CM | Chapter 62

On the next morning, Gu Yao handled her own discharge procedures, leaving Zhu Shengxi’s assistant and Gu Chengwen’s assistant to make a wasted trip.

Gu Yao hailed a car and went straight to the office building where Ming Shuo Law Office was located. On the way, her phone rang several times, and she sent every call to voicemail.

It was only when the taxi pulled up downstairs that Gu Yao, before she even got out, was startled by the scene outside.

A row of men in black, and a row of black sedans.

Gu Yao said nothing. She simply walked past them into the office building. Even as she rode the elevator up, she was still thinking, Could some big shot be here to buy the building?

Who would have thought that when she stepped out of the elevator, there were several more men in black standing outside the doors of Ming Shuo Law Office, while the other clients who had come to consult were nowhere to be seen.

Gu Yao walked into the office. Qingqing, the front desk girl who had just been bought over by a luxurious lunch box, immediately came up to greet her.

“Sis, you’re here!”

Gu Yao nodded and asked, “These people are…”

“They’re Brother’s friends.”

“Oh?”

“Right, Sis, who are you looking for today? Are you here for Brother Xu Shuo or Brother Xiaochuan?”

Gu Yao paused. “Where is Xu Shuo?”

Just then, Xu Shuo also came out of the office stretching lazily. His eyes were only barely open as he said, “Qingqing, get your brother some hangover soup, ah, my head hurts…”

But before he even finished, Xu Shuo saw Gu Yao.

He froze, lowered his arms, and asked, “Why are you here? Didn’t we say we’d meet at the prison gate?”

Gu Yao smiled. “Because I knew you’d be late, and I don’t have the patience to wait for you, so I figured I’d come earlier and hurry you along.”

Xu Shuo: “…”

Gu Yao looked him over from head to toe. Sure enough, he was still wearing yesterday’s shirt and suit pants. The shirt was wrinkled to the point it looked like a rag, and he reeked of alcohol, sour and nasty.

“Looks like I was right.” Gu Yao checked the time on her phone. “From now on, you have only half an hour to groom yourself, drink your hangover soup, grab your briefcase, and go with me to the prison to see Feng Zhenghui. Otherwise, I’ll kick you out of the case, and from now on you can forget about getting any information about it from me.”

Xu Shuo: “…………”

Xu Shuo did not dare delay for a second. He rushed back into the office at once.

Gu Yao sat on the sofa outside to wait, calmly drinking coffee under the watchful eyes of the men in black. It was not until a middle-aged woman who looked sharp and capable came out of Xu Shuo’s office that things changed.

All the men in black bowed their heads respectfully to her. The middle-aged woman waved a hand and said, “All of you, leave.”

The men in black filed out quickly.

Gu Yao watched all this with curiosity, then turned the same curious gaze onto the middle-aged woman.

The woman sat down opposite her, studying Gu Yao as well.

After a few seconds of silence, the middle-aged woman, Xu Haiqing, spoke first. “If I’m not mistaken, you must be Gu Yao?”

Gu Yao nodded. “Yes. May I ask how I should address you?”

Xu Haiqing said, “My surname is Xu. I’m Xu Shuo’s aunt.”

Gu Yao had already guessed part of it. Xu Haiqing and Xu Shuo shared somewhat similar features, so she was clearly a maternal relative.

“Hello.”

Xu Haiqing held a cup of tea and said, “In all these years, this is the first time I’ve seen a girl bold enough to boss that brat around like this.”

That brat?

Ah, she must be referring to Xu Shuo. So everything just now had been heard by Xu Haiqing.

Gu Yao did not feel embarrassed at all. She only smiled and said, “I wouldn’t say bossing him around. We just agreed on a time, and he happens to have a habit of being late.”

Xu Haiqing did not pick up on that. Instead, she suddenly asked, “You look pretty energetic. Is the injury from yesterday all right now?”

“I didn’t really get hurt. I was just startled.” After saying that, Gu Yao paused, then asked, “You seem a little unfamiliar to me. You’re not from Jiangcheng, are you?”

