When A Snail Loves - Chapter 23

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Xu Xu, only my girlfriend can control me, my apprentice can’t.” Right after saying this, Ji Bai stared at her calmly.

Xu Xu looked at him too, then she answered very clearly, “I don’t want to control you.”

Ji Bai looked at her kind, bright eyes, and felt a sulkiness rise up his chest. She had always been frank and outspoken, so in this case, she must really be totally uninterested in him.

The irritable thought gradually grew as Ji Bai held his cigarette and took another puff with an emotionless look.

Unexpectedly, Xu Xu continued to say, “Teacher, I just care about you.”

Xu Xu appeared serious and sincere when she said this. Perhaps she was still not too used to taking the initiative to express her kindness, because her white-skinned face was flushed red as well.

Ji Bai went silent for a while, then suddenly smiled deeply.

He ashed his cigarette in the ashtray then cast a sidelong glance at her. “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

Xu Xu smiled slightly then added on, “Actually, there are a lot of ways to release stress, with smoking being the most unhealthy way. I believe you know this too. It’s actually not very difficult to quit smoking”

As she spoke methodically, Ji Bai listened to the soft, gentle voice droning on next to his ears and felt very comfortable. He thought to himself, ‘Ji Bai, oh Ji Bai, she has such an innocent and unassuming mind. Why did your mood fluctuate today because of her words? You’re acting like an emotional young fellow. You have to get her to follow you unknowingly, don’t confuse her by making her go round in circles.’

After thinking about this, he nodded at Xu Xu. “What you said makes sense, but I have a huge smoking addiction, so it’ll be tough for me to quit smoking by myself. Since you’re an expert and you’re keen on taking care of me, why don’t you work with me to help me quit the habit?”

Xu Xu replied, “Alright. I’ll search for some information when I return and study it too so we can set a plan together.”

While the two of them conversed, the door was pushed open.

Old Wu was talking on the phone, he casually nodded at the two of them then sat down on a chair and continued talking.

As there were other subordinates around, Ji Bai naturally restrained himself, but just as he was about to remove his arm from the back of Xu Xu’s chair, Yao Meng walked in.

She had a clear view of both Ji Bai’s position and Xu Xu who was sitting beside him conscientiously and was stunned.

Ji Bai kept a straight face and did not move his arm either as he vaguely glanced at Yao Meng. Yao Meng put on a smile then placed her bag down before sitting down herself.

It was then that Ji Bai pulled his arm down naturally, but Yao Meng coincidentally looked up, and their eyes met again. Yao Meng only saw his usual calm and collected look, such that she felt suspicious and disappointed but could not see through him, so she just lowered her gaze again.

At that moment, Old Wu hung up his phone and looked quite excited. “Captain, there are two important new breakthroughs.”

The news that Old Wu told them next was very crucial.

Firstly, Ye Jin, the second child, had an alibi. In her statement, she mentioned that she sat in the garden downstairs alone after 11 o’clock that night. There was an old driver of the Ye Family who was nearing his fifties, and he happened to be on leave these few days. However, when the police questioned him at work today, he mentioned that he had seen Ye Jin at night when the incident happened. The maid room that he stayed in was not far from the second couple’s villa and he slept late every night, so when he heard some movement, he looked out the window to see Ye Jin strolling about in the garden.

Upon hearing this sudden alibi, Ji Bai and Xu Xu were in a daze.

The second piece of news that Old Wu brought was related to Ye Qiao, the third child.

The police had been checking the surveillance cameras of the Ye Family and the highways near the crime scene. Today, they finally noticed that one of the surveillance cameras captured Ye Qiao driving about at 9.47 pm on the day of the incident. This meant that she went out that night.

After listening to Ji Bai and Xu Xu’s deduction on Zhang Shiyong’s identity as the secret lover, Old Wu agreed. “Now, it looks like the biggest suspects are the third couple. But Captain, what’s the proof that you mentioned.”

Ji Bai smiled slightly as he said, “Clothing.”

Xu Xu had a sudden realization and asked, “Personal clothing that Zhang Shiyong took away from the crime scene?”

Ji Bai nodded.

Old Wu fell deep into thought, but Yao Meng was still confused.

Ji Bai explained everything. “From the messy wardrobe in the crime scene, we can deduce that Zhang Shiyong took his personal belongings away soon after Ye Zixi died. It was before dawn at the time, so how would he have handled these items?”

“Dump them on the road? No chance. His clothes are all famous handmade brands and would be too eye-catching. The police would have soon combed the entirety of Lin An Mountain, so throwing his clothes away would have been no better than directly exposing himself.”

