Chapter 71: Macbeth Twelve

Chapter 71: Macbeth Twelve

TL: QuantumC

07-10-2020

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Think about what a dickhead Fei Du was in front of Luo Wenzhou: that's how much of a good boy he was in front of Chief Lu.

He wore a very schoolboy-ish outfit today -- with a price-tag that's not so student friendly of course. But old people don't really pay attention to the expensive details, so Lu Youliang simply thought that this young man looked especially clean and bright. When he entered the office and smiled, the whole room seemed to lighten up.

Of course, if only the lad could get a crew cut, that would be perfect.

Lu Youliang handed him the list of archives that the YCPA research team requested for: "I skimmed through it: seems fine to me. Except for a couple unnecessary cases... which I've highlighted. Once you revise the list, just print another copy and follow the regular procedure."

Fei Du thanked him respectfully, took the list, and quickly skimmed through. Before he asked anything, Lu Youliang added some explanation: "Those cases are all very old and they've been studied in the previous round of the 'Sketchbook" project already. I think it's not worth going over them again. I don't want you to waste time --- if your advisor Pan asks, you can tell him this. He'll understand."

What kind of a boss would spend his own time to screen through the list for his underlings just because he didn't want them to 'waste time'? Fei Du was not deaf -- he could tell that this was just an excuse, so he agreeably swallowed his questions down.

After Chief Lu finished instructing on the project, he amiably chatted with Fei Du about the latter's personal life. Right when their topic was about to switch from schooling to courtship - the most popular topic of aunts and uncles when they're around young people - the phone on the table rang and interrupted them.

Chief Lu gestured at Fei Du and picked it up. After some short exchanges, his eyebrows furrowed.

Fei Du was observant, and remained quiet. He heard Lu Youliang instructed in detail: "...must be just and impartial. Especially pay attention to the appropriate wording. Send the final draft to me before publishing...Okay. This is an important and urgent matter --- the rich heirs fighting for their inheritance case can wait. It wouldn't change what's for the next dinner for the average John Doe's after all. The children's case is what the people truly care about."

Fei Du waited until he hang up and then asked: "It's about that children's abduction case, right?"

"-Sigh- yes, it has been transferred to the Procuratorate and what will happen next is beyond our control now." Lu Youliang paused. Unintentionally - or intentionally - he peeked at Fei Du's expression, then added, "This is the story of our lives a lot of times, you see. The victims and the family count on you for justice. But even if you can find out who did it, in the end it doesn't always turn out well. Sometimes you just lacked a bit of luck and missed the key evidence. Sometimes you even have all the evidence, but the law still cannot punish the perpetrator."

Fei Du agreeably nodded: "The rules and procedures are designed for the majority. There is always going to be fishes that slip through the net."

Lu Youliang's eyelid unnoticeably twitched. He had a feeling that Fei Du's next sentence might cross the line.

But surprisingly, Fei Du added nothing outrageous: "But this is already the best working system that balances the needs of the most parties. It's the result of years of frictions and struggles and now the system is still roughly "Pareto Efficient". Without it, there will be worse injustice. So even if it may hurt certain individuals, the system still needs to be maintained and respected. "

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Chief Lu was surprised: "What...what 'efficient'?"

"In other words it's the best option when considering the aggregate benefit of everyone." Fei Du smiled, "My family runs a small business so I learned some theories from the elderly."

Chief Lu slowly nodded his head. Seeing Fei Du's casual and calm expression, he seemed relieved: "Good. Young people should be learning things like this. Learning helps build a healthy mindset too --- your advisor Pan used to be a radical reformist. That's why he went into academia."

Fei Du appropriately showed some curiosity at the topic.

But Chief Lu stopped it at that, and waved his hand: "Alright. I'll let you go back to your work."

Fei Du followed his orders and stood up. Meanwhile, his eyes swept across Chief Lu's desk.

On the corner of his desk there was a picture frame, holding an old photograph of men. In the picture the men were not yet bald and their waist measures were still 'moderate'. Only their eyes and noses still resembled their current versions. From left to right, there were Chief Lu, old Chief Zhang, Professor Pan - whom Fei Du had to use some tricks to become a student of - and Yang Zhengfeng: Luo Wenzhou's late Shifu.

There were originally five people in the photo. Yang Zhengfeng's right arm held another person's elbow. But that man's face was obstructed by the wooden picture frame and only a portion of his left shoulder was visible. Fei Du glanced at the picture, then quickly looked away. As if nothing happened, he picked up the marked copy of the "archived cases for viewing" from Chief Lu's desk and walked towards the large office.

He walked slowly and quietly. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. His peach blossom eyes were looking down and had a bit of uninvolved aloofness --- until he heard Luo Wenzhou's 'heart-broken' accusation:

"Traitors..." god knows who Luo Wenzhou was denouncing - the voice could be heard even before entering the office, "What a roomful of classic, textbook traitors."

