(2) Hiding

The favoritism of family members is always expressed in the details.

For example, right now, Lin Yuying is not worried about Shen Wanwan being angry, but rather, she is afraid that Shen Wanwan will be upset with Shen Zhuo and treat him badly.

Shen Wanwan casually replied, “Let’s see how he behaves.”

Upon hearing Shen Wanwan’s words, Lin Yuying’s concern grew even more.

Shen Wanwan’s personality was different from before. In the past, Lin Yuying’s attention was entirely on Shen Zhuo, and she had hardly ever paid proper attention to her daughter.

Now that Shen Wanwan was being firm, Lin Yuying was paying more attention to her.

Her daughter was actually quite outstanding. There weren’t many people who could get into college, and her daughter was one of them.

Now she was even working a government job, and no matter how one looked at it, she was the most successful person in the Shen family.

Lin Yuying felt both happy and worried.

Perhaps, she didn’t even know what exactly she was worried about.

While Shen Wanwan was eating, Shen Zhuo deliberately walked past the dining table a couple of times.

Shen Wanwan calmly bit into the chicken leg, as if she hadn’t seen him at all.

Shen Zhuo felt anxious inside but didn’t dare to speak to Shen Wanwan.

After what happened yesterday, Shen Zhuo now understood what kind of work Shen Wanwan did, and his classmates today couldn’t stop praising her.

They were saying that Shen Wanwan was not only beautiful but also good at fighting—like a heroic female warrior.

Seeing them excitedly praise Shen Wanwan, Shen Zhuo felt as though his sister had been taken away from him.

This was his sister, not theirs!

Shen Zhuo hesitated, not daring to approach. It was Lin Yuying who couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke up, “Didn’t you say you had some questions for your sister? Go ahead and ask her, she’s tired from work and needs to rest early.”

Shen Zhuo immediately grabbed his homework, his eyes shining as he looked at Shen Wanwan.

Shen Wanwan finished off the chicken leg and took a large bite of rice before casually saying, “Want to study now?”

Shen Zhuo obediently nodded.

“Studying isn’t just about picking up a book when you feel like it. If you’re serious about studying, I can teach you. But if it’s just a passing interest, then forget it. You can just play around by yourself.”

Shen Zhuo’s spirit seemed to deflate. He lowered his head, looking at Shen Wanwan, his voice lacking confidence. “Of course, I want to work hard all the time…”

Shen Wanwan gave him a teasing look, “Really?”

Obviously, she didn’t believe him!

But Shen Wanwan seemed to be right—he really didn’t know how long he could keep up with it.

Shen Zhuo: “…”

Not wanting to back down, Shen Zhuo gathered his spirits again. “Alright, I’ll hold off for now, and come back later to ask you. I’ll show you my determination!”

With that, he walked off energetically, holding his homework.

Lin Yuying, unsure of what to do, said, “Wanwan, he rarely wants to study. That’s a good thing, right?”

Why did she refuse him?

Shen Wanwan replied, “What’s the point of being diligent for just a couple of days? Let’s see if he can keep it up before we talk.”

After that, she stood up, picked up her bowl and chopsticks, and went to the kitchen.

Lin Yuying was confused. She didn’t quite understand what Shen Wanwan was saying, but her daughter’s words seemed to make a lot of sense.

What Wanwan said must be right, right?

Lin Yuying steeled herself and decided not to worry about Shen Zhuo anymore.

After Shen Wanwan finished her meal, she moved around a little and then prepared to go to bed.

Her current lifestyle wasn’t very good—she got home too late, ate too late, and didn’t have time for proper exercise.

Maybe she should buy an apartment near the city bureau, so she could get home earlier to cook and eat, without wasting too much time commuting.

Unfortunately, with her current salary, buying a house was still a long way off.

After a long day, Shen Wanwan was barely able to get to the pillow before feeling drowsy. Just before she fell asleep, she suddenly remembered her past experiences of becoming a flower or a parrot.

It seemed like she turned into a suspect’s pet at night. Now that there was a new case, that meant she…

Before she could think it through, she fell asleep.

It seemed like she hadn’t slept for long before she was roughly shaken awake.

Shen Wanwan opened her eyes in confusion, wondering who was disturbing her sleep. Just as she was about to look, a suddenly enlarged face came close to her. “Mimi, give daddy a kiss, let daddy kiss you. Mimi is daddy’s good baby. Baby, baby, baby~”

The sticky voice almost made Shen Wanwan stop breathing.