“Bring them back to the office? He wouldn’t do that either. Every lift in the building has surveillance cameras, and the police would investigate the surveillance records thoroughly. It would have attracted too much attention if he had carried such a big box of clothing up the building right after the day of the incident.”

“Bring it back home? Police have been going in and out of the Ye Mansion every day these past few days.”

“Besides, our men have been keeping an eye on the Ye family 24/7 hours since early in the morning of the day after the incident, so he wouldn’t have any other chance to get rid of them.”

Old Wu continued, “So his clothes are still with him, and is most probably in his car. If we find these clothes, then we’ll most likely be able to find traces of the crime scene.”

The four of them kept quiet for a while, then Xu Xu asked, “Can we apply for a search warrant?”

Before Ji Bai could answer, Old Wu shook his head. “So far we don’t have any other proof, we only have our deductions. Not to mention, he’s a well-known figure in the city, so it’ll be difficult to apply for a search warrant.”

They thought that they had arrived at a breakthrough, but who would have known that they would encounter a deadlock once again. Three of them including Old Wu frowned and pondered, whereas Ji Bai smiled.

He subconsciously took a cigarette out, but just as he was about to put it in his mouth, he suddenly heard Xu Xu calling out to him quickly and softly, “Teacher.” When he looked at her, that little fellow was looking straight at the cigarette in his hand, before shooting him a serious look.

A sweetness and joy rose within Ji Bai’s heart uncontrollably.

After that, he pinched his cigarette and showed her a troubled look. Eventually, he nodded at her then put his cigarette down.

Old Wu who was sitting beside them laughed. “Xu Xu, you’re controlling your mentor to the point where you’re stopping him from smoking?”

Xu Xu answered, “I’m not controlling him, Teacher is determined to quit smoking, and I’m merely supervising him. Old Wu, do you want to quit too?”

After seeing what just happened, Yao Meng felt her smile freeze and soon found herself shifting the topic with a light-hearted voice. “Captain, without a search warrant, what are we going to do?”

Ji Bai then looked at her and replied with a slight smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something else.”

A short while into their meal, Ji Bai’s phone rang. He took a look at the number as a smirk appeared on the corner of his lips. He quickly stood up and went outside.

On the other end of the phone, Ye Zixiao sounded polite but distant. “Officer Ji, I was having a meeting just now so I couldn’t pick up your call, what’s the matter?”

Ji Bai said in a low tone, “It’s regarding Ye Zixi’s case, there’s something I’d like you to help us with.”

Ye Zixiao went quiet, then his voice became heavier. “Tell me about it.”

Ji Bai leaned against the wall of the shop as he watched the pitch black sky, with the sparse stars speckled across the vastness of space. He spoke seriously, “I believe you also noticed that the clothes of Ye Zixi’s secret lover are missing from her villa. We’re guessing that the clothes might have traces of the crime scene and that the secret lover probably hasn’t found the chance to throw them away yet, despite it being a crucial piece of evidence for this case. If it’s possible, I hope that you can help the police by paying attention to the Ye Group to see if anyone does anything unusual. Of course, this is also in hopes that your family will be proved innocent as soon as possible.”

After hearing what he said, Ye Zixiao remained silent for a while then answered, “Alright, I’ll pay attention to them.”

Within half an hour, Ji Bai received Ye Zixiao’s phone call again before they even finished their meal. He sounded determined and slightly mad, “The clothings and the secret lover have been found, you can come over.”

Ye Zixiao was not a fool. Although Ji Bai did not mention that they were suspecting people specifically from the Ye Family and only mentioned the Ye Group, the first thing that came to mind was still his family.

At the time when he received the call, he was eating at home. That day, the police were investigating the case in their company, so Ye Lanyuan requested that everyone have a meal together at home. When everyone arrived, Ye Lanyuan said, “From now onwards, we’ll have a moment of silence for Zixi before we eat.”

Nobody objected and nobody dared to say anything.

As he sat at the dining table, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He simply put on a cold look and placed his chopsticks aside whilst completely ignoring his father’s poisonous look or his third sister’s protest, and walked out.

Due to the fact that they were eating at the main house, everyone’s cars were parked beside the flower garden outside. Ye Zixiao stood under the dark night sky as he looked at the row of fancy cars. Without even needing to think much, he turned and called for the Ye Mansion’s driver captain as well as the security captain.

“Open up all the car trunks.”

“Ask your men to hold the family back, nobody is allowed to come over.”

Both the driver and security captain were dumbfounded, and seeing that the two of them remained hesitantly unmoving, Ye Zixiao laughed. “Hurry up, or I’ll get rid of you tomorrow. If you listen to me today, then each of you will be rewarded fifty-thousand yuan.”

