The team member asked, “Did something happen at that time? Why did you sever ties?”

Father Lu said, “Hey, I scolded him for not finding a proper job.”

Lu Dongyue’s grades in college were average. Father Lu, a simple man, was still stuck in the mindset that a “college student” could definitely find a good job. However, after graduating, Lu Dongyue sent out many resumes, went out for interviews in a suit every day, and had also interned at several companies, but he didn’t stick with any of them. For a year, Lu Dongyue spent most of his time at home.

Father Lu simply couldn’t understand. He, with only a primary school education, could support himself and his family, but a college student couldn’t? The stark contrast between Lu Dongyue’s unemployment and the glory of being admitted to college four years ago made Father Lu feel extremely ashamed. He scolded Lu Dongyue every day. When Lu Dongyue left his internship unit once again, Father Lu was furious, believing he just didn’t know how to endure hardship, and insisted on dragging him to the construction site where he worked to be a migrant worker.

Lu Dongyue was forced to carry building materials for a day. That night, when he returned home, he had a big argument with Father Lu. Father Lu told him to get out. He looked at his father with a cold, sinister gaze and said through gritted teeth that he wanted to sever their father-son relationship.

The team member was very confused. He also often argued with his father, but they always made up. “After Lu Dongyue left, he never came back? You never thought about reconciling with him?”

Father Lu took a sharp drag from his cigarette and laughed dryly. “I’m not afraid to tell you, the more I thought about it later, the more I became afraid of my son.”

“Afraid?”

“The way he looked at me, it wasn’t like looking at a relative at all, it was like looking at an enemy. He hated me so much. Did I have to force him to stay at home? Forget it. If we’re not fated to be father and son in this life, then let’s not be. At least we won’t be enemies.”

After Lu Dongyue moved out of the house, he lived in a shared rental apartment and did some odd jobs. Father Lu heard all this from others’ idle chat. Later, Lu Dongyue left without a word, didn’t say where he was going, and never called back.

Having experienced the pain of losing his wife, Father Lu was relatively open-minded about Lu Dongyue’s departure without a word, but at the end, his voice still choked up.

“I won’t go to see him. He looks down on me. After you solve the case, just let me know, and I’ll go pick up his ashes.”

And the team members who went to Huangming Engineering College also learned about Lu Dongyue during his university years from his teachers and former classmates.

“Enthusiasm” was his biggest characteristic. He was relatively ordinary, not outstanding in appearance or grades, and his family background was considered very poor among his classmates. But this did not affect his ability to get along with everyone. In the class, clubs, and student union, whenever there was work that required effort, he was always at the forefront. There were few girls in his department, and he would also help with things like moving things to the dormitories.

But if you were to ask who his close friends were, no one could say. He seemed to be on good terms with everyone, but he had no truly close friends. After many years of graduation, his classmates’ impression of him had also gradually faded, so “enthusiasm” became his only label.

One of Lu Dongyue’s roommates was now a counselor at Huangming Engineering College. He recalled an incident to prove Lu Dongyue’s “enthusiasm.”

In the winter of their junior year, the school wanted to renovate the oldest teaching building at the east gate. That area was cordoned off, and construction was carried out day and night. Huangming was humid and cold, and the school did not provide heating equipment for the construction site. The migrant workers had a very hard time.

Lu Dongyue often went over to deliver hot water. When asked, he would say with a simple and honest expression that his father also worked on construction sites, and seeing them reminded him of his father’s hardships. Besides, delivering hot water was no big deal; he just considered it exercise.

After a more in-depth conversation, the roommate’s memory was gradually awakened. He frowned slightly. “I remember now. Lu Dongyue wasn’t just enthusiastic towards people; he actually had a strong desire to win.”

Objectively speaking, Lu Dongyue was not particularly smart, and helping others took up a lot of his study time, so his grades never improved. After every exam, Lu Dongyue would be sullen for a few days, staying in the lab or the library. When people tried to talk to him, he would take a long time to respond.

But after a short while, perhaps after he had digested his failure on his own, he would become cheerful and enthusiastic again.

