Chapter 5: ◎“…Are You and Yu Bai Just Teacher and Student?”◎

Sun Ye was thoroughly depressed as he rode along on duty with Zhou Hui. He hadn’t even finished his meal, and now he had to work.

Zhou Hui was infamous in the team as a workaholic. Once she sank her teeth into a case, she could go ten days or even half a month without setting foot at home, holing up in the bureau day after day.

Sun Ye rolled down the passenger-side window for some fresh air, only for a blast of cold, rain-lashed wind to hit him square in the face and snap him awake. He suddenly remembered it was pouring outside. “Captain Zhou,” he asked, “where are we headed now?”

Han Wei clambered up from the back seat and spoke in a hollow voice. “Wu Guojiang’s place.”

Sun Ye jolted so hard he nearly bashed his head on the roof. “Holy shit… Deputy Han, when the hell did you climb in?”

“Right when you made that excuse to hit the john and were squatting in there scarfing down sausages.”

Sun Ye trailed off. “…I wasn’t.”

Zhou Hui just shook her head with a chuckle and steered toward Wu Guojiang’s home. Time had been short the day before, so they’d only gotten a rough sketch of his social connections. Then this morning’s new case had thrown the entire City Bureau into pandemonium. Only now had they managed to loop in the landlady and head over.

Forty minutes later, the patrol car pulled to a smooth stop downstairs from Wu Guojiang’s building in Guer District. The neighborhood was a warren of migrant worker digs—plenty of them decrepit structures pushing half a century old—sprawling in a chaotic mess across half the block. The old landlords had mostly cleared out long ago, leaving the place as a hub for construction grunts and other low-wage workers who couldn’t swing a proper apartment. A few rented solo, but most crammed in together. Divide a shoebox of a few square meters among three or four people, and you barely had space to flop a mattress. The conditions sucked, sure, but the rent didn’t.

Wu Guojiang had the place to himself, which made him something of a big shot around here.

Zhou Hui checked her watch. They still had ten minutes before the landlady was due, so the three of them waited in the car.

Out of the blue, Sun Ye piped up. “Captain Zhou, you think Wu Guojiang’s apartment could be the first crime scene? Maybe we’ll catch a break there.”

Zhou Hui shook her head. “Doubt it. Take a look around—how many people are packed in here? These shanties are slapped together with zero soundproofing. A lovers’ spat would echo like thunder. The killer did all that to the victim while he was still alive. Even gagged, those death throes would’ve made enough racket to wake the neighbors.

“Plus, hauling the body out means trekking right through this hallway. Bump into one pair of eyes, and he’s cooked.”

Sun Ye deflated like a punctured tire. “And here I thought we had our breakthrough.”

The landlady came trudging into view from down the street. Zhou Hui motioned for them to pile out, adding to Sun Ye as she popped her door, “Not set in stone yet. Could be… Hold up—someone’s in Wu Guojiang’s place on the second floor!”

“Sun Ye, keep the landlady down here—don’t let her come up.” Zhou Hui pivoted to Han Wei and jerked her chin toward the back of the building. He nodded, getting the picture.

Zhou Hui flung open her door and bolted up to the second floor. She put her boot through Wu Guojiang’s front door. A scrawny kid in his early twenties was down on one knee by a cabinet next to the sofa, pawing through it like a fiend. He froze at the intrusion, then bolted for the rear window—plainly aiming to rabbit out that way. He made it two steps before Han Wei cut him off from below.

“Shit, you’ve got backup.” The kid scrapped the jump, yanked a fruit knife from his belt, and lunged at Zhou Hui.

She didn’t hesitate, charging right in. He flailed left, right—didn’t nick her once. Zhou Hui slipped behind him smooth as silk, wrenched the blade away in a couple slick moves, cranked his arms back, and slammed him face-first onto the concrete.

“Fuck your mom, you crazy bitch—where’d you come from? Holy shit, lemme go!” he thrashed and spat from the floor.

Out on field duty, uniforms weren’t mandatory every day, so Zhou Hui rocked a black tee with dark blue police pants. She hadn’t flashed her gun on entry—no surprise the punk hadn’t clocked her for a cop.

She slapped cuffs on him now and yanked him to his feet.

“Captain Zhou! You good?” Han Wei came charging around from the back at the commotion, doubled over the doorframe and huffing. He took in the scene and shot her a thumbs-up.

Zhou Hui raked a hand through her short hair. “Name? What’re you hunting for in Wu Guojiang’s pad?”

The kid had gone from fire-breathing dragon to shivering mess the second the cuffs clicked. He quivered there, sputtering fragments that never quite formed words.

Zhou Hui turned to Han Wei. “Get the landlady up here. See if she knows this clown.”

