“Well, I told you before!” Zhao Yu was talking to Chen Zhuo, the liaison officer, on the phone. “We must keep Tycoon away from the public toilet! My puppy is perfect, except for the fact that it enjoys the smell of sh*t! But, you can rest assured that it only likes the smell of it, not the taste!”
It turned out that Zhao Yu had to get Chen Zhuo take care of his dog Tycoon because he had no time to get back to Qinshan before heading to the Golden City.
Chen Zhuo replied from the other end of the phone line in an annoyed voice, “Bro, your big dog not only likes smelling sh*t, but also tasting it, especially chicken sh*t! In fact, it likes everything about chickens it seems, as it almost bit our neighbor’s pearl chicken yesterday! And… It can eat a whole roast chicken, even the bones!”
After hearing this, Zhao Yu laughed and said, “When I solve the case, you’ll be rewarded handsomely for your troubles! Now, we’ve just arrived, so I’ll talk to you later…”
When Zhao Yu hung up the phone, Zeng Ke was meeting with the person responsible for receiving them. He was a middle-aged man named Zhang Qing. He introduced himself as the Deputy Bureau Chief and Office Director of the Golden City Police Bureau.
As soon as they met, Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang explained to Zhao Yu, “Bureau Chief Liu Chongmin was away, attending a meeting. He just received the notice and is currently rushing back. Unfortunately, as the planes have all been grounded, he won’t be able to meet you in time. We hope that you will not hold this against him!”
“Of course not!” Zhao Yu said kindly. “It’s out of his control, after all. Tell Bureau Chief Liu not to rush. Safety comes first!”
Miao Ying then quickly got down to business as she said, “It’s so kind of Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang to greet us. You must understand the purpose of our visit to the Golden City. As we are pressed for time, we’d like to get to the scene as soon as possible.”
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang looked at his watch, then said, “Well… It’ll be getting dark soon. Don’t you want to rest a bit first? We’ve already made the arrangements for your stay!”
Zeng Ke joked, “Are you kidding? It’s only three o’clock in the afternoon! Take us to the detention center! We need to see the suspect.”
Miao Ying added, “Also, where is your criminal investigation captain? We need to learn more about the case.”
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang nodded, then said, “The car is ready. Please get in the car, and then we’ll go to the detention center! It’s just… Our captain is expecting a baby at 8 o’clock tonight!”
Miao Ying was clearly a bit annoyed by this as she asked, “Are you kidding? It doesn’t matter if she is having a baby to us! You still need to arrange for a criminal policeman who knows the case to come!”
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang was obviously embarrassed as he replied, “What awful timing! At noon today, we received a report that a corpse was found in Xianghe. Thus, all of our policemen have gone there to investigate the matter! So…”
Hearing this, Zhao Yu was shocked. “What did you say? A corpse was found? Was it a murder?”
“Um… Well… The specifics of the situation have yet to be clarified,” Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang said.
“Do murders happen often around here?” Zhao Yu asked.
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang paused for a moment, then replied, “Not really, as local people prefer using their fists to solve problems! Every so often, there are a few homicides, but nothing like this murder case that involves Han Kuan!”
As Zhao Yu nodded, Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang led them to a big, fourteen-seater van. The van was covered with mud and looked quite old and dirty.
The driver was a fat man, who looked clumsy and shy. When he saw Zhao Yu and the others, he dared not look up at them.
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang quickly introduced the man, “This is Ba Chen, the logistics director of our police station! Our small police station is really short of manpower, so the logistics director has been pitching in as a driver too!”
Director Ba saluted everyone in a hurry, then took out a document and handed it to Zhao Yu. “This is what they asked me to give to you…”
Zhao Yu took a look at it. It was the information about Han Kuan.
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang then said, “Director Ba, hurry up. The investigators want to go see the criminal in the prison!”
Upon hearing this, Director Ba hurried back to the driver’s seat. After everyone got in the car, they went straight to the detention center.
At this moment, the snow stopped. Although the roads and streets were still covered with snow and ice, it was melting slowly and now had little impact on one’s driving.
Also, the temperature here was not as cold as Zhao Yu had thought it would be. He even felt a little stuffy at the moment because he had worn too many layers.
However, as far as aesthetics were concerned, Zhao Yu felt that this city was even lagging behind Quliang. The shops and houses on the streets all seemed to be have been built long ago. Looking at them, he almost felt like time had rewound back to the 1990s!
As they drove along, Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang was very talkative. He talked a lot about the case. “Although this guy is a famous novelist, no one from our local area really knows about him or his work. At least, I never heard of him before this!”
Miao Ying looked at the document that was given to Zhao Yu just moments ago and said, “Hmm… Handwritten… And no pictures. This information is really unprofessional!”
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang humbly replied, “Yes, I fear we have much to learn from your team. We will certainly focus on making improvements in the future!”
Zhao Yu lifted up one of his thumbs and praised him, “That’s right! A good attitude is the most important thing! We all need to be honest, too! I see that the information about the phone call is not clear. Do you know what the situation at that time was?”
“Yes, it says that the deceased’s brother is the one who called the police!” Miao Ying pointed to the information, then asked, “How did he know that his sister was killed?”
“Yeah… The information that you sent me yesterday did not even mention this! You just said that the police rushed into Han Kuan’s house and found the victim, with Han Kuan sleeping beside her! Moreover, it was the criminal police rather than the civil police that went directly to the crime scene.” Zhao Yu added.
“Um… This…” Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang took out his cell phone in a hurry and said, “I… I’ll call the criminal police department and let them talk to you!”
“Deputy Bureau Chief, wait a minute… Don’t call. That day, I was on duty, filling in for Big Tooth, who had drank too much the night before. So, I was there, too!” Director Ba suddenly said.
Deputy Bureau Chief Zhang sighed, then asked with relief, “In that case, Ba Chen, can you can tell the investigators what happened that night?”
