Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The sound of roaring laughter came from the conference hall in the Qin Shan Police Station. In front of hundreds of police officers, Zhao Yu pointed at Jin Zhenbang and said, “If you don’t believe me, ask him!” Hearing this, Leader Jin suddenly felt embarrassed and nervous.
“Without old Jin’s reminder, I wouldn’t have thought of holding a press conference and getting the entire village to hunt the devil down!” Zhao Yu said, clapping his hands excitedly. “Old Jin’s words definitely enlightened me. He said, ‘Xiao Zhao, you cracked the case of the Headless Female Corpse and became famous in the Criminal Department. If you’re not scared of being fired, then just do what you want!’” Upon hearing what Zhao Yu said, the crowd couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s an exaggeration…” Leader Jin clarified hurriedly. “I didn’t say anything like that…”
“After thinking about it, I realized, he’s right! The demon case had already reached such a point so I just went with the flow. Even if we didn’t make any great achievements, as a criminal case officer that is part of the job, so… that’s what I did!” Zhao Yu said. “And hey, guess what! A miracle happened. It truly showed the strength there is in numbers. In less than 24 hours, I got a tipoff from the public that there was a survivor in the Devil case…”
Oh… There were murmurings in the crowd as they listened to Zhao Yu’s description, completely engrossed. The crowd couldn’t help but listen even more attentively. After the training, all the officers clapped, thoroughly impressed by Zhao Yu’s speech. After dismissal, the superiors at Qin Shan Police Station threw a welcome party for Zhao Yu at a place nearby to show their appreciation for his speech. The various leaders were all old acquaintances of Zhao Yu’s.
On one side sat Head Director Hong. He was not demoted after the failure of the Liu Qiao case. Instead, he was given a stern warning and continued to work under supervision. On the other side were Zhou Andong and Liao Jingxian, the two deputy directors. There was also Detective Head Feng Wei and Luan Xiaoxiao, amongst others.
Zhao Yu had returned to the police station with a new reputation. He was no longer a mere police officer. His relationship with the Central Criminal Office meant that regardless of the level of influence, the other leaders at Qin Shan Police Station respected him. Because of this, according to the usual practice, the leaders of Qin Shan not only entertained him but also personally accompanied him. As a Qin Shan resident, they even set-up a fancy banquet for him.
The minute he heard about the banquet Zhao Yu was back to his usual tricks. Before getting on the bus, he asked Director Hong if he could invite his two oldest friends, whom he had not seen for a long time.
“Oh? Sure!” Director Hong replied. “So, who are your friends?”
“Economic Investigation Leader Liu Changhu and the deputy captain of the criminal police team, Wang Shengyu!” Zhao Yu smiled. “We’re really good friends, let’s all enjoy this banquet together!” After hearing the names, Zhou Andong and Liao Jingxian’s faces turned purple. These weren’t friends, they were enemies!
“Oh… okay!” Director Hong said excitedly, not understanding the grudges they held. “That’s great! Liu Changhu and Wang Shengyu are no outsiders, so it’s more than okay!” Waving his hand, Director Hong got his secretary to inform the two immediately. Seeing what was happening, Luan Xiaoxiao sneered. In her heart, she knew that Zhao Yu had always been vengeful, and this time there would be a good show to see.
Sure enough, Liu Changhu and Wang Shengyu came to the banquet. After all, it was on Director Hong’s request, how could they not? Their faces, however, were far from happy. They knew how vengeful the ‘hooligan’ Zhao Yu could be, and after hearing that he had personally picked them, they knew he was up to no good. To that day, Liu Changhu had regretted confronting Zhao Yu. If only he had tolerated Zhao Yu’s arrogance, then he wouldn’t be in that situation!
He couldn’t understand how Zhao Yu had climbed up the ranks so quickly. From a simple police officer to a famous national detective? It was almost like a rags-to-riches fairytale! It didn’t matter what caused it, the night’s banquet was bound to lead to something bad. After meeting at the hotel, Zhao Yu had even instinctively gone to hug the two of them. This only made them even more frightened.
