Chapter 13

Thank you so much for your support Beverly . Truly means a lot. o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

Chapter 13

Lin Shang was caught at his grandmother’s house, and he confessed to everything about the murder. The process he described was almost identical to Song Wen’s reasoning.

He stabbed his father right in the heart in a fit of rage, and Lin Zhenghua died quickly; not bleeding too much because the knife was still stuck in the wound. He was terrified, but Zhong Qing was very calm. Before the body became too stiff from rigor mortis, Zhong Qing helped him stuffed the body into a large suitcase and transported it to the rented apartment.

Both mother and son went to the Cram school as if nothing had happened, but Lin Shang did not hear any of his lessons.

Although Zhong Qing made a sacrifice and was willing to take the blame for him, in the end, Lin Shang was unable to escape justice.

Song Wen went through the entire case again. Basically, all the previous questions have been answered, and most of the loopholes have been filled.

Since Lin Shang was only a minor, he may have to go to a juvenile detention center to receive further education. Ma Minghui and Guo Zai will be sentenced for extortion and blackmail, and Zhong Qing would also be punished by the law.

After three days and seventy-two hours, the gruesome mutilation murder case was solved, and all four perpetrators were caught.

After the case was completed, it was busy for a couple of days before finishing up. The members of the First Division team finally had a rare weekend off. On Sunday afternoon, Song Wen habitually took out his sketchbook and began to draw.

He drew one face after another. Zhong Qing, Lin Zhenghua, Lin Shang, and only when the various faces filled the entire sheet of paper, did he close the sketchbook.

However, he suddenly thought of something and browsed through his phone’s photo album. In it, was a photo that he had found that day from Cheng Xiaobing’s physical evidence file. The photo was not supposed to be taken, but the little girl had pressed the camera shutter by accident and was reluctant to delete it. After Song Wen found this photo, he didn’t make any comments, but saved a copy of it into his phone.

The photo showed Lu Siyu with his head down, looking at the trunk of the victim’s car, his delicate and pretty face concentrated.

Sometimes, things are like pearls. Appearing disconnected at first, but when you look at them carefully, you can see some signs that link them together. Song Wen recalled Zhong Qing’s words, as well as the results of the doctor’s previous investigation. He abruptly got up, picked up his coat and went out the door.

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It was 5:00 p.m., Lu Siyu was cooking dinner in his small villa located in the west part of the South City. Tonight he was making a pot of fish soup, the fish which he had personally killed and sliced.

Lu Siyu’s actions were quick and clean. First knocking the fish unconscious and removing the internal organs, scales and gills, and the black membrane in the abdomen. Then he washed the fish without expression and then with a grim face, rinsed off the blood from his hands.

The fish was first fried with cold oil in a hot frying pan, then cooked with water until yellowish blossoms of oil came out of it and the soup gradually turned white; simmered until it was creamy, white and thick.

Lu Siyu always believed that the freshness of food was closely related to the time of death of living things; and that in order to make good and delicious food, the food must be cooked in the shortest time possible.

So he usually bought live poultry and fish, and did the cooking himself. The blood of the poultry was supposed to be warm. The blood of fish should be cold and shrimp should be alive.

After the fish soup was stewed, Lu Siyu made beef brisket with tomatoes. He put it in a pressure cooker, mashed the boiled potatoes, and mixed the gravy into it.

The meatloaf in the oven made sizzling sounds and wrapping it in lettuce, would make it superbly delicious.

After several other dishes had been prepared and served on the table, the house was filled with the aroma of food.He was about to sit down to enjoy his meal, when Lu Siyu suddenly heard the doorbell, and raised his head in surprise. There were very few people who came to this community, besides the couriers and the security guards.

He wiped his hands, walked to the door, looked out of the door’s peephole, and then he saw Song Wen standing in the doorway.

The first reaction of Lu SiYu was to pretend not to be at home, but then he turned back to the brightly lit room and looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows without curtains.

Considering that if he didn’t open the door, Song Wen would actually do something like peek through the window. After a moment’s hesitation, he took the initiative to pull open the door slowly and politely called out, “Captain Song.”

