Wings of Angels Part 5
Overtime work… was never ending. Especially for a certain Shen Superior at the top. He practically didn"t have any concept of time.
It was already dinnertime. Everyone including Jiang Hu—other than Su Junzi who was still asking around the area—occupied one office table each, gobbling mouthful after mouthful of the boxed meal as they organized the numerous doc.u.ments about the residents.
Sheng Yao was joking dramatically that, forsooth, there were many a number of libertines since times of old. To devote oneself to one out of many[1] was really strenuous work.
Shen Yexi was clearly already used to this kind of life. When he ate while looking at the doc.u.ments, he made no errors. While Sheng Yao had much more efficiency, becoming serious now. His pair of eyes were like a scanner, reading rapidly, but the food in his box hadn"t been touched much. Apparently, the smell of the underground drainage tunnel was still permeating his consciousness relentlessly.
Yang Man announced that she was on a diet and won"t eat anything at all. The people a.s.sumed that she was so repulsed and was just too embarra.s.sed to say it. Meanwhile, An Yining went to the bureau chief"s office to report on their progress.
As for Jiang Hu… Shen Yexi split half of his attention to study this person. The boxed meal brought for him had been completely put at the side. He had politely gave his thanks as he received it, but he didn"t move his chopsticks, saying that he"ll eat after he finished work. When he sat there, his back was very straight, his sitting posture extremely upright. When you look over at his side profile, it actually formed a slight image of n.o.bility. Needless to say, he looked like someone who had a good upbringing.
Shen Yexi even noticed that the feeling Jiang Hu gave was like his personality: slow and muddleheaded. Until now, he did not speak much, and his curiosity wasn"t high either. He was completely unlike someone who came into contact with such an absurd murder case for the first time.
Before he voiced his thoughts, he would always preface it with much hesitation, repeatedly emphasizing that he was only speculating, requesting everyone"s thought processes not to be influenced by him. But his tone did not tell the same story. Shen Yexi could tell. In it, there was a definite sort of certainty and self-confidence.
No… He wasn"t like Sheng Yao either. Sheng Yao was meticulous. But each of this person"s actions were comprehensive and thorough. So comprehensive and so thorough that it made one unable to see any faults. His entire self emitted a certain high incongruence. And yet, this incongruence also felt so natural. As though it was in his nature itself, thus unable for anyone to see any trace of deliberation.
Why did Bureau Chief Mo transfer him in? Was it really just a psychological intervention that he initiated to counter the too-heavy mental pressure on everyone? Was it really just their employment benefits?
At this time, someone knocked on the office door. An employee on duty pushed open the door and entered. "Leader Shen, someone is asking for Inspector An."
The few people with their heads buried in papers raised their heads at the same time, before seeing a man standing behind the employee on duty. His hand was holding a thermos container, a small smile on his mouth. This man practically lit up one"s eyes. He was truly good-looking. But if you take note of his manner and expression in detail, you can also deduce that his age was definitely not young. There were a number of tiny wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Yet, they didn"t quite detract from his good looks.
Shen Yexi courteously stood up. "Teacher An, come in and wait. Yining is with Chief Mo right now. She"ll be back soon."
The man smiled. "Yexi, your body has recovered?"
Shen Yexi moved a chair over for him. "There"s no problem now. Please sit."
Yang Man whispered into Jiang Hu"s ear, "That is Yining"s other father. Chief Mo"s… Mn, you understand, don"t you? His name is An Jie, a translator and a guest professor in a foreign language academy." She paused for a moment, and then sighed in exaggeration, "In this year of the Lord, why are men who have good personalities all taken?"
Her speaking voice was very soft, practically right at Jiang Hu"s ear. It was also rather far away, but An Jie seemed to have heard it too, turning around to wink at her and smiled. And that legendary thick face of Yang Man—so thick that awls can"t even poke through— actually reddened in a rare show.
Afterwards, she heard An Jie tell Jiang Hu, "Have you gotten used to being in the country? On a day you"re not busy, let Yining bring you over to our home for a meal."
Yang Man"s eyes bulged and she jabbed at Jiang Hu. "d.a.m.ned brat, you know each other? Just stab me why don"t you."
Jiang Hu accepted this jab, smiling. "Sure, I love Uncle An"s cooking the most—Yang-jie, it"s Uncle An who recommended me to work here."
