Mo Du (默读) - Silent Reading

Verhovensky XIV

At the time, Tao Ran had laughed and ridiculed the old fellow for bragging while pretending to complain and hadn’t taken it to heart. He’d only thought back to it long after, understanding what he’d meant. In times of peace, who didn’t want a family to spend his days with, a wife and kids and a warm house? But in times of danger, you’d want nothing better than to be a monkey who’d emerged spontaneously from a crack in a stone, without father or mother, without family or friends, a barefoot ruffian, stark naked and free of cares.

Tao Ran sighed softly. As his colleagues babbled next to him, he deleted the “All right” he’d nearly sent and instead replied, “I’m sorry, I have to work overtime this weekend.”

He wanted to use the weekend to secretly go see shiniang, even if shiniang wouldn’t see him, and drop some things off to display his kindly intentions. The photographs Lao Yang had left behind were still waiting for him to investigate, and there were also those shocking phrases… Tao Ran pinched the center of his brow, feeling that in his bones he wasn’t the sort of person who did great things; as soon as he took anything to heart, he’d be uneasy night and day, tossing and turning endlessly. In spite of himself, he envied Luo Wenzhou, who’d use the sky as a blanket if it came falling down.

Ten minutes later, Luo Wenzhou, wrapped in his comforter the thickness of the sky, kidnapped the Criminal Investigation Team’s chief financial backer.

“President Fei, I bet you’ve never gotten a telling off in your life?” Luo Wenzhou said, sitting in the car. “Come on, I’ll take you to get a telling off—the Xingfu Gardens Estate on Hongzhi Road, turn on the GPS if you’re not familiar with it, let’s go.”

Luo Wenzhou had thought all along that if there was anyone who could say anything useful, it would be that pudgy little Zhang Yifan, so he was planning to go talk to him again.

These students had already been questioned at the City Bureau the day before, and today Xiao Haiyang and the others had gone over again. The parents were already out of patience. They might agree once or twice but not a third time; going again this time, even using his belt to think, Luo Wenzhou could imagine the expressions the parents would make.

As Luo Wenzhou considered this, he opened Xiao Haiyang’s record and political examination, which he’d gotten from HR—Xiao Haiyang’s parents had divorced, and his mother had died of illness. His father had had custody of him before he’d grown to adulthood. His father and stepmother ran a car dealership, and he had a younger half-brother who was about to take his university entrance exams. His family circumstances were all right, but they weren’t wealthy. The family was all ordinary people. No close relatives had been involved in a crime, died a violent death, or even had any background with the public security authorities. He himself had graduated a few years ago and his background was clean and simple, so there wasn’t much material.

Luo Wenzhou frowned—this was strange.

Fei Du glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t ask what he was reading, only pointed out to him, “We’re almost there.”

Luo Wenzhou closed Xiao Haiyang’s file and looked up at the big field of high-quality estates up ahead, temporarily calling back his thoughts. He gave a frustrated sigh and said, “How about this, you pretend to go to the bathroom and come back when they’re done throwing their tantrum.”

Fei Du unhurriedly drove ahead according to the GPS. “Don’t worry, as long as there’s a female member of the household, I won’t get a telling off.”

“…” Luo Wenzhou reached over and put a hand on his waist. “Seducing a married woman right in front of my face? Little whelp, you must not want to live anymore?”