Qingmu whistled at the sky, and Crow Guagua as it flew down from the upstairs window, landing on his head with a key in its beak.
"How stupid! How stupid! He didn't bring his keys!" the Crow cawed.
Although Hu Xing started the car, she didn't drive it away.
Qingmu took the keys, walked over and knocked on Hu Xing's car window, saying, "Want to come up for a drink?"
Hu Xing said angrily, "Aren't you afraid of losing your virginity now?"
Qingmu pointed at the Boss Coal and said, "There's a third party involved!"
The Boss Coal shouted excitedly, "Light bulb! Light bulb!"
Hu Xing chuckled, then, remembering she still had some questions to ask him about lucid dreaming, she turned off the car and said, "Okay, I'll get in and sit for a bit."
Qingmu led Hu Xing around to the back of the bar and saw a small pot of succulents by the back door. He didn't know the names of the plants, so he picked one up and said, "Why are you putting the flowers outside? To sunbathe in the moonlight?" Then he noticed a key under the pot.
"Ah, is this for me?" he muttered to himself, reaching to touch his head, only to touch the Crow's claw instead.
The Crow lifted a leg and cawed, "Idiot, idiot!"
Hu Xing also laughed and said, "It seems that it's normal for some people to have bad memories!"
Qingmu chuckled, opened the back door and went inside, then groped his way to the wine rack and grabbed a bottle of red wine.
As Qingmu went upstairs, he glanced towards the hallway leading to Bi Shenghua's room and muttered to himself, "Sleeping so early!"
Upon entering the studio, he placed the bottle on the table and said, "Would you like this or beer? If you prefer, I have some chilled beer in the fridge."
The Boss Coal climbed down from the Qingmu, jumped onto his bird perch, and scooped out a braised pork knuckle from his food box to eat.
Hu Xing looked at the red wine on the table and said, "You just take the wine from downstairs without permission? Aren't you afraid your tomboy will give you a hard time?"
Qingmu said, "I'm rich now, aren't I!"
"That's true," Hu Xing said, "But I'll still drink beer; red wine makes me drunk too easily."
The Crow clucked, jumping up and down. "Get her drunk! Get her drunk!"
Hu Xing asked, "Why would you get me drunk?"
Crow, with a piece of pork knuckle in its beak, slurred, "Drunken promiscuity... ^%&$#@#..."
Hu Xing carefully discerned the Crow's pronunciation, then suddenly blushed and scolded with a laugh, "You damn Crow, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll teach you a lesson!"
"Come on! I'm not afraid of you! So what if you're a cop!" The Crow simply flew up from its perch and landed on the chandelier. "My boss is a seven-times-a-night man, and he's got a great mouth, guaranteed to satisfy you! Come on!"
Hu Xing yelled, " Qingmu! What's wrong with your bird! What have you been teaching it?!"
Qingmu was opening the refrigerator to get a beer when he turned around and said innocently, "I swear I didn't teach you this."
"If you didn't teach her, who did?" Hu Xing retorted angrily.
Qingmu grabbed two cans of ice-cold beer, opened one, and handed it to Hu Xing, saying, " The Boss Coal likes to watch TV and hangs out in the bars downstairs. He learns everything quickly; I really can't control him." Then he yelled at the Crow, "Hey, be serious! Officer Hu isn't one of those people who hang out in bars."
"Oh dear--you're protecting her like this now, what will happen after you marry her! Don't you even respect the boss's wife!" The Crow continued to caw incessantly.
Qingmu hardened his face. "Say that again and I'll stop feeding you."
The Boss Coal, who had Guagua incessantly, suddenly shut up, flew back to his perch, and, protecting his food box with his wings, cried out, "Can't you even take a joke? Honestly!"
Hu Xing, who had been a little angry, saw Aoki arguing with Crow Qingmu and her anger immediately dissipated, and she kept giggling.
She drank her beer, looking at everything in the studio, and remembered when she last came, Ma Fuqing sat beside her and told her about the headless woman in his dream. Only a few days had passed, and the Ma family had already undergone a tremendous change.
"Did you know? Yang Baoguo is dead," Hu Xing blurted out out of the blue.
