Skin - Chapter 7

“Let’s go.” Meng Zhao looked at it for a while, then stood up and said.

　　Lu Shichen said nothing and went downstairs with Meng Zhao. When he went downstairs, Meng Zhao was thinking that Zhou Yan had probably invited Lu Shichen to his old house. In addition to having something to tell Lu Shichen, he undoubtedly had something else to show him. Otherwise, if he was just going to talk about something, then why would he specifically make the appointment somewhere else instead of his own apartment?

　　”Do you have no idea what Zhou Yan wanted from you?” Meng Zhao turned off the flashlight on his phone and asked Lu Shichen after walking down the stairs.

　　”He probably had something to give me,” Lu Shichen said, “otherwise, why would he bother to call me out here.”

　　Yes, it was just as he guessed.

　　A stranger with whom he had never communicated suddenly came to trouble him, and no one could guess what the reason was.

　　After staying there calmly for a while, Meng Zhao found that Lu Shichen wasn’t that annoying anymore.

　　‘No’, Meng Zhao quickly corrected himself. It should be that Lu Shichen kept his mouth shut not because he didn’t want to annoy him, but rather because Lu Shichen was not a man of many words.

　　”Why did you think of returning to China?” The two walked side by side for a while, it was a bit strange not to speak to each other. So, Meng Zhao started talking.

　　”I can go back if I want to,” Lu Shichen said.

　　”You caused trouble just after you came back. What happened? Did your dad scold you after returning from the bureau?” Meng Zhao followed up the afternoon’s sentence of ‘finding dad when anything happens’ and criticised Lu Shichen again.

　　Lu Shichen did not answer his question and asked instead: “The reason why you summoned me this afternoon is not just because I was photographed on surveillance at the time of the crime, right?”

　　”What else do you think it could be about?” Meng Zhao asked casually, not intending to disclose the details of the case to Lu Shichen.

　　”Summoning me is not an ordinary matter of cooperating with the investigation, but an interrogation as a suspect. If Officer Meng is not avenging a personal vendetta, there should be other evidence besides surveillance. Let me think about it…” Lu Shichen paused, “Dog hair?”

　　Meng Zhao was startled, the man managed to actually guess it right, but he remained calm: “Why do you say that?”

　　”The evidence in your hand needs to be a little more ambiguous, so that I can be suspected of committing the murder. But it isn’t enough to immediately convict me. Moreover, when you came to my house in the morning, you were probably not sure whether this evidence was related to me, but you summoned me in the afternoon. This indicates that it had to be verified if the evidence was indeed related to me or not. I remember that when Officer Meng left my house, he bent down and touched my dog, do I remember it correctly?”

　　Meng Zhao was silent for a moment: “…You might as well join our criminal investigation unit.”

　　”I won’t.” Lu Shichen said, and then added after a pause, “The salary is too low.”

　　Meng Zhao: “…”

　　”Besides, I have no interest in pursuing justice. I’m just making a casual guess.”

　　”Come on,” Meng Zhao didn’t give him a face, “Most wouldn’t realise it even if they concentrate on guessing for several hours.”

　　The demolition area where the crime occurred was not far from the Municipal Bureau. They had to walk straight ahead for 200 metres and then pass the traffic light intersection.

　　The lights on the road were dim, and the handcuffs on their wrists were not noticeable, but at the traffic light intersection, several little girls frequently turned around and looked at them, laughing while whispering to each other. Only then did Meng Zhao realise that something felt wrong.

　　Looking at Lu Shichen, he was obviously someone who had experienced big events. He was wearing handcuffs on one hand and holding the pocket of his windbreaker with the other. His expression was very natural, and he was obviously not disturbed by the handcuffs in his interest of pretending to be sexy.

　　But Meng Zhao didn’t think about what was wrong. He still had Zhou Yan’s case in his mind.

　　After the red light changed to green, Meng Zhao stepped onto the zebra crossing and turned away from the attention of the little girls behind him. Only then did Meng Zhao feel a little more at ease.

　　But what he didn’t know was that behind him, which he couldn’t see, several little girls had already raised cameras towards the backs of the two people.

