Chapter 826: Reunion After A Long Time
Translator: Azza
At present.
The surveillance footage Lin Qiupu brought back from the scene of the crime was repeatedly played in the conference room. Chen Shi thought that he was definitely an animal. He actually made his face look like Song Lang’s. This person was most probably Zhou Xiao. Several months had passed since he was witnessed, and there was plenty of time for plastic surgery.
However, this guy deliberately showed his face to the security camera. Perhaps it was just an artificial mask to divert their focus. They wouldn’t be able to differentiate it with the security camera’s low resolution.
"Chen Shi, what do you think?" Lin Qiupu discussed with other policemen and then asked for his opinion.
"I don't have any opinions." Chen Shi replied. "I can't see anything in this segment of surveillance footage. I don't know why you called me over so suddenly. I still have to go shopping in the afternoon. Is this what you call a major clue?"
Lin Qiupu was unhappy. "No one will stop you. You can leave at any time!"
As a result, after Lin Qiupu turned around, Chen Shi was gone. When he asked about it, someone answered, "Brother Chen is gone."
Lin Qiupu showed a toothache-like expression. "Why did we even call him?!"
The impact on Lin Qiupu when he saw that face appearing in the footage was indescribable. He tossed and turned in insomnia and cried many times last night. This kind of mood was something outsiders couldn't empathize with. Whenever he thought about it, his heart trembled. Was it true that his senior had fallen into evil ways?!
He clenched his fists and made up his mind that he must catch Song Lang and ask him what happened in the past four years.
Leaving the Public Security Bureau, Chen Shi drove the car alone with a lot of thoughts on his mind. He no longer had the conditioned reflex of smoking when he was agitated. He just wanted to do something to ease his mood, so he decided to flag down some clients.
He received a car-hailing message from the app and drove the car to the entrance of a certain housing community. A young married woman got in the car. Chen Shi greeted her casually. He was suddenly stunned. The young married woman looked at him through the rearview mirror and asked, "Master, why aren’t you driving?"
"Sorry, I was in a daze just then. We’ll leave now."
He glanced at the young married woman through the rearview mirror again. She was Kaowei. Her dress and hairstyle had completely changed, making her look more mature. The two biggest changes were the glasses on her nose and the wedding ring on her finger. If you looked closely, you would find that the tattoos on the back of her hand had also been cleaned off.
"I'll be there soon. Put the things there first. I’ll check again when I get there…" After the call, she put down the phone and looked out the window.
Scenes of the past events floated into Chen Shi's head. He spoke up, "Miss, what do you do?"
"I’m a bartender."
"The kind in a bar?"
"Yup."
"I'm curious. Is it really easier to get drunk by mixing alcohol?" Chen Shi casually searched for a topic to talk about.
"The alcohol percentage definitely doesn’t change, but when you mix alcohol with fruit juice and soft drinks, you can’t really taste the alcohol, so you’ll get drunk without knowing it. A young man brought a girl to the store the other day and told her that this iced tea’s percentage was really low, and that it was just like drinking a normal non-alcoholic drink. I wanted to laugh. So, I put more lemon and cola when making the iced tea and more vodka in the screwdriver the guy wanted. In the end, the guy got drunk first. "
"Haha, I know about Long Island Iced Tea. The famous drink for losing your body. Didn’t you ruin his plan then?"
"Who told that guy to not look honest?" Kaowei made an expression of contempt.
"Why did you think of learning bartending? I'm not saying that girls aren’t suitable for this kind of work. It’s just out of pure curiosity."
"I didn’t know what to do at the beginning. Since I didn’t have much education, I picked and learned this. At least I don’t hate it… It feels good to be able to earn money on my own. Someone told me that in second-tier cities like Long’an, you can only live your own life if you earn more than 5,000 a month. How much do you earn a month?"
"Four thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine."
"Haha, then I will send you a red pocket for one yuan later."
"Thank you in advance. By the way, which bar is it? I'll go support you when I have time."
Kaowei pointed to the front. "That one. I won't give you a discount!"
When they arrived at the place, Kaowei got out of the car. Chen Shi smiled at her through the windshield. Kaowei nodded and smiled as well, but it was just a friendly smile towards strangers. It could be seen that her character had become much more rounded. A job changes a person.
It was impossible for her to recognize him unless he took the initiative to mention it, but Chen Shi felt that it was unnecessary, so he stopped there.
He said at the beginning that if he met her again, he’d take the initiative to strike up a conversation. In a sense, he had fulfilled his promise.
