Chapter 114 - Son-In-Law

So daddy thinks Lin Yi's a good choice… Mengyao supposed that Lin Yi did look pretty handsome, now that she looked at him properly… After all, it didn't really matter whether the partner was rich or not when taking into account the type of family Mengyao was born into- she'd rather have someone who would commit himself to her than have one of the young masters she saw so often. She wanted someone who could protect her, and love her.

Lin Yi was obviously capable of protecting her, but the problem was that they didn't really know each other yet- it was still a employer-employee relations.h.i.+p. Lin Yi putting his life on the line for her, with that in mind, became just that more valuable an aspect- how far would Lin Yi be willing to go for her as her boyfriend if he'd do something like that for just his employer..?

Mengyao started blus.h.i.+ng at the thought- she'd never been in a relations.h.i.+p before, and her heart started to warm up in shy excitement… She never thought much of it before, but questions and thoughts began flooding into her mind after Yushu brought it up……

But Lin Yi's worst quality seemed to be how flirty with girls he was- why was he all over the place? Was she simply not attractive enough to him? Why would he get so intimate with Song Lingshan on just the first day like that? And that girl with the figure yesterday, too……

Could it actually be because of… how innocent her body looked? Mengyao couldn't help but feel depressed at the thought. She glanced quietly at Yushu- her body was much curvier than hers was, was that why Lin Yi treated her so much nicer..? That must be it, the d.a.m.ned pervert's found an interest in Shu's bigger b.o.o.bs……

Mengyao was even thinking angrily to herself of the kinds of things she'd do to Lin Yi if he dared sit beside her, maybe pretend to step on him when Uncle Fu hit the brakes to show Lin Yi what the consequences for crossing her were……

But the guy walked all the way to the other door after one look at her, sitting with Yushu instead!! It only served to agitate Mengyao even further.

What the h.e.l.l did he think he was doing, he was a s.h.i.+eld her dad hired! He should be sitting next to her, not Yushu!! What the h.e.l.l!!

Mengyao frowned unhappily as she considered yelling 'Lin Yi, sit over here…' when she decided otherwise- her dad and Uncle Fu were both present…

The car had been moving for a while when Chu Pengzhan pulled his phone out, looking a little solemn as he dialed in a number. "Director Chen? I'm Chu Pengzhan…"

"Mister Chu, how are you!" The director of Songshan's police said, his tone extremely friendly upon hearing it was Chu Pengzhan on the phone…… Chu Pengzhan was a man in a very high position- he was the biggest local entrepreneur, and a well known philanthropist, as well. The most important thing was his close relations.h.i.+p with House Chen from the military……. Director Chen, naturally, understood the gravity of that fact- he was a distant relative of the Chen family, after all.

"Director Chen, I'm just calling to ask about the bank robbery case- any news on the criminals who kidnapped my daughter?" Pengzhan asked, evidently quite furious to be making a phone call like that right in front of Yushu and Mengyao. The enemy was simply too much, turning their sights on him after just kidnapping Mengyao……

"Ah…… Nothing as of yet…" Director Chen said helplessly. "The suspect's a slippery one- the plates were fake. We don't have any valuable leads yet……"

"I understand. Please give me a call when you learn anything." Pengzhan said, quite friendly as well- the director was a distant relative of Yushu's family, after all. Although, he wasn't sure if Yushu even knew about this relative at all……

"Sure thing. I'll have my men work harder on the case!" Director Chen hung the phone up, directly dialing in the number to Song Lingshan's office. "Song? I'm Chen Dafei, come to my office for a bit."

"Alright……" Song Lingshan said. The director didn't seem very happy, and Lingshan dropped what she was working on, issuing a couple of commands to her subordinates before rus.h.i.+ng to the director's office.

She knocked on the door, only entering after the director told her to come in. "Director."

"Ah, Song." Chen Dafei pushed his specs up as he put down the file in his hand. "Sit, let's talk about the bank robbery case. Any updates?"

"The criminal police has established a 313 specialist team- currently trying to get a portrait of the suspect drawn. No news yet, I'm afraid……" Song Lingshan reported carefully.

The case was under her direct supervision- Huaijun had been a.s.signed to a different case by the provincial office. He'd most likely get promoted to vice-director after that, and so everything involving the criminal police had been dropped on her shoulders as a result.

It was only then did Lingshan fully understand the stress that came with leaders.h.i.+p over a task force- Huaijun would always make the important decisions, carry out operations as he led his men himself… There were a mult.i.tude of factors that Lingshan only understood the difficulty of after being a.s.signed leader herself.