　　To them, the scene resembled a gay couple wearing handcuffs and sexy bracelets, showing off their affection in the middle of the night.

　　At eleven o’clock at night, the brand-new Municipal Bureau Building stood tall in the city.

　　Meng Zhao looked up and saw that the lights in the criminal investigation office on the second floor were still on. Who was still working overtime?

　　The two went up the stairs, and just as they turned into the corridor, a person walked out of the criminal investigation office. Only then did Meng Zhao see clearly that the person working overtime was Cheng Yun.

　　”Why didn’t you go back?” Meng Zhao walked over, “Don’t lock the door.”

　　”Hey? Brother Zhao?” Cheng Yun was a little surprised that Meng Zhao was still in the city bureau . “Didn’t you go home? This is…?”

Cheng Yun’s eyes stayed on the two people’s wrists locked together. She then looked up at Meng Zhao and then at Lu Shichen. If they were arresting a criminal suspect, the atmosphere would undoubtedly be too harmonious but that didn’t seem the case.

　　”…It’s okay, it’s an accident.” Meng Zhao opened the door and entered the office, “Go home quickly.”

　　Cheng Yun stopped him: “Wait a minute, Brother Zhao, I just found someone who seems to have a conflict with Zhou Yan.”

　　”Huh?” Meng Zhao paused.

　　”Look at this,” Cheng Yun pulled out a screenshot from the photo album on her phone, “I found it on Zhou Yan’s Weibo.”

　　This Weibo was posted by Zhou Yan two months ago: 【I have consulted a lawyer about plagiarism and we will see you in court, @LiangChuan】

　　”I looked up on this matter. It seems that Liang Chuan plagiarised several of Zhou Yan’s songs a year ago and was discovered by Zhou Yan two months ago. However, Liang Chuan had more fans, nearly 5 million. Zhou Yan confronted Liang Chuan privately on WeChat. After it was publicly stated on the blog that Liang Chuan plagiarised him, his fans had been scolding Zhou Yan on Weibo. Zhou Yan was so angry that he posted on Weibo that he was going to court to sue Liang Chuan. Find out if he did sue Liang Chuan would have to wait until tomorrow. A detailed investigation was carried out…”

　　After hearing her report, Meng Zhao returned the phone to Cheng Yun: “Well done.”

　　”Am I being praised?!” Cheng Yun suddenly smiled with eighteen teeth exposed.

　　”Go home quickly,” Meng Zhao urged, “Did you drive yourself to work?”

　　”Yes, I’m leaving now, Brother Zhao.” Cheng Yun stopped smiling, glanced at the handcuffs between the two, and smiled at Meng Zhao again.

　　This last smile was obviously not simple, because it reminded Meng Zhao of the little girls who were smiling and whispering at the traffic light intersection earlier.

　　Meng Zhao felt something was wrong: “…” Wait, had the girls misunderstood something?

Chapter 7

　　After entering the office, Meng Zhao took the key from his coat and unlocked the door, freeing their wrists.

　　Lu Shichen held the spot where he was handcuffed with one hand and looked at the office: “The working environment is okay.”

　　”Nonsense, it was just built last year. Haven’t you seen that the equipment in the interrogation room is similar to that of those American TV series?” Meng Zhao glanced at the watch on his wrist. At that moment, the diamonds on the dial gave off a low-key and elegant look under the illumination of the ceiling light. The expensive lustre made it difficult not to notice, “Let’s go. No matter how good the working environment is, the salary is too low to recruit talents like Mr. Lu.”

　　Meng Zhao walked to the door, raised his hand to turn off the lights, and bent down to lock the door.

　　Lu Shichen looked at him from the side: “You talk more than before.”

　　”Are you kidding?” Meng Zhao straightened up, “The environment in the class didn’t allow students like us to speak.”

　　No one believed it. Although Meng Zhao’s average grade ranking in high school was once in the bottom ten percent, when he first started in high school, he was assigned to the experimental class based on the high school entrance examination results. He was assigned to the experimental class where top students gathered. This was due to his extraordinary performance in the high school entrance examination and the bonus points for his long-distance running ranking in the Municipal Games.

