Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 274 First Bite

Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang were seated by the window. One seat away, a young man in a suit and tie sat. In terms of demeanor, he was more suited to the Western restaurant environment than Zhou Yi.

However, he was clearly waiting for someone. There was a glass of water and an open book on the table. He kept glancing out the window and then at his watch.

Lu Xiaoshuang had her back to the young man, but Zhou Yi could see her very clearly.

About two minutes ago, Zhou Yi saw the young man glance out the window, then smile and wave at the person outside.

Zhou Yi didn't pay any attention and was about to order food with Lu Xiaoshuang when suddenly a woman's voice exclaimed in surprise, "Officer Zhou? It really is you."

Zhou Yi looked up and saw that it was Han Jiajia.

"Miss Han? What a coincidence." Zhou Yi stood up to greet her, and then saw that the young man also stood up. It turned out that he was waiting for Han Jiajia.

Han Jiajia smiled awkwardly and said, "Yeah, I made an appointment with a friend."

Then he looked at Lu Xiaoshuang and asked, "Officer Zhou, is this... your sister?"

Zhou Yi shook his head and said, "Xiao Shuang is my... friend."

"Oh..." A slight disappointment flashed in Han Jiajia's eyes as she explained, "I heard from Jiaojiao's boyfriend that you have a younger sister, and I thought... Well then, I won't bother you anymore."

He then walked towards the table behind him.

The young man in the suit immediately said, "Hello, I'm Xiao Song, whom Aunt Wang introduced. I recognized you at a glance."

The young man smiled shyly and said, "You're even prettier than you look in the photos."

Zhou Yi instantly understood; it was a blind date.

As soon as Zhou Yi sat down, Han Jiajia said, "Excuse me, could you please ask the waiter to change my seat? I... don't really like sitting by the window."

Then, the young man immediately called over a waiter and changed their seats to a place further away from Zhou Yi and the others, but Lu Xiaoshuang could still see them from her angle.

Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang discussed what dishes to order. Lu Xiaoshuang's thrifty and money-saving manner made Zhou Yi chuckle.

“I think you’ll definitely be a master at managing money in the future,” Zhou Yi said.

"Where would I get the money to manage this? I'm so poor," Lu Xiaoshuang pouted.

"There will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything."

"I've seen this movie, it's called... Lenin in 1918, it was shown at school when I was in high school."

At Zhou Yi's insistence, he ordered a steak for Lu Xiaoshuang.

Then Lu Xiaoshuang ordered a small cake and asked the waiter if they had candles.

Zhou Yi immediately understood that she had ordered this for herself.

I was startled and quickly stopped her, saying it was too embarrassing to celebrate my birthday in public.

The waiter was very enthusiastic and offered to play "Happy Birthday" in the background music for the two of them. Zhou Yi thanked him but firmly declined.

Soon, the exquisitely plated Western meal was served. Seeing that Lu Xiaoshuang seemed a little lost with the knife and fork, Zhou Yi reached out and took the steak, cut it for her, and then handed her the knife and fork.

Zhou Yi ordered a spaghetti bolognese because it was on sale today.

He had just picked up his fork to start eating when a piece of steak was suddenly placed in front of his mouth.

Looking up, Lu Xiaoshuang smiled and said, "The first bite is for you."

Zhou Yi was slightly taken aback, but immediately opened her mouth and bit off a piece of meat without touching the fork. She mumbled, "Thank you."

Just as Lu Xiaoshuang was about to eat, Zhou Yi placed a forkful of rolled-up spaghetti on her plate. "Here, the first bite is for you."

On the other side of the restaurant, Han Jiajia listened absentmindedly to the young people talking about their situation, but couldn't help glancing at Zhou Yi and the others out of the corner of her eye.

When she saw Lu Xiaoshuang chatting and laughing with Zhou Yi, behaving intimately, she sighed inwardly, realizing that she had really been deluding herself.

Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang ate and chatted. It wasn't that the Western food was particularly amazing, but rather that Xiao Qi's situation had improved his mood considerably.

Moreover, Wu Yongcheng revealed that a collective first-class merit plus an individual first-class merit would be very helpful for his promotion. Especially after Qin Beihai's advice, he had already made up his mind to move up the ranks, so two first-class merits at this time would be perfect.

So this meal was a celebration for myself in advance.

Looking at Lu Xiaoshuang, Zhou Yi felt a pang of emotion. Tang Xue wasn't actually that much younger than Lu Xiaoshuang, but the two were worlds apart.

"Xiao Shuang, I want to ask you a question," Zhou Yi suddenly said.

"What's the problem?"

"It might be a little presumptuous of me."

Lu Xiaoshuang found this a bit strange, but trusting Zhou Yi, she cheerfully replied, "It's okay, go ahead and ask."

"So... in your relationships with men and women, have you ever encountered anything unusual before?"