Xu Haiqing smiled. “At most, I can only count as half. I was born here, but I left when I was very young.”

So that was it…

Gu Yao smoothly followed up, “I heard Xu Shuo say before that he also lived here when he was little, and only later went to Licheng. His father also used to work as a criminal police officer in Jiangcheng.”

Xu Haiqing did not respond, but one of her brows lifted slightly in surprise. Clearly, she had not expected Xu Shuo to tell Gu Yao about this, which did not match what Xu Shuo had told her the day before about it being nothing more than a ‘utilitarian relationship.’

Less than fifteen minutes later, Xu Shuo had made himself scent-madly clean. He took a battle shower, his hair still dripping, but he had already changed into a brand-new outfit. He roughly blow-dried his hair halfway, then fixed it with pomade into an absolutely pretentious gentleman-scum hairstyle, and even whistled at himself very satisfiedly in the mirror.

Naturally, in the midst of his preening, he did not forget to sniff himself to see whether he still smelled like alcohol. After drinking hangover soup, even though he had brushed his teeth, he still rinsed his mouth once more with mouthwash. By the time he appeared “clean and bright” at the office door, the two women on the sofa outside were already chatting like old friends.

Xu Shuo paused.

He did not know what interesting topic Xu Haiqing and Gu Yao had been talking about, but the two actually smiled at each other, the atmosphere relaxed beyond belief.

That was strange. His aunt was a seasoned veteran. How many juniors had tried to curry favor with her and still could not figure out the proper way? What on earth had Gu Yao done to make his aunt happy in just fifteen minutes?

Xu Shuo walked over in a daze. Seeing this, Xu Haiqing tactfully stood up, patted his shoulder, and said, “All right, I won’t hold up your young people’s fight. But on the way, be careful, understand?”

Xu Shuo gave a response, and before he could say anything else, Xu Haiqing had already walked back into the office on her own.

Gu Yao also stood up at that moment, picked up her bag, and called out to Xu Shuo, “Let’s go.” Then she turned toward the front door.

Xu Shuo followed behind her all the way downstairs, his brows tightly furrowed.

Gu Yao pointed at his car and said, “We’ll take your car today. I came by taxi.”

Xu Shuo obediently took on the role of driver.

Once the car merged onto the main road, Xu Shuo finally asked, “What were you talking about with my aunt just now?”

Gu Yao rested her right elbow on the window edge and propped her temple with her hand. “Your aunt cares about you a lot.”

Xu Shuo immediately understood. “So you knew she was worried about me, and used me as the topic?”

Gu Yao smiled a little. “You were just beaten in the street yesterday, and your aunt brought a whole crowd of men in black to stand guard for you. That was clearly the posture of an old hen protecting her chicks. You’ve been in Jiangcheng for a month, and all you’ve done is cause trouble, jumping up and down everywhere, just because there hasn’t been a parent nagging you. I believe with your personality, you wouldn’t tell your aunt everything about what happened here either. So I might as well do it for you.”

Xu Shuo was stunned for a moment. He tried hard to recall Xu Haiqing’s expression when she left just now. She had seemed to be smiling, and she had not said a single harsh word, but it could also be understood as that fake smile people wear when they are preparing to settle scores later.

Xu Shuo hurriedly asked, “What did you say?”

Gu Yao listed them all as if reciting family names. “Oh, I told her you went to the crime scene to illegally collect evidence, then used a drone to secretly photograph proof, got chased and beaten in the street by the victim’s wife, Xiao Yunxia, and yesterday you even ran to an abandoned construction site to recreate the case…”

Xu Shuo was instantly left somewhat speechless. He looked at the road ahead, then at Gu Yao, then back at the road, then at Gu Yao again.

Gu Yao reminded him, “Pay attention to safe driving.”

Only then did Xu Shuo frown and ask, “You really said that to my aunt?”

Gu Yao replied half-truthfully, half-jokingly, “What do you think?”

Xu Shuo said, “I think you’re bluffing me. You’re not the type to tattle.”

