The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

“Luo Qiang and Song Jie Han are out?”

It was two days later when Yu Xia received the news at home first thing in the morning. He was so furious that he slammed the phone.

Yu Yin, who had woken up early for once, came downstairs and just happened to see this scene of his house phone nearly being smashed. “What happened?” He yawned as he tugged his explosive bedhead.

“…Since they were only suspected of sexual assault and abuse, after their respective lawyers contended for them, the court judged that they could bail out last night in light of them maintaining their attitudes while not attempting to flee or fabricate anything.” Yu Xia glared at the phone in disgust with a strong urge to pick it up and toss it. “So they have both been released.”

Actually, Yu Xia had already considered that this would be highly likely since the only point they were certain about was the sexual assault and abuse. Boss Luo Qiang had found both a legislative official and a lawyer, while Song Jie Han had also gotten a lawyer and a representative to help. Who knew what kind of things had occurred in the background? In the end, this was not unexpected, but that did not mean it wasn’t infuriating.

Yu Yin’s sleepiness instantly vanished. “How is that possible!”

“Nothing can be done about it.” Yu Xia gritted his teeth as he regretted not having beaten those two people up first.

“But Song Jie Han unsuccessfully attempted to kill you!” Yu Yin had been terrified when he had found out what had happened that day after Yu Xia had returned home. Yu Tong had later dragged Yu Xia off to lecture him through majority of the night.

“Apparently his lawyer defended that Song Jie Han had simply slipped and accidentally bumped into me. Since I did not personally see him push me when I was out on the terrace, the attempted murder was a ‘misunderstanding’, and if I wanted to charge him for the failed attempt, I would have to first present evidence that he really did so.” Yu Xia let out a cold snort as he walked into the kitchen to prepare tea for the both of them. “In addition, the lawyer believed that it was half my responsibility for having reached out from the terrace in the first place. If I had not been sticking out, Song Jie Han’s ‘slip’ would not have pushed me down either.”

“I think he’s just cunning, way too cunning! That’s obviously complete nonsense!” Yu Yin was convinced that these kinds of people were seriously repulsive to be claiming they were wrongly accused after [attempting] murder.

“Looks like it’s quite troublesome.” Yu Xia did not have a very optimistic look on the future.

“Wait, where’s Dad?” Yu Yin had found it very odd that he had not spotted Yu Tong so early. Usually, the twin that was nowhere to be seen at this time was the other one, aka the person currently standing in front of him.

“He got a call and left earlier.” Yu Xia glanced at the now completely awake Yu Yin. After a moment’s thought, he decided to inform, “Xiao Yu also went together. They both woke up very early to prepare breakfast and then received news from the hospital that Ye Yi had woken up. This was probably around half an hour ago.” Yu Xia had just gotten up in time to bump into them running out. Yu Tong had said he would bring Xiao Yu along for a follow-up evaluation on the way, so both had left very early.

“Huh? Really?!”

“…He’s awake, but hasn’t responded to any external stimulus. The brain damage from the prolonged oxygen deficiency might have been too great. We don’t know if he’ll truly regain consciousness yet.” Yu Xia had just received a call about this himself. The child was truly pitiful; if that was the boy’s future, Yu Xia was no longer sure if resuscitating him that day had been a good thing or a bad thing in the parents’ eyes. “Also, Xu Zhi Gao is awake too. The good news is that although his injuries are still very severe, he has passed the critical period and is also clearly conscious. The hospital has agreed to let us speak with him, so I’ll be heading over to Xu Zhi Gao’s side in a bit. Do you want to join me?”

“No need, I need to go to school today.” Yu Yin scratched his head and added somewhat regretfully, “Or maybe I can ask Xiao Zhong or the others to help sign me in…”

“Go properly attend class!” Yu Xia bluntly interrupted. “Don’t skip!”

“Alright, tell me about the progress later then.” Yu Yin shrugged. It wasn’t like he really had a means to skip class again, so he could only reserve a time to learn the details later at night.

Yu Xia narrowed his eyes in contemplation, barely suppressing the nagging sense that something was strange. “You’re too obedient today, way too tolerable. You’d better not appear at the crime scene again! If you do, I’ll punch you!” Considering Yu Yin’s past record of offenses, Yu Xia only felt suspicious the more cooperative Yu Yin was.