Han Wei bellowed down to the street. Sun Ye hustled the spooked landlady upstairs. Rain had shut down the sites today, so every window sprouted heads like mushrooms after a storm.

Some flung their doors wide for a better look. The hallway was already a choke point of family junk, laundry lines strung with dripping clothes—and now it brimmed with rubberneckers, necks craned, turning the passage into a sardine can.

The hallway buzzed with chatter. A man in his forties, dressed in a tank top, baggy shorts, and flip-flops, clutched a handful of sunflower seeds. He spat a shell onto the floor with a sharp “Ptooey!” and elbowed the construction worker beside him, who was crowding in to gawk at the spectacle. “Wu Guojiang must’ve stirred up some real trouble lately! Cops showing up every damn day—last night a whole squad came poking around with questions.”

The other man snatched a few seeds from his hand, cracking them between his teeth as he grumbled, “Yesterday I was already asleep when the cops banged on my door and woke me up… I told ’em straight: I don’t know nothin’, got nothin’ for ya. Who the hell knows what that little shit Wu Guojiang’s been up to? He’s always vanishing from the site every few days… Last month, the bastard clocked me with a stick and landed me in the hospital. Lay there for ten friggin’ days, didn’t make a dime and shelled out a fortune in medical bills. He didn’t cough up a single cent. Fuck, guys like him belong behind bars.”

The onlookers chimed in with their own speculation, each tossing out guesses about what had really happened.

Sun Ye finally managed to squeeze into the room with the landlady. Zhou Hui turned to her. “Do you know this man?”

The landlady studied him for a moment. “Aren’t you the tenant from next door? What’s your name again…?”

“Wei Xiaoming,” the middle-aged man in flip-flops called out from the doorway.

“Right, right, Wei Xiaoming—the guy in the room to the left of Wu Guojiang’s.”

Han Wei turned to Wei Xiaoming. “What are you doing in Wu Guojiang’s place?”

Wei Xiaoming hesitated. “…Looking for money.”

Looking for money?!

A glance around Wu Guojiang’s home revealed a secondhand sofa scavenged from a flea market, an ancient boxy TV, a rickety folding table straight out of the ’90s, and a single bed riddled with rust. Even the toilet was down the hall in the communal bathroom. It sure didn’t look like the lair of someone hiding a fortune worth stealing.

The three of them combed through the place meticulously for evidence but turned up none of the money Wei Xiaoming had mentioned. When they pressed him further, he just hemmed and hawed, unable to explain.

In the interrogation room.

Han Wei sat across the table from him. “Wei Xiaoming, you say you were looking for money in Wu Guojiang’s home? Explain yourself clearly.”

After the ride over and half an hour in the interrogation room, Wei Xiaoming seemed to regain some composure. “Fifty thousand yuan! Brother Wu said it himself that night when he was drunk. He got a job from some rich boss—advance payment alone was fifty grand.”

Han Wei leaned in. “What kind of job?”

“Don’t know. Brother Wu wouldn’t say. I asked him to hook me up too, but he got all secretive, said I was too young for it. Everyone knows what he was thinking—he just didn’t want me stealing his gig!”

“When did you last see Wu Guojiang?”

Wei Xiaoming didn’t hesitate. “That drinking night—May 4th.”

Han Wei raised an eyebrow. “Over ten days ago, and you remember it that precisely.”

“Hey, I’d just broken up with my girlfriend that day, so I went to drown my sorrows with Brother Wu. Still fresh in my mind.”

Han Wei pressed on. “Where were you on the evening of May 10th, between seven and nine?”

Wei Xiaoming had been dodging questions all along, lost in a fog, but now he rallied. “Officer, I just went to his place to swipe some cash, right? Didn’t even get it. Did Wu Guojiang badmouth me to you cops? Let me confront him face-to-face!”

Han Wei’s face hardened. “Wu Guojiang didn’t say anything to the police. And he won’t get the chance to confront you—because he’s dead.”

“Dead?! It wasn’t me, I swear!” Wei Xiaoming let out a shrill yelp.

Han Wei furrowed his brow. “Then come clean. Where exactly were you on the evening of May 10th, between seven and nine?”

“I was… downstairs playing cards with the guys from work…”

Han Wei slammed the table. “Wei Xiaoming! Think hard before you answer. You weren’t downstairs playing cards that night—your coworkers already confirmed it. So where were you, huh?”

“I didn’t kill him, I really didn’t…”

“Fuck.” Outside the interrogation room, Han Wei punched the wall. “What the hell is this?”

Zhou Hui clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t get too worked up. Cases like this won’t crack just because you’re in a rush.” She glanced at the plainclothes officer who’d been staring through the one-way glass next door and issued orders. “Check Wei Xiaoming’s background, social connections. Focus on Wu Guojiang’s movements before and after the murder, call records, and any unusual financial activity.”