The roommate said with hindsight, “At the time, I didn’t know why I didn’t become friends with Lu Dongyue. It was that kind of feeling, although we were on good terms, we weren’t like brothers. Now that we’re talking about these things, I kind of understand. Although he was a very nice person, he lacked a bit of sincerity. For example, if I did poorly on an exam, I would complain to my brothers, but he would just sulk by himself. Very proud, yet very insecure.”

The two groups of team members reported the information they had gathered to Ling Lie. Ling Lie passed it on to Ji Chenjiao. “Because his father is a migrant worker, so he helps migrant workers? Why do I not believe this?”

Ji Chenjiao: “The enthusiasm should also be a disguise. Lu Dongyue felt inferior when facing classmates with very good grades or good family backgrounds. He felt he couldn’t integrate with them through other means, so he could only create an enthusiastic persona. Wherever help was needed, he would appear. At other times, he was just a facade. Only the gloomy him after every exam was the real him.”

Ling Lie paced back and forth in front of Ji Chenjiao. “It makes sense that Lu Dongyue appeared enthusiastic in order to integrate into the class, but what was he doing delivering hot water to the migrant workers? He resented his father for being a migrant worker so much, why did he still want to integrate into this group?”

Ji Chenjiao thought for a while. “Information deviation? Maybe he didn’t despise his father and this group as much as his father thought?”

Ling Lie pouted, not quite accepting this explanation.

When Ji Chenjiao saw him pout, he wanted to pinch it. Other people pouted to be cute, but Ling Lie pouted to be ugly. Not only did he push it out high, but his nose and eyes would also wrinkle up, as if he were afraid others wouldn’t find him ugly enough.

Seeing Ji Chenjiao approach, Ling Lie hadn’t even retracted his pout yet, and questioned with his eyes: What are you going to do?

Ji Chenjiao had thought about it several times. This time he couldn’t resist and just went for it, bringing his thumb and index finger together and pinching the “pig’s snout.”

“Wuwuwuwu!” Ling Lie struggled hastily. Ji Chenjiao didn’t dare to use force, so he was freed in an instant.

He hung his head and patted his mouth. “What kind of quality person are you, pinching other people’s mouths at the drop of a hat.”

Ji Chenjiao rubbed his fingers, not minding Ling Lie’s sarcasm, because, after all, he had indeed pinched his mouth, and the feel of it was actually not bad.

Ling Lie’s mouth was good for looking at and for pinching, just not for speaking.

Ji Chenjiao saw Ling Lie turn away, seeming to say something, but his voice was very low, and he didn’t hear clearly. So he walked around and finally heard Ling Lie say, “It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt. Don’t be angry, pat, pat—”

Ji Chenjiao was stunned on the spot. Ling Lie was actually tearfully coaxing his own pinched mouth!

Looking closely, it was a little red, especially the small area on his philtrum. Ling Lie’s skin was fair, so it easily turned red even without force. Being stared at by those shimmering eyes, Ji Chenjiao actually felt a little guilty and uncomfortable.

Had he, perhaps, gone, a little, too far, with the, joke?

Ling Lie was still glaring at him, looking like his mouth hadn’t been properly coaxed.

Being stared at like this, Ji Chenjiao’s mind went blank for a moment. By the time he came to his senses, he had already gently pinched Ling Lie’s chin and kissed his “injured” lips.

Neither of them moved. It was just a very light touch, a very brief kiss. Ji Chenjiao’s heart was pounding. When he let go of Ling Lie, he had to pretend to be nonchalant. “Stop crying. It doesn’t hurt now, right?”

Ling Lie was like his spell had been broken. He couldn’t react for a moment, pursed his lips, and then licked them.

Ji Chenjiao: “…”

Two of the team members who went to Huangming City went to Linyun City to investigate Yin Xi’s situation. This was a special request from Ling Lie. And because Yin Xi was neither a victim nor a suspect, the investigation was more restricted.

Her parents had indeed passed away when she was nine, as she had said. She was raised by her aunt’s family, but their relationship was distant. After graduating from junior high, she became independent from her family, had worked in a factory, as a salesperson, and had set up a street stall. It wasn’t until she became an online model that her life gradually improved.