“What! I’m suspected even when I resign to my fate? I might as well just go the crime scene in that case!” Yu Yin felt the blow from his uncle’s complete distrust in him.

“Might as well beat you up now then before letting you go.” Yu Xia flashed his fist.

“What do you mean beat me up before letting me go! Domestic violence! This is domestic violence!”

“It’s not like it’s the first case of domestic violence. Why don’t you hurry up and call the police?” Yu Xia held Yu Yin in a headlock to rub his head with a fist.

“Ow-ow-ow, cut it out…Uncle, don’t you still need to go to the hospital? Don’t waste time here, hurry up and go! It’ll be bad if it turns out you can’t question Xue Zhi Gao anymore.” Yu Yin hurriedly wormed his way out and fled out the door as he shouted, “That’s it then, see you later!”

“Take care of yourself.”

“OK.”

This was the last time Yu Xia saw any trace of Yu Yin that day.

At 8 AM, the ward was filled with people.

“Mm…I saw it…”

The boy lying in the bed appeared particularly thin and frail, his pale face drained of blood. Despite this, he tried his best to respond to the adjacent officer’s questioning. “I wanted to take a peek…Xiao Yi was too scared and hid in the staircase…”

“Last time you woke up, you said you saw people fighting inside the home. Could you tell Dàgēgē more about this?” The nurse assisting the police rubbed the boy’s head and carefully placing a recording pen next to him on the pillow while gently saying, “Take your time thinking, don’t be afraid. These are the police gēgē that rescued you. There’s nothing to be scared of at all; the police gēgē are all good people.”

“That’s right. Once you’re recovered, Dàgēgē can even tell you jokes that little friends usually wouldn’t be able to hear even if they wanted to.” Yan Si, who had come along to enjoy the show, amiably grinned at the boy. “Or if you want your dad to get all chopped up, Dàgēgē can do that too…ugh.” His last words were cut off by a jab from a certain prosecutor’s elbow.

Li Zi Hong shot Yan Si a glare before turning back to Xu Zhi Gao on the bed.

“Yeah…I remember. That day…Shūshū said I stole money and wanted to beat me to death…but I didn’t, he spent the money himself and forgot…so I was too scared to go home. Xiao Yi said he’d stay with me until Shūshū’s anger died down…We went to that building to compete who could climb to the top first…then ate riceballs and heard a scream…” Xu Zhi Gao paused to take a few deep breaths. The nurse grabbed a cotton swab and dipped it in water to carefully wipe the boy’s lips before he continued again. “A shūshū dragged a zǐzǐ into the house…’Bitch, you had the guts to try killing me’, then a really loud bang and the zǐzǐ cried out…and then an āyí ran out from the elevator…helping to pull the zǐzǐ in. The door wasn’t closed completely. Ye Yi and I were both terrified, the arguing inside was loud…since the door was part open, I ran over to take a look…the zǐzǐ was holding a knife with blood on it. The shūshū, āyí, and zǐzǐ were all fighting. The knife fell… the zǐzǐ was forced to the balcony, then she tripped and the āyí pushed her out…the shūshū helped too…and the zǐzǐ fell down…Xiao Yi and I both ran away…” ¹

“Do you still remember what they were arguing about?” Li Zi Hong asked as he exchanged a look with Yu Xia.

“The zǐzǐ kept repeating to ‘stop this’…asking for the shūshū to delete all the files…she didn’t want to be touched anymore…then the shūshū asked if she thought she could make any demands…that he would take the photos and videos….and post them to share with everyone, including the school and other places…” Xu Zhi Gao looked up at the adults and blinked his eyes that were slowly deswelling. “The zǐzǐ was a mess on the ground, the blood everywhere was really scary.”

“It’s okay now, you should quickly forget that scene,” Li Zi Hong said in a low voice. “Were you seen when you left?”

“Yeah…that shūshū turned his head and spotted me; I saw him too…then I ran away with Xiao Yi. His face was terrifying, like he wanted to throw us down too…”

“How did he see you? Weren’t you two outside the door?” From what Li Zi Hong could remember, the front door was at an angle across the balcony that would not make it easy to see directly. The terrace could only be seen entirely after entering through the front door.

