Things Better Left Unasked

Tong Haojing hurried back from the Big House Clan by the Tangdu River in his hometown to West City Police Station. It was already past nine in the morning. In the conference room of West City Police Station, Director Tang was gathering all the officers for the morning meeting. This was routine: every Monday, they summarized the previous week's work and arranged the tasks for the coming week. Tong Haojing sat to the left of Old Jiang's seat, with Ke Qian on his right.

The conference room was neither too large nor too small. The officers and station leaders spoke in turn.

Officer Lan and Lu Tong respectively reported on their examination of the scene where Long Qiaozhen had been found hanging herself in Foyun Village. No suspicious points had been discovered, and it matched the characteristics of suicide by hanging. Qian Fu from the Municipal Bureau and the coroner had concluded it was suicide. The case was not a criminal case.

Old Jiang spoke. "The thug, who had been missing for a long time, showed up on the streets of Hongqiao two days ago. There's a strong possibility that a new gambling den has appeared. Recently, two groups got into a fight around Hongdu City, but neither reported it..."

Old Jiang deliberately kept quiet about the ID card.

Then it was the newcomer Tong Haojing's turn to speak. He coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said, "Leaders and colleagues, I don't have much to say. Just one thing: I'll follow Teacher Jiang! I'll resolutely complete every task the director assigns me. But I'd like to ask—who was Long Qiaozhen, and why did she commit suicide?" Everyone looked at Tong Haojing strangely.

"Well, that... that might be something to ask the Criminal Investigation Brigade. They said there was no need to investigate. The deceased couldn't endure the torment of her illness!" Officer Lan answered somewhat hastily. It was clearly not what he truly meant. And in a setting like this, it was not a rookie's place to speak at all. In everyone's eyes, Tong Haojing was being reckless—or simply acting rashly without knowing how deep the waters ran.

Who could have known that the truth often lay within such questions from someone unaware of the depths?

Deputy Director Liu Yang commented on Officer Lan and Lu Tong's trip to the scene at Yunding Mountain. "I should have gone to the scene that day, but the bureau had a meeting, so I couldn't make it. When responding to a scene, ask more whys. Pay attention to the traces and physical evidence left behind. Don't just follow what others say. Of course, experts from the Criminal Investigation Brigade came, so there wasn't much we could say. You two, I'm not blaming you..."

Ke Qian did not speak. When Tong Haojing had finished, she quietly leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Why is your head bruised? I have some bandages. Take one and use it."

Tong Haojing felt the warmth of a woman's concern, but he merely gave a cold smile and murmured, "A minor problem. Nothing serious."

Director Tang's chiseled face was solemn as he made the final remarks. "Overall public security has remained stable over the past week, but we must attach great importance to what Old Jiang reported. The station will send Officer Lan and Lu Tong from the Criminal Investigation Squad to investigate. Old Jiang will assist them. Our new officer, Tong Haojing, needs to speed up his familiarization with the public security situation in Hongqiao Community and provide more valuable leads for the station. Let me emphasize this: whatever we do, we cannot chase rumors and shadows. We must act according to the law and rely on evidence..."

After the brief meeting ended, Ke Qian called Tong Haojing to the administrative office to collect a newly issued body camera. Tirelessly, she explained its various functions and operating techniques. Tong Haojing was quick-witted and learned everything as soon as she taught him, but he was especially interested in the body camera's powerful storage capacity.

"Ke Qian, can this body camera record video? How much can it store?"

"What are you planning to do?"

"Just asking."

"You won't tell me? Then I don't know either!" Ke Qian deliberately teased him and played coy. She guessed Tong Haojing had some purpose in mind.

In fact, recording evidence had long been one of the work methods Tong Haojing had planned. He had learned about it during training at the Police Academy. Perhaps work came easily to him. No wonder he had so readily agreed to Tang Changan's request. Old Jiang had never expected that.

Old Jiang came out of the conference room looking displeased. Now that he had taken on an apprentice, he decided to take him around after all. It was a good thing for young people to have lofty ambitions. Today, he was quite interested in taking Tong Haojing to familiarize himself with the public security situation in Hongqiao Community.

"Come on. We're making the rounds in the community today!"

For Tong Haojing, it was his first time riding in a bridal sedan chair. He was extremely excited and agreed without a second word.

"Fine. Are we leaving right away?"

Before Old Jiang could say anything, Tong Haojing was about to head downstairs to the rear courtyard to ride his Prince motorcycle. Old Jiang quickly stopped him. "You're young. Walking is good exercise. If you want to understand the situation, you can only do it on foot. That's the only way to go deeper." In truth, Tong Haojing only wanted to get to the community faster, but veteran officers like Old Jiang could not stand people hopping in and out of cars at every turn.

People streamed along the road. Tong Haojing walked behind Old Jiang, listening as Old Jiang talked about Hongqiao Community. Suddenly, Tong Haojing asked out of nowhere, "Teacher Jiang, who is the thug?" He quickened his pace until he was ahead of Jiang Hongde, then turned to face Old Jiang as if he would not rest until he got an answer.

Jiang Hongde said, "The thug? He's just a petty hoodlum. His real name is Hu Pan. After earning some money selling goose meat, he started hanging around with thugs in Hongdu City and at gambling dens. He had a younger sister named Hu Lian. Several years ago, she hallucinated from a drug overdose and jumped to her death. They were twins."

