Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi were about to leave so Xu Xiaodong went out to see them off. When they got out the door, Xu Xiaodong complained, "My mother is very annoying. As long as I'm at home, her nagging will never stop."

"You don't know that you’re living in blessing." Lin Dongxue said. "Every day, someone cooks and takes care of you when you get home. In the morning, someone helps wake you up as well. How nice."

"Haii, you just saw the good side of it."

At this time, Xu Xiaodong's phone rang. After he answered it, he said, "Brother Chen, are you two busy right now?"

"What's happening?"

"There is a case. Old Zhang sent me for a visit."

"Let's go!"

Xu Xiaodong hadn’t driven his own car. Xu Xiaodong said on the way over, “Now that Captain Lin isn’t on the team, I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable. The development of things was really dramatic. Your biological father is actually... By the way, has Lie Guoxiao been privately contacting you guys over the past few days?"

"Don't mention him. I'll get angry when he’s mentioned." Lin Dongxue frowned.

"Lie Guoxiao is now on bail. Aren’t you guys too relaxed? Will this guy stay here honestly?" Chen Shi said.

"Ask the members of the task force. Xiaodong, did Old Zhang send someone to monitor him?" Lin Dongxue said.

Xu Xiaodong spread his hands. "We basically look for him every day, which is similar to surveillance."

Chen Shi said, "I suggest that you must be extremely careful with him. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, [1] so don't let him do anything for the last time."

"I’ll relay that to Old Zhang tomorrow."

"By the way, what is this case about?"

"A throat-slitting case. A man was killed. This kind of small case won’t stump Brother Chen, right?"

"I don't dare to speak so highly of myself!"

The crime scene was in a secluded alley. The person that reported the crime stood at the entrance of the alley and was relieved when the police arrived. Xu Xiaodong questioned him, and Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue walked into the crime scene.

They saw a man in a jacket leaning against the wall and sitting on the ground. A deep cut was visible on his throat and his button-up shirt was stained with blood. His head was tilted to the side, and there was blood on his hands. He seemed to have died while trying to press down on the wound.

The man was about fifty years old. Judging from his size, clothing, and appearance, he should be engaged in manual labor. His eyes were upturned, as if looking behind Chen Shi.

Seeing this wound and the clean scene, Chen Shi suddenly had a bad premonition. This was done by a veteran. He hoped that this time, it wouldn’t be a serial murder.

"Old Chen, I have gloves here."

Lin Dongxue took out a pair of rubber gloves. Chen Shi put them on, opened the deceased's open coat, found the phone and wallet, looked at the documents on it, and said, "Li Sheng, fifty-six years old, a truck driver."

He sniffed the scent on the deceased. "Drank alcohol before he died."

Then, he took the hand of the deceased and looked at it. "There are a few slight scratches on the back of the hand. They aren’t cuts from a knife. Were they scratched by the murderer during the resistance? The wound opened to the upper right..." Chen Shi stood up and looked at the blood stains on the ground. "The murderer came from behind and the deceased was cut with a knife when he turned around."

"Clean and neat approach."

"Yes, there’s almost nothing left at the scene. Let's wait for the forensic team to come over!"

Their current main responsibility was to protect the scene.

Xu Xiaodong had already finished the questioning and asked the crime-reporter to leave first. The three of them were guarding both sides of the alley. Finally, a police car came. Peng Sijue came down with a survey box and saw Chen Shi. He greeted him, "You’re here too?"

"I just happened to be nearby."

While the forensics staff started investigating the scene, Chen Shi took out the deceased’s cell phone and checked the call records on it. “Call the deceased’s family members!”

At this moment, there was a “waa!” sound coming from a woman with tears in her eyes. "Is there something wrong with my husband? Is that my husband lying there?"

"What's your husband's name?" Chen Shi asked.

"Li Sheng. He went out for a walk at night and never came back. I heard from my neighbor that someone had died down here."

"Condolences..."

Hearing this, the woman cried fiercely. Lin Dongxue handed a tissue over and comforted her. Her husband was killed in an accident and died tragically on the street. This kind of shock wasn’t something ordinary people could bear. Chen Shi whispered to Lin Dongxue, "Send her back first. It will only be more sad to watch here."

Lin Dongxue nodded and sent the woman home.

Chen Shi said to Xu Xiaodong, "Let's find the nearby surveillance cameras."

While the two were collecting surveillance footage around the area, an idle man standing in front of the store counter asked, "Li Sheng was killed by someone?! I could hear his wife crying from so far away. Have you noticed that his wife is much younger than him?"

"Why? Do you know him?" Chen Shi asked.

"We’re old neighbors. We used to live in the printing factory compound before moving here."

"Do you know anything about the deceased?"

"Hehe, is there a reward for providing leads?!"

"This is called a lead?"

"How do you know that I don’t have leads?!" The idle man acted mysterious.

Chen Shi said to the store, "Bring him a packet of Yuxi and I will pay."

"The police are too stingy. Let me have another pack of Zhonghua!"

The idle man got the packs of cigarettes and opened one of them. He handed over two cigarettes, but both Chen Shi and Xu Xiaodong refused. The idle man said while blowing out smoke clouds, "Li Sheng had a very bad temper. People who lived with us in the past all called him a cannon fire. At that time, he heard that this area was going to be demolished. In order to get more floor area, he asked someone to add two floors to his home. When it was time to demolish, they said that this was a private construction and couldn’t be counted as the area to be relocated. Li Sheng wasn’t happy. He went to find a leader and went over to the demolition office. He went to a leader’s house and threatened the leader with a bottle of dichlorvos.[2] He said that if they didn’t count the floor area, they would die there today. The leader really didn’t want to provoke such a person, so they finally gave him an extra 200,000 yuan for demolition money. Later, he married this wife who was a decade younger than him. He pulls goods in the city and then goes home, drinks, and watches TV every day. His days were great."

"Does he have children?"

"It seems that he had one with his ex-wife. I haven't seen them for a long time."

The shopkeeper interrupted, "It's a girl. She hasn't been home since she went to university. Li Sheng told people everywhere that his daughter is now abroad. What a bluff. Who doesn't know that his daughter has severed ties with him?"

"Why did she sever the relationship?"

"It may be because of domestic violence!"

"Where is his ex-wife?"

The idle man replied, "I don't know."

Chen Shi reached out and took the Zhonghua on the table back. "It seems that you can't provide any clues."

"Don't, don't, don't." The idle man smiled. "I know who he has bad-blood with!"

"Who?"

The idle man listed several names in one breath. Li Sheng had a bad temper and made enemies everywhere. Xu Xiaodong wrote down all these names.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Chen Shi asked again.

"At 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening. I saw him go home with a bag of tomatoes and a bottle of Erguotou. I even said hello to him."

The shopkeeper interrupted again, "Officer, I also have clues to provide. I heard someone making a commotion outside at around 8:00. I knew it was Li Sheng’s voice as soon as I heard it. Go to the Limin cigarettes and wine store and check it out!"

"Okay, thank you."

The two immediately went to the cigarettes and wine store. In the dim light, a man was scrubbing the floor with a mop. Chen Shi could smell the scent of both wine and blood, so he sternly shouted, "What are you doing?!"

1. Although a rich and powerful family (in this case, Lie Guoxiao) has become less rich and powerful, they are still richer and more powerful than a poor family.

2. Widely used as an insecticide to control household pests.