Chapter 126

Is something a bit off?

"What did you do?"

": I pushed him once, and then he just fell to the ground, then threw up blood, then died."

The few people exchanged glances. Old Song didn't tell the child about the evidence and said, "You know him?"

"Mm, he's my brother."

Old Song had a measure in his heart and said, "Your parents aren't here, we can't interrogate you, we need a parent present. Only then can we. So here's what we'll do—I'll take you to the police station first, and when your mom and dad get here, we'll handle it. How's that?"

At the table, several young people who had gone out to collect samples were questioning Old Liu.

Old Liu said, "No need to keep busy. The basic case is about to wrap up. Let's eat."

The few people looked at each other, completely baffled as to why it was so fast.

Chen Fan took a sip of baijiu and said, "Beautiful. Fast is good. The hotpot's still warm when we get back."

Chen Fan and Old Liu ate very happily. Just looking at the hotpot scene in front of them, even the director couldn't take it anymore.

Complaining to the operations team, he said, "Is this Chen Fan even human?"

"I don't know. I don't know if this guy even counts as human. Does this person just not have feelings? No worldly feelings at all?"

"Doesn't look like it. He was making eyes at Bai Lu. Those two definitely have something going on."

"The seven emotions and six desires and 'feelings' are two different things, okay? I remember Chen Fan saying he'd like someone who likes him."

The director said, 'I'm still curious—can a case really be solved this fast?'

At the dinner table, Hu Ge looked at Chen Fan. Chen Fan said, "What? You're not getting married, so now you suddenly like men? 0"

"No, what did you tell Old Liu—that it could be solved fast? What's the reason?"

Chen Fan lowered his head, looked around, and then saw Sister Jing Tian.

Sister Jing Tian looked at Chen Fan curiously and said, "What? 》"

Chen Fan directly bent down, ducked under, reached out, picked up Sister Jing Tian's high heels, and said, "Mm, look—this is the murder weapon."

?????

The whole room went silent.

"Holy crap, no way. Chen Fan, what are you doing? That's my goddess."

"Damn it. He did the thing I've wanted to do my whole life."

"No, why do you say the high heels are the murder weapon?"

"I don't get it. We're watching a variety show. Please don't speak in riddles. And also, let go of my goddess. Damn you, you really deserve to die, Chen Fan."

Old Liu swept a glance and said, "Mm, pretty much. That's the kind of wound."

Chen Fan nodded and went back to eating.

Sister Jing Tian was speechless. She took her shoes back and put them on again.

Bai Lu said, "Why not my shoes? Why did you pick Sister Jing Tian's shoes?"

"Because Sister Jing Tian's shoes are bigger. Your little feet are too small."

Pfft—muahahahahaha.

Bai Lu laughed uproariously. Sister Jing Tian's face darkened, full of disdain, and she said, "Alright, alright, let's stop talking about this. Tell us—what exactly happened."

Gao Ye was also very curious and wanted to hear the result.

"I'm not a detective who does deductions. I can't do deductions either. Asking me is useless."

Old Liu said, "The injuries—these wounds were caused by beating. And the fatal wound was the high heel kicking the spleen. A fourteen-year-old child, dead for three days, no one reported it or contacted anyone. What do you think all of this combined amounts to?"

"Probably no parents, right?"

Chen Fan said, "What did that kid say? That the boy was his own brother."

In an instant, everyone suddenly realized and thought of something they shouldn't have.

As long as the memory gives enough evidence, even a random passerby case can be cracked.

A little over an hour later, Old Song came in with an umbrella and pushed open the door.

He closed the umbrella, shook it twice, as if trying to fling off bad luck.

"Still eating? How much have you had? Count me in."

Chen Fan said, "Bai Lu and Gao Ye are leaving, so let's drink a bit more."

Bai Lu and Gao Ye looked at each other, then looked at Chen Fan.

"I didn't tell you. How did you know?"

"The two of you suggested hotpot—wasn't that just waiting for a farewell meal? The show won't keep that many stars around. The permanent guests can only be me, plus Teacher He, plus Qin Ming. The three of us form the lineup."

