Chapter 94: The third day
Su Can met Zhao Lijun at eight in the morning. Zhao Lijun dragged him into a breakfast shop, ordered a large bowl of beef rice noodles for each of them, and set some steamed buns on the table. Picking one up, he said, "Come on, eat!"
Zhao Lijun stood six feet tall, with a broad, powerful build. Even out of uniform, he stood out. He was clearly a regular here. The owner smiled amiably as he brought over the noodles. "Morning, Deputy Chief Zhao! Your nephew?"
Zhao Lijun gave Su Can a mischievous glance. "Yes, my nephew!"
Within the police force, Zhao Lijun was a man with three faces. He was ferocious toward criminals, while his treatment of subordinates came in two varieties. One was the affability of his role as political commissar. The other, which he showed to men like Gong Jun and Yang Daoyuan, was roguish and full of camaraderie. He was actually quite restrained around Su Can.
"You told me yesterday you had something important to discuss. What was it?" Zhao Lijun stuffed another bun into his mouth and spoke around it.
Zhao Lijun had probably gone to bed late the night before; his eyes were still bloodshot. His knowledge of Su Can came from the Xinghai Square fraud case, along with the bits and pieces he heard from Zeng Qu anming, who was always mentioning his nephew. He had been astonished by how confidently Su Can had conversed with the fraud ring's leader in the interrogation room, but that was all it had been-astonishment. He did not have the sort of relationship with Su Can that Wang Bu and Lin Guozhou had, in which his age had already ceased to matter.
So with Zhao Lijun, Su Can had to get straight