Five Cases

Chapter 40: Missing

Ji Fanyang earnestly recuperated for three months. Even though he burned with impatience, with his injury, he wasn’t capable of escaping Ji Lian’s surveillance detail. 

Fan Shuqin observed Ji Fanyang as he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She felt sorry for his plight and said softly: “I went and asked after your chief’s condition. He woke up from his coma and is currently recovering.” She pulled out her cellphone and passed it to Ji Fanyang, “See, here’s a text from his older sister.”

Ji Fanyang poured over each word of the text message carefully before he could at last fall asleep peacefully. 

Fan Shuqin’s brow furrowed with worry. She had indeed asked, but things were not as hopeful as she had stated. But, she just didn’t want her son to be anxious. 

Fan Shuqin used a fake text message to fool him for three months. Once Ji Fanyang could access his phone, he dialed Lu Hui’s number. The call went straight to voicemail. Ji Fanyang hung up his phone, his face blank as he thought, right, Lu Hui’s phone was blown up in the explosion.

In a daze, he put his phone down, then changed out of his hospital gown. 

Fan Shuqin said comfortingly: “Some of your coworkers came to see you. Won’t you go meet them?”

Ji Lian stood off to the side with an unhappy look on his face. He hadn’t wanted his son to engage in such a dangerous profession, but Ji Fanyang was too stubborn and obstinate. He had run off to some no-name, prefectural-level city to be a policeman. He couldn’t stop him and he couldn’t beat him; Ji Lian felt his head ache with anger. He’d prefer if Ji Fanyang was part of that crowd of young men loafing about and chasing girls every day rather than working at the bottom rungs of an organization and facing off with murderers. 

Ji Fanyang put his clothes on and moved his previously fractured arm and knee around for a bit. Then, he went to the door, pulled it open, and was enveloped in Rao Feifei’s warm hug. 

“Welcome back, Brother Yang.” Rao Feifei’s eyes curved into a smile. 

Yang Jie patted Ji Fanyang on the back: “How have you been recuperating?”

“Mm, pretty good.” Ji Fanyang answered. He quickly changed the topic to Lu Hui, “Chief Lu…?”

“Chief Lu, he’s…doing well.” Rao Feifei caught Fan Shuqin’s anxious expression, then chirped like a joyful oriole, “Chief Lu’s enjoying his time at the hospital in the capital. We don’t need to worry about him.”

“Yeah.” Yang Jie nodded firmly, dispersing most of Ji Fanyang’s misgivings. 

“Is that so…” Ji Fanyang frowned. He constantly felt like something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“You’ve been gone for so long now. There’s a pile of paperwork that hasn’t been done yet.” Rao Feifei changed the subject, “With the new year, we’re all super busy.”

“Your twenty-sixth birthday, too.” Fan Shuqin said, “For your birthday, how about you invite your coworkers to celebrate your recovery?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Rao Feifei clapped, “That’d work.”

“…We don’t need to celebrate birthdays over twenty.” Ji Fanyang was a little embarrassed. 

“Nope. After great disaster comes great fortune.” Rao Feifei said, “Maybe Chief Lu will come to see you on your birthday.”

“You’ve thought wrong.” Ji Fanyang shook his head, smiling wryly, “Chief Lu couldn’t even be bothered to remember what time to come in for work, so how would he remember my birthday.” Ji Fanyang may have said this, but in his heart, he was a little disappointed. Lu Hui’s birthday was on January 15th. He hadn’t had the opportunity to give him his first birthday present. 

Yang Jie said: “Let’s not stand around talking about it. Director Gao invited us out to eat.”

“Oh, right. It’s on Director Gao’s tab.” Rao Feifei said eagerly. Yang Jie smiled and teased: “Little one, don’t you want to earn your salary?”

“We’ll be troubling Director Gao, then.” Ji Fanyang smiled along with them, his young, fresh face like spring sunshine. 

“Go on.” Seeing her son smile, Fan Shuqin relaxed. She couldn’t help but remind: “Don’t eat anything too spicy or oily. You’re not completely healed yet.”

“Got it.” Ji Fanyang nodded, then was pulled away by Rao Feifei. 

