"Grandma!"
"Juan!"
An elderly woman called out to her granddaughter as she walked towards her with her limped leg. The gray locks of her hair had turned whiter before, but now she was finally regaining her lost color. She hugged the little girl with misty eyes.
"Where were you Juan! You got us all so worried…Yanyu looked like a ghost when she didn't see you anywhere."
She pouted. "Mom was super busy on the phone. She ignored me!"
"Still, you shouldn't leave like this…! You are just a child. What if somebody had hurt you?"
Behind the little girl followed a young woman who was closely running behind Juan. She was breathless as she reached them. "She was at the jewelry shop on the other side…"
Ma Zhilan wiped her eyes and sniffled. "Thank you so much for helping me find my granddaughter, dear. I don't know how to express my gratitude. If something would have happened to Juan…"
The woman named Dai Meihui shook her head. "You don't have to thank me. I have a son too. I understand how devastating it must feel to lose sight of your child."
"Juan, thank the Aunt," she looked down at her.
Juan chirped even though she wasn't really sure what was happening. "Thank you, Aunt Meimei!"
Ma Zhilan softly gasped. "I-I am sorry for her addressing you so familiarly-"
"Oh no no! I asked her to call me Aunt Meimei. Oh I apologize. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Dai Meihui," she bowed.
"I am Ma Zhilan. She is my granddaughter, Ma Juan. Thank you once again. Even though we are strangers, you helped me out."
"Like I said, you don't have to thank me. I am just happy to see Juan safe," she ruffled Juan's head, making her giggle. She looked at the time and gasped. "I am really sorry, but I will have to leave. I have to catch the next train to Gucheng."
"Of course, dear," Ma Zhilan beamed. She patted her head and wished her from the bottom of her heart. "You are really kind. I hope you live a good life."
Dai Meihui slightly shook and didn't know why but tears welled in her eyes with her warm words. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
—
Days later.
Jia stretched her arms as she finished her report. She walked towards Huojin's desk and asked, "Is there any progress on Hao Rongjun?"
He released a tired sigh and shook his head. "He is just refusing to budge. Secondly, he is too much in shock seeing that his plan failed."
While arresting Hao Rongjun, Jia had heard him whispering about a certain someone advising the whole scheme to him of kidnapping Danya so that he could make Wenqian his. It meant that there was another culprit on the loose. To find that name out, Huojin had carried out a series of interrogations with Hao Rongjun, but none succeeded.
"His phone records?"
"There have been some call records from an unknown number, but they are untraceable. Burner numbers."
"Any specific place where he visited frequently to meet that person?"
"None that is highlighted in the report."
Jia took a seat opposite him and continued. "What about his office colleagues? Did they notice him behaving differently? Or saw him meeting a stranger at any time?"
Huojin read through his report again and said, "No. He was quite a boastful and arrogant person to work with. He was very shameless in always repeating to his colleagues that he met a very beautiful woman and would marry her soon. They were very annoyed at him and mostly kept their distance from him. His troublesome behavior had also led to some employees in his team getting scolded and punished for no reason. So, nobody bothered with him."
"Boastful and arrogant…" Jia snorted. "Reminds me of a certain devil I don't want to remember at all."
Huojin chuckled. "You will be okay, Jia."
"After him telling me that he is aiming for my life and wants to make me his organ donor again?" Her dry expression made it a point to show her resentment.
"I am sure you will kick him in his balls before he even gets to touch a strand of your hair," he broke into a hearty laughter.
Jia grimaced. "You seem to be enjoying my plight."
"Please don't be mad at me, but it's really fun to see you two argue."
"It's a torture for me," her mouth twitched. "So mind what you are saying or I will strangle you first before I kill Mingshen," she said with a not-so-threatening smile.
But it was enough of a warning for Huojin, and he coughed.
"Anyway, we will keep working on Hao Rongjun's records too. We will definitely figure something out to find that person. Until then, let's keep some officers in plain clothes to guard Danya and Miss. Wenqian around school hours. I guess Huayuan will take its own measures as well, but we shouldn't slack on our duties either."
"Roger that."
Officer Xiyang just then entered and said, "Superintendent Song, Superintendent Mo! We just received a distress call. There has been a death at Dahua Film City in Dongdan."
They didn't waste a second and immediately headed outside, putting on their caps.
Officer Xiyang continued. "It's a woman. Her name is Dai Yaling. Sixty-two. She was with her family to watch a movie. There is not much information as of now, but the theater authority said that her family noticed her not moving from her seat after the movie was over. It was then they realized that she wasn't breathing at all."
Jia furrowed her brows. "So it's possible that something happened to her while the movie was ongoing, but nobody noticed her condition until the movie was over?"
"That's what happened."
Huojin said, "Was the theater booked full?"
"Not booked to its maximum capacity, but there was a decent amount of audience."
"Then how come the surrounding people didn't see her struggle? She couldn't have died without making at least a little bit of a commotion."
Jia thought for a moment and squinted her eyes. "Not if they would have booked the last row seats. In that case, there would be nobody from the back to notice her state. Only the people to the left and right side of hers. That is if she was seated somewhere in the middle."
As they came out to head to the location of the accident, Jia saw a big hand waving at her who gleefully smiled at her, his handsome face shining more ethereal in the sunlight and his back leaned against a luxurious Porsche.
"Spicy, it's our very first case together! Are you excited? Are you excited? I can totally see you hopping with joy~" Mingshen grinned.
He furiously patted his palm on his car roof's top and said, "So, what are we waiting for? Let's go, partner!"