Chapter 11: Reconnoiter

Just as Lu Hui opened the car door and touched one leather shoe to the ground, he was pushed back into the car by a young person pouncing on him: “Cough! Ji Fanyang!”

The young man quickly stood back up: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He took a few steps back, his nervousness obvious, “Did I hurt you?”

“No, but I’m not a bean bag.” Lu Hui inspected Ji Fanyang up and down, “Or a wartime bunker.”

The young man’s face flushed slightly, ashamed about not controlling his emotions. 

Even though his words were rude, Lu Hui stepped in front of the young man, lowering his voice: “Stay behind me, don’t say anything.”

“O-Okay.” Ji Fanyang obeyed and stood behind Lu Hui like a shadow. 

“Li Family Village’s chief, Li Ying?” Lu Hui removed the report from Ji Fanyang’s hands. The gloom between his eyebrows was even thicker, so he looked like a bandit, albeit a handsome one, “Just for this triviality?”

“In your eyes, a dead person is a triviality?” Li Ying frowned, “Is this how the Public Safety Bureau serves the people?”

“Wow, you’re literate.” Lu Hui pulled no punches with his sarcasm, “When did you become the spokesman for the people?”

Li Ying was rendered speechless, and just at that moment, the Luowan County police arrived. 

Supervisor Li exited the car and walked over to Lu Hui with a kind smile: “You all are our comrades from the City Bureau? I’m the supervisor here, Li Jun.”

“You’re surnamed Li, too?” Lu Hui’s suspicious gaze swiveled over to Li Jun. 

“My surname is Li, but I have no relation with the Li Family Village.” Li Jun waved a hand, “There are so many Li’s, not every Li is from this village.”

Lu Hui nodded lightly, just about accepting this statement. 

A police car further off stopped and Rao Feifei and Yang Jie stepped out. Rao Feifei waved at Lu Hui: “Chief Lu, what happened?”

“The unpromising brat behind me was detained.” Lu Hui held the papers, and he couldn’t be bothered to listen to the Li Family Village’s nonsense, “Where’s this pond?” He turned his head toward Ji Fanyang. 

“East of here.” Ji Fanyang said, “Chief Lu wants to investigate again?”

“What ‘investigate again’, has it been looked into before? Afraid of splitting the credit?” Lu Hui lifted an eyebrow. Boredom is boredom, might as well investigate. 

Ji Fanyang did not raise any objections. For their squad, as long as they weren’t sitting idly, it couldn’t be considered a waste of police resources. After all, while they were at the office, all they did was waste electricity anyway. 

After walking through half the village, the eight local officers and Lu Hui’s squad arrived at the pond. 

Lu Hui did not want to read the case details, so he passed the dossier off to Ji Fanyang. The young man’s eyesight was keen, so he extracted the important points and told Lu Hui. 

“One week ago, the Luowan County police received a report that there was a male corpse floating in the pond east of Li Family Village. Three officers went to the scene to fish out the corpse and send it off for investigation. The coroner stated that the deceased had already been dead for about six days.” Ji Fanyang said, “The deceased’s passing coincided with a continuous three-day bout of light rain. They also pulled a rusted bike out of the pond and ruled the death a drowning due to a slip in the rain.”

“Mm, a straightforward conclusion.” Not discerning whether Lu Hui was praising or disparaging him, Ji Fanyang looked up and blinked. Lu Hui smacked him on the head, “Don’t be stupid, keep reading.”

“That’s it.” Ji Fanyang said. 

“Idiocy.” Lu Hui looked around the scene and scolded coldly. Then, he started dividing up the work, “Rao Feifei and Ya…Sister Yang, go interview the villagers, starting with the deceased’s family. Ji Fanyang and I will walk around the village. Supervisor Li, have someone monitor the scene. No one can cross the security line.”

“Understood.” Rao Feifei, Yang Jie, and Ji Fanyang said in unison. 

“I will also…” Supervisor Li frowned. 

“Lodge any complaint you have with Director Gao.” Lu Hui parsed Li Jun’s words, then dismissed everyone, “Go.”

