Silent Reading

Chapter 20: Julien Nineteen

TL: cici, Editor: Isalee

Synopsis: After a while, Fei Du suddenly laughed - neither fake nor false, but he really could not help but laugh.

First Published on Ainushi.

Fei Du appeared out of blue, Luo Wenzhou was just as shocked as the gangsters. However, the situation was urgent. Captain Luo did not suffer losses because of talking nonsense. He immediately took the opportunity to first put Wu Xuechun into the car before hopping into the front seat. Before he settled down himself, the car automatically closed the open doors and sped away.

Luo Wenzhou was almost forced flat on the back of the seat: "Why do I feel that you are not in a stable state... Hey!"

Although Fei Du did not look at him, the bloody smell would not change according to a person's line of sight, and it continued to drift towards him.

The car's acceleration was nauseating, and a moving blood bag at the side made it even more nauseating. As the the resulting effect of both, after the handsome drift, President Fei was driving towards the electric pole.

Luo Wenzhou changed his tone. Blue veins stood out on Fei Du's temples. He managed to turn the steering wheel at the last moment.

Probably before the survived electric pole was able to feel at ease, it had already seen the whole body of the car jump up and down - President Fei carelessly drove it onto the curb.

Luo Wenzhou buckled the seat belt with the fastest speed possible. He felt that he had entered the tiger's den immediately after leaving the dragon's lake - He did not die from the gangster's attack but probably would die in the hands of Fei Du, the suicidal driver.

Luo Wenzhou shouted at him: "You driving is so bad!"

Fei Du did not even dare to breathe too heavily, he would smell the blood once he breathed: "Who let you sit in the front? I am going to vomit!"

Luo Wenzhou: "..."

Vomiting when facing such a handsome young man? What was wrong with him?

Fei Du's face was already covered in sweat. It was almost impossible to see the road. Finally, he was unable to maintain his graceful bearing and he spit out a curse at Luo Wenzhou: "I fucking fear blood, cover yourself!"

Luo Wenzhou went blank for a short while he always thought that Fei Du "fearing blood" was a joke, because he clearly remembered that Fei Du had no such problem when he was a child.

Wu Xuechun then handed over an overcoat which Fei Du had left in the back seat. Luo Wenzhou shook the piece of clothing and put it on his own body: "Hey, I have car sickness, you... Fuck, are these people crazy?"

Luo Wenzhou was about to ask him, "Why did you come here?" However, before he started, he glanced at the rearview mirror, and found that the motorcycles had actually caught up with them!

Although it was not in broad daylight, it was still on the street of a society ruled by law. This was already blatant.

Captain Huang's gang did not expect that a large group of them could not catch a Luo Wenzhou in their own nest. However, there was no way to stop the arrow after it had left the bow. They had already started this - in for a penny, in for a pound - they had to complete the task.

Perhaps it indeed only took three steps for a normal person who considered himself as "ordinary" to change from "compromising with reality" to a "desperado".

In theory, a group of motorcycles would not be able to chase a top-class sports car. Yet the actual road conditions had always been the case, especially in the Huashi West District which was very similar to the fringe area that linked the city and town. The road conditions were complicated - the roads were long and filled with obstructions. In some places, even the rockets were not comparable to a "dedicated to picking up grandson" elderly mobility scooter.

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Fei Du was not familiar with this area in the first place and it was too late to turn the navigation on already. Plus, it was dark so that he could only rely on his feelings - And there was a source of pollution sitting next to him, which made his feelings much worse than usual.

This route was really filled with danger.

Fei Du's hands and feet were cold, his heart rate began to fluctuate, and his stomach seemed to be rebellious. He firmly held the steering wheel as he gnashed his teeth and said, "Tell me you did not come here by yourself."

Probably because of too much blood loss or something, Luo Wenzhou really did have a little motion sickness. In order not to stimulate the unstable driver, he did not hesitate to answer: "I did not come here by myself, there is back-up... You don't need us to reimburse the cost of repairing the car, do you?"

