Chapter 17: Experiment

Ji Fanyang finished prepping for his all-nighter, and Lu Hui returned to the hotel once he’d had his meal. 

Rao Feifei told Yang Jie that she would stay behind to help divide the work. 

“You’ll work for the first half of the night, and I’ll work for the second half.” Rao Feifei said, “There’s a lounge next door where you can rest for a bit.”

Ji Fanyang nodded and straightened out the pile of paper: “Okay.”

…

At about two in the morning, Rao Feifei rubbed her eyes as she walked into the office. She let out a small yawn: “Go get some sleep. I’ll take over for you.”

Ji Fanyang yawned too: “Thank you.”

“What’s there to thank? We’re all in the hands of that Great Tyrant Lu.” Rao Feifei patted Ji Fanyang on the shoulder, emanating the mood of fellow sufferers. 

Ji Fanyang smiled wryly: “Sure, sure.” He went to the water cooler, poured a glass, then placed it beside Rao Feifei, “I’m going to rest. Good night.”

“Good night.” Rao Feifei waved him off, propped her head on a hand, and leafed through the paperwork. 

…

Three a.m.

Lu Hui blew into the office like a hurricane. He threw open the door with a ‘bang’, his eyes lit up like two searchlights trained on Rao Feifei: “Where’s Ji Fanyang?”

“Huh? He just went to get some sleep.” Rao Feifei spoke softly, “Chief Lu, do you…” need something?

Before she finished her question, Lu Hui turned around and walked directly to the lounge. He pulled open the door and stood next to a row of chairs. Ji Fanyang was using the row of chairs as a makeshift bed and was deep in slumber. 

Soft strands of hair floated on Ji Fanyang’s forehead. With his eyes closed tightly, his eyelashes formed a graceful arch. He looked gentle, and even when asleep, he had an air of harmlessness, like a curled-up stag with freshly sprouted antlers. 

Lu Hui, however, was not a sympathetic person. He prodded the contently sleeping young man: “Ji Fanyang.”

The young man turned over impatiently, but the chairs were too narrow to curl up comfortably, so could only indignantly mumble to himself. 

“Ji Fanyang!” Lu Hui pinched Ji Fanyang’s nose, his eyes as bright as a child pulling a practical joke. 

Ji Fanyang, who was just about smothered to death, blinked opened his eyes and looked at Lu Hui, his eyes bleary and unfocused: “…Ah?”

“Get up, we’re going to do an experiment.” Lu Hui said with cheer. Whenever he had a new idea, he would look like this: a child who had just found a cool new conch shell at the beach. 

“Not going.” Ji Fanyang knocked Lu Hui’s hand away, then shut his eyes to go back to sleep. 

Lu Hui frowned: “I’m going to go find a glass.” He pretended like he was going to leave.

Ji Fanyang, who had just heard his trigger word, ‘glass,’ was suddenly awake. He still remembered the water splashing on his face a few months ago, so he urgently sat up: “Hold on, wait, I’m up, I’m up.”

Satisfied, Lu Hui turned back around to face Ji Fanyang: “Get ready, we’re going to the pond in the Li Family Village.”

Ji Fanyang couldn’t help but let out a long yawn, reaching out an arm to grab his jacket: “What did you think of?”

“You’ll find out when we get there.” Lu Hui said triumphantly. His whole body radiated an aura that clearly said he was in need of a spanking. 

Ji Fanyang pinched the bridge of his nose, resigning himself to his fate. After he put on his jacket, he stood: “Let’s go.”

They left the local police station. Lu Hui drove the car as they went to the pond. 

Ji Fanyang sat in the passenger seat nodding off, his head lowering bit by bit like a click beetle. 

Lu Hui’s eyes were scarily bright. He turned on the car’s stereo and an enormous wave of heavy metal rock music flooded the interior of the car, shaking Ji Fanyang so bad that he temporarily lost his reason. 

“Turn it off!” Ji Fanyang yelled at Lu Hui. 

“No!” The corners of Lu Hui’s lips carried a smile. He rolled down all of the windows so the rock music would disperse outside the car, disturbing the nearby residents and animals. 

To get along with Lu Hui, one had to have an astonishing amount of patience. Ji Fanyang turned down the volume. As if he was matching strength with Ji Fanyang, Lu Hui turned it up to full volume. They went back and forth several times until Ji Fanyang gave up. 

Just before Ji Fanyang could execute his secret plan to kill Lu Hui, the two arrived, at last, to their destination. 

The now entirely awake young man pushed open the car door and said: “We’re going to get a lot of noise complaints.”

“They couldn’t see the license plate at that speed.” Lu Hui said. 

“Okay, speeding tickets, then.” Ji Fanyang said listlessly, “We’re going to get scolded to hell and back by Director Gao.”

“You will.” Lu Hui said matter-of-factly, “How could a middle-aged man like me enjoy heavy metal?”

Ji Fanyang tried to convince himself that the bastard standing beside him was his boss. 

Lu Hui pulled out a flashlight from the backseat: “We’re here to act out the roles of the case’s key players. You’ll be Li Peng. Go stand over by the pond.” He pointed toward the pond, “And I’ll play the person with the flashlight.” He retreated a few steps to where the footprint had been recovered. 

