Silver Snow Line [Criminal Investigation]

The indoor dinner began with the couple’s first dance.

A waltz was playing in the hall. Xie Qingfei was looking at the dance floor from afar, still thinking about Xu Siwei.
Out of some professional sensitivity, she always felt that Xu Siwei was a little weird, and the problem was not just about the kidnapping.
Thinking of looking for Wei Cheng to get some information, he didn't find Wei Cheng, but saw Xu Siwei first.

He stood with the girl who had just sat next to him. The girl was half a head shorter than him, but she was imposing enough. She was pointing at him and saying something with a dissatisfied expression. Xu Siwei was scolded like a grandson, but he still nodded and bowed, not daring to refute a word. Xie Qingfei listened and roughly judged that the two were a couple. The girl also wanted the bride's bouquet, but Xu Siwei was a "useless thing who couldn't even do such a small thing" and failed to let her get what she wanted.

After a round of scolding, the girl finally calmed down a little. Xu Siwei saw the opportunity and started to coax her, calling her "good girl" and "baby" non-stop. The two were originally pushing and shoving each other, but after a few rounds, they naturally hugged each other.

Xie Qingfei was speechless, his eyes drifted to the side awkwardly, and he bumped into someone.

Xu Siruo was surrounded by people. Compared with his small-looking and introverted elder brother, he was obviously more popular in this occasion. Xie Qingfei just glanced at him lightly, but Xu Siruo was stunned by her, and hurriedly said something to the people around him. He didn't even have time to put down his glass, and ran to Xie Qingfei.

"Thank you, officer!" he exclaimed in surprise.

He pronounced the three words clearly and loudly, which surprised Xie Qingfei a little, as he originally thought that he could not speak Chinese.

"Thank you, officer! Thank you, officer!"
Xie Qingfei raised his eyebrows slightly: "Do you know me?"
Xu Siruo was so excited that he forgot all the social etiquette. He stood straight in front of her, unable to organize the words he was going to say. He just called her in high and low voices. His wheat-colored skin was flushed, and he had a bright smile on his face. He held his face to show her all the details, looked at her eagerly, and finally spoke out.

"You don't remember me? We met eight years ago in Tinian Park!"

Xie Qingfei carefully distinguished his eyebrows and eyes, thought for a moment, summoned his long-lost memories, and said in surprise: "Are you the... fat boy?"
"It's me," Xu Siruo said shyly, "I'm so happy that you still remember me."

Wei Cheng was dragged by a few friends to chat for a long time. He finally got away and went to find Xie Qingfei. From a distance, he saw her standing there with a smile on her face, and a strange man dancing in front of her.
He walked forward quickly. Xu Siruo noticed his approach first. The excitement on his face seemed to be paused. He closed his mouth in time and called out "Uncle" politely.

"What are you talking about?" Wei Cheng stood beside Xie Qingfei.
Xu Siruo switched his gaze between the two and asked curiously in English: "Do you know each other?"

Wei Cheng nodded seriously and said in his deep and sexy voice: "My mistress."

Xu Siruo seemed shocked, not knowing which Chinese translation of the word to use to understand it.
"..." If you don't have enough vocabulary, don't talk. Xie Qingfei glared at Wei Cheng and explained, "Just a colleague."

After saying that, he looked at Xu Siruo in surprise, wondering why he didn't speak Chinese to Wei Cheng.

Xu Siruo understood her unspoken doubts and winked at her quietly.
Xie Qingfei slowly understood what was going on, and followed his lead without elaborating.
He immediately grinned at her, this time with gratitude.

Wei Cheng saw the two of them flirting with each other, so he coughed lightly to draw Xie Qingfei's attention back and asked her, "How did you two know each other?"

"I've seen it before."

Eight years ago, Captain Xie was still young Xie, studying at Public University. He came back to the Municipal Bureau for an internship during the holidays and was assigned to the Tianning Police Station.

