Chapter 27: I Am Qu Tuotuo

The subsequent interrogation proceeded much as Yu Dazhang had anticipated.

Kong Lingjie was still playing the fool, slowly revealing details of the case bit by bit.

With Lu Zhongxin now feeling more confident, he was no longer as eager to solve the case as before.

He knew clearly in his heart that the complexity of the current case had already exceeded his capabilities.

Under normal circumstances, he would have reported the situation and requested leadership to reorganize the special task force.

Although doing so would affect his future career, he had no choice but to do it.

Lack of ability is lack of ability; even forcing oneself through it changes nothing, and this has nothing to do with whether one tries hard.

But there was still a glimmer of hope at present.

Lu Zhongxin wanted Yu Dazhang to try, while also giving himself a chance.

Six o'clock in the evening.

Watching Kong Lingjie on the surveillance screen, Yu Dazhang felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.

"Aaaah~~~~~~"

The long yawn caused the team members present to turn and look.

The fat man even had tears in his eyes...

"Sorry, sorry~" Yu Dazhang waved apologetically:

"Fat people have this one flaw; they get sleepy easily."

He knew today's interrogation would yield no results; his master and the suspect were doing the same thing... wearing each other down.

So Yu Dazhang's current state was very relaxed.

There was another reason.

He could now confirm that Lu Zhongxin in this life would no longer commit suicide because of this case.

If the clues ran out and the real culprit couldn't be found, this case would become an unsolved mystery.

Solving the case would be better, allowing the entire special task force to earn merit.

Whichever the outcome, it would not lead to Lu Zhongxin committing suicide.

That was good enough; what more could one ask for?

Once the goal was achieved, one naturally relaxed.

"You should go back," one of the team members said to Yu Dazhang.

"This... isn't that a bad idea?"

Yu Dazhang would rather doze off here than dare to leave.

As the only newcomer in the special task force, even with rotating rest, he shouldn't be the first to go.

"There's nothing wrong with it," another team member patted Yu Dazhang:

"You've worked hard enough today; go back early to rest and regain your energy. We are enough to handle it here."

The others immediately agreed.

"Go, go, if there are any new developments we will call to notify you."

Yu Dazhang put on a hesitant expression, obviously afraid to leave.

Seeing this, two of the team members came to his side; one pushed him outward while the other opened the door.

"Go home and sleep early; if you think of a new breakthrough point, write it down, or you can call us."

"Then I..." Yu Dazhang stammered:

"Really leaving?"

"Bang!" The door was shut from the inside.

Yu Dazhang blinked twice at the door.

Why so polite?

When did my popularity become so good?

He only knew he had accomplished what he wanted most to do, but others didn't think so.

Everyone who entered this special task force came with the goal of solving the case.

Honor that was originally within easy reach was drifting further and further away from them; they might even lose face, and who wouldn't feel anxious?

So in their eyes now, Yu Dazhang was the hope of the whole village... no, the hope of the whole team.

This fat man cannot collapse from exhaustion; if he lies down, we will truly be done for.

Back home, Yu Dazhang was about to enjoy his meal when his phone suddenly rang.

He thought it was someone from the special task force calling, but the caller ID showed a strange number.

Why couldn't a strange number be from the special task force?

Because this number was too flashy.

13... 888888; the string of eights at the end almost blinded Yu Dazhang's eyes.

Just this number alone must be worth tens of thousands.

"Hello?" Yu Dazhang pressed answer with a nervous heart.

"What are you doing? Just got off work, right?"

A clear and pleasant voice, like that of a girl next door, came from the other end of the phone.

A woman?

Yu Dazhang paused for a moment, then realized:

"Wrong number." He hung up, threw his phone onto the table, picked up his rice bowl, and before eating, couldn't help but complain:

"Is the KTV competition so fierce these days that girls are starting to make calls to solicit customers?"

