The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

Most of the time, incidents happen when people least expect it.

That day was the same as usual, like every other day they knew.

Only after Li Zi Hong woke up early to prepare to wash up did he remember that he would not need to check into the prosecution bureau for the next several days.

A few days ago, the punishment for the lost documents had been declared. Despite being called a punishment, it was more like his own boss had forcefully pressed him to take vacation. Starting from the moment he opened his eyes today, he would not need to go to work for an entire week. The cases in his hands had all been temporarily transferred to a colleague to receive.

The moment Li Zi Hong realised all this, he let out a soft sigh. Still, he took care of himself as he usually did, then went to boil some tea. From the shelf, he grabbed a book that he had previously bought and never gotten the chance to read and he began his morning.

His forced vacation was not for a single reason, but multiple accumulated together. Aside from the recent instances when he had not followed protocol and brought the Chief Prosecutor and Director some—or maybe quite a few—troubles, he had been working an excessive amount of overtime recently, frequently staying in the office until very late. He would even end up sprawling across the desk to sleep a moment before continuing to review files, so people around him were starting to talk.

Wanting to deal with things as quickly as possible was good, but he also gave his other colleagues quite a bit of pressure.

He had a seat on the sofa in his boss’s extremely large office with the door shut. His boss, who had also been his mentor since school, had somewhat helplessly told him that a few departments had complained he worked too seriously. This had even affected other coworkers that wanted to work and rest like normal.

Li Zi Hong could only explain that it was him willingly staying to work overtime, that it had nothing to do with others. Moreover, his colleagues had not shown enmity with him over such a matter.

His mentor had told him that, sometimes, the issue was comparisons between people. This was not their intention; his colleagues were all aware of each other’s hard work and would strive to match their progress while also hoping that everyone would rest and relax at the appropriate times. However, a few of the populace, and even the superiors, always wondered why others could not sacrifice rest as much as he did.

In the current environment, many bosses usually desired to get the greatest value out of an employee’s work at the lowest cost. This was unavoidable even in their occupation. As long as a single person worked too much, they would be pulled out to become the model tool. If this vicious cycle lasted too long, it would only cause everyone’s rest time to drop. The pressure and their mental states would grow more and more strained.

“That’s actually true.”

It was past eight in the morning when Yang De Cheng, who had asked him to come out for breakfast, listened to the reason for the vacation this time. He chuckled and said, “We used to have a senior with the surname Bao who seemed to be in the surgery branch. Apparently, his performance was very outstanding right after graduating, and he was also very devoted. He would stay in the hospital to work more than anyone else, sleeping no more than two hours a day. It didn’t matter where he needed to go or if the patients arrived at random times, he would always go wherever they were transferred. Even if he could not go, he would still find someone to go check the situation first. Finally, he was fired after a coworker made false charges against him. Moreover, the people in his branch all cheered along, because being with him was just too exhausting, and [his worth ethic] had been assumed as a given. A few of the patients believed this was how things ought to be and would treat other medical staff with the same attitude. Even the nurses that were busy helping others would end up getting complained at by the patient’s family members if they were just a bit late. They did not think anything was wrong with this.”

Li Zi Hong furrowed his brows slightly at his friend in front of him.

“You should also understand this logic, right? Being passionate isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes it’s better to stop and rest before going too far. You guys work way too much. Even if you don’t force others to, they will endure the pressure to be at equal standards and will have no other option but to work just as hard. It’s not a good thing in the long term. Besides, the overtime compensation isn’t increased according to how hard you work on your own volition. It’s already bad enough if people get their accountability inexplicably docked a notch [as a result], let alone end up with an Ironman.” Yang De Cheng swirled his cup of coffee as he picked up a richly-filled sandwich next to him and took a bite. “You and Officer Yu are both too serious. Hasn’t Ah Si been constantly complaining about being worked to death this whole time? Human resources can only do so much. If you monopolize too many tasks because you want matters quickly resolved, the other people matched up with you can only charge full speed ahead too.”

Actually, it wasn’t just Yan Si. All his other colleagues would pretty much tell him to rest when it was time to rest as well. Li Zi Hong silently pondered this. He was certain that Jiu Shen’s group was often working overtime recently too. Ah Liu had previously even talked about such a matter before, saying that Jiu Shen would even sleep on the floor of the labs and Ah Liu would often step on him lying on the ground when arriving in the morning. Most importantly, being stepped on didn’t wake him up either, scaring Ah Liu into thinking he had stepped on a corpse or something.

