Genius Detective

During the talk, Old Man Lu and the lawyer had come out. Old Man Lu laughed. "Officer Song, you really bullied me. I was detained for the better part of a day because of a chicken.”

"Nobody abused you, right?"

"No, no. Everyone was very polite to me. Please don't play this game next time, Officer Song… Let’s go back to my place to have a meal. I’ll call the chef to make your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs, Officer Song.”

"I still have official business to do. I will visit you again tomorrow.”

"Be sure to solve the case earlier and get my son some peace!" Old Man Lu turned to his lawyer and said, "Go and drive my car over."

The lawyer said with a bitter smile, "I am not a driver. I am a lawyer."

"You are a lawyer?" Lu was a little shocked.

The lawyer glanced at Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue and urged, "More words mean more mistakes. Sir, let’s head back!”

Chen Shi looked at the back of Lu Qixing and rubbed his chin. "He still remembers this?"

Lin Dongxue said, "The son is dead, but he doesn’t seem that sad."

"The people on the public scene have long been practicing their poker faces no matter what they feel." Chen Shi said. "Who is still working right now in the task force?”

"Want to have a meeting?"

"What meeting? I want to treat everyone to dinner."

Lin Dongxue was very happy and said, "I’ll call them."

Chen Shi invited several members of the task force to come to a nearby famous Chaozhou[1] Beef Ball Hot Pot Restaurant. This was the place that Tao Yueyue had said she wanted to eat at a few days ago. When she ordered her food, she was particularly happy and asked for a lot of beef balls, meat rolls, vegetable platters and noodles. Chen Shi cautioned, “You better finish all of it!”

Tao Yueyue reasoned, "If I don’t order everything, how will I know what I want to eat?”

In the store's red oil[2] hot pot were beef balls the size of a baby’s fist. It was full of tendons that were nice and chewy. When they bit into the balls, there was a soupy filling inside. If it was cooked for too long, the fillings inside would explode out.

Everyone was very happy eating this meal. When they were almost done, Chen Shi said, "If I were to talk a bit about the case, it wouldn’t affect everyone’s appetite and mood, right?”

"The case is my life, just say it!" The words of the police officer Old Zhang attracted a burst of laughter.

"From the clues present in front of us, the deceased was attacked at home on the evening of February 2nd. He lost a heavenly-priced guitar and now his life assistant Sun has gone missing as well. The investigation showed that Sun Shenyou was someone that Old Man Lu originally sent to his son almost like a nanny. The company and life affairs of the victim were all handled by Sun Shenyou. She must know the value of the guitar.”

"Brother Chen means that Sun Shenyou saw the money and suddenly killed Lu Zhendong before stealing the priceless guitar?” Xu Xiaodong asked.

"I can only say that this is what it seems on the surface. However, this reasoning can’t answer all the doubts within the case. I think we still need to investigate and reason further… Xiaodong, what have you discovered?”

"Huh? I’ve just been watching Lu Zhendong’s works produced by his company today. There were some big online productions. They were truly eye-openers. That so-called film company that produced art films was just a ‘kindergarten’ sponsored by his dad. The works he produced were full of flaws. They were all about guys pretending to be cool, picking up girls, being snobby, or other content like that. The protagonist was either a retired army-king[3], a thousand-year-old demon king, or a king of all worlds and realms! Either way, they’re all kings! Right, the protagonists were all played by Lu Zhendong himself. His lack of facial expressions and acting ability to produce a character that recites very immature lines was astounding. After watching it, I promise that it’s like you’ve opened the door to a whole new world. When you watch it, you will understand that ‘Pure Hearts into Chinese Showbiz[4]’ is actually a good movie.”

"Stop whining and just talk about the case properly."

"After suffering a day of mental pollution, if I don’t let it all out, I’ll feel restless.” Xu Xiaodong ate something and continued, "This film company is Lu Zhendong's plaything. The seeders for you to download the films are extremely difficult to find and they all need to be paid for. Of course, all his works lost money. The latest one did not even have 10 subscriptions. I suspect that in addition to satisfying the vanity of this rich second generation, the function of this film company is for him to pick up girls. This is because I’ve noticed that after every two or three works, they’ll change the main female protagonist. Several of them were indeed some of Lu Zhendong’s girlfriends at one stage.”

"How were their acting skills? Is it a serious performance?" Lin Dongxue asked curiously.

"Have you ever seen a child playing house? The acting is worse than that. The crew also knows that they are just playing with the rich young master, so none of them acted seriously.”

"The rich people really know how to play!" Lin Dongxue said empathetically. Of course, Lu Zhendong as a rich second generation was much better when compared to all the other rich second generations that appeared on the news. At least he created his own company to play with, which didn’t harm anyone else.

Chen Shi said, "Note down all the information regarding each film. Their plot, shooting time, investment amount, and cast. You should follow this angle and go to the film company tomorrow to have a look.”

Xu Xiaodong responded, "Okay, I will go over tomorrow and have my eyes opened again.”

Chen Shi asked, "Old Zhang, what did you find out?"

Chen Shi asked about everyone's progress and findings. The current clues were so numerous that it was like the hairs on a cow’s body. They couldn’t ascertain what was important and what wasn’t. Chen Shi assigned tasks to everyone so that everyone followed a lead.

Soup was added to the hot pot several times and everyone was almost finished eating. Chen Shi asked Tao Yueyue, "Is it annoying?"

Tao Yueyue was playing with her mobile phone and kept her eyes on it. "No, you guys can continue talking about important things.”

Chen Shi patted her head, "I will take you to eat ice cream later."

Old Zhang smiled and said, "I wish my daughter was that sensible."

Lin Dongxue praised, "Yueyue is a really good girl." Then, she said to Chen Shi, "Right, do you think the quarrel that occurred on the evening of February 2nd is related to the murder?"

"I can't say for sure, but I know what they quarreled about."

"What was it about?"

Everyone looked forward to hearing Chen Shi’s reasoning and put down their chopsticks. Chen Shi said, “Lu Qixing wanted use his son’s relationship with Jia Xingyun and pay bribes to Jia Xingyun’s father, but his son spent the money instead.”

"What!? How did you come to that conclusion?" Everyone was shocked.

"Jia Xingyun's father just took office in Long’an and is responsible for land approval. This is a very good job. In Lu Qixing's working industries, real estate is a big one. On February 2nd, Lu Zhendong asked Jia Xingyun to eat at the Victory Restaurant. The food they ate was scrambled eggs with chives, seaweed egg soup, green pepper and potato strips, and marinated pork strips. It was also posted on Weibo in a high-profile manner. That night, the words “Weibo” and “Jia Xingyun” were mentioned during the quarrel between the two that night. Old Man Lu would never fume over something as little as that, let alone hit and injure him. They also mentioned a keyword - 'that money.' What money? This money, the meal and Jia Xingyun must have had a relationship with it! Although I haven’t seen Lu Zhendong before, his character can be drawn from the rotten films he’s shot. He is a big boy who loves to play and is an idealist. He must have been very disgusted with this matter. Coincidentally, a week before the incident, Lu Zhendong bought a high-priced guitar. How could he have so much cash on his hands?

"So, I came to the bold guess that this money was originally used to pay bribes. Old Man Lu tried using his son's friendship to do bad deeds, causing Lu Zhendong's resentment. He used this behavior to retaliate against his father. That’s why there was a fierce quarrel between father and son!”

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1. A region in the Canton, China area.

2. Mala spicy, oily base.

3. Retired veteran that was the top soldier of all. A king amongst soldiers.

4. Actual movie that is rated very, very poorly.

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