CH 56

Early the next morning, Gu Xizhou was awoken by his phone alarm, and the quilt covering him had already disappeared.

In an instant, he rose from bed with his eyes still closed, fumbling around to shut off his alarm clock. He went into the bathroom to wash his face and get ready for work. 

Today was the last day of the weekend, but criminal police officers didn’t get a vacation. They worked in a shift system.

Since it was early morning on a weekend, there was no traffic. Gu Xizhou only had to wait for a short while before hailing a taxi just outside the community’s gate. He alighted near the police department and bought soy milk and youtiao before slowly walking to the station.

There weren’t many people walking on the road. A majority of them were lazy and leisurely.

A woman dressed in a professional women’s suit walked ahead of Gu Xizhou. She was about 50 years old, and she held a bag in her left hand and a phone in her right. She was walking in the bicycle lane of the street and looking down at her cell phone as she went. 

From time to time, the strange music of "Old Driver Takes Me" played from the woman’s phone. While watching the video, the woman grinned jubilantly and burst into laughter. Gu Xizhou walked along the street and looked at the woman.

Lots of people walked on the side of the street looking at their phones. Gu Xizhou didn’t care. He put his hands in his pockets and was about to turn into the police department when, suddenly, he heard an explosive rumble behind him. A motorcycle abruptly jumped out and flew past him.

Before Gu Xizhou could complain, he saw the motorcycle slow down. There were two people riding it: one driving and one sitting behind. They were both wearing black pantyhose on their heads.

The man sitting behind on the motorcycle reached out and fiercely snatched the woman’s handbag.

It all happened too quickly. The woman was dragged directly to the ground without any chance to react. As the force on her body knocked her down, she let go of her bag.

She opened her mouth, belatedly reacting after her bag was grabbed, and the motorcycle sped off.

“Help! Robbery! Someone took my bag!”

There weren’t many people gathered on the street, so when the surrounding people heard the woman’s call for help, they looked at each other in dismay. 

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine… It’s nothing. My bag…” The woman was bleeding from friction burns on her limbs after being dragged to the ground. “My bag… There was money inside!”

The woman looked ahead at the motorcycle 100 meters away, her body tottering on the verge of collapse. The crowd helped support her.

“What’s going on?” At that time, a young express delivery man on a scooter asked. 

“Look, that motorcycle up ahead robbed this big sister!!”

After he heard this, the young delivery brother used his scooter to chase after them. After seeing that the woman had no big problems, Gu Xizhou followed after at a sprint.

By then, the motorcycle had already stopped. The two on the vehicle had their heads covered. They had dismounted and were threatening the young brother.

“Mind your own business! Take care of your little life!” said one of the bandits as he pulled out a knife from his pocket for intimidation. He spun the knife in his hand deftly, as if he were playing with it. 

The two men attacked, and the knife streaked across the young delivery brother’s arm. At that time Gu Xizhou ran toward them and shouted——

“Stop! Police!”

When the two men heard Gu Xizhou, they fled, lifting up the motorcycle like a fire was lit beneath them. From their gray sleeves fell a few cigarettes.

The men’s actions were quick and decisive, but Gu Xizhou had already caught up to them. He kicked one of the men on the motorcycle, who flew a meter away. The other man was holding the knife and swung it at Gu Xizhou, urgently yelling at his fallen companion. “Hurry, get up! Fuck!” 

However, his comrade didn’t answer him. Gu Xizhou kicked the man to the ground, and he fainted.

“How long are you going to fucking lie down?!” The thief watched Gu Xizhou carefully, his eyes flicking back and forth between him and the man behind him.

He rushed toward Gu Xizhou with the knife. Gu Xizhou dodged the blade and didn’t allow him a chance to recover. He directly kicked the thief’s stomach. The strength of this one kick was strong, and the thief dropped the knife as he fell to the ground. The whole person had collapsed, cradling his stomach with a deathly pale complexion and unable to say a word.

In the meantime, a coworker from the police station had caught up to them and saw Gu Xizhou, along with the two men lying on the ground. 

“Leader Gu, you’re here, ah!”

Gu Xizhou nodded and said, “Call 120 to come over. He’s injured.”

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“Thank you. Thank you, officer!” The middle-aged woman said. She also walked over to the young delivery brother and grabbed his hand. “Thank you, little brother! You were injured. I’ll accompany you to the hospital, ba. This wound shouldn’t be left like this…”

“My injury isn’t serious. There’s no need to go to the hospital. I still have to return to work!” said the young brother, scratching his head.

“I could take care of something like this. You can follow us back to the police station immediately, and minor injuries can be treated there.” One of the police officers said amiably to them. 

The young brother briefly hesitated before he nodded. “Okay then…”

The old policeman raised an eyebrow and then said to the other officers, “Take those people back for their confessions. Robbery, assault, carefully investigate these two men. They went as far as to rob right in front of our police station. Do we want to lose face? Give me a proper investigation!”

“Yes!”

Both thieves were curled up on the ground and refused to get up, shouting about stomach aches. 