The Songs were no weaklings, however, and Lingshan wasn't planning on giving up halfway. She had to grit her teeth through the hards.h.i.+ps- there was no way she could face her family if she failed; she'd get looked down on for sure if she did……

"Put your back into it, I don't need to remind you how important the case is. It involves Chu Pengzhan's daughter, and we need this solved as soon as possible!" Dafei said. "Here, give me a time- when do you think you'll have the case solved?"

"Um……" Song Lingshan's face darkened at the words. It was always Huaijun answering that type of question- she had no guarantee when she'd break the case, but there was no getting out of it. "Director, I guarantee that half a month… No, ten days is all I need!"

Song Lingshan saw Dafei's eyebrow twitch a little upon hearing 'half a month', and decided instantly to change her answer right then.

"Hm… Ten days, then. I await good news, Song!" Dafei nodded, satisfied.

Lingshan had her eyebrows locked as she made her way back to her office, trying to remember what Huaijun would do in her situation, how he'd approach the problem…… She only rubbed her forehead helplessly after her futile brainstorming- nothing came up!

Every case had different circ.u.mstances, and she couldn't just pull a random Huaijun method with just any case…… Lingshan was feeling troubled when the phone on the desk rang. She picked the phone up. "h.e.l.lo, this is Song Lingshan of the criminal police."

"Captain Song, this is Lou Liqiang of the outer city police… We've received a report of two corpses in an abandoned warehouse. Two males. We've identified one of them as Lu Jieyan of the 313 bank robbery case, also known as Baldy. We haven't identified the other corpse yet, but chances are he was one of Baldy's followers…"

Chapter 115 - No Philandering

"Alright, I'll get there at once……"

Lingshan's heart sank- locating the main perpetrators was something worth celebrating, but…

Not when they were dead!

It only meant that things were much more complicated than they had thought- the two criminals must've been wiped out to tie off loose ends.

The case just turned much more complicated, as well. It'd be an absolute challenge for them to find out who the mastermind was.

Lingshan decided to bring some men to the scene, ignoring the pain in her head.

"Yao Yao, what's wrong?" Yushu asked, evidently noticing the strange behavior Mengyao was displaying.

She'd a.s.sumed that Mengyao was behaving herself, being the good girl since Uncle Chu was right there and all, but… That didn't seem to be the case.

"It's nothing……"

Mengyao was p.i.s.sed at Lin Yi for being a pervert, but she couldn't just tell her best friend that she was jealous of her, could she?

"Oh. I really liked those fried mushrooms yesterday, what about you?" Yushu asked suddenly, nodding her head.

"......" Mengyao was speechless, but Yushu's randomness cheered her up. "You're really into food stands aren't you, Shu…… You'll be saving a lot of money for your husband some day……"

"Hehe, you'll be marrying too if I get married you know? I'll be saving money for you too…..." Yushu grinned playfully.

"Wha… huh?" Mengyao's face reddened instantly upon realizing what Yushu was talking about. She raised her hand and hit Yushu a little, flushed. "Stop bringing that up, it was when we were little!"

"Heh heh, so what? We pinky promised!" Yushu said, blus.h.i.+ng as well. She glanced at Lin Yi a little as she considered the likelihood of Uncle Chu choosing Lin Yi as his son in law.

"Hmph!" Mengyao turned her head away from Yushu, clearly a lot of stuff going on in her mind.

It was a secret between the two of them, a promise they'd made when they were younger. They never told anyone about it, but they did bring it up jokingly every once in a while after growing up.

It was six or seven years ago, when they were watching a drama about two besties- they wanted to be best friends forever so much that they married the same guy……

That idiot Yushu, naturally, suggested to her Yao Yao that the two of them could do the same thing when Mengyao got married, and be together forever……

It was a pretty good idea, Mengyao thought. She agreed, and the two girls hooked their pinkies together in promise…..

The idea turned out to be quite a ridiculous one as the two of them aged, but it was something funny to bring up every now and then…..

Especially that time when Yushu didn't want to call Mengyao 'Yao Yao Sis' anymore, it looked like she was trying to act cute- they were in the same cla.s.s, after all. (okay, 'Yao Yao Sis' is what Yushu calls Mengyao, while Mengyao calls Yushu 'Little Shu'. I adjusted it for aesthetic purposes…)

Mengyao, however, threatened Yushu with the secret, telling her that she'd naturally have to call Mengyao 'sis' since she'd be the elder wife, and that she'd tell everyone their secret if she failed to comply……

Helpless, Yushu decided to just continue calling her Yao Yao Sis- it wasn't long before it became a habit of hers.

Yushu was younger than Mengyao by a few months, after all. Calling her sis wasn't really inappropriate or anything.

Naturally, this secret was shared by the two girls exclusively- they were the only ones who knew about it.

Lin Yi only shook his head at the two girls- what the h.e.l.l were they even talking about? He decided to leave it be, since the girls wouldn't tell him even if he asked, anywyay.

