A Psych Case Just Joined the Team Chapter 006

Bloodshed – 06

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After entering the house, the old man poured them each a glass of water before saying, "Six years ago, Datong married the daughter of Li Quan's family from the village, and their family was doing all right. But five years ago, Laogen's wife had a seizure while working in the fields and collapsed right there. By the time she was found, she'd already gone stiff. That same year, Laogen passed away too, and Datong and his wife moved out of the village. We are poor here and have nothing, they were young and hoping for a better life outside, so we just let them be. If I'd known things would turn out like this, I should've persuaded them not to leave the village." As the old man spoke, his cloudy eyes grew moist.

"The fact that Lin Datong left the village had nothing to do with his death. Our police force will determine the cause of death as soon as possible and find the murderer," Qing Ming said.

Xing Zui asked, "Li Quan's daughter, is her name Li Li?"

"Seems like it was, I can't quite recall. Those two children grew up together. Later, when Laogen and Old Li Quan saw how close they were all the time, they became in-laws."

"Li Quan's family only had one daughter?"

The old man nodded. "His wife died from complications during childbirth after having the girl, poor thing..."

Just then, as if something suddenly occurred to him, the old man said, "Right, Laogen actually had another son."

Xing Zui's brow furrowed slightly. He asked, "Where is he now?"

"They were twins. He died, died long ago."

Xing Zui's cold expression tightened slightly.

The old man continued in a grave tone, "You outsiders wouldn't know this, but we've got a rule in our village. I heard it from my grandfather, it was a rule set by our ancestors. Every generation can only pass on one child. What I mean is, if a family has twins, whether boys or girls, only one can be kept. Otherwise, it brings disaster to the village. This rule's always been followed."

Qing Ming said, "How can there be such a superstitious thing?"

The old man went on, "My grandfather told me that when he was young, there were two families in the village who had twins, one had two girls, the other had a boy and a girl. As parents, of course they didn't want to abandon a living child. But later, a plague hit the village, and more than a dozen people died..."

Naturally, Qing Ming didn't believe any of it, and he explained, "Plagues are caused by highly pathogenic microorganisms like bacteria or viruses. They usually occur after natural disasters when poor sanitation conditions arise. To link a natural disaster with the birth of a child, it's honestly astonishing how imaginative people were in the old days."

Xing Zui cast him a glance. "Are you trying to have a duet with someone? Put away your IQ and let them finish speaking."

Hearing this, Qing Ming was naturally displeased, but he quickly buried his irritation behind a suitably composed expression. With a forced smile that didn't reach his eyes, he said, "Please, Elder, do go on..."

The old man took a drag of his dry tobacco and continued, "The villagers were frightened and clung to the ancestors' rules, all to avoid bringing disaster upon the village. They forced those two families to abandon one of their children each. The babies were just a month old, and they were thrown out behind the mountain, left for the wild dogs and wolves."

Qing Ming was horrified by this gruesome tale. If such a thing had truly happened, it was appallingly cruel. He restrained himself from speaking and turned slightly to look at Xing Zui, only to see the man sitting with his hands folded under his chin, half his face veiled in indifference, betraying no other emotion. The old man paid no mind to the two of them and went on: "Actually, it's rare for families in the village to have twins, but Laogen's wife just happened to give birth to a pair. It was fate, cruel fate. I still remember that night decades ago. The midwife came out holding a baby boy, and Laogen was overjoyed. Just as the villagers were about to leave after offering their congratulations, another baby's cry came from the room. The midwife said it was twins, two boys. After that, Laogen and his wife knelt and begged the villagers, but no one wanted disaster to befall the village. They forced the couple to abandon one of the babies, and the one who survived was Datong."

"That's too cruel. Just a newborn child, and you could really bring yourselves to do that?" Qing Ming said angrily.

The old man took a hard drag of his pipe, as if trying to pull all that mouldy, long-buried past into his lungs.

It was then that Xing Zui spoke up. "I suppose Lin Laogen and his wife must have cherished Lin Datong dearly, as their only son, right?"

The old man took up the thread. "How could they not... When there was no food at home, Laogen and his wife chewed on tree bark and grass roots but never let the child go hungry. I remember when Datong was small, he was very sensible. Once, I don't know what Laogen might've said to him, but the boy climbed up a tree and wouldn't come down no matter how they coaxed him. Later, Datong fell and hurt his leg, and Laogen would climb the mountain before dawn every day to gather herbs to treat the injury. Datong was their pride and joy... And now he's just... just gone like that... cough, cough, cough..."

Perhaps the fluctuating emotions had become too much, after finishing his words, the old man couldn't stop coughing. Qing Ming placed a hand gently on the old man's back, rubbing it slowly to help him catch his breath... He turned again to look at Xing Zui, and saw a thoughtful expression on his face...

