Blank Charge

After coming out of the KTV, Jin Zhou looked around and immediately cursed with foul language.

In the time it took to make a phone call, Yang Shiyu had already driven away. It seemed the hard headed partner of his was really quick to disperse.

The next morning, Jin Zhou happened to be going to the court to file a case, so he made an appointment with Luo Xueqing to meet at the court’s filing department.

The judges in the filing department were just like the staff at the Civil Affairs Bureau. The latter would try to persuade people not to divorce, while the former would do everything possible to prevent cases from being filed.

Jurisdiction, claims, factual reasons—every step was made difficult. Even in this day and age, many lawyers often had to make multiple trips just to file a case.

“False advertising? Even if you win the case, you won’t get much money. Are you sure you still want to sue?” The staff member behind the window glanced at Jin Zhou and then said to Luo Xueqing, “Will it be enough to cover your lawyer’s fees?”

Jin Zhou had informed Luo Xueqing in advance, so she didn’t react much and nodded, saying, “I’m sure I want to sue.”

The other party dragged on for a while, but fortunately, Jin Zhou had prepared sufficient materials for the case, so it was smoothly filed.

After leaving the court, the two of them arrived at the parking lot. Luo Xueqing asked Jin Zhou to sit in the passenger seat and then took a stack of A4 papers printed with social news from the back seat and handed them to Jin Zhou. The papers were all about the social news from that year.

“I checked the one or two years when Judge Jin Wei had an incident. There were three extraordinary social cases in our district.” Luo Xueqing divided the materials into three parts and pointed them out to Jin Zhou one by one. “The first one is about a principal sexually assaulting students, the second one was about a businessperson who underwent severe injuries leading to death, and the third one is about a patient’s family member setting fire to a hospital. Take a look.”

The reason Jin Zhou had asked Luo Xueqing to look into those cases was that since the other party had the ability to hire someone to commit murder, the crimes committed couldn’t be small.

All three cases occurred in the one or two years before Jin Zhou’s parents had a car accident, so the timing matched. However, the last two cases seemed unrelated to money or power, and it didn’t seem necessary to hire someone to commit murder.

“Judge Jin Wei was responsible for all three cases, but other judges took over afterward,” Luo Xueqing said. “Do you think any of them could be related to the car accident?”

With such limited information, Jin Zhou couldn’t say for sure. He flipped through the printed news in his hand and asked, “How were these three cases ultimately judged?”

“All three individuals went to prison, and the one who set fire to the hospital received the lightest sentence.” Luo Xueqing pulled out the bottommost news and put it on top. “Could it be this one?”

“Burning a hospital, but without causing any deaths or significant losses,” Jin Zhou shook his head. “It can’t be this one.”

In terms of severity, this case was never going to receive a heavy sentence in the first place. There was simply no need to hire someone to commit murder.

Jin Zhou then looked at the judgment result of the case involving the principal’s sexual assault , and it was a heavier sentence than expected, as if someone had manipulated it behind the scenes.

That leaves us with the case of the businessperson who died from severe injuries.

“Why was the criminal only sentenced to five years?” Jin Zhou immediately frowned upon seeing the term of imprisonment.

He opened the news material about the merchant’s case and found two crucial keywords between the lines: demolition.

“After the businessperson suffered severe injuries, the street-facing shop was quickly demolished,” Jin Zhou said.

“What happened in this case?” Luo Xueqing looked at the news in Jin Zhou’s hand. “The businessperson had a conflict with a customer and was severely beaten. This customer was just a small-time thug.”

“But this person was only sentenced to five years,” Jin Zhou said. “Normally, causing severe injuries resulting in death would receive a minimum of ten years or more.”

“Is that so?” Luo Xueqing clearly didn’t know the sentencing standards. As soon as Jin Zhou mentioned it, she immediately understood why something was amiss. “If there’s a problem with this case…”

She suddenly furrowed her brows, took the news from Jin Zhou’s hand, and said, “Then this matter is related to Wang Hetai.”

“Wang Hetai?” Jin Zhou was puzzled. “The owner of the Wang Hetai Group?”

“That’s right,” Luo Xueqing pointed to the picture in the news and said, “These rows of shops belong to Wang Hetai. At that time, they were included in the demolition range, and all the merchants terminated their leases and moved out one after another.”

“What if the deceased businessperson was beaten because they refused to move?” Jin Zhou said.

In that case, the nature of the case would be very different. Ordinary intentional harm would be associated with organized crime and wouldn’t result in just a five-year sentence for the attacker.

“It’s not impossible,” Luo Xueqing paused, “but are you sure you want to investigate Wang Hetai?”

Wang Hetai was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the city, and his iconic buildings, such as the Central Building and Tai Tower, were part of his portfolio.

Jin Zhou wasn’t sure if his speculation was accurate. After all, he had very little useful information, and his association had no evidence to support it. Asking Yang Shiyu might be an option, but he knew that Yang Shiyu wouldn’t say anything.

“Let’s leave it at that for now,” Jin Zhou put down the news in his hand. “Your case is going to trial soon. Let’s focus on resolving that matter first.”

“Okay,” Luo Xueqing nodded. “I’ll inquire about Wang Hetai during this period.”

Jin Zhou had a strange feeling that Yang Shiyu was hiding something.

That person either had wealth or power, capable of easily making obstacles disappear and being cautious enough that even the public security and judicial authorities couldn’t do anything.

Jin Zhou didn’t know much about Wang Hetai, but he had a vague sense that the approach taken in the case of the businessperson’s severe injury and death was similar to the one used in his parents’ car accident case. One involved organized crime turning into intentional harm, while the other was intentional murder turned into a traffic accident, both minimizing significant events and downplaying them.

