Cherish You as My Life - Chapter 3

Chapter 3
The next morning, Han Xi completed the autopsy and also received a bouquet of red roses.
She hugged the flowers and went directly to the Criminal Investigation Office on the third floor.
Ji Yao, who was about to take his team members to a case analysis meeting, met the unexpected visitor: a cold-faced beauty.
In Ji Yao’s impression, every time he met Han Xi, she usually wore black, white, and various grey clothes or forensic uniforms.
At this time, she was hugging the bright red bouquet, and she no longer looked like a fairy sitting alone in a glass bottle with an unclear expression.
Seeing her, Ji Yao thought that red was suitable for her, especially the bright red colour. ‘She should be a passionate woman.’ He looked into her eyes as if he wanted to get some clues from those bottomless eyes.
Han Xi thrust the bouquet into Ji Yao’s arms, didn’t say a single word, turned around, and left without giving any time for the other party to react.
Ever since Captain Ji joined the City Bureau, there has been an unwritten tradition that every new policewoman would receive a bouquet of roses the next day. The true meaning behind that action was not a romantic pursuit, but admiration of the women who were willing to work in a public security system. In simple words, they were heroes.
Zhou Li, who was near Ji Yao, lowered her head and glanced at the card. “From the Flower of the Municipal Bureau.”
‘It’s no wonder people misunderstand it.’ In the past, the signatures they received were: “From the Martial Artist of Municipal Bureau.”
‘This coquettish Mr. Flower from the Municipal Bureau really can’t avoid causing ambiguous misunderstandings.’
Ji Yao stuffed the roses in his hand in Zhou Li’s arms and said, “Our new colleague is a bit cold, but she has good eyesight.”
Everyone: ‘Because she has good taste, she rejected you, right?’
Ji Yao put his hands in his pockets and raised his chin. “The CityBureau building has a total of thirty-eight floors, with at least seven or eight hundred people. At a glance, Ms. Han seems to be the most beautiful person in the City Bureau. What is she so upset about?”
Apart from joking, they still had to work hard to solve the recent case.
Ji Yao walked to the small conference room and asked, “Has the hair on the buttons of the deceased’s clothes been detected?”
Zhao Jingjing reported. “The Forensic Laboratory Department is conducting tests and the results will be out soon.”
Ji Yao nodded and asked again, “Zhou Li, what’s the situation with the family of the deceased now?”
Zhou Li: “The deceased’s son Zhou Lin was the last person to see the deceased. According to him, he had dinner with the deceased last night and left around seven o’clock.” After finishing speaking, he added, “What kind of psychology does this murderer have when he arranges the crime scene like killing fish to make fish soup?”
The deceased was naked with fish scales all over his body, his abdomen was cut open and his internal organs were dug out. And tofu cubes and seasonings were in the water in the bathtub, as if it was uncooked fish soup.
After he arrived at the conference room, Ji Yao wrote the victim’s basic information and other information on the whiteboard.
“The deceased, Zhou Tong, was 62 years old, retired, divorced and living alone. The time of death was between 8:30 and 9:00 last night. The cause of death was suffocation. The murder weapon was the deceased’s belt, which was found at the scene.”
Zhao Jingjing turned on the projector and played several pictures taken at the scene.
“Colleagues from the Physical Evidence Department analysed and inferred based on the climbing footprints on the outer wall of the deceased’s balcony that the person was about 1.6 metres tall.”
“The deceased’s abdomen was cut open. Judging from the cuts, the murderer knows some anatomy and may be a doctor or veterinarian by profession.” Ji Yao paused and continued. “Or a forensic doctor.”
Zhang Xiang whispered, “Forensic doctor; it can’t be possible.”
Zhao Jingjing, who had always been the most rigorous, said, “We do not rule out any possibility. The murderer may not even be engaged in these three professions, but the murderer must know anatomy. Otherwise, he would not have killed people so neatly.”.
Ji Yao turned around and wrote a few keywords on the whiteboard. “Understanding anatomy, long hair, and height of 1.6 metres.”
A clear and calm face suddenly flashed into Zhao Jingjing’s mind. It was the new female forensic doctor, Han Xi. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but didn’t say anything in the end. Before obtaining key evidence, he could have reasonable doubts and not jump to conclusions.
If the murderer was Han Xi, she was the main forensic doctor in charge of this case. Then it would be easy for her to destroy some evidence or tamper with the data. This would undoubtedly hinder the investigation of the case, so immediate action must be taken.
If he, the vice-captain could see this, surely Ji Yao could see it. Zhao Jingjing thought.
Both of them entered the City Bureau together, started as small police officers, went through life and death together, and jointly solved many major cases. Unlike Zhao Jingjing, who was calm and conservative, Ji Yao was very flexible and had his own way of solving crimes.
Facts had proven many times that most of his methods were right.
At this time, Zhao Jingjing’s phone rang. After answering the phone, he said, “Team Ji, the test results of the hair on the buttons of the deceased’s clothes have come out. I will go to the forensic doctor to get the information.”
Ji Yao put down his pen. “I’ll go.”
From the third to fourth floors, he took the stairs instead of the elevator. Ji Yao’s brain was running at high speed, and the expression on his face was not as calm as usual. When he arrived at the door of the forensic room, he adjusted his smile and knocked on the door.
“Xiao Zhu, you are dressed very beautifully today. Where did you buy the shoes? I will buy a pair for my future girlfriend later.”
