Blank Charge

 

The next day, Jin Zhou, as usual, slept until the sun was shining on his butt before getting out of bed. The pain in his lower abdomen from being hit by Yang Shi Yu was completely gone, but his right shoulder, which was twisted, still felt uncomfortable. Whenever he raised his arm, it throbbed in pain.

It seemed that Yang Shi Yu had indeed used quite some force before recognizing him. Although the subsequent beating might not have been any gentler, if Yang Shi Yu hadn’t held back, he would probably have been in too much pain to get up for a while.

“Damn it, he’s so violent,” Jin Zhou muttered to himself. “Not gentle at all.”

After tidying up, Jin Zhou went out and bought breakfast from the steamed bun shop, leisurely strolling to the auto repair shop.

The shop assistant, Xiao Wu, had already opened the shop and greeted Jin Zhou when he arrived. Then he continued using a spray gun to wash away the foam on the cars.

From the neighboring second hand shop came the sound of bargaining. Jin Zhou leaned his head over to take a look and found that a man had come to pawn a gold chain and was not satisfied with the price offered by the shop.

“Your fees are too expensive, aren’t they? Just over three thousand in total, and you want to charge a hundred for it. And if I want to redeem it later, you’ll charge me interest. How is this any different from a  loan shark?” the middle-aged man complained.

The person behind the counter, Yu He, patiently explained, “These are normal rates and interest. If you go elsewhere, it’s the same price.”

The middle-aged man persisted, “I heard that the interest rate can be negotiated. Give me a discount.”

Yu He remained polite, saying, “We have a fixed price here, no room for negotiation.”

The middle-aged man continued, “Then explain to me in detail how these fees are calculated.”

Yu He was about to repeat the calculation method when he suddenly saw Jin Zhou approaching the counter and changed his tone, greeting him, “Good morning, Brother Jin.”

Jin Zhou raised his chin in acknowledgment. He lazily leaned against the counter, sizing up the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man clearly felt offended and asked Jin Zhou in a hostile tone, “Do you have something to say?”

Jin Zhou picked up the gold chain placed on the counter, glanced at it, and then unceremoniously threw it back into the middle-aged man’s arms. “If you want to pawn it, pawn it. If not, get lost.”

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment and glared angrily at Jin Zhou. Yu He, behind the counter, hurriedly said, “Brother Jin, he’s a customer.”

Yu He’s tone carried a subtle meaning, advising Jin Zhou not to lower himself to the customer’s level.

The middle-aged man suddenly realized that the address of “Brother” definitely wasn’t a casual title. His momentum vanished instantly, and he resentfully glared at Jin Zhou before leaving the second hand shop with the gold chain.

“Don’t be so weak in business,” Jin Zhou said to Yu He. “When you encounter such people, just tell them to get lost.”

Yu He scratched the back of his head, feeling embarrassed. “But I don’t know how to curse at people.”

In a sense, it was a good thing. When Liu Yongchang recruited Yu He to manage the second hand  shop, he saw that Yu He had a friendly face and thought that being friendly would lead to high business profits.

But the second hand shop business was risky. Currently, with loose regulation and no one overseeing it, the shop still engaged in pawning and private lending. If they encountered difficult customers and ended up not doing any business, it would be more loss than it was worth.

After leaving the shop, Jin Zhou went upstairs to the law firm for a while.

There was no new information from Sun Yi, and he didn’t know where Wang Da Rong had gone. Sun Yi was busy with a divorce case, so Jin Zhou helped him organize his thoughts and then returned to his own auto repair shop.

After sitting for a few minutes, Jin Zhou looked at the time and realized it was almost lunchtime.

Jin Zhou strolled to the nearby street and packed two servings of lamb rice noodles. Finally, he sat in the auto repair shop like a proper boss and enjoyed his meal.

The essence of the lamb rice noodles was the tofu preserved in the soup. The sour tofu paired with spicy millet pepper made for an incredibly delicious taste.

Jin Zhou’s life was as enjoyable as that bowl of lamb rice noodles.

Actually, he didn’t resent Yang Shi Yu at all because he didn’t consider his current life unfortunate. He enjoyed his carefree days, not knowing how much better off he was compared to those office workers.

Although there might have been some discontent, it was far from reaching the level of resentment.

In life, one had to learn to look forward. Jin Zhou worked part-time as a lawyer and had seen countless people who were less fortunate than him. He had already realized early on that whenever he thought he was unfortunate, there would always be someone more unfortunate in the world.

Business at the shop was slow, and after lunch, Jin Zhou had some free time.

Actually the previous  night he had deceived Yang Shi Yu, his car was still parked near the apartment building. Jin Zhou bid Xiao Wu and then took a taxi to where he had parked the car last night.

The car was parked at the end of a downhill road, and to avoid getting a parking ticket, the driver kindly parked it in a hidden corner.

Jin Zhou was standing on the roadside, pondering how to drive the car out when he overheard two middle-aged women passing by. “It’s so tragic. The child was at home alone.” “Who would do such a thing?”

Jin Zhou looked at the two women walking away and then glanced in the direction of the apartment building. He suddenly noticed that a crowd had gathered there, and through the gaps in the crowd, he vaguely saw a police tape being set up.

