After the Divorce, I Went Back to My Hometown, Pregnant and Became the Sheriff - Chapter 31

As expected, the person sent by the General Headquarters was Li Peiwen. After meeting with Cheng Zhen and Ye Yilang, he made a point of visiting Jiang Xu’s office.

Jiang Xu hadn’t expected him to come. Somewhat surprised, he stood up to greet him. “Director Li,” Jiang Xu said, discreetly glancing at the title on the credentials pinned to Li Peiwen’s chest. From public prosecutor to Director of the Administrative Integrity Bureau, he had jumped three levels in five years. “What brings you here? It’s been a long time.”

“Xiao Jiang, it’s been nearly five years, hasn’t it?” Li Peiwen’s expression was gentle. Despite his age, there was still a scholarly air about him, setting him apart from others of his rank within the system.

“Yes, five years in the blink of an eye,” Jiang Xu smiled. “Director Li, let me walk you out.”

As they strolled outside the Police Department’s newly built basketball courts, Li Peiwen watched the young men playing inside and remarked with some emotion, “If it weren’t for that case back then, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have the chance to chat like this.”

“You’re right, Director. Thanks to you, I managed to avoid punishment from the General Bureau.”

“Heh, your decision to fire was within regulations. Besides, given your relationship with Yucheng, it was only natural for me to look out for you.” Li Peiwen picked up a basketball that had rolled to his feet and tossed it back into the court. “Xiao Jiang, you young people should have more vitality. Look at those boys playing ball; don’t they all have to keep their heads up to move forward?”

Jiang Xu lowered his gaze, looking at the lawn that had been trampled into a limp, dejected state.

Li Peiwen continued in a warm voice, “If you only keep your head down, you might avoid tripping over stones in the short term, but once you gain momentum, you might not be able to stop in time if there’s a cliff ahead.”

“What are you saying, Director?” Jiang Xu smiled faintly. “This is a small coastal city. How could there be any cliffs?”

Li Peiwen shook his head helplessly. “Sigh, I can’t talk sense into you. You and Yucheng are exactly the same kind of people.”

“Him and me?”

“Yes, both of you are stubborn to a fault when it comes to certain things,” Li Peiwen said. “Actually, regarding Zhang Yongfeng’s case, it wasn’t originally under Yucheng’s jurisdiction.”

Jiang Xu froze. This was the first he’d heard of it.

“Ever since he returned from Germany last year, he’s been gathering materials on that kidnapping case from five years ago. That wasn’t a glorious case. A shootout between the police and the kidnappers left ten dead and one escaped, and it cost the life of an innocent child. In the end, the painting was lost, and the case was shelved for five years. If information hadn’t been so tightly controlled back then, the General Bureau would have been torn apart by public outcry.”

Li Peiwen spoke slowly, “The General Headquarters wanted to keep such a scandal buried. Why would they ever want to reopen it?”

Jiang Xu remarked sarcastically, “Despite the scandal, Zhang Yongfeng not only held onto his position until retirement but even climbed to the rank of Chief Superintendent. It was quite an achievement.”

“I had heard rumors about him using his position for personal gain,” Li Peiwen said. “After Zhang Yongfeng retired, he was anonymously reported. The networks of these retired officials are usually deeply intertwined, and investigating them is a thankless task. Yet Yucheng volunteered for it, rushing to take on this hot potato. Do you know why?”

Jiang Xu turned his head away. Li Peiwen chuckled. “If anyone’s to blame for how things turned out between you two, it’s this old man. If I hadn’t pushed so hard for Yucheng to go to Germany for further studies, he definitely wouldn’t have been willing to endure a long-distance separation from you.”

“I don’t blame you for that. He kept me in the dark from the start. I only heard about it from others right before he was set to leave.”

“Well, you’d only been married for two years then. He was suddenly leaving for at least four or five years. Of course, he didn’t know how to tell you.”

Jiang Xu smiled bitterly. “He left after we had a massive fight. Then I ran into that string of miserable events and thought it was best to just end things as soon as possible.”

Li Peiwen looked at Jiang Xu’s profile, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Jiang Xu looked back. “If there’s something you want to say, Director, please just say it.”

“I know saying this now might be useless, but back then, Yucheng had only been in Germany for a few days when a public holiday came up. Even though it was only four days, he immediately bought the earliest flight home.”

Li Peiwen looked troubled. “But when he got home, the only thing he saw was the divorce agreement you left behind. Sigh, don’t let his appearance fool you. He was devastated. In Germany, he didn’t even leave his room except for work. You two didn’t really have any major irreconcilable differences. When he applied to come to G-City this time, I saw him go to the mall several times to buy new clothes. He spent quite a while fixing himself up.”

Thinking of how Shen Yucheng had used his looks to charm his way into staying at his house the previous night, Jiang Xu cleared his throat awkwardly and quietly changed the subject. “By the way, what is the upper management’s attitude toward him firing his weapon?”

“It could be a big deal or a small one.” Li Peiwen patted Jiang Xu’s shoulder. “I raised him myself, and the General Headquarters appreciates him. It’s just a formality, so don’t worry. My driver is arriving, so I’ll head out. Let’s the three of us have dinner together another day.”