“The knife fell nearby, so I sneaked in to pick it up…” Xue Zhi Gao looked at the adults with a slightly panicked expression. “I was scared-scared that my Shūshū would kill me…so I wanted to take the knife and bring it [back] with me…but when I went home, Shūshū saw…and just kept beating me…”

“You picked up the knife at the scene?” Yu Xia narrowed his eyes. “Where is it right now?”

“My Shūshū took it away, but it should still be at home.”

Yu Xia alerted the others and walked out of the room to call for support to be dispatched to that house.

“You’ve done very well. Rest well and recover so that you can be healthy and grow big. We’ll come back and visit again. Don’t worry about anything else.” Li Zi Hong pulled the blanket up to cover the boy and stood. “A few zǐzǐ will come see you these next few days and help arrange for your new home. Your Shūshū won’t hurt you ever again.”

Xu Zhi Gao nodded. Just before Li Zi Hong and Yan Si stepped out, he suddenly called out to them, “…Will the other dàgēgē come again too?”

“Other?” Yan Si cocked his head. “Which one? The one that just left?”

“No, the other dàgēgē…with curly brown hair.”

Li Zi Hong furrowed his brows and pulled Yan Si aside. “When did you see him?” When Yu Yun and Dong Feng had rescued the boy out, the child had already been completely unconscious, and had not seen anyone else since waking. Logically speaking, he should not have known Yu Yin. While the two had brushed past each other at the building, the child should not have remembered anyone passing by at the time based on his words, and there was no way he could have paid much attention while running for his life. Besides, asking about Yu Yin was strange either way.

“I don’t know…Xiao Yi and I were playing together with a zǐzǐ and we saw that dàgēgē many times…the xiǎozǐzǐ ² even spoke to that dàgēgē a ton, then that dàgēgē called for us to come back…and he pulled me over…The xiǎozǐzǐ said Xiao Yi was lost and might not come back…then I woke up…” Xu Zhi Gao turned his head slightly to look outside. “That dàgēgē was together with the dàgēgē that just left…the xiǎozǐzǐ said that the curly-haired dàgēgē saved me…”

Yan Si pressed a hand down on Li Zi Hong as he calmly smiled and asked, “Do you still remember what that xiǎozǐzǐ said to the curly-haired dàgēgē?”

“Yeah, I remember.” Xu Zhi Gao earnestly answered:

“You cannot save everyone.”

***

“Jiu Shen, phone.”

With a report under his armpit, Jiu Shen quickly strode over to grab the phone Ah Liu was holding.

Once his colleague had finished speaking and hung up the phone, Ah Liu curiously asked, “The telecommunications office?”

“Yeah, Prosecutor Li transferred communication records and a few voicemails to us. Song Jie Han’s wife’s other cellphone had voice messages all left for the deceased, most of them asking when the deceased would come over, along with a few warnings about not telling anyone and such. They were quite frequent; it looks like the second cellphone he guarded was used to as a means of contact between them. Did the wife actually know about it or not…” Jiu Shen sighed as he ran over to check a letter next to the computer. “And his wife’s whereabouts have been found. She’s spent the past two days calling various people. They’ve locked her down in the southern district; Boss should have already requested for the sub-bureau there to catch her first.”

“Seems like this will reach a conclusion very soon then. Jumping cases are all so complicated these days; the workload is so heavy and exhausting.” Ah Liu stretched his body and massaged his shoulder. Recently, he had been working overtime and driving a lot at night for work. “The movie that my foster son and I had planned to watch has been delayed to who knows when. If we don’t go watch it in the next two days, we’ll have to wait for a second showing, so depressing.”

“Why don’t you switch shifts with me? I was originally going to take the next two days off, but you can take it first.” Jiu Shen had finished a portion of his work anyways, and by his calculations, he should be able to finish things himself. “When you come back, let me know if it’s good or not. I’m thinking of collecting some films.”

“Thanks in advance then.” Ah Liu scanned the office pensively, deciding not to ask if the person really could stay here alone after having cowered in a corner just two days ago. In a way, Jiu Shen’s ability to forget about unscientific things and not derailing once he was concentrating on work wasn’t a bad thing. At the very least, he could smoothly finish his work before remembering other matters and getting terrified later…Yeah, it’s best I don’t remind him, or else he’ll immediately change his mind about switching shifts.

Or if Jiu Shen ended up deciding to take a day off to go searching for a protective amulet of some kind, Ah Liu would really lose it.

