Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Uhm, what?” Miao Ying looked at Zhao Yu’s phone, dumbfounded. “An imitation mask? Changing your face to look like Jiang Ke? Zhao Yu… what sort of game are you playing?” she asked him. The person on the phone was Li Luoyun from Jin’an. Zhao Yu had called him last night and had him prepare a Jiang Ke mask along with an entire script to rid Zhao Yu of suspicion.
“Ask him!” Zhao Yu said, shrugging and passing all responsibility to Li Luoyun. “This whole thing was their plan, I merely followed it! At that time, when Jiang Ke was frequenting the clubs, the police had been keeping tabs on him and wanted to find out who the mystery man behind him was. What they didn’t expect was for that b*stard to suddenly die after escaping the night club!”
“That’s right!” Li Luoyun said, following the script. “That night, we discovered that someone had hacked into the CCTV system at the night club. Then, we found Yu Sunfeng and Tu Lekai. These two were not working with Jiang Ke, yet they were observing him closely. So, we suspected they had ulterior motives. So, uhm… after discussing the situation with Officer Zhao we created a mask that, when worn, would allow him to pretend to be Jiang Ke!”
“What?! You can’t be serious,” Miao Ying said loudly, angrily hitting the table. “That’s complete bullsh*t. Were you asking for Zhao Yu to get himself killed? How could he bluff his way through with just a mask?”
“Yeah…” Wu Xiumin frowned. “There are so many people in our station. You could have sent anyone, why send our leader of all people? Don’t you know he’s precious? Luckily nothing happened. If something had, your whole provincial court would have never heard the end of it!”
“This… uhm… we’re really sorry!” Li Luoyun said, wiping the sweat away from his brow. “At that time, all our men were at the nightclub, and since Officer Zhao and Jiang Ke’s builds were similar…”
“That’s right!” Zhao Yu said. “A human skin mask! It might not have been the real thing, but it was late at night and our interactions were all hush-hush, so they didn’t suspect a thing! Furthermore, they didn’t even know Jiang Ke that well, so they wouldn’t have been able to recognize his voice!”
“Zhao Yu, can you shut up for a second?” Miao Ying said, angrily placing her arms on her hips. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? Why did you lie to me? I finally know why you were blinking so much when you were talking about the barn fire. It’s not because you followed them – you were actually there with them! And when the fire happened, you could see Yu Fusheng so clearly because you were there! No wonder there were burn marks on you! You… you… this is ridiculous!”
“You can’t blame me for this!” Zhao Yu said, hardening his resolve and pushing the blame to Li Luoyun. “He asked me to keep it top secret. After all, they didn’t want to waste such a good opportunity after observing Jiang Ke for so long!”
“There’s something I don’t quite understand,” Wu Xiumin said, turning to Li Luoyun. “You said you found Yu Sunfeng and Tu Lekai, so why not arrest them and question them first? Why resort to such a dangerous method right off the bat?”
“This, uhm… we couldn’t!” Li Luoyun protested. If we arrested them, our remaining leads could very well have been wasted!”
“Your actions were way too risky!” Miao Ying said, hitting the table again. “Just you wait, I’m bringing this matter up with your provincial court!”
“This…” the color drained from Li Luoyun’s face.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! What’s the big fuss? We’re all brothers, let’s not hurt each other’s feelings!” Zhao Yu said, smiling. “I’m alive and well, aren’t I? What’s more important is that although it was risky, it eventually led to something good! If it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t have solved a single case!”
“Hmph!” Miao Ying glared at Zhao Yu. “Stop playing, do you think I’m stupid?” Hearing this, Zhao Yu’s face went pale as well.
“Zhao Yu, I think I have to give you an Oscar!” Miao Ying said, pointing to Li Luoyun on the phone. “You teamed up with an outsider to lie to me? Do you still have a heart?”
“Uhm…” Zhao Yu’s eyes shot back and forth. He didn’t know where he went wrong.
“Hmph!” Miao Ying pointed at Zhao Yu. “Don’t think I can’t tell. I know you well enough! This terrible idea to wear a mask must have come from you!”
“This, uh…” Zhao Yu was confused for a moment, before he realized that she had acknowledged the possibility of a face mask.
“How can a mere provincial court officer persuade you? Everything was so rushed, how could there have been time to make this fake mask?” Miao Ying pressed. “This was obviously pre-planned! You were planning this from the beginning, right?”
“Oh, that…” Zhao Yu’s face flushed.
“So, this stupid idea was yours! Li Luoyun only followed your command, right?” Miao Ying concluded. The room turned silent.
“Oh… yes!” Zhao Yu said, wiping his sweat and admitting to coming up with the idea. “You saw right through me! Actually, I just wanted to find the mystery man, so I came up with this. I didn’t dare tell you because I was afraid you would be worried! I know you’re going to scold me for playing with my life again. I’m sorry. Don’t be angry?”
“If you’re afraid I’ll be worried, then don’t do it! If the case is difficult to crack, we can work on it slowly, but there’s only one of you!” Miao Ying had already predicted this response and seeing as Zhao Yu acknowledged his mistake, she had decided to forgive him.
“Alright, alright. When I decided to do that, I was being led in circles by the mystery man and had become focused due to my competitive nature. All I wanted was to best him!” Zhao Yu said, grabbing hold of Miao Ying’s elbow and pulling her in for a hug. “Ms. Miao, I promise I won’t do this again…”
“Yes…” Wu Xiumin nodded. “Actually, in hindsight, Officer Zhao’s plan worked! If he didn’t personally head down and see Yu Fusheng, then all of our leads would have been useless. So, uhm…” Wu Xiumin noticed that Zhao Yu was hugging Miao Ying gently and lightly kissing her. Not daring to say anything else, she hurriedly turned off the phone and left.
At the same time in Jin’an provincial court…
After turning the phone off, Li Luoyun was drenched in a cold sweat. That was exciting! He truly wanted to tell Zhao Yu, “Officer Zhao, please stop fooling around! You nearly got me in trouble!” If Ms. Miao had really complained to his office, his whole life would have been ruined. Luckily Zhao Yu had some sway with her.
Sighing, Li Luoyun placed the mask down. The mask had been rushed out last night. Since Jiang Ke was in their hands, they could use him to make the mold. But after placing the mask down, he began to question himself. He picked it up and compared it against his face. Looking in the mirror, he wondered if this mask could really trick anyone into thinking he was Jiang Ke? It seemed a bit…
Just as he was deep in thought, someone hurriedly knocked on his office door. “Come in!” he shouted. A young officer rushed in. “Leader Li, come quick! Jiang Ke is awake!”