Ji Fanyang followed the direction indicated by Lu Hui, walking over to stand on the small pathway by the pond side: “Here?” He raised his head and asked. 

Lu Hui turned the flashlight on to its brightest setting, the white beam of light flashing into Ji Fanyang’s eyes. 

Ji Fanyang was temporarily blinded, and even when squinting, he could not see anything. He dimly heard Lu Hui say: “A few more steps.”

He staggered over a few more steps. Without his vision, he couldn’t even grope around for direction. 

Lu Hui turned off the flashlight. Ji Fanyang lightly closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. 

“Look at where you are.” Lu Hui said. 

Ji Fanyang composed himself, lowering his head to see where his feet were. He was only about a half step from the pond. He broke out in a cold sweat. If he had taken just a few more steps and fallen into the pond, with Lu Hui’s moral character, he definitely wouldn’t have rescued him. 

He and Lu Hui weren’t friends, after all. 

Ji Fanyang wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking at Lu Hui with admiration: “So this was the murder method.”

“Yep.” Lu Hui shook the flashlight, “The murderer is smart.”

Ji Fanyang suddenly sprinted up to the car, pulled open the door and sat inside. He rolled up all the windows and locked all of the doors, leaving only the passenger window rolled down the barest sliver. 

Lu Hui was stunned by Ji Fanyang’s cheetah-like movements. He stood in place holding the flashlight, staring at Ji Fanyang as did all of that. 

“Chief Lu.” Ji Fanyang’s voice was brimming with laughter, “Are we friends?”

“We aren’t.” As usual, Lu Hui refuted it. 

Ji Fanyang started the car: “Then I can only return by myself.” He put the car in reverse and turned the car around. 

Lu Hui gazed at the car as it left, entirely at a loss. He only had the flashlight and an old phone on him. 

Ji Fanyang’s straightforward ditching made him feel a little wronged, but his own arrogance did not allow him to reveal weakness. He called Wei Congjia on the phone. 

“Hello?” Captain Wei’s voice was a little indistinct and somewhat hoarse. He sounded like he had just been woken up. 

“I…” Lu Hui hesitated for a moment, then decided that it was better to tell him: “Ji Fanyang threw me out by the Li Family Village’s pond.”

“Hahahaha!” Wei Congjia couldn’t help but laugh. With effort, he woke himself up a bit, “It’s four in the morning right now. You have another three hours until you need to be at work. Good luck.” He hung up. 

Lu Hui held his phone as he paced restlessly in circles around the berm twice before sitting down on the grass. 

At four in the morning, the dew on the grass would obviously be a little damp. 

The sound of a car engine drew closer, and Lu Hui lifted his head. Ji Fanyang rolled down the passenger window: “Lu Hui, admit we are friends and I’ll give you a lift back to the hotel.”

His shoulders bearing the tremendous weight of his own arrogance, Lu Hui straightened his spine and said: “No.”

It was just three hours. Lu Hui felt that he could find a way to pass the time. 

Ji Fanyang sighed. Since the day he had met Lu Hui, the number of times he sighed per day had steeply increased. He opened the door and walked up to Lu Hui: “Don’t sit on the grass, it’s cold.” He bent down halfway and looked directly into Lu Hui’s eyes. The young man’s irises were not completely black; rather, they were tawny brown, like ginger-colored amber, “How about this, you can come discuss your new ideas with me, no matter the time. How does that sound?”

Lu Hui had never met someone as persistent as Ji Fanyang. Normally, when people were told ‘no’ three times by Lu Hui, they would go far away, wishing nothing more than to never see him again. For a moment, Lu Hui faltered: “I don’t have friends.”

“Isn’t Captain Wei your friend?” Ji Fanyang asked. 

Lu Hui shook his head: “No, he’s my xuezhang[1].”

In Lu Hui’s opinion, ‘xuezhang’ and ‘friend’ had one significant difference: he could rely on friends, but he couldn’t rely on xuezhang. Wei Congjia was a kindhearted person who had helped him, and they maintained a steady distance like two parallel lines. He would selectively listen to and act on Wei Congjia’s suggestions, their relationship more of a working one. They don’t share their feelings with each other and have no other contact beyond work and occasional favors. Lu Hui’s mind was like a bright mirror[2], and just as he remembered to keep an internal account, he looked for opportunities to repay debts. 

Lu Hui never owed anyone, and he was never owed by anyone. 

A happiness grew in Ji Fanyang, like an explorer who had found an undiscovered treasure. He clandestinely buried these little secrets and selfish thoughts in the bottom of his heart. He smiled slightly, then placed a hand on Lu Hui’s forearm: “Promise me.”

Lu Hui said impatiently: “You’re making this look like a proposal.” He didn’t throw off Ji Fanyang’s hand. He snorted and said, “You’ll have to do a month’s traineeship first, kid.”

“Once I finish the traineeship, I’ll need a certificate.” Ji Fanyang gestured, “This big, and handwritten.”

Lu Hui didn’t reply. He stood up and patted the dirt off his pants: “Let’s go.”

“You promised.” Ji Fanyang followed him from behind. 

“I didn’t.” Lu Hui said. 

“You promised me a certificate.” Ji Fanyang argued. 

The two of them bickered like seven-year-olds as they walked back to the car and drove away.