Сhарtеr 1: Guаrdiаn.
Someоnе diеd аt Аunt Xia’s fruit shoр.
It wаs said to bе a crimе оf раssiоn.
Jing Gе cаmе tо buу sugarcаne but ended up bеing thе onlу witnеss, аrriving аt just thе right—or wrоng—timе.
Аfter scrоlling thrоugh her рhone cоntaсts twice, Jing Ge, trеmbling uncоntrollаblу, dialed а number: “Li Zhan, I killed sоmеоnе… no, I saw…”
“Yоu killеd sоmеone?” сamе the arrоgant, impаtient voiсe on the оthеr еnd. “What, саn’t have my unсle, sо уou don’t wаnt anyоne еlsе tо live?”
Jing Gе: “No, no, it’s mе…”
The оthеr еnd had no patience for hеr rаmbling: “If you want to сling tо my uncle, shоuldn’t уou be calling him?”
“……” Jing Ge panicked and instinctively asked, “What’s your uncle’s number?”
The line went abruptly silent.
After a moment, the other person seemed to sneer: “I see, Jing Ge, you can just give up! My uncle would rather be with a pig than with you!”
With that, he hung up.
Jing Ge looked up to see the female police officer beside her, patiently taking her statement, her expression sympathetic.
“…He, he doesn’t want me, not because I’m not good enough,” Jing Ge tried to explain. “Maybe it’s because he just likes pigs. I like pigs too, especially those with taro braised pork and preserved vegetable braised pork.”
The police officer reached out to pat her shoulder in comfort.
Jing Ge, still in shock, instinctively flinched away and mumbled, “I haven’t paid yet.”
Twelve yuan—the price of one sugarcane.
“The owner’s gone,” an onlooking middle-aged aunt said, exasperated. “Who are you paying?”
The police officer needed to ask more questions: “Do you want to contact someone else to accompany you?”
The well-meaning aunt suddenly chimed in: “Call her uncle! What kind of person was that earlier? Not coming is one thing, but insulting her too!”
Jing Ge snapped back to reality and shook her head frantically: “I can handle it on my own.”
“Don’t be silly. If you really like your uncle,” the aunt said bluntly, “you should use this chance to get closer to him…”
Jing Ge’s expression turned horrified: “No, no, my uncle has a strong sense of order. He starts international meetings at 8:30 every day, works out at 9, showers at 10, reads at 10:20, and sleeps at 11. Anyone who dares waste his time or disrupt his schedule, he’ll turn them into a human skin cocoon without batting an eye…”
And it was exactly 8:30 now.
No one wanted to provoke him.
Jing Ge was no exception.
Everyone present: “……”
Thinking of this, Jing Ge’s gaze gradually grew resolute: “I can handle it on my own. Ask whatever you need!”
“……” The police officer cleared her throat. “Name, age, student or working?”
Jing Ge gave her name: “20 years old, interning at a foreign trade company.”
Jing Ge didn’t know the motive behind the murder. She had argued with Li Zhan… or rather, endured a one-sided scolding. Li Zhan had mocked her for trying to seduce his uncle, Li Musi. Unable to defend herself, she had angrily bundled up in her cotton coat, grabbed her phone, and stormed out.
When she reached this area, Jing Ge had craved both sugar-roasted chestnuts and sugarcane, but chestnuts cost 25 yuan per jin, while sugarcane was only 12 yuan per stalk.
Jing Ge asked the shop owner to pick a sugarcane for her, peel it, and chop it into small pieces.
The payment QR code was on the other side of the shop. As Jing Ge walked over to scan it and pay, a sudden scream erupted behind her. She turned around to see the shop owner’s head separated from her body.
Aside from the Judge Bao dramas she loved as a child… and the tiger demon in Journey to the West whose head was carried off by a dog, Jing Ge had never seen a head and body snap apart like that.
Her mind went completely blank.
Even the killer’s face became a blur.And as usual, the surveillance cameras inside and outside the fruit shop were broken.
“Alright,” the female officer noted it down. “May I ask who Li Zhan is, and who is Li Musi? What is your relationship with them?”
Though she didn’t understand why these questions were being asked, Jing Ge obediently replied, “Li Zhan and I are engaged through a childhood betrothal. Li Musi is his uncle.”
The female officer paused, pondering, “Li Musi?”
The name sounded strangely familiar.
As if she had heard it on some financial channel before. The surname “Li” wasn’t uncommon in Haishi, but it belonged to a specific family.
The fruit shop was located at a four-way intersection, where passing vehicles stirred the cold wind, and the smell of blood spread and dissipated.
Jing Ge only realized it belatedly—she felt like vomiting.
So, when a head falls, blood gushes out like a dam releasing water, surging like a stampede of horses.
Before she could vomit, a black Rolls-Royce Ghost silently stopped outside the police cordon.
Bystanders unrelated to the case had already been asked to leave.
The female officer’s gaze turned wary as she looked at the car.
Following her line of sight, Jing Ge, who had lost most of her ability to think, turned her head as well.
The winter night was bleak, the camphor tree canopy blocking the streetlights, casting a subtle, hazy darkness.
The rear window of the Rolls-Royce Ghost rolled down, revealing a man with strikingly handsome features, yet his face was covered in an incongruous coldness. He glanced at her indifferently and asked, “Who did you kill?”
His voice was like water flowing over a glacier.
Deep, steady, icy, and carrying a certain power—as if even if she had truly killed someone, he could help her settle it.
“…”
The kind-hearted aunt was stunned for a moment before muttering, “This isn’t that rude brat, is it?”
With a face like that, a bit of an arrogant temper… seemed almost expected.
As soon as the words fell, Jing Ge suddenly snapped back to reality. The nerves that had been overwhelmed by immense fear moments ago collapsed at the sight of a familiar face, and her eyes reddened uncontrollably. “Uncle…”
Li Musi’s eyes, devoid of emotion, silently scanned her.
Her clothes and pants were clean.
Her exposed face and hands were clean.
Apart from the fear and unease in her eyes, there were no signs of injury or harm to others.
Only the edges of her shoes were stained with a dark red.
Li Musi understood in an instant.
The driver opened the car door for him.
The man’s thin-soled leather shoes were spotless as they touched the ground, followed closely by his long legs. In the depths of winter, he wore only a plain white shirt and black trousers, a metal belt accentuating his lean, toned waist.
As he fully stepped into the view of others, standing against the surrounding light, his presence carried an overwhelming sense of dominance.
Glancing at Jing Ge, Li Musi still spoke without any change in tone, “Come here.”
Jing Ge immediately ran behind him.
It felt as if she had entered a safe house.
Only then did Li Musi turn to the female officer, nodding slightly as he said calmly, “Hello, I am her guardian. If there is anything that requires cooperation, you may communicate with me first.”