Qin Yi had already guessed part of it and asked, “What is your wish?”
“I hope that you and Comrade Lin can keep it a secret that I helped you catch the criminals. Not temporarily—but permanently. If possible, also make sure Ma Liu and Zhang Kui keep their mouths shut… don’t let anyone else find out.”
Qin Yi had already anticipated what she would say. The confessions of suspects do need to be recorded and reported, but Su Tong’s involvement did not affect the overall case progress—he could help her fulfill this wish.
What he couldn’t understand was her intention.
From his perspective, if Su Tong was deliberately hiding her abilities, he would prefer she continue doing so. Honor and exposure would only bring endless trouble and danger.
But if she truly was hiding her abilities, why was her life so miserable? At the very least, she should have been capable of protecting herself from being bullied.
Qin Yi couldn’t understand it. He simply looked at her and asked, “Are you serious? You’d be giving up a lot of honor and benefits this way.”
Su Tong answered firmly, “I’m serious. If you can help me, I’ll only be grateful.”
Qin Yi did not ask anything further. He replied in a low voice, “Alright.”
Su Tong immediately felt relieved. There was a reassuring strength in Qin Yi’s presence, and as the person in charge of the case, since he said “alright,” it would surely be done.
Just as she was about to speak again, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.
“Mom—come quick! Wu Tong is hiding a wild man in the hospital room!”
Su Tong’s heart jumped. Only then did she notice a girl standing at the door.
Two braids, an oversized cotton jacket and pants, her face twisted with anger—it was the original host’s vicious younger sister, Wu Dongling.
Su Tong hadn’t expected to meet her “family” so soon. Before she could react, Wu Dongling rushed forward and reached for her hair.
But before she could get close, a hand clamped down on her wrist like an iron vise.
Wu Dongling snapped in anger and turned to curse, only to see Qin Yi’s face—and froze.
Good heavens. She had never seen such a good-looking man before, even better than those in movies, though his expression was terrifying.
At that moment, another middle-aged woman rushed in—it was the original host’s mother, Wang Guilan. As soon as she entered, she started yelling:
“Wu Tong, you jinxed girl! Ungrateful thing! I arranged a perfectly good marriage for you, and you ruined it! Turns out you’ve been sneaking around with a wild man! You’ve got some nerve—I’ll beat you to death!”
Qin Yi immediately released Wu Dongling’s wrist and stepped in front of Su Tong, blocking the mother and daughter.
Seeing her mother arrive, Wu Dongling actually held up her wrist and complained, “Mom, that man just touched me!”
Wang Guilan glanced at Qin Yi. Seeing his extraordinary appearance and demeanor, she hesitated for a moment—then suddenly sat down on the ground and began wailing, slapping her thighs.
“Oh heavens! My poor daughter has been taken advantage of! If you don’t take responsibility today, I won’t let this go!”
Su Tong felt a wave of disgust. Reading memories was one thing—experiencing it firsthand was entirely different. This bizarre mother-daughter pair was truly eye-opening. No wonder the original host couldn’t survive in such a family.
More people rushed in from outside. The leader was Ma Daming, who grabbed Wang Guilan and shouted:
“Wang Guilan! Get up! This is a provincial-level investigation leader! He’s police! Not someone for you to make a scene with!”
Wang Guilan already knew her daughter wasn’t really at a disadvantage and wasn’t truly trying to extort responsibility—she just wanted to squeeze some money since the young man looked wealthy.
Hearing he was police, she hesitated. If he was police, then she might not be able to get anything out of it.
She glanced unwillingly at Qin Yi’s leather jacket—it was clearly high-end. Probably cost over a hundred yuan…
Reluctantly, she got up from the ground, but still refused to back down.
“Oh, so you’re police? Even police should pay attention to propriety! A girl’s hand isn’t something you can just touch!”
Qin Yi’s face remained cold. He pulled handcuffs from behind his waist.
“Interfering with police work—I can give you a pair of silver bracelets anytime. Want to try?”
Seeing he was serious, Wang Guilan immediately lost her arrogance.
“Oh, officer, why take that out! We’re family of Wu Tong! And she just made a contribution, didn’t she? You should at least be polite to us!”
Ma Daming felt his face burn with embarrassment and glared at her.
“Wang Guilan! Did you ignore everything Wu Shuzhi told you? Still want to cause trouble?”
Wang Guilan brushed off her clothes.
“What are you saying? I came all this way, didn’t I? My daughter is precious—even if she just scrapes her skin, her mother has to come take care of her!”
“Wang Guilan! Watch your words! Is this just a scrape? Do you want to spend a few days in the station to calm down?”
It was Zhang Pinglu speaking. He had not expected Wu Tong’s family to be so unreasonable. If he had known, he wouldn’t have informed them at all.
“Station Chief Zhang, that’s not right of you! Always talking about sending people to the station—people might think the police arrest anyone they want! I’m the mother of a hero now! That’s what you call it, right? The village secretary said my eldest girl is a hero…”
Wang Guilan showed no fear at all. No one knew where her confidence came from.
She turned to Qin Yi again and said ingratiatingly, “You must be a provincial leader, right? I heard heroes get bonuses. My daughter is shy, so since I’m here, I’ll collect it for her. Where do I sign the paperwork?”
Su Tong watched her coldly.
This woman’s combat power was astonishing—ruthless, shameless, opportunistic, and adept at reading situations while still being able to stir up chaos. Ordinary people really couldn’t handle her.
Li Youzong and Wang Lao’er must not have fully revealed the truth about the original host’s suicide, otherwise this mother and daughter wouldn’t have shown up so quickly.
Ma Daming and Zhang Pinglu exchanged uneasy glances. They were unsure how the village secretary had publicized the matter. Recognition was certain, and rewards were likely as well, but the exact handling had not yet been decided.
Before they could figure it out, Su Tong spoke.
Although she very much did not want to deal with these two women, they were still “Wu Tong’s” family. Even if she didn’t want to acknowledge them, she couldn’t let the police be put in a difficult position because of her.
So she calmly said:
“Mom, since I’m awake now, there’s no need for you to worry. You can go back. I don’t need anyone to take care of me here.”