I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 28: Chapter 26: Missing...

Su Miaoyi moved.

She was in charge of packing, while Lu Zhishen and Zhuang Yanzheng were in charge of carrying everything to the car.

Su Miaoyi didn’t have many things.

Her main possessions were books, a computer, a keyboard, and clothes.

Then there were just some miscellaneous odds and ends.

Everything was packed into boxes and moved.

It only took two trips back and forth by car to get everything over.

「Wangshu New Garden.」

The apartment was also a one-bedroom, one-living-room unit, but it was much larger.

More importantly, the apartment was much more modern and equipped with smart technology.

They moved everything into the living room.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”I already had someone clean it. You can take care of unpacking the rest. We’re leaving.”

”Let me treat you to a meal,” Su Miaoyi called out to stop them. ”Do you have time?”

Just as Zhuang Yanzheng was about to say something, Lu Zhishen said, ”Let’s have hot pot here. We can count it as a housewarming for you.”

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at him.

’And here you were, making all sorts of excuses when I asked you to come.’

’First it was ’it’s too hot,’ then it was some nonsense about your houseplant going to visit the neighbors.’

’Now that you’re here, you don’t want to leave.’

Lu Zhishen completely ignored him and looked at Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi said, ”Let me treat you to hot pot out.”

”Why can’t we eat at home?” Lu Zhishen asked seriously.

Su Miaoyi walked to the kitchen and gestured with both hands to present it. ”No pot.”

”We can just buy one when we go grocery shopping,” Lu Zhishen said.

Seeing he was dead set on eating at home, Su Miaoyi was about to agree when Zhuang Yanzheng chimed in, ”Let’s not even bother going out to buy them. I’ll just have someone deliver the pot and all the ingredients.”

”Good idea,” Lu Zhishen said.

”But we agreed I’d treat,” Su Miaoyi said.

”Who agreed to that with you?” Zhuang Yanzheng said, pulling out his phone.

Su Miaoyi: ”...”

”Next time,” Zhuang Yanzheng said, glancing at her.

Lu Zhishen sat on the sofa.

Su Miaoyi didn’t say anything else.

Since it was a close delivery, the pot and ingredients arrived quickly. They even helped set everything up, so all Su Miaoyi and the others had to do was wait to eat.

”Come on, a toast,” Zhuang Yanzheng said, holding up a can of Coke. ”Drink this Coke, and from now on, we’re brothers.”

Su Miaoyi clinked her Coke can against theirs and took a sip. ”From now on, we’re sisters.”

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at her and chuckled without saying anything.

Lu Zhishen said nothing at all.

Su Miaoyi said, ”Captain Zhuang, I’m a bit tight on money right now. I’ll give you the rent money after a little while.”

Through the steam rising from the hot pot, Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her and clicked his tongue. ”That toast with the Coke was for nothing, then.”

Su Miaoyi smiled.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”I said it’s a reward, so it’s a reward. There’s no such thing as working for free in this world.”

”Just accept it,” Lu Zhishen spoke up, his tone mild. ”He’s covered my food and lodging for two years now, and I’ve accepted it with a clear conscience.”

Su Miaoyi looked between the two of them.

”He’s the one who lured me over from Jiangcheng with a pile of money,” Lu Zhishen said. ”He still pays half my salary.”

”So you’re paying to work,” Su Miaoyi commented.

”My dad’s the one paying,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”Being able to make such an important contribution to Jinghai, bringing in key talent for the Jinghai City Bureau—that’s a blessing for my dad. With you added to the mix, my dad gets another blessing.”

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

”What’s with that look?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Su Miaoyi made a fist and palm salute.

Just as Zhuang Yanzheng was about to speak, his phone rang.

He glanced at it and frowned slightly.

”A case?” Su Miaoyi asked.

Lu Zhishen looked up at him.

”My mom,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Lu Zhishen lowered his head and continued to eat slowly and methodically.