During the conversation, Wu Xuechun screamed. It turned out that a motorbike had caught up and hit the window beside Fei Du with an iron rod.

The window lingered and did not break, but it split into a spider web.

Luo Wenzhou looked at it and thought that it was not going to survive: "Your car is such a flashy but useless car. It would be better to buy a bulletproof one with that budget."

Fei Du glanced at the rearview mirror, turned the steering wheel, and skillfully pushed the rider who wielded the iron rod to the side of the road. The motorcycle rider was not able to react quickly. He twisted the front wheel, but he still hit the curb of the road. He then struggled a few times, trying to keep the balance, but he eventually turned over with the motorcycle.

Fei Du finally opened his mouth while pinching his nose: "I am not the president of a country, who will give me bullets?"

One of them must have been a crow. Before Fei Du had finished his words, they heard a "ta" sound from the rear window, and with his hair standing up, Luo Wenzhou quickly reacted: "These rotters even use guns. Girl, get down!"

Wu Xuechun said nothing and curled up herself with her hands covering her head. At the same time, another motorcycle rushed to the side. The rider raised his hand to reveal the black hole of the muzzle, and fired without a word.

Fortunately, there were not so many omnipotent bad guys in the world. This guy's shooting skill was nothing. He was basically shooting without aiming but with so many shots, one or two would always accidentally hit the target. A bullet broke the window next to the front passenger seat. Luo Wenzhou suddenly moved his own body to cover Fei Du and pressed Fei Du down at the same time. The bullet rubbed his shoulder and collapsed on the front windshield.

Fei Du had no feeling toward this dangerous moment. His brain was about to die from the smell of blood, so that he had no time to feel or think about the danger. He reached out with one of his hands and grabbed the car perfume as if he could not bear it anymore. Without even a look, he sprayed the perfume on Luo Wenzhou's face.

Luo Wenzhou received a fragrance for no reason. He was almost knelt down because of President Fei's fearlessness and troublesomeness.

Fei Du saw a small path with nobody in it, stepped on the gas, turned the steering wheel, and made a turn while rubbing the right side, not giving any room for the motorcycle rider with the gun to catch up.

Then, he suddenly braked the car just after he successfully made a turn at the corner - at the end of the path, several motorcycle riders were waiting for him there.

The roar came from behind. They were pinched, blocked, and stuck in the path.

Fei Du looked around blankly, his face was a little cold and fierce. He firmly held the paddle shifter behind the steering wheel. The engine screamed with a violent roar. The car was like an irritated giant beast, scarred as it stayed at the same place, ready to attack.

Fei Du said softly: "If I crush them one by one, would it be considered as over-defense?"

The vehicle was too noisy. Luo Wenzhou only saw his bloodless lips moving, did not hear a word, but inexplicably understood Fei Du's expression. His heart beat heavily as he subconsciously seized Fei Du's hand - the one that was holding the paddle shifter.

That hand was very cool and hard with cold strength, like some kind of metal with a faint color.

At this moment, a siren sounded for the second time. Red and blue flashing lights illuminated the sky.

Assistance had finally arrived.

It took Luo Wenzhou a lot of effort to remove Fei Du's hand from the paddle shifter. The sound of the engine slowly subsided, and the inside of the riddled sports car remained utterly quiet for a while.

The assistance was very reliable. Upon arrival, they immediately took control of the scene and neatly disarmed several motorcycle riders. Besides, they were thoughtful and the ambulance was behind them.

Lang Qiao was the first one to run over and lean against the car door. She gasped out loud: "Boss, are you okay? I was so scared!"

Luo Wenzhou smiled at her. Before he could talk, Fei Du hurriedly rolled out of the car, walked to the side of the road without saying a word, and vomited.

