Qiming Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gu Yunfeng bought breakfast for ten people, including savoury tofu pudding with minced pork and peas, steamed half-moon shrimp dumplings, juicy, thin-skinned and crystal clear double-stuffed chicken soup dumplings with crab roe, as well as ten servings of lean meat and century egg congee.

"Overtime reward, ten servings in total, none for latecomers." He had everyone work overtime yesterday and allowed them to come in late this morning, so he thought his early-arriving colleagues deserved a little reward.

"I-I-I, I just happened to skip breakfast!" Shu Pan dashed over, opened the bag, and neatly arranged the breakfast on the table. He was still wearing the same pants as yesterday, the hole burned through them now patched with a piece of black cloth, sewn crookedly, clearly showing his own handiwork.

"Boss, you must know this place's tofu pudding is my favourite and specifically ordered it for me, right? Look, it's already nine o'clock, and only a few people have arrived. I counted, less than ten." He grinned cheekily, picked out a pile, and carried it back to his seat.

They had identified the deceased last night, so he felt more at ease and less rushed.

"Good morning, everyone." A somewhat familiar voice rang out. Gu Yunfeng looked up and first saw a rattling thermos cup. Xu Chengyue placed the cup next to the pile of files on the desk and gazed blankly at the empty office.

"Everyone worked overtime yesterday, so some people will come in later." Gu Yunfeng pointed to the breakfast on the table, "Breakfast is here, Professor Xu, you can sit at the desk in the back, that spot isn't fixed."

"Thanks, I don't have any classes today, so I thought I'd come by." He took a bowl of lean meat and century egg congee with an indifferent expression. Noticing the air conditioning was off, he opened the tightly closed window. The sunshine outside was pleasant, the cicadas were not too loud, and the sky seemed bluer than before.

"Any new developments in yesterday's case?"

"The identity of the deceased has been determined." Gu Yunfeng said while biting into a shrimp dumpling. "Guan Jianhua, an unemployed individual with multiple criminal records."

"The autopsy results came out this morning. The cause of death was confirmed to be mechanical asphyxiation, with the time of death between one and three o'clock yesterday afternoon. The perpetrator initially used a fruit knife to stab Guan Jianhua, but the knife was knocked away by the victim, only causing shallow wounds to the abdomen and scapula." Gu Yunfeng demonstrated the scene.

"Afterwards, he strangled the victim with a hemp rope, causing asphyxiation. The rope might have been brought by the perpetrator or picked up from the roadside."

"What about the surveillance footage?"

"The two cameras closest to the scene have been reviewed. They captured the suspect, but the person was tightly covered. They disposed of the body late at night, deliberately concealing their facial features, making it impossible to extract any information from the footage."

He played the video of the suspect disposing of the body, their movements clearly captured by the surveillance.

In the video, the suspect used an unattended street garbage cart to transport the body. At the entrance of a residential area, there was a slope about one and a half metres high. According to Gu Yunfeng's deduction, the suspect placed the large garbage bin at the bottom of the slope, pushed the cart with the body to the top, and then used gravity to let the body fall into the bin.

That's why it was head down and feet up, as if to imply that the "garbage" should stay in the garbage bin.

Gu Yunfeng wiped his mouth with a napkin and found a chair to sit on.

"Our current investigation follows two lines: one is to trace Guan Jianhua's social relations, and the other is to track the vehicle used by the murderer to transport the body."

"The murderer probably drove to a location not covered by surveillance, then pushed the cart to that spot to transfer the body."

"The murderer is familiar with the surveillance layout?" Xu Chengyue asked.

"Right," Gu Yunfeng nodded. "The murderer seems very familiar with the environment of the body disposal site."

"So now, the main focus is to trace the vehicle initially used to transport the body."

Xu Chengyue carefully watched the suspect in the video, estimated to be about a metre and seventy centimetres tall. Based on the walking style and physique, the suspect should be male. The body was normal, slightly thinner than the victim, which might explain why the knife didn't inflict fatal injuries. The suspect appeared in the footage four times, twice pushing the cart in and out, consistent with Gu Yunfeng's description.

He closed the video and took a spoonful of congee, finding it well-seasoned and at the perfect temperature. If he had to rate it out of ten, he'd give it a seven.

Gu Yunfeng stood by, repeatedly watching the video, and glancing at Xu Chengyue eating breakfast with a restrained demeanour. Despite the short time they'd spent together, he felt an indescribable sense of distance between himself and Xu Chengyue. No, it seemed there was this odd distance between the ordinary world and Professor Xu. As an experienced criminal investigator, he couldn't read Xu Chengyue's expressions or thoughts at all, like trying to discern the mood of an aloof immortal.

