Forensic Forensic - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Luo Jianan was already a distance away from the hotel after dropping off Qi Ming when his phone suddenly rang. The ringtone was a frog’s croak—he had specially set it for Qi Ming. Tapping his Bluetooth earphone, he impatiently asked, “What do you want?”

“My laptop is still in the trunk, bring it back to me.” Without waiting for Luo Jianan to refuse, Qi Ming hung up after speaking.

That old man! You forgot something and I have to bring it to you? The dense red taillights of the cars ahead were irritating. Luo Jianan waited for at least five red lights while stuck in the lane for left turns and U-turns before he could pass. After parking the car in the underground garage, he only remembered that he didn’t know Qi Ming’s room number when he was pressing the elevator button. He called Qi Ming, but it rang until it disconnected with no one answering. Luo Jianan had no choice but to go to the lobby to inquire. The room number was 1907. Standing outside the door, Luo Jianan saw a “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging on the doorknob.

Ringing the doorbell, he waited for a while at the door, carrying the laptop bag, before Qi Ming came to open the door. As soon as the door opened, Luo Jianan felt a gust of damp air mixed with the fresh scent of shower gel hit him—Qi Ming had just taken a shower. He was basically naked except for a towel wrapped around his waist. His black long hair was wet and draped over his shoulders. Drops of water rolled down the groove between his chest and abdominal muscles, disappearing at the edge of the towel.

Oh-ho, this guy has a nice physique. Luo Jianan had to put in some effort to move his gaze away from the other person’s undulating chest muscles. Qi Ming wasn’t wearing his glasses. He squinted and reached out his hand. “Give me the laptop, you can leave.” He grabbed at the air, not because of his vision, but because Luo Jianan intentionally pulled his hand back.

“It’s already this late. You don’t invite me to dinner for delivering something for you?” Luo Jianan took a step back. He bet that Qi Ming wouldn’t dare to walk into the range of the hallway’s surveillance camera wearing only a towel.

“Do you invite the delivery guy for dinner?” Qi Ming’s arm stretched forward again. “Give it to me!”

“Then pay the delivery fee, sir. Eight yuan for local delivery, double for cash on delivery.” Determined to embarrass Qi Ming, Luo Jianan held the laptop bag and took another step back. Qi Ming slightly frowned and stepped out of the room. As a result, not wearing his glasses, he didn’t see a raised edge of the carpet, tripped over it, and lunged towards Luo Jianan. Luo Jianan instinctively raised his hands to catch the person, completely forgetting about the laptop bag in his hands.

“The laptop!”

Qi Ming fell into Luo Jianan’s arms, tightly holding the laptop bag that the other party had tossed away. Just as the two were catching their breath in shock, a floor attendant heard the noise and appeared at the end of the corridor. Seeing one big man holding another half-naked big man, he quickly raised his hand, apologized with a “Pardon me,” and disappeared around the corner.

Shoving Qi Ming away, Luo Jianan covered his chin where the other person had hit him, and cursed under his breath, “Damn it, is the item important or the person? You almost knocked my chin crooked!”

Qi Ming frowned, holding his forehead. “Is your chin made of iron? You know you can get a concussion from that, right?”

While the two were complaining to each other, Luo Jianan’s phone rang again. It was Captain Chen.

“Xiao Luo, go to the First Hospital. We just received a report that a gunshot wound patient is currently in emergency surgery.”

“Sh1t… Captain, I haven’t even had dinner yet!”

“You won’t starve to death missing one meal.”

Hanging up the phone, Luo Jianan scowled and said to Qi Ming, who was closing the door, “You go to the bureau yourself tomorrow morning. There’s a gunshot wound case at the First Hospital, I need to go investigate the situation. I don’t know how late I’ll be working tonight.”

The First Hospital? Qi Ming stopped his action of closing the door. After a moment, he said, “Give me ten minutes, I’ll go with you.”

“The person isn’t dead yet, they’re being rescued. There’s no point in you going—”

Before Luo Jianan could finish his sentence, Qi Ming slammed the door shut, almost breaking the other person’s nose.

