Chapter 116 — Troubled Qiu Lingshan [Eighth Update, Summoning Monthly Tickets]

"Cough, cough... Huh?" Gu Mengyao nearly lost her footing and toppled to the ground. Boyfriend? Living together? This Xiao Shu was trying to anger her to death! But there was really nothing Gu Mengyao could do about it. She could only put on a stern face and change the subject: "Xiao Shu, you're a girl—going on about farts and pee, it's so uncivilized. No more of that from now on..."

"Oh, all right, I won't say it anymore." Shen Yushu nodded.

"Good that you won't..." Gu Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sister Yaoyao, then you don't have any objections—tomorrow I'll tell Xiao Liangzi about Arrow-Brand Bro and you..." Shen Yushu went on to say.

"..." Gu Mengyao wanted to give Shen Yushu a beating. Weren't you just saying you wouldn't say it anymore? Ugh... Now Gu Mengyao understood. What this little minx Shen Yushu meant by not saying it was only that she wouldn't say those uncivilized words anymore. But this matter... still had to be said.

"Xiao Shu, the timing still isn't right. Wei Zhao just transferred here, and we've already acted as if we didn't know him before. If we suddenly say that we... you know, wouldn't it seem a bit fake? Everything needs a gradual process. After a while, when we bring it up, it won't seem so abrupt," Gu Mengyao said.

"Oh, then I'll listen to you, Sister Yaoyao." Shen Yushu nodded. "I don't mind anyway. We agreed you're the first wife—you're the one choosing the man, I'm just a consultant..."

"Xiao Shu!" Gu Mengyao wanted to hammer this girl into the ground. "Why do you keep bringing up that old business? You're not stupid—if I get married, can you really just marry along with me?"

"That's hard to say." Shen Yushu hugged Gu Mengyao. "If I don't want to be separated from you, then we'll just go together..."

"You... I really don't know what to say to you..." Gu Mengyao shook her head, somewhat speechless. The two of them went upstairs hand in hand, and Gu Mengyao instructed General Mighty: "General Mighty, you did well. Keep guarding for us, and don't let that man come up."

"Woof, woof..." General Mighty sounded a little aggrieved. If he wants to come up, could I really stop him...

Qiu Lingshan was deeply troubled. Lü Jieyan was dead, and the trail had suddenly gone cold. Only Lü Jieyan's bald head and physical features were distinctive enough to make him easy to search for; the other subordinates were far more ordinary than Lü Jieyan...

And according to the forensic findings, Lü Jieyan must have died completely off guard, killed by a single shot. The other male corpse, also one of the bank robbers, had likewise died completely off guard, also killed by a single shot.

They had searched carefully for hundreds of miles around, and apart from these two bodies, there were no others. In other words, only two of this gang of kidnappers had died; the others might still be alive.

That was, in a sense, good news. If the whole gang of robbers had died, Qiu Lingshan would have had an even worse headache. Only two dead meant something: either there had been infighting among them, or they had been silenced afterward.

Through an online search, the identity of the other male corpse was also confirmed: Ma Liu, male, twenty-nine years old, an unemployed young man from Niudian Village, Huojia County, Songshan City. He had a poor reputation in the village, a loafer of the idler type who did no honest work.

Early last year he had said he was going to work with someone and left the village, after which his whereabouts became unknown...

Clearly, he had met Lü Jieyan after leaving Niudian Village, so this lead was of little significance...

After hesitating again and again, Qiu Lingshan decided to call Yang Huaijun for advice. Otherwise she truly had no clue. She had already signed a military pledge—if the case was not solved within ten days, the bureau chief would not dismiss her, but it would be a severe loss of face. If word reached the Song family, not only would she be humiliated, but her father would also be unable to hold his head up before his uncles and brothers...

"Brother Yang, it's me..." Qiu Lingshan was a little uneasy. After all, calling him like this made her seem somewhat incompetent. She had followed Yang Huaijun and learned from him for so long, yet had made no progress, which left her with little face...

In the past, Yang Huaijun had always taken command while she spearheaded the action. With her experience as an instructor in the special forces, no matter how savage the suspect, she would beat him until he was on the ground hunting for his teeth. Dangerous arrest missions were Qiu Lingshan's forte, and that was acknowledged throughout the police station—otherwise a female captain would never have won everyone's easy submission.

"Xiao Song, is something the matter?" Yang Huaijun had a meeting at the provincial department in the afternoon, but had nothing to do in the morning, so he planned to go to the old Chinese medicine doctor who treated him for a follow-up check. A few days ago he had suffered another attack. Though it had been brought on by anger at Wei Zhao, over the past few months his health had clearly been worsening day by day, and Yang Huaijun could sense it.

"Captain Yang... the 313 bank robbery case still has no leads... Two suspects are dead, and the others' fate is unknown..." Qiu Lingshan said cautiously.

"Heh—" Yang Huaijun naturally knew Qiu Lingshan's difficulty and understood her. After all, she had not come from a criminal investigation background and had received no systematic training. So he offered his view: "I already know about this. Let me give you my opinion. I think the possibility of them being silenced is relatively low. If it were silencing, it would be impossible for only two of the gang to die while the others were left untouched..."

"Then... what if they were silenced by the others? What if only these two weren't one of their own?" Qiu Lingshan asked humbly.

"Is that necessary? If they're all their own people, why would they bring two who aren't along? Isn't that just asking for trouble? Either they're all reliable men, or none of them are..." Yang Huaijun smiled. "So I think the likelihood of an internal falling-out is greater. The most probable scenario is an uneven split of the loot, with disagreements within the group. That's why Lv Jieyan and Ma Liu were eliminated by their own accomplices..."

"Yes, that makes sense... It must have been something like that." Qiu Lingshan nodded emphatically in agreement.

"In that case, we simply need to scale up the search. They're carrying such a massive pile of cash - unless they're willing to abandon it, they can hardly move quickly enough. Our people are stationed along every major transportation route conducting checks, so the chances of them leaving Songshan are slim. If we search outward from the site where those two corpses were found, we may well turn up something..." Yang Huaijun said.

"Yes, understood." A sudden sense of clarity washed over Qiu Lingshan...

"Heh, Xiao Song, I heard you and Wei Zhao have been seeing each other?" Yang Huaijun paused for a moment, then broached the question anyway. Word had already been going around the police station about Qiu Lingshan's formidable exploits... serving her boyfriend... in the hospital...

Though Yang Huaijun found it hard to believe that Wei Zhao and Qiu Lingshan could actually get together - never mind that Wei Zhao wasn't the type to leave romantic entanglements wherever he went, even Qiu Lingshan, who had been in the police station all this time without a single rumor of a romance, had rejected even a man as outstanding as Chen Yuxuan...

But as the old saying goes, which maiden doesn't yearn for love? However outstanding Chen Yuxuan was, he still fell far short of Wei Zhao. Even a girl as exceptional as Xiao Ning was head over heels for Wei Zhao, let alone Qiu Lingshan...