Five Cases – Chapter 12: Break Up

The elder stood with his cane at the entrance of the hall while Lu Hui sat on the threshold, his appearance seeming to state: If you don’t tell me, I’ll demolish your ancestral hall. 

Ji Fanyang couldn’t act as scoundrelly as Lu Hui. In his mind, he measured Lu Hui and the elder. If he admonished the elder, he could be surrounded by the villagers and beaten up. If he admonished Lu Hui…Ji Fanyang looked at the stick in Lu Hui’s tight grip. Not to mention broken bones, he might even lose his job. 

After his internal deliberation, Ji Fanyang opened his mouth to admonish the elder: “Chief Lu is just impatient to solve the case involving Li Peng’s death—”

He hadn’t finished speaking when the elder interrupted him, his voice raised: “Whose death?!”

“Li Ying’s younger brother, Li Peng.” Ji Fanyang answered. 

Lu Hui supported his chin in his hand as he watched the young officer and the elder interact with each other. The stick slanted across his knee, like he would jump up and viciously beat people up at the slightest change. 

“It’s definitely foul play!” The elder banged his cane around, his eyes wide, “Must be murder!”

The elder hollered loudly, but his bluster was lacking, even sounding slightly hollow. Lu Hui picked up on it immediately, asking: “Who do you suspect?”

The elder mumbled some things vaguely, then shouted: “How should I know! Aren’t you guys the police, aren’t you investigating?! Asking an old man like me, trying to pull down the ancestral hall, do you all have any conscience, any morals?!”

Seeing that the elder was starting to make a scene, Lu Hui flashed a brief derisive smile, then stood up with his stick and entered the hall. Ji Fanyang got nervous and followed Lu Hui step by step, fearful that he——

There was no need for him to narrate specifics in the future tense at all, as Lu Hui lifted his stick and propped it up on the memorial tablet furthest to the front. He turned his head toward the elder and smiled slightly: “Say the name, or…” He made to pull back the wooden stick, “I will play some dominoes?”

The wooden stick flashed; if he hit the first tablet, the tablets lined up behind it would also fall in sequence. The scene would surely be spectacular. 

The elder inhaled deeply, and the muscles in his cheeks twitched. Ji Fanyang counted in his heart silently, fearing that once he reached ten, the elder would suddenly suffer a heart attack. 

“You gonna talk?” Lu Hui waved the stick around, like if the elder remained stubbornly reticent, the Li Family’s ancestral hall may turn into a batting cage.

The elder bit the inside of his cheek, and his wrinkly face trembled for a moment before he finally retreated in defeat in the face of Lu Hui’s bastardly behavior: “Li Weiguo!” He shouted, “He left for work, and his wife and Li Peng…” He halted for a moment, then stopped speaking. 

“What about them?” Lu Hui feigned ignorance, lifting the wooden stick, “I’m not very patient. Clarify.”

The elder’s lips spasmed and he gritted out two words: “Slept together.”

Lu Hui laughed, the sound full of ridicule and scorn: “How are you related to Li Peng?”

“I am his uncle.” The elder deflated, his head lowering to conceal his face.

But he did not lower his head out of shame. Lu Hui considered the elder thoughtfully, his sharp, knife-like gaze making the elder’s shoulders shrink back. 

“Then…we’re going?” Ji Fanyang said irresolutely. He glanced at people gathering at the entrance of the ancestral hall. If those people continued grouping together, they might not be able to escape with their lives. 

“Mm.” Lu Hui picked up the stick, leading the way out of the hall. He crossed the threshold, lifting his chin like a wild beast patrolling its territory, or perhaps just bluffing. 

Rao Feifei and the local police did their best to break up the crowd to protect Lu Hui and Ji Fanyang. 

With Lu Hui’s kind of investigation method, they really couldn’t exit without assistance. 

Six in the evening. 

Dinner time. 

Director Gao approved the squad’s request for funds. Given the previous dubious suicide case with additional complications, Director Gao indulged Lu Hui a bit. With the current suspected drowning case, Director Gao thought, if it really turned out to be a case of falling and drowning, then the money could be used to appease the deceased’s family, but if it was not so simple, then the funds were apportioned exactly. 