Chen Shi sighed with emotion whenever he met someone from the past. He drove the car to a bank and got to the front of the counter. The teller had known him from a long time ago. "Mr. Chen, you want to check that again?"
"Please."
The teller tapped on the computer and stared at the screen. "Someone deposited money in this account a month ago."
"What is the name?"
"XX."
"Tell me his ID number."
"That isn’t so good…"
Chen Shi put the consultant card on the glass. When the teller saw the words "Long'an Public Security", he said, "You should have said so earlier. You just had to make up a reason saying that it was your friend. His ID number is…"
After getting this ID card, Chen Shi called the bureau and asked the police to find the person from his ID.
For the past four years, Chen Shi had been quietly investigating Wang Xi. He hadn’t expected to finally have a clue. He looked for Wang Xi to uncover the answer to a question.
The next day, inside a major store, a has-been singer passionately sang an old song on a temporary stage. If you observed carefully, you would find that there was a 0.5 second delay between his mouth moving and his voice.
After singing the song, the host said, "Okay, let us once again thank Teacher XXX with applause."
Amidst sparse applause, the has-been singer bowed and stepped down from the stage. He had no agent or assistant. He took off his costume and put it in his bag, got paid for the performance, and slipped down the stairs to smoke and relieve his addiction.
At this moment, someone went in. Afraid of being recognized, he quickly turned his face away, but the person stopped behind him and said, "Teacher XX, please give me an autograph!"
"Okay."
He took the notebook from the man’s hands and looked for a pen on his body. The man suddenly said, "You’re Wang Xi."
He didn't know how many years it had been since he heard someone call him by this name. When he heard it so suddenly, he didn’t react immediately. When he did react, he suddenly pushed the man away and prepared to run away.
However, he was pressed hard against the wall by the man. The has-been singer shouted, "I’ll call the police!"
"Don't be afraid, I’m a policeman," Chen Shi said.
"Let me look at your certification."
After looking at his consultant ID, Wang Xi said, "It says consultant on it. You’re a fake policeman."
"A consultant is also a policeman."
"Really?"
"If I really was someone subordinate to Lie Guoxiao, I wouldn't come find you alone."
Hearing the name, the has-been singer shivered. "How did you find me?"
"You left a card for Kaowei and deposited money in it from time to time. We’ve been paying attention to this card." Chen Shi deliberately said "we" to make him think that the entire police force was paying close attention to him.
"Fuck, I was careless!"
"I really admire your 'creativity'. After being disfigured by a bomb-loaded TV set, you actually turned your face to that of an outdated singer, pretending to be him and walking around to earn money. The funny thing is that you’ve also participated in local song cover shows, pretending to be this singer, and judging a few players who imitated 'yourself' in a serious manner."
Wang Xi's cheek twitched. "Why do you even know about that?"
"The Internet is very advanced. Didn't you almost get sued within the last two years?"
"Yes, I lost a lot of money to the management company at the time and I suffered an incredible loss. The actual singer hasn't come out for any activities over the past two years, so I have the opportunity to come out to earn a bit. I heard that he was caught after taking drugs. The news hasn't been made public yet, but I’m very worried for fear that someday, when negative news comes out, I can't rely on this face to make money."
"Although you’re a fake, when I watched your performance just then, it was pretty good. Your stage presence was excellent."
"Hehe, after acting so much, I substituted myself into the role without knowing it… Is Kaowei doing okay?"
"She’s changed jobs. She seems to be married."
"Which unlucky guy of eight lifetimes married her?"
"It looks like you don't think highly of her."
"Haha, she's just a bitch with a bad temper, is lazy, and often complains to herself. She also has lots of desires…" Wang Xi scorned Kaowei's shortcomings. His eyes suddenly dimmed. "But I love her most. She’s like a mirror of me. She is me, and I am her. Over the past few years, it’s like I’ve lost my soul without her. Even when I have sex with my fans, it seems meaningless."
"Save that last sentence!"
At this time, a cleaning aunty came in to sweep the floor. Wang Xi hurriedly turned his face away and saw that there were cigarette butts on the ground. The cleaning aunty scolded a few words. After she left, Chen Shi suggested, "Let’s talk in another place!"
When they got to a nearby cafe, the two ordered a lemonade and an iced coffee respectively. Chen Shi said, "Tell me about what happened back then. Did you betray the twelve big brothers out of your own will?"
Wang Xi frowned in alert. "Why are the police investigating these things all of a sudden?"