"Was she the one who died in front of Tangdu Middle School a few years ago?"

"Yes, yes! That was Hu Lian. She overdosed on drugs and jumped to her death. People like that deserved to die! But how did you know?"

"I was studying at Tangdu Middle School at the time. I heard that woman jumped because she wanted to stop her brother from taking drugs."

"That may be so. Her death was tragic. She didn't deserve it!"

Tong Haojing wore a suspicious expression as he muttered to himself, "Where have I seen this person before? Does he use drugs too?"

Old Jiang said, "He does. He's Scarface's accomplice—Middle-parted Hair. His hair hasn't grown back yet." Only then did Tong Haojing realize that Middle-parted Hair was the thug, and the thug was Hu Pan.

"So the thug is Middle-parted Hair!" The anger in Tong Haojing's heart flared up at once. "How did he get out? Wasn't he caught for what he did last time?"

"One of them was caught and released on bail. He was out within a few days. Scarface was even more vicious. Officers received word and went to arrest him, but came up empty-handed. Scarface happened to run into the officers while fleeing and still got away. Officer Lan was even injured. I heard Officer Lan and Lu Tong handled the thug's bail and took fifty thousand yuan as his security deposit. After the thug returned to West City, he was awfully pleased with himself. Oh, I almost forgot—you're a hero, our role model. It's a pity that the victim, Long Qiaozhen, hanged herself. What do you call that? Dead men tell no tales. The station had no choice but to release him!"

"And no one is doing anything about Scarface?"

"Because the person involved is dead, every operation only amounts to checking things out in front of Scarface's place. Nothing has progressed. Oh, Director Tang should know about this."

In truth, Old Jiang had never figured out who exactly handled this case. He only knew that Hu Pan had been released by people from the police station.

"How could this happen? What about Shorty?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Don't say what you shouldn't say. Understand?"

Tong Haojing did not understand. He had no way of knowing all the twists and turns behind this, but it left him feeling unsettled.

"Fine! I understand!"

Tong Haojing agreed on the surface, but question marks rose one after another in his mind. He followed Old Jiang sluggishly across the crosswalk, as though lost in thought. The light turned red, and the urgent honking startled Tong Haojing so badly that he jumped.

"Hurry up! A car's coming. Watch out!" Old Jiang reminded him.

So absorbed was Tong Haojing that he had forgotten he was on a busy street. When he came back to himself, he strode forward, shoulders rolling, and his long legs carried him to the other side in two steps.

"You're still thinking about Middle-parted Hair, aren't you? What's past is past. Better to avoid trouble than invite it. Why concern yourself with so much?"

Old Jiang's words were somewhat negative and dispirited. After all, he was already in his fifties. Expecting him to possess a young man's passion was probably asking too much. Tong Haojing understood Old Jiang's thinking, but the doubts in his heart made it difficult for him to calm down. With a young man's drive and passion, he would not simply let it go and sink into resignation. At this moment, the only thing he could do was ask Director Tang Changan why criminals like these could roam free.

Time could unravel everything, and opportunities were reserved for patient people who paid attention. Tong Haojing firmly believed that.

Tong Haojing asked again, "What happened to you that night?"

Jiang Hongde said, "Xiao Tong, I'm sorry. Things were urgent that day, and I didn't have time to look after you." Jiang Hongde truly felt embarrassed. On his first day, he had left Xiao Tong hanging. "There was gambling in Aomen Alley at the time. They had lookouts. Before I even got close, the people at the place scattered. Still, that was fine. Even if we couldn't catch them, we had to drive out those poisonous elements to show that we had done our duty."

"It's nothing. See? Aren't I perfectly fine?" As Tong Haojing spoke, he clenched his fists, showing the bulging muscles in his arms. A powerful vitality of youth appeared before Old Jiang.

Like a teacher, Jiang Hongde spoke earnestly as he instructed him again. "Tong Haojing, this is a work method. You'd better remember it!" Clearly, Old Jiang was imparting his experience on how to withdraw safely from the job. In today's public security work, the people's eyes were sharp. One small misstep could bring questioning and complaints. Yet Tong Haojing saw things differently. Deep down, he hated evil with a vengeance. Faced with this kind of ugliness, he seemed to possess a fierce determination to wipe out evil completely.

Tong Haojing merely listened quietly. Rather than answer directly, he changed the subject. "I knew it. You must have run into something that day!"

Hongqiao Community was an old district. From the day he accepted the assignment, Tong Haojing had planned to begin household investigations with the commercial residences beside Hongqiao's stone railing. The first time he entered Hongqiao Community, the residents were all very welcoming. They assumed he had come to replace Old Jiang and scrambled to report problems to him. Tong Haojing patiently registered and verified them one by one, using the resident information Old Jiang had previously investigated and recorded as a basis. He also used the body camera to log every conversation, each person's physical features, the locations of their homes, the structures of their houses, and all manner of information. With Old Jiang's earlier investigation records as a foundation, the work progressed smoothly. Tong Haojing now felt confident that he could complete the task the director had assigned. The situation Old Jiang had worried about no longer existed before him. He would give Old Jiang an unexpected surprise and fill his face with sunshine. Master Jiang truly lived up to his reputation.