"Splash-"
The rain poured down, the raindrops pounding against the car windows and soaking the gloomy sky. Pedestrians hurried to and fro with their umbrellas, the sound of the rain mingled with the honking of the cars, which moved slowly along the road.
The radio station broadcast the weather conditions: "Thunderstorms have been falli since yesterday and the average rainfall this month has exceeded the historical record. The roads are flooded, and the citizens are requested to pay attention while traveling. "
"Could there have been some accident up ahead?" after hearing announcement, the driver said impatiently, his eyes were glued to swishing windshield wipers. "I don't even know when will this rain stop, and this road is already blocked-"
As he said this, he tilted his head slightly to the back, and said to the figure sitting on the back seat: "Your destination.... is it the police station?"
Lead-colored clouds obscured the Sun, making the interior of the car dimly lit.
The figure sitting on back, shifted slightly. He lowered his head, he clasped his hands to together on his lap, put his one leg over another, which is encased with a black jeans, and he was wearing a pair of leather boots. His simple cut leather military boots were already stained with the rain droplets.
The man has not made a single noise since he got in the car, and that destination was marked on online order of car-hailing software.
He slept for a while after getting into the car. And now he just woke up with the scattered hair on his forehead, covering his eyes. He was sitting there as if swallowed by the darkness, half of his body blend into one in the dimly lit atmosphere. When the driver looked back, only a pale and thin jaw could be seen.
A few seconds later, a merciless sentence came from the back seat.
"Drive your car."
"...."
During the conversation, the road condition still didn't improve at all.
The driver found out that this passenger is not easy to get along with, and he was obviously more interested in continuing to sleep than chatting. He stopped talking to that passenger and only secretly thought: "Running to the police station at this time, hey did you commit any crime...?? "
*****
At the same time, at the Yongan Police Station of the South China Branch.
The words "Strict Law Enforcement, Enthusiastic Services" are marked on the wall of the office, and the national emblem is placed in the middle of the words. However, such majesty cannot calm down the frenzied scene in the office at this time— a man in his forties was carried into the office area by two police officers, one on the left and the other on the right.
Police officer: "Be honest..!!!"
The man struggeled uncooperatively, and still after struggling in vain, he began to hold on to the doorknob, refusing to let go. Even though his upper body had been dragged into the door by the police officers, his legs were still fixed in place like stone pillars, he wailed and howled:
"You guys..! You can't arrest me without evidence..!! Is there anyone who handles a case like this?? Let me go, I'm going to sue you all..!!"
That man was wearing a gray overalls, the pockets of the overalls were like two square patches, the sneakers in his feet were quite new, and there was a sense of chaos in his brown cloudy eyes.
The newly promoted policeman Ji Mingrui came in from the back, and when he entered the door, he reached out to lift that man in:
"No evidence.??!" He dragged out a chair, and waited for the man to sit on it obediently by his shoulders. Then a transparent evidence bag was slapped on the table.
An old silver mobile phone lay in the evidence bag.
Ji Mingrui: "When you were stealing from someone's house, you left your phone in the living room. How dare you to say there is no evidence..??!"
The voice of the man crying and howling stopped abruptly: "...."
Ji Mingrui: "or do you want to say that this phone doesn't belong to you? Is there another person in this world who keeps your wife's phone number and also calls your wife 'wife'..??"
The man was completely silent: "..."
Ji Mingrui continued to ask: "Where are the stolen things hidden?"
"...."
After half an hour.
A policewoman came out from the next room: "My side is also making a lot of trouble. The neighbor, Grandma Wang, has been crying for a long time, saying that it is a wooden carving handed down from generations in the their family. It is very important to her, so she is asking us to find it quickly"
"He still refuse to explain..??"
Ji Mingrui is tall and looks quiet strong, he has thick eyebrows and the big eyes. He just graduated from the police academy this year and became a policeman. He devoted himself to all kinds of conflict and quarrels among the neighbors. It's not even a case investigation, it's more like a mediator.
Today one family is getting divorced and tomorrow the other family is beating up the mistress because of cheating...
Ji Mingrui took a deep breath, no one thought that a wooden carving could last so long: "he didn't say anything, he faltered and said that he forgot, and how could he forget where he hid things..?!"
"Originally, I had a friend waiting for dinner tonight. But look in this situation, when he gets here, I can only treat him to instant noodles. I don't know with his bad temper, he will throw the instant noodle cup om my head"
The Policewoman turned her head to look at the rainstorm outside the window, and thought that it was strange enough to have a dinner appointment in this weather.
The cross-examination continued.