Gu Yao said, “Heh, I wasn’t before. But because you opened the door to a new world for me, I suddenly discovered there are many things in this world I would never have done before, but are actually kind of interesting when I try them. For example, tattling for the first time.”

Xu Shuo: “…”

No one knew whether it was an illusion, but Xu Shuo suddenly had the feeling that he was being flirted with. Why was Gu Yao so “lively” today?

Just as Xu Shuo was pondering over Gu Yao, two black sedans suddenly appeared in the rearview mirror, and their license plates were from Licheng.

Xu Shuo glanced over and did not say a word.

But Gu Yao saw them too, and even kindly reminded him, “Oh, your elders sent bodyguards for you.”

Xu Shuo stiffened his face for a while.

Gu Yao looked at the rearview mirror, then at him, then at the rearview mirror again, and finally back at him before opening her mouth. “May I ask something?”

“I know what you want to ask.” Xu Shuo lifted his chin a little arrogantly, his expression flat and carrying a touch of resignation. “Actually, for families like ours, this kind of thing really happens often. It’s all because of too much money and too much swagger causing trouble.”

Gu Yao said, “I can tell. Those two cars are very obedient to traffic rules, and they’re pretty skilled at following people too. They must practice often.”

Xu Shuo did not respond.

A second later, Gu Yao asked again, “Your personal nannies?”

Xu Shuo’s jaw tightened. Though reluctant, he still said, “I can’t exactly go against the elders’ kindness. If they don’t follow, Aunt won’t be at ease. If I lose them, they’ll be the ones getting punished when they go back. These brothers are just trying to make a living. How hard can it be for me to cooperate a little and give them a good review?”

Gu Yao smiled, then looked out at the scenery beyond the window, quietly listening to the pop song playing on the radio.

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while.

Gu Yao was listening to music, while Xu Shuo was letting his mind run wild. What the hell kind of rubbish song was this DJ playing, all coy and self-pitying? If you like someone, then go for it. What kind of game are you playing?

Oh, maybe I should just change the song.

The thought had barely formed in Xu Shuo’s mind when his hand near the stereo obediently moved on its own. But just as it reached over, another fair hand beat him to the station change.

Gu Yao switched to the news channel. The news was talking about how the media had been trying to dig up information from Xiao Yunxia these past few days, and then said Xiao Yunxia had gone missing since last night in order to avoid the media, leaving her son Xiaoyun alone at home.

Xu Shuo listened absentmindedly, yawned, then continued mulling over the topic from before. For example, although he had actively insisted on getting involved in Feng Zhenghui’s case, Gu Yao was hardly uninvolved herself. If this had been her old temperament, she could have come up with a hundred reasons not to let him play along, but now she had already come to the office two days in a row to “pick him up” and get to work. Yesterday she drove, today he drove, each paying for gas once. She was pretty good at this whole “you do a little, I do a little” thing.

Thinking of this, Xu Shuo suddenly asked, “Hey, Gu Yao?”

Gu Yao was leaning back with one hand supporting her head, already a little drowsy. She answered lazily, “Mm?”

“You said, with how high-risk Feng Zhenghui’s case is, if I hadn’t forced my way in, would you have been scared?”

“What’s there to be scared of?” Gu Yao answered without hesitation. Then she added, “But having someone investigate with me is still better than being alone. Two heads are better than one.”

Xu Shuo said nothing, but the corner of his mouth quietly crept upward.

It was not until Gu Yao said, “Anyway, I’m still very grateful that you’re helping me,” that he finally spoke casually, “Grateful for what?”

Gu Yao nodded. “True, what would I even thank you for? You were the one who insisted on getting involved anyway.”

Xu Shuo: “…”

Gu Yao leaned against the seat back and slid down a little, finding a comfortable position. Feeling the gentle caress of sunlight streaming through the window, she narrowed her eyes and said, “But I’ve worked with you twice, and I have to say, you’re pretty reliable when it comes to investigating cases.”

Xu Shuo was slightly taken aback. He had not caught this one.

Gu Yao closed her eyes and dropped another line. “There’s still some road left. I’ll sleep for a bit.”