Fei Du raised his head and saw Luo Wenzhou backing out of the office, one hand in the pocket. As he backed out, he pointed at the white-eyed wolves in the office: "You guys...you were obviously adopted..."

Before he finished the sentence he bumped into Fei Du, who had no intention of ducking.

"Oops, sorry." Luo Wenzhou didn't know who he bumped into and was about to turn around. But an arm circled his waist and helped him balance -- in the way of an embrace.

Luo Wenzhou: "..."

"We need evidence, not theories and guesses." Tao Ran waved his hand and cut everyone's wild imaginations short, "Alright alright, finish the breakfast and get back to work."

The portrait of the abductors had been drawn according to Zhou Huaijin's descriptions and shared with the public, but they haven't heard anything back yet.

Til this day they haven't found a single eyewitness. The van truck that sank into the Bai Sha River was a stolen one. The taxi was a robbed one. Nothing valuable was found from either the van truck or the taxi.

Both Zhou Junmao's car accident and Zhou Huaijin's abduction case were full of unexplainable points. Not much progress was made.

Besides the driver who attempted to contact the kidnappers and got caught on scene, everyone seemed suspicious. Yet none of the suspects were cooperative. They were all busy attacking one another, and their stories were impressive for sure, but all lacked supporting evidence.

Even Yang Bo, who was the focus of the investigation, was bailed out by his lawyer last evening.

So far, the criminal investigation team seemed to have reached a bottleneck. They could only wait for results from the economic crime investigation's side and hope it would provide some useful leads.

Luo Wenzhou read the confessions of the suspects from start to finish: Zhou Huaixin bit on Yang Bo like a mad dog; Yang Bo insisted that Zhou Huaijin had it coming; Hu Zhenyu muddied the water, claiming that Zhou Huaijin and Zheng Kaifeng had conflicts in their perspectives for the company, and that Zheng Kaifeng was very close with Yang Bo in the recent years; Zheng Kaifeng insisted that Yang Bo was not related to Zhou Junmao -- the old fox was sly and slippery and kept playing Tai Chi...

Luo Wenzhou rubbed his chin. Meanwhile, his cellphone on the desk vibrated.

He checked the phone. It was a message from Fei Du -- Fei Du, who was sitting across from him in the same room.

In this small room where a fart could've easily knocked over another person's heal, Mr. Fei, rather than opening up his mouth directly, had to take up the public wifi resource and send him a Wechat message,: "Shixiong, can I ask you out tonight?"

Luo Wenzhou looked up at him. Fei Du was staring at the screen of his laptop, fully focused. If not for the faint, suspicious smile on the corner of his mouth, he could almost pass as a virtuous, hardworking intern.

The "hardworking" Mr. Fei moved his finger tips. Another message slapped Luo Wenzhou's eyes.

It said: "I like your abs."

Luo Wenzhou peeked at his never-shutting office door. In this almost wide-open space, people come and go without ever needing to get his permission. Many come in to get drinks from the mini-fridge, and some would even stop to have a chat with Fei Du. Everyone's every move is visible to everyone...

Yet some people chose to 'harass' him in this environment.

Luo Wenzhou's throat felt a little tight. The way he looked at Fei Du through the middle slit between his two monitor screens seemed like a predator.

But right when he was about to text back, an unfortunate colleague barged in and reported: "Cap Luo, been waiting for this, right? Director Zeng asked me to deliver this to you."

Luo Wenzhou almost dropped his cellphone on the floor.

The thick-nerved college did not notice anything abnormal. He dropped the folder then went back to his own desk.

Luo Wenzhou coughed, adjusted his extending legs under the desk, and tore open the folder absentmindedly.

After a couple lines, his sluggish eyes turned serious.

The DNA test results showed that the Zhou brothers were indeed Zhou Junmao's sons, while Yang Bo had no relation to Zhou Junmao.

"Is Zhou Huaijin still at the hospital?" Luo Wenzhou stood up and put on his coat, "I want to talk to him."

Fei Du: "Let me go with you."

Luo Wenzhou gave him a look.

Fei Du lightly licked his lips. His eyes casually swept across the office. Although he didn't say a word, the message seemed to be that "there's too many people here."

Luo Wenzhou paused, then kept walking and allowed him to follow.

Not long after the two left, Xiao Haiyang received a text message from Dong Xiaoqing.

He was very surprised that Dong would actually contact him so soon. She said: "Officer Xiao, could I please trouble you to come to my home again? I have something to show you."

Xiao Haiyang immediately dialed back, but Dong Xiaoqing's cell-phone was already powered off. He had a weird ominous feeling.

"Vice Captain Tao," Xiao Haiyang shot up and said, "I have to go somewhere too."