Chapter 12 A Look of Understanding Appeared on Her Face

Xie Kui found out something had happened after receiving a call from Xiao Zhang.

At that time, Xiao Zhang was eating in a restaurant, unaware of what was happening outside and not hearing Zhuang Zi’s cries for help.

However, he was very vigilant. After finishing his meal, he immediately left the restaurant.

As soon as he stepped out, he encountered two girls who were discussing hearing someone yelling for help near an alley and debating whether to call the police.

One of the girls stopped the other, saying, “It’s better not to get involved. That place is a hangout for thugs. We can’t afford to mess with them.”

As a criminal police officer, Xiao Zhang instinctively paid more attention to situations involving danger and immediately stopped them, asking, “Where did you hear that?”

The girl pointed out the location, thinking he was just another bystander looking for excitement, and added, “It could also be a domestic fight. We’re not sure. You’d better not go. You might get dragged into it.”

However, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Moreover, that alley was notorious for gang fights despite numerous crackdowns. Xiao Zhang felt it necessary to check it out but had another task at hand.

He thought for a moment, walked to the roadside, and called Zhuang Zi to inform her and then go over to check the situation quickly. 

He called twice, but no one answered.

With his police intuition, Xiao Zhang immediately sensed something was wrong.

He put away his phone, rushed across the street, entered the hotel, and after confirming that Zhuang Zi was not in her room, he panicked and quickly notified Xie Kui to dispatch police forces.

When Xie Kui received the call, Si Hang had just left the police station not long ago.

Time was of the essence. Knowing that the alley was on Si Hang’s way home, he contacted him immediately.

With traffic jammed, Si Hang parked a block away after receiving the call and ran towards the alley.

Meanwhile, Xiao Zhang, after leaving the hotel, also ran towards the alley. He observed the area along the way and found bloodstains on the ground halfway through.

His heart sank as he rushed out onto the main road, asked nearby shop owners, and followed the direction in which Zhuang Zi had fled.

At the same time, Si Hang, running down the street, received another call from Xie Kui, informing him that the fruit shop owner had just reported the incident.

He immediately changed direction and ran to find the fruit shop.

……

When Xiao Zhang found Zhuang Zi, Si Hang had already brought her back to his car.

Zhuang Zi was shivering from the cold. Si Hang opened the back seat and handed her a blanket he kept in the car, telling her to change out of her wet clothes.

She took the blanket and was about to get in the car when she noticed someone else inside: the little girl she had met in the office before.

She hesitated for a moment before getting into the car and closing the door.

Xiao Zhang came running over, out of breath, first checking to make sure she was okay.

Si Hang, looking serious and stern, didn’t have time to blame him for not keeping an eye on things, leading to the incident happening right under his nose.

Standing by the car door, he turned his back, considering that she was changing inside, even though he was separated by the car window, and asked, “Did you get a good look at the person who held you?”

Zhuang Zi had just taken off her coat. Hearing this, she glanced outside. In the dark car window, the man’s figure looked stable and tall.

“He’s half a head taller than me, slightly chubby.” She had been focused on escaping and didn’t have a chance to look back. All her judgments were based on the shadow on the ground: “I didn’t see his face clearly.”

“When did you first notice something was wrong?”

Zhuang Zi detailed the events starting from when she realized there was an issue with her phone: “My phone is still in the hotel. Maybe you can trace from there.”

“Was his accent local or non-local?”

“He spoke Mandarin, but his flat-tongued sounds were not standard.”

Zhuang Zi was left with only a thin knit shirt, her arms half-dry and half-wet. She wrapped the blanket around herself and suddenly smelled a faint scent of grass.

It was the scent of his blanket.

Si Hang asked a few more detailed questions, which Zhuang Zi answered one by one.

Soon, Xie Kui and the others arrived.

They jumped out of their car and ran over to ask about the situation. Si Hang relayed all the information Zhuang Zi had provided to them.

“Check the surveillance at the intersection and around the alley. Also, her phone might have been hacked, so inspect it immediately. From now on, assign someone to protect the victim 24/7. Any other issues will be discussed at a meeting tomorrow morning after the investigation.”

