CH 84

Translated by: Dust Bunny

Edited by: Crooked 

Ma Qi turned to look at Gu Xizhou looking surprised: “What happened?”

Gu Xizhou shrugged, “When I left just now I met a man who took a video, Lao Guo shouted at him and told him not to film. The two people quarreled. Lao Guo scolded him. The man put it on the internet.”

Ma Qi stared blankly. Well, he couldn’t help it.

Ma Qi and Gu Xizhou took the elevator upstairs, and followed the address listed in the deceased’s phone. Gu Xizhou knocked on the door and asked, “is anyone home?” 

Very quickly Gu Xizhou heard the slap of footsteps, and someone inside opened the door. The person who greeted them was a middle-aged woman with grizzled hair and her face marred by time. The woman was dumbfounded. It was clear that the person standing outside the door thought differently from her: “Who- who are you looking for?”

Gu Xizhou gave the woman a slight nod and asked: “Excuse me, may I ask, is this Tang Xiao’s home?”

The middle-aged woman nodded: “Right, this is Tang Xiao’s home.”

“Hello, I am a police officer. You can call me Officer Gu,” Gu Xizhou said, taking his police badge out of his pocket. “Excuse me, may I ask about your relationship to Tang Xiao?”

“Me? She has nothing to do with me, ah! I am the hourly worker she hired. Everyday I cooked for her and whatnot. Other than that, I really don’t know!” The middle aged woman said, anxious to deny any relationship with Tang Xiao.

Ma Qi looked at the middle-aged woman, surprised. He and Gu Xizhou glanced at each other. The two were acutely aware of the middle-aged woman’s somewhat strange behavior. Ma Qi followed the thread of conversation and asked, “You seem very nervous.”

The middle aged woman gulped and waved her hands around: “I- I don’t…”

“If it doesn’t involve my employment, what do I know. I really am just an hourly worker.” The middle-aged woman sputtered in confusion, stammering nervously. 

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow and deliberately lowered his voice to ask: “Do you know why we came to find her?”

The middle-aged woman fell silent for a long time, and her mouth fell open. Gu Xizhou and Ma Qi finally pressured the woman to speak: “She does drugs. Last time I cleaned I found several small bags of fine white powder…”

“Oh, what else?” Gu Xizhou asked.

The middle-aged woman looked distracted, and asked back: “Wh-what else?” 

She thought for a moment and revealed a look of helplessness, saying: “Officer, I really don’t know. I’m just an hourly worker. She does drugs, but it’s not my fault she does them. Police officer comrade, you probably won’t arrest me, right?”

“Can we go in to take a look?” Gu Xizhou said, “Oh right, you said you discovered the drugs while cleaning? Where did you find them? Do you know?”

“Police officer comrade, follow me.” The middle-aged woman took Gu Xizhou and Ma Qi inside the house and entered one of the rooms. They opened a wardrobe and opened the first drawer in the middle. The middle-aged woman pulled out the drawer and handed it to Gu Xizhou. “Look, this is it.”

“Oh—” 

Gu Xizhou winked at Ma Qi, “You examine it. It’s your field of expertise. I can’t, you look.”

Ma Qi en’ed and took a look according to his wishes. Gu Xizhou handed him the bag of powder. It was clear that it weighed more than 50 grams. The punishment for selling over 50 grams of drugs in China was the death penalty. He opened the plastic bag and used a hand to fan it gently to smell it.

“It’s heroin,” Ma Qi said.

Xe Wlhtbe: “Gbu cbrf…?” 

Zj Hl uijgfv ja tlw, atf mbgcfgr bo tlr wbeat aklamtlcu. Glv tf tjnf ab rqfjx ilxf atja?

Vajcvlcu boo ab bcf rlvf, atf wlvvif-jufv kbwjc agfwyifv lc ofjg jcv rjlv, “Pr-lr la gfjiis vgeur?”

Zj Hl cbvvfv jcv jrxfv: “Lbk ibcu tjnf sbe kbgxfv tfgf?”

“Less than half a year,” the middle-aged woman replied. 

“Do you know Tang Xiao well?”

The middle-aged woman fell silent for a moment and said: “I know her, ba. She is often not at home. Sometimes when I come to clean she comes back, but she always looks very tired.”

“It’s like she doesn’t need to work. She is at home all day, or she goes out to play.”

The woman subconsciously looked down at her watch to look at the time, “Oh no, I should go home to get my grandson from school. Officer… Can I leave now?” 

Gu Xizhou glanced at her, which obviously meant: no.

Seeing that both police officers refused her request, the middle-aged woman walked away, “Then I’ll call home to remind them to get the child.”

Gu Xizhou and Ma Qi glanced at each other and only fought one round with her. Gu Xizhou easily subdued this chubby middle-aged woman and handcuffed her.

The middle-aged woman asked, looking innocent: “What’s the matter, police officer comrade? I only watched her take drugs. I didn’t take them myself. Why did you arrest me?” 

“Don’t you know when you’ve gone too far?”

“What do you mean?”

Gu Xizhou shot a look at her, “you are very simple, but what old housekeeper can rummage through their mistress’s things to clean the inside of a wardrobe? Are you bluffing?”

The middle aged woman seemed to admit defeat and abruptly stopped talking. Her eyes were full of ruthlessness. 

“A clever person can become the victim of their own ingenuity,” Ma Qi sneered.

The two escorted her directly to the police station. At the door of the police station, they ran into Wang Ao whose complexion was poor. Wang Ao looked at Lao Guo and Gu Xizhou. He waved and said: “Go, go, go, hurry.”

