Cherish You as My Life - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Zhang Xiang previously looked into three pig farms in Nanquan City, and Qiao Jiang’s house address was precisely one of them. The same type of pig hair was found on the knife that was used to hack open Zhou Tong’s abdomen.

One of the police officers asked, “Since this Qiao Jiang killed Zhou Tong and Wu Tong, why did he let Xiao Yu’s domestically violent husband Sun Xunhai and the financial director Liu Jinjie, who sexually harassed Xiao Yu, go?”

Ji Yao stood in the conference room. He turned around, standing in front of the whiteboard and asked, “Do you think he doesn’t want to kill them? Sun Xunhai has gone out to live with his sweetheart, while Liu Jinjie has gone on a business trip a few days ago.”

Zhou Li was a little angry. “Those two scumbags are really lucky to have escaped their deaths.”

Ji Yao said, “Scumbags have their own legal sanctions and moral judgement. No matter what they did, it should not be Qiao Jiang’s duty to kill them.” After speaking, he glanced at the conference room. At the door, he pointed at Zhou Li with a pen, “If Director Cai heard what you just said… Just wait to be scolded to death.”

At this time Zhao Jingjing called.

“Captain Ji, we found a bloody suit where Qiao Jiang lived. A neighbour reported that he had seen him half an hour ago. He probably wasn’t far away. The search has already started.”

Ji Yao: “You continue searching. I’ll bring someone over there now.”

He hung up the phone and went to the physical evidence office. He found that there was no one on duty inside. Everyone was taken out by the Criminal Investigation Team to handle the case.

Han Xi happened to come out of the forensic room and saw him. “Are you looking for physical evidence?”

Ji Yao nodded. “Well, I need to go to Qiao Jiang’s house and collect some evidence.”

Han Xi glanced at her watch and said, “I’ll go.”

Today was Saturday. She was supposed to be resting, but she found that her ID card was left in the office and she couldn’t sign the house purchase contract. So she came back to get it.

Qiao Jiang’s family was located in the suburbs of a county below Nanquan City, which was surrounded by mountains.

There was a large pig farm belonging to Qiao Jiang’s family, and the financial condition of the family was not that bad. 

Qiao Jiang’s father had worked as a cook in an orphanage in his early years. After leaving the orphanage, he opened this pig farm. After he died from cancer three years ago, the mother and two sons looked after the farm.

They didn’t like to join the excitement in the city and always stayed in the countryside.

There was a two-story building near the pig farm, which was their house. But Qiao Jiang didn’t like to live with his family. Before going to work for the company, he lived alone in the small bungalow next to the pig farm and watched the pigs at night. 

Ji Yao took Han Xi to the place where Qiao Jiang lived and confirmed through luminol reaction that the blood stains on the clothes were human blood. Whether it was Zhou Tong or Wu Ting, or neither of them, he needed to take it back for testing.

There was a butcher’s knife in the house and fresh pork in the refrigerator. It seemed that pigs were often killed. 

‘No wonder Qiao Jiang cut open the deceased Zhou Tong’s abdomen with such neatness. He really knew something about anatomy.’

Ji Yao took people to visit the surrounding neighbours. As he expected, Qiao Jiang was an introvert. When he returned to the pig farm, he had spent most of the time inside the house.

The neighbours said that Qiao Jiang was a bad-tempered person. Once, a thief came into the pig farm. When Qiao Jing’s mother saw the thief, the thief pushed the woman. The woman was unharmed, but the thief was not lucky. Qiao Jiang had caught the thief and had beaten him hard like a maniac. 

Qiao Jiang’s mother was watching her grandson at the door of her home. When she saw the police coming, she asked her grandson to go inside to do his homework.

The old mother grabbed Ji Yao’s arm and kept wiping her tears. “Comrade police, my Xiao Jiang will not kill anyone. Have you made a mistake?”

Ji Yao patted Qiao Jiang’s mother’s hand and replied, “What are you talking about? The murderer was someone else.”

Zhang Xiang, who was following Ji Yao, frowned and wondered whether the murderer was someone else or if Captain Ji was just lying.

Qiao Jiang’s mother moved a few small chairs over, invited the people to sit down, and then went in and brought a few glasses of water. “Some time ago, Xiao Jiang told me that the leader of his company was very kind to him. This child is introverted and not very good with dealing with people. When he said he was going to work in the city, I was worried about him, fearing that he wouldn’t be able to speak and wouldn’t get along with others.”

The old woman raised her hand to wipe away her tears. “In the three months since he started working, I found that he changed a lot. Not only did he take the initiative to call me, but he also talked more than before. He also said that he wanted to take an adult college entrance examination. He said it was all suggested by his boss. At that time, he was really happy. But, about half a month ago, he never called me again, and he didn’t answer when I called him.”

Ji Yao asked, “What did he tell you the last time he called?”

The old woman shook her head and said, “I can’t remember clearly.”

Zhao Jingjing was leading people to search for people outside the pig farm, and Qiao Jiang had most likely run into the nearby mountains.

Ji Yao came out of Qiao Jiang’s mother’s house and asked Han Xi to go back first because he was going to assist Zhao Jingjing in searching the mountain.

Han Xi handed the evidence bag in her hand to the police officer next to her, turned to Ji Yao, and said, “If anything happens to Qiao Jiang, I can cooperate at any time.”

‘She is indeed the woman I like; her professional attitude is admirable.’ Ji Yao thought to himself. “Follow me and don’t run around for a while. Wild beasts on the mountain don’t have eyes.”

The criminal police officers headed into the mountains in batches.