As his thoughts split in his mind, when Jin Zhou stopped thinking, he realized his car had unconsciously arrived at the underground parking lot of the Hetai Tower.

Hetai Tower was a 5A office building, housing the largest law firms, accounting firms, and more in the city.

Jin Zhou aimlessly circled the parking lot, originally intending to sort out his thoughts after returning, but at that moment, his gaze suddenly caught sight of a familiar car.

Upon a closer look, it was indeed Yang Shiyu’s car.

Why would he come to Hetai Tower during broad daylight?

Originally, Jin Zhou had only a 30% confidence in his own speculation, but now, it instantly increased to 50%.

He didn’t know when Yang Shiyu would come down, so Jin Zhou thought for a moment, took out pen and paper from the glove compartment, wrote down a series of numbers, and then clipped the note onto the door handle of Yang Shiyu’s car.

Jin Zhou and Yang Shiyu used to play a decoding game. The person posing the question would first determine a book, then create a set of codes based on page numbers, lines, and which word. It formed a puzzle.

The underground parking lot of Hetai Tower was filled with numerous posters, such as those for mall memberships, swimming and fitness, and more. Jin Zhou found a poster with the most words, then used the words on it to create a set of codes. As long as Yang Shiyu found the correct poster, he could decipher the sentence: “Darling, come find me.”

Worried that Yang Shiyu wouldn’t take the numbers on the note seriously, Jin Zhou also drew a scale on the lower right corner, indicating that he knew Yang Shiyu’s identity.

“It’s such a simple puzzle. He shouldn’t have trouble solving it, right?”

Back at the repair shop, Jin Zhou spent the entire afternoon thinking about the matter. Xiao Wu overheard him muttering to himself and asked, “What is on your mind, Jin Zhou?”

“None of your business.” Jin Zhou grabbed a large wrench and lay down on the repair chair. “You wouldn’t be able to solve it.”

“Tell me about it,” Xiao Wu said discontentedly. “How would you know I can’t solve it if you don’t tell me?”

Jin Zhou swiftly slid under the car to be repaired.

In fact, his current state was very much like waiting for a WeChat message, anxious and irritable. Occasionally, he couldn’t help but glance at the door. He had to do something to distract himself.

Fixing cars was a good way to do that. Jin Zhou twisted various parts under the car, gradually forgetting about the puzzle.

After an unknown period of time, the sound of leather shoes treading on the concrete suddenly rang outside the shop. From Jin Zhou’s perspective, the person who came wore meticulously tied shoes, with even the trousers ironed straight.

“Jin Zhou.” Yang Shiyu’s voice followed.

Well, the darling actually showed up.

Jin Zhou’s mouth almost widened to his ears, but he quickly restrained his expression. He slid out from under the car, fully aware of the answer but asked deliberately, “Judge Yang, what brings you here?”

Yang Shiyu threw the note onto the engine cover expressionlessly and asked, “Are you following me?”

“How is that possible? Am I such an uncouth person? But you, how did you know I was here?”

Although the repair shop was not far from the courthouse, it was impossible to know Jin Zhou was the shop owner unless one paid special attention.

Yang Shiyu didn’t answer. “What were you doing at Tai Building?”

Jin Zhou stood up from the repair chair and looked at his hands. He took off the canvas gloves while saying, “I do what you do.”

Yang Shiyu closed his eyes with a headache, seemingly unsure of how to respond to Jin Zhou. He furrowed his brows slightly and said, “How did you find out about Wang Hetai?”

“I have my connections.” Jin Zhou smiled. “I wasn’t sure before, but now I am.”

His fifty percent certainty had turned into one hundred percent.

Jin Zhou was just playing the information gap, observing Yang Shiyu’s reaction.

Clearly, Yang Shiyu didn’t know what information Jin Zhou had obtained, so he hadn’t expected that Jin Zhou’s appearance would confirm his speculation.

Now with a fully furrowed brow, Yang Shiyu took a step forward and stared straight at Jin Zhou. “Wang Hetai is not someone you can mess with. How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t get involved in this case.”

“Sure thing, Your Honor.” Jin Zhou casually threw the gloves onto the engine cover and met Yang Shiyu’s gaze nonchalantly. “If you kiss me, I won’t interfere.”

In Jin Zhou’s anticipation, Yang Shiyu would have at most scold him a few times before leaving with a cold face.

However, Yang Shiyu suddenly leaned in, and his lips moved slightly. “Where should I kiss you?”

Jin Zhou looked at the cold eyes so close to him and became dumbfounded, “Huh?”

Yang Shiyu lifted his chin slightly, their lips only a fist’s distance apart, and asked, “Here?”

Jin Zhou could feel Yang Shiyu’s breath gently brushing against his lips, like a feather tickling his heart.

His brain short-circuited in an instant, his Adam’s apple involuntarily sliding twice. But just as he was about to close his eyes in a daze, the light and shadows suddenly changed before his eyes. Yang Shiyu stepped back, his cold gaze carrying a hint of mockery, “You, with your cowardly appearance, still want to investigate Wang Hetai?”

“Be obedient and stay away from this case.” Yang Shiyu left those words before departing.

Was he just called a coward by someone? Jin Zhou’s mind went blank.

“Jin Zhou, your face is so red,” Xiao Wu on the other side remarked. “Was that a lover’s spat just now?”

Jin Zhou suddenly snapped back to reality, his neck turning red as he corrected, “It’s my sister-in-law! Damn it!”