Since the work budget was always being cut, there had been no development in multiple resources and support. The staff did not increase either, though the higher-ups continued to toss more and more projects down at them. Yu Xia was included as well; his team and various basic level [staff] would be forced to squeeze out more time to accept and handle more matters. Actually, even Li Zi Hong had recently started to feel that things were getting a bit difficult to manage.

However, letting go would result in easily losing clues to cases under investigation, and everyone was aware of this.

He had not wanted to give others pressure, so he had been bringing work home as much as possible. However, this still was not enough. The surge in crime rate meant no matter how hard they worked, the case files they had to handle would only continue growing in turn. This was especially true now that people these days could easily file a lawsuit because of a random dispute, increasing their workload by quite a bit.

And all those from criminal cases, whether it was the deceased, the people implicated, or friends and family, wanted to receive answers. These passionate emotions were difficult to ignore.

So he could only shake his head. “There is still no resolution.” At best, he would just have to bring more work back home and try his utmost not to burden his other colleagues from being gossiped about. After all, many people had families; everyone had those that shared flesh and blood with them. They would need time to rest and interact with their family. Nobody should spend 24 hours a day sacrificing themselves for work, tying themselves to their job so that they could not leave.

Even he did not desire this.

If possible, Li Zi Hong also wanted to rest as usual, to return home and play video games, read books, go hiking, and exercise as he had regularly done during holidays back as a student.

“Then take advantage of this break to properly waste away then. Go do things you want to do.” Yang De Cheng looked at the friend that was nearly beyond saving and could only pat his shoulder pityingly. “In any case, why is this compulsory vacation from your Chief Prosecutor so weird? He even forbade you from touching anything work-related. Don’t tell me you previously ran to work during vacation in the past?”

“No, there is a different reason for that.” Li Zi Hong paused, not explaining the main reason for the forced break. Explaining would only incite unnecessary concern.

Yang De Cheng did not continue pursuing the question either and smoothly shifted the topic. “Oh right, then do you have any plans for your vacation? You won’t really stay at home and play video games all day until you rot, right?” Crap, I just told him to waste away; he might actually do it…He recalled Ah Si previously telling him that during a three-day holiday, this guy had actually once spent the entire three days playing video games, even forgetting to eat meals.

“Maybe play the games that have been put aside for a while.” Having worked excessively for a period, he actually had many games he still had not played. Li Zi Hong was seriously considering whether he should take advantage of this time off to break through the ones that needed to be broken through. There was already a large box of games that he had not even unpackaged yet accumulated in a box. When he had passed by a shop he was well acquainted with a while back, the owner had even specifically run out to ask him if he had any insight on the new games.

As Li Zi Hong thought of the owner having helped him procure a limited bundle package from overseas, he could only feel he was not quite worthy of the owner’s passion, as the owner had looked slightly disappointed when Li Zi Hong had said he had not yet gotten the time to play it.

“…You’re not considering going out and walking around?” I actually guessed right. Yang De Cheng was starting to wonder if he needed to periodically check in to prevent someone from playing games to the point of a sudden death. It would be too shameful for this to be published on the news considering Li Zi Hong’s status.

“Ah Si said the last day was his, so we might go out and explore.” Li Zi Hong pondered to himself, playing games for an entire five or six days did seem like it wasn’t the best idea. He was silent for a few seconds. “Perhaps I’ll set aside a few days for some exercise. It’s been a very long time since I saw my hiking friends. I can take the chance to go and chat with them.”

“Ah Si didn’t take vacation?” Yang De Cheng had assumed that guy would claim all seven days to be his, then toss all his work at others while taking out all his accumulated time off and leisurely walk off to vacation without a second thought for those left behind.

Li Zi Hong chuckled. Upon learning of this matter, Yan Si had shouted over the phone that this was too treacherous, since he needed to go out for a research study for four days this week, only having two days off after returning. This was not much time at all, and Yan Si had only managed to get that last day by doing everything possible.

He did not tell Yang De Cheng about the background noise from that phone call had included other people shouting, “Don’t stab the scalpel into the table”.

“Anyways, just make sure to take this chance and properly rest up.” Yang De Cheng patted his shoulder and laughingly said, “I’ll keep a spot for you, so just come and eat whenever you’re hungry.”

“Thanks.”

***

Afternoon.

Various people were walking around the police station as usual.

“What are you doing here?”

“Holy shit! Fucking hell! What kind of young—Ah…hello.”

