Silver Snow Line [Criminal Investigation]

On the day of Chi Zhengdu's wedding, the weather was unusually sunny and the sun made people feel lazy. Even the slight awkwardness of seeing someone he didn't want to see was dispelled by the warm sun.

As the bridesmaid of the bride Ye Xiting, Xie Qingfei had to have some communication with Wei Cheng, the best man.
Since the last unpleasant parting, she has told herself that this is the end. Whether he treats her as a stranger or an enemy in the future, she will accept it. It can be regarded as compensation for the harm caused by her harsh words.

However, the young master was very open-minded and seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness. He was still a little clingy to her. Without saying much, he emphasized that they understood each other, which made the relationship between the two seem close. Originally, only a few close friends knew about their relationship. After half a day, the entire bridesmaid group had two understandings: First, this overly handsome best man was the young master of the Wei family. Second, the young master Wei was already taken.

The Lord is also innocent.

Xie Qingfei stood in the audience listening to the priest read the oath, and inadvertently glanced at Wei Cheng, who was a few meters away. He undoubtedly had a pleasing face, wearing a tailored formal suit, or a tuxedo, the piece of clothing was tightened at the waist, and then flared outward, hanging down to the knees, making his legs look strangely long.
I just stared at his legs for two seconds, and when I looked up again, I found that Wei Cheng's eyes were particularly meaningful.
Xie Qingfei: "..."

This was a grand and solemn wedding, held at a suburban estate of the Chi family. Although it was not flower season, flowers flown in from the air were everywhere, and the main flower was the bride's favorite Freud rose.

Xie Qingfei immediately withdrew his gaze and awkwardly reached out to pluck the petals on the flower basket beside him.

After the entrustment ceremony, it was time for friends to speak. Wei Cheng, a childhood friend of Chi Zhengdu, took the microphone from the emcee and gently tapped the wine glass with his knife and fork.
Most of the remaining people had already taken their seats, and they all looked over when they heard the sound.

Xie Qingfei's seat was next to him, and he heard him say, "I'm not surprised that Zhengdu asked me to be his best man. After all, he doesn't have any other friends besides me, and I'm always willing to help others.

"But good friends also value reciprocity, so I told him to come and help me on my wedding day, but he refused.

"He said he had planned to retire at the age of 50 and would not participate in any social activities after that, and asked me to find someone else.

"Curse me."

The people below burst into laughter.

Xie Qingfei couldn't help himself and looked up at him.
At the beginning of the year, Wei Cheng started to give lectures at the Municipal Medical University. One day, Xie Qingfei's case was closed early, so she went to see him on the way and pretended to be a student and sat in the back row of the classroom. He didn't know she was coming, and walked up to the podium on time when the bell rang. Xie Qingfei thought he would be very serious when teaching, and was ready to use his class as white noise to catch up on sleep, but he was not that kind of person. He could also talk about tedious theories, and his popularity among students was not based on his appearance.
A person who excels in the field he or she is good at will be admired and respected by others.

At that time, she looked at him just like she does now. She would be attracted unconsciously, and then she couldn't control the rhythm of her heartbeat.

While she was lost in thought, Xie Qingfei felt someone nudging her.
Turning his head, Ye Xiting leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Fei Fei, I will throw the flowers to you when we grab the bouquet later."
"Give it to me? I don't need it." Xie Qingfei didn't like to join in the fun, and she was not the bride's best friend among all the people present, so she shouldn't have taken this shortcut.
"Oh, I just want to give it to you. This is a bouquet of happiness. I want you to be happy the most now." Ye Xiting hugged her arm and acted coquettishly. Seeing that she didn't budge, he said, "Forget it. There are so many unmarried men and women here. Even if I want to let you go, I can't guarantee that you will receive the flowers. It's really not easy for you to fight so many people alone. If it's really difficult, you don't have to grab them."

Xie Qingfei raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Difficult?"

Ye Xiting blinked.
"You underestimate me too much," she said after taking a sip of champagne, "You don't have to be lenient, just throw it anywhere, I'm sure I'll be able to grab it."

Just as Wei Cheng finished his speech, Ye Xiting stood up again holding hands with her childhood friend.

When Xie Qingfei raised her hand, her knife and fork accidentally fell. Before she could lower her head, Wei Cheng had already bent down to pick them up and called the waiter to replace them for her. She was wearing a pearl white dress that only reached her ankles. When Wei Cheng stood up, he asked again, "Are you cold?"
"It's not cold." Xie Qingfei said, and then uttered, "Thank you."

Awkward, awkward, so awkward.
I don't know how the seats were arranged. He, a best man, sat next to her.
Since Xie Qingfei met Wei Cheng at school, she has never had such a peaceful relationship with him. She has always been as rude as possible. In her heart, there is no role buffer between Wei Cheng's transformation from "a man she dislikes" to the man she likes. When it comes to being polite and courteous, she is the one who is most uncomfortable.
Xie Qingfei had never realized that he was so indecisive when it came to relationships.