She extended her claws and kicked a few times, and the man let out a sharp scream, finally backing away from her.

Shen Wanwan gasped for air, warily eyeing the man.

Shen Wanwan: “…”

It was actually Liu Fanrong!

Liu Fanrong was one of the suspects in the Zhang Yingming case, wasn’t he? She had turned back into a pet!

Realizing this, Shen Wanwan quickly looked down at her paws.

Yes, she had turned back into paws again, and they were quite long and graceful. Her figure should be pretty good.

Shen Wanwan flicked her paw, and her sharp claws extended. That’s how she had scratched Liu Fanrong earlier. She guessed that Liu Fanrong was likely injured now.

The attack power of a cat was indeed terrifying.

Shen Wanwan had been bitten by a dog before, so she had a deep respect for all furry animals, especially cats.

Most of the cats she had encountered were aloof, so Shen Wanwan didn’t want to get too close and kept her distance, maintaining her own aloofness.

She didn’t expect that she would turn into a cat now.

Shen Wanwan meowed.

Liu Fanrong climbed out of bed, his face full of worry as he looked at Shen Wanwan.

Thinking that Brother Rong was from the underworld, and that being scratched by a cat might lead to him wanting to hit someone, Shen Wanwan quickly snapped back to her senses and jumped off the bed.

Brother Rong was surprisingly agile. The moment Shen Wanwan leapt, he grabbed her around the waist.

Liu Fanrong looked at Shen Wanwan with teary eyes. “Mimi, why aren’t you paying attention to daddy anymore? Are you mad because I didn’t spend time with you? Didn’t I promise you that in a couple of days, I’ll find you a wife? How about that tabby cat downstairs? I think it looks pretty good.”

Shen Wanwan: “…”

So Brother Rong was a cat slave.

Shen Wanwan could smell the strong scent of alcohol on him, so he must have just come back home drunk.

Shen Wanwan struggled free from Liu Fanrong’s arms and crawled to the edge of the bed.

Brother Rong was indeed a bit too clingy, but she wanted to see if she could find any clues, so she kept her distance, just enough to hear him speak.

Liu Fanrong didn’t chase her, and still wearing his coat, he collapsed into bed and fell asleep.

Shen Wanwan yawned and lay down on her paws, feeling sleepy.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when she was abruptly woken up by loud shouting.

Opening her eyes, she found that she was still in Liu Fanrong’s house, and the one shouting was none other than Liu Fanrong.

He was speaking in his sleep, “Brother Ming, Brother Ming! Don’t come after me, don’t come after me!”

Shen Wanwan immediately became alert.

Brother Ming must be referring to Zhang Yingming. Was he dreaming that Zhang Yingming was coming after him?

If he had no guilty conscience, why would Liu Fanrong be afraid of Zhang Yingming? He must be involved in Zhang Yingming’s death.

Liu Fanrong was startled awake by his own shouting.

He sat up, supporting himself against the nightstand, and turned on the room light.

Shen Wanwan glanced at Liu Fanrong.

His face was pale, likely from the nightmare he had just experienced.

Liu Fanrong calmed himself for a moment, placed the phone from the nightstand onto his lap, and picked up the receiver. “Xiao Ren, have you found Xiao Lang yet?”

“The kid came looking for me last night, but he went missing this morning. We need to find him. Got it?”

Being a cat was quite a tough job. Liu Fanrong liked to sleep while holding a cat.

The whole night, Shen Wanwan managed to escape over ten times, and in between, she had to listen to Liu Fanrong cry and complain that the cat wouldn’t pay attention to him, so she hardly got any rest.

By the time she left in the morning, she was still yawning nonstop.

As she exited the alley, Shen Wanwan saw a few thug-like men surrounding a young man. She had encountered quite a few thugs these past few days, and just the sight of them made her head ache. She stepped forward to stop them, saying, “What are you guys doing here?”

One of them turned around, “Where did this stinky woman come from?!”

Shen Wanwan took out her ID, “I’m from the bureau, is that okay?”

The thugs, still afraid of the police, immediately changed their expressions when they saw her badge. They bowed and nodded for a few seconds before quickly running away like the wind.

Only then did Shen Wanwan turn her attention to the man who had been surrounded.

The man wore a white polo shirt, his features exceptionally handsome. His exposed skin was tanned, but one could still faintly see the pale skin of his arms under his clothes. His face, neck, and arms were all scarred, which didn’t quite match his good looks.

The man looked familiar. Shen Wanwan thought for a moment and then remembered that he was a neighbor from the alley, from the He family. His name was He Xingyuan.