Xiao Hai, who had been hiding in front of the police station, was given a huge scare by the person behind her. When she instinctively wanted to throw a punch, she belatedly realised that she must not punch this person, and she hurriedly retracted her fist.

Li Zi Hong looked at the girl who usually would swagger inside. He had originally planned on just greeting her before returning to his vacation, but he raised his brows slightly, not quite certain if the girl was up to something this time again. “Why not go inside?”

“I ¹…uh, I was just passing by, just passing by so I was taking a look…” Xiao Hai awkwardly coughed a few times, a complete change from her usual character as she stammered back in response while eying the police station once again.

Li Zi Hong studied the girl and, after some thought, turned towards a teahouse opposite them. “If you’re not in a rush, would you like to sit down with me?”

“Hah? Can I?” Xiao Hai blinked and scratched her face. “That-that’s fine.”

Thus, the two of them entered the small, reasonably priced teahouse one after another.

They could clearly see the busy police station right across the street outside the window. After randomly choosing a cold drink, Xiao Hai pinched and fiddled with a corner of her shorts as she repeatedly glanced over in the direction [of the police station].

“Did something happen between you and Officer Yu?” Li Zi Hong asked in a slightly puzzled tone after he watched the girl’s anxious actions for a moment.

Cough, cough, cough— Xiao Hai, who had just taken a sip of her drink, immediately spat it out before hurriedly whipping out some tissues. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck—”

As he waited for her to quickly wipe everything clean, he belatedly realised that perhaps he should not have asked so straightforwardly. After all, he was not exactly well-acquainted with the girl in front of him. While they had met several times, they really only recognised each other and would greet each other out of courtesy. Technically, it was Yan Si that was more familiar with her, even frequently exchanging gossip about the police station with her and such.

Xiao Hai gulped down her drink to drown out her embarrassment and glared at the prosecutor before her for half a second. Finally, she decided to throw caution to the wind, heavily slamming down her cup with a clang. “I…Can I ask you if my…my inner qualities are horrible?”

“Hm? What do you mean?” Li Zi Hong was not quite certain what she was trying to ask. He scanned the girl sitting across from him. Aside from dressing in a more revealing fashion, there was nothing to pick on in terms of her overall looks. She was a very popular type of girl, with large eyes, a good figure, and a face blessed by the heavens even without make-up.

“I…Oh, crap, I mean, Mr. Cop and I…”

“I don’t mind your original manner of speaking, there is no need to specially correct it.” He had noticed from the beginning that the girl had been speaking unnaturally and without any energy. It was quite a difference from what he had previously seen from her.

“I’m not changing it because of you…” Xiao Hai’s shoulders slumped down as she let out a sigh. “As expected, classy women are a better match with policemen. A small tomboy is below standards; the difference is too huge.”

Li Zi Hong was silent for a few seconds as he realised what she was worried about now. “You met Miss Tang?” After the jumping incident had passed, he had just happened to see Tang Yu Yao visit the police station once or twice, also to look for Yu Tong.

According to the gossiper named Yan Si, there seemed to be nothing between the two people either. They just chatted a bit, and they did not cross each other’s paths much. Per a certain forensic investigator’s words, even a blind person could see it was another police suitor, while the suitor’s target did not realise this at all.

However, that forensic investigator’s final conclusion had been quite poisonous, a single line: “Their young appearances are painful.”

“We didn’t directly meet, I just saw her at the entrance before.” Xiao Hai could see even from a distance that the woman had a great temperament. Moreover, she was very pretty and her movements were elegant, completely different from Xiao Hai. Most importantly, Yu Tong’s expression and attitude while talking with that woman was nothing like when he spoke to Xiao Hai.

Although Xiao Hai did not want to admit it, she could pretty much tell that Yu Tong always seemed a bit helpless or amused when talking with her. She had asked her bros before about it, and her bros had given her some shit about it being a man’s reservation, so she had just beaten up the morons.

In contrast, Yu Tong’s bearing was gentle and polite when he spoke with that woman. The two always looked very natural when chatting together.

“Sigh…” As expected, only a true woman can match up to Mr. Cop. Xiao Hai’s chin dropped to the table as she stared at the man in front of her. “I really did overstep my boundaries. Mr. Cop must think I’m annoying.” Just look at the woman with hips, a chest, and a pretty face. Even her butt is big. Plus, she looks fertile. And her actions of propriety also follow the criterion for a well-bred young lady. That’s a true target for a good wife. Moreover, she had seen Yu Tong return an insulated pot to the woman; it was obvious that the woman had cooked. Xiao Hai was seriously too far behind. She was adept at slicing up people, but slicing up vegetables was just…she might as well just keep slicing up people!

