Chapter 5

This person was lanky, dressed in a black button-down shirt and a pair of crisply-pressed pants. He had his hands stuck in his pockets and his legs stretched out and loosely crossed in front of him. His hair fell to his shoulders. If anyone met his gaze, two cupped smiles would pool in his wandering eyes, like an indiscriminate free broadcast. 

Lang Qiao had reached her present age without ever once having seen a man who would come on purpose to the door of a Public Security Bureau to preen. "Deputy Tao, is that your friend?"

Tao Ran's teeth seemed to be hurting. 

Lang Qiao was very sensitive. She noticed at once that there was something wrong with the atmosphere and asked curiously, "What is it?"

Tao Ran was just about to go over and say something when Luo Wenzhou, who had been silent until now, suddenly reached out and grabbed his elbow. He raised his chin at the newcomer. "Fei Du, what are you doing here?"

Fei Du gathered up his long legs and raised his eyelids to look at Luo Wenzhou. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize this place had your name on it." 

Luo Wenzhou narrowed his eyes expressionlessly. Fei Du gave him a smile that wasn't quite a smile. Lang Qiao, who had no idea what was going on, cluelessly picked up a trace of swords-out-bows-bent murderous energy. 

After a moment, Fei Du smiled like he was asking for a beating. He was the first to look away. Turning to Tao Ran, he said, "Tao Ran, get in the car. If I stay here any longer, Captain Luo will give me a ticket." 

Tao Ran didn't have a chance to answer before Luo Wenzhou interrupted coolly: "Did I say we were finished working? The two of you come back with me to the City Bureau right now. We have to report our progress to Director Zhang as soon as possible, and hold a conference concerning the facts of the case." 

Lang Qiao: "…" 

Didn't you just say "let's talk about it tomorrow?"

Fei Du sighed languidly. "Superiors going through menopause truly are one of this world's calamities. How about this: Tao-ge and this lovely policewoman can ride in my car. I'll take you back to the City Bureau. You've had a hard day, you may as well ride in a car where you can stretch your legs." 

"You mind cars that aren't spacious? President Fei, I advise you not to experience riding in a police transport. I guarantee you wouldn't even be able to stretch your arms." 

"Thank you for the warning, sir.—Tao Ran, I've made a reservation at a Western restaurant near your office. Even if you have to work overtime, you still have to eat first, right?" 

"Public servants don't eat. The murderer hasn't been caught. How could we have the face to eat?" 

Lang Qiao still hadn't worked out whom she had offended. 

Tao Ran, who had been unable to get a word in edgewise, could finally stand it no longer. "Enough! Are you two finished?" 

Luo Wenzhou laughed grimly and turned to go. "Come on—Lang Big-eyes, what are you looking at? If you want to look at pretty boys, you can go home and do it on your own time. Don't waste time at work!" 

"Tsk. Beauty, why don't you consider coming to work for my company instead?" Fei Du tilted his head at Lang Qiao in the manner of a domineering director-general. "It's a waste of the bounty of nature for you to be a cop. I'll give you five times your current salary." 

Tao Ran turned and glared at him. "You knock it off, too!" 

Fei Du looked directly at him and nodded in an exceedingly "obedient" way, but then of course he lobbed another attack. "All right. For your sake." 

"Tao Ran," said Luo Wenzhou, "what are you still dawdling for!" 

He couldn't offend either of these lordly show-offs, so Officer Tao rolled his eyes at the innocent night sky and quickly went after Luo Wenzhou. 

After a few steps he subconsciously looked back. As was to be expected, he saw that Fei Du hadn't moved. He was standing in place, watching him go. Seeing Tao Ran look back, Fei Du, who seemed to have been ready for this, smiled swiftly, pressed two fingers to his lips, and lightly flicked them towards Tao Ran. 

Tao Ran: "…" 

If international society awarded prizes for flirtation, Young Master Fei might already have received a Nobel. 

On the way back, Luo Wenzhou turned the police car into the Chang'e 3 spacecraft, racing helter-skelter until he reached the City Bureau. The big SUV, which seemed clumsily heavy, stuck to their tail the whole time, leisurely and carefree. 

Lang Qiao had resisted for ages, but she finally couldn't resist saying something. "Who is that piece of fresh meat? His driving is pretty slick." 

Tao Ran turned to give her a veiled look, warning her to leave well enough alone, but it was already too late. 

Luo Wenzhou looked in the rearview mirror and saw Fei Du stop his car at the City Bureau's gate. He immediately called the Main Traffic Police Team next door. "There's a car parked at our gate in violation of traffic regulations. Go over there and give him a ticket. The brat's got money, give him a few." 

After a while, a young traffic cop returned his call in trepidation. "Captain Luo, I gave him a ticket. I told him, 'You're parked in violation of the regulations. The fine is two hundred yuan.'"

"What happened?" said Luo Wenzhou. 

The young traffic cop said, "Well, he gave me a thousand and said he was going to park for another eight-hundred yuan's worth." 