"Do you mean... dating?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked, her face slightly flushed. She remembered Zhou Yi asking her this question last time in the school cafeteria, but at that time, Zheng Jianxin hadn't yet given her a love letter. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yi shook his head.

Zhou Yi certainly didn't want to ask ordinary emotional questions. In this area, after the major case in the previous life, the police had already investigated it in great detail, and even conducted a special investigation into the direction of perverted unrequited love.

What he wanted to ask was based on the thoughts brought about by Tang Xue's matter: had anyone ever appeared around Lu Xiaoshuang who coveted her body, but had no deep interaction with her and kept it very well hidden?

Because of the massive case in the previous life, the police had already considered all possibilities.

Two of these directions are of great suspicion to the police.

First, the crime was indiscriminate; there was no prior grudge between the killer and Lu Xiaoshuang. The killer simply chose his targets randomly and selected Lu Xiaoshuang. Therefore, the police investigated all of Lu Xiaoshuang's relationships afterward but found nothing, because Lu Xiaoshuang and the killer had no connection before she became the target.

In this situation, coupled with the dismemberment method, the murderer must be an extremely psychopathic killer.

Second, men with illicit relationships that were very well hidden. This was a direction that came up after the first round of routine investigations yielded no results, but it was quickly abandoned because the forensic examiner found from the body parts that although the reproductive organs had been damaged, the hymen was damaged because it was cut with a sharp instrument during the dismemberment process, rather than because the woman had been sexually assaulted before death.

However, after multiple investigations yielded no results, the matter was brought up again, and suspicion was narrowed down to men who had lost their sexual function due to age or accidents.

However, this kind of investigation is extremely difficult because there are absolutely no clues to be found.

Moreover, she has also faced questions within the police force, because Lu Xiaoshuang had never possessed a large amount of property under any circumstances until her death.

Most women willing to submit to such a situation are motivated by financial gain, and Lu Xiaoshuang's case clearly does not fit this description.

The police have also considered the issue of power-for-sex transactions, such as academic exams.

However, Lu Xiaoshuang's grades were also at the top level among her peers, so there was no such transaction involved.

In this situation, the best approach is to ask the deceased themselves.

But asking the deceased is impossible; it's a complete fantasy.

In this life, after Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang got to know each other closely, they discovered that the second of the two special circumstances mentioned by the police at the time was completely impossible for Lu Xiaoshuang.

Because she could never be that kind of person!
But if it's the first type, indiscriminate crime, then that's even more terrifying.

Because there were no clues to be found about the murderer.

Perhaps Zhou Yi could forcibly restrict Lu Xiaoshuang's movements during those days, preventing her from committing such indiscriminate crimes.

But that would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause, and would likely result in other victims.

In Zhou Yi's eyes, Lu Xiaoshuang was very important, but that didn't mean he would feel fortunate that someone else had died in Lu Xiaoshuang's place.

He is a policeman; saving lives and catching murderers are his duties.

Lu Xiaoshuang was confused by Zhou Yi's shaking of his head. "Then... what do you mean, Brother Zhou?"

Zhou Yi cleared his throat and said, "What I wanted to ask is, have you ever met anyone who... has ever had... possessiveness towards your body, like... in a sexual sense..."

Zhou Yi felt extremely embarrassed by what he had just heard, since Lu Xiaoshuang was such an innocent and pure girl, yet he had asked her such a question.

Sure enough, Lu Xiaoshuang's face immediately turned bright red.

If someone else had asked her that question, she would definitely be angry.

But the person on the other end was Zhou Yi, someone she could almost unconditionally trust, and he was also a policeman. She believed there must be a reason why he asked that question.

"Well... I don't think so... I haven't even touched another man's hand." Lu Xiaoshuang said, her head down, feeling her face getting a little hot.

Zhou Yi knew she was uncomfortable with the question, but he really didn't have a good excuse to explain.

But the most effective way to ask Lu Xiaoshuang about this is to ask her directly, as it's a part that was completely missing from the police investigation in the previous life.

For a moment, the two fell into an awkward silence, both lowering their heads to eat and not saying anything more.

After a few minutes, Lu Xiaoshuang suddenly spoke up: "I remember now, there really is such a thing."

Zhou Yi immediately looked up at her.

"It was last summer, around mid-July after the college entrance exam. I went to a job market looking for a reliable part-time job to earn tuition fees. Someone gave me a business card and said they were an etiquette company that recruited hostesses."

"I told them I'd never been a hostess before, and they said it was okay, I'd get a little training and I'd be good at it. They just thought I had a good image and a good temperament..." Lu Xiaoshuang bit her lip, feeling a little embarrassed.

Zhou Yi nodded: "Yes, that person has good taste."

"Where can I find it..."

"Go on."

"I asked him where those hostesses worked. He said they specialize in event services and are all legitimate, like for restaurant openings or company conferences. He said I could go with him to their company to see for myself, and that everything was very professional."

Zhou Yi immediately asked nervously, "Did you go?"

(End of this chapter)