Volume 8: Peaceful Night Wasn’t Peaceful [1]

Lin Dongxue came over and asked them, "What are you two so excitedly talking about?"

"The game." Xu Xiaodong responded.

"Tch, all you men are like this. You guys can't live without a game?"

Lin Dongxue took a seat and Chen Shi asked, "What cases have you guys been busying yourselves with lately?"

"A case on insurance scam. We’ve really learned something. There is a group of people who go to the countryside to 'recruit' a group of poor people to buy insurance for them. After the insurance takes effect, they ask the doctors to gouge their eyes out in order to claim the insurance [2]. The victim gets half of the pay-out and the group gets the other half. More than a dozen insurance companies in Long'An City have been scammed like this and have grouped together to ask the police to investigate the case."

"Have the people been caught?" Chen Shi asked.

"No, only the lower level members were caught and they don't know who the higher-ups are. They are all unemployed. These people really have no conscience."

"How much does an eye go for?"

"The poor people can get between 200,000 and 300,000. They are quite happy about it. They bring relatives, friends and even their own immediate families to take part in these ‘sales’.”

Xu Xiaodong said empathetically, "After being on the force for a few years, I have seen too much of the dark side of humanity."

"You’ve seen a lot, but how many have you caught personally?" Lin Dongxue joked.

"Hey... Didn’t I catch Wu last time?"

Chen Shi smiled. "I haven’t been driving around lately, so I’ll work with you guys temporarily. You guys can contact me at any time."

"That’s good!"

A few days later, Chen Shi sent Tao Yueyue to a school near his home. Tao Yueyue was naturally reluctant about it. Chen Shi planned to transfer her to the school next spring, but the teacher explained that since Tao Yueyue had stopped going to school from the fifth grade of primary school, she could take advantage of the final exams coming up. This way, she would be able to make up for a year of her absence as well as help her with any of her inadequacies. The exams would be able to show what she needed help on, and she could use the winter vacation for targeted tutoring. This way, she would be prepared to keep up with everyone else the following year.

Although Chen Shi suspected that the school just wanted to earn half a year more of tuition fees, that small amount of money did not matter to him. He was also happy to temporarily get rid of this little demon that enjoyed grinding his gears.

On the day of Tao Yueyue’s admission, Tao Yueyue stood at the school gate and said sadly, “You’re just going to stare as I fall into the fire pit?”

"No, I will close my eyes. Hurry on now!" Chen Shi smiled.

The arrival of a transfer student did not bring many ripples to the fifth class of the second grade. The fresh feeling only lasted for one class. Tao Yueyue was arranged to sit at a seat in the corner. She didn’t know anyone in her class and nobody talked to her once the class finished. She felt a sense of loneliness in her heart.

A few days later, a small, fat boy named Liang Zuoming and several other students in the class surrounded Tao Yueyue after class. Liang Zuoming asked, "Tao Yueyue? You’re called Tao Yueyue, right? Is your father very rich? He keeps driving you to and from school every day."

"That's not my dad." Tao Yueyue responded coldly.

"Haha, are you an illegitimate daughter?"

"I know! Must be your Godfather." Several boys laughed as they joked.

Tao Yueyue looked at them in disgust and felt that they obviously had bad intentions. At this time, Liang Zuoming stepped forward, extended a hand and offered, "Tao Yueyue, let's be friends! I will let you copy my homework from now on.”

"I can just do that myself." Tao Yueyue rolled her eyes.

Liang Zuoming suddenly grabbed Tao Yueyue’s hat and revealed the bald head that had just grown a small amount of hair. He laughed boisterously. “I told you guys! She’s always wearing a hat. It turned out that she had a bald head.”

"Haha, are you a nun?"

"She must have cancer! We should distance ourselves from her so we don’t get infected.”

The other students in the class were attracted by the laughter of the boys and turned their eyes to them, before revealing smiles as if they were watching an entertaining show.

Tao Yueyue was so angry that she clenched her trembling fists tightly. She stood up and yelled, “Give that back!”

"Come and chase me! If you can catch me, I’ll give it back to you, baldieee~”

After saying that, Liang Zuoming ran out with his friends. Many people laughed and laughed as they watched the scene in front of them. Tao Yueyue did not run after him as she knew that it would only be in vain. It would just add more opportunities for insult. Liang Zuoming wanted to lead her to the playground and let the whole school see her ridiculous head.