“Hurts… It really hurts. Comrade police officer, you let me lie down for a while…”

Gu Xizhou stared coldly at the two men. He had controlled his strength, and it was unlikely for them to be kicked to death by him. He said, “Give it up. What are you pretending for?”

“We’re really not pretending!” The former knife-wielding robber suddenly burst into tears. “It really hurts. I feel like I’m going to die! You were too ruthless!”

Gu Xizhou: “……” 

“You’re still arguing? Blaming the police for their ruthlessness?” Then, Fang Zhi, who had also just gone to work, glared at him. “Didn’t you think of that before being caught for robbery? Hmph.”

The people nearby immediately followed him to scold the robber before taking him to the police department.

Now, in the interrogation room, Gu Xizhou sat beside Fang Zhi, yawning as they faced the thief, who was still crying and cradling his stomach.

“Haven’t you cried enough? How big a deal is it to rob and be beaten? You dare to rob, but you’re still afraid to take a beating?” 

The man’s sobbing was ugly and vulgar. The more he cried, the more grieved he felt. He yelled, “Is this a beating? My organs were kicked so hard they’re about to fall apart! I, I want to see a doctor. Check to see if I’m going to die! I demand compensation!”

Fang Zhi: “……”

“Shut up! Confess properly!” Gu Xizhou said. “Don’t try with that ridiculous nonsense! First confess to attempted robbery. If my kick really caused a problem, I’ll take responsibility, so confess to the robbery first.”

Gu Xizhou said, “I tell you, I don’t know if I should say your luck is good or too bad. That big sister who was robbed had fifty thousand yuan in cash inside her bag.” 

“The sentence for robbery starts at three years. If the stolen property value is large, every additional 1500 yuan adds six months to the prison term. You can figure out how long you’ll be in prison.”

When the man heard Gu Xizhou, his face stiffened, obviously confused.

“Comrade police officer, this was my first time, really… My first robbery! Why would she carry around a bag with so much money?”

“Don’t cry at me; it’s useless. Cry in court.” Gu Xizhou said, raising his eyebrows. You still mock others for having too much money in their bags?” 

“If the robbery succeeded and you two weren’t caught, you’d definitely be insanely happy, right?”

The man completely lost his composure, acting arrogant in a pitiful display. “But I’ve seen it on TV… Isn’t it possible to get a shortened sentence?”

Fang Zhi corrected him: “You only get a shortened sentence if you supply clues and aid us in solving a case. Then, we’d have the ability to shorten your sentence.”

“Don’t talk about trivial matters. First, confess to the present matter,” Gu Xizhou said. “Who do you want to report? We’ll talk about it after the confession is recorded.” 

The man was a little afraid of Gu Xizhou, and he quickly confessed. “Last night, my wife and I fought. I left the house and ran into my neighbor, Lai Li… My accomplice. Lai Li was also scolded by his hag of a woman.

“We’re not skilled, and we have no jobs. After drinking a little wine, we got angry and decided to go buy the pantyhose, get on Lai Li’s old motorbike, and think about robbing someone.

“Comrade police officer, please believe me! It really is my first time!”

Gu Xizhou glanced at him and said to Fang Zhi, “You continue with the interrogation. I’ll return to the office first.” 

“Is the other one finished?” Gu Xizhou asked after coming out.

“Good Leader Gu, the interrogation is already over. He confessed to the whole thing. He’s clamoring to make a report for a reduced sentence, trying to sell out,” explained one of the officers. “It’s useless.”

Gu Xizhou nodded and entered the office to rest.

After lunch, the two men were still there. Gu Xizhou planned to go to sleep when suddenly there was a sound at the door. 

“Leader Gu, one of the two robbers we arrested today just said he wanted to report a murderer.”

Sitting in a chair, Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows.

It can’t be, this all has a connection to a murderer?

Gu Xizhou nodded: “Okay, I’m coming.” 

When he saw Gu Xizhou, Fang Zhi said, “The two men know the amount of money stolen was huge and their prison sentences are very long, so one’s been continuously reporting trivial matters. We ignored him.”

A moment ago, he suddenly said he knew about a murderer and insisted on seeing you…”

By this time Gu Xizhou was completely skeptical of the truthfulness of the man’s words, but he still had to enter the interrogation room.

The man saw Gu Xizhou and immediately shouted, “Officer, you came! I want to report, to report a murderer!” 

“Say it, ba. Who was killed? Don’t talk nonsense just to get your sentence reduced.” Gu Xizhou said indifferently. “We can all go to investigate!”

After the man heard him, he shrunk his neck and said hurriedly, “Actually, I don’t know whether that man really killed someone or not, but after Zhou Yiguang got drunk, he really did say… he killed someone. Lai Li heard it, too. He was also drinking that day!”

The man recalled: “Zhou Yiguang is our neighbor. He runs a family tea shop in our neighborhood. Lai Li and I are idle and like to gamble, so we frequently go to his place…

“That day, just like usual, there were about two tables of people playing mahjong, including Lai Li and me. After we finished playing mahjong, we went to Zhou Yiguang’s place for a meal. We drank too much while we ate… All men like to brag and talk about their glorious pasts. 