Ye ZIxiao had always been the overlord at home. The dear youngest son of his father, who would dare disobey him? Moreover, the captain’s relationship with him had always been quite good, so they simply grit their teeth and went with it.

The trunks were opened one by one as Ye Zixiao examined all of them with a cold look on his face. His actions alarmed everyone in the house, so they all ran out, with Ye Ziqiang being the first one to voice his displeasure. “Fourth brother, what are you doing?”

Without even looking at him, Ye Zixiao shouted to the security team beside him, “Hold them back.” The security dared not hold them back and only pretended to block them from advancing. While this was happening, Ye ZIxiao opened a few more trunks. Ye Jin stood on the porch quietly, whereas Ye Qiao folded her arms in front of her chest, the smile on her face looked cold and mocking. Zhang Shiyong’s face changed slightly as he dashed forward. “Zixiao, what are you doing?”

In truth, Ye Zixiao had expected to find the items in Wu Xie’s car, but it turned out to be empty. At the moment, he was facing a BMW X5, which the driver captain claimed he did not have the keys for.

“Brother-in-law, don’t bother, it’s none of your business.” Ye Zixiao said to Zhang Shiyong, then he looked at everyone at the porch. “Whose car is this?”

Zhang Shiyong’s face darkened. “That is my car.”

Ye Zixiao’s heart skipped a beat as he looked at his brother-in-law whom he always respected like a brother. “Your car? Unlock it.”

Zhang Shiyong’s face was stone cold as he replied, “I don’t like people touching my things.”

Ye Zixiao glanced at him, then a wave of convoluted thoughts took over his mind. He suddenly yelled at the security captain stand beside him, “Smash it.”

The trunk was forcefully pried open and the big suitcase inside was cut open with a knife, only to reveal things like men’s suit, pajamas, underwear, leather shoes, teacups and toiletries hidden inside it. Nobody said a thing, Zhang Shiyong as looked indistinct and asked. “What exactly are you looking for?”

Ye Zixiao completely ignored his indifference. He immediately stormed towards his brother-in-law, grabbed his tie, then punched him right in the face. “Damn it, I can’t believe it’s actually you.”

When Ji Bai and the others arrived at the Ye Mansion, Ye Zixiao was sitting on the back of the car with a terribly beaten face, with nobody from the security team besides him daring to get close to him. Zhang Shiyong’s clothes and hair were in a mess, and he stood a couple of steps away from them with a ghastly look on his face.

As for the remaining members of the Ye Family, they fell silent with varying looks. Ye Lanyuan, on the other hand, was not present.

Upon seeing Ji Bai, Ye Zixiao jumped down from the car and walked up to him. “Officer, I’d like to hand you some evidence.”

Xu Xu looked at his embarrassed yet relentless face and did not say a word. Then she looked at Ji Bai’s calm expression and instantly understood what Ji Bai had meant when he stated that he would think of another way to look for the clothes.

Ji Bai had expected Ye Zixiao to do this from the very start.

When Zhang Shiyong was officially taken to the police station, he sat in the bright hearing room impeccably dressed. He was not nervous at all, and only the half of his face that was bruised seemed to be unpolished and hideous.

“I don’t understand why I’m being taken to the police station in the middle of the night.” He looked composed and he spoke slowly. “I’ll wait for my lawyer.”

Ji Bai and Old Wu personally interrogated him. When they walked into the room, Old Wu threw the authentication report in his hand onto the desk. “Stop acting, that Italian handmade suit you’re wearing is logged here in Ye Zixi’s expenses report. She gave it to you, didn’t she? The leather shoes have traces of the soil from the crime scene, but you probably don’t know that the soil composition varies from place to place. Furthermore, the toiletries contain Ye Zixi’s DNA. Mister Zhang, how can you explain this?”

Xu Xu, Yao Meng, and the others were quietly listening and observing from the other side of the dark glass.

Despite the fact that he was facing irrefutable evidence, Zhang Shiyong pondered before leaning back on the chair. He seemed to be completely relaxed as he spoke. “That’s right, Ye Zixi is my secret lover, but I didn’t kill her, and there’s no accomplice. After all, women are just for fun. I have many women, but she’s just one of them who stuck around longer. Can’t I do that?”

On the other side of the glass, Yao Meng cussed under her breath. “Barbaric animal.” Xu Xu frowned as well.

Subsequently, Ji Bai stared at him before stating, “You went to the crime scene on the night the incident happened.”

Zhang Shiyong looked at Ji Bai and smirked. “I did go there, but by the time I arrived, she was already dead.”