Chapter 3 Part 1
It"s already after 2 p.m., the Tai Hao Shi Restaurant, though not as full as lunch hour, still has many guests. To thank Qiao Yin, Li Zhong Cheng insisted on treating her to a meal. She could not refuse, so she had to go to the restaurant with him.
Li Zhong Cheng asked for a private room, ordered some dishes and then smiled at Qiao Yin. He looked much better than when he was at the law firm. He glimpsed at the LCD TV on the wall and suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise. “A judge of the Intermediate People"s Court of X City was killed at home last night.”
“What?” Qiao Yin was taking a sip from the cup of tea and was startled by his words. Half a cup of boiling tea was spilled on her hand. She gave a cold breath of air and immediately put down the teacup. Li Zhong Cheng didn"t expect her to have such a big reaction. He stood up immediately and looked at her hand with anxiety. “Miss Qiao, are you okay?”
“It"s alright. I"m going to rinse with some cold water.” She smiled at him hastily and then looked at the LCD TV. Then, she stood up and walked into the restroom in the private room. The news that was broadcast-ed, was a replayed of afternoon"s news. Li Zhong Cheng should see it on the news. She on the tap and rinsed her red burning palm with cold water. She was also thinking of the questions that Xiao Yang had asked her during the phone call. She felt a little fl.u.s.tered.
These lawyers had been dealing with the courts. In addition, in the case of Chen Wen from four years ago, Qiao Yin had a deep impression of Zhong Zheng. Now Zhong Zheng was dead, and he was “murdered”, the biggest suspect would definitely be Chen Wen"s son, Chen Hao Xiang. That"s probably why Xiao Yang called her.
However, Qiao Yin felt something was wrong. All these years, she had been in touch with Chen Hao Xiang. Indeed, he hated Zhong Zheng, but he was a rational scholar who had been plotting for years to justify the perjury of lawyers by academic research. He had also argued strongly for its repeal. With so much effort, Chen Hao Xiang could not have suddenly change his mind and try to kill Zhong Zheng so quickly.
She rinsed her hand in confusion. After she confirmed that her hand was no longer in burning pain, she turned off the faucet and took out a packet of tissue to dry her hand. A card in her pocket fell out, and she bent over to pick it up. She found out that it was a business card that Li Zhong Cheng gave her at the law firm.
She swept through the name on the business card and froze.
Li Cheng.
Didn"t he say his name was Li Zhong Cheng?
And the name Li Cheng… If she remembered correctly, it should be Li Jian Hui"s brother.
The bits and pieces of the clues in her head were instantly joined together, and Qiao Yin thought of one of the scariest possibilities. She had numbness in her hair and looked at Li Zhong Cheng, who was sitting outside. She licked her dry lips to calm down. Half a minute later, she calmed down, displayed a restless look, walked out of the restroom in the private room and returned to her seat.
“Mr. Li, you just said Judge Zhong was killed at home. Where did you see that?”
Perhaps frightened by her sudden seriousness, Li Zhong Cheng"s face changed slightly, “I just saw it there, the scroll bar.”
Qiao Yin nodded, frowning and taking her phone out of her bag. “I"m sorry, I"d like to make a phone call first. Our law firm also took a case that was originally trial by Judge Chung. Now that something has happened, I have to contact our lawyer first.”
He nodded and said, “You"re free to do so.”
Finding Xiao Yang"s name in her contact list, Qiao Yin pressed the dial b.u.t.ton and quickly heard the phone being connected. Xiao Yang, who was on the other side of the phone, was careful to remain silent for five seconds, then spoke in a low voice. “Qiao Yin?”
Qiao Yin pursed her lips and showed a slightly agitated look. She pretended to lock the screen on her phone and then placed it on the table with the screen facing downwards. Li Zhong Cheng had been watching her every move and asked, “No answer?”
She squeezed her eyebrows and said, “I guess she"s busy. Forget it, I"ll call later.”
Seeing that she"s in a bad mood, Li Zhong Cheng changed the subject, “Zhong Zheng this name, I had seen it in the newspaper. He was the judge who tried the case against Chen Wen four years ago, right?” After a pause, he pondered for a while. “Is it possible that Chen Wen"s son did it? I remember he was in the newspaper a while ago.”
“Probably not.” She shook her head and moved her stiff finger. “Chen Wen"s case is so big now that he doesn"t have to kill anyone else.” She thought, and said, “And I also talked to him the other day. He looked normal and asked me to help him find the case file that Chen Wen handled.”
“He wanted to see the file?” Li Zhong Cheng raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah. Just before we got out of the law firm, Lawyer Zhang was still looking for me.” She placed her hair behind her ear. She looked like she was casually smiling, and in her smile there was some regret. “It was a criminal case, and it was the last case that Chen Wen was handling. It"s a pity. His client was sentenced to death for murdering a couple. Chen Wen had always felt guilty. Now that he had pa.s.sed away, Chen Hao Xiang wanted to find the family of the client and apologize to them for his father.”
He listened but remained silent. After some time, he suddenly said, “Miss Qiao, have you seen my business card?”
Qiao Yin frowned and didn"t seem to hear him, “Hmm?”
“You"ve seen my business card.” Li Zhong Cheng sounded definite. He raised his head and look at her, “You know I"m Li Jian Hui"s younger brother.”
Xiao Yang, who heard this on the phone, stepped out of the law firm and returned to the police car with a file that he had gotten from Lawyer Zhang. He talked to Yan Cong on the walkie talkie, “The Tai Hao Shi Restaurant at Mei Qi Road. Go in secretly. He"s with Qiao Yin, the boss of the law firm. He"s probably going to take her as a hostage.”
The sound of something being broken in his Bluetooth headset was followed by Qiao Yin"s shrill scream!
Li Cheng"s low and harsh voice then sounded, “When did you see it? At the law firm? You really can pretend until now?”
“No, I just saw it.” Qiao Yin"s voice was a little shaky and her breathing was a little disorder. She should have been threatened with something. However, she seemed to be very calm, and her words were clear. “I didn"t lie to you. If Chen Hao Xiang knows you have returned, he will definitely come to you immediately.”
“Bulls.h.i.t! He was dead last night!” Li Cheng suddenly shouted. “Do you know what he said to me when he saw my face? ‘Please let me go! Don"t kill me!" His mother (T/N: He said 他妈的 which is an offensive phrase to scold ‘his mother"). It"s like he only knows how to say these two lines in his whole life!”
The door of the private room was knocked. After a brief silence, Xiao Yang heard a gunshot. A screaming sound could be heard from a distant. In the next second, Tai Hao Shi Restaurant was like a wok that exploded. The people fled in panic, and there were several gunshots in the middle of all the screaming. There was also Li Cheng"s increasingly distant roar. “Get out! Every one of you, get out of here!”
As Xiao Yang drove to Tai Hao Shi Restaurant, he opened the walkie-talkie again to provide instant information to Yan Cong. “Li Cheng fired in the restaurant. We"re not sure if there are any casualties. Call an ambulance. All of you be there as soon as possible.”
At that time, the Tai Hao Shi Restaurant was basically empty. Most of the tables and chairs in the hall were lying on the floor. Li Cheng held his arm around Qiao Yin"s neck and stood at the cash register. He was holding onto a homemade pistol and pointing it to her head. A restaurant waiter"s body was on the doorway. He was just pushing the door to bring in food and got shot by Li Cheng, who was emotionally out of control.