Li Xuehe carried in a bowl of soup and set it on the table, asking casually:

"Whose call was that just now?"

"Telemarketing." Yu Dazhang answered vaguely, his chopsticks flying as he picked up food.

The Qu family villa.

Qu Tuotuo stared at the phone that had gone to a busy tone, frozen for a full minute before coming back to herself.

"Liar!"

She grabbed the Peppa pig plush she'd just bought and punched it hard in the belly twice.

After hitting it, she immediately brought the plush up to her eyes and gently stroked it twice, as if this Peppa were a real person.

She put the plush back on the bedside table and, fuming, picked up the phone again.

"Did I really dial the wrong number?"

She checked the number carefully and confirmed she hadn't misdialed.

Two possibilities.

Please... save... your... 6... 9... book....!

Either the phone number was something that guy made up, and the call she'd just connected to was a stranger's.

Another possibility…

He didn't recognize my voice… The more Qu Tuotuo thought about it, the more she felt this possibility was greater.

During the day she'd wanted to call that guy, but worried about disturbing his work.

She waited a whole day, and finally it was time to get off work.

For this call she'd even thought up several opening lines, finally settling on the one that sounded most natural.

If only she'd led with her name from the first sentence.

More than a week had passed since the police-civilian cooperation at the People's Park, and during this time Qu Tuotuo had been waiting for Yu Dazhang to come find her.

Putting everything else aside, she'd helped him catch a thief—shouldn't he come by to thank her?

Fine, that guy had thanked her on the spot back then.

She'd even asked him for his contact info—didn't he understand what that meant?

Or maybe…

He simply never thought about seeing me again… The moment Qu Tuotuo thought of this possibility, her chest felt tight and uncomfortable.

Qu Tuotuo knew her own looks—she'd known since junior high.

The boys in class always sneaked peeks at her during lessons, and she often found all sorts of little notes in her desk that looked like love letters.

The contents were childish and chuunibyou~

She'd never paid any attention to such things.

She neither responded nor told the teacher, just acted as if she'd never seen them.

As she grew older, such incidents became more and more frequent, and she gradually grew numb to them.

For that reason she'd even gone abroad specifically to learn self-defense.

No choice—being in a foreign land, one naturally had to learn to protect oneself.

But her looks just happened to fail in front of that bastard.

Why was she so certain?

Simple—if that fatty really saw her as a goddess, would he have kissed her without hesitation!

Plenty of people liked her, but none dared to go straight for the lips.

Not a single one!

Unless the other party truly didn't take her seriously at all.

In outsiders' eyes, Qu Tuotuo was a rich family's young lady who'd come back from abroad and seen the world.

But in reality, she was traditional, conservative, and introverted, with so few friends she barely had any.

Su Mi was about the only friend she could open her heart to and speak her true feelings with.

She never dreamed that, just back in the country, she'd run into her lifelong nemesis.

The self-defense she took such pride in had only served to spice things up for that greasy bastard.

"Piss me off and think you can slip away?" Qu Tuotuo stared at the Peppa plush on the bedside table and said, fuming:

"Dream on!"

She picked up the phone again and quickly composed a text message.

Yu Dazhang, who was in the middle of showing off his meal, glanced at the phone on the table.

A message?

Even in 2014 nobody used text messages to chat anymore.

With the hand holding his chopsticks, he tapped the phone screen.

That number again…

Switched to text-message spam?

No, wait—he quickly noticed something off.

In his past life he'd also often received advertising-type harassment calls.

But as long as you hung up or didn't answer, the other party wouldn't keep calling.

Continuing on to send text messages—he'd never even seen that.

Could it really be someone looking for me… Yu Dazhang put down his chopsticks and tapped open the message.

It read:

I'm Qu Tuotuo. I'm giving you five minutes to call me back, or else…

Or else what?!

How did it escalate to threats… Yu Dazhang felt a headache coming on.

Big sis, what did I do to offend you this time?

(End of chapter)