I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 229: Chapter 227: What Kind of Decent Person Writes This Many Self-Criticisms!

After Director Meng and the others finished their meeting, Lin Yue took a team to Qin City to assist with the investigation.

Meanwhile, the surveillance on Wanxiang Village continued covertly.

Zhuang Yanzheng’s eye injury prevented him from participating in the operation and severely limited what else he could do. He could only sit in his office, unable to even see the maps of Qin City and Wanxiang Village he wanted to look at.

He was just stewing in his office, anxious and unable to do anything.

At noon, before heading to the cafeteria, Su Miaoyi planned to ask Zhuang Yanzheng what he wanted to eat so she could bring it back for him.

Just as she reached his office door, she heard a loud noise from inside.

Su Miaoyi immediately pushed the door open and went in, only to see Zhuang Yanzheng bent over and rubbing his knee. A stack of files on his desk had been completely knocked over.

As she walked in, she tried to piece together what had just happened.

He must have banged his leg on the chair next to the desk, then knocked over the files on the table with his hand.

”Are you okay?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”I’m fine.” Zhuang Yanzheng took two steps back while rubbing his knee. ”Who left a chair here!”

”I think I did, last night. I forgot to put it back,” Su Miaoyi said, her voice a little sheepish.

Zhuang Yanzheng took a deep breath and said nothing.

Su Miaoyi moved the chair to the side, then looked at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng straightened up. ”What?”

”Is your vision blurry, or can you not see at all?” Su Miaoyi asked, looking at his eyes. ”You didn’t see the chair at all?”

”I can see a little. I just wasn’t paying attention when I was about to walk out,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi recalled what Yan Cheng and the others had said. She glanced at his eyes again, then waved her hand in front of his face.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”...With that much force, not only can I see a little, I can feel the air move.”

”Oh.” Su Miaoyi looked at him again. Seeing he wasn’t lying, she squatted down to pick up the files. ”No classified documents here, right? It’s okay for me to see these?”

”Who would leave classified documents on their desk?” Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t move. ’The best way I can help is by not moving and causing more trouble,’ he thought.

There were several folders, and the contents of one had scattered completely.

She placed the intact ones on the desk first, then began gathering the papers that were strewn across the floor one by one.

She wasn’t paying much attention at first, but then she saw Qin Leyan’s name and subconsciously glanced at the papers in her hand.

It was a very thick stack of paper, and nearly every fourth page was signed with Qin Leyan’s name.

Su Miaoyi picked up a sheet of paper and looked at Zhuang Yanzheng. ”What is this?”

Zhuang Yanzheng’s eyes were unfocused as he turned his face toward her. ”Are you doing this on purpose because you know I can’t see clearly?”

Su Miaoyi felt a little apologetic. She gathered the stack of papers into a folder and placed it on the desk. ”This folder is full of self-criticism reports from Qin Leyan.”

Hearing this, Zhuang Yanzheng’s left eyebrow slowly rose. ”It’s not just that one. The other two folders are full of them too.”

Su Miaoyi didn’t believe him and opened the other folders to check. Sure enough, two more were filled with the same thing.

She suddenly felt faint.

’Just how many did he write?’

Zhuang Yanzheng chuckled. ”These are just the hard copies. They started out as electronic versions.”

The look on Su Miaoyi’s face was priceless.

’What kind of decent person writes this many self-criticisms?’

She took two seconds to accept this fact, then randomly grabbed two of the reports to look at.

One was a self-criticism for charging in too aggressively while arresting a suspect, leaving everyone else behind, and disobeying orders.

Another was a self-criticism for putting chili powder in Captain Lu’s teacup?????

[I should not have made a plan and led others to successfully capture the murderer without first communicating with the captain. I should not have become resentful and put chili powder in his teacup when the captain, biased against me, scolded me instead of praising me. Furthermore, I should not have been caught snickering when he was choking on the chili powder...]

Su Miaoyi couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She read that passage over and over again several times.

After she finished, she flipped to the back to see who wrote it.

She even scratched at the name Qin Leyan with her fingernail.

’Was this name just glued on?’ she wondered.

”What are you doing?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked, hearing the sound of her nail scratching the paper. ”Destroying the evidence?”

Su Miaoyi put the reports back. ”You, you... Why would you keep all these self-criticisms? You weren’t copying my reports, were you?”

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”...My reports were second to last, and yours were dead last. Have you ever heard of the second-worst student copying from the worst?”

”Mine had to be the best! Who was dead last?” Su Miaoyi retorted.

Zhuang Yanzheng chuckled again. ”Before you arrived, my reports were the worst. After you came, I moved up to second-worst.”

Su Miaoyi shot him a sidelong glance.

Only after doing so did she remember he couldn’t see it.

”How could there be so many reports?” Su Miaoyi suddenly found it hard to accept again; it was just too many. ”How come you don’t see people writing them anymore?”

Zhuang Yanzheng’s eyes blinked slowly. ”Because back then, making us write self-criticisms was the standard method of discipline. Brother Zheng was third from the bottom.”

Su Miaoyi said, ”...Did Captain Lu make you write them? Who is he? The former captain?”

”Yes.” Zhuang Yanzheng nodded. ”Lu Xian.”

”Lu Xian.” Su Miaoyi repeated the name. She couldn’t recall it at all; it left no impression. ”He was the detachment captain, and you were the deputy captain?”

”Yes.”

”What kind of person was he?” Su Miaoyi tried to recall something about him.

Zhuang Yanzheng thought for a moment, then fell silent.

Just when Su Miaoyi thought he wasn’t going to answer, he finally spoke. ”He had a fiery temper, was extremely upright, and a bit stubborn. I was promoted from a local precinct and came in as deputy captain, so he thought I got the job through connections and never liked me.”

”And then?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”Then you showed up,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”And my life got a lot easier.”

The corner of Su Miaoyi’s mouth twitched. ”I was a ’connections hire’ too?”

”You looked like a *huge* connections hire,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”You completely outshone me.”

”Minister Qin doesn’t really seem like...”

”You got in on your own merits, by passing the exam,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

”I knew it.” Su Miaoyi put on a smug expression. ”Then why did they still say I got in through connections?”

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t answer.

But Su Miaoyi understood.

As long as her father was Qin Chengyuan, she would have to work much harder than anyone else to earn recognition.

Lu Xian’s integrity and stubbornness probably manifested in this area as well.

He wouldn’t give anyone special treatment because of their connections; in fact, he despised that sort of thing...

After a few seconds of silence, Su Miaoyi looked at Zhuang Yanzheng. ”I took all the heat for you. Did you ever say thank you?”

”I was the one who taught you how to write your first self-criticisms. Did *you* ever say thank you?” Zhuang Yanzheng retorted.

”No wonder I was dead last. Now we know why.”

Zhuang Yanzheng: ”...”

”So, where is Captain Lu now? Where was he transferred?” Su Miaoyi asked. ”You’re the detachment captain now, so he must have been promoted too, right?”

Zhuang Yanzheng’s lips moved. ”Isn’t it time for lunch?”

Su Miaoyi looked at him and didn’t press the issue. ”Yeah. What do you want to eat? I’ll bring it up.”

”Get me something to... cool me down. I’m getting antsy.”

”Alright.” Su Miaoyi raised her hand and slapped it down on the stack of self-criticisms, making Zhuang Yanzheng jump, before walking out of the office...