"Professor Xu, doesn't your lab often collaborate with the Third Institute?" Gu Yunfeng recalled the call he couldn't get through to Director Zhao yesterday and decided to ask Xu Chengyue for help indirectly.

"One or two projects a year."

"So... do you have access to their database?" He pointed at Xu Chengyue.

"Yes."

Gu Yunfeng breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Can you do me a favour, Professor Xu?"

"Oh? Go ahead." He sensed it must be something important and difficult from Gu Yunfeng's hesitant expression.

Before Gu Yunfeng could speak, Wen Xin walked into the office right on time, sporting dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She hurriedly approached him, "Captain Gu, Captain Gu, someone just came to report a case."

"I ran into them at the door, they're in the reception room now." She bent over to catch her breath, then leaned in mysteriously and whispered, "There are two of them, and one is a girl who is covered up really well. I have a feeling she's a celebrity."

"Must be a celebrity."

She yawned, rubbed her messy short hair, and blinked as she tried to wake herself up. "I woke up thinking I was late and ran over here before I remembered we could come in late today."

After glancing around, she saw Xu Chengyue and excitedly jumped up, "Professor Xu is here too!"

Xu Chengyue nodded at her without speaking.

"Breakfast for you, to reward you all." Gu Yunfeng handed her the bag from the table, then looked towards the reception room where he could vaguely see two figures.

"Professor Xu, and Shu Pan, you two come with me to the reception room." He slapped Shu Pan on the back. Hearing his name and feeling the impact, Shu Pan looked up in panic and rubbed his eyes. Earlier, he had dozed off while reading case files.

—————

In the reception room, a woman crossed her arms and paced back and forth in the small twenty-square-meter space. She appeared to be about thirty-five years old, wearing bright makeup and a black silk dress, looking very anxious. Next to her, a young girl sat in a brown reclining chair, wearing a black baseball cap and a mask that covered most of her face, leaving only her bright eyes visible as she browsed Weibo on her phone.

When the door opened, the woman clenched her fists warily and scrutinised the three people who entered, then tentatively looked at Gu Yunfeng.

"Are you... the police here?"

"I'm Gu Yunfeng, the deputy captain of the Jinping District criminal investigation team." He smiled and showed his police badge, "Rest assured, no outsiders can enter the criminal investigation team."

"Let's start with the report." Shu Pan logged into the internal system, created a new case file, and printed out some forms for the complainant to sign.

Instead of taking the documents, the woman sighed heavily and pulled the phone-using girl next to her. 

"My surname is Chen, Chen Yu. This is my younger sister." She lowered her head and got straight to the point, "We've been receiving threatening letters frequently over the past two weeks. It started as one every three days, then became one per day."

"At first, I thought it was just a prank, but the letters kept coming and it scared Xiao Man, so I decided to report it."

"What do the letters say?"

"Strange things, like they know our secrets, that we've done terrible things and will face retribution." She took out several letters from a navy blue leather satchel, "Here are the letters, all printed."

"Where were the letters delivered?"

"They were left at my sister's dressing room door."

"Dressing room?" Gu Yunfeng was a bit puzzled. "May I ask, who exactly is receiving the threats, you or your sister?"

The woman trembled slightly and instinctively tightened her grip on the bag strap.

"It's me." The masked girl answered for her. She jumped in front of Gu Yunfeng, looking up at him without any fear.

"Xiao Man..."

"Sorry, Ms. Chen, we need to register your sister's identity information."

"Can you just register mine?"

"No, it has to be the victim's. You weren't the one being threatened." Shu Pan extended his hand, palm up, indicating for her to provide valid identification.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Chen Yu stood there troubled, signalling the girl to stay silent. She frantically thought of how to handle this; she didn't want anyone to know Yuan Man's identity, but to eliminate the threat, she had no choice but to bring her to report it.

Xu Chengyue observed the two for a while. In what should have been a routine scene, a tense atmosphere prevailed. He found the girl quite familiar and tried to recall if he had seen her before based on her eyes, face shape, and bone structure.

Fortunately, he succeeded. He had indeed seen this face before.

"I've seen her." Xu Chengyue pulled out a chair and sat facing them. Staring at the young girl's only visible feature, her eyes, he spoke with a cold certainty, "You're Yuan Man, the lead singer of the girl group AIR, right?"

"I saw her in an advertisement once." Yesterday, while stuck in traffic with Gu Yunfeng on the central ring road, their car had played her group's song. However, judging by Gu Yunfeng's current expression, he seemed to have forgotten about the group entirely.

—————

The author has something to say:

There will be a very, very, magical setting in the future... you can look forward to it~

Also, no matter how the plot develops, the future relationship between the two main characters is simple, rough and indestructible.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 23, 2024 by Angel

Edited: June 26, 2024 by Angel