Zhuang Yanzheng got up and went to the balcony to take the call.

Su Miaoyi watched him go.

Without looking up, Lu Zhishen said, ”Pushing him to get married. Setting him up on blind dates.”

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Lu Zhishen put down his chopsticks, pulled out a couple of tissues to wipe his mouth, and looked at Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi, who was about to pick up some food, paused and looked back at him. ”Hey, we’re not trying to isolate you.”

”Zhuang Yanzheng told me about your situation,” Lu Zhishen said.

”What situation?” Su Miaoyi asked again, worried he was trying to trick her.

”The fact that you can see murderers and crime scenes,” Lu Zhishen said.

Su Miaoyi didn’t speak.

’Since Zhuang Yanzheng told him...’

’That means Zhuang Yanzheng trusts him.’

’This person can be trusted.’

She nodded.

Lu Zhishen asked, ”Under what kind of circumstances do you see those images?”

Su Miaoyi shook her head. ”It always happens suddenly. There are no specific circumstances or settings. Also, if I see a murderer, I’ll see the process of them killing someone.”

Lu Zhishen was silent for a moment.

”There was one time when I intentionally went to see the deceased. I saw the image of him committing suicide,” Su Miaoyi said.

”Only the deceased?” Lu Zhishen asked in a low voice.

His voice was too soft and was drowned out by the bubbling of the hot pot.

”What was that?” Su Miaoyi asked.

Lu Zhishen slowly shook his head, then looked at her again. ”Then... have you ever seen anything on me?”

Su Miaoyi froze for a second.

’Then she realized he must have experienced something terrible.’

She shook her head.

A crack appeared in Lu Zhishen’s usually impassive expression, and a sense of urgency showed through. ”Can you try to look now?”

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

She looked at him very intently and carefully.

Lu Zhishen was very cooperative.

After nearly a minute, Su Miaoyi blinked. ”I don’t see anything.”

Lu Zhishen’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and his expression returned to one of detached indifference, as if he wanted no contact with the outside world.

...

Because Su Miaoyi had been in the hospital for a few days, she was delayed in taking Cheng Jue to his training course.

On Tuesday, she went to Jinghai First Middle School to pick up Cheng Jue and take care of some necessary paperwork at the same time.

After picking Cheng Jue up from his classroom, the two of them walked toward the administration building.

Just as they walked inside, they saw Zhuang Yanzheng, Qi Feng, and a few other people coming down the stairs.

Both Zhuang Yanzheng and Qi Feng were in their police uniforms.

’This might be the first time I’ve seen Zhuang Yanzheng in uniform.’

’He looked surprisingly sharp.’

Zhuang Yanzheng saw her too and came down the stairs. ”You’re here to...”

”I’m here to pick up my little brother,” Su Miaoyi said, glancing at the other people.

’They all look like school administrators.’

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at Cheng Jue.

Cheng Jue was also looking at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at him, then looked back at Su Miaoyi, and they exchanged a look.

’See anything?’

’Nothing.’

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t say much more, just, ”We’ll be going now.”

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Zhuang Yanzheng and his group left.

Su Miaoyi and Cheng Jue went upstairs.

Cheng Jue asked, ”Sis, who is that? A friend of yours?”

”Mhm,” Su Miaoyi affirmed.

”Your circle of friends is that wide? You even have friends who are cops?” Cheng Jue asked.

”Can’t I have a friend who’s a cop?” Su Miaoyi retorted.

Cheng Jue pressed his lips together and didn’t speak.

After they had gone up two floors, Su Miaoyi asked, ”Has something happened at school recently?”

”A student from the class next door went missing,” Cheng Jue said. ”They were probably here to investigate.”

”A student went missing? A boy or a girl?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”A boy. His name is Shi Tianyu, and he’s a good student,” Cheng Jue said. ”I heard his family isn’t well-off. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his grandparents. I think he went missing on Friday afternoon, but it was only reported to the police today.”

...