“Oh right, Boss said he sent people over to search Xu Zhi Gao’s home; we should be receiving a knife for analysis later.” Jiu Shen completely missed his colleague’s sympathetic expression as he organised and printed the multiple files he had received. “My eye keeps twitching for some reason. It can’t be that something unscientific will follow the blade here, right…” With all the recent incidents, he was seriously starting to believe that there was a high risk of ghosts appearing in his department at work. The next time he went on vacation, he would really have to go walk around some shrines and see if it was just an unlucky year for him. Why else would so many have gathered in this short period of time?

“Probably not. Even if one did, there’s little chance you’d see it. I mean, just look at how few times we’ve encountered them after working here all these years. That clearly proves it’s a low chance.” Comparatively speaking, Ah Liu was not concerned about this in the slightest. He patted his coworker’s shoulder and comforted, “You’re always going to bump into these things occasionally, just like cockroaches. It’ll feel more natural once you’re used to it.”

“Who would think spotting cockroaches is a natural thing? It’s not like anyone would go enthusiastically scrambling over to welcome them!” Jiu Shen’s hairs stood on end as he failed to equate those unscientific things with any type of living creature. “Also, there’s no way one could get that used to seeing cockroaches anyways!”

“The more these kinds of trivial things bother you, the more easily it’ll be to run into them, you know. Jiu Shen, you must be the type of person that always ends up accidentally stepping on cockroaches while walking.”

“Nope, not at all. And I’m never concerned about whether or not I step on cockroaches wherever I go.” Jiu Shen instantly shot down his friend’s words. Convinced that he needed to explain his side, he added, “I just worry about whether I’ll see something unscientific along the path.” Specifically, on my life’s path.

“You’re already an adult, what’s there to be scared of?” Ah Liu shook his head, not comprehending how anyone working in this field could be this afraid.

“People like you that aren’t scared are the weird ones…” Just as Jiu Shen was about to argue back, he halted in the middle of his words to study the screen.

“What’s wrong?” Ah Liu walked up to the computer to see multiple image files pop up on the screen.

“I was breaking through the password on the disk just now. You know, the one that was found at Boss Luo’s place? These came up after unlocking it.” Jiu Shen clicked open one of the images and knit his brows together at the secretly taken photo that appeared. “Isn’t that the deceased and Song Jie Han?”

“Looks like these were being used to threaten the deceased.” As they scanned through the photos, they saw that aside from photos that had been taken secretly of that pair, there were even more secret photos of the deceased’s home. The angles were taken from the same points. “Luo Qiang set up a camera at the deceased’s home without her knowing.” Some of the photos captured the Tan family, including the father and mother. Jiu Shen couldn’t help but frown at the large number of photos. Majority of them were of the deceased, including ones of her changing through the curtains.

“That’s truly very dangerous…Huh, wait, stop here.” Ah Liu patted his friend on the shoulder. The screen was poised at a posed photo taken from across the street. The time of the photo was around a month ago. The lens was directed straight at the building where the snacks bar and the Tan family lived, perfectly capturing the streetscape. The sky in the photo was getting dark; it was likely evening. The snacks bar was still open and filled with customers, and there were even a few cars parked outside the shop. Standing there was the back of a pretty familiar-looking figure dressed in black clothes.

Jiu Shen’s focus was instantly drawn towards the unusually recognisable back shot. It appeared to be of a male. He was not looking at the snacks bar, but rather had his head raised to gaze at the second floor. In the next photo, he was heading inside the restaurant and searching around for four or five photos in succession before disappearing entirely.

The more Jiu Shen studied the extremely distinct figure, the stronger the chills that ran through him were. The reason it looked so familiar was because they had previously gone through multiple videos and photos in pursuit of this person in a previous serial murder case.

“Why did Su Zhang appear there?”

***

9AM. Yu Tong stood outside Song Jie Han’s front door.

He had been pressing the doorbell for a while now, but nobody had answered the door. Yu stood next to him, tilting his head as he curiously scanned their surroundings.

“…He doesn’t seem to be home.” Yu Tong had a bad premonition for some reason. He took a deep breath and could only make a call to report back that Song Jie Han was not home. If the man had gone out to buy something, there would be no issue; the concern was if he did not have any plans of returning at all. Back when Yu Xia had detained him, there had been a mention that the resident was tidying up the place.

