Genius Detective

Chen Shi said that he wanted to take Lin Dongxue to taste freshly made skewers, so he drove her to a roadside stall that sold skewers. Although the weather was already cold, there were a lot of customers there. 

After ordering the dishes, Chen Shi opened two bottles of soda."Judging by your lack of energy, I’m guessing you have come across a complex case again?”

"Haii, progress is not smooth-sailing."

"Why don’t you tell me about it?"

Lin Dongxue told him about the case and their progress with the investigation. Chen Shi nodded as he listened. Lin Dongxue asked, "What is the opinion of master detective Chen?"

"Since I didn't see it with my own eyes and am only basing it on what I’ve heard from you, I’m afraid my view of the case will be biased and skewed.” 

"Hmph! You’re just stumped as well!"

Chen Shi smiled. "The skewers are coming."

The boss put the skewers down and Lin Dongxue looked at the food in front of her. There was roast lamb, grilled cartilage, grilled fish tofu, roasted eggplant, and another thing that she’d never eaten before. She picked it up curiously. "This is..."

"Grilled silkworms. This is the best place to eat this in all of Long’an City. Why don’t you try one?”

"Insects?" Lin Dongxue shuddered.

Chen Shi grabbed one and put it in his mouth. "The outside is crisp and the inside is tender. When you bite into it, the juices inside burst out! Try it!”

Lin Dongxue could not even think about stomaching it and set it back down.

She commented, "Don't you think Jiang Mei's parents are too much?"

"No."

"Are you also such a traditional type of person?"[1]

"A marriage with a large difference in social class can't attain real happiness. Love seems to be a sacred and noble thing, but it also has a material foundation. The material foundation is not everything. However, if there is no material foundation at all, it would definitely be impossible. The initial intention of the parents is to make their daughter happy in the long run. If it were your parents, they would feel the same way.” 

"I don't have parents..." Lin Dongxue said faintly.

"Sorry."

"No worries... But I think that people can’t be happy if they marry someone they don’t actually like.” 

"Yeah, I feel that a truly visionary parent will look at the development potential of the person. That is, their self-motivation and ambition, as compared to the existing standards of material foundation. But these things are intangible, unlike material foundation which people can see and touch. So most parents only see feelings as something that can be cultivated, but they don’t understand that material possessions can change overnight."

Chen Shi reached for the last skewer of grilled silkworms but was intercepted by Lin Dongxue. She frowned and bit into it. Although the texture was weird, it was not difficult to swallow under the blessings of condiments and the grill.

She waved her little skewer stick around. "I don’t think it’s right to be interfering with one’s freedom to love others. Even if Jiang Mei were to regret it later, it is her personal business at the end of the day."

Chen Shi smiled. "You are right. Chinese parents always regard their children as private goods and they take it for granted, so they try to interfere and control the lives of their children. This is the root cause of most family tragedies... By the way, I am someone with a house and a car."

Lin Dongxue pulled a face, "You make it seem like I’ll consider you or something… You have a car, what about the house?”

"Do you want to see it?"

"Okay!"

After eating their meal, Chen Shi drove Lin Dongxue to his residence and went to a little community. Chen Shi used the key to open the door. I thought it would be a pigsty-like home. I didn't expect that it wouldn’t be messy when he opened the door. 

The house was bigger than expected and there weren’t many decorations. Chen Shi excused, "The home of the bachelor is plain and simple."

"You actually had such a big house?" Lin Dongxue was surprised.

 “Why is it weird? Do you want a cup of tea?”

"No thanks, I’ll just drink water."

While Chen Shi went to pour a cup of water, Lin Dongxue snuck into the bedroom and had a peak. The bedroom was the best place to reflect the taste of a person. Chen Shi’s bedroom had a bed, a cupboard, a table, and on top of the table was a computer along with a few books of crime.

Pulling open the closet door, it was all packed with clothes neatly. It seemed that he was a man with very normal living habits.

When Lin Dongxue closed the door, Chen Shi appeared next to her with a cup of water, scaring her. Chen Shi smiled. "Is it very enjoyable to peek at the stuff of others?"

"Occupational habits."

"‘The owner of the house is a single middle-aged man with a regular life and no bad habits.’ If I was killed someday, the police would probably come to this conclusion."

"Pei, pei, pei[2], why would you say that on your own? You really don’t know what you should and shouldn’t say.” 

When they got back to the living room, there was no TV. It seemed a bit hollow. Lin Dongxue asked, "In this case, you really have no ideas or opinions?"

"The passionate suicide is key. Even if it was a spontaneous murder, why should they bother setting up the bodies like they were done out of passion? Knowing that this couldn't possibly deceive the police, why would the murderer bother to do this?"

Lin Dongxue bit her nails and couldn't figure this out either.

"Also, the reasoning you put forward seems reasonably logical, but have you verified it?"

"Verify? How do you verify it?"

"By restoring the crime scene."

"Then let’s try that..." said Lin Dongxue, before blushing. “No, no, no we need at least three people."

"Don’t worry, you can play the female victim and the murderer at the same time."

Lin Dongxue was hesitant. However, she thought that in order to solve the case, she shouldn’t evade this, so she set down her cup and stood up. "Where do we start?"

Chen Shi also stood up and pushed the coffee table away. He pointed to the space between the coffee table and the sofa. "Assuming this is the cave, it is certain that when the two entered the cave, no one else was present."

Lin Dongxue nodded.

Chen Shi extended a hand to her and Lin Dongxue hesitated before reaching towards it. They entered the "cave” and it felt a bit embarrassing, making her want to laugh, but Chen Shi was still acting out his performance seriously. 

"Dear, your parents won't allow us to be together. It seems that this is the only step we can take."

Lin Dongxue thought about it then acted out her part. "I hope that we can be together in our next life."

Chen Shi pretended to take something out and stared at Lin Dongxue. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Chen Shi resumed his usual demeanour and asked, "How do you think Cheng Chao inserted the syringe with the poison?"

"The needle wound is on the back of Jiang Mei. Then it should be... While holding her?"

"Do you mind?" Chen Shi asked.

After understanding what he meant, Lin Dongxue’s face burned red from ear to ear, but she shook her head.

Chen Shi reached out and hugged her. The feeling of being embraced in his arms made Lin Dongxue’s heart leap wildly, making her unconsciously shrink her body back. This action caused her to essentially cuddle into his chest almost in a fetal position. She hadn’t been hugged like this in a long time. Chen Shi’s embrace made her feel very secure and at ease.

She didn't know if she was Lin Dongxue or Jiang Mei right now, as if they were really a couple destined to die. When Chen Shi pretended to insert the needle in her back, she suddenly felt a strong sense of sadness in her heart.

Driven by this mood, she looked up and kissed Chen’s cheek.

Chen Shi was shocked by her actions. Lin Dongxue busied herself to separate herself from him. "I...I… Not..."

"Yes, kiss!"

"What?" Lin Dongxue suspected that she heard wrong. "You still want to...?"

"I mean, if the two were really committing suicide out of passion, at the last moment of their lives, their emotions would be at the highest of levels, so they’ll definitely want to kiss!”

Lin Dongxue’s messy thoughts were pulled back to the case by his words. She followed Chen Shi’s line of thought and said, “If they kissed, it would have left DNA in the mouths of the deceased. But that doesn’t help the case though?”

"That’s not necessarily true!"

---

1. To have your child marry someone of equal or better standing.

2. “Pei” is used when people are saying bad things that may incur bad juju. Kind of like “touch wood”.

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