Song Wen walked in and casually changed his shoes. Lu Siyu squatted at the doorway, and carefully arranged the shoes Song Wen had changed out of, putting them in line with the others.

Song Wen went inside and raised his head to habitually check the surroundings.

This community was part of the wealthy area in the South City, and each building was a studio home with a yard. It was the first time Song Wen had ever seen an apartment with a courtyard.

It’s said that the house was designed by a Spanish designer and the whole villa has a bit of an exotic feel to it. The living room was four or five meters high and the ceiling was curved into a dome. The kitchen was a two-by-two square island surrounded by a circle of various cooking equipment, including both Chinese and Western appliances; the kitchen looked very organized and clean even after cooking.

Song Wen had an occupational disease and scanned the entire living room once.

Finally, his gaze fell on Lu Siyu, who stood on the side. He was dressed in a soft and comfortable outfit, wearing a pair of gold round-rimmed glasses, and looking blankly at the uninvited guest.

Song Wen’s eyes finally swept over the dishes on the table, each plate neatly arranged: “You eat so richly every day.”

“I’m used to it, cooking is also a kind of relaxation.” Lu Siyu looked at Song Wen. Today was his day off, he obviously came directly from home, and made a polite remark, “Captain Song hasn’t eaten dinner yet, right?”

“I’ll just say a few words and after I finish, I’ll go back and eat.” Song Wen made a small cough, his excuses were not heartfelt.

“It’s no bother, only a matter of adding a pair of chopsticks.”

As Lu Siyu spoke, he took out a pair of chopsticks and placed them in front of Song Wen. He then served the fish soup with some minced shallots and set it on the table, and finally thoughtfully poured two glasses of red wine.

The wine in one of the glasses was a little less than the other., Lu Siyu frowned and poured more wine, making the two glasses identical in volume, before offering one of them to Song Wen.

Song Wen was not polite, as if he had intentionally come here to scrounge for food, so he sat down at the table and ate with Lu Siyu. The fish soup from the main course was exceptionally good. The extremely fresh fish soup had no fishy smell, only a unique aroma of fish meat, and was less oily than other meats; the thick soup warmed Song Wen’s whole body.

When Lu Siyu picked up a large piece of fish meat with his chopsticks, Song Wen raised his head and heard Lu Siyu call out affectionately, “Little Wolf……”

Song Wen did not expect to have suddenly hear his nickname, he stopped eating and looked at Lu Siyu. His nickname was not known even to his colleagues, and it was hard to associate it with Song Wen’s current image.

He was about to ask Lu Siyu where he had learned of his nickname, but then he saw a pure white Samoyed jump out from the guest bedroom and skillfully climbed up to the table in two moves. As soon as Lu Siyu put the fish on the plate, the dog began to eat. Then Lu Siyu lowered his head and stretched out a pristine white hand. With a blank expression on his face, he scratched the dog’s belly, the dog squinted his eyes in delight.

“……”

Why was it called a wolf, even though it was a dog?

The dog was stroked to the point of perfection. Song Wen watched Lu Siyu play with the dog, and somehow a strange feeling surfaced in his heart. He was usually so cold, but all of his tenderness was being used on a dog.

“Little Wolf, you should say hello to the guest.” As soon as Lu Siyu gave the order, the dog jumped down and ran over to rub against Song Wen’s jeans.

“Your dog is quite skilled in getting familiar, ah!……” Song Wen felt the dog rubbing intimately against his legs, he couldn’t help but reach out and touch the dog’s head.

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Lu Siyu couldn’t stand it any longer: “Little Wolf, don’t rub your butt against other people’s pants……”

The dog was being criticized and shrank with an aggrieved expression, then lifted a leg under Song Wen’s foot and made a move to pee.

Song Wen, holding the chopsticks, stiffened: “……”

‘Suddenly, I have an urge to eat dog meat hot pot.’

The dog who was being carried away by Lu Siyu, couldn’t help but look at him as Song Wen asked, “Why is this dog called Little Wolf?”