Right after leaving the hospital Ye Yi was staying at, Yu Tong had received a call from the officer with Xu Zhi Gao regarding the information from the provided testimony. As a result, Yu Tong had headed directly over to this building to bring Song Jie Han back to the station for clarification regarding this matter.

As Yu Tong was debating whether or not to leave first, the door on the opposite side suddenly opened.

“Mr. Song left last night.” Tang Yu Yao wore a dress, seemingly appearing to be on her way out as well. When she spotted them, she said, “When I came home yesterday evening, I just happened to see him walk out. It was around 11 PM or so, and he had a suitcase with him. He was on the phone with someone as he was leaving.”

“Thank you.” Yu Tong felt a sense of helplessness; he had known that letting those two bail out had not been a good thing.

“You’re welcome. Was the stewed meat good?” A beautiful smile appeared on Tang Yu Yao’s face as she grated Yu before turning back to face Yu Tong.

“Ah, I ended up having other matters to attend to that day and accidentally misplaced the food.” Yu Tong belatedly remembered upon hearing the topic. He only recalled searching through the garbage with Xiao Hai that day, completely forgetting about the insulated pot after going home. It was too late to go search for it now; it had likely been cleaned away as trash or picked up by someone else. “I deeply apologise. May I ask how much the pot was worth? I will compensate you accordingly.”

Faint disappointment flashed across Tang Yu Yao’s face, but her smile immediately returned. “It’s fine, no need to pay me back. That pot was a congratulatory gift for moving in that a co-worker had given me, so it’s not a big deal. I don’t usually use it much anyways, so please don’t worry about it. I just wanted to ask you how it tasted. I gave a small pot to Mr. Song as he was heading out yesterday too; hopefully it suits his taste.”

Yu Tong looked at the beautiful woman in front of him with a slight feeling of guilt. “I’m truly sorry.”

“It’s nothing. I hope that you can have a taste next time then. I’ll bring some to the station for you the next time I make it.” Tang Yu Yao glanced at her watch and nodded at the other two with a smile. “I have prior arrangements with someone else now. I’ll see you again next time, alright?”

“Have a safe trip.”

Yu Tong let out a sigh of relief after watching Tang Yu Yao walk away.

Yu, who had been standing next to him this whole time, stared inquisitively at Yu Tong before glancing back at the elevator.

“Just a very warm-hearted citizen. She seems to be quite interested in the police.” The corners of Yu Tong’s mouth tilted upwards as he replied.

Yu was really tempted to say, “More like she’s actually only interested in you” as he shook his head. He could not understand how Ah Yin’s mother had married Yu Tong. In some ways, Yu Tong was just as slow as Yu Xia; they were identical in that respect.

The somewhat aloof Yu Tong stared at the shut door with a perplexed expression. “I think we should return to the station first. Ah Yin should be up by now too, do you want to go someplace near his campus to wait for him?”

Yu immediately nodded.

But before they could leave, the two of them heard walking inside the house. Then the lock let out a series of clicks and abruptly opened a crack.

As someone that was no stranger to such situations, even having encountered the exact same scenario before, Yu directly pushed open the door and unreservedly stepped inside. Seeing his child run inside, Yu Tong also hurried after.

The home was extremely quiet without a single sound. As soon as Yu Tong entered, he noticed that it was a mess inside. The bedroom door was open, with some clothes scattered all over the ground. It was easy to imagine that the person had been in a great rush to leave. He walked behind a cloth partition to see that there were no items of value left. Even passports and certifications were gone, the safe having been opened and now completely empty.

“Looks like he really did leave.” Yu Tong sighed as he picked up a small cup that had dropped on the ground.

Yu was crouched down on the ground, staring at a mark on the floor that appeared to have been scratched by something sharp. It had probably been covered by the furniture before but was easy to spot now that the tables and chairs had been moved.

Yu Tong surveyed the room that he had just been drinking tea in a few days ago and powerlessly shook his head. As he shifted his gaze, he suddenly caught sight of a small basket next to the phone. He recalled that Song Jie Han had mentioned his wife liked to keep everything tidy, organising smaller objects together. Even things like receipts had been neatly arranged inside.

Yu Tong pulled out the receipts from the basket and carefully inspected them. As expected, there was one from the market at the same time the cameras had shown the deceased checking out. The sum [of money] and objects matched as well. When he flipped it over, he saw that there was still a small drop of blood behind it that looked like it had splashed on. At first glance, one might have assumed it was just a stain.

