side edge

Silent night.

The moonlight outside the window shone through the gaps in the curtains to the neatly arranged golden trophies in the display cabinet. They were so shiny that there was almost no dust left, as if they had been carefully wiped several times not long ago.

The door lock suddenly made a 'click' sound, and someone pushed the door open.

Most of the paper documents were scattered and stacked on the desk. A small piece of paper was blown to the ground by the wind from the door. The drawers on both sides of the desk were almost locked, and an uncapped pen rolled down from the corner of the desk.

He gently closed the door and picked up the piece of paper - it was just a schedule reminder.

After stuffing the small piece of paper back to its original position, he had a clear purpose. He walked straight towards the display cabinet based on his memory, opened the cabinet door, and focused his gaze on one of the 'College Student Entrepreneurship Competition First Prize' trophies. shift.

Holding the trophy in both hands, he moved to the side, and took out the A4 notebook that was pressed underneath and the pages were withered and old.

"When he was...five years old...year...well...1997..."

He turned back a few pages, squinted his eyes, and used the light of the mobile phone screen to see clearly the newspaper clippings pasted in the notebook. In 1997, a villa area in the eastern suburbs of Qinjiang City was short-circuited due to an aging circuit failure, which caused spontaneous combustion, resulting in The explosion caught fire, and the fire spread to the surrounding green belts. The Municipal Fire Rescue Corps dispatched personnel to the scene and brought the fire under control at 6:25 p.m.

Moved his gaze down a bit—the fire caused one person to die on the spot, and the other died after being sent to the hospital and rescue failed. The two deceased were Yan Zhao, chairman of Zhaoyuan Group, and his wife.

"Yan... Yan Zhao..." He was breathing heavily, "Yan..."

Stakeholders of Zhaoyuan Group have expressed doubts in their remarks, believing that Ji Cheng, the vice chairman of the group, is suspected of committing a crime, and asked the police to conduct a serious and thorough investigation of Ji Cheng. The fire was judged as an 'accident'.

Deputy Director Ji Cheng was saddened by the death of his boss and friends, Yan Zhao and his wife, and said that he would manage the follow-up affairs of the group on his behalf.

He turned a few pages back—in 1998, Zhaoyuan Group declared bankruptcy, and Ji Cheng, the former deputy director of Zhaoyuan Group, established Chengfeng Group...

"what are you doing."

The door that had been ajar was half-opened by someone who came, and there was a sudden sound.

He hurriedly closed the notebook, turned around with a guilty conscience, and carried the documents behind his back, when he heard the man ask again: "Ji Liao, what are you looking for?"

Ji Liao tried to block the opponent's sight with his body, turned his hands behind his back and carefully pushed the notebook back to the display cabinet, and said forcefully, "It's nothing."

He was still thinking about what he had just seen, his heart was in a mess, and he didn't have time to feel nervous.

The visitor stared at Ji Liao for a while without saying a word - although the other party's small movements were too obvious, he didn't expose anything. After saying "put things away, come out", he turned and went to the layman.

Ji Liao was taken aback, let out a breath, quickly turned around and put the notebook and trophy back to their original places.

After closing the door again, he walked towards the balcony where his eldest brother Ji Heng was, leaned against the guardrail without saying a word, and looked out together with Ji Heng.

Neither of them spoke for a while to break the silence.

After a while, Ji Heng didn't pursue the matter just now, but just tentatively exchanged a few common greetings: "Well...how have you been recently? How are you doing? Did you have a good meal?"

Ji Liaoxi replied with words like gold: "Okay."

The two of them have always been getting along like this, the closer the relationship, the less they know how to communicate—they are quite used to it.

"Oh..." Ji Heng asked again dryly, "Then... did you encounter any interesting things at work? Did you make new friends? Are the other members of the detachment still friendly?"

"..." Ji Liao thought of that for a moment when he heard the words, but when he thought about it carefully, he seemed to only touch the side of "fun". After a while, he still answered, "No."

Ji Heng turned his head and stared at him for a while, sighed, and looked at the scenery outside for a while: "How is Shuwang recently?"

"It looks good." Ji Liao's eyes darkened a little, and he added, "Recently... he's in good spirits."

Seeing that his elder brother was hesitant to speak, he turned his head and looked over, and said straightforwardly: "Say what you want to say, no need to beat around the bush."

Ji Heng seemed a little melancholy, hesitated for a while, but said something unclear: "I said... Our land is already full, and there is no room for one more you."

Ji Liao immediately understood, and quickly replied: "I know."

He added: "I've always known."

"I don't care what you want to investigate," Ji Heng said in a rare and serious tone, "but you can't come."

"I know," Ji Liao said firmly, "I won't."

Only then did Ji Heng heave a sigh of relief and "hmm".

He signaled Ji Liao not to stand here and blow the air, and then he changed his voice, and suddenly said, "Are you in a relationship?"

Ji Liao: "??...?!!!?"

"Cheat you," Ji Heng laughed lightly, feeling that the atmosphere was finally relaxed, and joked, "Looking at your reaction, there shouldn't be any, right?"

