Silent Reading

TL: QuantumC

07-10-2020

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Think about what a dickhead Fei Du was in front of Luo Wenzhou: that's how much of a good boy he was in front of Chief Lu.

He wore a very schoolboy-ish outfit today -- with a price-tag that's not so student friendly of course. But old people don't really pay attention to the expensive details, so Lu Youliang simply thought that this young man looked especially clean and bright. When he entered the office and smiled, the whole room seemed to lighten up.

Of course, if only the lad could get a crew cut, that would be perfect.

Lu Youliang handed him the list of archives that the YCPA research team requested for: "I skimmed through it: seems fine to me. Except for a couple unnecessary cases... which I've highlighted. Once you revise the list, just print another copy and follow the regular procedure."

Fei Du thanked him respectfully, took the list, and quickly skimmed through. Before he asked anything, Lu Youliang added some explanation: "Those cases are all very old and they've been studied in the previous round of the 'Sketchbook" project already. I think it's not worth going over them again. I don't want you to waste time --- if your advisor Pan asks, you can tell him this. He'll understand."

What kind of a boss would spend his own time to screen through the list for his underlings just because he didn't want them to 'waste time'? Fei Du was not deaf -- he could tell that this was just an excuse, so he agreeably swallowed his questions down.

After Chief Lu finished instructing on the project, he amiably chatted with Fei Du about the latter's personal life. Right when their topic was about to switch from schooling to courtship - the most popular topic of aunts and uncles when they're around young people - the phone on the table rang and interrupted them.

Chief Lu gestured at Fei Du and picked it up. After some short exchanges, his eyebrows furrowed.

Fei Du was observant, and remained quiet. He heard Lu Youliang instructed in detail: "...must be just and impartial. Especially pay attention to the appropriate wording. Send the final draft to me before publishing...Okay. This is an important and urgent matter --- the rich heirs fighting for their inheritance case can wait. It wouldn't change what's for the next dinner for the average John Doe's after all. The children's case is what the people truly care about."

Fei Du waited until he hang up and then asked: "It's about that children's abduction case, right?"

"-Sigh- yes, it has been transferred to the Procuratorate and what will happen next is beyond our control now." Lu Youliang paused. Unintentionally - or intentionally - he peeked at Fei Du's expression, then added, "This is the story of our lives a lot of times, you see. The victims and the family count on you for justice. But even if you can find out who did it, in the end it doesn't always turn out well. Sometimes you just lacked a bit of luck and missed the key evidence. Sometimes you even have all the evidence, but the law still cannot punish the perpetrator."

Fei Du agreeably nodded: "The rules and procedures are designed for the majority. There is always going to be fishes that slip through the net."

Lu Youliang's eyelid unnoticeably twitched. He had a feeling that Fei Du's next sentence might cross the line.

But surprisingly, Fei Du added nothing outrageous: "But this is already the best working system that balances the needs of the most parties. It's the result of years of frictions and struggles and now the system is still roughly "Pareto Efficient". Without it, there will be worse injustice. So even if it may hurt certain individuals, the system still needs to be maintained and respected. "

Chief Lu was surprised: "What...what 'efficient'?"

"In other words it's the best option when considering the aggregate benefit of everyone." Fei Du smiled, "My family runs a small business so I learned some theories from the elderly."

Chief Lu slowly nodded his head. Seeing Fei Du's casual and calm expression, he seemed relieved: "Good. Young people should be learning things like this. Learning helps build a healthy mindset too --- your advisor Pan used to be a radical reformist. That's why he went into academia."

Fei Du appropriately showed some curiosity at the topic.

But Chief Lu stopped it at that, and waved his hand: "Alright. I'll let you go back to your work."

Fei Du followed his orders and stood up. Meanwhile, his eyes swept across Chief Lu's desk.

On the corner of his desk there was a picture frame, holding an old photograph of men. In the picture the men were not yet bald and their waist measures were still 'moderate'. Only their eyes and noses still resembled their current versions. From left to right, there were Chief Lu, old Chief Zhang, Professor Pan - whom Fei Du had to use some tricks to become a student of - and Yang Zhengfeng: Luo Wenzhou's late Shifu.