Grassroots affairs are trivial, and every now and then we have to deal with neighborhood disputes, quarrels between couples, and the like.
Xie Qingfei had not yet been beaten by society, so she was willful and arrogant. She thought that 90% of the friction between people was just looking for trouble, and the remaining 10% had the ability to adjust themselves, so there was no need to find a third party to help them seek justice. With a mentality of "you are simply unreasonable", she spent all day mediating civil disputes that seemed insignificant to her. After working for two weeks, she was so annoyed that she was as angry as a female ghost.

It was a rare free afternoon that day. I was looking forward to getting off work, but I received a report from the police that a young couple in Tianning Park wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the lake. My partner and instructor Lei Heng rushed to the scene without stopping. The man and woman had already cried twice under the consolation of the onlookers. The man's father also tried to persuade them with tears and snot, but the poor couple was still determined to commit suicide. When Xie Qingfei arrived, one of the woman's feet was already in the water.

It took a few seconds to figure out the situation. The most urgent thing was to stabilize the person first. Xie Qingfei's service attitude was actually okay at that time. "If you have anything to worry about, just talk to me nicely," "Seeking death will not solve the problem," "You two are still young and have a long future ahead of you," and so on. After a series of tricks that didn't work, he exchanged glances with Lei Heng and tried to forcibly pull the person. As they pulled, they started to curse, and the curses turned into a wrestling. Of course, they couldn't fight back, so in the chaos, with a "plop" sound, Xie Qingfei was pushed into the water by the strong male protagonist who seemed to be crying miserably but was actually extremely powerful.

The scene suddenly became quiet.

Xie Qingfei was also stunned for a moment. She wiped the water off her face and looked down at the water that was less than her knees. The anger that had been suppressed for half a month was instantly ignited. Lei Heng had no time to rescue him, so she stepped onto the bridge pier and splashed water like a dragon king raining rain. She pointed at the two people on the shore who were stunned and cursed: "What's wrong with you two? Histrionic personality?"

Then he scolded the woman first: "You have no brains, you believe everything this man says, go to hell, you can swim but you can't, you just join in the fun? Get lost!"

"And you, what are you doing pretending to live and die with your girlfriend? How could you forget the great love you shouldered when you cheated on her? Where did you spend the night last night? Do you want me to point it out in front of everyone? You know that your family conditions are too poor to be worthy of her, and you don't want to pay the bride price but you can't bear to part with her family's money. You think she is stupid and easy to manipulate and believes in your deep love, right? You teamed up with your father to deceive the little girl. How shameless! Get out!"

"You're talking nonsense!" The man was scolded until his face turned red. He hurriedly glanced at his girlfriend's face and said angrily, "Who the hell are you? You have no right to talk nonsense about what happened between us!"

Xie Qingfei didn't take his anger seriously: "What's the matter, you keep barking, right? Come on, come and bark in front of me. Do you dare to say that you didn't plan this in advance to force this girl to get married with you without telling her parents?"

The man's plan was exposed. With so many people watching, he was so angry that he almost wanted to wave his fist to shut her up, but he was afraid of her police uniform.

"You...just wait, you think the police are so great? Believe it or not, I will file a complaint against you!"

Xie Qingfei laughed and put her face in front of him: "Complain, if I don't, you are my grandson! Aunt Xie Qing from Tianning Police Station..."

Before she could finish reporting the door, Lei Heng covered her mouth in time. She was pinched under the armpit and lost the ability to walk, but she still kicked the man in the air, splashing water. Her voice could be heard from a distance: "Grandson, wait for me!"

Lei Heng carried her out of the crowd. She took off her wet police uniform and threw it to the ground angrily, saying in great dissatisfaction, "I can't go through this crappy class for a day. I studied criminal investigation to handle large-scale homicide cases. I'm only arguing with a perverted murderer. Who the hell is that idiot yelling at me? I want to change my position! I quit!"

Lei Heng was a gentle person. He took a dry towel from the car and wrapped it around her. "The matters that we grassroots police officers usually deal with are more trivial. Don't get angry. What if you get angry and damage your health?"

Xie Qingfei was about to say something, but he glanced and saw a "Flower of the Motherland" hiding behind a tree a few steps away. He swallowed his words and motioned to his partner to look behind him.