“Xiao Yu, let’s head out.” Yu Tong pulled out his phone as he called the station again. “Don’t damage the scene.”

Yu nodded. But before he could retreat, a chilly windy blew over from the balcony without warning. As it blew past his face, it carried the faint scent of blood.

Yu reflexively shifted his gaze over to where the wind had come from. There was still nothing inside the vacant home, but Yu could clearly feel something touching him. It was freezing, like he was touching an ice cube. It lightly brushed him as it passed through and left the room.

He could not see it, could not chase after it. The thing that been here had left.

“What’s the matter?”

Yu Tong patted the shoulder of the suddenly frozen child.

“Nothing…” Yu did not know why, but he had a sense that something was strange. It was as if that thing had actually left, like it had gone away because of a specific reason that was not along the lines of resting in peace. The coldness that had bumped into him had been hasty, as if rushing over to another place.

It was his first time feeling this way. If only he could see them too.

“Then, I’ll bring you over to the school first.”

***

The case that had originally been judged as a suicide instantly blew up on the news that afternoon as a suspected homicide that involved sexual assault as well.

The citizens had been in an uproar after the broadcast. Reporters flocked around the [victim’s] school and residence, constantly questioning classmates and teachers if they had sensed anything abnormal from the deceased, whether they had noticed she was being sexually abused when they were so close to her, etc. The Tan family members being questioned in their home continued to criticise the police for letting the assaulters bail out.

On the screen, the Tan parents swore they would repay the debt of blood with blood, that the abusers would not die easily.

“Who in the world leaked the news—”

Yu Xia switched the TV off with the strong desire to strangle the reporters. As if mentioning the criminal suspect(s) wasn’t enough, the media had already surrounded the station outside too.

“There will always be people like that.” Yu Tong walked in with a bitter smile and placed a bag on the table. Several riceballs rolled out from the bag. “You all probably haven’t eaten lunch yet, right?”

“Mm.” Li Zi Hong accepted the tea being passed to him and flipped through the data packet on the table. “How is Ye Yi’s condition?”

“The doctor said there’s a 50% chance; he might recover, he might never wake again. But children have younger cells, it might be possible for him to come back. There have been cases of people in vegetative states for ten, twenty years that have suddenly woken up before. So, there is still hope.” Yu Tong gave a brief description of what the doctor had told him in the morning.

“Isn’t that just stating the obvious? If he can only wake or not wake, then it’s naturally a 50/50 chance. Which fellow medical professional was that roundabout?” Yan Si grabbed a back of snacks to chew on as he snorted, “Doctors these days don’t even have the guts to voice odds anymore. They’re probably scared of getting sued, so they just gave some ambiguous answer for the parents to break through fate themselves.”

“No way around it, society is too dangerous these days.” Yu Tong faintly smiled as he took a seat at the meeting table. “At the moment, the [results of the] search should be sufficient to take Song Jie Han into custody, shouldn’t it? The facts of his crime are already clearly evident. Aside from sexual assault, he and his wife also murdered Tan Ya Yun and framed it as suicide. Shouting that someone had jumped from the balcony had merely been to mislead the building’s residents. In reality, there were no traces of anyone jumping from Tan Ya Yun’s place.”

“The investigation group has already carefully inspected Song Jie Han’s residence. They should be providing more very soon.” Li Zi Hong read the newly issued indictment in his hands. “While the court has already issued the bail, it shouldn’t be of any use anymore if Song Jie Han’s fleeing confirms the truth. I’m certain that the request for his arrest and restrictions from leaving the country should quickly pass approval.”

“So troublesome. It would’ve been better if he was never released at all. Who let them give that order anyways?” Yu Xia was quite annoyed; they had only been one night too late.

“…Since he was already released, we can only make up for it. Song Jie Han left last night, which means he should not have fled far. Even if he escaped by sea, getting the [appropriate] contacts would take a few days as well. I’m sure we can still catch him. In addition, we must quickly capture his wife. She is also involved in the case.” However, they had not seen Song Jie Han’s wife since the incident had first occurred. Song Jie Han had been claiming the entire time that his wife had been on a business trip, which made Li Zi Hong suspect that the female likely had gone out to lay the road.