　　The students of their generation happened to coincide with the time when the new director of the Education Bureau took the seat. The city implemented quality-oriented education reforms and no longer conducted classes based on grades, which was said to reduce students’ learning pressure. So even if Meng Zhao’s grades plummeted later, he still stayed in the top students’ class for three years.

　　Meng Zhao accidentally entered the most academic class in the school. Looking back on the atmosphere in the class at that time, Meng Zhao still felt a little suffocated.

　　However, when he was in high school, he didn’t like to talk, and it wasn’t entirely because of the atmosphere. It was mainly because his uncle Meng Xiangyu was involved in an unjust case at that time.

　　Meng Zhao’s parents divorced when he was very young, his father remarried, and he had been living with his mother. When he was ten years old, his mother Meng Jing died in a fight with criminals. After that, he lived with his uncle Meng Xiangyu’s family.

　　When Meng Zhao was in high school, Meng Xiangyu was unfortunately involved in an unjust case and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. His aunt fell ill after hearing the news, and Meng Ruoshu was still young, so all the problems at home fell on Meng Zhao. Meng Zhao, who was 17 years old at the time, ran around for Meng Xiangyu’s affairs and was forced to grow up. Fortunately, Lu Chengze and Lu Chengze’s university tutor Zhou Mingsheng helped during the second trial, and Meng Xiangyu was able to clear his name.

　　Because of that incident, Meng Zhao didn’t talk much to his classmates in high school. The top students in his class regarded him as a ‘relative of a murderer’, and he himself was so overwhelmed by the incident that he didn’t even think about it.

　　Arriving at the door of the Municipal Bureau, Meng Zhao was thinking of a question to ask Lu Shichen. Next to him, Lu Shichen spoke first: “Where do you live?”

　　Meng Zhao mentioned a local landmark near his house. Lu Shichen thought for a moment and said, “It’s quite far away. You didn’t drive?”

　　”I came here for a jog tonight.”

　　”Why don’t you live nearby?”

　　As soon as the question came up, Meng Zhao couldn’t help but grind his back molars again. Why not eat minced meat?

　　Looking at Lu Shichen, the man definitely did it on purpose, because Meng Zhao saw the slight but undisguised smile in his eyes… At best, it was called a smile, at worst, it was definitely ridiculous.

　　”That’s almost enough,” Meng Zhao glanced at him. The other person looked so human-like that it almost concealed his true nature that he didn’t deserve a beating.

　　”How about I drive you?” Lu Shichen finally said something humane.

　　”Forget it,” Meng Zhao said, “I won’t bother you.”

　　After parting ways with Lu Shichen, Meng Zhao ran forward for a while and suddenly remembered that he had a question he wanted to ask Lu Shichen, but was interrupted by him and forgot to ask.

　　Meng Zhao turned around and saw that Lu Shichen had already crossed the road. He thought to himself that they would talk about it tomorrow, and there was no rush about it.

　　Looking at Lu Shichen’s back, Meng Zhao couldn’t help but think of a scene from high school.

　　At that time, he was running around for his uncle’s case and had no choice but to occasionally skip classes. The head teacher knew about his family situation. Although he talked to him several times and asked him to focus on his studies, there was nothing more he could do.

–·–·+·–·–

　　One day when class was about to start at noon, Meng Zhao rushed back to school. The school was located on the outskirts of the city, with a wide road in front of it. Although there were warning signs saying ‘Please drive slowly when passing the school’, the vehicles still drove very fast.

　　Meng Zhao was walking and thinking with his head down. He raised his head when he was about to cross the road. Then he saw a puppy run over by a car in the middle of the road, and Lu Shichen, who was staring at the dog on the other side of the road.

　　Even now, Meng Zhao could still remember the puppy with its belly upturned and its limbs struggling painfully in the middle of the road, as well as the indifferent look on Lu Shichen’s face.

　　At that time, Meng Zhao noticed that a car was approaching not far away. He quickly walked over, bent down and put his hands under the puppy, quickly and carefully lifted it up, then stood up and ran quickly to the other side of the road.