Ji Liao: "..."

"Hmm... Shuwang didn't fall in love, did he?" Ji Heng continued to ask, "Remember to tell her not to find those men in the entertainment industry, the entertainment industry is in chaos."

Ji Liao didn't want to talk to people.

In fact, his eldest brother is a little different from the rumored chairman of Chengfeng Group who is vigorous and vigorous. He is a bit naive in private, especially chatty.

Their biological mother left early, and their father didn't care much about the three brothers and sisters. Ji Heng has always taken the initiative to take care of the younger siblings - but there is really nothing he can do about these two high-cold children.

Ji Heng chatted to himself for a long time, and found that the child next to him didn't know what was going on, and didn't listen to a word, and he immediately froze.

Ji Liao's purpose was very clear, it seemed that he was just looking at this little information - but in the end he accepted the big brother's accent to save face, and chatted with someone casually.

After Ji Liao drove out of the intersection of Chongning Avenue, Ji Heng returned to the display cabinet in the house just now, removed the trophy, and carefully read the contents of the notebook for a while.

He sighed deeply.

In fact, he knew that Ji Liao had accidentally opened this notebook before, and had already read the contents above—this time, he probably found something and wanted to confirm something, so he came back here and opened the notebook again.

Ji Heng was in a complicated mood. After hesitating for a while, he put the notebook back in the drawer and locked it, after all, he still didn't intend to get to the bottom of it.

Maybe it's better to let nature take its course.

It has been raining continuously in Qinjiang in recent days.

After being exposed to the rain and having a low fever last time, the uneasy Captain Yan put on his long-sleeved uniform shirt again, and added a police uniform jacket that Ji Liaofei had asked him to add.

After being smothered for several days, he finally protested, and changed into a short-sleeved shirt rebelliously.

In fact, his physical fitness is really not bad. When he woke up the next day, his body temperature had returned to normal levels, and his cold symptoms had also improved a lot.

He dared to say anything when he was in a daze that night, but he was embarrassed to bring it up again after he woke up—mainly he was sleepy at the time, and couldn't remember exactly how many things he had said to Ji Liao. Son, how many bottoms have been revealed, and I deliberately avoid it and don't want to think about it again.

Ji Liao also obediently didn't mention this matter, and instead followed him every step of the way for a few days, everyone in the detachment almost thought that there was some ulterior relationship between the two.

Ji Liao still showed his usual cold and unreasonable appearance.

Although everyone knew that he was cold-tempered and not talkative, they didn't dare to get in touch with him for a while—unless Captain Yan was present.

Back when the two got together, Ji Liao was always uncharacteristically talkative, so everyone in the detachment attributed the reason to the influence of Captain Yan's "gentle and friendly family" aura, which made Xiao Ji's forensic doctor be influenced, and his own personality There was a weird chemistry and a slightly brighter mood.

Ji Liao didn't refute, but Yan Cun himself believed it.

At this moment, it has been a month since the case passed. Since the relevant case-closing report was released, everyone in the criminal investigation detachment finally had time to catch their breath, and only occasionally assisted the anti-drug detachment next door to investigate the relevant personnel involved in the case.

At the end of September, the weather in Qinjiang City gradually turned cooler.

After refilling the snack box in the office, Captain Yan carried a few boxes of snacks and ran to the office of the anti-drug detachment next door and knocked on the door, intending to contact the friendship between the two parties and ask about the latest investigation.

He Jiu motioned him to sit casually, poured him a glass of warm water, coughed lightly and said, "Well...we mainly investigate Gao Kuiliang and Liang Zhong recently, to find out who has close contact with them, and then we Conduct an investigation. We finally found out that Gao Kuiliang has a close relationship with a person named Yan Peifeng...well...it is close, but it is not the close relationship on the surface..."

She seemed to think of something, and added: "Oh, by the way, this Yan Peifeng has a slightly closer relationship with that...well, that one from your detachment..."

"Ah?" Yan Cun recalled whether there was anyone surnamed Yan in the Criminal Investigation Detachment, but to no avail, "... who is it?"

"Well, that's the one..." He Jiao racked his brains to describe the words, and frowned, "Just! The tall one...that kid who doesn't talk much!"

Yan Cun was stunned for a few seconds, and his first reaction was that Ji Liao was not talking about it. After thinking about it for a while, he tentatively asked, "...Shen Lin?"

He Jiao patted his head: "Ah! Yes, that's him!"

She hesitated for a long time, and then said: "Well... We just found out about this, and I thought that Yan Peifeng had some contact with the people in your detachment, so I thought, um... Or...?"

"Okay," Yan Cun understood what she meant instantly, nodded and said, "I see, I will inform him when I go back, and find time to lead someone to check that Yan Peifeng."

He Jiu nodded and said "OK".

When he was about to walk out of the office door, He Jiu called him back again, hesitant to say something, "Uh... by the way, that... Mr. Fang... um... how is Mr. Fang doing recently? Is it tough?"