Qingmu paused for a moment. "Which Yang Baoguo?"
Hu Xing said, "It's that one in the Lu County Detention Center."
Qingmu exclaimed "Oh!" as he remembered, "Wasn't it already proven that he was innocent? How could he be dead?"
"He committed suicide the night before his scheduled release," Hu Xing said. "He suffocated to death in the detention center by covering his mouth and nose with a wet tissue."
"So tragic!"
"Yes!" Although Hu Xing believed that Yang Baoguo was a bastard who deserved to die, the way he died was still hard to accept.
Qingmu said, "That's a bit strange!"
Hu Xing said, "He's addicted to drugs. Although he underwent compulsory detoxification, it wasn't very effective. According to the prison guards, he's relapsed this time."
"No wonder!" Qingmu said, "Drug addicts have a much higher tolerance for physical pain than normal people. When withdrawal hits, things that are unbearable for normal people might not be so painful for them. Besides, he was already convinced that he was going to die, so it's understandable that he would choose suicide in a state of despair. But the timing is still too coincidental!"
He opened his jar of liquor, took a sip, lit a cigarette, and asked, "How's the progress on Ma Fuqing's side?"
"Oh, the results of Ma Fuquan's mental evaluation are in, and the case will be transferred to the procuratorate in a couple of days," Hu Xing said. " Ma Fuqing actually hired a very good lawyer to defend him, can't you believe it!"
Qingmu said, "Isn't it normal to hire a lawyer?"
Hu Xing said, "Logically speaking, someone as filial as him should be deeply grieving and remorseful after his mother's death, not spending money to hire a lawyer to exonerate himself."
Qingmu said, "Isn't it a bit hasty for you to transfer the case to the prosecutor's office so quickly?"
Hu Xing said, "All the necessary procedures have been followed. The fact that it went so smoothly is thanks to you. What else can we do but transfer it to the procuratorate now?"
Qingmu said, "There are still some doubts about the case."
Hu Xing put down the wine jar in her hand and asked curiously, "What's suspicious?"
Qingmu took a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaled, and said, " Ma Fuqing's wife was killed by his younger brother, but his brother is mentally ill and won't go to jail. Why would he dispose of the body?"
Hu Xing said, "Didn't Ma Fuqing say he was afraid her mother would be implicated?"
Qingmu shook his head and said, "His wife is dead. If they don't say anything, who will know what his mother did?"
Hu Xing thought for a moment and said, "Maybe he didn't think that much about it."
Qingmu said, "Even so, why did he dump the body in that abandoned fishpond?"
Hu Xing said, "It's very simple. It's a secluded spot, and it's not easy for anyone to find you."
Qingmu said, "That's not right. Since he went to the trash cans in Screen Wall Alley to retrieve used condoms to disguise semen stains, it means he knew the body would be discovered. Also, they buried the victim's head in their own backyard, why didn't they just bury the whole body? That would have made it even harder for them to be discovered."
"What you've mentioned, Captain Shi also brought up when he analyzed the case for us, but the chain of evidence is already very complete. These doubts are not enough to affect the progress of the case. We can only wait for the court's ruling," Hu Xing said.
What will the court's ruling be?
"It's hard to say. Ma Fuquan certainly won't bear criminal responsibility. If the judge determines it was manslaughter, Ma Fuqing's actions won't be considered accomplice. According to the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law, he would at most be guilty of insulting a corpse."
Hu Xing analyzed the case, and finally said dejectedly, "The lawyer Ma Fuqing hired is very capable and has some connections. He might be able to persuade the prosecutor's office to drop the charges."
"This kind of lawyer must be very expensive!" Qingmu muttered, knowing that the prosecutor's office was very likely not to prosecute, because prosecution would be pointless. But that was a matter of law, and had nothing to do with him.
Hu Xing had originally wanted to ask about lucid dreaming, but when the topic turned to this case, she suddenly lost interest and realized it was getting late, so she stood up to leave. Just as she reached the door, she exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no!"
Qingmu asked, "What's wrong?"
Hu Xing stamped her feet and said, "I shouldn't have drunk alcohol! I had to drive! It's all your fault, how am I going to get home now!"