Rao Feifei talked endlessly on the way, taking responsibility for maintaining the atmosphere: “It’s been quiet in the Bureau without Chief Lu. No one’s stealing cases or bullying the young officers. Director Gao complains about how quiet our office is.”

“Director Gao must have Stockholm Syndrome.” Ji Fanyang smiled, “It’s easier to invite a god in than it is to send them away[1].”

“Even for a self-invited miracle detective, we have to put forward our offerings.” Yang Jie joked, “For the past three months without Chief Lu, the office has been peaceful, but the clearance rate has fallen, and Director Gao’s hair has fallen out along with it.”

“Alright, I’ve let you all slander me to Xiao Ji all this way.” Director Gao poked his head out of the window jovially and waved at Ji Fanyang, “Let’s go, we’re having beef brisket noodles.”

“Woah, Director, you’re being so cheap. Didn’t you say we’d be eating a sheep feast[2]?” Rao Feifei pulled open the car door and got inside. 

“Who told you that? I certainly didn’t.” Director Gao sat in the driver’s seat, his eyes crinkled into a smile, “Xiao Ji just recovered, and the feast is too oily. I think beef brisket noodles will do nicely.”

“Whatever the director says.” Rao Feifei put on an expression of fake obedience, amusing Director Gao. 

“Aiya, little girl, I invited you all to a duck feast[3], not a sheep feast.” Director Gao started the engine. 

“Director Gao, I’ll drive.” Ji Fanyang said. 

“Ai, don’t. Injured personnel should just sit there honestly.” Director Gao waved, “You young people are thin skinned. Lu Hui wouldn’t even bat an eye. He even had me drive him to the Bureau when we first met.”

As the conversation topic came to Lu Hui, Ji Fanyang asked anxiously: “Sir, do you know which hospital Lu Hui’s in? I bought some things to bring him in a few days.”

Director Gao’s movements slowed: “That…might not be very convenient for him.”

“What’s inconvenient about it? My mom said that he’s recovering well.” Ji Fanyang’s suspicions deepened. 

“He was recovering well before…” Director Gao said vaguely, “He can walk.”

“And now?” The weight in Ji Fanyang’s mind lessened by half. 

“Now…” Director Gao sighed. He turned the key, turning off the engine, “Seven days ago, he went missing.”

“…W-what?” Ji Fanyang suddenly raised his voice and looked at Director Gao in disbelief, “How did he go missing?”

“Ai…” Yang Jie’s expression was solemn, “To be more precise, he was stolen from the hospital.”

“The local cops grabbed the surveillance footage from the hospital. Those people were very careful and never showed their faces. Likely well-trained and repeat offenders.” Rao Feifei said, “We have done our best to cooperate with the capital’s police, but there is not enough data to work with. We don’t have any alternative but to wait for news.”

“When he was stolen away…” Ji Fanyang took a deep breath and released it slowly, fighting to maintain his composure, “When he was stolen away, how had he been recovering?” He asked, close to despair. He well knew that, even for a perfectly healthy, grown man, being kidnapped would not have a good ending, let alone Lu Hui, who had been crushed into a pulp protecting him. 

The three of them fell into silence. The atmosphere in the car became much denser. 

“I heard Miss Lu say that he could walk a few steps and eat by himself.” Rao Feifei said timidly. 

Ji Fanyang shut his eyes, laying down flat on his back in the car seat. The blood circulating in his limbs seemed to grow heavier, the constricting sensation making him somewhat despairing. 

It was unknown whether Lu Hui was alive or dead, and all he could do was sit in the car hoping for a birthday miracle. 

Having Lu Hui be alive would be the greatest twenty-sixth birthday gift he could receive.

From the translator:

Case 3 is complete! Only two more cases to go, but case 5 is a bit longer. Aside from the main text, there are 2/3 extras that will be translated. I think there’s an R18 extra that the author put on Weibo, but for some reason I couldn’t find it…if someone could grab it for me to translate, that would be great. Otherwise, I’ll have to see about looking for it again.

There may be a brief break before I start the next case cause I’m moving again lol, but hopefully not too long.

Footnotes

Footnotes↑1请神容易送神难: It’s easy to invite a god, difficult to send them away, i.e. stuck with someone↑2全羊宴, lit. ‘whole sheep feat/banquet’, a type of meal with various dishes from a sheep↑3Similar to the above, but with duck dishes instead