Director Hong continued hosting the banquet, completely unaware that anything was wrong. He naively thought they were really good friends. Just as expected, after eating a few mouthfuls, Zhao Yu started his plan in motion.
“Leader Liu, long time no see! I’ve missed you! But let’s not speak just yet, we should have a shot!” Zhao Yu said, raising his glass towards Liu Changhu. He took a full glass of white wine and swallowed it all. Liu Changhu was stumped. Although it was difficult, he put aside his feelings and downed the full glass of white wine. From the look on his face, one would think he had drunk poison. However, the fun had just begun. Zhao Yu refilled his glass and repeated it with Wang Shengyu. Wang Shengyu had no choice but to drink.
After the second glass, the atmosphere surrounding the table was tense. Liao Jingxian wanted to say something to break the ice but he realized that Zhao Yu had drunk two glasses of wine and still hadn’t bullied them. If this was the revenge, then it seemed pretty reasonable.
Liu Changhu and Wang Shengyu felt uncomfortable after the one glass and couldn’t eat any more food. Zhao Yu continued to eat and make toasts, talking and laughing merrily. After finishing one lap around the table, he was back to Liu Changhu. Zhao Yu drank an entire glass again, forcing Liu Changyu to drink first, followed by Wang Shengyu. After another cycle, he raised his glasses to them again.
Seeing how sick the two of them looked, Zhao Yu graciously allowed them to drink half the cup while he drank his full glass. After the fourth round, Liu Changyu and Wang Shengyu couldn’t take it anymore. One of them was lying on the table while the other was vomiting on the ground.
—
In the evening, a burst of laughter could be heard from the Liu Heshun Hotpot Restaurant. Zhao Yu and a group of colleagues from the Rong Yang branch were having a get-together. Zhang Jingfeng, Liang Huan, Li Beini, Lan Bo, Zhang Yaohui, Xiao Liu, and the others were all present.
“Oh!” Lan Bo said. “Next time, we finally have someone to cling to! Brother Yu, when there’s a vacancy in the Criminal Office, you have to remember us!”
“Yeah!” Zhang Jingfeng patted his chest. “I am really good at finding people, so next time when there’s an opportunity, don’t forget about me!”
“Rest assured!” Zhao Yu drank an entire glass of beer. “I, Zhao Yu, have always been aware of who’s kind to me and who’s not. Brothers, as long as I am well, I guarantee you all will live well too!”
“Hey, hey! How can you just talk about your brothers! You have a sister here too!” Li Beini said. “Brother, you know my abilities. If there’s anything good you have to count me in!”
“Don’t worry, come, come. Let’s drink!” Zhao Yu said, standing and toasting everybody.
“Oh, right!” Lan Bo suddenly remembered. “I heard my father say you got Liu Changhu and Wang Shengyu extremely drunk?” Bo Lan’s father was the head of the city bureau and had also been a guest at the banquet.
“Yup,” Zhao Yu nodded. “But I had water inside my wine glass, so in fact, I was also quite uncomfortable after drinking so much!”
“Ah! No wonder!” Bo Lan replied.
“Hey, this was only a warning! If I really wanted to mess with them, it wouldn’t just be drinking wine till they collapsed!” Zhao Yu said.
“Well…” said Zhang Yaohui. “Brother, taking pleasure in revenge is not wrong… but you’re someone from the criminal office now, you really have to stop doing this. They didn’t deserve it either.” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“I understand!” Zhao Yu said. “But you guys don’t know that when I was competing for this special group, someone sabotaged me and caused me to be kicked out. I have figured out a long time ago that they were behind it!”
“Oh…” Only then did everyone understand.
“They bribed the criminal department with a gift, then secretly removed my pass. If it wasn’t for the judges being touched by my outstanding performance, I’m afraid they would have gotten what they wanted! There would be no Detective Zhao today!” Zhao Yu said. “So, this is a lesson I definitely had to teach them so they’ll never oppose me again!”