An Jie gave him a glare. "I"ve finally seen through you. I"m not even worth a plate of food in your eyes. Throughout the entire day, your mind is only occupied with food, right?"
It happened to be right at this moment when An Yining pushed open the door and entered. Seeing An Jie, she was stunned for a moment. "Dad, why did you come?"
"Both of you have to work overtime, so I just came over to offer consolations." An Jie used his jaw to signal the thermos container placed at the side. "Supper. One for you, and also send one portion to your Pa. For the past two days, his stomach hasn"t been feeling too well."
An Yining curled her lips, mentally thinking, You actually just wanted to see my Pa don"t you, I just happened to be along the way. Her eyes moved slyly. She leaned at An Jie"s ear, silently mocking him. "You can just bring one portion for Pa then, why did you even bother about me? Moreover, why don"t you send it yourself. You"ve been married for so many years now, and you"re still embarra.s.sed?"
An Jie"s skills were honed for so many years now. Even when he was attacked on his critical point, he still had no change in his expression. "These words of yours really deeply wronged me. Your Pa is an adult man with all his limbs intact and normal intelligence. Does he need me to be concerned about him? He"s the one who is along the way."
An Yining choked.
"Moreover, isn"t it because I"m afraid that you"ll eat things blindly? An-xiao"er[2], when you were younger, didn"t you chase through a few streets for an ice cream truck? And we even had to have the police send you back home."
Experience was the father of wisdom after all.
Shen Yexi gave a dry cough and pretended to be hard at work. The corner of Sheng Yao"s mouth twitched. He lowered his head and hurriedly ate his boxed meal. Yang Man turned her head to look at the sight outside the window. Jiang Hu had a befuddled expression as he glanced at this pair of father and daughter. He wanted to ask something but observing the conversation and expressions, he swallowed it back.
An Jie smiled. His smiling face was very good-looking, and it even looked a little devious like that of a child. He pinched An Yining"s scrunched up nose. After greeting everyone, he announced to take his leave.
It was only then that Jiang Hu carefully asked, "Yining, why did Uncle An call you Xiao"er[3]? Did he mean a server in a restaurant in the ancient times?"
No one answered. They stilled for a few seconds before a burst of sn.i.g.g.e.ring laughter started. Just like a spark turning into a prairie fire, it became increasingly stronger. Even Shen Yexi couldn"t resist looking at him as he shook his head. This child was, surely enough, rather healing.
An Yining rolled her eyes. "Western Professor, you don"t understand the deepness and profoundness of the Chinese languages, do you? In the northern dialects, Er, is just like how you are. For someone like you, we"ll call you Er."
After she spoke, she lifted the thermos container, coa.r.s.ely taking out one layer. She opened the door and pulled over a random person. "Xiao Zhao, a chance for you to kiss up to the Chief. Bring this over to his office. Tell him that person from home brought it over personally."
Sheng Yao shook his head hard, telling An Yining as he faced her back. "G.o.ddess-jiejie, if I knew you were so kidnappable when you were younger, I would have bought an ice-cream truck and loitered around your house entrance no matter what. Then maybe, I would have gotten a beautiful childhood friend."
"Get out. As if you guys didn"t do such a thing when you guys were younger." An Yining studied Sheng Yao up and down. "If I were to know you since young, I"ll definitely strangle a public hazard like you to death before kindergarten. Then you won"t have to come out and taint the environment!"
Looking at it like this, this mouth of the esteemed daughter of the An family, which spared no one, was likely trained by the many years she engaged in a battle of wits and bravery with her heartless dad.
Shen Yexi laughed and laughed when suddenly, something flashed in his mind. He furrowed his eyes. "Ice-cream truck?"
He raised his head to look at Jiang Hu. "Dr. Jiang, do you still remember if there were any ice-cream trucks on the road to the Family of Angels choir?"
"No." Jiang Hu said with firm certainty.
"You"re sure?"
"On the road we took, I saw a few cake shops and a few exquisite shops selling toys. They"re all things that children love, but there were no places that sold cold desserts." Jiang Hu said.
The people all looked at him. Under the laser-like wolf eyes, Jiang Hu shrunk back on the chair. "… I"m really sure of it."
