With Luo Sui gone, the gathering—which was supposed to be a discussion but was actually a shouting match—could naturally no longer continue. Consequently, there was no conclusion regarding the brooch that had been forcibly gifted to Huo Ranyin.
“Don’t you think things are somewhat strange?” Ji Xun asked Huo Ranyin after they stepped out.
“Many things are strange,” Huo Ranyin closed his eyes. “We met Old Hu twice, and both times he was very energetic. Yet, in less than a month, he’s just dead? Secondly, why the rush to cremate the body before Hu Yuan arrived? Combined with the nature of Hu Yuan’s work, it really makes one wonder.”
“But the hospital death certificate did state he died of acute complications caused by advanced brain cancer,” Ji Xun mildly countered Huo Ranyin’s points. “That’s what Hu Yuan said—and you’d think a hospital wouldn’t issue a death certificate recklessly.”
“Mm,” Huo Ranyin nodded, agreeing with Ji Xun’s point.
“Also, I actually saw Luo Sui at the hospital once,” Ji Xun added. “At the time, she was pushing someone in a wheelchair. Auntie Jiang said the person had cancer, was hospitalized for treatment, and his name was Hu Kun.”
“Then there shouldn’t be any problem,” Huo Ranyin’s brows relaxed.
“But Auntie Jiang added one more detail…”
“…” Huo Ranyin cast a sideways glance at Ji Xun.
“The person was very frugal,” Ji Xun finished the sentence after a dramatic pause. “If Luo Sui didn’t come, he couldn’t bear to eat or wear anything nice, refusing to spend a single cent. He’d rather just eat biscuits with water, to the point where others couldn’t stand watching and would give him a couple of hot dishes out of pity. It really doesn’t sound like the wealthy, generous Old Hu we met before…”
“You saw Luo Sui, but you didn’t see Old Hu?”
“The person was sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a hat with his back to me. And I didn’t know Luo Sui, so of course, I wouldn’t have thought it was someone I knew and specially run over to take a look,” Ji Xun explained.
“Think about it from another angle,” Huo Ranyin said. “Maybe the Old Hu in Auntie Jiang’s words wasn’t unwilling to spend on food, but unwilling to eat at all. Late-stage cancer treatment is both painful and despairing. Perhaps he wanted an early release, but didn’t want his young lover to know he had thoughts of giving up.”
“Hmm…” Ji Xun felt this explanation made some sense, but, “Huo Ranyin, try to recall—did Old Hu have a red surgical scar on the back of his neck?”
Huo Ranyin shook his head: “I don’t know.”
They were very confident in each other’s memories, but it was winter. Old Hu had been wearing quite a bit, including a turtleneck sweater. Without pulling the collar down, it was truly hard to tell.
“It’s a bit suspicious, but not that suspicious,” Ji Xun sighed. “We still don’t know if that ‘Buddha statue hiding a corpse’ case is real or not. In novels, this is usually the standard plot device where someone is murdered to silence them and prevent secrets from leaking.”
“Want to stay and keep investigating?”
“Uh… forget it. Even if they really want to squeeze labor out of us two severely injured patients, there’s still the Ning City Health Hospital matter waiting for us. Let’s just give the Qin City police a heads-up and tell them to pay attention to this.”
“Mm, I’ll write a statement renouncing the gift and give it to Hu Yuan,” Huo Ranyin said.
They hadn’t walked far; the villa was still behind them, and naturally, Hu Yuan was behind them too.
Huo Ranyin quickly found Hu Yuan and simply stated his intentions.
Hu Yuan’s expression looked somewhat subtle: “Captain Huo… there’s no need for this. Actually, I’d rather advise you to accept this brooch. It was, after all, my father’s last wish.”
“My condolences, but I have no reason to necessarily fulfill another person’s wish,” Huo Ranyin replied.
“True,” Hu Yuan smiled. “It’s a pity it’ll benefit them.”
“If you don’t want others to benefit, fight for it yourself. If you don’t fight for it yourself…” Huo Ranyin turned his head and saw Ji Xun standing idly behind him, waiting.
The sky was darkening layer by layer, as if brushed with ink.
The ground, however, was lit. Ji Xun stood idly leaning against a streetlamp, playing with his phone.
The overhead light fell on his slightly lowered head, illuminating the soft, fluffy hair on his crown.
If you don’t fight for it yourself…
Huo Ranyin seemed to mutter to himself: “Then others can’t help you either.”
