Miss Forensics – Chapter 12
by Little PandaPart One
Argument
A dignified captain of criminal investigation, grabbed by the collar and warned.
Sun Xiangming’s young daughter, Sun Yaya, sat by the window quietly playing with plasticine. When she saw people enter, she only spared them a glance before burying her head again, pinching the clay into tiny pieces.
The Sun family home was not largeโa two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. The layout was good, with excellent north-south ventilation, but it was sparsely furnished. There was no partition, so the entryway led straight into the living room. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and finished takeout boxes sat abandoned on the table.
The flowers placed in the entryway had already withered, radiating a desolate, dispirited air that mirrored the rest of the home.
“Would you like something to drink?” He opened the refrigerator only to find it completely empty, so he walked over to the kitchen to boil some water.
Fang Xin quickly stopped him. “Please don’t go to any trouble. We’re just here to take a quick look around and get a sense of the situation, then we’ll be on our way.”
“Oh, this is our bedroom, and over there is my wife’s studyโฆ” Sun Xiangming pushed open the bedroom door. Lacking a hostess, the room was just as messy as the living room. A small child’s bed stood next to the large bed, likely where the girl slept. The clothes in the laundry basket had overflowed, spilling onto the floor.
Sun Xiangming gave a bitter smile, his eyes reddening once more. “I’m sorry you have to see this. Usually, she was the one who handled all of this. Now that I have to juggle work and look after the child, I’m really a bitโฆ”
Fang Xin and the two local officers took a brief look around, finding nothing suspicious. Especially when he mentioned Ding Xue, he wasn’t excessively dramatic with his grief, yet sincerity shone through his body language, gaze, and micro-expressions.
Those in criminal investigation were all incredibly sharp. With a general understanding after a quick sweep, they backed out and headed toward the adjacent study.
The computer was still on. The nearby bookshelf held quite a few books, ranging from finance to education.
Fang Xin casually pulled a copy of ใEducational Psychologyใ from the shelf, gently brushed away the dust, flipped through a few pages, and put it back.
Zheng Chengrui’s gaze fell upon the computer. “May we examine this?”
“Of course, go ahead.” Sun Xiangming walked over, entered the password, and gestured that they could use it freely.
Zheng Chengrui opened the laptop he brought with him and began tinkering with it. “Who usually uses this computer?”
“Both my wife and I use it. I often bring work home to do overtime, and she’d use it to prep her lesson plans sometimes.”
The desktop wallpaper was a photo of the family of three. The little girl was nestled between her parents, holding a rice ladle and smiling like a blooming flower.
Fang Xin stared at it for a moment, feeling the sheer transience of life. In the blink of an eye, a happy family of three had fallen apart.
Just then, she suddenly felt a gaze on her. She whipped her head around. The little girl was standing in the shadow of the doorway. With a loud wail, she burst into tears and rushed forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Sun Xiangming’s leg.
“Papa, Mamaโฆ I want Mamaโฆ” Sun Xiangming was thrown into a panic. He frantically pulled out tissues to wipe her tears while lifting her into his arms to coax her. Perhaps his stubble pricked her, for she only cried harder, her mouth filled with a ceaseless chant of “I want Mama! I want Mama!”
“Sorry, please excuse me for a moment.” With so many people in the room, the man had no choice but to carry the child out, sitting on the sofa to patiently soothe her.
Fang Xin looked through the crack of the door and saw him handing a toy to Sun Yaya. When facing his daughter, a faint, strained smile managed to surface on his face.
Losing one’s mother in childhood, losing one’s wife in middle ageโseeing this made one’s heart ache.
“How was their marital relationship?” Another team of criminal investigators went to the home of Sun Xiangming’s mother-in-law to gather information.
The elderly woman’s home was cold and quiet; she was all alone. On the altar table stood two memorial portraits: one of her late husband, and the other of the deceased, Ding Xue.
At the mention of this, she began wiping away her tears. “I only have myself to blameโฆ I shouldn’t have let Xiaoxue marry him back thenโฆ”
The investigators exchanged glances, their expressions turning more serious. “Please tell us in detail. Don’t embellish; just state the facts of what you saw.”