“In the end, the jump really was another miscarriage of justice.” In hindsight, Yan Si couldn’t help but agree with his former roommate’s suspicions. As expected, the student that was ganged up on was a red light; if the red light switched on, it was surely a significant incident. It could even be said that this was a tried-and-true fact. In some respect, he was like a moving incident generator. It’s really so exciting. “Oh right, the student that ganged up on should have gone to class today, right?”

“When I left the house, that brat was preparing to go to school. He should only have two this afternoon; Xiao Yu is waiting for him nearby.” Yu Xia took a bite of a riceball as he asked in a somewhat suspicious tone, “Did Ah Yin do something again?”

“Not really, I was just asking. According to my experience, I thought that the student that was ganged up on would follow Ah Tong or Boss around to the hospitals like a puppy. Who would’ve thought he didn’t go? How unexpected.” Yan Si chuckled and shrugged, feeling quite surprised. “The student that was ganged up on probably found Ye Yi’s situation hard to accept, no?” After all, the child had been injured right under his nose. Any normal person would be unable to handle such a blow.

“He was very upset for a few days and looked quite down. But it seemed to be completely dispelled today.” For a reason Yu Xia could not explain, he had found this strange. Their family’s child had not only unexpectedly adapted to the situation, but had even gone as far as to bicker with him in the morning. Yu Yin truly had appeared to be fine already.

“Perhaps he’s already learned to adjust his emotions after encountering these things too often,” Yu Tong emptily stated.

“Do you really believe that?” Yan Si eyed his clearly worried friend.

“Sigh…” Yu Tong could not really agree, but he did hope that his son had actually adapted rather than going out to get rid of his shock by doing something else…something that they could not interfere with.

“I don’t have anything to do tonight anyways, so I’ll go find him and Xiao Yu to play later,” Yan Si happily said, excited by the thoughts of what to go out and do for fun.

“Thanks for your trouble.” Yu Tong nodded.

“Was the knife found?” Li Zi Hong flipped through an analytical document as he directly skipped past the previous subject.

“They found six in his home. Xu Zhi Gao has already verified that one of them had been brought out from that building. They’ve all been handed over to Jiu Shen’s group for analysis. In addition, it’s been confirmed that Xu Zhi Gao’s father was taking drugs. They also found some drug contraptions and underground phone numbers that have all been transferred to Kai Lun’s team to track down.” Yu Xia opened one of the documents and said, “Luckily, it was a common drug. We’ve been afraid of new ones popping up recently.”

When they had given the underground information to Kai Lun, the other person had said in a relaxed tone, “We’re keeping an eye on this one and we’re going to fish them out soon. We’ll hand them over to you to deal with.”

“Because of the news, several families have already expressed willingness to adopt Xu Zhi Gao. The child shouldn’t have any issues.” This made Li Zi Hong feel somewhat relieved.

“Jiu Shen’s group lifted some fingerprints from Ye Yi’s clothes that can be compared once we capture Song Jie Han. On another note, they retrieved the children’s shoeprints from the building stairwell and the fourteenth floor, which proves that Xu Zhi Gao was indeed there that day. Once we match them up with the fingerprints on the door, it’ll be confirmed.” Now it was already certain that Song Jie Han and his wife had killed Tan Ya Yun, so the most important part was to quickly capture them and bring them back. Yu Xia paused for a moment before adding, “Regarding Boss Luo, the victim’s family insists on charging them for sexual assault and threats. The private camera he set up to peep on the [victim’s] home also needs to be looked into.”

“It’s a pity that sexual assault and peeping aren’t really punishable crimes.” Yan Si shook his head and spat out, “If he behaves well, he’ll probably be able to get out quickly. Then we’ll end up having another ‘good man’ possibly committing the same offense again.” Moreover, the case might need to be brought to court several times before then, possibly dragging out things for a while before a verdict was reached. The other party could then appeal again. The back-and-forth dealings would likely take up some time.

“This isn’t something we are able to decide. We can only properly do our own parts.” Li Zi Hong sighed and said, “Let’s continue.”

They just had to continue working to the best of their abilities.

^{1. Capitalized Shūshū ie. “uncle” here is what he calls his stepfather, while uncapitalized shūshū is the generic term he uses to refer to the older man he saw. ↑}

^{2. xiǎozǐzǐ means a relatively younger ‘older sister’. ↑}