While He Shu was trapped in her own awkward discomfort, the other party showed no reaction whatsoever. He couldn’t even be bothered to spare her a glance out of the corner of his eye. Following the waiter, he sat down at a table and lowered his head to study the menu.
Hou Zibo cast him a puzzled look, apparently unable to understand why his team leader would be so cold toward a colleague. But he quickly brightened again and warmly invited her: “Captain He, are you by yourself? Hotpot is more fun with more people. Why don’t you join us?”
“No, thanks. I’m already finished eating.” He Shu gripped her chopsticks a little tighter, though nothing showed on her face. She maintained her friendly smile as she politely declined the tempting offer. For her, it was exactly what she wanted. For the other person, however, it would probably be no less than a bolt from the blue.
Hou Zibo glanced at the table in front of her. The dishes were mostly finished, so he could only spread his hands regretfully before returning to Ji Chen’s table. As he sat down, he wiped a cup and shouted: “Crispy fried pork! Get me an order of crispy fried pork!”
The remaining duck intestines, beef slices, and tripe all tasted like wax to He Shu. Even her tongue had gone numb to the spicy, numbing flavor. The restaurant was too small to avoid them no matter where she looked. By the time all the dishes at Ji Chen’s table had arrived, she finally noticed the can of ice-cold cola beside his hand. She sniffed quietly.
More than three years had passed. In the end, things were no longer the same.
Hou Zibo began chattering endlessly about work. Ji Chen sipped his cola, staring at the beef tallow broth that had not yet come to a boil. Every now and then he would respond with a word or two.
“So that’s why I think this ‘Night Runner’ is most likely a local from that area. The fact that he hasn’t committed another crime all these years means something must have happened to him…” Hou Zibo spoke in a low voice, then suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Then he enthusiastically called toward the window-seat area: “Captain He?! You’re finished eating?”
Picking up her belongings from the table, He Shu nodded and waved goodbye.
“Leader Ji? Captain He’s leaving. Aren’t you going to say a few words to her?” A flash of insight suddenly struck Hou Zibo. Looking at his superior’s completely calm expression, he finally sensed that something was off.
Lowering his voice so that only the two of them could hear, he asked: “You two… have a grudge or something?”
“No. We’re just not familiar with each other.” Ji Chen set down his drink, picked up his chopsticks, and began adding meat to the pot.
“…”
The obviously perfunctory answer left Hou Zibo scratching his head. He glanced again at the woman who had already reached the cashier to pay her bill, but ultimately suppressed his curiosity.
The thin slices of meat in the hotpot cooked quickly. The two men quietly continued eating. They had barely taken a few bites when the light above them suddenly dimmed.
Hou Zibo looked up and nearly burned himself on the piece of meat he had just put into his mouth. “C-Captain He?!”
He Shu placed the untouched glass of orange juice she was holding onto their table. “I ordered too much. This hasn’t been touched. If you don’t mind…” She did not finish the sentence.
Turning around, she pushed open the door and left. In the end, she simply couldn’t let it go. She had never imagined that even exchanging a glance or a few words would become such a luxury. Her body moved before her mind could stop it, reacting purely on instinct. Annoyance crossed her face, and she quickened her pace.
Everything had happened so quickly that Hou Zibo never had time to process it. He sat there with his eyes wide open, staring at the glass of orange juice placed conspicuously close to Ji Chen, as if he had seen a ghost. Including today, he had only met He Shu twice, but she didn’t seem impulsive. Fine, maybe colleagues didn’t need to stand on ceremony with each other, but why had she placed the glass with such obvious intent? What was that supposed to mean? Sure, I might not be as handsome as Team Leader Ji, but does that mean I don’t deserve the orange juice?
After He Shu left, a strange silence settled over the table.
Several dozen seconds later, Ji Chen suddenly rose to his feet. “Going out for a smoke.” With that, he disappeared. The moment he stepped outside, he spotted a figure about a hundred meters away. Whether because of the darkness or something else, the silhouette looked thin and frail.
He walked a couple of steps forward, leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and took a drag. Through the swirling smoke, he narrowed his eyes and watched He Shu the entire time. She crossed to the nearest intersection and stopped at the roadside. While waiting for the light, she tilted her head up, seemingly lost in thought.
The red light was brief, only about thirty seconds. Soon she crossed with the flow of pedestrians and gradually disappeared from sight.
Ji Chen withdrew his gaze, crushed the half-finished cigarette, tossed it into a nearby trash can, and turned back toward the restaurant.
Inside, Hou Zibo ate so enthusiastically that his face and neck turned red. Unfortunately, he had eaten too fast and choked mid-bite. Instinctively, he reached for the glass of orange juice. Unexpectedly, just before his hand touched the glass, someone shoved a bottle of chilled mineral water into his hand instead. The situation was too urgent for him to be picky. He twisted the cap off and gulped down several large mouthfuls before finally feeling better. After finishing the bottle and letting out a belch, he sensed something was off. “Hey, I say…”
But when he looked up, he saw Ji Chen tilting his head back and drinking the orange juice. The glass was nearly empty.