Forget it, just treat him as Xi Ming.
But on second thought, treating him as Xi Ming was a bit too close, it would be better if the relationship was not too bad but there was a certain level of distance between them that could not be crossed. This way, it would not affect work communication, nor would it be too deliberate to distance them.
Xie Qingfei racked his brains and decided to respect him as much as he respected the director.

Wei Cheng saw that her expression was conflicted and worried, but he didn't say anything. After a while, the waiter passed by again and brought a blanket for Xie Qingfei to put on her legs.
Without waiting for her to speak, Wei Cheng took the initiative to say, "You're welcome."
Xie Qingfei accepted it silently, and hypnotized himself that he was worthy of being the director because he was really considerate of his subordinates.

At this time, a thin young man came up with a hunched back and called Wei Cheng "Uncle".
Xie Qingfei looked over in the direction of the sound and paused.

The man had a face that showed that science and technology was the key to a country's prosperity. He had a high nose bridge and big European-style double eyes. His smiling lips were too inconsistent with his current expression. His apple cheeks were so full that they could be used as a mirror. His face was full of "pure handmade" and he was the type that would attract attention in a crowd. His skin was pale and his bones were strong. There were several purple scars on the skin of his wrists exposed by his cuffs. Based on my experience in criminal investigation, they should be whip marks.
Combining recent news and the information provided by Xi Ming, Xie Qingfei quickly guessed that this person was probably Xu Siwei, the eldest son of the Xu family who had been kidnapped.

"Uncle, I haven't seen you for a long time. How have you been recently?" It was a clichéd greeting with a rather flattering tone. Apart from that, he did not seem to be afraid of Wei Cheng, as if they were very familiar with each other.
Wei Cheng also noticed the wound on his wrist and asked, "How is your recovery going?"
"They are just superficial injuries," Xu Siwei said with a wry smile, "It's all my fault for not exercising properly that the bad guys had the chance to take advantage of me. I've already hired a master to teach me self-defense."

Xu Siwei should be about the same age as Zhao Chongyun, both of them are young men in their early twenties, but he acts like a junior in front of Wei Cheng, as if the other party is his uncle.

Wei Cheng frowned and helped him up: "Stand up straight, what does it mean to hunch your shoulders?"
Xu Siwei stood up straight obediently, but his shoulders were still bowed, very respectful.
Wei Cheng was used to him being like this, and added: "You need to learn to protect yourself, but instead of learning from scratch now, it's better to bring a few more bodyguards with you when you go out. You also know the current situation of your family."
Xu Siwei looked at him very touched and nodded heavily: "I understand, thank you for your concern, uncle!"

Xie Qingfei was very surprised to hear this, and when Xu Siwei returned to his seat, he still kept turning his head to watch the fun.

Wei Cheng noticed her expression and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking that you had a pretty good relationship with him." Xie Qingfei said it casually.
Wei Cheng nodded: "I guess so. We knew each other when we were kids, but I am almost ten years older than him, so we didn't communicate much, and we saw each other even less as we grew older."
Xie Qingfei curled his lips: "He may not think so."

Wei Cheng raised his eyebrows.

Xie Qingfei: "You touched his elbow just now, and he looked a little unhappy at the time. He subconsciously wanted to brush his sleeves, but he couldn't convince himself to do it. If I'm not mistaken, he was talking to the waiter just now, asking him to get a change of clothes."
Wei Cheng: "If you look closely, you can see that he wasn't trying to brush his sleeves. Instead, when I helped him up, I touched the button on his right wrist, and the pattern on the button changed direction. Didn't you notice that he has obsessive-compulsive disorder?"
Xie Qingfei was stunned, turned the champagne glass in front of him, and observed behind him through the light and shadow. He found that Xu Siwei was really fiddling with the button of his right cuff. He fiddled with it several times and was not satisfied. He compared it with his left wrist. After several adjustments, his face looked better. As for the waiter who was entrusted by him, he actually brought a disinfectant towel.

Lost.
Xie Qingfei felt a little embarrassed, but he also admitted frankly: "I really didn't pay attention to this."

Wei Cheng laughed and said, "It's okay. An individual's emotional consciousness sometimes interferes with rational judgment. It's not that your observation is inadequate. I accept that there are people in the world who don't like me, and I can also accept that there are people who despise me, but from my judgment, Siwei is not one of those people."
Xie Qingfei thought to himself, I don’t dislike you, nor do I despise you. At most, I am not as professional as you in this area, so you are just making indirect accusations.