She was so angry that she wanted to cry, but she bit her lip and endured it. A bloody taste filled her mouth.

It was not until the class bell rang that the farce was over. Liang Zuoming ran over to her and whispered, "I threw your hat in the garbage dump out at the back. You can go and find it yourself. It’ll get taken away later by the garbage man, baldieee~ Hahaha!”

When she got home that night, Chen Shi noticed that her hat was a bit dirty and that her eyes were a bit red. Tao Yueyue was more silent than usual. Chen Shi asked, "What happened? Did you get bullied by classmates at school?"

"No." Tao Yueyue said stiffly.

"The boys at this age are just like little beasts. If you are bullied, don't hold back. Tell the teacher or me as soon as you can. It has to be solved as soon as possible, otherwise the bad guys will get indulged and it would only get worse for you.”

Chen Shi’s words tugged at Tao Yueyue’s heart and she almost wanted to cry to him, but she still resisted because she had a plan. She would retaliate against Liang Zuoming!

Christmas Eve was fast approaching. This festival was mostly celebrated in Christian countries, but in recent years under the encouragement of the multinational corporations, it had gradually become a festival for young people internationally.

The new year and its expenditures were also imminent. Everyone was working hard and criminals were no exception. The members of the Criminal Investigation Team of the city bureau were so busy each day that they couldn’t help but want to clone themselves.

On this day, Chen Shi came to the city bureau to see if there was anything he could help with. Lin Qiupu said, "A meeting will be held later. You should come as well.”

"What meeting? Just tell me what case you’re investigating and I’ll directly go and sort it out.”

"Hey! I haven't seen you for a few days and you’re getting more and more arrogant. Don’t think that you can solve a crime alone every time. You used the team’s resources last time and I haven’t even sorted that out with you yet!”

"Okay, okay. I’ll reluctantly participate in your meeting then. Captain Lin, why don’t you let me know some brief details in advance!"

"It's not a project meeting. An expert from CDC is coming over. They are coming to report a case."

"CDC? Is there a person with AIDS who is wildly spreading the disease outside?"

"Don't make random guesses! How can this happen in Long'An?"

Half an hour later, everyone in the conference room was shocked. "What? There is a female with AIDS in Long'An City who is crazily organizing sex dates?", "There’s already more than a dozen people who she’s fooled?”, “There are two positive cases already?!”

Lin Qiupu glanced at Chen Shi as Chen Shi mouthed, “Just a guess.”

Xu Xiaodong raised his hand and asked, "Captain, will this woman be sentenced once caught?"

"Yes, of course. This already counts as intentionally harming others. She will most likely be sentenced to between three and ten years. If she causes a death, then it’s intentional homicide.” Lin Qiupu turned to the expert, "You only found two positives? What about the other people?"

"The disease has a window of three to four weeks before it can be tested positive. It can't be detected during the window period... In fact, this data was found through her social account. At present, she has already moved her location. I estimate that the number may have grown exponentially.”

Police officer Lao Zhang said, "This matter is not under our jurisdiction. Our team is responsible for felonies, mainly focusing on homicides."

Another officer echoed, "Yes, the local police should be the ones to arrest her."

The expert smiled. "The disease is spreading wildly. I estimate that more and more people contract AIDS every day. If a person is infected, it means their family can get the infection. It will then spread out from there. Please don’t underestimate AIDS. The statistics of our center show that twenty years ago, there was no case of AIDS in our city. Ten years ago, the infected people were only those in the gay scene. The updated statistic this year showed that the number of infected people has reached a thousand, more than 300 of which are not conducting anal sex. I know that your ability to handle cases is much higher than that of the local police station. If you control her one second earlier, it is possible to save one more person."

The police officers expressed their own opinions. Some people thought that this wasn’t their job, while some people thought that saving people was a good deed. [3]

Lin Qiupu couldn't make up his mind and looked at Chen Shi, "Consultant Chen, what is your opinion?"

"Let's take the case." Chen Shi responded.

[1] Christmas Eve is called Peaceful Night in Chinese, so the author is trying to make a pun here.

[2] True story. This is a real issue.

[3] An expression derived from religious background. They talk about saving a single life is better than creating seven layers of temples. These temples are used to ward off evil. This sentence means that saving a life now is better than building a temple to protect people at a later date because there are immediate effects.