Lin Yi then shut his eyes. He looked like he was resting, but was actually busying himself with something else.

"Elder Jiao, about that jade signal earlier……"

Lin Yi still didn't know how the signals were sent out, and thought that it might've had something to do with Elder Jiao.

"Signal?" Yazi asked, clearly not understanding where this was coming from. "What're you talking about, what signal?"

"You didn't sense anything?" Lin Yi was surprised at the words. "That instant when the chandelier was about to drop, I felt a signal from the jade… Signal as in the signals the jade sends me every time something dangerous is about to happen…"

"Honestly, didn't feel anything." Yazi said, trying to remember anything noteworthy from earlier.

"Uh… something the jade just does, then? An ability it has?" Lin Yi asked, knowing that it was impossible for Elder Jiao to be lying to him.

"That's possible. As I said, my master's master left that jade, so I don't know what other abilities it has. You'll have to go discover them yourself- you'll probably learn something new when you go to the cave the next time the doors open…" Yazi explained.

"I see." Lin Yi said helplessly. It seemed that Elder Jiao didn't know too much about the jade. The training s.p.a.ce must be one of its abilities, as well.

The car stopped in front of the villa, and Li Fu drove off after dropping off Lin Yi, Mengyao, and Yushu. Pengzhan clearly had something else to attend to.

"Lin Yi!!" Mengyao exclaimed, turning her head towards Lin Yi abruptly.

"Huh?" Lin Yi blinked as he looked at the Miss.

"You're not allowed to mess with girls when on duty from now on!!" Mengyao ordered. It was something she'd been thinking about the whole car trip, a concern she'd decided to address after gathering some courage.

"Uh, but I don't..?" Lin Yi said. Was the Miss displeased that he'd been hitting on girls during work time?

"Don't do it anymore if you were, and keep it that way if you don't!" Mengyao continued, not very comfortable with mentioning the whole thing with Song Lingshan.

"Oh…… Okay." Lin Yi nodded. "So only when on duty, right?"

"My dad's paid a lot of money for your services, for you to be my twenty four hour s.h.i.+eld! You're with me all the time, you're never off duty!" Mengyao concluded before walking off with Yushu.

"Ah…… f.u.c.k." Lin Yi smiled bitterly. "Jeez, even old slave masters don't do that, right… I'm practically a slave, huh? This girl……"

"You were so cool back there, Yao Yao!" Yushu said excitedly.

"He's gotta step away from all that flirting and playing with girls, he's going overboard! How am I supposed to trick Zhong Pinliang if he goes and does all that?" Mengyao said, not understanding why she was even bothering with a justification.

"But Yao Yao, I don't think Zhong Pinliang knows s.h.i.+eld Guy's your boyfriend yet… I mean you don't talk to s.h.i.+eld Guy at all, and you even let Zhong Pinliang have his way with him……" Yushu grinned. "Maybe I should go tell Pingy that s.h.i.+eld Guy's your boyfriend tomorrow? I'll also tell him about the two of you moving in together, heh… He's so scared of s.h.i.+eld Guy that he'll definitely p.i.s.s himself if I tell him that……"

(might as well mention that Yushu actually calls him s.h.i.+eld Bro instead of s.h.i.+eld Guy. tell me if you'd like that changed)

Chapter 116 - A Troubled Song Lingshan

"Wh-wha-? Huh??" Mengyao almost tripped! Boyfriend? Moving in together? Was Shu trying to p.i.s.s her off to death?!! Mengyao only put on a straight face as she turned to Yushu, thinking of changing the subject. "Shu… You're a lady you know… You should stop using words like p.i.s.s or p.o.o.p… it's quite vulgar, isn't it? Don't say stuff like that anymore……"

"Okay, I won't say anything." Yushu nodded.

"Good……" Mengyao sighed.

"Well, I'll tell Pingy about you and s.h.i.+eld Guy tomorrow then, if you're fine with it……" Yushu continued.

"......" Mengyao really wanted to beat the girl up- didn't they just agree not to say anything? The girl was clearly still h.e.l.lbent on announcing to Zhong Pinliang her relations.h.i.+p with Lin Yi!!

"Shu, the time's not ripe yet you know… Lin Yi just transferred in, and we've made it clear that we don't know him at all- doesn't it sound a little forced if you… tell them about us? Everything works with a lot of proper steps involved, and it's the same with this. So, don't say anything yet!" Mengyao said.

"Oh. It's your call, Yao Yao." Yushu said with a nod. "Well, it doesn't really matter to me anyway, you're the first wife and I'm the second… You're the one choosing the guy……"

"Shu!" Mengyao wanted to hammer Yushu to death. "Why're you always bringing that up? You're not stupid, you know you can't just marry the guy I marry!!"