Wei Cheng noticed her strangeness, pursed his lips slightly, and asked casually: "Are you interested in him?"
"I'm not interested." After Xie Qingfei sorted out his thoughts, he mentioned the kidnapping case and couldn't help being curious, "But Xi Ming didn't tell me that he looked like this... Was he like this when he was a child?"
"Xi Ming didn't like to play with him since he was a child, so he doesn't know much about his affairs. I remember Si Wei became fascinated with plastic surgery after he became an adult, and every change had to be adjusted repeatedly," Wei Cheng showed an indescribable expression, "I don't know if the agency he found was unreliable, and it became like this after a few years."

"What about his younger brother? His name is...Xu Siruo?"
"I've never seen Xu Siruo before."
Xie Qingfei was a little surprised.
"Xu Siruo was born abroad and returned to China only a few times, so I have no impression of him at all," Wei Cheng explained.
"Foreign?"
"I heard that he has changed back to Chinese nationality." Wei Cheng glanced at the back table and said, "Look, the person sitting next to Siwei is Xu Siruo." Xie Qingfei turned around and first saw Xu Siwei wiping the corner of the plate repeatedly with a towel. It was nothing, but after he put down the plate, he picked up the wine glass and wiped it again. Xie Qingfei counted and found that he wiped it seven times. He couldn't help but sigh at the strong obsessive-compulsive disorder of this person.
On Xu Siwei's left sat a girl of the same age, with her back to him so her face could not be seen clearly. On his right sat a boy with short black hair and wheat-colored skin, a bright young face. His amber pupils were filled with smiles, and he sat side by side with Xu Siwei. Because the latter looked more abstract, no one could tell that they were brothers. Xu Siruo leaned sideways on the edge of the table, his posture relaxed, and he was talking to Xu Siwei in high spirits. Listening carefully, one could find that he was not speaking Chinese to his brother, but a fluent and authentic American accent.

Xie Qingfei stared at him for a few seconds, then retracted his gaze and commented calmly, "He's quite handsome."
Wei Cheng: “…”
He leaned forward a little and asked, "What did you say?"

"Pay attention to social standards," Xie Qingfei put his finger on his shoulder and pushed him away, his occupational disease taking over. "Previously, the Xu family revealed that one of their sons was an illegitimate child, and then Xu Siwei was kidnapped. Who do you think is the most suspicious person in this situation?"
Wei Cheng naturally understood what she meant: "Xu Siruo."
"That's right." Xie Qingfei said, "But he is actually the least suspicious one."

Wei Cheng asked: "Because he's quite handsome?"

"..." Xie Qingfei glared at him and said, "One possibility is that Xu Siruo has always known about his illegitimate son's identity and never thought it would be exposed. After the truth was revealed, in order to fight for more inheritance, he went all out and killed Xu Siwei - what's kidnapping? Do you think he is not suspicious enough? Another possibility is that he didn't know which of the two brothers was the illegitimate child, and he was afraid that he would be unlucky enough to win the lottery, so he took the initiative... In that case, he should have killed Xu Siwei. In short, it was a light kidnapping, and the person returned safely afterwards. He didn't ask the police for help but only reported it to the media. The purpose was just to create momentum. People who don't know the situation will probably think that it was Xu Siruo who did it, and then Xu Siwei will become a weak position."

Wei Cheng said calmly: "This is just your guess."

Xie Qingfei somehow sensed a hint of partiality in his words, and lowered his voice: "You just said Xu Siwei has obsessive-compulsive disorder, didn't you notice that the whip marks on his left and right arms are symmetrical in size and direction? If he were to roll up his sleeves to show them now, there might be seven whip marks on each side. But if a real criminal were to do it, they wouldn't help satisfy his quirk, it's not like they're kidnapping a father."
Wei Cheng then moved closer to her and imitated her in whispering, "Do you think Siwei directed and acted in the film himself?"
"Doctor Wei, the scars inflicted by oneself and those inflicted by others are distinguishable." Xie Qingfei had an expression that said "You didn't observe carefully enough," and continued, "So looking at it the other way around, if we put the perspective on Xu Siwei, does he know if he is a bastard? Is he worried that he will become one? The explanation of the motive for kidnapping seems more reasonable on his side. Moreover, his injuries have not fully healed yet, and he should obviously be recuperating at home. He doesn't look like a sociable person, but he still came to Mr. Chi's wedding. Don't you know these young masters better than me about the identities of all the guests present and what they will think when they see him?"

After Xie Qingfei finished speaking, he also doubted, "But regardless of whether it is an illegitimate child or not, don't they have the right of inheritance? These two brothers seem to have a good relationship, why do they have to fight to the death?"
Wei Cheng actually knew a little bit of inside information about this.
"Because Mrs. Xu revealed that Xu Maokun's will clearly stated that all of his inheritance would be inherited by the children of himself and his first wife."
"In other words, this illegitimate child not only lost his reputation, but also lost his money?"
Then even brothers will become enemies.