After Ji Chen swallowed the last mouthful, Hou Zibo bared his teeth. “Are you thirsty or something? We’ve come to this place so many times I’ve lost count, and you’ve never once drunk orange juice.”
There had even been a couple of occasions when they had ordered one for him, only for it to sit untouched until someone else ended up drinking it.
Ji Chen showed no particular reaction. He used the skimmer to scoop a large bowlful of meat for the man across from him, successfully distracting him and making him forget the question. Afterward, he stared at the now-empty glass beside his hand. Bits of orange pulp still clung to the inside of the glass. Bitter, he thought, as the taste spread through his mouth.
…
Early the next morning, the moment Zeng Yongjia walked into the office, he noticed a pair of long legs in black pants stretched out across a desk that was usually empty. The owner of those legs leaned back in the chair, a promotional brochure from some real-estate development covering her face. He walked over, looked around, and finally rapped his knuckles twice on the desk. Knock. Knock.
The person in the chair stirred. First, a hand reached up and pulled the brochure off her face, revealing a sleepy, bleary-eyed expression.
Today, He Shu wore a fitted black short-sleeved shirt and matching black pants, with a thin jacket thrown over them. When she saw Zeng Yongjia standing in front of her desk, she sat up straight and greeted him. “Hey…”
“Didn’t you go home last night?”
“I did.” She yawned as she spoke. “But around four in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, a bunch of old guys downstairs started coming out to play Chinese chess and practice tai chi.”
Another yawn escaped her. “I guess I’m also not used to the new bed yet. It’ll get better eventually.”
The two chatted idly for a while, and before long the office became lively as more people arrived.
Following the plan they had set the day before, those assigned to review surveillance footage did so, while those responsible for verification continued verifying information.
Meanwhile, as soon as Chang Bin arrived, he resumed trying to identify the mysterious fourth person by digging through Nie Han’s social media accounts, call records, and other data. So far, however, he had found nothing useful.
As for He Shu, she sat in front of her computer, staring thoughtfully at the screen. Displayed there were the personal profiles of Tang Jia, Zhang Shengnan, and Pan Yu. After studying them for a while, she pulled over a blank sheet of paper and wrote the word: Mistress. Then she drew a large question mark beside it.
At that moment, Ding Qi walked into the office. Casually tossing a report onto her desk, he craned his neck to see what was written on the paper and asked curiously, “I heard your team managed to eliminate all three suspects in a single day yesterday?”
“You said it yourself; that’s just what you’ve heard.” He Shu smiled meaningfully as she picked up the report and flipped it open. “What’s this? Got some good news for me first thing in the morning?”
“Both yes and no.” Ding Qi shook his head as he spoke. “Yesterday afternoon, Zheng Jian brought me several bite marks found on the victim’s bones. After comparison, they matched the teeth of two dogs and one cat. Then, during the latter half of last night, most of the little guys finally relieved themselves. In their droppings, we found several suspected bone fragments. Testing confirmed that they belonged to Nie Han. Maybe they were some of his missing finger bones or fragments from another part of his body.”
“Oh, right, this is the most important part!”
As if suddenly remembering something, he flipped the report to the final page for her. “In the feces of the stray dog labeled Number Two, we found some tiny glitter-like particles mixed in with the bone fragments.”
He Shu raised the report and narrowed her eyes, carefully studying the photograph of the glitter.
“This substance doesn’t match the environment where the body was dumped. There’s a good chance it either got stuck to the body during transportation or was something the victim was already carrying.”
When the body had been discovered, there had been no traces whatsoever indicating that it had ever been clothed. The corpse had been completely naked, yet somehow covered with this kind of material.
That made the situation rather intriguing.
As she and Ding Qi discussed the possibilities, Zeng Yongjia suddenly got a phone call. After only a few words, he shot to his feet. “Captain He! The front desk just called and said Tang Jia is here?! Why would she come?”
“Oh…” He Shu put away the report and stood up. As she walked out, she gestured for him to follow. “I invited her.”
“I’ve always felt that Tang Jia’s relationship with Nie Han wasn’t as simple as it appeared. So last night, I contacted Yuheng Plastic Steel and told them that, in order to further investigate the cause of Nie Han’s death, we needed their Human Resources Department to provide things like attendance records for former employees. Isn’t she President Wei’s secretary? She’s probably here to deliver those records.”
“You mean this is another way to sound her out and dig deeper into her background?”
As they talked, the elevator doors opened. They rode down and arrived outside the interview room.
Inside, Tang Jia stood in the center of the room, carrying a handbag and wearing a white business suit. Hearing the door, she turned around. “Officer He. Officer Zeng.”
“Secretary Tang.” Walking in, He Shu smiled and said, “You’ve come specifically to bring us the materials we requested yesterday, haven’t you? President Wei is really too courteous. Honestly, sending them electronically would have been enough. There was no need to go to all this trouble.”
“It’s no trouble.” Tang Jia took a small USB drive from her bag, but did not immediately hand it over. Instead, a hesitant expression appeared on her face. Then, as though she had finally made up her mind after considerable inner struggle, she spoke with difficulty: “Actually… I’m here today partly for personal reasons as well.”
“…I… I have something to confess…”