While telling Lang Qiao about the follow-up matters, Luo Wenzhou was interrupted by Director Lu who had come in person and was escorted into the ambulance. He thought the old man was making a big fuss because this little injury was nothing, and after he was taken into the ambulance, he continued issuing commands through the car door: "Chen Zhen might still be alive - I don't think they have a reason to kill him immediately. Go to Blessing Grand View and search for him again. Besides, you must immediately get Ma Xiaowei from the Sub Bureau before Wang Hongliang gets the news. Damn, they might have received the news already... Ok, doctor, right away, let me tell you the last point..."

In comparison, his "mate" was much more well-behaved - although President Fei had not lost a single strand of hair, he inexplicably spit himself out half-dead and collapsed afterwards.

This night was as long as a century, and for some people, every second was infinitely elongated.

It was silent at the Huashi Sub Bureau. Xiao Haiyang, who was on duty, clenched the mobile phone in his hand. His partner was asleep. He carefully avoided a lot of eyes and went to the place where Ma Xiaowei was being held.

There was a text message on the mobile phone: "We were arrested, notify Director Wang and deal with Ma Xiaowei immediately, urgent!"

Ma Xiaowei had curled himself up and fallen asleep. Only God knew what kind of nightmare he was having. He would occasionally twitch. The childish face was already as skinny as a monkey's.

Xiao Haiyang went in, looked back cautiously, and grabbed Ma Xiaowei's shoulder.

Ma Xiaowei woke up in the middle of the night and was scared. He almost screamed, but Xiao Haiyang covered his mouth with his hand. The boy widened his eyes in fright.

Luo Wenzhou got his wound taken care of at the hospital and felt that he was still strong enough to put down another football team of hooligans. He then walked over to visit Fei Du. He saw that his hand was hanging with a drip, and he was leaning on the bed with eyes closed. God knew who was hurt.

Luo Wenzhou walked over and gently kicked Fei Du's feet: "Other people who have hemophobia generally faint at the sight of blood. Why do you vomit as if you are pregnant?"

Fei Du did not open his eyes and only murmured: "Stay away from me."

"All cleaned up," Luo Wenzhou sat down beside him. "Finally can invite you to dinner but you end up vomting."

"I don't think it's that bad," Fei Du deadpanned.

Luo Wenzhou thought about the canteen at their Bureau and considered this comment as reasonable. He then asked: "how did you find that place?"

This time, Fei Du kept silent and attempted to pretend like he was dead.

Luo Wenzhou kicked him again. "You won't follow me all the way, will you? What are you doing with me?"

For this kind of low-level provoking, Fei Du usually replied with an arrogant "you little silly thing, you are being unreasonable again" look in the eyes before leaving happily. However, he felt so ill this time. Something tossed and turned in his stomach several times, making it painful for him. The lingering scent was still haunting the tip of his nose. He felt dizzy as long as his eyes were open. Furthermore, a "climacteric" bastard at the side did not want to grant him peace. Therefore, he was so angry and blurted out a sneer.

Luo Wenzhou asked, "Then what were you doing over there?"

Fei Du leaned on the hospital's snow-white pillow, frowned, and mobilized all self-restraint he had from birth to force himself not to curse: "I went to visit the place where He Zhongyi lived."

Indeed, He Zhongyi lived not far away from the street behind the Blessing Grand View, and the two roads did have similarities. Luo Wenzhou waited for a long time, but he did not get any more to the story. He glanced at Fei Du and suddenly realized something: "Then you weren't lost, were you?"

Fei Du heard his words, turned his head away without a word, and pretended to have heard a fart.

Looking at this slight anger from embarrassment in surprise, Luo Wenzhou felt a touch of human spirit in Fei Du. For the first time, he seemed a little amiable because he was so real.

Luo Wenzhou hurriedly restrained his temptation to further tease Fei Du and asked him while this "feeling of humanity" was still there: "Were you visiting the place where He Zhongyi lived before he died for that old aunt?"