The emergency hall was packed with people—a large number of those with fever and cold, plus those with emergencies and external injuries. It was more lively than a marketplace. Luo Jianan showed his police ID to the nurse and asked about the gunshot victim. The nurse told him the person was in the operating room upstairs, and she didn’t know anything else. To investigate, he had to wait outside the operating room for the doctor. While waiting for the elevator, Luo Jianan noticed Qi Ming looking around, looking like he was surveying an old house in his hometown that he hadn’t returned to for years.

“Are you very familiar with this place?” Luo Jianan asked Qi Ming inside the elevator.

“My parents used to work at this hospital. I would come to my mom’s office to do my homework after school. This place is completely different from before.”

“The old building was renovated a few years ago, and two new buildings were erected,” Luo Jianan pondered. “This building is the old one.”

“I know. My mother’s office was in this building,” Qi Ming said, sighing slightly.

Luo Jianan guessed he was probably thinking about his childhood. It was natural to feel regret now that both parents were gone. But he didn’t want to ask too much—with someone like Qi Ming, he wouldn’t say an extra word if he didn’t want to. He grabbed a doctor wearing surgical scrubs who came out of the operating room and asked about the gunshot victim.

After getting the information, Luo Jianan turned to Qi Ming and said, “The anesthetist just said it will take a while. I’m going downstairs to McDonald’s to grab something to eat, I’m starving. Do you want to join me?”

“I don’t eat junk food.”

“…”

Luo Jianan thought, This rich guy is too difficult to please.

Qi Ming wasn’t hungry at all, but he still finished the strawberry sundae Luo Jianan bought back. Looking at the situation, the surgery would take a while to finish, so he needed to replenish some energy. Even with the ice keeping it cold, the sundae had melted a bit and tasted sickeningly sweet.

Even though he bought it, Luo Jianan still muttered, “A grown man actually likes sweets, aren’t you afraid of getting diabetes?” while Qi Ming was eating—which successfully blocked Qi Ming’s “Thank you.”

It was close to midnight when the doctor finally came out of the operating room with a tray containing the extracted bullet. The patient had been rescued but had lost too much bl00d and was still in a coma. It was impossible to take a statement in the short term.

“Nine-millimeter caliber.” Luo Jianan used tweezers to pick up the bullet head for a look, then tossed it back onto the tray with a clank. “Excuse me, Doctor, please put this in a sterile bag; it’s evidence. Also, do you know where the injured person was brought from? Do they have any identification?”

The doctor thought for a moment and said, “The Zhenhai Square Night Market. The injured person suddenly rushed into the crowd, and someone called an ambulance. They didn’t have a wallet or phone on them when they were brought in, so it looks like they were robbed.”

“Thank you. Oh, here’s my number.” Luo Jianan took out a business card and handed it to the doctor. “Call me immediately if he wakes up, no matter the time.”

The doctor took the business card and nodded. Sitting in the car, Qi Ming asked Luo Jianan, “Where are we going now?”

“Taking you back to the hotel.”

“What about you?”

“To Zhenhai Square. The night market doesn’t close until four in the morning.” Luo Jianan started the car. “There’s a gang hangout there. I’m going to inquire.”

“I’ll go with you.” Qi Ming finished speaking and noticed Luo Jianan looking at him with a strange gaze. “What is it?”

“There’s no corpse, why are you going?”

Qi Ming answered him expressionlessly, “Since I don’t want to be a free driver, I need to know if you are qualified to be my partner.”

Partner? Luo Jianan lit a cigarette and chuckled through the exhaled smoke, “Fine, then let you see how I, Police Superintendent Luo Jianan, investigate cases.”

Zhenhai Square Night Market was the largest and most bustling night market in the city. Although it was nearly one in the morning, business was still booming. Children selling flowers moved between the tables set up in the square. When they saw what looked like couples, they would approach and coax the man into buying a rose for the woman.