Lei Heng saw that it was a little boy of about twelve or thirteen years old. He walked over and bent over to ask, "What's wrong, little boy? Why are you here alone? Where are your parents?"
The child looked very well-nourished and plump. He was frightened by Xie Qingfei's angry look and didn't dare to show his head. However, the policeman in front of him was very gentle. He opened his mouth and spoke out his demands, anxiously and pitifully holding the corner of the officer's clothes.

However, these words sounded like a curse to Lei Heng. He was stunned for a long time and asked in confusion: "Foreign flowers? They don't look like them."

"He said there was a cat in the tree, and it was too high up to get down, so he asked us to help get it down."

Xie Qingfei came up behind him at some point. She had wiped the water off her body, smoothed her half-wet hair with her fingers, and looked up at the dense and towering treetops. At a height of about three or four meters, there was indeed a small calico cat curled up in the branches, meowing pitifully.

"Oh, okay, I'll go find a pole." Lei Heng looked around and couldn't find a suitable tool, so he planned to contact the park staff.
"Alas..." Xie Qingfei sighed as if he was not appreciated for his talent, and muttered, "I learned all this to catch criminals, how could I have ended up like this? Forget it, forget it. We are all serving the people. Cats are also people. We should be oxen and horses with the consciousness of being oxen and horses, and we should not complain."

Lei Heng heard another spell and turned around to see her nimbly jumping onto the thickest branch by stepping on the tree trunk. She climbed up another level without much effort.
"Be careful not to fall!" Lei Heng's eyes widened, and he stretched out his arms and took a crab step, nervously following, "Did you see the cat?"
"I saw it." Xie Qingfei stood up on the branch and pushed aside the layers of leaves. The meowing little thing was frightened by this savior from the sky and shrank back.
The branch trembled violently, and Lei Heng's heart suddenly rose to his throat.

The little fat man was full of energy. Seeing this, he shouted in panic, "Be careful." The kitten, who was not very courageous to begin with, was frightened again. His paws lost their balance and slipped along the branch.

He was upside down, but fate was holding the scruff of his neck.

Xie Qingfei leaped a few times and landed steadily, spat out the leaves around his mouth.

Lei Heng's face turned pale with fear. He walked around her to make sure she was okay, then patted his chest and said, "How dare you. Why don't you just let the staff handle it later?"
"Okay, stop talking nonsense." Xie Qingfei brought the kitten to the boy, "Here."
Unexpectedly, the other party put his hands behind his back, said a few words with an embarrassed look, and then looked up timidly: "Are you ok?"
Xie Qingfei couldn't help laughing, and pinched his chubby cheeks with his hands that had never touched a cat before: "Very ok."
Lei Heng scratched his head: "What did he say?"
"He said it was a wild cat, not his pet. He was allergic to cat hair and couldn't touch it. He was relieved to see it was fine."

"Oh, actually I can understand him even if he speaks slowly." Lei Heng tried to save face for himself and even tried to speak a few words of English to have a friendly conversation with the other party. "Hello, how are you?"
"He can understand, but he can't speak." Xie Qingfei said.
The little boy nodded, smiled shyly at her, and said a lot of nonsense.
Xie Qingfei coughed twice, touched his slightly red earlobe uncomfortably, and said calmly: "Well, I know."
Lei Heng blinked and waited for her to translate.
"Well, nothing, they just said thank you."
Lei Heng asked suspiciously, "Isn't thank you 'thank you'? Why did I hear him say 'beautiful'?"
Xie Qingfei said calmly, "Beautiful job."
"Really? You can say that?" Lei Heng was skeptical. "Your English level isn't that good."

Xiao Sanhua was later released, and the matter at the lakeside was resolved by other colleagues. Xie Qingfei sneezed in the wind, and Lei Heng was afraid that she would catch a cold, so he picked up the police uniform she had thrown on the ground, patted it clean, and hurriedly called for the team to withdraw.

The fat boy followed Xie Qingfei all the way and refused to leave when he reached the police car. When asked where his parents were, he refused to tell them. So everyone had no choice but to pack him up and take him back to the police station. …

The green years cannot be looked back. The calm and steady Captain Xie looked at Xu Siruo and could no longer find the shadow of the fat boy in the past. He was quite emotional: "You really have changed a lot since you grew up."