“I don’t think Officer Yu minds much.” As an observer, Li Zi Hong had watched them for a long time and had come to the same conclusion as Yan Si: she was being domesticated by Yu Tong.

From the perspective of crime investigations, the girl in front of him had truly helped a lot on multiple occasions. Moreover, since they had gotten to know each other, she had secretly done many things as well. While Yu Tong might not have noticed, Li Zi Hong had a general awareness from the various cases in his hands every day. The frequency of incidents occurring in the region the girl’s business was had sharply declined, including brawls in general. He had asked a few officers, who had said that the drug situation had also fallen there, and was much easier to manage compared to other regions.

He had also lost count of how many times there had been when the police had been unable to find a criminal, yet the criminal had been found through special means, ending up wrapped and tossed in front of the police station with bruised and swollen faces. Or a case with no progress would end up getting a report with breakthrough information. In a certain way, Xiao Hai was actually quite welcomed at the police station, with her unwavering, strong personal beliefs and upright heroic style. She had formed friendships with quite a few officers and was even acquainted with the investigators.

If comparing to someone always smiling yet full of schemes, Li Zi Hong had to admit that this girl left a good impression in his opinion. Of course, this was just within the scope of appreciation.

Xiao Hai cradled her head, currently trapped in internal conflict. She blinked her large eyes and miserably slumped across the table. “Ugh…if Mr. Cop is happy, I should be congratulating him, but my feelings are such a mess—”

Li Zi Hong was slightly amused to see the girl who usually seemed ready to bite was now instead looking like a very normal girl. After some thought, he said, “Would you like to talk about your thoughts?”

“My…my thoughts aren’t important…”

He pushed his own untouched drink forwards to the girl and looked at her. “I think chatting about it should be fine? I won’t tell Officer Yu, so there is no need to worry.”

Xiao Hai grabbed the glass and laid back [in her seat] as she sighed. “It’s not much, really. As long as Mr. Cop is happy, it’s all good. I originally just wanted to see Mr. Cop happy anyways.”

Yu Tong was very special, nothing like the males around her. In addition, he had saved her before, plus he was skilled at fighting. Xiao Hai believed he was a very unique existence, different from her brother and also much more reliable and spirited than her old man. Yu Tong was the first person she had ever respected to the point of wanting to try her utmost to impress.

So as long as she could stay by his side, Xiao Hai was already delighted. When it came to providing support, she always wanted to help a bit more.

It wasn’t as if she had never thought about other women coming to snatch the meat. It was just that this was truly a horribly good match. When she and the woman were placed together, it was basically equivalent to a fighting rooster being compared to a phoenix.

Even Xiao Hai herself felt that it was more appropriate for Yu Tong to have such a female by his side. That was why she had not dared to enter the police station for a period of time, always watching and wandering around outside before leaving.

Because she really liked him, she knew she should let go. The other person deserved better.

“Don’t worry, I’m very adaptable. It’ll be fine after some time.” Xiao Hai waved her hand and mustered her energy. “Thanks, I know you’re worried. It’s nothing, life always has its ups and downs. After this obstacle, everything’ll be OK.”

“Mn. If you want to chat, you can give me a call.” Li Zi Hong patted the girl on the head, his lips curling up into a faint smile.

“Got it. Not like I’d call that big-mouth Si. I was fucking played by him several times.” At first, Xiao Hai had viewed Yan Si as a brother, but in the end, she had finally realised that the bastard was just a scammer that pretended to be sincere. After getting tricked multiple times, she had sworn that even if she was beaten to death, she would never speak her heart to him, or else he’d make everything a mess.

After chatting idly for a while longer, the two left the drinks shop in the evening.

“Um, is something the matter?”

Xiao Hai shot a puzzled look at Li Zi Hong, who had suddenly halted in his tracks to gaze around the moment they left the shop.

Li Zi Hong shook his head and said it was nothing. He kept feeling like he was being followed recently. “Oh, right, I think it’s better if you maintain your current manner.”

“What?” Instead of heading to grab her beloved ride, Xiao Hai tilted her head, completely lost.

