A Bad-Hearted Doctor is Unbearably Beautiful - Chapter 17

The residential building in Nongyue Alley, two streets away from the Ren’ai Medical Center.

“Captain Lu!” As soon as Wu Di saw Lu Xiao’s black Ford F-150 turn the corner, he ran over to greet him.

“Where’s the cleaning lady?” Lu Xiao casually parked the car on the side of the road, put on a black leather jacket, and got out.

On the other side, Shen Zhao walked around the front of the car and joined him.

“I’ll take you over right now. The lady just said she was going home to cook and told us to come find her once everyone was here,” Wu Di said, blinking sheepishly.

Lu Xiao lifted his leg to follow Wu Di upstairs, but he felt a little cat’s paw scratch his elbow.

“?” Lu Xiao looked at Shen Zhao in confusion.

“Is this another leader from our team?” Wu Di felt that Shen Zhao and Lu Xiao were very familiar with each other, but he had never heard of such a good-looking leader in the police department.

“Yep, hurry up and call him Teacher Shen,” Lu Xiao said proudly, a smile in the corners of his eyes.

Shen Zhao: …

“Let’s buy some fruit first,” Shen Zhao said, pointing to a small shop at the street corner. Lu Xiao looked over and saw a sign that read ‘Fresh Fruit Galore.’

Lu Xiao’s neck stiffened, and he was momentarily stunned.

“Tsk, our Teacher Shen is so thoughtful!” Lu Xiao turned and went to the fruit store, picking out two gift boxes of fruit. As he was paying, he mused that after living for thirty years, he finally understood what a good partner was.

“Teacher Shen,” Lu Xiao said with a half-smile, eyeing Shen Zhao, who felt a little uneasy from the gaze.

“???”

“Teacher Shen, it feels great to be on a case with you!” Lu Xiao’s eyes danced. He had a playful look on his face, but there was a hint of sincerity in his gaze that lingered on Shen Zhao.

Shen Zhao was speechless. Lu Xiao’s words were so direct that Shen Zhao didn’t know how to interpret them. The atmosphere between them became a little subtle.

“Let’s go. We don’t want to keep the kid from our team waiting.”

Lu Xiao raised his hand, intending to put it on Shen Zhao’s shoulder, but he remembered Shen Zhao’s subconscious avoidance from before. His movement paused, and instead of retracting his arm, he held it close to Shen Zhao as they walked forward.

“The cleaning lady’s name is Li Meifeng. She’s 56 and a local. She’s been working for Zhang Dalong for many years. According to her, she started as a cleaner right after his medical center was renovated,” Wu Di said, taking large strides up the stairs and introducing Li Meifeng.

As they entered the stairwell, they could smell the food being cooked in different apartments. The old building didn’t have exhaust vents. There were four apartments on each floor, and many residents set up gas stoves in the hallway between two apartments to cook and do laundry.

Wu Di stopped at a door on the right and lightly knocked. “Auntie Li, it’s Xiao Wu, the one who called you earlier.”

“Ah, Xiao Wu, I’m coming.”

When she opened the door, Li Meifeng was still wiping her hands on her apron.

“Sister~~ Your food smells so good! I could smell it from downstairs.” Lu Xiao looked sincere, squeezing past her in the narrow hallway with his broad shoulders. He presented the fruit boxes with both hands and gave a charming, ingratiating smile.

“Oh, why are you calling me ‘sister’? I’m an old auntie now.”

Li Meifeng was completely charmed by Lu Xiao and couldn’t stop smiling.

Wu Di: …

Shen Zhao: …

“Oh, you young people are so sweet. Come on in, come on in.” The three of them entered the apartment and sat around a coffee table.

Lu Xiao narrowed his eyes and took a sip of tea. “Sister, I heard you’ve seen that man with the scar on his face?”

Li Meifeng nodded and pointed at Wu Di. “That young police officer of yours showed me. At first, I didn’t recognize him, but then I thought, ‘Isn’t that the guy!'”

“Take your time, sister. What’s his relationship with Zhang Dalong?”

