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

Chapter 299 Believe me

Zhou Yi looked up and said, "Dad, I know what you want to say. They want to ask you to help them sell a batch of steel coils to help them with part of their resettlement compensation, right?"

Zhou Jianguo nodded.

"Let me tell you, you can't! You're not a savior, you can't manage everyone. There are over 5,000 people in the entire No. 2 Steel Plant, how can you manage them all? Stop being so sympathetic, solve the problem at hand first, understand?"

Zhou Jianguo was speechless and could only lower his head and eat.

Zhang Qiuxia scolded him a couple of times, telling him not to show off. She said the idea for this matter came from their son, but the problem was solved by their fourth son. She told him not to act like he was a big shot.

Zhou Jianguo weakly defended himself, saying, "I just asked casually, I didn't agree to anything."

It wasn't that Zhou Yi wanted to discourage his father; it was just that this was a very difficult situation, and if it weren't for his third uncle's help, he wouldn't have been able to put his ideas into practice.

Therefore, it is necessary to stop the father's obvious tendency to drift away.

“By the way, son, do you remember Sister Niu, whom your grandfather met when he was hospitalized?” Zhang Qiuxia suddenly asked.

Zhou Yi panicked and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know why, but I suddenly started thinking about her this morning, and my right eyelid has been twitching nonstop. Hey, have you found her missing son yet?"

Zhou Yi certainly couldn't tell his mother what had happened, since it involved a murder case, and besides, his mother was a blabbermouth.

"Still looking," Zhou Yi said vaguely. "Oh, by the way, I have to go on a business trip tomorrow."

"Business trip? Where to?"

“An Yuan, it may be several days. Take good care of yourselves while I’m away, especially Grandpa. If you feel unwell, go to the hospital immediately and don’t delay.”

Grandpa waved his hand and said, "You go ahead with your work, Grandpa is in very good health now."

“Anyuan? That’s quite far,” Zhang Qiuxia said. “Hey, isn’t Anyuan the place Sister Niu’s son went to?”

Zhou Yi didn't respond and left after finishing his meal.

Before he left, Zhang Qiuxia gave him all sorts of reminders: don't forget what you need to take, wear more clothes, and remember to let your family know you've arrived safely.

After leaving the No. 1 Steel dormitory, Zhou Yi headed straight for Hongda; he was going to find Lu Xiaoshuang.

This is the person he's most worried about right now.

At this point, the grand opening hours had already passed, but Zhou Yi had a police ID. He showed it and said he was on official business, so the security guards let him through.

As he arrived outside the girls' dormitory area, the auntie on duty was about to call out to him when she recognized him at a glance.

"Oh, officer, are you here to see your relative again?" the aunt asked with a smile.

"Hello, aunt."

"Lu Xiaoshuang from the 1996 Finance class, right? I'll call her for you." The aunt stood up enthusiastically and walked towards the broadcasting station.

“Auntie…” Zhou Yi called out.

"What's wrong, young man?"

"Please don't tell her that the police are looking for her this time. Just say that someone is looking for her at the door."

"Okay!" the aunt readily agreed and then began broadcasting.

In the dormitory, Lu Xiaoshuang had just finished washing her clothes when she heard an announcement that someone was looking for her at the door. She immediately felt a little strange; who would be looking for her at this hour?
She hurriedly put on a coat and went downstairs. It wasn't until she reached the front door that she saw the person standing under the light.

"Brother Zhou? What brings you here?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked in surprise.

"Just passing by, thought I'd drop by to see you."

Zhou Yi noticed that the aunt was eating sunflower seeds and watching the two of them with great interest, so he asked, "When do you close your dorm room?"

Before Lu Xiaoshuang could speak, the auntie eagerly replied, "The dormitory area closes at ten o'clock, and the lights go out at eleven."

Zhou Yi glanced at his watch and said to Lu Xiaoshuang, "Xiaoshuang, come for a walk with me. I have something to tell you."

"okay."

The two left side by side, and the aunt watched their departing figures and muttered to herself, "They don't look like relatives, they look like a couple."

Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang walked along a path. As expected, Hongda was crowded; even at this hour, there were still many students coming and going.

Zhou Yi remained silent, simply walking forward, intending to find a quieter place to speak.

Lu Xiaoshuang didn't know what was going on, so she just followed silently. She felt that Zhou Yi seemed to have something on his mind tonight, so she didn't ask him anything.

Without realizing it, there were fewer and fewer people around, and fewer and fewer streetlights.

Zhou Yi then came to his senses, looked up, and asked, "Where have we ended up?"

He was completely unfamiliar with the grandeur and simply followed the path instinctively.

Lu Xiaoshuang blushed and said, "The small garden is just ahead."

However, Zhou Yi did not notice that Lu Xiaoshuang was blushing, nor did he know that the small garden was a paradise for lovers to meet secretly at night.

Zhou Yi looked ahead and thought, "No, it's too dark. It's not safe."

"Let's go that way." Zhou Yi pointed to the other side, where there were several low-rise buildings, the streetlights were much brighter, and there were fewer people.

"Okay, that's the direction of the graduate student apartments," Lu Xiaoshuang said as she followed.