“The day Zhou Yiguang got drunk, he said he’d killed someone. We didn’t believe him at all. In the end, Zhou Yiguang just laughed and pointed at the cement block in the yard with the parasol and said…”

Gu Xizhou looked at him, saying mildly, “What did he say?”

“He said the skull was inside that cement block!  At that time, we were both scared stiff by the look in his eyes… It was really scary,” the man said.

“Afterwards, he said it was just a joke, but since then, every time I saw that cement block, I was scared. I felt horrified.” 

Gu Xizhou asked: “So you’re saying you can’t tell if he was telling a joke or not?”

“This… I don’t know,” the man said, unsure. “Maybe, maybe not. In any case, I thought his expression was very frightening. That day, I didn’t finish eating my rice and used an excuse to leave.”

Gu Xizhou nodded and had someone ask his accomplice, Lai Li. Lai Li remembered some things about the matter, and their stories were similar. The two men looked like they had grasped their final straw, and they damned their neighbor Zhou Yiguang as a murderer for the possibility of a shortened sentence.

“What’s to be done about this?” one of the officers asked uncertainly. 

“Since someone reported it, then we can only investigate it. It’s not a problem to open up one cement block.”

“Then we’ll check it, ba.”

Several people discussed and decided to give it a try. Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi took along two other officers in addition to one of the robbers, Wei Zhong– the robber who had, just recently, been kicked to the point of tears by Gu Xizhou. Under Wei Zhong’s guidance, they quickly drove down to the neighborhood he lived in.

At the neighborhood gate, Wei Zhong got out of the police car. The women standing at the gate gossiping pointed and stared at him. 

“It’s this Wei Laosan again. Who knows what he’s done! The police have even come!”

“This man doesn’t work. Every day, he relies on his wife to support them. It can’t be murder, right?”

“Murder? Does he have the nerve? Without borrowing the courage of two hundred people he wouldn’t dare…”

After Wei Zhong got out of the car, he glared fiercely at the aunts around the gate. He cursed, “Damn fools… You loose-mouthed gossips.” 

“Wei Laosan, did we say something untrue?”

“It’s truly honorable to depend on your wife.”

The aunts weren’t pushovers. They quickly retaliated, muttering a scolding. Some people gathered together to scout out information, and they asked Wei Zhong what he’d done.

“Let’s get down to business, first. Lead the way and don’t talk so much.” Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows as he listened to him and the several aunts hurling abuse at each other, and he couldn’t bear their vulgar language. “Do you still want a shortened sentence?” 

“I do! Police officer comrade, it’s right inside…” The man pointed inside the neighborhood. Fang Zhi and the other officers stood at either side, guarding the man from entering the district.

Less than 50 feet inside the community was the tea shop Wei Zhong spoke of. The tea shop was a remodeled one story house, which was illegal to build and operate inside a neighborhood. However, in this type of old community with all elderly neighbors, no one reported it. In the afternoon, there were still three tables playing mahjong in front of the store. When they saw the police coming over, they were all dumbfounded.

“It’s this cement block,” said Wei Zhong, pointing at a concrete area shielded from the sun by a parasol.

The tea shop’s proprietor apparently heard the news from inside, and he came out. He stopped at the top of the stairs and asked, “Hey, what are you all doing here?” 

“Oh, did Wei Zhong do something bad?” The tea shop proprietor wore a brown short-sleeved shirt and washed out jeans. In his hands, he held a cigarette.

Gu Xizhou ignored the boss. Instead, he turned toward Wei Zhong and said, “Are you certain it’s this cement block?”

“Definitely!” Wei Zhong nodded.

“Boss, he testified that this cement block concealed a body. Thus, the police have a duty to investigate.” Gu Xizhou said. 

The tea shop proprietor looked gleefully at Wei Zhong. “Oh, he’s talking about the other day when I got drunk, right? I was only joking. I didn’t expect he would take me seriously! Comrade police officer, you mustn’t believe him. It was just a joke. I’ve used this cement block for four or five years. How could someone’s head be inside!”

Gu Xizhou said, “I believe you, but he’s made a report. We have to look into it. Rest assured, we will compensate you for this cement block.”

“Split open this block.”

Just after Gu Xizhou spoke, the tea shop proprietor rushed forward, blocking their way. He said, “There’s really nothing! You mustn’t believe this rascal Wei Zhong. I…” 

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Gu Xizhou. “Just open it for a look. Do it.”

“There’s really nothing! You mustn’t trust him!” said the tea shop owner urgently.

“The more you block me, the more I need to see it.” Gu Xizhou coldly sized up the tea shop proprietor, noticing his forehead was already covered in cold sweat. His heart immediately grew heavy.

Pu pu pu.  

In a short moment, the cement block cracked into fragments.

“It’s there! A head! There’s really someone’s head!” Wei Zhong was grinning from ear to ear. “Comrade police officer, it’s really there! It’s really there! Can my sentence be reduced?!”

The author has something to say: Tomorrow I’ll reinstate the 18:00 update qwq

Kisses, good night