Xie Kui nodded. Since he had been handling the case previously, he suggested, “Xiao Zhang can go back to the hotel to get the phone. Xiao Meng and I will check the surveillance separately. The child is still in the car, and Miss Zhuang is injured. Boss, you can take her to get treated on your way.”

…

Si Hang drove to the nearest hospital.

Zhuang Zi sat in the back seat with Xiao Mi, clutching the blanket. The car was quiet, and none of the three spoke.

The little girl beside her stared at her with wide eyes. When Zhuang Zi looked back at her, she quickly looked away, pretending to be interested in something else.

Zhuang Zi glanced at her own reflection in the car window, indeed looking disheveled, and raised her hand to smooth her messy hair.

Si Hang took a quick look through the rearview mirror and then emotionlessly returned his gaze to the road.

He was really lucky today, having to take care of two victims at once.

Zhuang Zi was a coincidence. She had just narrowly escaped death and looked terribly disheveled. He couldn’t just ignore her.

As for the child.

He usually worked overtime at the police station on weekends but didn’t stay late at night.

Today, Xiao Meng had to go out for work, so Xiao Mi had been sitting in his office. When he turned off the lights and prepared to leave, she had silently followed him all the way to the parking lot.

…

In the treatment room, the doctor was cleaning Zhuang Zi’s wound with iodine, causing her to furrow her brows in pain.

“How did you get a cut on your neck?” The doctor was surprised. “If it had been a bit more to the side, it could have severed an artery!”

Thinking about the sensation of the knife slicing across her neck, Zhuang Zi felt a shudder of fear. In that situation, she hadn’t thought about much else. Death was a possibility anyway; perhaps taking a risk might have given her a chance to survive.

Ironically, she didn’t know whether narrowly escaping death tonight was a stroke of luck or misfortune.

The doctor didn’t handle her gently, and she gritted her teeth against the pain, turning her head to look outside.

Si Hang was standing in the hallway, back towards her, talking on the phone in a gentle tone.

“I’m bringing two people home tonight.”

“One is a child, the other was injured by a criminal and has nowhere else to go for now.”

His detailed explanation and gentle demeanor made it clear to Zhuang Zi, who wasn’t stupid, that he was talking to a woman.

She glanced at the back of his head, then slowly looked away, thinking that some people just aren’t warm towards everyone—they just aren’t warm towards you.

…

It was nine o’clock when they left the hospital.

The night rain had started to drizzle. Streetlights cast a dim and melancholic light through the rain, illuminating the road ahead.

The car drove steadily down the wide road, maintaining silence within the enclosed space.

Zhuang Zi fiddled with the edge of the blanket, feeling uneasy.

She pondered how inconvenient it would be to go to his house, thinking about how she would feel if her own man brought a strange woman home, regardless of the reason—it would always feel awkward.

But tonight, if she didn’t trouble him, she had nowhere else to go.

She didn’t want to be a burden to anyone, nor did she want to cause trouble for herself.

After a few seconds of hesitation, she glanced at the man’s profile and said, “You can take me back to the police station.”

Si Hang raised his eyes at her words, and their gazes met in the rearview mirror.

The next second, he looked away and asked indifferently, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Zhuang Zi was determined; she had stayed at the police station before and could handle it.

“Suit yourself.” His tone was indifferent, but after a while, he suddenly laughed mockingly and said with a hint of sarcasm, “You’d rather suffer in the car. Do you think I—”

“It’s not that!” Zhuang Zi immediately interrupted him, explaining with frustration, “I just don’t want to make things difficult for you.”

“What would be difficult?”

She opened her mouth but wasn’t sure if the person on the phone was his girlfriend or his wife, so she stayed silent.

Seeing her not speak, Si Hang frowned, looked at her through the rearview mirror again, then turned his gaze back to the road. His mind turned a corner, and he gradually understood her concerns, a knowing look appearing on his face.

“I’m not married and don’t have a girlfriend.” He said mockingly, “If I did, would I be bringing you two home?”

“…” Zhuang Zi turned her head, once again meeting his cold eyes in the rearview mirror.