There were originally five people in the photo. Yang Zhengfeng's right arm held another person's elbow. But that man's face was obstructed by the wooden picture frame and only a portion of his left shoulder was visible. Fei Du glanced at the picture, then quickly looked away. As if nothing happened, he picked up the marked copy of the "archived cases for viewing" from Chief Lu's desk and walked towards the large office.

He walked slowly and quietly. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. His peach blossom eyes were looking down and had a bit of uninvolved aloofness --- until he heard Luo Wenzhou's 'heart-broken' accusation:

"Traitors..." god knows who Luo Wenzhou was denouncing - the voice could be heard even before entering the office, "What a roomful of classic, textbook traitors."

Fei Du raised his head and saw Luo Wenzhou backing out of the office, one hand in the pocket. As he backed out, he pointed at the white-eyed wolves in the office: "You guys...you were obviously adopted..."

Before he finished the sentence he bumped into Fei Du, who had no intention of ducking.

"Oops, sorry." Luo Wenzhou didn't know who he bumped into and was about to turn around. But an arm circled his waist and helped him balance -- in the way of an embrace.

Luo Wenzhou: "..."

The hallway had plenty of space but Fei Du just had to squeeze past the narrow opening beside Luo Wenzhou. His shoulder lightly bumped into Luo Wenzhou's chest while his extended arm quickly 'measured' Luo's waist circumference. Then he said, unabashedly: "Chief Lu asked me to tell you that if you are late for one more time he'll start deducing your yearly performance benefit."

Lang Qiao rubbed it in: "Oh Sir Fei, boss was just asking about you. He said 'where the heck is he fooling around this time?'"

"Well, " Fei Du answered, with a smile from ear to ear, "let's not tarnish dear old Chief Lu's name like that, shall we?"

"Have you eaten yet?" Tao Ran pointed at the desk that's covered by breakfast food, "Help yourself. I don't know if you have any dietary restrictions."

Judging from how Fei Du found the time to dress himself up fully in the early morning, he obviously had ample time for breakfast too. Indeed, he waved his hand at Tao Ran and answered, "Nope, I..."

The words "I already had breakfast" was at the tip of his tongue.

But Tao Ran added: "Wenzhou bought these. Don't worry."

"...don't have any restrictions. Anything will do." Fei Du managed to turn his words 180 degrees around, then casually picked a packet of red bean paste pie, "Thanks, Shixiong."

So shameless!

Luo Wenzhou witnessed the world-class 'lying through the teeth', and was awed speechless.

Xiao Haiyang sat at his desk in the corner and quietly listened to the others joking around. He didn't know how to join them so he kept quiet on the sideline.

Tao Ran noticed Xiao's embarrassment. But as soon as Xiao Haiyang realized Tao Ran's eyes he awkwardly pushed his glasses and lowered his head, pretending to focus on some work in order to lessen the awkwardness of his misfit.

Tao Ran noticed these uneasy reactions too. A moment later, he went to fill his cup and stopped by Xiao Haiyang's desk along the way: "Little Xiao ---"

Xiao Haiyang's back tensed as he replied: "Vice Captain Tao."

"Relax." Tao Ran patted his shoulder, then leaned on his desk casually, "This is not Wang Hongliang's territory anymore. Take it easy."

Xiao Haiyang had no sign of relaxing at all. He sat up straight like a coffin board and waited for the Captain's scolding.

Tao Ran sighed silently. His eyes peeked at the report on Xiao Haiyang's desk -- it was the autopsy reports of Zhou Junmao and Dong Qian. Both died on the scene. There were no suspicious wounds or remainder of illegal drugs in their bodies - that part is crystal clear.

"We've questioned Zhou Huaijin the other day." In order to let Xiao Haiyang relax, Tao Ran picked a topic within his comfort zone - a work related topic - to start the conversation.