“What, doesn’t it sound good?” Lu Siyu pinched the dog’s pudgy face and looked up at him, then he explained. “I found this dog when I moved out of the dormitory and I was a little afraid of being lonely, so I picked up this dog on my way home. It was covered in filth and bared its teeth at me, its two canines were as small as those of a wolf. At that time, it didn’t look fierce at all, but rather extremely cute, so I suddenly thought of the name.”

Song Wen took out a tissue from the side and wiped his mouth. Without missing a beat, he exposed his lie: “You’re really lucky to have found a purebred Samoyed.”

Lu Siyu hmmmed, seemingly completely unaware of the suspicion and sarcasm in Song Wen’s words. He did not explain any further and lowered his head to touch the dog’s underbelly. One doesn’t know what he was thinking.

After the meal, Song Wen put away his chopsticks. Only then did he get to the subject, and habitually rolled up his shirt cuffs: “I came over here today, wanting to talk to you about something.”

Lu Siyu hmmed and reached out to get the Samoyed off the table. The dog then burrowed into the guest room’s kennel with its tail between its legs, very sensibly.

After a pause Song Wen cut to the chase, “The results of your psychological evaluation earlier were not very good.”

Lu Siyu’s normally expressionless face showed a hint of confusion, as he lifted his rimmed glasses, seemingly confused as to why such a result was obtained.

“I have a question I want to ask you.” Song Wen opened his mouth to ask him, “Why did you become a criminal police officer?”

Lu Siyu coughed slightly, “I’ve had this dream since I was a kid……”

Song Wen cut him off and raised his eyebrows, “Say something more realistic, don’t fool me with that police academy trick you learned.”

Lu Siyu looked at him, “Then Captain Song, can you tell me, why did you want to be a criminal police officer?”

“There are always a lot of bad people in this city, and someone needs to catch those bad people.” Song Wen looked up at Lu Siyu, “It’s something that someone always needs to do.”

The lights in the room were soft and quiet as Song Wen continued, “However, I chose this career mainly because of my family. At first, my father’s image was glorious and great in my heart, but later, I found out that there were things my father could not do; and there were some things in which he let me down. And my father was quite a face-loving man…… He is very impartial, which was why people often say, ‘swelling one’s face to look like a big man*’. He liked to be on the front lines of everything, and was known as a good cop in his profession; but in reality, when things go wrong…… In his heart, whether it’s his son, his wife, or his own life, it would be discarded……”

(T/N: dǎzhǒngliǎnchōngpàngzi : Wanting to impress by feigning more than one’s abilities)

Song Wen didn’t make things very clear, but Lu Siyu understood that something must have happened to make Song Wen, as a son, extremely disappointed in Song Cheng; causing his father’s image in his heart to plummet.

“Later, when I was eight years old, my father and my mother divorced.”

When Song Wen said this, Lu Siyu’s eyes changed slightly, and he blinked as if sympathetic.

Song Wen, however, shrugged: “He and my mother were at each other’s throats for a few years, and then they remarried, so it’s not like I grew up in a single-parent household; except that for a few years in between, my father’s place was missing. He rarely showed up, and when he did, he was very strict with me. I learned to resist in the face of his rebuke and scolding’s. It became a habit to antagonize him and when he didn’t approve of my behavior, I had to do it more often for him to see. At that time he wanted me to be a doctor, so I ran away and became a police officer. Now, it’s a job I like quite a bit.”

Song Wen seldom talked about his parents with others. Both he and Song Cheng were very stubborn. Song Cheng wanted him to become a doctor like his mother, and to enter medical school. In Song Cheng’s opinion, being a police officer was a very hard job, and there was a lot of suffering in it. Not to mention the hard work, but there was also the exposure to evil every day. However Song Wen went against Song Cheng’s wishes, applied for the police academy, and after graduation, specifically joined the South City Bureau.

In the end, after working as a criminal police officer for several years, Song Wen felt that he was very suitable for this job. He was a natural born detective who could handle this role.

So he was relieved with the result of this choice.

As he grew older, Song Wen came to understand that Song Cheng had no choice but to do things his own way, but the gap between father and son could not be bridged with just a few words.

