The next morning!
Li Yi was fast asleep when a series of urgent knocks suddenly rang out outside the door.
Opening his eyes and making sure he hadn’t misheard, Li Yi immediately moved his wife’s pretty head away from his chest, then removed her legs and arms draped over him. Only then did he throw on a robe and head toward the door.
“Who is it?”
Zhang Ziqiang’s voice came from the doorway: “Brother Yi, Captain Xiao is here. He says he needs to talk to you!”
“Alright, tell him to wait a moment. I’ll be right there once I get dressed!”
“Got it!”
No sooner had Li Yi returned to bed than he heard Jiang Xue ask sleepily, “Who is it? Why so early?”
“Captain Xiao is here. I’m going to see him. You go back to sleep!”
“Mm-hmm!”
With that, Jiang Xue rolled over, pulled Li Yi’s blanket close to her chest, and drifted back into a deep sleep.
Seeing this, Li Yi couldn’t help but shake his head.
His wife’s sleeping posture was truly hard to describe—whether she covered herself with a blanket or not didn’t matter; she always had to hold something in her arms.
When Li Yi was there, she naturally held onto him; when he wasn’t, she held onto the blanket.
After pulling another quilt from the bed next to them and tucking Jiang Xue in, Li Yi finally stepped out the door.
As soon as he reached the entrance of the guesthouse, Li Yi saw Xiao Zhanwu crouching there, looking exhausted and smoking. He was filthy from head to toe, looking just like a refugee who had fled a disaster.
Seeing Li Yi approach, he immediately flicked the cigarette butt to the ground and stomped it out with his foot.
Noticing the bloodshot eyes in Xiao Zhanwu’s face, Li Yi asked immediately, “Looking at you, did you not sleep all night?”
“Yeah.”
“So, how many bodies have you recovered?” Li Yi asked again.
“We’ve dug up five so far, but we’ve only cleared a little over half of the cellar. There might be more back there!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“And that pigsty—you guys need to dig there too. Police dogs rarely make mistakes!” Li Yi said.
“We’ve already started digging today!”
Then Xiao Zhanwu looked up and studied Li Yi closely, before continuing, “How did you know there was something off about that couple? I interrogated them—they’d never even seen you before yesterday. I don’t believe you could have figured it out just from that woman’s single glance…”
At this point, Xiao Zhanwu changed the subject and continued, “I’m not trying to pry into your secrets. I just… yesterday’s incident felt so strange to me. I…”
“No need to explain. I get what you mean!”
Li Yi then added, “But I can’t really explain it to you either. Just think of me as having a knack for divination. Anyway, isn’t it enough that the case is solved?”
“You’re right. But how should we write the report? We can’t exactly say you figured out who the killer was!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“Simple. Just write that we discovered the anomaly while investigating potential burglars, and it’s best not to mention my name in the report!” Li Yi said.
“If we don’t mention your name, what about the credit…”
“You, Captain Xiao, led the team that solved the case. It has nothing to do with me!” Li Yi said.
“But that won’t work…”
Before Xiao Zhanwu could finish, Li Yi cut him off and said, “We’re not part of the system, and we’re certainly not police officers. What good would that credit do us?”
“But…”
“Stop beating around the bush. If you really feel bad about it, then hurry up and look into how Tan Cheng got out of prison early. We can’t stay here much longer!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, I’ll get on it right away!”
Then Xiao Zhanwu added, “I came over this early because there’s something else I want to discuss with you!”
“What is it?”
“Xiao Ya’s mother…”
Xiao Zhanwu paused mid-sentence, but Li Yi understood what he meant.
“I already suspected as much. Those two kids are so unfortunate!” Li Yi sighed.
“Yes, now that both their parents are gone, their grandparents won’t take care of them, and none of their uncles or aunts are willing to adopt them. Their future is going to be a huge problem!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“Don’t worry. If it comes down to it, we’ll take the girls back to Beijing!” Li Yi said.