Ji Fanyang followed behind Lu Hui in silence for a bit. He smiled at Supervisor Li apologetically, wanting to reduce the casualties of Lu Hui’s bad temper. 

But it didn’t seem much use. 

“Chief Lu.” Ji Fanyang suddenly moved forward to walk side by side with Lu Hui, “Isn’t there a problem, treating Supervisor Li like this?”

“I treat everyone the same. Do you have a problem?” Lu Hui said. 

“…No.” 

Lu Hui was a three-hundred-sixty-degree-rotating barrel of a revolver, shooting anyone he could catch, like a self-propelled negative-energy blaster. 

Aside from the village chief and the crowd around him, some people chose to sit in front of their houses to spectate. 

“Go use your charming face and talk to those girls.” Lu Hui pointed to two girls, who were amusing themselves below a tree, and said, “Sweet talk them a little, girls today are precocious.”

Ji Fanyang felt his own face: “Charming?”

“What, you want me to compliment you again?” Lu Hui shot a look at him, “I’ll charge.”

Ji Fanyang was indeed good looking, and he was seven years younger than Lu Hui, with bright, clear skin, handsome facial features, and straight teeth. When he stood in the sunlight, he looked remarkably like an angel. 

In contrast, when Lu Hui stood in the abundant daylight, a spontaneous low-pressure system took form, and even his shadow was a few shades darker than others’. 

“Don’t stand there blankly, hurry up.” Lu Hui pressed. 

Ji Fanyang had no alternative but to walk a few steps forward to the tree, papers in hand, and kneel down: “Hello.”

“Hi, da-gege.” The two girls responded. 

Lu Hui stood further off. He could not help but think that, should he walk over, even if he didn’t say anything, the girls would definitely run off in fright. 

He sneered. It seemed like he hadn’t been a human child once. 

Not a moment later, Ji Fanyang stood up, and the young girls’ young voices drifted over: “Bye, da-gege.”

“Goodbye.” Ji Fanyang smiled slightly, then turned around and walked over to Lu Hui, “I’ve learned something…”

“Speak.” Lu Hui stood firm, and as the sunlight streamed through the disordered hair on his forehead, the light reflected in his eyes, which were like two cold, deep pools. 

Ji Fanyang gazed into his eyes, stunned for a moment. He then arranged his words and said: “They said that a few da-geges would be happy with the deceased’s death.”

“Happy?” Lu Hui rubbed his jaw, “That word doesn’t seem like a good portent.”

“And Li Ying doesn’t seem like a good person.” Ji Fanyang mumbled under his breath. 

“People can’t be separated into good or bad.” Lu Hui said, his irises as deep and serene as two wells, “There is no moral or immoral, only lawful or unlawful.”

Ji Fanyang frowned: “You approve of immoral behavior?”

“What relation does it have with my approval?” Lu Hui’s lips quirked into his familiar mocking smile, “We should go ask the elderly people of the village.”

In the Li Family Village, the agricultural tradition of ‘village elders’ persevered, and while they may not have the obvious title of ‘village elders’, it was very easy to find several respected older figures in Li Family Village——

Lu Hui barged into the Li Family’s ancestral hall. 

With this exceedingly immoral method, he soon located the elderly residents. 

Ji Fanyang followed behind Lu Hui fearfully, but he didn’t try to dissuade him. He didn’t want his bones broken by the stick in his hand. 

Lu Hui pounded the stick on the threshold of the hall, and with the banging sound, it really seemed like the memorial tablets of the previous generations of the Li Clan were shaking. 

Using their walking stick, an elder emerged from the hall: “Who’s stick was that?!”

“Lu Hui, Chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Squad of Linhua City’s Public Safety Bureau.” Lu Hui reported, flashing his stick, “The breeding industry of Luowan has really expanded these last two years, you all should fix your ancestral hall.”

Trembling from anger due to his roguish behavior, the elder huffed: “Is this how you all serve the people?”

Ji Fanyang covered his mouth to hold back his smile as Lu Hui said: “Li Ying is your son?”