　　”Hey, you’re looking for death! Can’t you look at the road?!” The driver behind him stepped on the brakes and cursed at Meng Zhao outside the window.

　　Meng Zhao ignored it. He was wondering what to do with the bloody puppy. He passed by Lu Shichen, who glanced at him but said nothing and walked across the road.

　　If things only ended there, Meng Zhao’s impression of Lu Shichen would only be ‘somewhat indifferent’. But that night during self-study, he didn’t know who spread the rumour first, saying that someone saw Meng Zhao abusing a dog outside the school. The dog was beaten to death by Meng Zhao and was covered in blood.

　　Meng Zhao was in the corner of the classroom at that time. He was lying on the table a little sleepy because he hadn’t had a good rest for several days. Compared with the past, the classroom seemed a bit noisy that day. Meng Zhao only heard buzzing conversations in his ears. But he did not know that he was the centre of the conversation.

　　As a ‘relative of a murderer’, coupled with his many misdeeds such as skipping classes, his grades being at the bottom, getting into fights outside school, etc., Meng Zhao was the most out of place in Experimental Class 1.

　　Meng Zhao straightened up and wanted to take out the headphones from his desk and put them on, and then he heard Lu Shichen’s voice.

　　Lu Shichen was sitting in the second-to-last row next to him. Although he was very close to Meng Zhao, the two of them barely spoke.

　　Among the buzzing whispers, Lu Shichen’s voice sounded very clear.

　　”The dog was run over by a car. I saw it,” there was no trace of emotion in his tone. “It was two cars. The first one ran over its hind legs, and the second one ran over its stomach five minutes later.”

　　Meng Zhao’s hand holding the earphones paused. He heard the people around Lu Shichen quiet down, and other people in the classroom also turned their heads to look over.

　　”How pitiful…” someone whispered, “Didn’t it lose a lot of blood?”

　　”Its intestines were squeezed out,” Lu Shichen glanced at the girl and asked flatly, “What do you think?”

　　There was an uproar around him at that moment. Meng Zhao glanced at Lu Shichen. From his angle, he could only see Lu Shichen lowering his head slightly, holding a pen and writing something in the exercise book. Lu Shichen didn’t speak again after that.

　　So he just watched the injured puppy lying there struggling for that long? Meng Zhao recalled the scene of Lu Shichen standing across the road, and felt that his eyes were a little scary.

　　That night, the injured puppy was taken to a nearby vet by Meng Zhao, but the doctor said it could not be saved, so Meng Zhao had to spend some money to euthanize it and find a place to bury it.

　　He had a dream that night. He dreamed that the one who was run over by the car and struggled painfully in the middle of the road was not the puppy, but himself, while Lu Shichen stood on the opposite side of the road and watched with indifference.

　　The next morning, during the recess, everyone had to go downstairs to do exercises. Boys and girls lined up in two rows according to their height. Lu Shichen and Meng Zhao stood at the end of the line. Lu Shichen was slightly taller than Meng Zhao and stood behind him.

　　”What happened to that dog?” Meng Zhao heard Lu Shichen ask from behind before running. If he remembered correctly, it was the first time Lu Shichen took the initiative to speak to him.

　　”Dead and buried.” Meng Zhao didn’t really want to talk to him. Then he heard Lu Shichen laugh behind him, sounding contemptuous and cold: “It’s just a homeless wild dog. It’s useless to save it.”

　　For some reason, after hearing his words, Meng Zhao felt angry for no reason. The teacher in charge of running exercises stood in front and shouted: “Students in Experimental Class 1, get ready…” Meng Zhao turned around, raised his fists and pointed at Lu Shichen waved it over. Lu Shichen also seemed to be prepared. He turned his head to avoid Meng Zhao’s fist, and then punched him in return.

　　The playground suddenly became chaotic, and everyone stopped and looked at the unexpected fight which had broken out.

　　By the time the teacher came over to break the fight, both of their faces had already turned messy.

　　”Why are you fighting here?” the head teacher asked, standing in front of them in the office.