Luo Wenzhou: "…" 

Lang Qiao looked at him cautiously. "Chief, are we still having a meeting?" 

"Obviously!" said Luo Wenzhou. 

But Luo Wenzhou couldn't hold Tao Ran up forever. The outcome of their day's work had been perfectly clear. There really wasn't any overtime worth working. 

Fei Du folded the traffic ticket into a little boat, turned on the air-conditioning, and leaned comfortably back in his seat. Calm under pressure, he put an English song on repeat on the car's stereo system. When it had looped eight times, Tao Ran came out. 

Tao Ran wasn't an especially fastidious person. An old briefcase hung over his shoulder, his hair was a mess, and his leather shoes hadn't been shined in days. There was a bandaid on his chin, and his face showed traces of frustrated weariness. He really didn't look anything like a beauty who would bring calamity. He came up and knocked on the window of Fei Du's car. "Are you still here?" 

When Fei Du rolled down the car window, the sound of the looping "You Raise Me Up" struggled impatiently out through the crack, flapped out into the night, and scattered melodiously. 

Tao Ran's expression somehow changed when he heard this song, but before he could say anything, Fei Du turned off the stereo as though nothing was the matter. 

"A video of you guys trying to break up a fight showed up online. I just happened to see it." Fei Du got out of the car and pointed to the bandaid on Tao Ran's chin. "I was worried about you. Are you all right?" 

Tao Ran laughed bitterly. Dealing with ten mass brawls still wouldn't be as fatiguing as getting caught between Luo Wenzhou and Fei Du. 

"Fine. Next time I'll keep a distance from that menopause sufferer, does that work?" Fei Du took Tao Ran's bag. "Do you want to drive or ride?" 

"Excuse you, that 'menopause sufferer' graduated the same year I did." Tao Ran opened the car door and got in the driver's seat. "Why've you changed your car again?" 

"Didn't you say the last few were too flashy?" Fei Du casually went around to the passenger's seat. "So I bought another one. This one is cheap and steady. From now on I'll use it especially to come pick you up." 

Tao Ran's hand paused in the middle of buckling his seatbelt. He looked at Fei Du and said sternly, "If only I'd made a little more money, worked a little less, and found myself a wife early, my children might be walking by now." 

"I know." Fei Du rested his elbow on the car window ledge, tilted his head, and smiled at him. "Just look at those kids who go running after celebrities. They do nothing but waste time and money all day. They don't even have a goal. They're just trying to make themselves happy. Treating you well is the greatest source of enjoyment to me. You've been so good to me all these years, so I take it you must be able to put up with me." 

Tao Ran: "…"

"Tao Ran, come have dinner with me." 

"I feel full just looking at you." Tao Ran freed one hand and laid it on top of Fei Du's head. "Who are you calling 'Tao Ran?' Show some respect for your elders." 

"I…" Tender words came to Fei Du's lips, but then he suddenly changed his tune. "What the hell is that!" 

Officer Tao Ran's unadorned satchel had probably been manufactured back during the Qing Dynasty. It was truly decrepit. When it had been zipped closed, the zipper often separated on its own according to its mood. Fei Du hadn't noticed; neither could he tell apart the top and bottom of the ratty bag. He'd accidentally turned it upside down, sending a folder spilling out. A number of photographs scattered over his lap. In the dim light, the corpse's face looked unusually ferocious. 

Fei Du at once sucked in a breath. If he hadn't been held down by the seatbelt, he would nearly have leapt to his feet. "Is that person dead? How come it looks so bad?"

"Those are important materials. Don't mess around, hurry and pick them up." 

Fei Du held his neck stiffly straight, firmly refusing to look down and meet the dead person's eyes. "N-no, blood makes me sick." 

"There's no blood." Tao Ran sighed with fatigue. "You aren't even scared of that ghost-botherer Luo Wenzhou, but you're scared of dead people?" 

Fei Du was fumbling around trying to get the scattered photographs and materials back into the file, screening his eyes with one hand. He cautiously took a peek, saw that there really wasn't any blood, then relaxed slightly. Pinching the edges of the scattered materials one by one as if he was clearing a minefield, he returned them to their original position. 

This arduous task made Fei Du behave for five minutes. After a while, he asked, "Murder?" 

"Yes," said Tao Ran. "But we're still investigating, so I can't disclose the details of the case." 

"I see," said Fei Du. He didn't ask again. Having restored the contents of the folder, he put it back and examined the bag's broken zipper by the weak light. "Poor guy," he said casually. 

"Hm?"

"He went to see someone, full of yearning, not expecting that that person would prefer him dead." Having sized up the zipper, Fei Du began to tinker. 

Tao Ran stared. "How's that?" 

"Well," said Fei Du, "you took the photographs of the victim's jacket yourselves, right? The tag hasn't been cut off." 

"We've already looked into that. It was bought at a little shop nearby. The shop owner and the surveillance cameras confirm that the victim really did buy it himself." 