Although his family already had two children and didn’t need to adopt, if these two sisters really had no one to care for them, he didn’t mind adding two more sets of bowls and chopsticks to the table—he’d consider it a good deed.
Besides, Long Zhanjun had helped Xiaoya before; surely, if he knew about this, he’d want him to bring the girls back to Beijing as well.
“Wait a moment. If Xiaoya’s relatives really don’t want the sisters, I’d like to adopt them!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“You?”
Xiao Zhanwu glanced at Li Yi and said, “To be honest, my wife can’t have children due to an injury, so we’ve been debating whether to adopt a child. If she knew about Xiaoya and her sister’s situation, she’d definitely agree to adopt them.”
“Hmm, you should discuss this with your wife before making a decision. If you two agree to adopt them, that would be best. But if she doesn’t agree, then I’ll take the sisters back to Beijing myself!”
Li Yi said this mainly because he knew that people of Xiao Zhanwu’s generation, even if they couldn’t have children of their own, often preferred to adopt a young child.
Preferably one with no memory of their biological parents—such a child, if raised properly, would be no different from a biological child.
But Xiaoya is already seven or eight years old now, and her younger sister is three or four—they both have memories.
So even if Xiao Zhanwu was willing to adopt, his wife might not be.
“Alright, I’ll go back and ask her!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
Li Yi nodded and said, “Alright, you look like you really need to get some rest. I’ll treat you to breakfast. After you eat, go home and get some sleep. We’ll talk about the rest when you wake up!”
“Alright, I’m actually both hungry and exhausted right now!” Xiao Zhanwu said with a smile.
“What do you want to eat? Noodles or buns? Or maybe I’ll get you some meat to help you recover…”
Before he could finish, Xiao Zhanwu ran straight to the curb and started vomiting.
Seeing this, Li Yi and Zhang Ziqiang were both stunned!
It took quite a while for Xiao Zhanwu to finally recover.
After quickly rinsing his mouth with cold water, he said, panting, “You two, don’t even mention meat today. And when we eat later, don’t order anything with meat in it!”
By now, Li Yi had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but he still couldn’t resist teasing him: “What’s going on? Someone who didn’t know better would think you were pregnant, you big guy!”
Xiao Zhanwu shook his head with a wry smile, then said, “If you’d been down in that cellar, you wouldn’t be saying that.”
“Honestly, I’ve seen plenty of murder scenes and plenty of bodies in gruesome states, but I was still terrified by what I saw in that cellar!”
Thinking back to what they’d seen last night when they dug through the soil in the cellar, Xiao Zhanwu couldn’t help but shudder.
“Alright, don’t go describing that terrifying scene to us—save it for your own reflection!”
With that, Li Yi led Zhang Ziqiang toward the state-run restaurant nearby.
After finishing their meal and seeing Xiao Zhanwu off, Li Yi and Zhang Ziqiang returned to the guesthouse carrying the breakfast they’d brought back.
Back in the room, Jiang Xue was already up, folding the bedding.
Seeing Li Yi come in, she immediately asked, “Did Captain Xiao need you for anything?”
“He talked to me about the case!”
Li Yi then briefly recounted what Xiao Zhanwu had just said, including the details of Xiaoya’s mother’s murder.
After hearing what Li Yi had to say, Jiang Xue’s face paled; she was clearly shaken.
It took her a while to recover, and she said, her voice trembling, “How can there be such vicious people in the world? Why would they kill so many people?”
Li Yi paused briefly, then sighed and said, “Ah, there are always some people who look perfectly normal on the outside but are full of wickedness and malice on the inside. They don’t deserve to be called human—they’re demons in human form!”
“Don’t worry too much. The bad guys have been apprehended, and they’ll face the full force of the law. Let’s focus on our visit to Aunt Fang’s house at noon—we can’t exactly show up empty-handed!”
“Hmm, then let’s swing by the supply and marketing cooperative in a bit. What do you think?” Jiang Xue suggested.
“Okay, then go eat breakfast first!”
“Okay…”
………..