke hugged his arm and continued to look at the book and play on his phone. After a while, he suddenly looked up and asked with some confusion, “Why did Chief Huo ask me to tell you there’s a meeting on Monday at three in the afternoon?”
Zhuang Ningyu was caught off guard and choked on a mouthful of water. What a bad friend, what kind of sick humor is this?
After this battle, Huo Ting spent another full half-month on Zhuang Ningyu’s blacklist before being reluctantly released. On the weekend, Zhuang Ningyu was working overtime at the Order Maintenance Department, using his old office. He Yuanhua went abroad on the fortieth day after Jiajia’s death. Counting the time to process the visa, Yi Ke said, “So, as soon as Jiajia passed away, the employer immediately started arranging for her to go abroad. So eager, it would be strange if there wasn’t something fishy.”
The employer was a foreign couple. Like Jiang Baimei, who had adopted Jiajia back then, they were just “glove men” who went through the legal procedures on the surface. The manipulator behind the scenes still pointed to Li Hong and her husband. After going abroad, He Yuanhua did not reveal to her husband and children which family she was working for, but she was clearly very satisfied with her employer, often sending large sums of money home, far exceeding the salary of an ordinary domestic helper, until she died in a car accident a few months later.
“He Yuanhua’s husband received a large sum of compensation, so he did not raise any objections to his wife’s death. The villagers’ evaluation of this family was mostly centered on being argumentative, overbearing, greedy, and bullying the weak while fearing the strong,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “The villagers all said that it was fortunate that the old man had made a will before he died, insisting that the child must go to university. Otherwise, He Yu would have probably been married off to the next village for a bride price by He Yuanhua long ago. And even with a will, He Yuanhua never gave up on arranging blind dates for He Yu, and had repeatedly asked women from the same village to persuade her niece to drop out of school and go home.”
Such an aunt. Yi Ke leaned against the table. “I don’t believe she would take the initiative to kill Li Maosheng to protect He Yu.”
The office door was knocked twice. Zhong Mu poked her head in and said, “Captain Zhuang, the police have just found evidence that Li Maosheng once participated in a ‘lolita’ gathering abroad. Thirteen years ago, for a full five days, on a cruise ship in the high seas. There are photos and videos. It can now be 100% confirmed that he was a pedophile. It may be because of his old age and poor heart condition, but on the fifth day, Li Maosheng had an attack and was rushed ashore. It was Li Yin and Li Meng who personally picked him up from the hospital, so the Li siblings were also in the know.”
At that time, Li Yin was furious in the hospital corridor, yelling at a Chinese person for half an hour. But the surrounding medical staff were all foreigners, so no one could say for sure whether he was scolding his father for being disrespectful for his age, or scolding the organizers for being irresponsible and not taking good care of his father. Zhuang Ningyu said, “He had already had an attack because of this, and yet he still went to Qingquan Mountain later. He really didn’t want to live.”
“Now that there’s new evidence, the Li siblings should reveal more,” Zhong Mu said. “Also, Li Hong finally couldn’t sit still. She tried to fly to Hong Kong with a fake passport last night but was stopped by customs. However, her mouth is still very tight, insisting that she doesn’t know Li Maosheng.”
“The small building on Nanping Road was rented with cash, and He Yuanhua’s salary was also cash. The phone call records from ten years ago have now been automatically cleared by the system, and the operators have no archives. Jiang Baimei is hiding abroad and not coming back. With no witnesses or physical evidence, Li Hong really has the confidence to play dumb,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “She is very careful. He Yu said that the Li Maosheng back then had two mobile phones, a smartphone and an old-fashioned old phone. The old phone should have been provided to him by Li Hong. All communication related to Jiajia only existed on this phone.”
“So tightly guarded, no wonder the police didn’t dig up anything back then,” Yi Ke shook his head. “So experienced, she must have done similar things before.”
“She’s probably still doing it now. Taking shortcuts is addictive. She won’t quit just because of Jiajia and Li Maosheng, not to mention that their deaths didn’t cause her any loss,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Let’s trust the police. They’ll find some clues eventually.”
Zhong Mu hummed in agreement, then asked teasingly, “Captain Zhuang, you’ve been here all morning. Why hasn’t any takeout arrived yet? Are we still getting coffee today?”
Zhuang Ningyu pressed down on Yi Ke’s hand, which was trying to place an order, and replied calmly, “No. What do you want to drink? I’ll order.”
As soon as his voice fell, an electric scooter with more than a dozen cups of drinks hanging from it stopped at the entrance of the office building. Yi Ke’s eyes widened. Zhuang Ningyu promptly comforted him, “It’s not necessarily for me!”
“Then who could it be for?” Yi Ke rolled up his sleeves, looking like he was about to have a one-on-one fight with the delivery guy. He went to the main office with a menacing air, but came back less than five minutes later with two cups of drinks and asked, “Do you want jasmine tea or orange juice?”
Zhuang Ningyu: “?”