He Xingyuan had been quite the standout when he was in school.

He had excellent grades, was well-mannered, and never caused trouble. After school, he would do his homework and help his family with chores, earning him the title of the model student in everyone’s eyes.

No matter which household in the alley, if they mentioned the He family, they would always praise He Xingyuan.

He Xingyuan was four years older than the original owner. The age gap wasn’t too big, but the original owner had never been in the same school as him.

The only time they were in the same school was during the original owner’s first year of middle school when He Xingyuan was in his fourth year.

In the original owner’s memory, He Xingyuan was the exemplary student that teachers always mentioned. Everyone believed he would have a bright future.

But ever since he went to university, all his stardom faded.

He seemed to become an ordinary, inconspicuous student, and no one ever mentioned his name again. Nobody asked their children to learn from him anymore.

Later, after he graduated from university, he went down the wrong path. While everyone sighed in regret, they couldn’t help but mock him as well.

That’s right, the original owner’s last impression of He Xingyuan was— a thug.

Even now, He Xingyuan still had delicate features.

His thin lips were pressed tightly together, and when he looked at Shen Wanwan, who had just helped him, there was not a trace of gratitude in his eyes.

He Xingyuan had some dust on his face. He shot a hostile glance at Shen Wanwan, wiped his face a couple of times, and then silently walked into the alley.

What a strange person.

The criminal investigation team was already lively early in the morning.

When Shen Wanwan arrived, Zou Guodong was angrily cursing Liu Fanrong. “This damn kid, now he’s trying to act all important, saying he has nothing to do with Zhang Yingming and telling me not to bother him. Damn it, I really want to kick him!”

Thinking about the phone call Liu Fanrong made to his underlings last night, Shen Wanwan realized that he wasn’t just acting important, but rather, feeling guilty.

After Shen Wanwan returned to her desk and tidied up briefly, she moved her chair over to sit next to Zou Guodong. “Brother Zou, do you still remember Brother Lang?”

“Brother Lang?” Zou Guodong said. “Calling him Brother Lang is even being polite. He’s just a worthless piece of crap that can’t be helped.”

Zou Guodong was still angry with Brother Rong. After venting his frustration, he came back to his senses. “What happened to him?”

Shen Wanwan said, “I heard from his underlings that Xiao Lang ran off the night before, the night of the incident, and they haven’t found him since yesterday. He acknowledged Brother Rong as his older brother, and now he’s gone missing—could there be a problem?”

Worried that they wouldn’t believe her “intuition,” Shen Wanwan decided to leave the question for Zou Guodong.

Cui Luo’s desk was across from Zou Guodong’s, and upon hearing this, he dragged his chair over. “There’s definitely a problem, too coincidental. Brother Zou, should we go look for this Xiao Lang?”

Zou Guodong hesitated. “We haven’t found Liu Fanrong yet, and there’s He Qing and Zhou Jianguo. We need to sort them out today.”

“Even if we go now, Liu Fanrong won’t confess anything. It’s better to first check on Xiao Lang. Anyway, none of them are good people. Even if he didn’t run because of the Zhang Yingming case, he’s likely involved in some other case.”

Zou Guodong was persuaded.

However, every line Shen Wanwan chose was too niche, and Tao Jiang couldn’t allocate too many resources.

So, the task of finding Xiao Lang was handed over to Cui Luo and Shen Wanwan.

Due to a lack of police cars, the two of them had to ride bicycles.

Earlier, Cui Luo had been 100% supportive of Shen Wanwan, but once they were outside the station, he didn’t know which direction to go in.

Shen Wanwan had already thought it through. “Brother Rong and his men have been looking for Xiao Lang all night, so they’ve probably checked all the places he usually goes. We should skip those places since Brother Rong knows him better than we do.”

“Where should we go?”

“Let’s go to the train station and the bus station,” Shen Wanwan said. “If Xiao Lang is avoiding them, I’m worried he might be planning to flee.”

The train station in Xuzhou City was built fifty years ago.

It had yet to be renovated, retaining the characteristics of the 1940s.

In front of the station were taxis and tricycles, along with people trying to attract passengers and tourists looking for accommodation, all crowded together in a chaotic scene.

Shen Wanwan and Cui Luo went directly to the station staff and asked around with Xiao Lang’s photo. One of the ticket clerks recognized him.

“He came yesterday to buy a ticket to the North City, but there were no tickets left for yesterday. He bought a ticket for today.”