The team hurried off to their tasks. Zhou Hui snapped her fingers at Han Wei with a grin. “C’mon, let’s go blow off some steam.”

Han Wei stared at his boss in disbelief. Zhou Hui turning mellow? In the past, big cases like this had her going full throttle, refusing to go home until they broke.

“Where to?” Han Wei asked hesitantly.

“Red Clubhouse.” Zhou Hui was curt. Before he could process it, she’d already grabbed the car keys and headed out.

“Ah?” Han Wei hurried after her. “Hasn’t Yu Bai already been cleared of suspicion?”

“Yes, what I asked her about was something else… Let’s talk in the car.”

The rain had been falling nonstop for two straight days, saturating the air with dampness. It was nearing seven in the evening now, and the sky had turned pitch black. Through the car window, the roadside scenery looked somewhat distorted.

Amid the scenery sliding past in reverse, Captain Zhou’s voice sounded. “Do you remember what Wei Xiaoming said earlier? He mentioned Wu Guojiang had recently been doing business with someone—a big deal, at that.”

Han Wei frowned. “You suspect that person is Yu Bai?”

Captain Zhou shook her head. “I can’t say for sure, but consider this: with Wu Guojiang’s income level, he could never afford a high-end spot like the Red Clubhouse. Even if she didn’t kill him, she’s definitely not as innocent and harmless as she appears.”

Han Wei nodded in agreement. Right now, they had no other leads, so they had no choice but to dig into Wu Guojiang’s social circle first… Captain Zhou’s talk of taking a break to unwind was nothing but a smokescreen.

Han Wei secretly pursed his lips from the passenger seat. He had thought Captain Zhou had suddenly turned over a new leaf, actually starting to care about her subordinate’s mental health.

Captain Zhou could easily read his mind. “All right, once the case wraps up, I’ll treat everyone to a proper meal. Time’s tight these past couple of days—hang in there.”

Han Wei waved it off casually. “I’m not worn out. Serving the people is what I do… That said, if you’re buying dinner, count me in as your number one fan.”

Captain Zhou shot him a sidelong glance and chuckled. “If you want to eat, just say you want to eat. No need to pull that with me.”

Han Wei had been under Captain Zhou’s command in the criminal investigation team for two years, serving as her most capable right-hand man—practically her other half. Their teamwork was seamless, and together they had cracked multiple cases.

A year ago, during an armed robbery in Pingling City, Captain Zhou took a bullet to the waist while rescuing a hostage. She spent a full month in the hospital ward. Han Wei made a point of visiting her every single day after work, even more diligently than her own father.

Captain Zhou’s father, Zhou Boyan—a heavyweight official at the provincial hall level—had shown unprecedented concern for his daughter back then. With her marriage prospects in mind and seeing how well she and Han Wei got along, he tried to play matchmaker. He summoned them both to his office for a chat, but to his surprise, they both shot it down flat.

Captain Zhou told her father to quit meddling in her life; she and Han Wei were strictly like brothers.

Zhou Boyan was beside himself with worry. Here was a twenty-seven-year-old woman who never stayed home, with a wild streak fiercer than most men’s. Who would ever dare to marry her?

In the year since, Zhou Boyan had lined up one blind date after another for Captain Zhou. She played along with the first few for his sake, meeting them for dinner and a chat. But the moment they learned she worked criminal investigations, they balked. Everyone knew the job meant long hours; after marriage, who would handle the household? And with kids—who’d manage meals, school drop-offs, tutoring classes?

Criminal investigation work was downright perilous, too. Family members could end up as hostages at any moment, forcing a life of constant anxiety that most people couldn’t stomach. Beauty might turn heads, but it didn’t pay the bills. The men showing up for these dates weren’t there like Captain Zhou, dragged by family pressure; they were serious about marriage and weighed every factor.

In the end, Captain Zhou stopped bothering with meetings altogether. She holed up at the Police Bureau day and night, poring over cases. She remained single to this day, while her bond with Han Wei as brothers only grew tighter.

True to their brotherhood, Captain Zhou couldn’t resist a bit of gossip. “…You and Yu Bai—you were just teacher and student?”

She had always sensed something off about the way Han Wei treated Yu Bai. Their relationship felt… oddly nuanced.

Han Wei saw no point in hiding it. “I pursued her once, but it didn’t pan out.”

“No wonder you were so off your game yesterday.” Captain Zhou’s face was inscrutable for a long moment before she said, “Don’t let it happen again!”

Han Wei felt genuinely sorry. In a situation like this, he should have recused himself from the interrogation. “It won’t. If anything like this comes up again, I’ll report it to the organization right away.”