Chapter 6

This Man’s Pretty Good

Shen Yuebai heard a voice in his mind, stirring up waves of shock inside him. Xu Comrade hadn’t spoken, yet he could clearly hear her!

What on earth was going on?

Though he felt both curious and surprised, he quickly returned to his usual demeanor. “Alright, next time then.”

Xu Jiajia grinned, revealing her teeth. “Thanks for understanding.”

This man is pretty good.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Xu Xiaoyao, needing to visit a relative, turned to Xu Jiajia. “Jiajia, I’m heading out. I’ll come find you when I get back.”

Xu Jiajia made an “OK” hand gesture, then, realizing Xiaoyao wouldn’t understand, nodded. “Alright—”

Xu Xiaoyao then greeted each elder in turn. “Uncle, Grandma, I’m off.”

Grandma Xu: “Alright—”
Xu Jianguo: “Take care.”

Once Xu Xiaoyao left, Xu Jiajia and her family also headed off.

When they were out of sight, Shen Yuebai turned back and walked into the police station.

His comrade, Liu Kui, looked surprised. “Didn’t you leave? Or is there something else?”

Shen Yuebai had wanted to share what he’d heard in his mind but worried it might not be reliable. He swallowed the words and replied instead, “I’m leaving now.”

After saying this, he turned and left.

Liu Kui scratched his cropped hair, muttering to himself, “What’s with this guy acting so mysterious?”

By the River

From a distance, Xu Jiajia spotted a body floating on the water’s surface.

Feigning surprise, she pointed to the corpse in the middle of the river and exclaimed, “Hey, Dad, look over there! It seems like someone’s floating!”

Xu Jianguo played along, following her gesture and putting on a shocked expression. “It really does. No movement at all—looks like they’re dead.”

After waiting a few minutes to confirm it was indeed a body, Grandma Xu’s face turned solemn. “Jianguo, go report this to the authorities!”

“Alright—” Xu Jianguo responded and hurried toward the police station.

He was walking so fast that he almost bumped into Shen Yuebai on the way. “Xiao Shen, isn’t your comrade working at the station? Quickly, let him know there’s a body in the river.”

Shen Yuebai hadn’t expected the voice he’d heard to turn out to be true. His expression changed, and he quickened his pace toward the station. “Liu Kui, Uncle Xu found a body in the river.”

Liu Kui, already stressed with unfinished cases, groaned internally at the arrival of a new one.

Though annoyed, he knew he had a job to do. Bringing along two colleagues, he hurried to the riverbank.

When Xu Jiajia saw Shen Yuebai arrive, she stepped over to him and asked quietly, “Why are you here too?”

Shen Yuebai gazed deeply at her. “I came to take a look.”

Xu Jiajia didn’t catch the meaning behind his eyes and instead began talking to Guagua.

[Guagua, how should I tell the police that Song Hanyong is the murderer?]

Guagua, as always, was more interested in drama than problem-solving.

[It’s the police’s job to solve cases.]

Xu Jiajia: “…”

[Providing clues could save them a lot of time.]

While Xu Jiajia was still pondering how to phrase her revelation, Xu Jianguo had already stepped forward and spoken to Liu Kui. “Song Hanyong was having an affair with his aunt-in-law. I hope this clue helps.”

Liu Kui jotted this down in his notebook and then asked, realizing Xu Jianguo didn’t live in the area, “Why were you by the river today?”

Xu Jianguo answered honestly, “My daughter has a classmate who lives nearby. They had plans today.”

This wasn’t a lie—it was the truth.

It was just that Xu Jiajia only remembered this midway through their trip.

Liu Kui nodded, signaling the end of his routine questioning.

Then, he said, “This is the crime scene. Unrelated individuals cannot linger here. Please cooperate.”

Xu Jianguo was eager to leave. “Alright, we’ll go right away.”

Shen Yuebai also wanted to leave, but with his strong deductive skills, Liu Kui wouldn’t let him off so easily. “Old Shen, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about your comrade who ate and slept beside you just because you have a fiancée now!”

Hearing this, Xu Jiajia’s eyes sparkled with gossip.

[Oh my gosh, two grown men sharing a bed—just thinking about it is thrilling!]

Shen Yuebai’s handsome face darkened instantly, and he shot Liu Kui a murderous glare. “Shut up. Who shared a bed with you?”

Liu Kui, clueless as to why Shen Yuebai was upset, rubbed his nose and retorted, “Sharing a dorm, doesn’t that count as sleeping together?”

Xu Jianguo and the others let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness—it wasn’t what they thought!

Xu Jiajia, however, was disappointed. She thought there’d be some juicy gossip, but this? Just this?

After leaving the riverbank, Xu Jiajia headed to the place where she had arranged to meet her classmate. Xu Jianguo and Grandma Xu waited for her nearby.

“Jiajia—” A girl wearing a floral-patterned blouse with two braided pigtails ran toward her. This was Liao Mei, Xu Jiajia’s high school classmate. Liao Mei’s father was a workshop supervisor at the textile factory, and her mother worked at the supply and marketing cooperative.

The original Xu Jiajia had worried she wasn’t good enough for Song Ran, so she asked Liao Mei to keep an ear out for internal job openings at the factory. Xu Jiajia wanted to pass the exam and secure a position there.

“Jiajia, the textile factory doesn’t have any internal recruitment right now, but I heard from my dad that the sugar factory does. The problem is, the test is really hard. For people like us who aren’t factory kids, it’s tough to pass unless we have exceptional grades.”

As Liao Mei spoke, her face showed concern.

The government was encouraging educated youth to go to the countryside and learn from poor and lower-middle peasants. Every family had to send one child to the countryside.

Since she was the only one in her family without a job, the responsibility would inevitably fall on her.

Xu Jiajia wasn’t particularly fixated on getting a job but didn’t want to waste any opportunities either. “Meizi, why don’t we give it a shot? What if we succeed?”

Liao Mei wasn’t as optimistic as Xu Jiajia. “The sugar factory only hires employees’ children. If we go, we’re just wasting our time!”

Xu Jiajia grinned brightly. “What’s there to be afraid of? At worst, we’ll just be along for the ride. The more exams we take, the more experience we gain. I think it’s worth a try.”

After hesitating for a moment, Liao Mei nodded. “Alright.”

Xu Jiajia’s eyes lit up as she warmly linked arms with Liao Mei. “Can your dad get last year’s exam papers from the sugar factory?”

Liao Mei, assuming Xu Jiajia wanted to cheat, quickly said, “Jiajia, it’s useless. The sugar factory never repeats exam questions. Even if you look at them, it won’t help.”

Xu Jiajia still wanted to see the papers to gauge the difficulty. Preparing in advance was better than going in blind. “The sugar factory must provide some materials, right? If we get the papers and study the materials, we might find a pattern. Who knows—we might just pull it off!”

Faced with Xu Jiajia’s hopeful gaze, Liao Mei finally relented. “Alright, I’ll ask my dad. Let’s meet here again at the same time the day after tomorrow.”

Xu Jiajia smiled. “Great. I’ll leave the registration to you.”

Thanks to the clues Xu Jianguo provided, Liu Kui quickly located Song Hanyong and his sister-in-law, Xiao Jing.

The two were interrogated separately.

Liu Kui used some clever probing techniques, and Xiao Jing, unable to withstand the pressure, shifted all the blame onto Song Hanyong. She broke down in tears. “Officer, it was Song Hanyong who forced me. He’s a rapist and a murderer. This has nothing to do with me… How could he be so cruel? Killing someone, just like that!

“My child’s father, you died such a horrible death! Wuwuwu…”