The old woman sobbed for a moment longer before she managed to speak. “I didn’t live with them, so I don’t know the exact details of how they got along day-to-day. But when we visited during holidays, they seemed quite good together, though they’d occasionally bickerโฆ”
“Did they fight? Physically, I mean.”
The old woman thought carefully. “No, definitely not. Even if you gave that grandson of a turtle1 a hundred times the courage, he wouldn’t dare lay a single finger on my daughter.”
As she finished, her tone flared with righteous indignation.
“Why do you say that?”
“Back then, it was that kid Sun Xiangming who actively pursued my daughterโฆ” The old woman sighed deeply, her eyes reddening again as she looked at the portrait on the table.
“He pursued her for a long timeโa year or twoโbefore my daughter finally agreed. He was just a low-level clerk. His family is from the countryside, and his parents don’t have pensions. His family background isn’t good. When they married, we didn’t ask for a single cent of bride price2. We even gave them a massive dowry, all because we wanted him to treat my daughter well.”
“After all, my husband passed away early, and she was my only daughter left.”
Having said this, the old woman began to weep again. She grabbed the investigator’s hand, intending to drop to her knees before them.
“I beg of you, you must catch the killer and get justice for my daughter!”
“Are you looking for the principal? She’s not here right now; she’s filling in for a class. You’ll have to wait a bit.” A staff member placed two cups of plain hot water in front of them, then went back to her own work.
Lin Yan raised an eyebrow. “She’s climbed all the way to principal, and she still needs to substitute for classes?”
“Of course. Our Jiangcheng No. 1 High School is a key high school. From top to bottom, everyone’s professional capabilities must be up to standard. Even a principal has to find time to teach alongside administrative work. What’s more, the gaokao3 is just around the corner, and now with this kind of thing happening, we can’t find a good teacher at a moment’s noticeโฆ”
As she spoke, the staff member looked troubled. Immediately following the gaokao would be the autumn enrollment, and the news that had been causing such a storm lately would surely have some impact.
Once the staff member left, Lin Yan took a sip of the plain water. Detecting a strange plastic taste from the cup, she set it back down and nudged Song Yuhang’s arm with her elbow.
“Hey, what do you think?”
“We don’t discuss cases outside the Public Security Bureau.”
Song Yuhang was expressionless as she flipped through the books and magazines on the table.
“โฆWould it kill you to say more than two words to me?”
“Yes.” She turned a page of the school magazine. “I’m afraid you’d die of anger.”
Lin Yan grabbed the cup from the table, intending to splash it at her, but the door was gently pushed open.
A woman walked in with lesson plans tucked under her arm. She was around forty, with a figure that remained elegant and well-maintained. A faint, gentle smile graced her lips, though she froze slightly upon realizing there were people in the office.
It was the very Teacher Li whom Lin Yan had just spotted in the hallway.
The staff member quickly followed in after her. “These two are officers from the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau. They’re here to gather information about the case.”
The woman finally collected herself and stepped forward to offer her hand. “Hello, I’m Li Shiping, the Vice Principal of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.”
Looking at the hand extended toward her, Song Yuhang offered a polite smile and shook it. “Deputy Captain of the City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Detachment, Song Yuhang.”
“Hello, Captain Song. And this isโฆ?”
Her gaze shifted over. Likely due to years of teaching and cultivating young minds, the woman possessed an indescribably gentle and refined aura.
“Forensic examiner, Lin Yan. But let’s skip the handshake. I handle corpses all year roundโit’s bad luck.”
Lin Yan made the blunt statement with complete ease. Li Shiping’s expression stiffened, but she maintained her smile and invited them to sit.
As Song Yuhang conducted her inquiry, asking the same routine questions over and over, Lin Yan grew impatient. She stood up and began to inspect her surroundings.
The office was not large, furnished with wooden desks and chairs and leather sofas. She ran her fingers across the desktop, giving it a light tap. Well, look at thatโmahogany.
On the nearby bookshelf stood several books, mostly on education, with a few original English works that looked rather profound.