Luowan County’s local police station helped them find an economy hotel. They booked two standard rooms; with two women and two men, the squad could split evenly in half. 

They assembled by the pond. Ji Fanyang went to a small stall and bought four bottles of water, giving two room-temperature ones to Rao Feifei and Yang Jie and keeping the remaining two ice-cold ones for Lu Hui and himself. 

Ji Fanyang was a warm, considerate person. He had always been this way: opening doors for ladies, acting attentively and politely, coming into the office early to make tea for everyone so the temperature would be just right for everyone when they arrived. He had a gentle, handsome face and a soft, clear voice. He was a little glowing sun—without the gaudiness—that warmed everyone around him. 

Someone like this had, within the first few months of his arrival, gained the fond affection of every woman, young and old, in the City Bureau. 

And Lu Hui, who was from the same squad, was a complete contrast to the little angel. 

Ji Fanyang wore an impeccably clean and ironed T-shirt everyday, while Lu Hui’s shirt was wrinkled. Lu Hui didn’t even like shaving his beard, so he would show up to the office looking like a homeless person. Even though he would look handsome clean-shaven, he couldn’t be bothered with the upkeep. 

Returning to the subject at hand, Ji Fanyang passed the bottles of mineral water to Rao Feifei and Yang Jie, both of whom thanked him. 

Just as he stretched out his hand to pass the iced mineral water to Lu Hui, his cellphone rang. 

It was midsummer, the hottest time of the year. Lu Hui unscrewed the bottle and chugged half of it and poured the remaining half over his body, sighing in relief. Lu Hui stood beside the pond, and as the sun slanted to the west, the pond’s water reflected the golden light. 

As Lu Hui stood there stiffly, Rao Feifei and Yang Jie discussed what they should have for dinner. 

The forensics technician, as well as Lu Hui’s white board, would not come until tomorrow. Without the whiteboard, Lu Hui refused to ponder too deeply. 

Ji Fanyang, who had just finished his call, walked back over. The expression on his face was somewhat unusual, which Lu Hui interpreted as dejection. 

“Would you have a few drinks with me?” Ji Fanyang said. His shoulders were weighed down and he tightly clenched the phone in his hand. 

“No.” Lu Hui rejected him firmly. 

Ji Fanyang looked at him, his expression clearly stating “I knew you would refuse.” He played his last card: “Before, you knocked on my door and dumped two glasses of water on me. Remember?”

Lu Hui straightened his neck and didn’t respond. 

Ji Fanyang sighed: “You don’t need to talk, just listen to my complaints, okay?”

Lu Hui’s black eyes stared at him, from the ends of his hair to the tips of his toes and from the tips of his toes back up to his eyes. He frowned, like he had just engaged in a strenuous mental battle. With his full unwillingness revealed within one word, Lu Hui said, with difficulty: “Fine.”

Ji Fanyang pinched the bridge of his nose, then turned to face Rao Feifei and Yang Jie: “We…”

“Me and Sister Yang will go find something to eat, you both can find your own place.” Rao Feifei anticipated him, and she blinked, “We have some matters to discuss between women.”

“Alright, alright.” Ji Fanyang lifted both hands, “That’s perfect, Chief Lu and I have some matters to discuss between men.”

Lu Hui snorted. 

Once they parted ways with Rao Feifei and Lu Hui, Ji Fanyang and Lu Hui sat down at a random restaurant by the side of the road. 

In one breath, Ji Fanyang ordered ten bottles of beer and a huge plate of meat skewers. He raised his head and asked Lu Hui: “Chief Lu, what do you want to eat?”

“Not hungry, order whatever you want.” Lu Hui concentrated on playing his role: the audience. 

The beer and skewers came, and Ji Fanyang said: “I…” Once he uttered this single syllable, he suddenly didn’t know what to say. 

Lu Hui picked up a skewer and started chowing down. Ji Fanyang could only see the black hair at the crown of his head. 

“…I broke up with my girlfriend again.” Ji Fanyang said. His voice was full of confusion—no hoarseness of deep sadness—only confusion and lack of understanding, “Why did she suggest breaking up?”

Lu Hui’s actions halted for a moment. He lifted his eyelids to show his disinterest. 

