"You've decided to do what?!" Sun Tianwei yelled into his phone, a hand messing up his perfectly coiffed hair.
Beside him, Lian Xingzi shot him a look of abject disdain with the slightest hint of curiosity. What could make Sun Tianwei lose his famed composure to yell in a public place?
Next to her, Officer Tang could only give an apologetic look at Lao Peng the noodle vendor, who was giving them dirty looks for disturbing his customers. They were already wary enough knowing that Officer Tang was here for police business and not for a social visit.
Whatever Sun Jingwei said, it must have been incredulous enough to attract all of Tianwei's attention that he didn't care about keeping a composed front in public!
"Please tell me you did not say what I thought you just did." Sun Tianwei continued, aggravated. "Have you lost all common sense?"
"No Ge, I think it's a good idea. I want to hold a press conference to clear things up. I'll also do some community service to make up for this scandal," Jingwei repeated earnestly from the other end, but to Tianwei, it all sounded like utter garbage.
His brother might as well have told him that he wanted to streak naked in broad daylight, and it would still make more sense. Bowing to public criticism wasn't how their family did things.
"Ya! Are you listening to yourself? Press conferences and community service? You are Sun Haowei's youngest son and my younger brother, you don't need to do any of this! We're not admitting guilt! Did you hit your head against the wall?" Sun Tianwei yelled in return.
Lian Xingzi rolled her eyes. His sense of entitlement certainly hadn't changed. Because she wasn't a teenager anymore, she restrained the urge to smack the back of his head and instead she mouthed a 'shut up' at him.
He glared at her, but then also realised he was in public and quieted down.
"But I'll need to clarify this matter," Jingwei insisted. "Father said I had to handle this myself, so this is what I'm planning to do. Can you help?"
"Can I? Yes. Will I? No, because this is a ridiculous idea. Father's just saying this because he's angry - and he'll be even more upset if you do this." Tianwei seethed through gritted teeth. These ideas were uncharacteristic of his brother, who didn't care about the opinions of people.
Someone must have put ideas into his head. Someone like…
"Don't tell me you're doing this because Miss Li told you too," Tianwei despaired. Jingwei spluttered, and Tianwei knew he hit the nail on the head.
"I know you are in love with her, but that doesn't mean you should blindly agree to her suggestions." Tianwei continued. "She has no idea about the best way to deal with this situation, and is only replying from a commoner's point of view."
Miss Li? Sun Jingwei was in love with someone new? Lian Xingzi raised a curious eyebrow, then she frowned at Tianwei calling her a commoner.
"Ge!" Jingwei protested. "What do you suggest then? That I hide away again and never step into a car for the rest of my life? I can't live like that. I need to take responsibility for my actions."
"Don't be delusional," Tianwei barked out. "This is going to backfire horribly on all of us."
"We don't know that!" Jingwei said.
"I can make an educated guess," Tianwei hissing quietly into the phone to make sure no one overhears. "No matter what, do not take any action or make any statement. I'm now still investigating the murder of the woman that tried to kill you, so kindly refrain from causing any trouble. Just stay at home with Miss Li quietly!"
"Ge, but -"
"Goodbye." Tianwei said curtly, cutting off the call. He didn't want to hear anymore - he already had enough on his plate.
"Harsh," Lian Xingzi commented. "Are you sure you should be here and not back with your brother, cleaning up his mess?"
"And leave you to interrogate the vendors, possibly obscuring evidence? Definitely not." Sun Tianwei replied, hackles raised. He knew that this woman wanted him gone just when they were about to interview the vendors.
The food they had eaten had already been sent to the labs for analysis. He knew Xingzi was hoping that they were laced with some sort of sleeping drug, so that the two men on duty would have an ironclad defence.
Sun Tianwei personally thought it was bullshit. It was more likely that they fell asleep after ingesting too much carbohydrates, hence he, Xingzi and Officer Tang were all at the noodle store.
"Lao Peng, we just need to ask you a few questions," Officer Tang began, with a warning look at his two companions.
He would have preferred to conduct the interviews with Lin Rui, but instead he was saddled with two squabbling adults that hated each other on a professional and personal front.
That was already troublesome enough, but just as they were leaving the precinct to visit the stall, they received the news that the Traffic Police Superintendent, Liu Shixing, resigned!
That was a bomb that sent shockwaves throughout the police station, for no one expected that old fox would actually voluntarily resign. Then, an article came out about his crimes, about how he covered and helped Sun Jingwei and other wealthy heirs organise street races at night, and Officer Tang suddenly understood.
Sun Jingwei was in trouble due to the leak, and the Sun family probably decided to cut off the tail of the lizard. Liu Shixing and Sun Jingwei could then share the burden of public outrage, instead of leaving Sun Jingwei to endure it all.
If he had more time, he would wonder about the capabilities of the person that managed to dig out all the dirt between Sun Jingwei and the traffic police. Surely they had a man on the inside - there was no way anyone could have gotten their hands on so much confidential information otherwise. Even if they were a hacker, there were still limits!
There was no way the Sun family would want the news released to the public, which meant whoever did it clearly had a bone to pick with the Sun family.
But that wasn't Officer Tang's business. He had to focus on his own case, on poor Lao Peng who was sweating in the afternoon sun, staring at him with eyes that looked vaguely pissed off.
"What do you want?"
"We need to know if you sent out an order for the police station yesterday night from 10 to 11pm."
Lao Peng crossed his arms.
"Officer, are you joking? My store was closed yesterday night!"
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