Fei Du paused for a moment before he said in a low voice: "That place is broken and remote. A mixture of good and bad people live there. There is a public toilet nearby, so the whole street smells on cloudy days. The environment is much worse than the other rental houses in the same area. People who live there all rent it because it is cheap. There are people with families who have to support the old and raise the young, or there are those who have patients in their family -- they work hard outside to save money for the family. And there are gamblers and addicts who are so poor that they have to live there."

"He Zhongyi isn't a drug addict. According to his friends, he isn't involved in gambling." Luo Wenzhou rubbed his chin. "He kept noting down his expenses and income every day. His notes were very detailed, and there were minus signs before all the incomes."

"He was saving for debt." Fei Du opened his eyes, "And the mysterious moneylender might have said, 'I'll give you money, but you can't talk about me to the others.'"

Luo Wenzhou frowned. As they dug deep into the life of He Zhongyi, they felt that it was impossible for him to have any connections with the drug trafficking network. Far from being more clear, the case was even more mysterious now.

He pinched the center of his eyebrows and said, "Well, anyway, the mice have been caught. We can wait and see if there is any connection or not."

"Ah," said Fei Du vaguely, and he closed his eyes again, apparently not wanting to talk to Luo Wenzhou anymore.

The two of them remained silent for a moment. Luo Wenzhou suddenly rubbed his nose, and in the friendly atmosphere of "sharing weal and woe" just now, he asked: "There is one thing that I have never been able to figure out -- That year, the conclusion of your mother's case was a collective conclusion made by me, Tao Ran, the legal medical examiner -- and also the old legal medical examiner and the old criminal police who joined us to prevent wrong judgment... Why do you only give me a hard time?"

Fei Du gave a sneer.

"Don't worry, tell me the truth," Luo Wenzhou said to him with disingenuousness, "I won't be angry."

Fei Du heard this and decided to not to be polite. He said, "Because it is disgusting to see your stupid way of thinking that others are blind, and that you can see through everything with your roentgen eyes."

Luo Wenzhou: "..."

Hearing this comment did make him pretty angry.

At this time, Luo Wenzhou's phone vibrated. He looked down at it, and his face suddenly became strange. The small amount of anger in his heart immediately disappeared.

He prepared himself for a long time before he faintly said, "That... that..."

Fei Du looked at him puzzledly.

"My colleague said your car... is damaged severely and it is probably impossible to repair it domestically."

Fei Du: "Yes, what's the matter?"

Taking a deep breath, Luo Wenzhou got himself ready to be shameless and said the words in one breath: "They said that the repair cost is too high. It's almost like buying a new one. Even adding up several years of our 'act bravely for just' fund and the reward post cannot afford that - How about we give you a silk banner (1) instead?"

Fei Du: "..."

Upon completion of the sentence, Luo Wenzhou regretted it. He really wanted to lift the colleague who sent this message and flip him upside-down to pour the water in his brain out - who knew which organ was used to conjure up such a bad idea!

After a while, Fei Du suddenly laughed - neither fake nor false, but he really could not help but laugh.

Luo Wenzhou was embarrassed, and he was not able to laugh or cry.

But before he could sense all the complicated feelings, his phone rang again and this time it was from Lang Qiao.

Lang Qiao's tone was very serious: "Captain Luo, we found Chen Zhen. He died."

Luo Wenzhou's formerly relaxed expression suddenly darkened, and he sat straight up: "What?"

"Besides, one suspect sent a text message before he was arrested and asked someone to deal with Ma Xiaowei. Our men went there immediately, but we don't know if it's too late."

In a few words, Lang Qiao had given him two pieces of bad news. Right after he hung up, another phone call came in - it was Tao Ran, who was on a rare leave.

"Tao Ran," said Luo Wenzhou absent-mindedly, "I am busy now, wait a minute..."

"Captain Luo, Zhang Donglai's lawyer just contacted me," Tao Ran said quickly. "He said he found a suspicious tie in Zhang Donglai's car."

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(1) Silk banner: There is a tradition in China to give a silk banner as a reward to people who act for a just cause.

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