"He said that he got on to the taxi driven by one of the abductors from the airport. When they drove past a remote area, another man stopped the car and asked to share the ride --- that was the second abductor. Zhou Huaijin found it inconvenient, so he declined. But he wasn't alarmed by anything yet. The pretended passenger acted angryly and caused a scene. Then he attacked him, with the help of the driver...Hey, little Xiao, don't take notes. There's no need to take notes...I'm just casually chatting."

Lang Qiao picked out the crispy wafer from the pancake wrap and chewed on it first, like a squirrel. While chewing, she interjected: "I think there is actually a missing link here: how could the abductors make sure that Zhou Huaijin getson his taxi, not any other taxi?"

Tao Ran pondered: "We've screened the security footage next to the Airport taxi stand. It was close to morning, and the dispatcher had left the post. There were very few passengers waiting for a taxi, and not many taxis either. So everyone lined up in one single lane. If the abductor was waiting outside of the lane at first, and joined it once he saw Zhou Huaijin, it is possible to calculate and manipulate so that he 'happens' to pick up Zhou Huaijin."

"It's possible. But a bit risky, don't you think? What if someone cuts the line?" Lang Qiao asked, "Have you heard? Yesterday Yang Bo cracked under our relay race of interrogation. He broke down and yelled in the interrogation room that Zhou Huaijin's abduction was nothing but a self-directed, self-acted show."

"That's impossible." Another officer said, "What's the point of all the beating if it's just an act? He almost got drowned...and he even caused bad publicity for his own company and now hearings are called and a public investigation on his company has started. Why would he do these to himself?"

Lang Qiao speculated: "What if the Zhou's wasn't going to belong to Zhou Huaijin in the first place?"

Tao Ran put down his cup: "And where did these hearsay come from?"

"They're not just hearsay. I did my research and flipped through this many old newspapers." Lang Qiao gestured, "When the founder of the Zhou's -- Zhou Yahou -- died, his widow married Zhou Junmao in just a few months. Think about it: that's like marrying the sister-in-law shortly after your brother died -- I know they're not related, but their relationship was very close -- not to mention that this 'sister-in-law' owned a large portion of the stock shares. I found a HongKong tabloid article that called the couple "Ximen Qing" and "Li Ping-er" and said that they must have been together before Zhou Yahou was dead." Lang Qiao knocked on the desk, "Alright, friends, here comes the key part: I checked Zhou Yaohou's time of death and Zhou Huaijin's birthday. They are within the same year. Now that's something to think about."

"You mean...Zhou Junmao killed Zhou Yaohou and accidentally raised his son. Now Zhou Huaijin found out the truth and came after him for revenge?" Tao Ran shook his head, "Get your head back to the case. Didn't I ask you to look for potential witnesses at the airport taxi stand just now? Stop pulling out 'theories' and get back to the evidence."

"It's not just a theory." Lang Qiao said, "when we left the Zhou's house the other day, boss went straight to Director Zeng and asked to inspect on Mr. Zhou Sr. and his three 'suspected' sons' blood relationship' -- right, boss? You and I must be 'the heroes sharing the same point of view'! "

Luo Wenzhou ignored her question and walked back to his own office: "Focus on your own part. Don't you worry about what I do. Besides, the inspection results aren't even out yet."

Xiao Haiyang had remained silent the whole way. But at this time he finally asked: "But there isn't any traceable connection between Dong Qian and Zhou Huaijin. If Zhou Junmao's car accident was really man-made, then how did Zhou Huaijin get Dong Qian to do the dirty business for him?"

"But Dong Qian had no connection with anyone else from the Zhou's either." Lang Qiao said, "We've established this before: supposed that Zhou Junmao was murdered, then the murderer kept a very low profile and tried to disguise his death as an accident. On the other hand, Zhou Huaijin's abduction case was loud and flamboyant --- these two cases have clearly contradictory styles. So I was thinking, could it be that Zhou Junmao's death was really an accident, but then Zhou Huaijin made use of this opportunity in order to destroy his 'father's' reputation and legacy?"

Xiao Haiyang's face was somber and pensive.

"We need evidence, not theories and guesses." Tao Ran waved his hand and cut everyone's wild imaginations short, "Alright alright, finish the breakfast and get back to work."