"I'm not saying the murderer put it on him. Who'd kill someone, then throw in a jacket?" Fei Du smiled. "If he put the jacket on without cutting off the tag, then it's possible the price was rather high. It exceeded his level of consumption. But he had to wear it for some occasion, so he was going to wear it once and then return it. Students who aren't very well off do that when they're just starting out going to interviews. Was he a lefty?" 

Tao Ran paused. He had gone to look at He Zhongyi's apartment. He quickly reviewed where everything had been placed. "No." 

Fei Du shrugged. "The signs of wear and tear on the left shoe are clear—of course, some people's dominant hand and foot aren't on the same side, but I think the greater likelihood is that he borrowed these shoes." 

But according to the school security guard's evidence, the person He Zhongyi had met before his death had been a man he was acquainted with, someone from the same province as him, possibly even a relative—otherwise they wouldn't have been speaking in dialect. 

They reached their destination, and Tao Ran stopped the car. "You mean…the victim went out of his way to get dressed up before he died. So the person he met was probably a woman?"

"Not necessarily. Although he went to the effort of borrowing clothes and shoes, his outfit tends more towards the formal and reserved. To me it looks more like he was going to a job interview or to see someone he greatly revered. If he was going to see a girl, someone would have been making a formal introduction." Fei Du opened and closed the zipper of the old briefcase and tugged at it gently. It didn't come apart. He handed the bag to Tao Ran. "The zipper came loose. I've tightened it up for you.—For example, if I was going to see you, I wouldn't wear a three piece suit. I'd just spray on a little extra cologne." 

Fei Du's eyes weren't entirely black. Their color was a little light and looked especially multifaceted in the dimness. When he looked fixedly at someone, his eyes always seemed to be speaking, making the other person sink into them in spite of themselves. 

Unfortunately, Deputy-Captain Tao was blind. 

He only very seriously considered Fei Du's words for a moment, then thoughtfully asked, "So if someone kills a person and then sticks a piece of paper to his forehead, what do you think that means?" 

Fei Du dully redirected his gaze. "Maybe it was to keep the corpse from rising." 

Tao Ran: "…" 

"Or maybe the killer felt regret after killing him and subconsciously mimicked the behavior of others displaying respect and sadness towards the dead." 

Tao Ran thought about it, then followed up: "What if it wasn't covering his whole face? What if, for example, it was just a little strip, stuck onto the victim's hair, just covering a little piece of his face from the forehead to the eyes." 

"The forehead? When elders are scolding a child, people in power are bullying the weak, or someone is punishing a pet…they'll all hit the forehead—or it could be meant to represent a label, the kind you stick on something you're selling on the market. What was written on the paper?" 

"'Money.'"

Fei Du raised his eyebrows. His long brows slanted until they almost met his temples, looking sternly handsome. 

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. One word is too little. It's easy to overanalyze and go astray." Fei Du smiled. "Tao Ran, we're at your house." 

Tao Ran came back to himself, just noticing that he had gone overboard with the discussion. He opened the car door and was just about to get out. Then he suddenly remembered something and turned back. "Have you eaten? Come up and wait a bit, I'll make you a bowl of wontons." 

Fei Du clearly froze. Then his gaze became liquid. "You're inviting me home? You aren't worried that's moving too fast?" 

Though the words were very suggestive, he sat in the car without moving. 

"If you don't want to come, then say so. You won't miss the meal, anyway." Holding the car door, Tao Ran leaned over slightly. "Hold out your hand." 

Bewildered, Fei Du held out his hand. Tao Ran got something out and put it into the palm of his hand. "When you want to throw yourself into the ocean, the best thing to do is to dress accordingly and swim a couple of laps yourself, not stay on the sidelines clutching a life buoy and paddling your feet.—You don't want to turn me gay at all. Stop making trouble. I'm going home. Drive safely." 

Fei Du silently watched him walk into the rather old-fashioned apartment building, then looked down at what Tao Ran had given him. It was the card from the flowers he had sent that morning, the smell of cologne still lingering on it, and a handful of milk candy. 

The milk candies were an old brand. After several years of not seeing it on the market, Fei Du had figured that the factory had closed. He didn't known where Tao Ran could have gotten these from…

Possibly they were left over from earlier and expired. You couldn't see the manufacturing date on loose goods. 

Fei Du unwrapped one and ate it—it was an old, cheap product. The texture was coarse, and it stuck to his teeth; fortunately it was sweet enough. 

He turned on the stereo, letting the song that had made Tao Ran frown when he'd heard it play on an endless loop again. He sat quietly for a while. 

When he had eaten all the candy, he got up to switch to the driver's seat. As soon as he moved, he found that there was still a photograph left in the car. 

It was a very small ID picture that had fallen into the crack between the seats. He hadn't seen it when he'd been cleaning up. 

Fei Du turned on the interior car light and picked up the victim's ID photograph. Unlike the ferocious corpse, this photograph clearly showed the victim's features. 

With his attention fixed on the moon-shaped scar on the forehead of the young man in the photograph, Fei Du slowly frowned.