The statement renouncing the gift was very simple. It just so happened that Lawyer Xiong was still there. Under the lawyer’s guidance, Huo Ranyin quickly finished writing it and signed his name, officially extricating himself from this inheritance dispute involving his colleague.
Then he returned to Ji Xun’s side.
As soon as Ji Xun saw Huo Ranyin return, he shoved his boring phone into his pocket and opened his chatterbox again: “Actually, I was just thinking about something.”
“What is it?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“This person Old Hu must have some connection with you. I originally thought we could find an opportunity to probe him again while investigating the Buddha statue, but after staying in the hospital for 20 days, there’s no chance anymore,” Ji Xun said helplessly.
“You can still probe Hu Yuan.”
“Hehe, this colleague of ours also has her own secrets…” Ji Xun recalled the scene he had just witnessed between Hu Yuan and the young man. But isn’t it perfectly normal to have secrets? As long as someone has a heart, there are secrets belonging to it hidden inside. He continued, “Say, if I squat nearby right now, wait until 3 AM to climb the wall into the house, and rummage through the deceased old man’s belongings, will you arrest me and take me to the police station?”
“You want to climb a wall with one hand?”
“Good point.”
The two of them chatted idly about completely tangent topics. Ji Xun was waiting for a taxi, but what arrived faster than the taxi was the notification sound of an SMS on his phone.
The phone was right in Ji Xun’s palm. He casually glanced at the banner notification, then immediately focused his attention. He read the text message back and forth twice before showing the screen to Huo Ranyin.
“A kidnapping case.”
“This time,” Ji Xun said, “we really can’t leave for a while.”
The evening in Qin City possessed a chilling coldness absent during the day. The light on the horizon was fading but not yet gone, while darkness stirred restlessly in the four corners of the sky; the day was gradually being eaten away by the black liquid of night. Among all places, the abandoned port of Qin City was the most chilling spot in this territory. Looking out, it was entirely desolate, with only the desolate sea waves crashing against the desolate embankments.
That was until a green car drove in.
The car stopped, its headlights still on. The orange lights cut through the dim landscape like two long, glowing corridors.
A moment later, the car door opened, and Luo Sui stepped out.
She stood alone in the wind. The wind, which had been howling just moments ago, had now mellowed, gently lifting her unevenly cut long hair like a lover’s hand.
She knew this place… she had always known.
When Old Hu was alive, he always liked to come here, but he never said what was here.
Every time she asked, he would smoothly change the subject, always meaningly touching her lips.
Was he telling her to be careful and stay quiet?
Perhaps not. She knew Old Hu had always liked her lips. She didn’t know if it was the color or the shape that pleased the man, but ever since she realized it, her lips became the feature she focused on maintaining and occasionally flaunted.
Old Hu…
Old Hu…
Luo Sui walked in a daze. As she walked, she bumped into a red shipping container.
She stopped in her tracks.
Behind this container was a stone bench shaped like an inkstone, and in front of it were two round holes.
She opened the container and fumbled around inside. Click, the light turned on.
A small wall lamp illuminated everything inside the container.
The wallpaper, the blankets, the tea set, the snacks—all the daily necessities were still there, quietly waiting in this tiny domain for their master to visit again.
But the master would never appear again.
Luo Sui felt a sting in her nose.
She bent down and climbed inside, changing her shoes on the shoe bench, and then slowly pulled the container door shut…
Bang.
The world was gone, blocked outside.
Only this small, brightly lit container remained.
She leaned against the wall, her head resting on the wallpaper. Ever since that day… the day Old Hu passed away… her perpetually dazed mind finally seemed to float onto the shore…
She lay there quietly, motionless. If not for the rise and fall of her chest, she would have looked like a female corpse inside a box.
Until there was a sudden clatter!
Clatter.
Clatter.
Clatter—
Continuous sounds rang out from behind the container door. Luo Sui straightened up in confusion. She looked around the container and realized the sounds were streaming in endlessly through the container walls. She suddenly became terrified. The container, which had felt like a safe haven for her soul just a moment ago, instantly turned into a sealed, suffocating space.
She hesitantly turned her head to look through the round hole meant for peeking out at the world. A cold, iron-grey shape swept across the outside of the hole—it was an iron chain as thick as two fingers, dragging past as if right over her eyes!
Someone outside was wrapping the shipping container in chains!
She frantically pushed at the container door she had just closed, but the door had already been firmly locked!
Then, the entire container jolted abruptly.
Someone outside was using the chains to drag the entire container.
Who is it?
Who is it?
Who is it?
“Ah—”
Terror made her scream at the top of her lungs.