“Aside from your rough language, I believe your original self is best. There’s no need to compare with others.” Li Zi Hong paused for a moment before continuing, “Every person has their own unique traits, that’s why nobody is the same. Rather than having poor inner qualities, I believe that your original self is very good already. There’s no reason to go through the trouble to change yourself into someone else.” Compared to those criminals beyond saving, or those murderers that stubbornly refused to repent, the girl’s overly frank personality was actually a characteristic that was seldom encountered.

There were not many people like this anymore.

Xiao Hai grinned and boldly patted his shoulder. “You have my thanks. You’re really a good guy. When you get married, remember to send me a card, I’ll definitely give you a big present.”

“Thank you.” Li Zi Hong did not refuse her good intentions. He watched the girl disappear in the distance with a seemingly better mood.

Ever since coming to this place, he had started to witness the individual traits that various people possessed.

Even people living in dark places would hold onto their own distinct convictions. Not denying them and trying to accept them instead was how one could see different life paths.

Xiao Hai walked a different path from them, but it was not actually too different either. They each persevered on their own journeys.

Even if they were not in the same place, they way they considered things was similar.

He looked at it from the white side, while she looked at it from the black side.

They both kept the middle grey region in check.

***

“Prosecutor?”

Li Zi Hong turned his head to see Yu Xia had just returned, now quickly striding over. “Weren’t you on vacation?”

Only after arriving this morning had Yu Xia heard about the prosecutor in front of him suddenly taking vacation for reasons they would not say. All he knew was that all the cases had been temporarily transferred to another prosecutor, forcing Yu Xia to waste time running through the procedures again. He had finally detained some problematic things and had come back to write up reports when he spotted the person that theoretically on break appear in front of the station.

“I just came over to say hello. I’ll have to ask for you to directly go to the Prosecutor Gu for the next week.” Li Zi Hong said somewhat apologetically, “I asked her to keep an eye out on certain matters. If there’s any inconvenience, you can call me about it and I will request for her to help.”

“Don’t worry, I understand the situation.” Yu Xia nodded; he had just met the other prosecutor face-to-face. “Prosecutor Gu said you had already explained everything. There’s no need to think too much about it. You’re long overdue for a proper vacation anyways.” Recently, everyone had been too busy, and practically all of them were extremely tense because of Su Zhang’s shenanigans, especially those responsible for pursuing him.

Yu Xia himself was pretty nonchalant. He was used to running around for cases, and his physical strength had been excellently trained. Rather, it was the guys around him that recently looked on the verge of death. Two days ago, Jiu Shen had even ended up getting stepped on while lying on the ground. Yu Xia had seriously wanted to drag that guy back into training to improve his stamina.

But it was indeed true that staying this tense for long periods of time would be hard to endure, so it was better to take vacation as quickly as possible.

They had gotten too anxious because of Su Zhang. In addition, they were also stretched taut by the other cases in their hands. This wasn’t a good sign; if it dragged on any longer, they would all collapse sooner or later.

“Are you alright?” Yu Xia had clearly sensed there was something off about the atmosphere when he had gone over [to the prosecutor’s office] in the morning. Although he could not point to the exact reason, his instincts told him it was related to the friend in front of him.

“I’m fine.” Li Zi Hong smiled. “There’s nothing wrong, just a necessary verification. If a conclusion is reached, Prosecutor Gu will notify you.”

“The previous matter with Su Zhang, you mean.” There was no need to guess; Yu Xia could pretty much tell what it was. Li Zi Hong did not say much more, simply glancing at the station and asking, “Officer Ye should be fitting in without much difficulty, I assume?”

“It’s going well.” In simple terms. However, Yu Xia felt that Ye Huan En and that old man from last time were going crazy hard. They were so rigorous in their work at the inspector’s office that he wanted to punch them. They were approachable after work hours though, and would even come over to help them organise some administrative documents. They were both people that kept personal and work affairs clearly split and were now quite friendly with his brother. The dog and cat had been left at their home today for Yu Yin and Yu to play with.

“How about his physical condition?” It had been some time since Ye Huan En had come here. Li Zi Hong still did not know how the other’s recovery was going.

“It’s much better, he’s almost able to run and jump around now. However, there’s a huge problem with his stamina, and he’s very weak at fighting!” It was no wonder the other person had previously been captured so easily. Yu Xia had found it strange, since that trash he had exchanged blows with back then had been crazy weak, so there was no reason to simply lose to them. In the end, he had looked at Ye Huan En’s data and had seen that his scores for direct attack and defence training were nothing worthy of mentioning…plainly speaking, they were clearly horrible, to the point where even Jiu Shen or the newly arrived Xiao Wu could beat him in less than five minutes. Yu Xia seriously wondered how the military instructor had passed Ye Huan En. Could it be that they hadn’t wanted to see him anymore, and had randomly given him a passing grade as a result? “Only his shooting ability is very strong.”