Wei Cheng agreed: "Yeah, he's quite handsome now."

"..."

Xu Siruo didn't know that her beauty had made a mistake. She seemed not to understand what the two were saying. She said to herself, "That was my first time back home, and you were the only friend I knew."

Wei Cheng said approvingly: "Oh."

Xie Qingfei glanced sideways.
What are you talking about? He is still a child!
"You were really really really awesome back then!" Xu Siruo used three emphatic words in a row, with stars of admiration jumping in his eyes, as if he was still the little boy who was looking forward to the arrival of the cat savior.

Xie Qingfei's habit of loving to be praised by others was aroused again, and she laughed uncontrollably.
Xu Siruo saw her smile, and his lips were full of tenderness. He lowered his voice and called her carefully: "Xie."
"Hmm?" She didn't notice the change in his address.
Just as Xu Siruo was about to say something else, he heard someone calling him, and he had to respond urgently. But he still wanted to say something to Xie Qingfei, and when he hurriedly glanced at Wei Cheng who was not very considerate, he was unable to speak.
The person on the other end was urging her again. Xu Siruo had no choice but to look into her eyes and say, "Xie, goodbye."

When it was Wei Cheng's turn, he was obviously much more perfunctory and just said "bye uncle" and got it over with.

After he walked away, Xie Qingfei heard Wei Cheng's strange tone and whispered "see you". Then he realized that he was imitating Xu Siruo and didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Isn't it childish?"
Wei Cheng imitated her again: "Isn't that childish?"
It's an indiscriminate attack.
Such instability is really unworthy of the authority's leadership.

Xie Qingfei was too lazy to joke with him, but she was a little confused as to why Xu Siruo only spoke Chinese when they were alone together. And judging from Wei Cheng's reaction, it seemed that he didn't even know that Xu Siruo could understand Chinese, so the two of them kept communicating in English.

"What do you think of Xu Siruo?" She thought about it and asked him.

Wei Cheng pondered for a moment, his brows furrowed seriously.

"I think he..."

"?"

"quite handsome."

"..."

Xie Qingfei chuckled: "Yes, didn't I say that a long time ago?"
Wei Cheng raised his eyebrows, and when the words came to his lips, he changed the question.

"You ask this because you think there's something wrong with him?"

"He was born abroad and has only returned home a few times. Even... his language is different from ours. As both of them are sons, doesn't that mean he has a very distant relationship with Xu Maokun?" Xie Qingfei said seriously.

"Xu Maokun and Siwei have a distant relationship," Wei Cheng did not find it strange. "After Siwei was born, Xu Maokun's first wife went abroad. They divorced a few years later, and Xu Maokun married his current wife. He devoted himself to business and rarely stayed at home. Siwei was raised by this stepmother. Father and son only see each other a few times a year. Emotionally, he is treated no differently from Xu Siruo, the son who grew up abroad. But I have to admit that Xu Siruo is indeed a little more 'normal' than Siwei. Maybe it's because distance creates beauty. Xu Maokun is always proud when talking about his youngest son, not as cold as when talking about Siwei."

After that, he pointed out to her, "Since no one called the police about Siwei's kidnapping, it's their family matter."

"I'm not interested in this kind of boring dispute," Xie Qingfei said, with an expression that his IQ was insulted by him, "I'm investigating something else."
"Oh? What aspect?"
"Looking for something."
"..." Wei Cheng paused, "What are you looking for?"

"Why are you asking this?" Xie Qingfei didn't notice anything wrong with him.

The place where the two men were standing was not secluded. Xu Siwei had probably finished being scolded, so he turned a corner and saw them. He brought his girlfriend over, obviously looking for Wei Cheng.

Xie Qingfei said: "Hey, your cheap nephew is here to see you again, ask him if that girl is his girlfriend."
Wei Cheng raised his eyelids without much interest, but still said "Oh" and followed Captain Xie's instructions.