Bai Lu said, "On my end, I'm going to film a TV drama about police. They found me over there and want me to star in it."

Gao Ye said, "Same on my end, except I'm playing the villain."

"Keep at it. Finish filming fast, and you can still come back and join the show."

Bai Lu said, "I'm the female lead, okay?"

"You think after our variety show, a police drama would still go the romance route? Are you looking down on how sharp capital's nose is these days?"

Bai Lu had nothing to say. That was the truth—she didn't have many scripts. This was an ensemble drama.

"And you—a villain, in a cops-and-robbers film—needless to say, you'll wrap filming fast too."

After saying that, Chen Fan took out two gifts.

He gave one to each of them.

Gao Ye said, "There aren't anything weird inside, are there?"

Chen Fan said, "Mm, yours is lipstick. Bai Lu, yours is a teething stick."

?????

Bai Lu froze for a moment, then burst out laughing and reached straight out to pinch Chen Fan.

Old Song sat down at the table and said, "We've basically figured it out. We can just go straight to the shoes. When we caught the person, the woman herself admitted it — she kicked the boy."

"What did you come over for?"

"Too lazy to deal with it, so I let my subordinates handle it. Over there, that man started beating that woman right away — hit her pretty hard. This round, the guy's probably going in too."

Holy crap, that serious?

"The man works out of town, it's his second marriage. He found a wife, had another kid. Normally, he doesn't really care much about them. Otherwise, who do you think that malnutrition note was written for?"

"You know what? I almost pulled out my gun and shot that woman. The woman said, 'I just kicked him once, and the kid died. I didn't expect it either.'"

6

Chen Fan kept eating the hotpot, holding his wine glass, and said, "Drink?"

"Drink, drink. So annoying, really, absolutely killing me."

Teacher He said, "So all the injuries on his body were caused by the woman?"

"The kid knew his mother was in Kunming, so he planned to take a bus to find his mother. But he had no money, so he went to be someone's sparring partner. The first time he sparred, the money he earned was torn up by his younger brother — because the younger brother didn't want his older brother to leave. The older brother hit the younger brother, then got hit by his mother, and after that kept on sparring."

"The sparring partner kid was from a martial arts school, and he was good buddies with this boy. After hearing about this, he planned right then to come kill that woman, and he said a lot — about that woman's domestic violence. The hotpot we're eating was treated by this martial arts school student. Oh right, a lawyer was also found. This student's family is pretty well-off. His dad and mom really liked the kid who died."

Qin Ming silently sighed and said, "But what on earth did this child do wrong?"

Qu Yiling empathized deeply and said, "Didn't do anything wrong. Just wasn't born into a good situation. In the next life, live well."

Chen Fan said, "Mm. There's a flavor to it now. Old Liu's started believing in feudal superstitions too, and so have you."

"I used to think Liu Laoshi was really stiff and feudal. Now I think there's nothing wrong with being like this, actually."

At that moment, some people walked in, and everyone saw Chen Fan.

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I'll transfer the money to you. Also, help me send a bouquet of fresh flowers."

"Mm, alright. Our Menzhebian Society will handle it."

"Sorry for the trouble. Thanks for your hard work."

"No problem. We're from the Youth Association — this is what we do. Thank you for your support."

Chen Fan then took out a photo from his pocket and said, "I had someone get this photo for me. Here it is for you. This is when he was the most handsome and happiest. This one."

The person in charge's heart was bleeding inside.

He lowered his head and looked at the photo.

"Oh right, remember to bring the bus ticket too, and send it over. Let this child happily go see his mother. Although that mother will also be punished."

The person in charge left. Everyone looked at Chen Fan, curious — when had Chen Fan done all this?

Chen Fan said, "Zhang Tianxiong helped me handle it. Didn't he come specifically to protect us, to shield us?"

Zhang Tianxiong nodded, lowered his head and kept eating. He didn't drink — they were responsible for the security of this variety show here.