Ji Fanyang opened a bottle of beer and drained half the bottle. He had zero intention of drowning his sorrows in alcohol; if he planned on getting drunk, he would have picked baijiu instead.^[1]白酒, translates as white wine, but it’s more like sake or soju. This stuff will mess you up, trust me, especially the cheap stuff.

“She was my fourth girlfriend.” Ji Fanyang said, “She was mistreated by her step mother when she was little. She was really dependent on me, calling eight or nine times a day. We dated for a year.” He squinted, falling into his memories, “I picked her up, like picking up a kitten. She brought up being together, and she brought up breaking up. Why?”

“Talk about your first girlfriend.” Lu Hui picked up a second skewer, fulfilling his role as a listener with dedication, asking questions and finding topics to avoid awkward silence. 

“The first one? That was in the second year of junior high.” Ji Fanyang swirled around the beer in the glass bottle, took a sip, then said, “Originally, she was intelligent and clever, good at her studies, but in the second year of junior high, her parents got divorced. She spiraled, and I, as a good class representative, went to her house.”

“She was hiding in her room. When I pushed open the door, she was crying under her blanket.” Ji Fanyang said, “I walked over to her and dug her out of the blanket and brought her to school. Then, I helped her do her homework.” The uncertainty in his voice deepened. Of course, given his angelic nature, he refilled Lu Hui’s water glass and continued, “Maybe because I was the only one who had seen her as vulnerable, she confessed to me and I accepted.”

Lu Hui ate too quickly, so he put down the skewer and took a break. His gaze was sharp, and he stared directly into Ji Fanyang’s heart: “Then she dumped you?”

“With my help, she stopped hating her parents as much.” Ji Fanyang said, rubbing his nose, “She wanted to break up, and when I asked her why, she said the feelings were wrong.”

“Ha.” Lu Hui let out a short sound, like a laugh. 

“The second one was in high school. I was the class president.” Ji Fanyang said. He’d already finished two bottles of beer, “There was a girl in class who sat in the corner and was very timid. She didn’t dare to raise her head, and no one in class talked to her. Normally, I would take pains to talk a little to her.” Ji Fanyang picked up his first skewer and took a bite, “She was too timid, and she never replied to me or looked at me. Later, a friend from another class came to me and gave me a letter she wrote, and I accepted it.”

“We did homework together. Her math skills were good, and even though I didn’t ask her to teach me, she would pass me a paper with the steps she wrote on it.” Ji Fanyang finished nibbling on the chicken wing skewer, and he piled together the bones, “We were together for a year. Eventually, she could say her first words to other people, keep her voice even, and maintain eye contact. Then she wanted to break up.”

Lu Hui also opened a bottle of beer, motioning for the young man to continue with a nod. 

“She said that I never liked her.” Ji Fanyang forced a smile, “What actually is liking someone?” He inhaled, then continued slowly, “In college, I joined a group of volunteers, and I met a patient with depression. She liked to sit up on the roof and just about jumped off once, but she was pulled back up by me.”

Lu Hui picked up a hot cake and took a bite; it was crisp and seasoned. 

“I volunteered to give her guidance, supervised her when she took medication, took her on walks, bought her a little dog.” Ji Fanyang supported his forehead on his right hand, saying helplessly, “She gradually got better, even started traveling. We arranged to go on a trip to the mountains together, but in the end, she left me and went on her own.”

“She left me a note.” Lu Hui said, “Written on it was, ‘Thank you, even though you never loved me’.” He raised his voice, just a tad, which made him seem more depressed, “I treated them well, did my best for them, was never indecisive, never involved them in money troubles. Why did they always decide to leave me?”

Lu Hui put down his beer bottle, picked up a new one and opened it, then pushed it over to Ji Fanyang: “Drink.”

Four girlfriends, four times getting confessed to, four times getting dumped. Even a saint would need to drink away their worries. 

Lu Hui’s gaze was clear and sober. He understood the problem, but held his tongue. He did not care, did not concern himself with other people’s feelings. He was only responsible for listening and eating, not for commentating. 

Six bottles of beer in, and Ji Fanyang was a little muddle-headed. He pulled on Lu Hui’s arm: “Sharing drinks together like this. Are we friends?”

Lu Hui stared at his eyes, that pair of warm eyes, which were as clear as a flowing brook, and said: “No.”

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