Five Cases

ud underfoot.
Then, six days of clear skies had dried the soil out afterwards, so the whole pathway had resumed its ordinarily hard texture. 

Lu Hui took a step forward so that half of one sole was suspended off the edge while the other half was on solid ground, creating a sense of danger. 

“Hey!”

Ji Fanyang, who had just come to the crime scene after buying breakfast, rushed forward and grabbed Lu Hui’s arm: “What are you doing?!” He left out a breath as he hauled Lu Hui back a few steps from the edge of the pond.
He gave the breakfast to Lu Hui, “You can’t kill youself on an empty stomach.”

Lu Hui held the breakfast, a trance-like expression flitting across his face.
He took a bite of the jianbing[2], then nitpicked: “I don’t like green onions.”

Ji Fanyang ignored his grumbling and took several big mouthfuls of the jianbing, one after another, like he had a profound hatred of the thing. 

After experiencing a night of drinking and midnight walks, Ji Fanyang and Lu Hui’s relationship had taken a massive leap forward.
As before, Lu Hui’s mouth obstinately refused to acknowledge their friendship, but his attitude was completely different from before.
At the very least, he didn’t use his position of “Squad Chief” to oppress him, and he didn’t mind Ji Fanyang scolding or ignoring him. 

Of course, Lu Hui didn’t pay attention to anyone’s scolding.
He would just mark it down in his ledger to pay them back later. 

Once he finished his jianbing, Lu Hui hung the plastic bag of jianbing on Ji Fanyang’s wrist in passing.
He turned his head to glance at the pond and stepped back to behind the pathway by the pond’s side.
He scanned around and walked to the grass along the edge, bending at the waist to carefully observe the tussocks. 

Ji Fanyang stood on the pathway and watched his odd movements.
His curiosity was involuntarily piqued, but he didn’t say anything out of fear of breaking Lu Hui’s concentration. 

Lu Hui kept walking until he reached a distance of about thirty meters from the berm where the deceased fell into the water.
He took a deep breath, then bellowed: “ZHUANG ZE!!!”

“…” Ji Fanyang, who had been absorbed in each of Lu Hui’s actions, was just about deafened.
He pinched the bridge of his nose to ease the shock. 

He saw Zhuang Ze, who was squatting down to survey footprints some distance away, scrabble to jump up: “What’s wrong, what is it?”

Ji Fanyang noticed that Lu Hui planned to shout again.
He rubbed his ears and walked to Lu Hui’s side; on the berm was a set of footprints.
He waved Zhuang Ze over. 

Zhuang Ze intuitively grabbed his tools and walked over: “Did you find something?”

“Here.” Lu Hui pointed to the berm, “Prioritize this footprint.”

Zhuang Ze pulled out a marker with a “1” on his and placed it beside the print: “Mm.”

“You’ve finished eating?” Lu Hui asked Ji Fanyang, “Let’s go find this so-called ‘da-gege’’.”

Ji Fanyang threw out the two greasy, plastic bags in the trash can by the crime scene: “But we don’t know his name yet.”

“Go ask.” Lu Hui commanded, “The old lady sitting at the village’s entrance, the little kids playing beneath the tree, or…” He raised his head, narrowing his eyes at the village’s entrance, “You can go ask the students in school.”

Ji Fanyang touched his own cheek and thought again of Lu Hui’s words, “Charming face”.

Lu Hui glanced at the young man, and he immediately knew what he was thinking of.
He sneered: “So fond of strutting your feathers.
Is your dream job being a duck?”

Ji Fanyang acted like he hadn’t heard him, and he tried firing back: “Maybe women like more mature men.”

“Tch.” Lu Hui unexpectedly sounded a little happy. 

After all, in recent years, Lu Hui came across very few people who dared to return fire directly, unafraid of his scathing sarcasm.
Ji Fanyang was a distinguished presence among the mighty armies who retreated in battle.