The portrait of the abductors had been drawn according to Zhou Huaijin's descriptions and shared with the public, but they haven't heard anything back yet.

Til this day they haven't found a single eyewitness. The van truck that sank into the Bai Sha River was a stolen one. The taxi was a robbed one. Nothing valuable was found from either the van truck or the taxi.

Both Zhou Junmao's car accident and Zhou Huaijin's abduction case were full of unexplainable points. Not much progress was made.

Besides the driver who attempted to contact the kidnappers and got caught on scene, everyone seemed suspicious. Yet none of the suspects were cooperative. They were all busy attacking one another, and their stories were impressive for sure, but all lacked supporting evidence.

Even Yang Bo, who was the focus of the investigation, was bailed out by his lawyer last evening.

So far, the criminal investigation team seemed to have reached a bottleneck. They could only wait for results from the economic crime investigation's side and hope it would provide some useful leads.

Luo Wenzhou read the confessions of the suspects from start to finish: Zhou Huaixin bit on Yang Bo like a mad dog; Yang Bo insisted that Zhou Huaijin had it coming; Hu Zhenyu muddied the water, claiming that Zhou Huaijin and Zheng Kaifeng had conflicts in their perspectives for the company, and that Zheng Kaifeng was very close with Yang Bo in the recent years; Zheng Kaifeng insisted that Yang Bo was not related to Zhou Junmao -- the old fox was sly and slippery and kept playing Tai Chi...

Luo Wenzhou rubbed his chin. Meanwhile, his cellphone on the desk vibrated.

He checked the phone. It was a message from Fei Du -- Fei Du, who was sitting across from him in the same room.

In this small room where a fart could've easily knocked over another person's heal, Mr. Fei, rather than opening up his mouth directly, had to take up the public wifi resource and send him a Wechat message,: "Shixiong, can I ask you out tonight?"

Luo Wenzhou looked up at him. Fei Du was staring at the screen of his laptop, fully focused. If not for the faint, suspicious smile on the corner of his mouth, he could almost pass as a virtuous, hardworking intern.

The "hardworking" Mr. Fei moved his finger tips. Another message slapped Luo Wenzhou's eyes.

It said: "I like your abs."

Luo Wenzhou peeked at his never-shutting office door. In this almost wide-open space, people come and go without ever needing to get his permission. Many come in to get drinks from the mini-fridge, and some would even stop to have a chat with Fei Du. Everyone's every move is visible to everyone...

Yet some people chose to 'harass' him in this environment.

Luo Wenzhou's throat felt a little tight. The way he looked at Fei Du through the middle slit between his two monitor screens seemed like a predator.

But right when he was about to text back, an unfortunate colleague barged in and reported: "Cap Luo, been waiting for this, right? Director Zeng asked me to deliver this to you."

Luo Wenzhou almost dropped his cellphone on the floor.

The thick-nerved college did not notice anything abnormal. He dropped the folder then went back to his own desk.

Luo Wenzhou coughed, adjusted his extending legs under the desk, and tore open the folder absentmindedly.

After a couple lines, his sluggish eyes turned serious.

The DNA test results showed that the Zhou brothers were indeed Zhou Junmao's sons, while Yang Bo had no relation to Zhou Junmao.

"Is Zhou Huaijin still at the hospital?" Luo Wenzhou stood up and put on his coat, "I want to talk to him."

Fei Du: "Let me go with you."

Luo Wenzhou gave him a look.

Fei Du lightly licked his lips. His eyes casually swept across the office. Although he didn't say a word, the message seemed to be that "there's too many people here."

Luo Wenzhou paused, then kept walking and allowed him to follow.

Not long after the two left, Xiao Haiyang received a text message from Dong Xiaoqing.

He was very surprised that Dong would actually contact him so soon. She said: "Officer Xiao, could I please trouble you to come to my home again? I have something to show you."

Xiao Haiyang immediately dialed back, but Dong Xiaoqing's cell-phone was already powered off. He had a weird ominous feeling.

"Vice Captain Tao," Xiao Haiyang shot up and said, "I have to go somewhere too."