Although she was from Linyun City, her activities in recent years had almost all been fixed in Huangming City. The house she rented was near Huangming Engineering College.

She was affiliated with a very small modeling agency. The agency would introduce business to the models and take a commission. Before Yin Xi took on the Golden Oak business, the agency had found other work for her, which was to shoot a set of car model photos.

Although the price was not as high as what Golden Oak offered, the location was very close to Huangming City, and it was a regular exhibition. The agency was very angry when they learned that Yin Xi had rejected the car model photos for Golden Oak. Firstly, they couldn’t accept the “underworld” wedding, feeling it was too unlucky. Secondly, they resented Yin Xi for taking on a private job, saying that if Yin Xi insisted on going to Feng City, she would have to pay compensation. Yin Xi actually offered to give eighty percent of her earnings to the company. The company still couldn’t understand why Yin Xi would do this.

As soon as this clue appeared, Ling Lie became even more certain that Yin Xi had played the bride because of Lu Dongyue.

She didn’t care about the money, didn’t care about the time spent, and was even willing to risk her future to get close to Yin Dongyue. This reminded Ling Lie of one person: Shen Wei.

Did this beautiful and fragile-looking woman also harbor the same hatred and sorrow as Shen Wei?

On the “front line” in Huangming City, although they had found out a lot about Lu Dongyue’s family and upbringing, it still couldn’t explain who he was targeted by, or what he had done to make him leave Huangming City.

And the behavior of the missing criminal police officer Weng Keqiu was also inexplicable.

He was a local, born and raised. His mother was a criminal police officer who had died in the line of duty many years ago. He had followed in his mother’s footsteps and had been very outstanding all along. He had no unsolved cases on his hands, and Lu Dongyue and the Lu family had no connection to his sacrificed mother.

Ling Lie had initially asked the team members to check for cold cases and old cases in Huangming City. This was a task of enormous scope. Tai Lu, the captain of the Huangming City criminal investigation detachment, was concerned about Weng Keqiu and had even specially assigned extra manpower to help with the search. But for the time being, they had not found any cases that might be related to Lu Dongyue or Weng Keqiu.

The longer it dragged on, the more uneasy Tai Lu became. Ling Lie hadn’t called him, so he called himself, asking for news about Weng Keqiu.

The person hadn’t been found. Ling Lie and Tai Lu chatted about other things. “Weng Keqiu followed Lu Dongyue to Fengchao Island. Think back, besides his own cases, did Weng Keqiu ever mention other cases?”

Tai Lu had been away from the front line for a long time. He thought for a long time. “There were several cases of assault and murder of migrant workers in our city before. He seems to have mentioned them, but those cases were all solved.”

Migrant workers? Ling Lie immediately thought of Lu Dongyue’s illogical act of delivering hot water to the school’s migrant workers. These two people, who seemed to have no connection at all, finally seemed to have a thread linking them.

Ling Lie: “What were the specific cases? Were the culprits caught?”

Tai Lu said this was more than five years ago. Huangming City’s development was very slow. In those few years, a large area of the old city was being renovated, requiring a lot of workers. There weren’t enough local workers, so they had to be recruited from the countryside.

The quality of these workers was uneven. Although good people were the majority, the rat droppings of those who stole things and bullied women and children spoiled the whole pot of soup. For a time, the citizens were extremely disgusted with the migrant workers, and there were even public order conflicts. Some migrant workers were beaten and sent to the hospital on the spot, and some were secretly tricked.

It was easy to catch those who engaged in group fights. The public security team controlled both sides of the incident, and in fact, they did not favor any one side in their handling. However, the citizens didn’t believe it and always felt that the police were biased towards the migrant workers, their elbows turning outwards.

After that, the citizens’ hostility towards migrant workers became even more intense. Seven consecutive cases of migrant worker murders occurred, and there were even more cases of assault. The city bureau even set up a special task force at the time and found that someone was deliberately using the citizens’ emotions to commit crimes. There were four culprits in total, all of whom had been arrested. They confessed to their crimes, and the cases were solved. Since then, no similar cases have occurred in Huangming City.

Ling Lie asked, “Why was Weng Keqiu interested in this case?”