She pulled out a school journal at random and flipped through it. When Li Shiping glanced over, Lin Yan quickly shoved it back in, then moved on to fiddle with the globe on the desk, spinning it so fast it rattled.
She seemed utterly fascinated by it, spinning it repeatedly without tire. Who would have thought that, in a sudden burst of excessive force, she would send the sphere flying? It clattered across the floor and landed right at Song Yuhang’s feet.
“โฆ”
The always steady Officer Song felt her throat tighten.
Perhaps she really shouldn’t have brought Lin Yan out with her.
“Sorry, sorry, please continue.” Lin Yan laughed it off, walked over to pick it up, and popped the sphere back onto its stand. As she lifted her gaze, she found herself staring directly at an old photograph in the display cabinet.
It was a group photo of the faculty. The deceased, Ding Xue, stood in the upper right corner, smiling out at them.
“That’s the last time I saw herโฆ” Li Shiping said, pausing as she closed her eyes briefly, as if unable to bear the memory.
“How could she justโฆ out of nowhereโฆ”
Song Yuhang closed her notepad. “Thank you for your cooperation. If we need anything further, we’ll contact you. We’d also like to visit your school’s principal. May I askโ”
Li Shiping picked up her tea and took a sip. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Principal Ge isn’t in Jiangcheng right now. He went to the provincial capital last Friday for a conference. I’ll definitely contact you the moment he returns.”
Song Yuhang stood up. “Understood. Then we won’t trouble you any longer.”
Li Shiping also rose to see them out. “It’s no trouble at all. Cooperating with the police is our duty. I, too, hope you can catch the killer as soon as possible and bring justice for my colleague.”
Lin Yan was the first to walk out the door, but she was called back.
She stopped, keeping her hands in her pockets as she looked back at Li Shiping. “What is it?”
Li Shiping hesitated repeatedly, but finally spoke. “After all, we were colleagues, and she was a talent I personally recruited. I want to knowโ”
“You want to know if she suffered before she died, don’t you?” Lin Yan shifted her stance to cross her arms, a malicious smile playing on her face.
Song Yuhang was already too late to stop herโ
“Well, of all the bizarre ways to die, drowning is probably the most excruciating. A single fatal blow would’ve been merciful by comparison. But instead, you have to stay conscious, feeling every single second as oxygen is violently stripped from your lungs. You’ll struggle, you’ll suffer, you’ll try to screamโbut the moment you open your mouth, more water just floods in. Your limbs will slowly lose all strength. You’ll sink, and you won’t be able to float up again. By the time you finally do surface days later, your entire body is covered in postmortem lividity. Your skin will peel away. Microorganisms in the water will have eaten away at your face until you’re completely unrecognizable, and your mouth, nose, and eyes will be crawling with writhing, breeding clumps of maggotsโ”
Her description was growing increasingly horrific. Song Yuhang suddenly raised her voice, snapping, “Lin Yan!”
Li Shiping clutched the doorframe, her face turning deathly pale.
Lin Yan shrugged and blinked innocently. “She’s the one who asked me. Did I say anything wrongโฆ Of-fi-cer Song?”
She deliberately emphasized each of those last words in a blatant provocation.
Song Yuhang was livid. “Youโ”
Li Shiping managed to recover, offering a strained smile. “Itโฆ it’s fine. We’ll have to trouble you to solve the case then. Solving it quickly will also benefit the reputation of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School. If there’s anything you need help with, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Song Yuhang nodded. Fearing that Lin Yan might utter some other wild, insolent remarks, she grabbed her by the clothes and half-dragged, half-pulled her away.
Once they reached an open, deserted area, Lin Yan violently shook off her grip. “What do you think you’re doing?! Let go!”
Song Yuhang had held a tight grip, and with Lin Yan’s sudden, sharp yank, a button from Lin Yan’s collar popped off and went flying. Both of them were breathing heavily.
Lin Yan, in particular, with her pale skin, had flushed red around the corners of her eyes in her agitated state. She glared venomously at Song Yuhang.
She looked like a wild beast refusing to back down.
“Who do you think you are? Since when do you get to dictate what I say or do?”