Xie Qingfei noticed that Wei Cheng had been silent for a long time, and thinking about his attitude towards Xu Siwei, he was a little surprised: "You seem to feel sorry for him?"
"Really?" Wei Cheng looked calm.

"What are you whispering about?" Ye Xiting was busy, and turned around to see two people whispering with their heads leaning against each other.
Xie Qingfei sat up straight and said calmly, "Some work matters."
"You two are really hard workers," Ye Xiting commented, "If you were to start a business together, you would have listed your company in three months."
Xie Qingfei: "...not that powerful."

The MC continued the show and announced that the next step was the bouquet grabbing session.
Ye Xiting took Xie Qingfei's hand and went on stage excitedly.

Some young people who loved to be lively gathered in front of the stage. Wei Cheng stood at the side and glanced at Xu Siwei casually. He was still chatting happily with Xu Siruo. Xu Siruo... was a typical Chinese youth, who seemed to be simple-minded. He didn't know what was funny, so he bumped Xu Siwei with his shoulder. The latter was still injured and grimaced in pain. Xu Siruo panicked and asked him how he was.

Xu Siwei seemed to be angry but dared not say anything. He forced a smile and answered tolerantly, "Don't worry."
Wei Cheng's brows frowned unconsciously.

"What are you waiting for?" Chi Zhengdu said beside him, "Don't you want the flowers anymore?"
Wei Cheng came back to his senses and said "Oh", then asked him again: "Have you agreed on everything?"
"we have a deal."
After getting a positive answer, Wei Cheng also went towards the crowd.

Xie Qingfei was standing in the front row, and when he arrived, some people took the initiative to make way for him. The bride, wearing a white veil, stood on the stage with her back to the crowd, counting down to three to the cheerful music, and threw the bouquet high behind her.

A parabola passed by, and many hands stretched out. The bouquet fell and was pushed up between everyone's fingers. Wei Cheng took advantage of his height and clearly saw the flowers being moved back and forth. He judged the situation in a few seconds.

Haha, this group of people don’t have much fighting power.
He could definitely get it if he just stretched out his hand.
When I give it to Xie Qingfei, she will probably be very touched. After all, who doesn’t like good luck to happen to them?
What should I say in my speech later? It can't be too ambiguous. Not only will it embarrass her, but I might also get scolded if I don't do it right.

"I didn't want to grab it, but it fell into my hands. I don't like flowers, so I'll just give it to you."

Wei Cheng sorted out the reasons in his mind and felt that Xie Qingfei would definitely not be able to refuse this reason.
So he turned around with great confidence, locked onto his target calmly, and reached out like taking something from a bag -

A white shadow flashed before my eyes.

Xie Qingfei leaped forward and caught the bouquet. Her movements were so fast that even the people closest to her couldn't see clearly how she did it.

Wei Cheng felt like he was slapped in the face by a current of air.

This is the combined strength of the Criminal Police Team, which ranks first in physical fitness and tactics.
Grabbing a bouquet of flowers is like picking some from a garden.

After three seconds of silence, Ye Xiting shouted "Yeah" happily on the stage and snatched the microphone from the emcee: "Fei Fei! I knew you were the best. Congratulations!"

Wei Cheng immediately glared at Chi Zhengdu, who had no way of defending himself and could only walk to his wife and ask her a few questions in a low voice.
Then Ye Xiting was surprised and asked, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Chi Zhengdu said innocently: "I said so."
"You only said that Dr. Wei hoped Feifei could get the bouquet, but you didn't say that he wanted to get it himself and give it to Feifei!" Ye Xiting scolded, "I even told Feifei specifically... oh, it's all your fault."
Chi Zhengdu coaxed him patiently: "I'm sorry, I didn't express myself clearly, but I didn't expect Wei Cheng to be so useless."
Wei Cheng: “…”
He is still here.

Xie Qingfei didn't know what happened between the three of them. She held the bouquet and turned it around in her hands, thinking that it was very beautiful and she could put it in the living room when she got back.

When I looked up, I saw Wei Cheng’s face full of unconcealable depression.
She looked at the flowers, then at him, and remembered that he seemed to have tried to snatch them just now.
So his desire to win grew stronger, and he said very proudly: "You are such a wimp."
Wei Cheng looked over in disbelief.
Xie Qingfei paused and said hesitantly: "Are you so sad?"

"It's just a bouquet of flowers. You said you wanted it earlier. It's not like we can't negotiate." She walked to his side and extended her hand generously. "Here, I'll give it to you. Is that okay?"

"..."

Wei Cheng’s silence was even more deafening.

(End of this chapter)