The captain of the First Criminal Investigation team was very popular among the ladies of the City Bureau. After all, no one was willing to refuse nice words. Forensic Assistant Zhu Han was elated by the praise. She adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose and said with a smile, “Team Ji is here to get the information in person. It’s at Sister Xi’s place.”
Ji Yao opened the door of the laboratory, walked forward, pulled up a swivel chair, and sat next to Han Xi, who was typing on the keyboard. He turned around twice, stopped, and said, “We meet again. We are really destined.”
Han Xi glanced at him, took out a document bag from the desk drawer, opened it, checked it, and pushed it towards Ji Yao.
Ji Yao lazily laid on the back of the chair, looked at the information on the table, and then looked at the pair of creamy white hands on the keyboard and asked lazily, “Have you had lunch? Let’s have it together.”
Han Xi didn’t even bother to raise her head. “No, thank you.”
Hearing the rejection, Ji Yao didn’t feel embarrassed at all. He smiled and said, “Forensic Doctor Han, do you like fish? The fish soup in the City Bureau canteen is not bad.”
Han Xi didn’t answer. She tapped the file bag on the table with her finger, signalling for him to take the information quickly.
Ji Yao asked with great interest, “If you don’t like fish soup, what do you like to eat? Well, I want to know more about you.”
‘This person seemed to have forgotten that his bouquet had been rejected half an hour ago.’
Han Xi turned off her computer, took off her work ID card from her chest, stood up, and said, “Wait a minute, I’ll go change clothes.”
Ji Yao was flattered. “It’s just to have lunch; there is no need to be so grand.”
Han Xi walked into the dressing room, took off her forensic uniform, put on her usual clothes, and came out. “Let’s go.”
Ji Yao picked up the document bag on the table, stood up, and walked out the door while asking, “Where do you want to eat?”
Han Xi: “Interrogation Room.” There was no fluctuation in her tone, even though she had changed from a forensic doctor to a suspect.
From the time Ji Yao came over in person, she could tell that he had been testing her.
She was fine with that. This was how the police solved cases, and they did not let go of any suspicious clues. What was more, the documents clearly showed the DNA test report of the hair entangled in the buttons of the deceased’s clothes.
That was her hair.
Faced with her sober and calm cooperation, Ji Yao, who was originally more talkative, suddenly stopped talking. After a rare three seconds of silence, “How about this? When the suspicion is cleared, I’ll promise you with my life?”
Han Xi turned around and advised him seriously, “No, I’m not getting married, so don’t waste your time on me.” After saying that, she walked down the stairs to the interrogation room on the third floor.
What she didn’t say was that every man who tried to get close to her ended up with a bad ending. Some had broken arms, some had broken legs, and some died.
She didn’t want to see innocent people being implicated; she would rather choose to shrink into a shell and live alone for the rest of her life.
Ji Yao had never believed in such nonsense as “I won’t get married.” This was obviously a rejection of words used by others. ‘What’s wrong with getting married? It’s so beautiful for two people to depend on each other, understand each other, share the same mind, sleep together at night, and do something sexual and happy.’
He glanced at the woman walking down the stairs in front of him. She was wearing a pair of white sneakers, revealing a small section of her white ankles. The convex curvature was just right. The skin seemed transparent and the blue blood vessels could be seen clearly. ‘Such a pair of feet… If she wears high heels, they must look good. Black or bright red are especially suitable for her.’
Han Xi never wore high heels. On the one hand, it was due to professional reasons. Forensic doctors often needed to go to various scenes and climb mountains and ridges. Therefore, high heels would only hinder the work. On the other hand, there were traces of burns on the instep of her right foot that happened when she was a child. Hiding these scars in her shoes was like hiding the painful past in her memory.
******
Zhao Jingjing came out of the conference room and saw Ji Yao and Han Xi. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Ji Yao shaking the document bag in his hand. “We are going to the interrogation room.”
Zhao Jingjing glanced at Han Xi, understood instantly and called Director Cai.
Director Cai arrived quickly.
The forensic doctor was suspected of murder. This was not a small matter.
Zhao Jingjing stood in front of the observation mirror, and when he saw Director Cai approaching, he stood aside and greeted him, “Director Cai.”
After listening to Zhao Jingjing’s report, Director Cai looked into the interrogation room through the observation mirror. His usually unkind face was full of seriousness.
But when he saw the scene in the interrogation room, his face could no longer be described as serious. It was mixed with a menacing urge to curse and kill.
Zhao Jingjing understood that the relationship between Director Cai and Team Ji had always been so “passionate”.
When Zhao Jingjing followed Director Cai’s gaze, he, who was always good-tempered, wanted to curse violently.
What they saw was Captain Ji sitting lazily at the table; half of his body leaning over the table, his peach blossom eyes slightly bent, and saying in a very unseemly manner, “Beauty, smile.”
The clerk next to him looked at Ji Yao, as if asking if he wanted to record this.
Ji Yao looked away from the beauty and nodded.
Zhou Li stood in front of the surveillance camera, pinched a handful of potato chips and stuffed them into her mouth while staring at the screen without blinking. “Wow! The cold-looking beauty suspect vs. the coquettish and slutty criminal police captain: the filming scene of a large-scale criminal investigation film.”
Zhao Jingjing had no choice but to bite the bullet and explain it to Director Cai seriously. “Director Cai, you know that the interrogation process is a battle of wits and courage. Many times, the criminal police need to use various means and methods to break the suspect’s psychology. Team Ji’s move, this move…”
However, the innocent Deputy Zhao’s heart at this time said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t make it up anymore.’
End of chapter 3