The Amber Part 4

Three groups were moving on their own. Su Junzi brought Jin Qiu back home and also brought along some people from the investigative unit. Due to the sudden appearance of this clue, people felt a little befuddled, so when Shen Yexi and Jiang Hu left the crime scene, they headed straight for Jin Qiu's place.

Yang Man and An Yining went to their home to visit Wu Ju's unlucky younger brother, Wu Zhida. Sheng Yao went by himself to a place like an art district. There were three young artists who visited Wu Ju back then. One of them had already left the country and the other was in a car accident last year after driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol—he was still in the hospital with severe paraplegia. So there was only one person left. He was called Feng Xiaobin and was apparently pretty happening and even made an art name for himself, called G.o.d of Seal[1].

He was right in this art district. He heard that he even made a small art gallery, managing to make a living with it.

Sheng Yao mentally thought, this so-called "art" was really very unreliable. He walked around this area for a while and found that his excellent sense of direction actually didn't listen to him well. There were really too many turns and too many places of different oddities and strangeness.

He originally asked a youth—who came out with his body wrapped in just fishnets and whose hand was holding a paint palette as he flung paint at the canvas—for the directions to this "Burning with Desire Art Alley". But he didn't expect that the teenager spazzed[2] the moment he saw him. He grabbed onto him and asked Sheng Yao repeatedly if he would be his naked model.

Sheng Yao felt his head hurt, deeply feeling that his teenage years were gone forever. Otherwise, how can he be completely incapable of understanding the thoughts of these artists?

It was difficult. He had to take out his police badge as a threat in order to get away from the teenager who pulled at him relentlessly. Sheng Yao had just pa.s.sed by a rather remote coffee shop when a dark shadow leaped out suddenly, throwing itself at him. Sheng Yao subconsciously wanted to fling this unknown object away when he heard that dark shadow beg rather sincerely, "Help."

"Help", this word… was something the civil police were a little sensitive towards. Sheng Yao faltered for a moment, but who knew that in just this moment of hesitation, he would be pressed against the wall of the small alley at the side by this person who pounced at him. Then, a faint scent of cologne a.s.saulted him. Sheng Yao widened his eyes—because this person who was just calling for help actually lowered his head to kiss him!

There was only one sentence in Inspector Sheng's mind. Sure enough, this so-called art district was a forest meant to house strange birds.

That kiss was very light, releasing after a single touch. He didn't even have the time to push when that person let go of him. It was only now that Sheng Yao could see clearly that this so-called "dark shadow" was a man wearing sungla.s.ses and dark-colored clothes. He was a little taller than him, and the places on his body had muscles in the right places and was bony in the right places. His figure was especially good, and he also had a wheatish complexion. Even if he couldn't see his eyes, he also knew that this was a man who looked rather handsome.

The man with the sungla.s.ses gave him a big-toothed grin, pulling up his hands with deep emotions. "Honey, why did you only come now? You're just this a.s.sured and at ease with me?"

Sheng Yao looked at this man with some humour. The corner of his eye already picked up that behind the other person, there was a woman who ran out in a hurry after him, face full of shock and disbelief as she looked at him.

The woman's makeup was exquisite, and there were even less complaints to be made about her facial features. But right now, that state with all her bearings lost really made Inspector Sheng who cared for women feel a little unbearable.

The woman shook her head hard, forcing out a few words from her mouth. "Ah Jiu, this isn't real…"

The man with the sungla.s.ses grabbed Sheng Yao's hands, not letting go as he turned his head around, looking at that woman fixedly. He said in a gentle voice, "Mei Ling[3], you've already seen it. It's not that you aren't good, it's me…" He looked back at Sheng Yao with "reluctant fondness". "It's my own problem. I can't like women, I can't like you. And I already have a lover. A lover that in old age, never to part with.[4]"

Sheng Yao whose own mouth had already said countless words of love was conflicted. For the first time in his life, he felt grossed out.

The woman shook her head with all her might, moving away step by step. After backing away a few steps, she sharply bended down, throwing a high heel at that man with the sungla.s.ses. "Shu Jiu! b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Go die!"

Then she ran off with one of her feet bare. Sheng Yao's heart ached right there—Beauty, careful of where you're stepping.

The woman ran faraway staggeringly. It was only then that Sheng Yao pushed away the man with the sungla.s.ses that was still leaning on him. "She already left." That's enough from you, alright?

The man with the sungla.s.ses turned around, carefully scrutinizing him. His mouth made a "hm?" sound and whistled. "I didn't pay attention and look just now, but I didn't expect that you're this good-looking."

Sheng Yao expertly "plucked" this person off him, flicking away the dust stuck on him from the wall. He laughed. "Thanks, it's very rare for me to be complimented like this by men."

He lifted his foot, about to leave. Because it was very coincidental that this man with the sungla.s.ses pushed him into a small alley and he saw the "Burning with Desire Art Alley" that he had been looking for the whole time. But his arm was grabbed. With work at hand, no matter how good a temper Sheng Yao had, he was already a little annoyed. He slightly furrowed his brows, turning his head over to shoot a glance at the sungla.s.ses-man. "Do you need anything else?"

Only to see the man look at him in seemingly shocked admiration and said in complete starry-eyed infatuation, "Pretty boy, your eyes are too s.e.xy. Do you want to consider sleeping with me?"

This time, Sheng Yao also glanced at this man with shocked admiration. Surely enough, did all of the mentally unsound people in the whole world run to this place… Although this guy was pretty good-looking, with the exception of that person, he still leaned towards women with soft bodies. So Sheng Yao retrieved his hand, saying calmly, "Oh, there's no need. Thank you."

"Actually, I can…" A certain person relentlessly tried to stick closer.