Tai Lu said, “Little Weng was still young at the time and didn’t get into the special task force. He didn’t know many details. It seems he felt the case hadn’t been thoroughly investigated, that there were more criminals than just the ones we caught. But there was no new evidence to support his words. Could he have been investigating it secretly all this time?”

Ling Lie asked again, “Among these murder cases, did any of them happen at Huangming Engineering College?”

Tai Lu simply found his partner to recall together. “There were no murders, but when Huangming Engineering was renovating its campus, there was a case of a migrant worker being beaten and injured. I remember this case was not related to the series of cases?”

The partner said, “That’s right. At that time, the conflict between the migrant workers and the citizens was a big deal. The engineering police station received a report that another incident had occurred, but after investigation, it was said to be an internal conflict among the migrant workers. The school later also intervened, and the person was hospitalized and compensated. The party involved was also willing to settle, so it was not merged into the series of cases.”

An inconspicuous fight, but Ling Lie felt the key might lie here. “I have an idea. You go to Huangming Engineering again and check on this case. Don’t just listen to what the school says. It’s best to find the migrant workers who did the hitting and the one who was hit.”

Tai Lu was surprised. “This…”

Ling Lie said, “Weng Keqiu might have gone missing because of this case.”

Tai Lu: “I’ll investigate immediately! I’ll investigate it myself!”

On the other side, Ji Chenjiao, after going through a series of procedures, obtained Weng Keqiu’s communication and a small portion of his internet records from the carrier—more could not be obtained without finding his phone.

From this information, it was known that Weng Keqiu was a person with a very simple private life. All his energy was spent on work. He seemed to be collecting information on the series of migrant worker cases from that year and had been in contact with some of the victims’ families and the culprits’ families.

He had started paying close attention to Feng City and Golden Oak since May of this year. After Golden Oak started marketing the “underworld” wedding online, he had spoken like a water army, saying he was interested in the event and would definitely go.

Tai Lu said Weng Keqiu didn’t want to take a vacation, and that he had forced him to. But this was likely just his own wishful thinking. Weng Keqiu had long planned this long vacation—not to relax or have fun, but to track a suspect he shouldn’t have been tracking on his own.

“Then the clue is very clear. Weng Keqiu did not participate in the migrant worker cases back then, but he believed the cases were not closed, and that there were other culprits. After years of investigation, Lu Dongyue was the person he had locked onto,” Ling Lie said.

Ji Chenjiao: “The biggest problem is the neglected case at Huangming Engineering College. But in that case, only someone was injured, no one was killed. And Weng Keqiu was investigating Lu Dongyue as a murderer.”

Ling Lie narrowed his eyes. “What if, in that case, someone actually died?”

Ji Chenjiao frowned. “Weng Keqiu thinks this is a problem with the police?”

If the Huangming police had covered up something, then letting Tai Lu intervene now would probably only make the evidence disappear further.

But Ling Lie recalled his several phone calls with him. “Although I haven’t met this person, listening to him speak, he is genuinely worried about Weng Keqiu. There’s definitely something fishy about that case, but Tai Lu himself may not be aware of it. He’s now eager to save his team member. Isn’t this the perfect time to get to the bottom of the case?”

Ji Chenjiao agreed. The two called Tai Lu again, this time on video. Tai Lu was an uncle-like figure with graying hair, his face bearing the stubbornness and perseverance of an old police officer. He was probably about to retire soon, yet for his missing team member, he was braving the hot sun, personally coming to the police station near Huangming Engineering College.

Ji Chenjiao’s speech was more concise than Ling Lie’s. This time, it was he who communicated with Tai Lu, explaining his and Ling Lie’s conjectures. Tai Lu had experienced many storms in his youth and quickly understood Ji Chenjiao’s meaning. He said he would give them an answer by evening at the latest.

“Want to hear my reasoning?” Ling Lie shot Ji Chenjiao a look.

Ji Chenjiao instantly thought of the inexplicable kiss the two had shared. He coughed and tried to change the subject. “Investigation is not a reasoning game.”

“The correct answer hasn’t been announced yet. If I brainstorm a little, are you going to arrest me? I’ll move the police station to you overnight?”