"It's not a sudden investigation. We've been investigating this the whole time. If you’re not willing to talk…"
"Okay, okay, you don’t need to use that on me. I’m a celebrity right now, so I can't just go to the bureau so casually. In fact, we need to talk about this matter starting from the 90s."
"I’m listening."
"In the 1990s, law and order in Long'an was very chaotic. There were at least seven or eight well-known underworld organized-crime syndicates. Later, the bosses fell one by one. The remaining gang of gangsters got together to make a living and a new gang came about."
"And then?"
"After all, it was a mob mashed together. The hearts of the people were scattered. Everyone was out for themselves and fought with each other all day long, just like palace strife in the past. I joined at this time and I followed Big Brother A. Big Brother A found me useless saying I was afraid to do anything and wanted to find a reason to get rid of me. Later, when he heard that Brother B’s subordinates and I were classmates, he sent me to Brother B as an undercover agent. In a few days, my identity was exposed. Big Brother B gave me a choice: Either chop my fingers, or be a double agent… I’m a person with no backbone. As long as I got into trouble, I would immediately betray my old big brother. In the end, I became a six-sided spy. The exchange of information between the elder brothers gave me a lot of money."
"Later, because I was bluffing, I was treated as an undercover agent for the police by people in the gang. Suddenly, the whole world was against me. At this time, someone found me…"
"Lie Guoxiao?"
"Since you have found it all out, I won’t hide it. Yes, Lie Guoxiao asked me to go to the police to betray them. He stuffed me with a lot of evidence, so I betrayed the twelve big brothers in one go. At that time, there were 13 big brothers in the club. Lie Guoxiao was the one with the least influence, but he did the cleanest business. He wasn’t involved in prostitution, gambling, nor drugs. The police destroyed the 12 big brothers, leaving him alone. It turned into a monopoly."
"It turns out that Lie Guoxiao was the actual Judas."
"Yes, and I'm just a scapegoat." Wang Xi took a sip of a drink. "After I came out, I suffered. The subordinates of the twelve original big brothers all sought me out for revenge, and I could only lay in hiding wherever I went. You police are also pretty bad. You guys knew that people would take revenge on me, but you let it happen so that there would be evidence to attack this group of people. After going undercover so many times, I also kept some insurance. What I kept was particularly detrimental to Lie Guoxiao. I used this to negotiate a deal with him, so that I was able to get myself out scot-free. He didn't dare to kill me."
"Actually, I’ve been looking for you for this thing. That thing will definitely bring down Lie Guoxiao. Give it to the police. After Lie Guoxiao has fallen, you’ll no longer have to hide."
Wang Xi smiled, "Impossible. Lie Guoxiao wouldn’t fall so easily. This thing is my life-saving talisman. If I give it to you, Kaowei and I will be finished. You police only care about solving the case, and you don’t care about the life and death of people like us. We can only protect this path of survival ourselves. Forgive me for not being able to cooperate."
"Could you please tell me how powerful this thing is against Lie Guoxiao? Is it enough to sentence him to death?"
Wang Xi shook his finger. "Don't probe. I won’t talk."
"If Lie Guoxiao faces trial one day, can you hand it over then?"
"I can consider it… but I sincerely advise you guys to leave Lie Guoxiao alone."
"Why?"
"Because if a malignant tumor is destroyed, a bunch of new malignant tumors will emerge. You know what kind of hell Long'an is better than I do. Ever since the Qing Dynasty, there have been triads here. You can’t clean them all. Just like pimples on your face. If you squeezed every time you saw one, what’s left behind in the end? A face that no one dares to look at. Squeezing acne is to look good, but in the end, would this face look good? Instead of taking down underworld bosses all day, it’s better to manage the city well!"
"Everyone has their own duty. Our duty is to punish the existing evil!"
Wang Xi spread his hands. "My duty is to survive, so I can't help you. I’ve been a traitor for too long. I’ve finally settled down after lots of struggle, but you still want me to be a traitor? Give me a way to survive, sir!"
Chen Shi shook his head and smiled bitterly. "Okay, we’ll meet again if fate allows it."
When Chen Shi walked outside, Wang Xi waved his hand through the glass. Chen Shi suddenly went back in and said, "You can go to XX bar for a drink when you have the time. There will be unexpected gains."
"Is that where Kaowei works?" Wang Xi reacted immediately.
"The feeling of wearing a mask to meet old acquaintances is quite profound. Why don’t you experience it for yourself? Good luck!"
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