Sheng Yao fished out his badge from his pocket, flas.h.i.+ng it in front of the man with the sungla.s.ses. "Mister, the police is on the job. Please don't obstruct us from law enforcement."

Surely enough, the man with the sungla.s.ses halted his steps. Sheng Yao tidied his clothes, turning around to leave.

The man took off his sungla.s.ses. That pair of eyes were exceptionally black, and his facial features were clean and handsome, but didn't lose the strength within them either. It was no wonder that women would pester him. He squinted his eyes, taking note of Sheng Yao's leaving figure and softly recited, "Oh, so the name is Sheng Yao… Tsk, I didn't expect that there'll be a man with such a charm here too."

Grinning, he walked towards another direction.

"Yang-jie said that Wu Zhida wore shoe size forty-two, and he didn't have a perfect alibi last night. He's already been taken to the bureau to help with the investigation." Shen Yexi hung up the call and got down from the car. Jiang Hu scrutinized the structure of Jin Qiu's house from the outside. Seriously, this Jin family. They lived on the first floor and yet didn't install a theft-proof window. G.o.d knew if it was negligence at night or whatnot, but the balcony window wasn't shut. There was just a muddy footprint on the floor. A group of colleagues from trace a.n.a.lysis were currently gathered around to inspect that footprint. "I wonder how Sheng Yao is doing now."

Why did the victims of this new murderer seem like they were sleeping without seeming like they've severe abuse? Why did this new killer run to Jin Qiu's house in the middle of the night?

Jiang Hu suddenly pointed at the neighbour's theft-proof windows and asked, "What is that?"

Shen Yexi answered while at it. "People living in lower floors install them to prevent burglars from breaking in. Maybe the public security at this place isn't very good."

Jiang Hu moved close to give a closer look, a little befuddled. "Don't small districts have security?"

"In a district of this size, there's only one security guard working the night s.h.i.+ft. If you're the security guard, can you maintain everyone's safety?" Shen Yexi carried a little smile as he shot him a look. "What, you've never seen it before?"

Jiang Hu shook his head honestly. "I don't have that at my place." Pausing for a bit, he was still a little ill at ease. "Then… what if it catches fire or if there's an earthquake?"

You sure have broad worries.

"Don't we still have the door."—I beg of you, I'm here thinking about the case. Don't interrupt my thought process okay, Young Master Scatterbrain Hu.

"Then, what if the door doesn't open?" Jiang Hu was still quibbling about this problem. "You know, earthquakes very easily alter buildings. If the door frame became stuck because of the change, and you need to smash the window gla.s.s to escape, or…"

He didn't continue talking because the gaze that Shen Yexi was shooting him with expressionlessly was conveying this information—Shut up.

He held it inside himself in the spot for a long while, but Jiang Hu still couldn't hold it back. He cautiously peeked at Shen Yexi's expression, with a look of wanting to speak up but not doing so. He peeked at Shen Yexi for a long while. At first, Shen Yexi pretended that he didn't notice but became annoyed afterwards. "Dr. Scatterbrain Hu, if you have something you want to say, say it. No need to write a report."

He finally became scatterbrained. Shen Yexi put up a nice act for a month, but it seemed like his patience had run out. This time, it was made clear in the car and his att.i.tude became much more natural instead. Jiang Hu laughed, before pointing at Jin Qiu's house, "That metal window, why does the other houses have it but hers doesn't?"

An investigator who was currently inspecting the scene on Jin Qiu's balcony turned his head around. "Cap Shen, Dr. Jiang really asked the right question. Her house originally installed it but for some reason, it was taken down again. Say, this balcony, if you go to the side a little, it'll be the lady's bedroom. Isn't she afraid at all?"

Shen Yexi furrowed his brows. At this time, Su Junzi walked out of the room, carrying on the conversation. "I asked Jin Qiu's mother. Apparently, after that happened to Jin Qiu back then, she couldn't deal with things like metal railings on the window. She said that it reminded her of when she was locked up in a metal cage. When she was sleeping, she had to open a window no matter how cold it was."

Shen Yexi asked, "She was even locked in metal cages before. How did I not know about this?"

"Maybe she remembered it afterwards. Back then, this lady's mental state wasn't quite right." Su Junzi paused for a bit, swallowing the later half of his words—actually he felt that this lady right now wasn't too normal either… Nagging and repeating. Really pitiful.

At this time, Shen Yexi's phone rang again. He picked it up and made two "mhm"s. He scrunched his eyebrows. "Find someone to monitor him first."

"What's wrong?" Su Junzi asked.

"It's Sheng Yao. He found that teenager who visited Wu Ju in the prison back then. He didn't have an alibi last night, but he's thin and small and his shoe size doesn't match. And Sheng Yao said that from his appearance, he looked a little like he was taking drugs." Shen Yexi said, "Let's do this. Scatterbrain Hu, let's go back first, Junzi, you…"

"I'll remain in the Jin residence to watch over that lady." Su Junzi said.

"Then alright, we'll…" Shen Yexi spoke halfway when he noticed that Jiang Hu was looking at him with that expression which said that he wanted to say something. Instantly, he felt his temples were twitching in pain. "What do you want to do now?"

"I want to meet that victim."

Translator Notes:

[1]: 封神 (lit. G.o.d of Sealing), Feng Shen, where Feng is the same character as his surname, Feng.

[2]: The original phrase is "as though he was injected with chicken blood" which is a metaphor for becoming incredibly excitable.

[3]:  It's not clear if her name, 梅綾, is just her given name or full name, but given that this is a rejection, we've gone with the interpretation that it's her full name.

[4]: 白首不相離 "in old age never to part" is a line from Zhuo Wenjun's poem, White Hair. It's a famous poem Zhuo Wenjun wrote which made her husband change his mind about taking in another concubine.The translation taken is from Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century by Barbara Bennett Peterson.