"Uncle, you are here. I was just looking for you." Xu Siwei glanced at Xie Qingfei and asked curiously, "Who is this?"
Wei Cheng said succinctly: "I am the leader."
Xu Siwei only knew that Wei Cheng was a doctor, and didn't know that he also worked part-time to protect the peace of the city after taking off his white coat. He thought Xie Qingfei was also his superior in the hospital, so he greeted him politely. Although he looked not good at socializing, he was very good at observing people's expressions. Wei Cheng's inadvertent respect for the "leader" around him made him lower his posture more obediently, as if the leader was also his leader.

Wei Cheng did not forget his mission: "Today is a private party, don't be so restrained. This is yours..."
"My girlfriend." Xu Siwei pulled her forward, "Anqi, this is my uncle I told you about."
Both of them were young. An Qi was not as introverted as Xu Siwei. She openly followed him and called him "Uncle". She did not try to hide the surprise that flashed across her eyes for a moment, and she smiled, revealing two dimples on the corners of her lips.
Xu Siwei huddled beside her like a socially anxious son who accompanied his mother to visit relatives during the New Year, making An Qi look like the dominant one.
Wei Cheng asked, "Did you have a fight?"
Xu Siwei certainly couldn't say that the bouquet his girlfriend wanted was taken by you, so he scratched his head as if embarrassed and changed the subject: "No, no, it's just that An Qi wanted to go dancing, but I can't, so I can't accompany her."
An Qi snorted softly and said, "You don't know anything."

Xie Qingfei looked at An Qi for a few times. She was a beautiful girl with lively expressions when she was angry. She was not annoying at all. No wonder Xu Siwei, her boyfriend, would take scolding obediently without talking back.

Xu Siwei smiled and said that he would definitely learn it in the future. Even though An Qi was unhappy, there were two "elders" in front of her, so she couldn't vent her dissatisfaction at will.
She was wearing a finely tailored long-sleeved cheongsam, which outlined her graceful figure. As she crossed her arms over her chest, the soft satin hem of the cheongsam swayed.

Xie Qingfei suddenly asked, "Miss An has a cat at home?"
An Qi looked over in surprise: "How did you know?"
Her delicate eyebrows were filled with sorrow, and the anger she had just had in the quarrel also died down: "Yes, I have a pet, a pet named Deng Deng. It got lost the day before yesterday and I haven't found it yet. I'm so worried about it."

Xie Qingfei: "Then it..."

"Don't worry, baby," Xu Siwei hugged An Qi's shoulders lovingly before she finished asking, pulled up her waistcoat, and said gently, "Since we've called the police, they will definitely find clues."

"Deng Deng is still very young, very lively and friendly," An Qi leaned into Xu Siwei's arms and said to Xie Qingfei, "It is also a gift from Siwei. I couldn't sleep well at night during the days when it was lost, for fear that Deng Deng would be taken away by someone, just like what was said in the news..."

"No, baby, maybe Deng Deng just went out to play and will come back in a few days." Xu Siwei comforted her, "If you really can't find it, I'll buy you another one."
An Qi glared at him: "It's not Deng Deng if you buy more!"
Xu Siwei was tongue-tied and probably knew he couldn't say anything nice, so he could only coax him. An Qi poked his chest with her red-nailed fingers and whimpered "hate".

so awkward!
Wei Cheng and Xie Qingfei looked at each other and then separated tacitly.

Wei Cheng: “We didn’t do this before.”
Xie Qingfei quickly said: "Yes, yes, we are more mature after all."

After a while of silence, the two had no intention of resuming normal conversation, and even got closer and closer. The devilish sounds from you and me filled my ears, just like two giant babies with extraordinary development communicating in primitive language.

Wei Cheng suggested: "Why don't we go somewhere else? It feels a bit crowded."
Xie Qingfei: "Okay, okay, I think so too."

"Would you like some orange juice?" Wei Cheng asked as they passed by the drinks counter.
"Hmm? Okay." Xie Qingfei followed him here for some unknown reason, feeling that something was wrong.

He brought the cup to her hand, Xie Qingfei took it and replied absentmindedly: "Thank you, baby."

"..."

Xie Qingfei: FUCK!

"I mean……"

"Yes." Wei Cheng said politely with a pleasant face, "You're welcome."

(End of this chapter)