A moment later, Xing Zui spoke. "Sir, would you mind pointing us in the right direction?"

Later, the two of them followed the direction indicated by the old man and went to Lin Datong's home. But it could hardly be called a home any more, it was nothing more than a dilapidated shell of a stone house, long since abandoned. Before the sun had completely set, the two left the village and walked on foot back to where they had parked.

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On the way back, Qing Ming was the one driving. By the time they returned to Dang City, it was already past nine in the evening. Xing Zui had him stop the car outside a furniture warehouse, where he spent a few minutes buying a bed and directed one of the movers from the store to carry it up to his home.

"Mmm... Nothing beats a bed. Senior, you're really too good to me... I almost want to..."

Xing Zui's face was expressionless as he interrupted him. "Don't even think about it, go cook."

Qing Ming lay sprawled across the new bed, his face awash with indescribable satisfaction. For no particular reason, he felt the urge to flirt and cast a teasing smile at Xing Zui, who was leaning casually against the door frame. "Senior, does this mean... we're cohabiting now?"

Xing Zui, on the other hand, remained utterly composed and replied coldly, "Cheeky kid, what are you imagining... All it means is that there's now a live-in maid who does the laundry and cooks, now go make dinner."

"... How boring!"

With a somersault, Qing Ming leapt off the bed and ran to the bathroom, beginning to undress, but then, for some reason, he paused, changed his mind, washed his hands, and headed to the kitchen to prepare the meal.

After dinner, once he had tidied up the dishes, Qing Ming went straight into the study. Xing Zui was fully engrossed in the case, and when someone entered, he didn't so much as flinch, his gaze remained fixed on the computer screen. It made Qing Ming wonder, "... Is my presence that low?"

At that moment, a cool, magnetic voice drifted over from the desk: "Don't you knock before coming in?"

As he spoke, Xing Zui slowly shifted his gaze to Qing Ming.

Qing Ming deliberately ignored the chill in his look and said, "Senior, I want you to tell me about this case. Since I arrived, no one's mentioned it to me."

Xing Zui tilted his chin slightly, signalling him to come over.

"The deceased, Lin Datong, male, thirty-two years old, construction worker. The body was discovered on the 10th of this month. According to the deceased's wife, he went missing on the evening of October 7th. For now, revenge killing has been tentatively ruled out."

"At the meeting yesterday, I heard Vice Captain Cui say that the deceased had visited a traditional Chinese medicine shop on October 8th, which means he might have been killed sometime between the evening of the 7th and the 9th. Are there any suspicious people amongst those who had contact with the deceased during that period?"

"I've been to the deceased's home and can confirm it was the primary crime scene. The deceased's wife is the main suspect."

"If the deceased's wife is under suspicion, we can apply to the higher-ups for a search warrant to..."

Before Qing Ming could finish, Xing Zui cut him off, saying, "The search warrant hasn't come through yet, it should be a matter of a day or two. According to the forensic report, time of death was three to four days prior. Even considering the body-dumping site and other external conditions, we initially set the time of death as the evening of the 8th. But Fang Lai checked, and the deceased's wife worked overtime on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, so she had no time to commit the crime. It's a bit contradictory..."

Qing Ming: "So when exactly did Lin Datong die?"

"The sixth," Xing Zui said in a low voice.

Qing Ming looked at him. "Senior, you mean the deceased died on the 6th?"

Xing Zui neither confirmed nor denied it directly, continuing, "The person the old Chinese doctor saw on the 8th might not have been the deceased himself, and although we haven't yet found evidence to prove it, I'm certain the death occurred on the 6th."

"Senior, how can you be so sure he was killed on the 6th? Don't tell me it's some sixth sense..."

Xing Zui shut his laptop and stood up... and Qing Ming suddenly realised the man was a full head taller than him.

"Our city's forensic department isn't so incompetent that it would get the time of death wrong, that scatterbrain still has some skills."

Though Xing Zui said this, he was inwardly quite confident in his own judgement.

"Scatterbrain?"

Xing Zui explained, "Mu Sen, our department's chief forensic pathologist."

Qing Ming recalled the nickname Xing Zui had given him and, by comparison, found it rather tolerable.

"Senior, your ability to come up with nicknames really is... unmatched."

"I'm just good at identifying key traits in people and objects."

With that, Xing Zui lifted a foot and walked out of the study. Qing Ming quickly called out, "Could I catch a ride with you tomorrow morning?"

"Get up early, I won't wait for you."

And with that, not even giving Qing Ming the chance to say thank you, Xing Zui had already walked out of the study...

‿︵‿︵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 30, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 22, 2026 by Angel