Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 245 Father and Mother
"It's good that Zhou Wan left Chang'an; she has great potential in Dai."

Zhou Zhao remembered Zhou Wan's skill in dealing with the old lady, and her heart, which had been in her throat, settled back down.

She wouldn't worry about Zhou Wan at all!
She wanted to ask a few more questions, but then she heard Zhou Buhai's distinctive heavy footsteps coming from the door.

Zhou Zhao quickly glanced at the scene and felt that Su Changying would likely be ruthlessly blocked by several victims if she climbed out the window, and would most likely run into Zhou Buhai.

Her eyes flickered, and she pointed to the screen in the corner.

Su Changying understood immediately, and with a light leap, landed behind the screen. The moment he landed, he made eye contact with the fake corpse.

Su Changying stared at the corpse for a moment. If he hadn't been a ruthless killer who wasn't afraid of such things, anyone else would have fainted from fright by now.

How could someone hang themselves from a screen in this world...? Was it because he couldn't reach the roof beam?
Zhou Zhao had no time to pay attention to Su Changying's wild thoughts. She opened the door and looked at Zhou Buhai outside.

Zhou Buhai, carrying a food box, looked over with a complicated expression. "Aren't you going to invite Father in for a seat?"

Zhou Zhao couldn't remember the last time Zhou Buhai had come to her place, so she stepped aside to make way for him.

Zhou Buhai was momentarily stunned when he saw the seemingly chaotic yet orderly state of her room. "You really enjoy investigating cases?"

As he spoke, he carried the food box, lowered his head, and walked towards Zhou Zhao's desk, talking as he went.

"This is the Lin family massacre case. All seven members of the family died, but each had a different fatal wound. The murderer is still at large."

This is the Xiaolinshan burial case. The victim's middle finger was mistaken for a mushroom, which led to the discovery of his body. The victim was buried alive.

This is the case of Nguyen Ngum murdering her husband in Dongkou. The murder weapon in this case is very unusual; it was Nguyen Ngum's hair.

As Zhou Buhai spoke, he walked to the table, put down the food box he was holding, and turned to Zhou Zhao, saying, "Your mother isn't feeling well and didn't eat anything just now. Your eldest sister helped her back to rest. This is ginger soup she asked me to bring you; please drink it while it's hot..."

After he finished speaking, he saw the small bowl on the table, with a thick layer of minced ginger at the bottom, and the words stuck in his throat.

"The ginger soup has been delivered. If Father has nothing else to do, I'm going to rest now."

Zhou Zhao was still standing at the door. Zhou Buhai looked at her and suddenly realized that the little girl who used to cause trouble everywhere had grown very tall. He clearly remembered that four years ago, when that incident happened, she was just a tiny little thing…

Zhou Zhao had grown up without him even realizing it.

“This courtyard is too small for you now; there’s no room for all your things. Song Bai’s courtyard is nice; it’s big enough for you to put all these cases down.”

Zhou Zhao shook his head.

"No need. I plan to move to the Court of Justice in a while. I'm going to be promoted to Court Clerk, and I'll be coming back later, so I won't have to travel back and forth. This place is fine; if my things are moved, I won't be able to find them."

Zhou Buhai suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at Zhou Zhao in surprise, "You're going to be a court historian? You won the Mysterious City Competition?"

The people from the Court of Justice had just returned to Chang'an, and news of the imperial examination had not yet spread, so it was normal for Zhou Buhai not to know the results.

"Yes. Father, you must have heard about the competition from Lord Xu Yun, right?"

Xu Yun was Zhou Buhai's fellow disciple, and they must have had a close relationship, otherwise Zhou Buhai would not have entrusted Zhou Cheng'an to him.

Xu Yun recommended Jing Yi in this instance.

Zhou Buhai remained silent. Zhou Zhao thought for a moment and then added, "If no one tries to trip me up, Li Tingwei will recommend me to His Majesty to become the sixth court official. Of course, if someone tries to trip me up, I will beat him up openly, so there will be no surprises."

It's hers, and no one can take it away from her.

Anyone who dares to disqualify her from being the court historian, she'll tear a hole in the capital. Zhou Zhao has won fair and square; a person must keep their word. Zhou Buhai opened his mouth, unsure what to say.

“I have already spoken with Cheng’an. His first son after his marriage will be registered under A’yan’s name.”

Zhou Zhao chuckled as she listened, looking at Zhou Buhai with a mocking expression.

"I know my brother is amazing, but he wasn't amazing enough to have a son after he died."

What did Zhou Cheng'an do wrong to give his son away to someone else to be his son?
You're Zhou Ligong, you should be reasonable, right? Stop with this nonsense, and don't say that your grandmother forced you.

My brother doesn't need these funny things.

He died unjustly. He didn't need any inexplicable child; what he needed was divine retribution and swift justice.

"Now that Father is no longer the Chief Justice, can't he even understand the feelings of the victims?"

Zhou Buhai stood there, stunned. His mind was buzzing. He wanted to be like Zhou Zhao when they were little, to be fierce on the surface but secretly laughing inside, to curse her and chase after her. But he couldn't curse her, he couldn't laugh, and his legs felt like they weighed a ton.

“Father, please go back. I need to rest. Mother is not well. If you go back late, you will bring her the cold.”

Zhou Buhai felt an unusual pain in his heart. Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw the soft armor on the table and the open bottle of wound medicine. He looked up sharply and realized that Zhou Zhao's face was extremely pale.

"You are hurt?"

Zhou Zhao nodded lightly, "It's just a minor injury, so I want to rest."

Zhou Buhai suddenly realized that when the Northern Army went to Micheng to quell the rebellion, they caused a bloodbath in Chang'an. Zhou Zhao returned from such a place, which was also a close call with death.

Zhou Buhai opened his mouth, but the words he said were still very stiff. "Then you should rest early. Father will go back first."

After he left, Zhou Zhao watched Zhou Buhai's figure disappear into the distance before closing the door.

Su Changying emerged from behind the screen and gently patted Zhou Zhao's head.

Zhou Zhao smiled at Su Changying, "It's nothing. My grandmother blamed me for killing my brother, but my father and mother were there and didn't stop it. I know why."

Back then, I was so busy finding my brother's killer, so busy looking for you, that I didn't think about these things. By the time I realized it, I was already grown up.

She knew that her parents did love her, but they loved someone else more.

She never felt jealous at all before, because the person they loved was Zhou Yan. She wished that everyone in the world loved Zhou Yan, because he was her beloved brother.

"Every time this happens, my older sister goes crazy protecting me because she doesn't want me to look back and find that no one was standing by my side. My older sister is such a good person, what can I do? Thinking about this, I just want to pick up a sword and kill someone right now."

"Kill my shameless ex-brother-in-law first, then kill that vixen Han Xincheng."

Zhou Zhao said, his face puffed out in anger.

After a while, she said to herself, "If the fox spirit is truly in love with my sister, then we won't kill him."

Su Changying listened and ruffled Zhou Zhao's hair again, "Then let's go put a sack over your head and beat up your ex-brother-in-law to vent our anger?"

Zhou Zhao slapped Su Changying's hand away and yawned, "I'm not going. I need to go to sleep early. After all, tomorrow I'll be the court official Zhou Zhao, and I can't act like a ghost."

"Ting Shi Zhao Zhao, I'll be going now."

And I will always stand by your side.