After listening to Song Wen’s words, Lu Siyu lowered his head and said, “When I first went to school, I enrolled in the Department of Forensic Science. But later, one day, I took a course related to criminal investigation. At the end of the course, the instructor of that course suddenly approached me and suggested that I reconsider my future career plan, whether to be a forensic scientist or a criminal detective. In his career overview, the job of a detective seemed to be a better fit for me, so I then carefully considered and chose this career.”

Song Wen continued to ask, “Being a detective is quite hard, are you sure you can keep it up?”

“So far I am adjusting to it and feel fine.” With Lu Siyu’s persistent efforts and self indulgence, he did not suffer any grievances.

“You’ve been on the police force for over a week, how do you feel after shadowing on the last case?”

“I feel like I learned a lot.”

As the conversation progressed, Song Wen’s expression suddenly became more and more serious: “I have another story I want to tell you.”

Lu Siyu seemed to have sensed something different about the atmosphere.

He sat upright in his chair and looked at Song Wen, whose expression he was somewhat familiar with now, the same expression he had during the interrogation; as if the person sitting across from him was not his colleague or subordinate, but a suspect. His eyes that have already seen through everything.

“This story took place a few years ago, in a police academy with various departments, one of which was the Department of Forensic Science. In that year’s batch of new students who had enrolled, there was a new student whose grades were significantly better than others, and the boy was quite good-looking, causing many girls in the school to chase after him. But this boy, who was cold and icy, had rejected many of them…….” Song Wen spoke in a deep voice, and under the light, Lu Siyu’s face remained expressionless, as if listening to a pure story.

“……Such a situation, undoubtedly caused the jealousy of some boys in the dormitory. The boys in the class began to group together, with that boy as an imaginary enemy. At first, it was still some insignificant banter, and then began to escalate; tearing his books, and soaking his blanket. Then one day at 8:00 p.m. in the evening, they lured the boy to the laboratory building, stole his cell phone, and locked him in the autopsy room. And that day, the autopsy room had a fresh shipment of freshly dissected bodies.”

Song Wen said, staring at Lu Siyu’s face, not letting go of any of his subtle expressions: “……At that time, they were just freshmen. Although even if they were going to study forensics, they hadn’t even formally touched a corpse yet. The boys who played the prank, later said that they only wanted to scare their classmate, by locking him up for the night, and snuff out his arrogance. The incident was discovered by the administrators only at 12:00 a.m. when the dormitory lights were turned off for bed check, and the dean was anxious to take the teachers to the rescue. When they opened the door to the autopsy room, they found the boy calmly facing the dissected corpse, separating the various organs and observing carefully……”

When Lu Siyu heard this, he finally spoke up and said, “When you are in school, the opportunity to dissect a body is rare, the opportunity to be alone with a corpse in particular.”

“But at that time, that boy, he was only eighteen, you know.” Song Wen looked at the man in front of him, his skin white under the lights. But the red spot on his Adam’s apple was as red as blood, and he wondered how enchanting he would have looked at that time.

“The boys were disciplined, and their leader was expelled; while the boy, on account of the incident, was allowed to live off-campus. No one in the school dared to be friends with him anymore. Everyone said he was crazy and perverted, some even said that he had a special fondness for corpses. As for this boy, maybe he is just naturally withdrawn; he doesn’t care what his classmates think, but he gets along well with his teachers.” Song Wen spoke and looked up, “The story here is just a normal story, the bad student got punished, the good student carried on as normal. But……”

Song Wen took a sip of red wine from his glass and looked at Lu Siyu, “Xue Tong, this name still rings a bell, right?!” It was the student who was expelled because of that incident.

“I always felt that this matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Then I checked this person’s social connections. After dropping out of school, he chose to return to school, and later joined a cab company. When I asked him about the incident back then, he was reluctant to talk about it. As if he was afraid of something, and only after I questioned him repeatedly, did he say a few words. ‘That’s what he had wanted’, and he hung up after that, never to reveal anything more.”

Song asked Lu Siyu, “What do you think of this statement from Xue Tong?”

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Translating team shenanigans

Another update coming in soon and after that, its a new case °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°