I was worrying about how to negotiate with LaoYao when Huang Xiaotao snatched the phone: "I'm Song Yang's partner, police officer Huang Xiaotao. You're LaoYao, right? As long as you help us, I'll give you all of the reward money I receive after solving this case."
LaoYao was overjoyed: "Officer Huang is really generous! Okay, okay, I'll look it up immediately."
Then Huang Xiaotao hung up and casually tossed the phone back to me. I was surprised and said: "Damn, aren't you being too generous! Just for LaoYao to search online, you're giving him the whole reward?"
Huang Xiaotao winked at me: "You missed a word. I said the reward money that 'I receive'. How much they give out is up to them, how much I take is up to me. Who knows, maybe I'll only take a few hundred, or maybe I won't take a cent!" After being a cop for so long, do you think I can't outsmart a little kid like this?"
I was thoroughly impressed. Huang Xiaotao's scheming ran deep.
Huang Xiaotao asked: "That guy talked kind of gay, it's the one you mentioned last time right?"
"He doesn't admit it, but our classmates all think he is." I replied.
"Then do you like men too?" Huang Xiaotao asked.
I quickly said: "Why would you have such a ridiculous misunderstanding!"
Huang Xiaotao muttered: "Oh, then I'm relieved."
Relieved? Relieved about what? I was totally confused.
When we returned to the police station, I said: "It's so late now, Leader Liao has probably gotten off work. There's a hospital nearby, so let's just take this girl there for now."
"Okay!"
Huang Xiaotao started the car and we arrived at the hospital. Then Wang Yuanchao carried the girl inside.
The doctor examined her and said the girl was fine, just a little malnourished and traumatized. The doctor asked which one of us was her guardian. Huang Xiaotao showed her police ID, so the doctor didn't ask anymore. The doctor gave the girl some IV nutrition and found a room for her to rest first.
Wang Yuanchao went out for a smoke, so I sat down next to Huang Xiaotao. But as soon as I sat down, she suddenly moved over a seat.
I wondered to myself: "Do you have some issue with me tonight?"
Huang Xiaotao looked up at the ceiling light and casually said: "No."
I figured it must have been the incident when I groped her chest in the alley, but if I brought it up again she would definitely get angry. I thought hard and came up with what I thought was the most conciliatory compensation method. I said to her: "When we get back to Nanjiang City, I'll treat you to a meal. I know a great pizza place."
"No need, thanks!" Huang Xiaotao coldly replied.
Just then, crying and shouting came from the patient room. We rushed in and saw the girl had woken up and was crying for her mom and dad. Huang Xiaotao went to pat her head, but the girl curled up in a ball with her body trembling slightly. Her eyes were full of tears and long eyelashes still had glistening teardrops. She looked just like a frightened baby deer.
"Don't be afraid, we're the police..." Huang Xiaotao said.
As soon as the girl heard the word "police", she started bawling: "Police auntie, did something really happen to my mom and dad?"
Huang Xiaotao nodded, and the girl hugged her pillow and cried inconsolably.
After she had cried enough, Huang Xiaotao asked her some simple questions. It turned out this girl was the victim's daughter, Huang Yuanyuan. She had called home a few days ago and couldn't get through to her parents' phones, so she called her relatives to ask what was going on. But the relatives were all evasive, so she immediately guessed something must have happened at home.
So she ran away from school in the middle of the night. Her school was quite far from home, and it took her a long time by bus to get back. When she arrived, she found the house dark with seal tape outside. She vaguely heard some movement upstairs, like some "bad guys" were doing something in her house.
Hearing this, Huang Xiaotao and I exchanged glances. So when we were reenacting the crime scene upstairs, the girl thought we were the bad guys when she came back.
Of course, facing the heartbroken little girl, we couldn't laugh or interrupt her to explain.
The girl went on to say tearfully: "How did my dad, mom and grandma die? Please don't lie to me."
"They..." Huang Xiaotao hesitated and delegated this tricky question to me with her eyes.
"Gas leak. The three of them were eating dinner and didn't turn off the gas properly. They went together without suffering." I lied benevolently.
"Can I see them then?" the girl pleaded at me.
I shook my head: "I'm really sorry, but the bodies have already been sent for autopsy by the coroner. It would be too upsetting for you to see them now."
The girl buried her face in the pillow and continued sobbing. Something like this would be devastating for anyone, let alone a young girl. Huang Xiaotao was about to ask more questions, but I shook my head indicating we should wait. So we went back outside.
Huang Xiaotao glanced at me: "Not bad, you're quite kind-hearted."
I said: "There's no hiding the truth about her parents' death from her, so I had to tell a well-meaning lie."
"We're staying here tonight then? Then don't investigate tomorrow." Huang Xiaotao shrugged.
I said: "I'll call a couple officers to take turns keeping watch. Tomorrow we'll try to contact her relatives."
I messaged the special case team WeChat group saying I had an important task now to take care of the victim's daughter at the hospital, and I'd personally pay overtime to anyone who came. Huang Xiaotao watched me typing and tutted: "What overtime can a broke student like you pay out? You like being a sucker?"
"No, if people help out, you should give them some benefit right?"
"There are many kinds of rewards. Sometimes just a word of praise is a reward too." Huang Xiaotao snatched my phone and deleted what I wrote, quickly typing that whoever came could have a day off tomorrow instead.
After sending it, several policemen eagerly volunteered to work overtime. Huang Xiaotao gave me back the phone and smugly said: "Learn from your big sister!"
While waiting, I looked up the school's number online and called to inform them that the student was with us at the police station now.
After about half an hour, two policemen hurried over. I specifically told them that if the girl asked, to say her parents and grandma died from gas poisoning, so my benevolent lie wouldn't be exposed. Huang Xiaotao added that all medical, accommodation, transportation and meal expenses could be reimbursed, just remember to keep the receipts and she would have Leader Liao approve the reimbursement.
fe full of thrilling battles, ultimately sacrificing himself to protect his homeland and its people. Unexpectedly, he was reborn into his youth, where he encountered the campus ice queen, Ye Miyue, now working as a masseuse at his family's martial arts school. "How long have you been doing this?" "I-it's my first time..." the campus belle murmured, her head bowed. Wang Xian remembered clearly that back then, although Ye Miyue had not yet awakened her martial arts talent, her outstanding academic performance, breathtaking beauty, and icy demeanor had made her the moon goddess of every boy in school. He was no exception. In his previous life, they had no connection, never imagining they would meet under such circumstances. Sadly, today the city was attacked by an S-class beast, the 'Wind King Falcon,' destroying nearly half of the city streets. Ye Miyue had died on her way home during this disaster. Now, given a second chance, facing the campus goddess of his youth, Wang Xian resolutely decided to extend her session! And so. "My hands are tired..." the blushing campus belle whispered, relieved. Wang Xian pointed to her slender calves and said, "Who said only hands can massage? There are feet too!" "Extend the session, continue!"
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