Can a person who can"t even find his way back to the office after going to pour a cup of coffee remember what kind of shops there were on a foreign road so clearly? Shen Yexi narrowed his eyes a little, sizing up Jiang Hu—Or should he say that, he already had an idea at the time, so he intentionally went out of his way to find it?
Behind the gla.s.s of the spectacles, Jiang Hu"s eyes calmly accepted his gaze. Not in avoidance and not in deliberation, but instead with a special calm composure. In the end, it was Shen Yexi who shifted his gaze away first, saying, "That location for the choir group that looked like a large-scale Children"s Palace. Many interest cla.s.ses for children are all offered there. In a place with many children, isn"t it weird that there"s no place that sells ice-cream or drinks?"
"So you feel that that there should have been an ice-cream truck that was very popular with the children, and it"s just that they"re closed for business today?" An Yining carried on the conversation. "They didn"t open shop because… of what we speculated before?"
"We still can"t make a conclusion. If there"s such a person, we have to find him immediately." Shen Yexi said rapidly.
At this time, the phone rang. Sheng Yao picked it up and spoke a few words before putting it down, telling Shen Yexi, "News from Junzi"s side. Around 4 A.M. today, there was a grandpa who took [4]. When he pa.s.sed by that place, he faintly saw a silhouette of a person crouching at the underground drainage entrance. The grandpa"s eyesight wasn"t good. He glanced from afar and thought it was a hoodlum, so he didn"t think too much of it. But when the person crouching at the underground drainage entrance heard someone was close by, they seemed very anxious and jumped into the drainage tunnel."
"This might be the reason that caused the murderer to throw Zhang Jing"s head outside." Shen Yexi said, "What are their physical characteristics?"
"A male, not tall. Maybe below 1.7 meters. Very thin, that"s why he was mistaken by the eyewitness as a hoodlum."
"Quick, seize these two clues tightly. We might even be able to catch him tonight." Shen Yexi stood up, grabbing his jacket. "Dr. Jiang, you don"t mind coming with me to the choir group, do you?"
Jiang Hu was surprised for a moment, hurriedly standing up and following after him.
An Yining arched an eyebrow. "No… How did Leader Shen get addicted to bringing Scatterbrain Hu along?"
"For that, we have to ask you." Yang Man moved closer gossipily. "Hey, I"m saying, what relationship does that handsome dad of yours have to do with little Jiang cutie? How did the kid come about joining us?"
"My dad met him when he was travelling on the roads of Chicago. Apparently, the two of them like to hopscotch around the world and don"t quite like itineraries. If they walk to any place, so be it. They"re like birds of the same feather. Once, they drove to an empty mountain and ran out of petrol. They were stuck there for two days and can be considered friends who went through hard times now. It happened that my Pa heard about it and felt that our place lacked such a…. err, talent. So he asked my dad to urge him back to the country to work. Why?"
Yang Man shrugged her shoulders.
Sheng Yao shook his head. "This Dr. Jiang looks pretty unreliable, but yet, he does really… seem just a little…" He shook his head, not continuing any longer. He also picked up his jacket. "I"m going to take over Junzi"s shift. That married man has a family to feed. I"ll let him go back earlier tonight."
The author has something to say:
Speaking of which, Shengsheng, you sure are considerate~
Cough cough. I let Uncle An come out for a small cameo[5]. He"s really the one with the most style.
Translator Notes:
[1]: The phrase "弱水三千，取这么一瓢" borrows from the "弱水三千只取一瓢" which means to pick one out of the many beautiful things in the world and signifies loyalty and devotion to one.
[2]: The phrase, 安小二 (An Xiao Er) has Xiao Er replacing her given name. It was a t.i.tle used in ancient China to refer to servers and waiters/waitresses. Now, it can also be a term of endearment, with 二 (er) also to call someone stupid.
[3] 小二, Xiao"er, (literally, Little Two) is a term to refer to a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant in ancient times. This definition has fallen out of use in modern era, with "Two" as a slang for being stupid amongst other things.
[4]: In China, there"s a culture of taking your birds out for a walk early in the morning. You can read up on it .
[5]: Mo Cong and An Jie are actually the main characters from another novel, Ni Lu Lai Gui. It"s currently untranslated, but if you"re interested, I"ve done up a summary of the novel here.