Compared to Yu Xia, anyone would likely be very weak. Li Zi Hong thought this to himself in faint amusement, now having a general understanding of the situation. “In a few days, I might go hiking. Before I head out, I’ll contact the prosecutor in charge again. You all should watch yourselves a bit while working too, don’t force yourself too much.”

Yu Xi raised a brow and gave him a sideways look. “You haven’t forgotten that I’m older than you, have you?” To be accurate, he had been in the taskforce for longer than the person in front of him as well.

“I haven’t.” It was just that when looking at this face that resembled a high school student’s, Li Zi Hong felt that it was always better to add a few more sentences of clarification.

“Then don’t worry so much.”

***

In the evening, he paid a visit to the Yu family home.

He originally had not planned to come over today, but after tidying up his own house, Li Zi Hong had discovered that he had forgotten to bring over the second and third generation video games that he had previously agreed to lend to Yu Yin. As a result, he went out on another trip.

As soon as Yu Yin opened the door, he saw the visitor just end a call on their cellphone.

“Li-dàgē?” Somewhat astonished, he stuck his head out, but did not see Yan Si. Then he saw the games in the other person’s hands and finally remembered about this matter. “Sorry, I can just go over and grab them myself next time.”

Li Zi Hong’s gaze shifted downwards to see the golden retriever named Fish Jerky bounding over to his side. “It isn’t a problem, I don’t have anything to do these days.”

“You were on a call just now?” Yu Yin randomly asked, having noticed the other person’s actions.

“It didn’t connect.” Li Zi Hong did not mind the question, and candidly replied, “It seems like Dong Feng doesn’t want to answer the phone.”

“Oh, Dong Feng…ahaha…” Yu Yin invited the guest to come in first. He inwardly rejoiced at the fact that he had just happened to have bought some extra desserts home today as he informed, “No need to call him.”

Not comprehending the meaning behind these words, Li Zi Hong followed inside to enter the front entrance. When he walked into the living room, he immediately understood.

The person that he had just unsuccessfully called was currently sitting in the Yu home’s living room. The table that had previously been there had already been moved to a corner to make a large empty space. There were several boxes of thousand-piece puzzles on the ground. Dong Feng was currently sitting on the carpet, opening one of the boxes. He then dumped out all the pieces and began to flip them over to the right side one by one.

Li Zi Hong then spotted the cat on top of the cabinet stick its head out slightly before curling back in, not at all caring about the people below. Fish Jerky came over and Li Zi Hong casually petted the large dog that leaned towards him.

They had only learned after the incident that the reason Fish Jerky had followed Yu Xia in the beginning was because of his smell, the unique scent of the police and a gun. Ye Huan En explained that since Fish Jerky had often gone in and out of their police station since a young age and was occasionally taken care of by coworkers, the dog had likely believed Yu Xia to be the same type and forced itself to follow, waiting for its owner.

Everything had been an exceptionally perfect coincidence.

Now, Fish Jerky was already very used to their group, including Li Zi Hong. Even the frequently visiting Yan Si and Jiu Shen, who later ended up coming over specifically to play with the dog, were included in its friend group. It was a very docile dog.

As for the cat…the cat still coolly looked down at the world of humans from high above.

“I asked Dong Feng to help me complete puzzles. It’s a bit troublesome because there are so many.” Yu Yin brought out tea and desserts and placed them next to where Li Zi Hong sat. When the other person curiously peered at the boxes on the ground, Yu Yin explained, “Those bastards at the student council said something about opening an exhibition to show their support for those in need, but they had a screw loose or something and decided to open a ‘fun’ jigsaw puzzle exhibition and charity bazaar. Now they’ve been asking everyone to help complete puzzles, saying the more the better in order to have a diverse display. I really want to give them a damn beating.” It’s clearly a strenuous and thankless task. Who exactly was it that suggested and passed this kind of exhibition? Do they have nothing better to do?!

“May I help?” Li Zi Hong grinned faintly as he put down his cup of tea and also shifted to sit down on the carpet, carefully studying the boxes.

“Thank you so much,” Yu Yin quickly expressed his gratitude. The puzzles here had been chosen with thousand pieces as a minimum; there were also ones with pieces that numbered two thousand, three thousand, etc. If he had to finish them all by himself, he would probably die miserably. “Xiao Yu also put together half of one. He just ran out to make dinner.”