“I’ve only seen him once… Let me think. It was about five or six years ago. Our medical center had just opened. One time, I was mopping the third floor when this man suddenly stormed out of the boss’s office, slamming the door. Oh my, you don’t know, he looked so angry! He startled me! And right after, the big boss chased after him.”

Lu Xiao gestured for her to continue.

“The big boss grabbed him from behind. When he saw me at the door, he said, ‘My brother is here today. Have the front desk brew a good pot of tea for him.'”

“Did you hear what they said in the office?” Shen Zhao asked.

“It was probably business-related, but I really can’t remember.”

“And then?” Lu Xiao asked.

“After that, I never saw him again. I only remember him because of that injury on his face. It looked scary,” Li Meifeng said.

Shen Zhao said, “You said it was an injury on his face? So it wasn’t a scar at the time?”

Li Meifeng suddenly slapped her thigh. “Exactly! Now that you ask me, I know why I thought your portrait looked strange! His face was still red back then. It must have been a fresh wound.”

Shen Zhao rested his elbows on the table and clasped his hands under his chin, carefully recalling the scar-faced man’s appearance.

As the three of them said goodbye to Li Meifeng, she stood at the door, telling the young men to come visit again.

“Captain Lu, this person doesn’t have a name, and we can’t find a facial match in the public security system. How are we going to investigate?” Wu Di had no idea where to start.

“No rush. We haven’t finished interrogating Old Third Song yet.”

“Oh, right, Wu Di, there is something you need to check. Liu Tingting received a bouquet of roses before she died. See who sent them. If it was her boyfriend, it’s strange that he hasn’t reported her missing after all this time.”

Wu Di nodded and made a note.

“Go on, go on. Teacher Shen and I have some serious business to take care of.” Lu Xiao shooed the kid away.

Wu Di: … It is my honor to be my boss’s flunky!

Lu Xiao’s eyes darted around for a moment before he suddenly turned around and brushed the bangs off his forehead with his right hand.

“Teacher Shen~ The crime scene at the medical center will be taken down tomorrow. Before they start ‘rebuilding,’ would you like to go take a look?” Lu Xiao held the car keys, his palm open, inviting Shen Zhao.

“I’d like to, yes…” Shen Zhao felt that Lu Xiao’s posture was a little strange.

“Then you have to promise me one thing,” Lu Xiao said with a mischievous grin, looking smug about his plan.

Shen Zhao frowned, staring at Lu Xiao. “…Go on.”

Lu Xiao: “After we’re done looking, will you join me for some dumplings? I’ve been so busy with this mess over the New Year that I haven’t even had a bowl of dumplings.”

At this moment, Lu Xiao’s posture was like a wild wolf who, to deceive a farmer, temporarily hid its sharp claws and fangs and pretended to be a cute dog.

His every gesture radiated a rare innocence for a male beast.

“Dumplings? Then let’s eat vegetarian or shrimp dumplings,” Shen Zhao said, his face showing little emotion.

“Perfect! Get in the car.” Lu Xiao bowed and made an inviting gesture with the car keys, unlocking the doors.

“Let’s not take the car. It’s only a few hundred meters. A walk is good for the body,” Shen Zhao said, shaking his arms and stretching.

When they arrived at the Ren’ai Medical Center, they first looked at the files and charred file boxes scattered around the archive room and the file cabinets that had been twisted out of shape by the bomb’s impact.

They discovered a correlation between the direction the file cabinets were toppled and the chalk outlines of where the victims fell on the ground.

If they believed what Old Third Song said—that there was no one in the building before the bomb went off—then the victims were likely at the top of the file cabinets before the explosion!

At that moment, were the victims already dead or just unconscious?

All of this would have to wait for Forensic Doctor Qin Sheng to provide an answer.

Their reasonable assumption was that after the explosion, the victims were sent flying with the toppled file cabinets, and because there was a large amount of paper material at the scene, their clothes and skin were mostly burned.

Of course, this was all based on the premise that Old Third Song was not involved in the deaths of the two victims.