"Don't be too sure." Yushu said, leaning forward and embracing Mengyao. "That's just how I'm gonna do it if I don't wanna be apart from you……"

"...You're really… What should I do with you, Shu." Mengyao shook her head, a little speechless. She held Yushu's hand, and the two of them walked up the stairs together. Mengyao made sure to give the general an order as they went up. "General Wei Wu, good performance so far! Keep guarding that spot, don't let that man come up!"

"Woof, woof……" The general responded, troubled. That man wasn't someone he could just stop if he actually tried to go up……

Song Lingshan was quite troubled indeed- Pin Jieyan's death meant a dead end! He had more distinct features, like his bald head, and it was a lot easier to search for him in comparison to his common-looking lakeys……

From what the autopsy had reported, the man had died unprepared and vulnerable- it was instant death with one bullet. The other corpse had died in the same manner as well.

They'd made a thorough search of the surrounding area, but these were the only two corpses they had. It meant that the remaining members of the group were still alive.

This was actually good news- Ling Shan would've grown even more troubled if the entire group had perished. It wasn't that big of a problem with just two deaths: it was either an inner conflict or a superior tying up loose ends.

They'd found out about the other corpse's ident.i.ty online, as well: Ma Liu, a twenty-nine-year-old unemployed male, from the Shelf County Cattle Village area, a thug known for his laziness in the village.

He'd said he was leaving the village for work, and had disappeared since then……

Evidently, Ma Liu only met Pin Jieyan after leaving the village, and there wasn't much to go on with only that clue……

Lingshan hesitated a while longer before deciding to give Huaijun a call. She needed his advice- she'd claimed that she'd have the case solved in ten days already, and while the director wouldn't go as far as to fire her, it'd look really bad for the Song family as well as herself… Her father would have to lower his head in shame in front of the other relatives……

"Yang Bro, it's me……" Lingshan greeted, uneasy. After all, the call was informing Huaijun of her inability even after following in Huaijun's footsteps for so long… It was quite embarra.s.sing for her……

Huaijun would always act as commander while Lingshan stayed in the vanguard, completely obliterating even the most violent of criminals with her experience as special ops coach backing her up. High-stakes missions were always Lingshan's specialty, and this was something the department had recognized! A female captain wouldn't have sat well with people otherwise, after all.

"What's up, Song?" Huaijun was just about to go for a checkup at the Eastern doctor's before going to the provincial office for a meeting later. His sickness had acted up again that day, and while it was because of Lin Yi agitating him, his body did deteriorate with each pa.s.sing day. Huaijun noticed at least that much.

"Cap'n… The 313 bank robbery case… We still don't have any leads- the two suspects we located were dead, and the whereabouts of the other remaining group members are unknown as well……" Lingshan said carefully.

"Ah……" Huaijun, naturally, understood Lingshan's position- the girl didn't set out for detective work, after all, and she hadn't been properly trained before. "Well, I've heard about this already, so let me tell you what my thoughts are: I think that the 'cutting loose ends' scenario isn't too likely. If that were the case, we'd have more than just two corpses."

"Yeah……. But what if the two were killed off by the others, because they weren't part of the inner circle?" Lingshan asked softly.

"It wouldn't add up- why would they bring two guys they don't trust with them, for what purpose? It has to be either a team of inside people, or a team of non-insiders……" Huaijun said with a smile. "So, an inner conflict is the most plausible scenario. It could be a dispute with the distribution of the money they'd robbed on Pin Jieyan and Ma Liu's part, resulting in their teammates killing them off."

"Ah, that makes sense…… That should be it." Linghan nodded in agreement.

"Now, if that were the case, all we need to do is increase the search radius. Unless they don't care about the money, they'll find a hard time moving around. We've got our men in the traffic police searching for us too, and the chances of them leaving Songshan's very low, as well. Do another search where you found the corpses, you might find some new clues……" Huaijun continued.

"Alright, got it." Lingshan said, suddenly feeling enlightened.

"Haha, Song, I heard about you having some fun with Lin Yi?" Huaijun sighed, deciding to ask her about it after all. The news of Song Lingshan's forwardness had been spread around the police department already, about her servicing her boyfriend at the hospital……

Huaijun didn't quite believe Lin Yi becoming a couple with Lingshan- Lin Yi wasn't the type to make commitments like that just anywhere, and there hadn't been any bad rumors regarding Lingshan ever since she'd entered the department…… She'd even rejected a man as outstanding as Chen Yutian, after all……

But every girl found herself attracted to someone eventually, as the saying went. As fine a man Chen Yutian was, he was still quite lacking when compared to someone like Lin Yi. Even a girl as exceptional as Yi was head over heels for Lin Yi, let alone Song Lingshan…...