The mountain that Qiao Jiang ran into was called Lotus Mountain. It had dense vegetation. When it was spring and summer, the grass grew taller than people. In addition, the criminal police were not familiar with the terrain, so it was difficult to find the person quickly.

Ji Yao didn’t expect that Han Xi’s physical fitness was so good. It seemed she didn’t feel tired even after walking on the weedy slope for so long. She could almost keep up with Zhou Li.

He knew that she wanted to catch Xiao Yu’s murderer with her own hands, but he also felt a little sad about her. ‘Which girl doesn’t like to wear beautiful skirts, high heels, and various hairstyles? But forensic doctors can’t.’

Ji Yao noticed that Han Xi was wearing trainers and recalled that he had always wanted to purchase her heels but had never had the chance to do so. ‘The first thing I do when we capture Qiao Jiang is buy a pair of heels for her. Anyway, from now on, we would be neighbours, so it would be very convenient.’

After pulling a water bottle from her backpack, Han Xi sat down on a rock and drank some water. 

He then looked at his water bottle and found out it was empty. He glanced at Han Xi.

When Han Xi saw those pitiful eyes, she couldn’t help but feel soft in her heart. “Give your bottle, and I’ll pour you some.”

Ji Yao said without any guilt, “I don’t have a bottle.”

Han Xi had no choice but to hand over her bottle.

Ji Yao took it. He took only a sip of lemonade and honey water and left the rest for her.

Ji Yao took a step forward and leaned into her ear to whisper, “Does this count as an indirect kiss?”

Han Xi raised her head and glanced at him, took out a disinfectant paper towel from her backpack, and wiped the mouth of the bottle. 

Ji Yao: “…”

He secretly glanced at her lips. They were small and plump, with a natural crimson colour. ‘Among the green plants of the mountain, she is the only fruit.’

Because of the heat, a few drops of sweat flowed down her neck. The crystal drops flowed down her white and tender skin and soon disappeared into her collar.

Worried that he had seen too much that he shouldn’t have seen, Ji Yao closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. “Go back; it’s getting dark.” After he finished speaking, he walked down the mountain without looking back.

Then he took huge steps, as if he were running away from a ferocious beast.

Han Xi followed behind and said, “Slow down; I can’t keep up.”

At this time, it started to rain.

Ji Yao took off his shirt and placed it on Han Xi’s head. He opened his arms as if to protect her whole body.

Han Xi turned around and saw that the man was only wearing a white vest.

Because of this action, the two of them were very close, and Han Xi could hear Ji Yao’s breathing. She even felt the heat on his body.

It was too dangerous to take shelter under the tree, so the two continued to move forward and saw a small wooden house in front of them. They entered the house. 

There was no one there, and there were few facilities. There was a single bed made of several wooden boards, a lame table, a chair, and an electric light.

Ji Yao raised his head and glanced at the roof. Fortunately, it was not leaking.

Han Xi took the shirt from Ji Yao’s hand, wrung off the water, and hung it on the back of the chair to dry.

The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, and it seemed the rain would not stop for a while. Even if it stopped, it was no longer suitable to walk. It was getting dark, and the mountain roads were muddy and dangerous, so they could only stay here for one night and set off again tomorrow morning.

Ji Yao stood on the table and raised his cell phone to look for a signal, but he couldn’t find it after searching for a long time.

His cell phone battery was also running low.

Han Xi put the backpack on the bed and took out a pack of biscuits.

‘This is our dinner.’

No matter how bad the conditions were, Han Xi had lived in them, so it was not a problem for her. However, she was afraid of the dark and had never stayed alone with someone for a whole night.

Ji Yao sat cross-legged on the bed, with his arms on his legs and his chin in one hand, looking at her. He clearly remembered the fear Han Xi showed when the power went out in the interrogation room that day. “I will protect you.” After saying that, he smiled, and his peach blossom eyes slightly curved. “I also promise not to touch you.” Ji Yao jumped off the bed and sat on the half-broken chair. “I can fall asleep even while sitting, so you can sleep on the bed.”

After he finished speaking, she had nothing to say. She took out the only package of biscuits from her bag and gave half of it to Ji Yao.

Ji Yao stuffed a whole piece of biscuit into his mouth and muttered. “I like the lemon flavour.” 

He had seen Zhou Li secretly eating biscuits before, and he couldn’t understand why she liked biscuits that much. Now it clicked on him that the taste of the biscuits changed depending on who you ate them with.

After taking a few last nibbles, Han Xi looked out the window. The wind was blowing, twisting the trees, and darkness was about to cover the whole forest.

She suddenly said, “Ji Yao.”

For an instant, the man was stunned. He remembered that she had never called his name before. Until that instant when his name left her lips, he had never thought it sounded so good.

“Have you ever been hungry?”

Ji Yao turned on the screen of his mobile phone and used this light to let her see clearly that he was here.

“How would  I not have experienced it?” Ji Yao smiled and said, “When I was kidnapped as a child, the kidnappers often didn’t give me food.”

Han Xi looked up at Ji Yao and asked in surprise, “Kidnapped?”

“Yes,” Ji Yao nodded. “Thankfully, I met two excellent police officers at that moment,” he remarked after finishing the final cookie. “One of them was Director Cai, who at the time wasn’t the Director.”

After grabbing a biscuit, Han Xi asked, “Who’s the other one?”

Ji Yao got up from the little, broken chair, leaned against the tiny, broken table, and peered out through the window. “The other one is Officer Chen.”

Han Xi rarely saw such an expression on Ji Yao’s face.

Ji Yao continued. “In order to find his daughter, who was kidnapped by human traffickers, Uncle Chen disappeared nineteen years ago. We don’t know whether he is alive or dead.”

End of chapter 16