“…”

“I don’t think the problem is with the police station.” Ling Lie had always been the type to say whatever was on his mind. “Since the conflict between the migrant workers and the citizens was so intense at that time, the city bureau and branch bureaus must have repeatedly instructed the police stations below to investigate thoroughly if anything happened. Under that background, how would the police station dare to go against their superiors?”

Ji Chenjiao: “So the problem is with the school?”

Ling Lie nodded. “Lu Dongyue was constantly trying to curry favor at the construction site. He must have had some motive. But in this process, he had a conflict with someone, or maybe he just disliked someone for no reason. He hurt this person and then ran away. No one knew who the culprit was, but they guessed it was someone from the school. A student? A teacher? Whoever it was, it would have affected the school’s reputation.”

“Combined with the general background of Huangming City at the time, the workers were angry. They couldn’t find the culprit, so they went to the school for an explanation and also called the police. This is why the police station intervened early. But later, the school said it was an internal conflict among the workers, and that they had already compensated for the medical expenses and resolved it properly. So the police station did not continue to investigate. An internal fight was what the police station recorded, which means this was indeed what the school and the workers said. But according to our line of thought, this couldn’t be an internal fight. Lu Dongyue must have played a role in it.”

“So, it was the school that pacified the workers—money, a stable job, solving the wife’s job, etc. They have plenty of ways to make a group of people struggling for a living keep quiet.”

Ji Chenjiao thought for a few seconds. “At that time, someone was indeed only injured, and no one died. But after a period of time, this person died?”

Ling Lie’s hand cheekily wiped Ji Chenjiao’s face. “We’re not far from the truth.”

It was currently vacation time, but with the city bureau’s criminal investigation detachment captain personally coming to Huangming Engineering College, the school had no choice but to send several leaders. Tai Lu waved his hand, not listening to any empty talk. If they didn’t tell the truth, the city bureau would immediately go and find that group of workers from back then.

The vice-principal had some connections with the police. The incident had happened several years ago, and things had been calm. He simply admitted that the assault was not an internal fight, and that the culprit was someone from within the school.

The injured worker was named Yang Xiao. He was the youngest of the workers. One day, the workers suddenly came to the school, saying a student had smashed Yang Xiao’s head, and the person was unconscious. The school immediately sent people to the hospital and the scene, and did a lot of appeasing. The school paid for all of Yang Xiao’s medical expenses.

But there was no surveillance in that renovation area at the east gate. Yang Xiao’s head was smashed in the middle of the night, and no one saw who did it. The worker representative insisted it must have been a student. The school investigated on its own and also felt it was most likely a student, but there were so many students, it was impossible to find the one. Seeing that the matter was about to blow up, the school decided to take the loss and buy peace with money. All the workers received a sum of appeasement money. That Yang Xiao was from the countryside and had no relatives around. The school hired people to take care of him 24 hours a day.

Half a month later, Yang Xiao was discharged from the hospital after his injuries healed, and the matter was considered completely resolved. The school did not know about Yang Xiao’s situation after that, let alone whether he was still in Huangming City.

Tai Lu then asked the vice-principal for the whereabouts of the other workers. The vice-principal had his secretary find the contact information for several of them. They had all settled down in Huangming City, and some had even brought their families and started small businesses near the school.

Tai Lu sent some people to meet with these workers and surprisingly learned that Yang Xiao had already passed away.

—What if, in that case, someone actually died?

He was alive at the time, was rescued, and lay in the hospital for a month, discharged after his injuries healed. This was being alive.

But later the person died. The condition in the hypothesis was fulfilled in a time-displaced manner.

But regardless of whether the time was displaced, the only fact was that the person did indeed die.

Ji Chenjiao asked, “What was the cause of death?”

Tai Lu looked at the death report he had just received, his voice trembling slightly. “Cerebral hemorrhage.”

What made his heart tighten was not just this common cause of death, but that he remembered, in that series of cases of assaulting migrant workers back then, at least two of the victims had suffered severe head trauma, very similar to Yang Xiao’s assault.

“We, seem to have missed a suspect.”