Li Zi Hong followed Yu Yin’s line of sight and really did see a puzzle laid out on the other side of the living room, more than half of it completed to reveal a beautiful landscape.

“You’re sitting in the spot I want to use, move aside.” Dong Feng suddenly lifted his head from where he had silently been sitting, coldly looking at the person that had just arrived.

Li Zi Hong hurriedly changed positions and watched as Dong Feng checked the image on the lid of the box once more before tossing it off to the side. He then placed all the poured out pieces back into the bottom half of the box and began to arrange the pieces.

Not piece together, but arrange.

It was the first time Li Zi Hong had ever seen his junior play with puzzles before. He had no idea that such a method existed.

A typical person would often first organise the pieces and then start putting the frame together first. However, Dong Feng clearly did not follow this route. He arranged the pieces on the ground, regardless of what piece he happened to pick up, without purposely selecting any.

“What country solves puzzles like this…” Yu Yin stopped his actions of opening a box to stare dumbly as well.

Dong Feng completely ignored the other two’s stunned gazes and continued doing his puzzle.

The scattered pieces soon began to connect together, small sections linking up to form larger sections. In a very short span of time, a portion of the image came together.

Yu Yin felt a cold sweat form on the back of his head. This was his first time seeing someone piecing together puzzles in such a way…rather than piecing, it was more like the other person was simply placing the pieces in their rightful spots, as if Yu Yin’s carpet had instructions for completing the puzzle written on it.

Exactly what kind of demon or ghost would use this kind of method?!

“…Could you explain the principles of your method to an ordinary citizen?” Putting down the box in his hands, Yu Yin couldn’t help but interrupt the very focused Dong Feng.

“What?” Dong Feng cocked his head with a frown as he responded back with a question, somewhat unhappy that his progress had been disrupted.

“You know where each piece needs to go?” Yu Yin felt like he had seriously run into a ghost as he stared at the image that was already beginning to form. “How do you know?!”

“This puzzle has many different coloured sections, so it’s easy to discern.” Dong Feng pointed at the box and, after some thought, began to draw out shapes on the carpet [with his finger]. “It should be roughly this size once completed. This type of basic puzzle generally has a set piece size, so you can get an approximate idea of the position. Then you just need to place the specific piece in its proper position. Isn’t that how it’s done?”

“No, not at all. A normal person should have no idea where the proper position is! How do you determine the position based on the image?!”

This isn’t just running into a ghost, this is running into other things entirely! Yu Yin was shocked to the core, and he immediately thought of what the other person had been doing just now. “No, wait, you weren’t memorizing the colours in the image, were you?!” What kind of person does puzzles like this?! Is this some kind of special, unique ability?

Dong Feng did not quite understand the other person’s face filled with excessive astonishment, but he nodded and said, “If you just compare them, you’ll know where the pieces should go.” He had already said that the colours were easy to discern, significantly increasing the ease of identification. This move would not work if it was pure white; pure white puzzles had their own method of solving.

“I suddenly don’t want to talk with ghosts…” Yu Yin felt like his normal human soul had taken a blow as he hugged the puzzle box and silently went to crouch in a corner.

Having no idea why the other person was so depressed, Dong Feng only snorted and continued completing his work.

Although Li Zi Hong was also somewhat surprised by this method, his response was not as big as Yu Yin’s. Rather, when it came to Dong Feng, this kind of answer was not really unexpected. Li Zi Hong chuckled, then went to find himself a space to help deal with the puzzles.

A while later, Yu finished his busywork inside the kitchen and came out to set up the table for dinner.

Since he was focused on the puzzle, Dong Feng strongly refused to eat. Afraid that his helper would run away, Yu Yin could only compromise. However, he still went to boil a large bowl of oatmeal and placed it next to Dong Feng for the latter to slowly drink.

The dinner prepared by Yu was very luxurious.

As this wasn’t Li Zi Hong’s first time eating here, he naturally knew just how good Yu’s handiwork was. Most of the time, if Yu Tong was not here, it would be Yu taking control of the kitchen with the attitude of a master chef. Yan Si and the others had jokingly said before that they could have Yang De Cheng open a restaurant branch to have Yu take over, as he definitely would not lose to any professional chefs.

From his seat, Yu secretly peeked over at Dong Feng’s progress multiple times, clearly somewhat unable to accept the other person’s speed.

Dinner passed over just like this.