“Big brother, buy a rose for the big sister, it’s only ten yuan.” A crisp child’s voice sounded from behind. Luo Jianan turned around and saw a girl about ten years old holding a wilting rose wrapped in poor-quality plastic packaging, looking at him with hopeful eyes. She mistook the long-haired Qi Ming for a girl. When the other person turned around, she realized her mistake and was stunned, not knowing what to do.

Seeing Qi Ming’s “what the hell” expression, Luo Jianan was holding back a laugh so hard he wanted to cry. He generously took out twenty yuan and gave it to the little girl, taking the wilted rose from her hand. “Go home and sleep early, little girl.” Then he handed the rose to Qi Ming, “Take it, don’t be shy, ‘big sister’.”

Qi Ming didn’t want to curse in front of the child. He snatched the rose and then handed it back to the little girl.

“Look carefully before calling people next time, girl.”

Having received twenty yuan for free, the little girl happily bowed to them, and immediately forgot Qi Ming’s instruction, “Thank you, big brother! Thank you, big sister!”

Luo Jianan laughed until he coughed. After the little girl walked away, Qi Ming gave Luo Jianan the middle finger.

Stopping in front of a street food stall called “Lobsters and Wine, the More You Drink, the More You Have,” Luo Jianan scanned the customers at the tables. He walked up to one of the tables and bent down to slap a bald man on the shoulder. This sudden slap startled the man, who jumped up, clutching a beer bottle. But when he turned around and saw it was Luo Jianan, the bald man’s face, full of tough-looking flesh, immediately formed a smile—

“Yo, Brother Nan is here?”

“Haven’t seen you in a few days, your temper is growing, Old B.” Luo Jianan took the beer bottle from his hand and put it back on the table. He took out his cigarette case and tapped out a cigarette. Old B quickly flicked his lighter to light it for him, nodding and bowing as he asked, “How dare I lose my temper in front of you, Brother Nan. By the way, Brother Nan, have you eaten? Why don’t you join us for a quick meal?”

Seeing a forty-something old hustler like Old B being so respectful to Luo Jianan, Qi Ming deduced that this must be Luo Jianan’s informant.

“Don’t bother, I came to talk about serious business.” Luo Jianan put his arm around Old B and led him to a quiet spot behind the food stall. He asked, “Who sold a nine-millimeter caliber gun recently?”

“Oh, Brother Nan, why would you ask me that? How would I know something like that? I don’t deal in—hey, hey! Brother Nan! Let’s talk—nicely!” Being grabbed by the neck and pressed against the wall by Luo Jianan, Old B immediately wore a miserable face. “Last week, Black Tiger sold a 9-millimeter Browning. I didn’t set up the deal for him. I just heard about it, just heard about it!”

Letting go of his hand, Luo Jianan patted Old B’s face and said in a half-threatening tone, “Remember, if you don’t want to go back to the lockup for another ten or eight years, stay away from the damn stuff you shouldn’t touch!”

“Yes, yes, Brother Nan is right. Thanks to you for getting me out back then, or else how could I have a fat baby boy now? You must come to the full-month celebration!”

“He’s born? That fast? Is he yours?” Luo Jianan had just said it when he felt a kick to his calf. He turned to look at Qi Ming, who had an expression of “can you speak humanly?” He glared at Qi Ming, then turned back, took out his wallet, and pulled out two hundred yuan to slip into Old B’s hand. “I won’t go to the full-month celebration, so as not to cause gossip if someone I know sees me.”

“Oh, oh, oh, Brother Nan, you can’t do this. How can I take your money?” Old B quickly tried to push the money back. “It should be me showing you respect.”

“Get lost! Am I short of your few pennies?” Luo Jianan shook him off and signaled Qi Ming to leave the smoke-filled place.

“Where now?” Qi Ming asked.

Luo Jianan lifted his jacket and showed the handcuffs clipped to his waist.

“To arrest the one illegally selling controlled firearms.”

The author has something to say: This chapter has been significantly revised~