Cherish You as My Life - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In the morning, Ji Yao came to work early. He didn’t drive today and came here on a rented bicycle.

 He bought a flat close to the City Bureau, which was less than three kilometres away, because he didn’t want to wake up early in the morning because of the traffic and he could sleep in a little longer.

 Lao Liu saw Ji Yao with a black umbrella. “Hey, Team Captain Ji, it didn’t rain today.

“What, do you want to be a little girl who is scared of the sun?”

 Ji Yao held the curved hook on the handle of the umbrella, turned it in his hand a few times, smiled, and said, “Uncle Liu, this is not my umbrella.”

 Old Liu looked at the umbrella and said, “Oh.” Then he started to read the newspaper without asking further.

 Ji Yao walked closer to the window and lay down. Then he asked, “Why don’t you ask who owns this umbrella?”

 Uncle Liu looked up and asked, “Why do I need to ask this?”

 Ji Yao smiled arrogantly. “Okay, I’ll tell you. This umbrella belongs to Han Xi from the forensic office.” Then he went to the office building while doing a silly dance.

 Uncle Liu stopped reading the newspaper. ‘Did I ask?’ He lifted his head and watched Ji Yao’s back with a happy face. ‘It seems like the boy was getting ready for a wedding, not to work.’

 Han Xi always woke up early, at about five in the morning, and liked to go for a run in the morning, so she hadn’t been late for work so far.

 However, her apartment was close to her old workplace but a little far from the City Bureau; therefore, she had to change trains two times on the subway, and it would take almost an hour each time.

 She was thinking that once she finished the current case, she would find a place nearer to the City Bureau where it would be easier to work.

 Han Xi almost arrived late at the City Bureau.

 Lao Liu saw her and smiled. “Hello, Xiao Han, you look nice today.”

 Han Xi smiled and replied, “Good morning, Uncle Liu.” Then she quickly went into the City Bureau building.

 When she arrived at work, she checked her reflection in the mirror and thought her face looked fine. She didn’t know why Uncle Liu said that she looked nice.

 Assistant Zhu Han was eating steamed buns filled with meat, mushrooms, and vegetables. “Sister Xi, do you want steamed buns?”

 Han Xi said, “Thanks; I already ate breakfast.”

 Also, she doesn’t eat steamed buns.

 After changing her clothes, Han Xi started working again.

 Last night, she and Ji Yao found some items at the crime scene that they thought had animal or human poop on them. She told the physical evidence department about the items and took them there to be tested.

Investigation Team 1 Office on the third floor.

 Zhou Li was eating breakfast, which was coconut bread and barbecue-flavoured potato chips. She was enjoying her food so much that people who didn’t know would think she was having a big barbecue.

 Zhang Xiang was reading a notebook while trying his best to remember every word in there.

 Zhao Jingjing walked in, holding two boxes of peaches. One box was put in the office kitchen for people to use, and the other box was prepared to be sent to the forensic room.

 Seeing that, Zhou Li quickly turned and ran to the tea room after taking a quick look and finding out about the peaches.

 “Thank you, Deputy Zhao, for the peach treat.” She pointed at the box in Zhao Jingjing’s hand and asked, “Then this box?”

 Zhao Jingjing walked out and replied, “Forensic room.”

 Ji Yao was now particularly sensitive to the word forensic. He called Zhao Jingjing with a scrutinising look. “You are not sending it for the second team, not for Director Ye’s office, and not for the anti-narcotics department. Why send it to the forensic room?”

 Zhao Jingjing turned around and said helplessly, “This is for Han Xi. I’m afraid she won’t want it, so just leave it in their office.”

 As soon as he finished speaking, a crowd of people immediately started booing.

 “Vice Captain Zhao, are you attracted to that girl?”

 “Come on, Vice Captain Zhao!”

 “Vice Captain Zhao vs. Captain Ji, let’s get it done.”

 Ji Yao coughed seriously. “You’re all yelling; are you done with your work?” He stood up, held Zhao Jingjing’s shoulders, and walked out the door.

 Zhao Jingjing glared at the culprit. “It’s your bad idea. Yesterday, when I was interrogating Han Xi, I had to put on a bad face, and I offended her.”

 ‘It turns out that you are not poaching, but you are going to apologise to her.’ Ji Yao patted Zhao Jingjing’s shoulder. “She won’t mind this; don’t worry.”

 He said this because she wouldn’t take this kind of thing to heart at all, and Ji Yao knew this very well.

 Zhao Jingjing: “Okay, I’m going.” He just walked out a few steps and turned around. “Why are you following me?”

 Ji Yao cleared his throat. “When a subordinate gets into trouble, of course, I, the direct leader, must also take responsibility.”

 Zhao Jingjing: “I wrote the pile of reviews for you that Director Cai gave you.”

 The two of them walked and argued, and they soon arrived at the Forensic Pathology Office.

 Han Xi looked up and saw Ji Yao and Zhao Jingjing. “The physical evidence found yesterday is being tested, and the results will be available in ten minutes. Deputy Zhao, are you okay?”

 Ji Yao was shocked to see that Han Xi had spoken with Zhao Jingjing, the antagonist from yesterday, and had not even looked at him.

 Zhao Jingjing held the box of peaches and said, “I’m okay. I got a few boxes of peaches from the Unit. I can’t finish them all, so I invited my colleagues to eat them together.”