Xu Shuo said nothing, looking at the road ahead and then at Gu Yao.

Sunlight poured down, making her skin look as if it could glow, fair with a hint of pink. Even her eyelashes were filtered into a brownish color, falling beneath her eyes and casting small fan-shaped shadows. Her nose was delicate, her side profile resting against her cheek, her lips slightly upturned, as if she were a cat basking in the sun.

Xu Shuo lowered the radio volume and drove quietly, occasionally “checking” on the passenger’s sleeping face. Then he suddenly thought of the car accident she had had a year ago.

He had not been in Jiangcheng at the time, but he had seen the news. The crash had been severe, the car was totaled, but thankfully she had been fine. The woman in the other car had died on the spot, while Gu Yao, after several days of emergency treatment in the hospital, had stubbornly survived.

A lot of netizens online said this was the difference between an ordinary sedan and a luxury sedan, one used for getting around, the other for saving your life.

Even the insurance company people probably found it unbelievable, that they had to take on this kind of “miracle” and compensate three million yuan because of it.

Xu Shuo, however, was thinking that it must have been terribly hard to survive that crash. Not only did she have to adapt to an entirely new environment, she also had to get to know a completely new version of herself and her family after losing her memory, while undergoing both psychological and physical recovery.

Just as he was thinking this, the image of the conversation between Gu Chengwen and him from the previous night suddenly rushed into his mind, and the smile at the corner of his mouth instantly faded.

Immediately after that, the image of his father, Xu Haizhen, lying on the mortuary bed, his body covered in “patches,” also surfaced clearly.

Xu Shuo’s brows furrowed at once.

At that moment, Xu Shuo’s smartphone rang.

He picked up and listened. It was the bodyguard following behind them. “Young Master, I think you’ve driven past it…”

Only then did Xu Shuo look up at the road signs. They were still sixty kilometers away from Licheng.

Xu Shuo ended the call and immediately turned at the next intersection, making a U-turn.

Who would have thought that Gu Yao also opened her eyes at this moment, frowned at the road ahead, and then asked, “Are you directionally challenged?”

Xu Shuo: “…………”

The two of them arrived half an hour later than originally planned. Fortunately, they had not exceeded visiting time. After entering Jiangcheng Men’s Prison, they still followed the previous procedure and first met with Li Fangda.

Li Fangda looked a little surprised, glancing at Xu Shuo and then at Gu Yao. “You’re together? Both here to see Feng Zhenghui?”

“Yes,” Gu Yao said.

Li Fangda’s expression was a bit strange. By the rules, this was allowed, but he remembered that the last time Xu Shuo came, he had been there to see another death-row inmate.

Still, Li Fangda was tactful. He understood but did not point it out, and followed the same route as last time to lead the two of them into the visitation room, where they waited for Feng Zhenghui.

Before Feng Zhenghui arrived, Gu Yao also happened to remember the time she had seen Xu Shuo outside the prison last time, so she asked, “By the way, who exactly were you visiting last time?”

Xu Shuo leaned back in his chair, his hands tucked behind his head. “Didn’t I tell you? An old friend.”

Gu Yao caught on to one of his words and asked, “This old friend, do you mean old in age, or old in the sense of a long-standing friendship?”

Xu Shuo paused, then smiled. “You’re quite sharp.”

Just then, Feng Zhenghui arrived.

Feng Zhenghui did not seem surprised that there was one more person today. On the contrary, not only was he calm, but after entering the visitation room, he looked at Xu Shuo a few more times.

Xu Shuo was also observing Feng Zhenghui.

The two men’s gazes met for a moment, until Gu Yao spoke. “This is Xu Shuo, Lawyer Xu. I asked him to help me find Chen Yumin. But don’t worry, Lawyer Xu keeps a very tight mouth and will absolutely keep your business locked in his stomach, and his appearance fee will be covered by me.”

Feng Zhenghui suddenly smiled. The expression on his refined face was one of genuine delight. “Lawyer Xu, I’ve long admired you. I’ve also been following the Tan Fang case.”

