Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 17.1

Chapter 17.1

“Can I borrow this book to find more information?” Yu Hongdou asked Qin Xuekai.

Qin Xuekai replied, “These materials were collected by previous fellowship members. If you want to take them home, first you have to register it.”

Then he grabbed a registration book from a bookshelf and recorded the relevant details. 

After everything was settled, the three of them left the room.

When they were near the school gate, Qin Xuekai looked at Yu Hongdou with a red face and asked, “Do you have plans for today? My classmates told me yesterday that Bai Yulong’s new movie will be showing at the Grand Theater. Since we don’t have any classes in the afternoon, do you want to go to the Grand Theatre together?”

Yu Hongdou was thinking a lot about finding Cousin Yuqi. She was worried that if they were late, they would miss the chance to rescue her. “I have important things to do at home, so I need to go back. Senior Qin, thank you so much for today’s help. Next time, I will go to the movies with Gu Yun and Senior Qin,” she said with a smile.

Qin Xuekai had asked Yu Hongdou out many times, and she had said no each time. He was disappointed but did not give up. He just smiled and said, “Okay, next time then.” 

When Qin Xuekai left, Gu Yun started to complain. “Hey, why do you always drag me into you and Senior Qin? If you don’t like him, tell him directly. And why do you need such information?”

“Hey, I can’t say it now, but I will tell you the truth as soon as I can. I have something to do, so I have to go now.”

Yu Hongdou rode the bicycle past the school gate, and she saw Gu Yun still standing at the school gate with a book. “Gu Yun, go home early. It’s not good to go out alone these days, especially in crowded places like the railway station.

Gu Yun knew Yu Hongdou’s personality very well. When she heard this, she calmly guessed something might happen. “I think I know what you’re looking for. Is there a strange case at your brother’s police station?”

Yu Hongdou nodded her head and rode the bicycle away, saying, “You go home now. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

 ****

Hongdou and Yu Chongyi planned to meet while eating lunch. If he found something in the group, he would go straight to the police station to report it.

When eating early at noon, Yu Hongdou made an appointment with Yu Chongyi. She said to him that if she found anything in the fellowship, she would come directly to the police station to find him.

When she arrived at the police station, Gong Bo recognised Yu Hongdou at the door and said with a smile, “Hongdou is looking for your brother again?” 

Yu Hongdou got out of the bicycle, smiled sweetly, and said, “Uncle Gong, please help me to call my brother.”

After some time, Gong Bo came out and said, “Your brother will come out soon.”

Her brother came out quickly, but he was followed by some other colleagues from the police department.

One of them was good-looking, around forty years old, and he had a dignified look. But his face looked a bit haggard, maybe from drinking and having too much s*x for a long time.

Yu Hongdou recognised him; he was Director Bai. 

As she didn’t have a good impression of him, she quickly parked the bicycle under a tree and then looked at the view across the street.

Director Bai was with a lot of people and went to the car. He was about to get in the car, but when he saw Yu Hongdou, he stopped and looked at her. Then he signalled Gong Bo. 

Gong Bo hurried over fast.

Director Bai asked, “Where did that little girl come from?” as he pointed to Yu Hongdou.

Gong Bo lowered his head and said, “Director Bai, that is Police Officer Yu’s little sister. She has come to meet her brother because of an important matter.”

Hearing that, Yu Chongyi looked worried.

Director Bai looked at Yu Chongyi with a lot of interest and said, “Your sister. Don’t you want to introduce her to me?”

Yu Chongyi smiled uneasily and said, “I forgot some stuff at home, so she came to deliver it.” Director, don’t you want to go to the French consulate specifically for Chen Baidie’s affairs? It’s getting late.”

Director Bai chuckled twice and said, “Yu Chongyi, you have been with me for many years, but you still haven’t gotten any better and can’t speak properly. Your sister seems smarter than you. Let’s go together. I also made an appointment with a friend to talk about the issue. Did you just say that you are also going out to deal with the situation?” 

Yu Chongyi said, “Yes, I want to investigate it. I want to check the intersection of the social relationship between Chen Baidie and Wang Meiping.”

Director Bai looked at him and said, “Now I understand why you didn’t want to come to the consulate with us earlier. Okay, bye for now.” He looked closely at Yu Hongdou, then got into the car.

When the car drove away, Yu Chongyi pulled Yu Hongdou aside and muttered, “Don’t come to the police station to look for me next time.” 

Yu Hongdou looked at the car at the end of the street with a disgusted face and asked, “What did that person ask just now?”

Yu Chongyi replied, “He just asked who you are and didn’t say anything else. Anyway, don’t come here next time. I’ll talk about anything when I come home.” Thinking of Director Bai’s eyes when he left, Yu Chongyi became worried.

Director Bai’s wife was a well-known tigress in this town. He was afraid of his wife and behaved well, but after his wife died of illness two years ago, he became a bird released from the cage. He became a heavy drinker when he was married. And when that so-called “happy marriage” ended, he started to go after women as well.

After his wife died, he thought of finding someone with both beauty and talent, and he took in several women successively but was still not satisfied. After some time, his mind went towards female students, but it was just that he hadn’t found a satisfactory one so far.

Yu Hongdou pondered for a while, nodded, and said, “Well, I won’t come back next time.”

Yu Chongyi said, “You wait for me here for a while; I will go in and tell my colleagues that I am going out to handle the case. Director Bai and the others were here just now, so it is not convenient for me to get Wang Meiping’s autopsy report.” 

Yu Hongdou was surprised. “Why do you need Wang Meiping’s autopsy? Take it out.”

“He Yunqin wants to see it.”

Yu Hongdou curled her lips. “Brother, you are not afraid that He Yunqin has ulterior motives?”

Yu Chongyi devoted himself to solving the case and smiled wryly after hearing this. “Your brother has been a policeman for several years, and I have a little ability to read others. It may not be accurate, but I think, no matter what purpose He Yunqin came here for, he will not be a bad person. I just want to find our cousin as soon as possible. Even if I leak something that shouldn’t be leaked, I have to do it.” He sighed and said, “Anyway, it is not a big deal if I’m not a policeman anymore. I can find another job.”

Yu Hongdou was stunned. ‘It turned out that my brother really didn’t want to be a policeman.’ Thinking about the restrained look of my brother in front of Director Bai just now, she could vaguely understand her brother’s difficulties.

For a while, there were mixed feelings, and she didn’t speak again.

Yu Chongyi quickly went back and forth, and sure enough, there was an extra cloth bag in his hand. He went straight to Yu Hongdou and pushed the bicycle. “Let’s go to Fuhua Lane to find He Yunqin. We made an appointment at 5:30, and it’s almost time. Since he went to Peter Wang to look for information, he might gain something like you.”

Yu Hongdou pouted and got into the back seat.

Have a nice day!