 Ji Yao secretly touched Zhao Jingjing with his foot. ‘He is so honest. My child can’t even lie. ‘

 Zhao Jingjing reacted and blushed slightly. “Not from my work unit, my mother’s work unit.”

 Zhao Jingjing’s mother had been retired for several years. Ji Yao rubbed his temples. ‘Fortunately, Han Xi doesn’t know.’

 Zhu Han took it and said, “Thank you, Deputy Zhao.”

 Han Xi smiled slightly and said, “Thank you.”

 Zhao Jingjing was a little embarrassed now and changed the topic. “What evidence were you just talking about?”

 Hearing the question, Ji Yao briefly explained.

 Han Xi glanced at the clock on the wall. “We have to wait another eight minutes for the test results to come out. I’ll let Xiaohan bring it over.”

 Zhao Jingjing still had a lot of work to do, so he went back first.

 Only Ji Yao was still leaning on the table, refusing to leave. “I’ll wait here.”

 Han Xi ignored him and sat in her chair, entering data into the computer.

 She was engaging in her work without paying attention to Ji Yao, but Ji Yao was studying Han Xi.

 Sometimes she lowered her head to compare information, and sometimes she looked up at the computer screen. Her black pupils moved around, a little more lively than usual. The crimson lips were small and full—the kind of lips that were very suitable for kissing.

 She didn’t seem to care much about other people’s eyes, even if the person next to her had admired her up and down several times.

 When the eight minutes were up, Han Xi stood up and said to Ji Yao, “The deceased, Zhou Tong, was in good health and had good self-care ability. In addition, before retirement, his profession was a hospital nurse, and he would not leave faeces on the balcony.”

 Ji Yao thought for a moment. “The person who climbed in from the balcony may be homeless. She or he lives in a bad living environment, so that person will not consider personal hygiene and other things. This may be good evidence.”

 Ji Yao quickly returned to the Criminal Investigation Office for a small meeting. After assigning work, he went to Director Cai’s office.

 Zhao Jingjing took Zhang Xiang and two other police officers to the vicinity of Li Zhuyuan Community and began to investigate the homeless people who were about 1.6 metres tall nearby.

 At noon in mid-to-late April, the sun was already scorching, and it was only a little better than midsummer. The four of them were divided into two teams and walked in the scorching sun for a long time. The shop owners, mobile vendors, and community security guards along the street all became their inquiry objects.

 After investigating for most of the day with no results, they had no choice but to expand the scope of their investigation.

 Finally, at two o’clock in the afternoon, Zhao Jingjing went to a small shop to buy water, and when paying, he casually asked the boss.

 The boss was an old man in his sixties. He seemed quite cautious after seeing Zhao Jingjing’s police identity card.

 After reading it, the old man returned it to Zhao Jingjing and said angrily, “I know this man, who is a bad person. Comrade police, you have to fight for us people.”

 Zhao Jingjing increased his vigilance and subconsciously stood up straight. He said attentively, “Tell me everything.”

 Next to him, Zhang Xiang took out a notebook and started to write it down. ‘Could it be that this suspect had committed some other shocking crime and people hated him so much?’

 The old man said, ” I have a deep impression of him because he is too short. He only came to this area last month, and he usually sits on the overpass over there, begging and doing some petty theft. Hmph, he has a habit of stealing several tea eggs from here.”

 There was indeed a rice cooker filled with tea eggs next to the door of this small shop.

 Zhang Xiang carefully wrote in his notebook, glanced in the direction of where the old man showed, and without seeing the homeless man, continued to ask, “Then do you know where his destination is?”

 The old man shook his head. “I don’t know. But it shouldn’t be far, look. He comes very early in the morning and leaves very late at night.” After that, he pondered for a while and said, “Speaking of which, I really haven’t seen him in the past few days.”

 Zhao Jingjing and Zhang Xiang looked at each other and asked, “Can you recall when you stopped seeing him again?”

 The old man thought for a while and finally took out a lottery ticket from the drawer under the cashier. “That day was April 18th, and I happened to win this. I got a lottery ticket and won fifty yuan, and I was quite happy. But I didn’t pay attention, and he came to steal things again. Fortunately, I reacted quickly; otherwise, with his hands full of faeces, urine, and dirt, my eggs would be ruined.”

 Zhao Jingjing asked, “He never showed up again, right?”

 The old man snorted and nodded. “Because I was very angry that day and waited for him to come back the next day. I wanted to tell him to go begging on the side road and stop coming here. As a result, he never appeared again, which made me so angry.”

 This old man was really angry.

 Zhang Xiang wrote down the important facts in his notebook. ‘April 18, human faeces… Captain Ji is really good at predicting things. This homeless man is very suspicious.’

 In his heart, his admiration for the wise Captain Ji rose to another level.

 Zhao Jingjing finally said, “Thank you, I will trouble you if needed in the future.”

 The old man quickly asked, “Are there any appearance fees?”

 Zhao Jingjing: “How about I buy some tea eggs?”

 Zhang Xiang frowned, and the old man was not happy when he saw it: “I cooked it fresh, and it’s clean.”

 Finally, Zhao Jingjing took a dozen tea eggs and stood under a tree on the roadside to call Ji Yao to report the progress.

 End of chapter 8