Xu Shuo raised a brow. “You don’t seem to mind that I suddenly joined in?”

Feng Zhenghui said, “I’d welcome it too late.”

As soon as those words fell, Xu Shuo and Gu Yao both stilled in their hearts.

Gu Yao asked, “Why?”

Feng Zhenghui turned to Gu Yao. “Same answer as last time. You’re a psychiatrist, shouldn’t the answer to ‘why’ be given to me by you?”

But Gu Yao did not fall for it. “I’m a psychiatrist, not a fortune teller. I still need a hint, don’t I?”

Feng Zhenghui nodded. “That’s true. Then let me put it this way. Lawyer Xu’s addition may take the whole story in a new direction, speeding things up, and… Lawyer Xu, the prisoner you visited last time you came here, I know him too.”

Gu Yao subconsciously looked at Xu Shuo.

Xu Shuo showed no expression, but his eyelids narrowed slightly.

This was absolutely beyond his expectations. He never would have guessed that Feng Zhenghui also knew he had come to visit someone. At the time, the two visitation rooms were not together, so by reason they should never have had a chance to meet. So did that person mention it after going back?

Hiss, that possibility seemed pretty low too.

Thinking of this, Xu Shuo knew he could not let Feng Zhenghui control the pace anymore. So he simply took out a document bag, poured out several photos from it, along with several sheets of background information, and laid them out one by one in front of Feng Zhenghui.

These were all taken at the scene where Shao Xiaofeng was killed, and the background information was hers as well.

Xu Shuo asked, “Do you recognize this place?”

Feng Zhenghui glanced downward and said, “The scene where Shao Xiaofeng was killed.”

Then, after a second, before Xu Shuo could even ask, “How do you know?” Feng Zhenghui added, “The police showed me too.”

Xu Shuo narrowed his eyes and said, “No, the photos the police showed you should be different from these.”

“How are they different?”

“Shao Xiaofeng was killed last year. At that time, this construction site had only just been shut down. The weeds at the scene could not possibly have grown this tall, and the killer washed the body with a herbicide solution. When the police went to collect evidence, the herbicide’s effects were not yet obvious, but now this place is already completely bare.”

Feng Zhenghui smiled. “Oh, then how did I recognize it at a glance?”

At this point, Gu Yao spoke up. “A sample of a man’s semen was collected from Shao Xiaofeng’s body. The police did a DNA test and confirmed it had nothing to do with you. Based on our analysis, you should have a female accomplice. She used some channel to obtain semen from another man, then injected it into Shao Xiaofeng’s body with a syringe.”

Feng Zhenghui was still smiling. “Continue.”

Gu Yao said, “Shao Xiaofeng had pursued you while she was alive, and even shopped abroad for many gifts to give you, but you did not agree to date her. The Chen Yumin you’re looking for, and the women you dated in the past, all have one thing in common, they had unhappy childhoods through adolescence, were neglected, excluded, and never received love. Although Shao Xiaofeng’s parents divorced, her parents were always very concerned about her, and even her stepfather and stepmother treated her like their own daughter. She absolutely did not fit the standard of the kind of woman you look for. And for you to kill her because she chased after you, that motive is far too flimsy. The only explanation is that Shao Xiaofeng was related to Chen Yumin’s disappearance, and she was also one of the five people you circled in that group photo.”

As soon as Gu Yao finished speaking, the corners of Feng Zhenghui’s mouth slowly spread wider. He seemed to be laughing very happily, even letting out a low, hoarse laugh.

Xu Shuo and Gu Yao did not interrupt him, only waiting until he had been “happy” enough.

Only then did Feng Zhenghui smile and say, “Next, I’ll give you a hint. I hope the next time you come to see me, there will be new progress.”

While speaking, Feng Zhenghui took a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it to reveal the handwriting inside, then placed it on the table.

Xu Shuo paused, took the paper, and looked at it together with Gu Yao.

There was only one sentence on it, “There are so many lovely, pitiful women in this world, so why do I only want Chen Yumin?”