***

When Li Zi Hong left the Yu family home, it was already late into the night.

In that busy evening, he and Yu Yin had completed a puzzle together, while Yu had completed one alone. All the others had been completed by Dong Feng with his exceptionally bizarre speed.

As soon as Dong Feng had set down the final puzzle piece, he had collapsed onto the ground and had officially been declared as having died in battle.

After helping to carry Dong Feng up to the guest room to rest, Li Zi Hong had also ended his visit.

“Li-dàgē, are you sure you don’t want just to stay here for the night? You can sleep in my room.” Yu Yin had come to see him out. He patted Fish Jerky who had trotted along, then opened the door to the courtyard for Li Zi Hong. “Uncle might not come home tonight anyways, I can go sleep in his room.”

“It isn’t a problem. It’s not too late yet, so it will be fine as long as I head back directly.” Past two in the morning was indeed not late to him. Li Zi Hong smiled and said, “Thank you.”

“It should be me thanking you. You really saved me today.”

Li Zi Hong looked at the university student in front of him and inexplicably felt a sense of assurance. In the past, he had always found it difficult to communicate with Dong Feng, but things had clearly changed for the better now. It seemed the deciding to find Yu Yin and the others for help from the beginning had been the correct decision.

Yu Yin studied the other person and eventually decided to speak up the words he had held back for the entire evening. “Li-dàgē, is something the matter? Is work being difficult?” For some reason, he had gotten a strange feeling from the first moment he had seen Li Zi Hong this evening, yet he could not put his finger on what exactly. Actually, when his uncle had called home today, he had briefly mentioned that this person would take a period of vacation. Xiao Hai had also called before that, saying that “Your friend is really quite a loyal person. I will come find you guys next time too”. And even earlier, when he had called Yang De Cheng to ask if the latter wanted anything brought over to Dong Feng, Yang De Cheng had mentioned that he would go eat with a certain prosecutor.

Adding all this together, the person in front of Yu Yin had basically circled around every friend in their circle over the course of today.

This period of time off was not short, but it seemed as if Li Zi Hong was going around everywhere to hand things over, which made Yu Yin instinctively feel that something was odd.

Caught off guard by Yu Yin’s sudden question, Li Zi Hong was momentarily stunned. He then shook his head and replied, “Nothing, really, just the usual procedures.”

“I see…” Yu Yin pondered over this more, but still could not figure out what was weird, so he merely shrugged. “I’m probably just overthinking things, sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for. I’ve made you all worried.”

Fish Jerky pawed at him, then suddenly stood up to lean against Li Zi Hong’s back, fervently wanting to play for longer. Yu Yin then hurriedly pulled the dog back down.

“I’ll be heading out first then. Please continue watching over Dong Feng,” Li Zi Hong said, stopping Yu Yin at the doorway.

“Don’t worry, Dong Feng is also my friend. Watching over him is only natural.” When it came down to it, Yu Yin was aware that he had been helped by Dong Feng many times now, so making sure to supervise the other’s meals was no big deal. Moreover, Yu Yin quite enjoyed going over; seeing the house full of sculptures, drawings, and books was already interesting. He would see new products almost every time he went. It was truly eye-opening, and he had learned quite a few things as well. “Li-dàgē, you should be properly watching over yourself instead. If you’re free during vacation, come over to play video games!”

“I will come visit again.”

After leaving the Yu family home, Li Zi Hong sat in his car to confirm Yu Yin had brought the dog back inside and locked the door before starting his car.

The neat and tidy house was still brightly lit.

Despite not having a female, the Yu family home was extremely attractive, something Li ZI Hong had discovered after being transferred to this area. Both the atmosphere and the food truly made it possible to completely relax there, properly eat a meal, and have a rest. It was no wonder that Yan Si loved going over there to linger around when he was free too. There had been a few times when, after playing video games with the children for too long, Li Zi Hong would also stay there for the night. One could really let go there, without any burdens to bear.

Perhaps Dong Feng had also been drawn in by this, which was why he treated Yu Yin particularly differently.

From the bottom of his heart, Li Zi Hong sincerely thought it was a very good thing to have been able to work here and get to know the people now by his side.

He felt extremely fortunate already just from being able to meet these people.

This was the last day anyone saw him.

After that, Li Zi Hong went missing.

^{1. Xiao Hai naturally uses a more arrogant “I, your mother” kind of word, rather than the usual “I”, which she forcibly corrects herself to here. The former will be italicised to keep them distinct. ↑})