Inside the interrogation room——

“Speak, ba” Gu Xizhou asked casually, “In any case, it’s the death penalty. Who are you trying to protect?” 

The middle-aged woman sitting in the interrogation room said nothing. Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow and glanced at her, “Why murder? Unequal distribution of the goods?”

“Murder? I didn’t murder anyone!” the middle-aged woman said, suddenly breaking her silence, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve been selling drugs. If you sell drugs in this country, you will eat a bullet, and you still care about murder?” Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow, “Hurry up and explain! You’re wasting our time! Why did you kill Tang Xiao?”

The middle-aged woman was stunned, and the shock on her face didn’t seem to be fake. “Tang Xiao is dead?” 

Gu Xizhou: “…You really didn’t do it?”

“I’m going to die anyway, but I really didn’t kill Tang Xiao. She had to sell all of my drugs for me. It would be impossible for me to kill her, you see?” The middle-aged woman said hopelessly.

After the interrogation ended, Gu Xizhou left the interrogation room and looked at the middle-aged woman on the surveillance screen. He wondered, if the murderer wasn’t the middle-aged woman behind the drug trafficking organization, who could it be? 

While he was thinking, Xiang Yuan came from the forensic investigation room with a report. While drinking water he said: “The deceased Tang Xiao was drugged using ethyl ether and then cut off. She then went into shock due to blood loss and died. Oh, and also the deceased wasn’t sexually assaulted.”

“The incision on her chest is smooth. It should have been done with a scalpel.”

Gu Xizhou was stunned: “A scalpel?”

Xiang Yuan nodded and turned to Gu Xizhou to explain: “Right, but this is just my guess. It could also be another kind of knife! It’s just that I can’t think of anything else other than a scalpel that could cut so cleanly.” 

Cause of death— removal of the chest causing blood loss and shock.

Gu Xizhou nodded, thinking that maybe the middle-aged woman didn’t deceive him. Supposing he was a drug dealer, killing someone in this way certainly wasn’t simple. He would use the most simple and straightforward method, using a knife to stab the other person, or a gun. There was no need to take the risk of cutting the deceased’s chest and letting them bleed to death.

Gu Xizhou thought he heard his phone go off and fished it out of his pocket. It was Si Yu sending a WeChat.

Si Yu: [link] It’s you in this video, ba? 

Gu Xizhou: ?

Gu Xizhou clicked on the link. It was a video from Weibo. The link said—[don’t be taken into the rhythm, okay! The man who sent out this video before was a fool!]

“Come on, give way, give way. Don’t block our work!”

“Don’t take pictures! Respect the dead, okay? Don’t you have any morals? You can still send things like this out on your Weibo? Will you respect the dead woman?” 

“What’s wrong? Laozi already took the photo. Why are you still beating me, ah?”

“Show some fucking respect! The dead are the most respected. Not only did you send these things to your Weibo, but you also posted them to Wiebo to get heat, is it meaningful for you to take these pictures? The deceased isn’t wearing clothes! You’re going too far!

“Aiya, the police officer is cussing me out, swearing! Look, this is the quality of the police!”

“You, what are you saying? Say that again!” 

“Heavens, ah! How can this be? Someone’s daughter is dead, and she’s completely naked, and he still posted the video to his Weibo. Does this person not know respect? I hope you also die naked and that someone takes a video and posts it to their Weibo.”

“Truly horrible.”

Gu Xizhou finished watching the video. Because the video was shot from the perspective of the person in question, he could only hear the voices. Only in the later half did the content of the video become clear. Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow and talked to the man who was just recorded.

Although someone recorded the whole thing, it was a pity that the photographer had no fans, only passers-by. There were not two comments below the photo he took. 

Two hours passed, and more people attacked them on the internet!

From inside the office Wang Ao was hard-pressed. He felt he would be warmly greeted by the leader on the phone any moment.

Gu Xizhou replied to Si Yu’s WeChat: It’s me.

Si Yu: Oh 

Gu Xizhou: Oh what!

Si Yu: ?

Gu Xizhou: Si Yu, you are so powerful, do me a favor!

Si Yu: Why should I help you? 

Gu Xizhou: Don’t tell me——

Si Yu glanced at Gu Xizhou’s message, and waited for him to finish.

Gu Xizhou: You won’t, President Si?

Si Yu: …… 

Gu Xizhou: Really, men can’t say they can’t!

Si Yu: Shut up, ba.

Gu Xizhou President Si, gkd!

Si yu: …… 

Si Yu closed WeChat and fell silent for a moment before calling his male assistant: “Yes, do it right now.”

Gu Xizhou just went in to say a few words to the middle-aged woman. As soon as he left, he saw Wang Ao come out of his office with a very happy expression on his face, his footsteps light.

Gu Xizhou: “What happened to Chief Wang? Wasn’t it all rain and snow just now? Now it’s gone from cloudy to sunny.”

Xiang Yuan shrugged his shoulders next to him and said: “This afternoon someone sent out a video showing the whole quarrel. I don’t know why. Several celebrities with a large fan base seemed to have made an appointment to collectively forward the video. It went directly to the top of the hot search.” 

Gu Xizhou lowered his head to look at the time. It had only been ten minutes. President Si is reliable, ah! He fished out his phone from his pocket and looked at it. Oh, there was one new WeChat message on his phone.

Si Yu: Okay?

Gu Xizhou: President Si is not only good, but also fast~

Si Yu glanced at Gu Xizhou’s reply and massaged the headache between his eyebrows. He might have been hanging around Gu Xizhou too much, but he always felt that Gu Xizhou’s words had another meaning. 

Don’t tell me this mockery of his… speed???

In all honesty, Gu “Vulgar” Xizhou really didn’t mean that.