On the way, the neighbor, Grandma Wang couldn't wait any longer, opened the door and rushed into the battlefield, and the situation in office became even more chaotic.
That old man was as good as young man when he scolded. Although his movements were trembling, his words were full of spirit.
The mediator Ji Mingrui was quarreled on by one, and was also calming Grandma wants's emotions. Then someone knocked on the office gate twice: "Mingrui someone is looking for you, he said that he's your friend." And then finally, the messenger add another sentence: "he said his name is ChiQing."
Ji Mingrui didn't know how to separate himself from the chaos, so he said without turning his head: "It's my friend, let him come in directly."
Because the scene was so chaotic, no one noticed that a few minutes later, someone put away the umbrella and walked through the corridor. The tip of the transparent long-handled umbrella was facing down, and the man's slightly wet leather boots had been wiped clean like a clean freak. Then, a black gloved hand pushed the door open.
The black gloves tightly wrapped around his fingers, making the knuckles extraordinarily slender.
-As long as the scene in the institute is a little calmer, this hand is not so easy to ignore, and it should even have a very high rate of turning heads. Because in daily life, I am afraid that it is rare to see someone wearing gloves when going out.
Chi Qing was stuck on the road for more than half an hour, and now here Grandma Wang was swearing vigorously in local dialect when she opened the door.
"Nong miscellaneous little red guy!"
The man in overalls retorted: "Don't think I can't understand because I'm from out of town, are you scolding me?!"
Ji Mingrui said: "It's not for you to talk, you still have the nerve to talk, ah? Do you know that the nature of your matter is very bad? How can you steal the wooden carving from the neighbor's family? Do you know that the wood-" out of the desire to appease the victim, the mediator Ji Mingrui scolded the man, and then turned to his grandmother: "What material is the wood made up of?"
Ji Mingrui thought that it should still be of some value and could be used to bluff people.
Neighbor Grandma Wang hurriedly said, "It's the wood I cut myself in the mountains. Alas, it has been passed down for three generations."
Ji Mingrui: "..."
"Cough... Did you hear that, the wood that has been handed down for three generations," Ji Mingrui tapped the table with his fingers, "This value cannot be measured by money. Where did you hide it?!"
Several people were still arguing about the wood carving, only the policewoman who walked to the side to fetch water for Grandma Wang found that, the "friend" who had just come in was sleeping on the sofa in the corner alone, the figure was lying on the sofa sideways, his long Legs were curled up.
Due to the limited angle, she didn't see what the man looked like, but only noticed the man's hanging wrist.
....It's so noisy still he can sleep well.
For an extremely simple dispute and a wood carving, Ji Mingrui used all kinds of interrogation methods he had learned in the police academy over the years, but the man in overalls on the opposite side refused to accept it.
"By the way, I put it outside when I went shopping just now, and threw it away-I don't know exactly where I threw it. If you go to the trash can, you might find it. I threw it away and you asked me now to give it to you. At worst, I just need to pay some money, your piece of wood can only make me lose some money."
Ji Mingrui scolded his mother in his heart.
It's past eleven o'clock.
It was still raining outside the window.
Seeing that he had the upper hand, the man in overalls rolled his eyes: "Is there anything else, since we're done talking, can you let me go?"
For a while, everyone didn't know what to say.
Just at the moment of stalemate, a voice broke the calm: "It rained for two days in a row."
Everyone heard the sound and saw that Chi Qing sat up from the sofa while talking. Since there was an incandescent lamp above his head, he raised his hand to half-cover his eyes, and then continued after a while: "when you go out to buy things or when you went out to throw garbage, the shoes are on. Still there is not a drop of mud. If I were you, I wouldn't make such flimsy excuses."
He didn't really fall asleep just now, the office was too noisy, and he almost heard the details of this neighborhood dispute while he was half asleep and half awake.
The man in overalls shrank back unconsciously.
He didn't go out at all.
This sentence popped out of everyone's mind like thunder.
Ji Mingrui was stunned, and said: "he didn't go out, so the things are at his house."
Chi Qing got up, looking like he was still asleep, half-closed his eyes, giving a feeling of impatient waiting.
He reached out and pointed to the evidence bag: "Can I have a look."
Everyone immediately noticed the black glove on his hand-the phone is a touch-screen phone. Because of the need to swipe to check, Chi Qing slowly took off the right glove before picking up the phone. He has pale hands. The knuckles are slender, and the skin is so white that it seems that the light blue blood vessels dormant underneath can be seen.
That hand held the phone for no more than ten seconds, and quickly put it down.
It is not only the hand that attracts attention, except for Ji Mingrui who has been familiar with Chi Qing's face all year round, it is difficult for others to digest the visual impact of this face.