Song Yuhang’s anger had mostly subsided, but hearing her bring this up made her blood boil again. “Do you have any idea that those few sentences of yours just leaked details of the case?! Under any circumstances, we as the police must strictly maintain confidentiality regarding an ongoing investigation!”
“What police?! What ‘we’ and ‘our’?! You’re you, and I’m me! Stop lumping me in with you useless sacks of trash4!”
“Are you even worthy? You’re not!” She spat viciously on the ground twice, then violently yanked her collar back up after it had been pulled down by Song Yuhang.
That small, smooth sliver of her delicate shoulder finally vanished from sight.
When it came to trading insults, ten Song Yuhangs would be no match for her. Lin Yan watched with satisfaction as Song Yuhang’s face turned pale and then dark with rage, her throat bobbing up and down as her hands clenched into tight fists.
Recalling the show of authority Song Yuhang had given her on her first day at the City Bureau, a mocking smile crept onto the corners of her lips.
She always seemed to wear this expressionโdisdainful, sarcastic, cold, and cynical.
In short, she had never once smiled properly.
Lin Yan took a step forward. She wasn’t wearing high heels today for field duty, making Song Yuhang nearly a head taller than her. She reached out and yanked Song Yuhang’s collar down, gritting her teeth as she stared straight into those light brown eyes.
“Also, stop pulling and tugging at me. Otherwise, don’t think I won’t sue you for sexual harassment just because you’re a woman.”
As a dignified captain of criminal investigation, grabbed by her collar and warned, she should’ve been furious. She should’ve been incensed. She should’ve thrown a punch.
Yet, Song Yuhang’s fists clenched and unclenched, unclenched and clenched again. Her breathing grew slightly ragged as she desperately tried to collect herself.
She stared into Lin Yan’s eyes, seeing her own reflection in them. Finally, she remembered what she had been thinking about.
When she had accidentally torn open Lin Yan’s clothes earlier, there was a strange tattoo nestled in the hollow of Lin Yan’s shoulder. It resembled some ancient script, or perhaps an unknown primordial totem.
While Song Yuhang was momentarily dazed, Lin Yan had already released her and stepped back, her voice turning icy cold.
“From now on, you investigate yours and I’ll investigate mine. I’d like to remind you not to forget that, in terms of rank, you and I are equals. And I, Lin Yan, hate nothing more in this life than people telling me what to do.”
There was still one sentence she left unsaid:
Whoever stands in my way, I’ll make sure they die a horrible death.
For some reason, she faintly hoped that the day would never come when she would have to say those words to her.
Lin Yan walk away, Song Yuhang opened her palm. A small beige button lay there, slick with sweat from being tightly squeezed.
She had intended to throw it away, but perhaps out of professional habit, she knew that the smallest details often revealed the grandest truths.
She wrapped it in a piece of tissue anyway and slipped it into her pocket.
The author has something to say:
Here’s the update!
Thank you for reading.
Today, I was imagining some of the upcoming plotlines (I don’t have that many pre-written chapters saved up yet), and I got so excited thinking about Captain Song’s character design and Lin the Big Cat’s ‘soft-yet-fierce’ personality.
You guys know what I mean, right? ใDog head for protectionใ
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or gifted me nutrient solution!
Footnotes
- Guisunzi (้พๅญๅญ): Literally 'grandson of a turtle', this is a highly derogatory Northern Chinese insult used to mock someone's character and cowardice.
- Caili (ๅฝฉ็คผ): Bride price, a traditional Chinese custom where the groom's family pays a sum of money or assets to the bride's family upon marriage.
- Gaokao (้ซ่): The standard National College Entrance Examination in China, a highly stressful academic milestone that determines university admissions for high school seniors.
- Jiunang fandai (้ ๅ้ฅญ่ข): Literally 'wine-skins and rice-bags'; a classic derogatory term for useless, incompetent people who do nothing but eat and drink.
damn
They’re so hot. The tension I swear
They’re so hot. The tension I swear
Can they not argue so much and just sleep together already ๐
Can they not argue so much and just sleep together already 😂
aiya
aiya