The person who ordered was Chu Feifei. She and her boyfriend were going to a local orphanage to volunteer on the weekend. When they bought milk tea for the children, they also sent more than a dozen cups to the Order Maintenance Department. The young couple, who had accidentally entered a rule zone once, had gained many insights into life and were currently in a period of active charity, though they probably wouldn’t dare to ride a motorcycle again for a while.
“Li Hao came looking for me a couple of days ago,” Yi Ke said. “He was exploring whether it was because one of his elders had colluded with Li Maosheng ten years ago that he, ten years later, entered the rule zone.”
Zhuang Ningyu chuckled. “So conscientious?”
The investigation team had already completed all background checks. Li Hao and Chu Feifei, like the four from the Order Maintenance Department, were randomly selected as riders. If they really had to find someone who had a problem, Zhou Huanchang would definitely be ranked before Li Hao. Li Hao was still a primary school student back then, while Zhou Huanchang was already in his early twenties and often ran to Qingquan Mountain. Bo Siyu had also said at the very beginning, “You should go find Boss Zhou. He’s like a mountain king. He definitely knows more than I do.”
Yi Ke finished most of his orange juice and glanced at Zhuang Ningyu, who was also sucking on a jasmine tea straw. Neither of them spoke.
But both of them had the same faint suspicion.
What if He Yu had known Zhou Huanchang back then?
Currently, He Yu’s description of that night, although seemingly reasonable, had many “theoretically feasible but difficult to implement” aspects upon closer examination. But if Zhou Huanchang were added to the story, the plot would become much smoother. Yi Ke, with his mind full of thoughts, dangled the straw back and forth. Zhuang Ningyu said, “Let the police investigate Li Hong and Li Yin first. Investigating and solving cases is not the scope of work of the Order Maintenance Department anyway. Besides, our speculation may not be correct. There’s no need to say it out loud and interfere with the investigation.”
Yi Ke smiled and leaned over to rub his head against him.
Huo Ting pushed the door open.
Huo Ting turned and left.
Yi Ke: “…”
Zhuang Ningyu: “…”
Ten minutes later, before entering Huo Ting’s office, Zhuang Ningyu first raised his hand and knocked on the door, demonstrating with his actions what it means to be a civilized person in a civilized society. Pushing in uninvited is what people in the Yuanmou society do. After the demonstration, he turned and left. “Off work.”
Huo Ting locked the door with the remote control.
Zhuang Ningyu: How audacious!
“Come here,” Huo Ting pointed to the sofa. “Sit down, confess.”
Zhuang Ningyu took a candy from his desk and mumbled, “Nothing happened.”
“Next time, let the research institute use your mouth to study protective clothing,” Huo Ting turned the computer screen towards him. The camera had faithfully recorded all the inappropriate words and actions of the two in front of Huo Ting’s office five minutes ago, including but not limited to Captain Zhuang raising his hand and patting Xiao Yi’s head, and Captain Zhuang raising his hand and patting Xiao Yi’s shoulder.
Huo Ting said with admiration, “Just for a trip to my office, you have to go this far.”
Zhuang Ningyu’s face didn’t change color. “It’s normal for him to be afraid of you. Weren’t you also afraid of Lao Cao when you first joined the team? What’s wrong with me comforting him a bit? Also, when was a camera installed in the corridor?”
“Last month. It’s so big, hanging on the wall. It’s hard to believe that with your observation skills, you wouldn’t have noticed it, unless you were in a state of extreme agitation when you came over,” Huo Ting poured himself a cup of tea. “Besides, even Pei Yuan can see that there’s something wrong between you and him. Just admit it.”
Zhuang Ningyu was choked for a moment. “How did Pei Yuan see it?”
Huo Ting said, “Shouldn’t I be asking you two what you did at his hospital? With Xiao Yi’s overly nervous reaction at the time, those who knew would know you were having a physical check-up. Those who didn’t would have thought you were having a prenatal check-up.”
Zhuang Ningyu had never found Huo Ting’s mouth so annoying.
Huo Ting continued with a hard-to-describe expression, “And just now in the office… can you guys do this kind of thing at home next time?”
What’s wrong with a puppy rubbing its head? Zhuang Ningyu had a different opinion on this, but he wanted to explain and then stopped. After organizing his words for a long time, he finally chose to give up and reluctantly and perfunctorily admitted, fine, if you say so.
He wasn’t stupid. Of course, he knew what his many indulgences towards Yi Ke represented. But the two of them were just in the middle of a nice ambiguous phase, and suddenly a feudal parent popped up, insisting on forcing them together. On what grounds? I didn’t even eat your family’s rice. I’m not even your subordinate! The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. So before he left, Zhuang Ningyu specially opened the cabinet, took several cans of expensive tea leaves, and coldly threw out a sentence, just consider it as your consultation fee for my love life.
Yi Ke was still waiting for him in the corridor.
Zhuang Ningyu ignored the dark camera on the wall and stuffed the tea leaves into his arms. “Let’s go!”
Mr. & Mrs. Smith, robbery version.