That evening, Shen Yucheng was temporarily moved to a different residence. Before leaving, he handed his car keys to Jiang Xu, saying they might come in handy.

Jiang Xu watched the tall figure get into the car, surrounded by several prosecutors from the Administrative Integrity Bureau. He suddenly felt an impulse to call out to him.

The car drove away slowly, and the night grew so thick that the horizon vanished.

A few days later, as Jiang Xu returned to the station after duty, he was met by Inspector Zhao’s panicked face. Sensing something was wrong, Jiang Xu asked quickly, “Inspector Zhao, what’s the rush? What happened?”

“Oh, boy!” Inspector Zhao gasped. “Zhang Rui is dead!”

“What?” A chill ran down Jiang Xu’s spine. He grabbed Inspector Zhao. “Dead in the detention center? When did he die?”

“Yes! If he had died anywhere else, I wouldn’t be this frantic! The guard went to deliver breakfast this morning and found that he had committed suicide by swallowing a razor blade!”

“Razor blade, suicide?” Jiang Xu repeated the words. Suddenly, he asked, “What about Inspector He Xianxing? Hasn’t he received the news?”

Inspector Zhao didn’t react at first, then slapped his forehead. “If you hadn’t mentioned him, I would have forgotten! That guy suddenly submitted a leave request last night. Unbelievable, running off at a time like this! I can’t talk now; they’re rushing me to inspect the scene!”

Unsettled and suspicious, Jiang Xu returned to his desk. He pulled out his phone to call He Xianxing, but it went straight to a busy signal.

Just then, a colleague walked in, rubbing his shoulders. Jiang Xu frowned. This colleague usually left work very early.

“I haven’t seen you around the office much lately,” Jiang Xu said tentatively.

The colleague stretched and sat down. “Tell me about it. Because of that drowning case in the west of the city, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in days.”

A wave of dizziness hit Jiang Xu. “Isn’t that case already wrapped up?” he asked, stunned.

“Wrapped up? Oh, you’ve been on field duty the last few days, so you probably don’t know. The Deputy Inspector General’s office is a total mess! But Group C will be back soon, so small fry like me can finally be free.”

The colleague continued to complain, but Jiang Xu’s mind was elsewhere. His fingertips tapped the desk unconsciously as a thought struck him. He opened his phone and found a number he hadn’t dialed in a long time.

After a few rings, the call was answered.

Jiang Xu spoke first, “Hello, Teacher Yu. This is Jiang Xu.”

“Jiang Xu?” A middle-aged woman’s voice came from the other end. Sounding incredulous, her initial formal tone was replaced by pleasant surprise. “Why are you suddenly calling me? How many years has it been since you visited your teacher? You ungrateful boy.”

Jiang Xu forced a smile. “Teacher, next time I’m back in S-City, I’ll definitely bring a gift to see you.”

“Back in S-City? You’re not at the General Bureau anymore? What happened? I remember last time you were here, you were so excited about being promoted to Senior Inspector.”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you in person next time.” Jiang Xu paused. “Are you at the school right now?”

“I’m in my office.”

“That’s great. Could I trouble you to check something for me?”

“What is it? Go ahead.”

“Could you check if there have been any instances of accidental firearm discharges causing injury during shooting exams over the past five years?”

“Hmm, let me log into the system.” The sound of Teacher Yu tapping on a keyboard came through. “But I don’t recall anything like that happening.” Only the sound of the mouse and keyboard remained. A moment later, she said, “I checked. There’s definitely nothing.”

“What about further back?”

“Nothing,” she said decisively.

“I see.” Jiang Xu felt a splitting headache coming on. “Then, could you check if there has been a student named ‘He Xianxing’ in the last five years? ‘He’ as in ‘congratulate,’ ‘Xian’ as in ‘leisure,’ and ‘Xing’ as in ‘star’.”

“Five years? Do you want me to check further back?”

“No, just the last five years.”

The clatter of the keyboard was loud. After a moment, Teacher Yu replied, “There’s no one by that name.”

“Alright, thank you for your help, Teacher. I’ll definitely visit you next time I’m in S-City.”

“Wait, Jiang Xu, hold on.” Teacher Yu stopped him from hanging up. “There is a boy named Fu Xianxing. I’m not sure if he’s the one you’re looking for. Let me pull up his file and send the photo to this number, alright?”

“Okay, thank you, Teacher.”

Jiang Xu hung up and immediately dialed the daycare teacher’s number. Since Shen Yucheng had been taken away by the Integrity Bureau, there was no one at home, so Jiang Xu had been sending Tongtong to daycare during the day.

“Hello, is this Tongtong’s father?” Because of the previous incident where Shen Yucheng picked up Tongtong, the teacher’s attitude toward Jiang Xu was now extremely cautious.

“Teacher, sorry to bother you,” Jiang Xu gripped his phone. “I just wanted to ask, is Tongtong there?”

“Oh my, wasn’t Tongtong picked up by his mother at noon?” the teacher asked in surprise. “Did Tongtong’s mother not tell you?”

“I see. Never mind then. Goodbye, Teacher.” Jiang Xu cut the call. Teacher Yu’s message had just arrived.

He clicked on the ID photo with a white background. The person in the photo looked youthful and green, with a pair of amber, almond-shaped eyes slightly curved in a smile, looking just like a child.

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