Chen Shi had three faxes of death certificates in his hand, which he had received from two police stations in the local administrative region and one police station in another part of the country. He went into Lin Qiupu's office and said, “Can you look and notice what these cases have in common?”

“Unexpected fall. Unexpected fall? Unexpected fall!”

“There is another thing they have in common. The three of them worked for the same company. I want to file a case.”

“You? File a case? You're not even a police officer!”

“You can let Dongxue file the case and let me investigate.”

Lin Qiupu shook his head. “How many years has it been? Why did you dig these cases up? Do you know how short on manpower we are and how nervous our police force is right now? Don’t you think we need to investigate the Zhou Xiao case?”

Chen Shi placed both his hands on the table. “Come on, Captain Lin, please help me just this once, and I will do my best to help you catch Zhou Xiao when I'm done.”

“No... You...” Lin Qiupu displayed an expression like he had a toothache, “How would you check? Is there any evidence?”

“Please. This is my personal matter. I want to get justice for a friend. In fact, I have long wanted to investigate this case.”

Seeing Chen Shi being so sincere, Lin Qiupu had to make a concession. After all, Chen Shi had helped the Second Team solve many cases.

So, he picked up the phone...

When she heard that she would have to investigate the case with Chen Shi, Lin Dongxue said, while looking angrily at Chen Shi, “I won't do it! I won't investigate with him!” Lin Dongxue was normally always enthusiastic about investigating cases with Chen Shi. Lin Qiupu noticed the change in his sister's attitude and asked, “Did something happen between the two of you?”

“No, I still have things I need to attend to!” Lin Dongxue said stiffly.

Chen Shi said, “I am only asking you to help me investigate the case this once. In the future, whether you investigate cases with me or not is up to you. This case is related to a friend of mine. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about this for three years now.”

“Why now?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“I think our relationship now is fairly established and that you will help me.”

“So you approached us with this motive in the beginning?”

“You forgot? In the first place, you siblings were the ones who invited me here. I was just pushing the boat with the current. This case is my personal business, but the real murderer is still at large and that’s your business.”

“You really know how to talk!” Lin Qiupu sneered, “Dongxue, go through the formalities of filing a case!”

Lin Dongxue swallowed her pride and said, “This will be the last time I investigate with you!”

The ad hoc group was set up immediately, and the familiar faces of Lin Dongxue, Xu Xiaodong, Little Li, and Old Zhang were present. Chen Shi told them about the case, afterwards, they began discussion. Old Zhang held his thermos cup up and said, “Little Chen, this case is completely based on your speculation. There’s no evidence!”

“I believe that as long as we investigate, the evidence will slowly surface. In fact, I have already decided to focus on one person. The secretary of Yuhua Company, Hou Yue, left the company after the three people died, and received a large sum for it. He now runs a health club in Long'an. I went there to look for him a few days ago, but I didn't expect to be arrested as a customer who had gone thereto look for a prostitute and I ended up paying a fine.”

Lin Dongxue widened her eyes in astonishment. Old Zhang said, “Why didn’t you tell us earlier? Why did you act alone?”

“I suspect that Hou Yue has killed someone who is a friend of mine. But I have no evidence. You also know that my previous record wasn't very glorious. Fighting and brawling and so on. It was only later that I reformed. Since it was related to my past, I was a bit reluctant to mention it to all of you.”

“How do we investigate this?” Old Zhang said.

“Let's start with the motivation. Focus on Yuhua Company’s expenditures in recent years. In addition, I will bring in a lawyer. He had sued Yuhua Company previously and may be able to provide some help.”

After assigning tasks to everyone, it was almost time to get off work. Chen Shi told them that they didn’t need to rush. He would be starting the investigation tomorrow. Lin Dongxue stayed behind, looking conflicted. Chen Shi knew that his words had worked.

“So, you got caught because of this?”

“Actually, I didn't make any transactions that day.” Chen Shi pulled out a piece of paper. “This is my recent bank statement. You can take a look if you don't believe me.”

“Who wants to check your account? Why didn’t you just tell me your reason?! You made me think...” Lin Dongxue trailed off and left angrily.

Chen Shi was relieved. The page was finally turned over[1]. He had used one lie to support another lie. It felt uncomfortable to deceive Lin Dongxue.

He called Lawyer Liu and stated that he wanted help from him. The cost would be paid personally by Chen Shi himself. However, Lawyer Liu generously stated that he wouldn’t charge anything for his services, but that if this case were to go public, he wished to be mentioned in the media reports.

For small-time lawyers, attention was more important than money.

Chen Shi considered whether he should send Lin Dongxue home or not. While he was hesitating, Wang Daji called and said, “Brother, come out for dinner!”

He wanted to refuse, but he remembered that Wang Daji was a loose cannon. He felt less worried if he monitored him, so he answered, “Where? I’ll come and find you.”

Wang Daji had actually gone to a commercial district. Chen Shi drove the car up beside him, and beckoned him to get into the car. Wang Daji got in, and asked with a smile, “Any progress?”

“The case is filed and investigation will begin tomorrow.”

“Respect. You’re the real deal. I'll treat you to a good meal tonight.”

“But I think that the death of your brother, Meng Ergou, has little to do with Yuhua Company.”

“Then how did you file a case?”

“Yuhua is involved with other cases.”

“As long as you can pull the dog and his secretary into the water[2], no matter what the case is, sending them to jail will comfort my brother's spirit in heaven!”

“That’s unlike your style. I thought you would kill them directly?”

“Fuck off! I'm not stupid. We can't just kill people casually. We hack people with caution as well. Only the hotheads who had just started down this path would kill people willy nilly.

“Have you killed anyone?”

“Does sending my girl to get an abortion count?” Wang Daji said with a smile.

Chen Shi was relieved that although this identity was full of flaws, at least no murder cases were involved.

Chen Shi took Wang Daji to a quiet side street and looked for a restaurant. Wang Daji said, “You’re poor, aren't you? What kind of food is good in this kind of place? Let’s go to Manhanlou to eat a nice meal.”

“Firstly, this street is not monitored; secondly, the restaurant's sweet and sour pork isn’t too bad.”

“Do you really need to be so careful? Can’t we just say we’re twins?”

“I'm wandering around in front of the police with the world’s biggest lie. I have to be careful.”

After sitting down, Wang Daji was bored and started peeling off the skin from the garlic on the table. He said, “Brother, you used my identity for three years. Did you get into any trouble?”

“Several times. But I'm pretty clever. I drove the car to a monitored place and the people who wanted to give me trouble would leave.”

“That's reassuring! Have you thought about returning as Song Lang?”

“Cosmetic surgery is irreversible. Even if it’s redone, my face may not be able to revert back to the original one. The risk is too great.”

“Then you plan to be me forever?”

1. An expression for getting out of a situation.

2. As long as the boss and his secretary got in trouble.