While it was in the nature of Chinese people to enjoy spectacles, Jin Zhou wasn’t in the mood for it at the moment. Recalling the cries of the child from the previous night, he had a bad feeling in his heart. He quickly made his way into the crowd, taking three steps in a hurry.

A murder had occurred in the residential building.

According to an elderly man nearby, the victim was a single mother who was killed while her child was inside the house, possibly witnessing the whole crime.

Jin Zhou was stunned and unable to think for a long time. His mind was filled with the heartbreaking cries of the child from the previous night.

If only he had gone to check at that time…

It’s impossible.

No one would have thought that a child crying meant a murder had taken place.

Moreover, Jin Zhou was not a resident there, and he believed that no passerby would interfere like that.

A wave after wave of onlookers gathered outside the police tape, discussing the situation they heard. After a brief moment of regret, they dispersed one by one.

The shock in Jin Zhou’s heart gradually dissipated, and he started to review the events of last night, but apart from the cries of the child, he couldn’t think of any details related to the murder.

Could it be that Wang Darong was hiding in the single mother’s house and killed her before escaping?

This speculation was forced and lacked evidence. Jin Zhou had an empty mind and couldn’t think of any other possibilities, so he could only rely on Wang Darong.

Looking at the other people outside the police barrier, most of them were like Jin Zhou, analyzing the case without any basis. Some reasoned it was a crime of passion, while others speculated it was a revenge killing. Everyone had their own logical analysis.

In fact, this matter had nothing to do with Jin Zhou, and he didn’t need to worry about it. But it was better to be safe than sorry. If the real culprit was Wang Darong, wouldn’t he miss crucial clues?

“Hey, Officer Ren?” Jin Zhou returned to his car, holding a phone in one hand and starting the engine with the other. “Weren’t you looking for me to investigate my parents’ case? I’m available now.”

Jin Zhou planned to inquire about the murder last night from Ren Wenli after cooperating with the investigation into his parents’ car accident. He might be able to gather some information.

If Ren Wenli avoided the topic, it was likely related to Wang Darong.

If Ren Wenli acted as usual, then it was probably just an ordinary murder case unrelated to Jin Zhou.

However, plans always fail to keep up with changes. When Jin Zhou arrived at the police station, he didn’t expect Ren Wenli to directly “invite” him into the interrogation room.

“I was just thinking of finding you, and here you are,” Ren Wenli said, holding a stack of photos and placing them one by one in front of Jin Zhou. The photos showed Jin Zhou wandering near the residential building last night.

Jin Zhou suddenly felt that something was wrong. He heard Ren Wenli saying, “There was a murder in the shantytown last night. Do you know about it?”

…Isn’t this too much?

 He had considered many possibilities, but how could he have anticipated that he would be considered a suspect by the police?

“Yes, I know,” Jin Zhou picked up a photo and looked at it. It showed him standing at a street corner, looking left and right.

“Why were you there?” Ren Wenli asked.

“I was looking for Wang Darong,” Jin Zhou didn’t hide anything. After all, he was not the culprit, so he had no reason to feel guilty.

“How did you know that Wang Darong lives there?” Ren Wenli’s attitude was somewhat casual, and Jin Zhou couldn’t be sure, but he had a faint feeling that Ren Wenli didn’t consider him a criminal suspect.

“I checked,” Jin Zhou replied concisely.

“So you found out Wang Darong’s address, went there last night, and then left?” Ren Wenli asked.

“That’s right,” Jin Zhou said.

“In that case,” Ren Wenli looked straight at Jin Zhou, her eyes sharp, “how did you know there was a murder there?”

“Because I went there again today to see if Wang Darong was present,” Jin Zhou’s response was flawless.

He couldn’t deny that he didn’t know because many people saw him around the police tape.

He couldn’t confess either, revealing that he deliberately left his car there last night to hitch a ride with Yang Shiyu because he didn’t want to expose Yang Shiyu’s existence.

When he thought of Yang Shiyu, Jin Zhou suddenly felt uneasy. What if the police discovered that Yang Shiyu was also at the scene?

He had a legitimate reason to investigate his parents’ case, and Ren Wenli knew his way of doing things, so she probably wouldn’t hold on to him.

But Yang Shiyu, as a judge, shouldn’t have been there.

“How long did you stay at Wang Darong’s place?” Ren Wenli continued to ask.

“I didn’t check the time, maybe around ten minutes,” Jin Zhou quickly regained his composure.

He thought that Yang Shiyu had strong counter-surveillance awareness, so he probably wasn’t caught on surveillance footage. However, the following questions from Ren Wenli increased his sense of unease.

“Did you leave alone?” Ren Wenli asked.

Pretending not to understand, Jin Zhou asked, “What do you mean?”

Ren Wenli took out another photo from the folder. This time, there were two people in the picture: Jin Zhou, who was looking back at the apartment building, presumably when he heard the child crying, and another person walking ahead, with only their dark silhouette visible. It was indeed Yang Shiyu.

Pointing to Yang Shiyu’s figure, Ren Wenli looked sharply at Jin Zhou and asked, “Who is this person?”

Jin Zhou’s breath became uneven for a moment.

This is getting a bit complicated.