The policewoman who was very close to Chi Qing suddenly came to her senses and found that she had been staring at him for a very long time, so her face turned red belatedly.
It was an extremely beautiful but slightly decadent face, probably because the hair on the forehead was too long, or maybe because his complexion was too fair, but his lips were as red as if they had been stained with blood. Although the man's facial features are beautiful, but his expression is disgusted, and there is a kind of decadent air on his body.
Chi Qing seemed to be very used to this kind of staring, so he just said: "Instead of asking him where he hid his things, why not ask his son here."
Ji Mingrui was dumbfounded: Son?
How did he get involved with his son?
What does it matter to his son?
Wait, how did he know that he had a son?
However, after mentioning his son, the man became agitated, different from the nonsensical excitement just now, this time his eyes widened, he stood up "scratchedly", and pretended to grab the phone: "If you are interrogating me, interrogate me only, why bringing my son in between all this! "
Ji Mingrui raised his brows, feeling something was wrong: "Sit down obediently!"
"My son has nothing to do with this!"
When the man in overalls tried grabbing something, he touched Chi Qing's hand that hadn't been completely put down, in desperation.
At the moment of contact, there was an extra layer of sound beside Chi Qing's ears, and this layer of sound was transmitted into his ears as if separated by a membrane and slightly distorted, as if two men in overalls were talking in his ears at the same time, but the distorted sentence was completely opposite to what he said:
{I can't let them know that my son stole it. If this matter gets out, what will others think of Xiao kang? He will be discussed by neighbors and classmates...}
The phone was still not taken away by him, Ji Mingrui snatched the phone, and opened it again according to the program Chi Qing opened just now.
On the browser, the name of a certain children's cartoon was displayed on the web searches in the past month. In the communication records, there were not many phone calls in the past six months, and there were no traces of work contact or life at all.
As for the photo album, there are not many photos, most of them are old photos, and there are few new photos. The latest one was taken just today, in which a black and white smear of something dangled past, very blurred, like a mistaken photo.
-This old mobile phone was already replaced by this man, so he obviously didn't use it anymore.
So who is using it?
"In general, what do people do with their old mobile phones?" Ji Mingrui seemed to be asking, but actually gave the answer himself, "It will be used by other people in the family. If there are children in the family - most people will leave it for the children to play with."
"Do you want to return the things to the Grandma yourself, or should we go and ask your son in person?"
The man lowered his head, knowing that things were completely out of control now.
Ji Mingrui was continuing to ask for details, when the policewoman beside him pointed to the glass door: "Your friend has gone out."
Ji Mingrui only glanced at it: "He went to wash his hands."
Policewoman: "Huh?"
Ji Mingrui was very familiar with Chi Qing's "weird" stinky problems, and while lowering his head to record the case on a piece of paper, he said: "He is a clean freak, he washes his hands three times when touched by others, and he has been also wearing gloves since he entered the door just now.."
"Is this cleanliness fear so serious?"
"It's not just serious." Ji Mingrui put down his pen and pointed to the trash can with the tip of the pen, "When I met him in high school, I wanted to help him take out the trash, but accidentally touched his hand, and he directly put the trash can on my head. My friend almost didn't make it, cleanliness is such a horror to him."
"You are so familiar with him, he won't be like this to you now." The policewoman said and thought this eccentricity was quite interesting, and smiled.
Ji Mingrui: "I also asked him this question, and he said that as a respect for his friend, he would endure it for three seconds and will hold back still he couldn't help."
"Did he also go to the police academy? Where is he serving now?"
The policewoman asked a question that everyone in the audience wanted to ask just now.
"No, he went to film school, and he couldn't do it at all." Ji Mingrui knew where they were surprised. "Although it's a pity, but my buddy really didn't join the police industry-do you think he is so powerful, he is almost so good that It feels like mind reading?"
The policewoman nodded.
"...It was the same when I was in school, he always seemed to know what other people were thinking," Ji Mingrui waved his hand after finishing speaking, "Just kidding, how could there be such a thing as mind reading in the world-"
*****
At the end of the corridor, the restroom.
Chi Qing stood in front of the mirror, his hands were wet, and his knuckles were drenched as if they had no temperature.
He stared silently at himself in the mirror.
Through the mirror surface, the same scene reappears face to face in the mirror. After reflecting and imaging, the world seems to be divided into two.
Only he himself knows that the moment just now was not an auditory hallucination, the distorted voice did indeed climb up slowly from the depths of his brain murmuring treacherously:
{I can't let them know that my son stole things...}
Chi Qing lowered his eyes, and dried his hands as if nothing had happened.