After walking for a few more minutes, there was no one around, and a street lamp was overhead. Zhou Yi stopped and said, "This is fine."

Lu Xiaoshuang couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Xiaoshuang, I have to go on a business trip tomorrow to Anyuan."

"An Yuan? You're from outside the province, aren't you?"

Zhou Yi nodded: "Yeah, it's about 500 or 600 kilometers from Hongcheng. I estimate it will take me a while to get there."

Lu Xiaoshuang smiled and said with her hands behind her back, "Then you can go without worry, don't worry about me." Zhou Yi was taken aback. He hadn't even said his own words yet, but Lu Xiaoshuang had already given him the answer.

She was incredibly intelligent.

"Xiao Shuang..." Zhou Yi didn't know how to start the conversation for a moment.

Lu Xiaoshuang said, "I know that if I encounter any danger at school, I must seek help from the school immediately."

"Don't go to remote places, and don't easily believe what others say."

"If you encounter danger, you must run, run as fast as you can, and run towards where there are many people."

Lu Xiaoshuang shook her head and said, "It's like a teacher giving a lesson."

Normally, Zhou Yi would have laughed.

But he couldn't smile today. He didn't know why, but he felt like there was a stone weighing on his heart.

There's a lingering sense of foreboding.

Although he is a criminal police officer, he should believe in logical analysis and science.

But he had to admit that intuition could be really uncanny at times.

Just like my mother suddenly said that her eyelids twitched wildly whenever she thought of Sister Niu, there was no way to explain it.

“Brother Zhou, I remember everything you said.”

“Xiaoshuang, it’s not just that. If I’m not back by May Day, starting from that day, you absolutely must not walk alone at night, and you must not leave the school. Just go back and forth between two points every day: class and dormitory. Don’t go to the tax bureau for your internship; just say you have something to do at school and will be late for a few days. Then, starting from May 1st, call me twice a day, morning and evening, to let me know you’re safe.”

Zhou Yi spoke very quickly. Lu Xiaoshuang had been smiling, but as she listened, she sensed something was wrong. Her smile slowly disappeared, and she loosened her grip on her back.

"Brother Zhou... what exactly happened?" She felt her heart pounding violently in her chest.

As the night deepened, darkness enveloped her, and within that darkness, something seemed to be present.

Zhou Yi suddenly grabbed Lu Xiaoshuang's shoulders with both hands, and looked at her with a firm gaze, saying, "Don't ask why yet, just trust me."

Zhou Yi knew that these words could not be explained, much less explained.

If it were any other matter or other person, he certainly wouldn't say it so directly; he would handle it in a more tactful way.

But this is the only thing, this person, that he is willing to take this inexplicable risk.

Lu Xiaoshuang looked up at him, seeing the determination and fervor in his eyes, and nodded slowly but firmly: "I believe you!"

"Once the storm has passed, we'll go to Yunxia Mountain to watch the sunrise."

"Okay, Brother Zhou, I'll wait for you to come back."

The darkness stretched endlessly, and the two figures under the streetlights resembled a lighthouse on the coast.

……

Not far from where the two were, there were several buildings, one of which was pitch black.

From a window on the fourth floor of this building, behind the glass, a dark figure watched the two disappear into the glow of the streetlights.

Zhou Yi escorted Lu Xiaoshuang back to the girls' dormitory, watched her disappear from his sight, and then waved goodbye before preparing to leave.

The auntie in the duty room looked at him curiously, and when she suddenly saw him walking over, she panicked a little.

"Young man... Officer, are you done talking?" the aunt asked with a smile.

"Auntie, thank you for your hard work."

"No hard work, no hard work."

"You have to keep a close eye on things and not let strangers in. The safety of these students depends on you."

The aunt nodded: "Don't worry, I'm very strict. Strangers can't get in at all."

After saying goodbye to his aunt, Zhou Yi walked back the way he came. It was about time to go back and pack his things.

It was probably close to the dormitory closing time, because I saw many students rushing back on the way. There were boys carrying basketballs and covered in sweat, as well as couples holding hands.

After walking for a long time, we finally saw the magnificent school gate standing tall in the night.

Just as Zhou Yi was about to leave the school gate, she encountered a girl wearing gold-rimmed glasses walking in through a small gate.

"Song Shasha?" Zhou Yi called out.

Song Shasha looked in the direction of the sound and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, Officer Zhou, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm here to take care of something. You just got back?"

"Ah."

Zhou Yi glanced at his watch and said, "Then you should hurry back, or you'll miss the dorm closing time."

Song Shasha laughed and said, "Our graduate student dormitory doesn't have curfews."

"Oh, I thought it was the same as undergraduate students. It seems I was ignorant."

Song Shasha smiled gently, and the two parted ways.

The two weren't very familiar with each other to begin with, and it was also getting late.

Song Shasha walked back along the road and encountered a girl rushing towards the girls' dormitory.

After turning a corner, you'll find the main entrance to the graduate student apartments.

Song Shasha suddenly bumped into someone. Just as she was about to apologize, she recognized the person she had bumped into: "Teacher Xiao? What are you doing here?"

　I simply can't understand why anyone would empathize with Huang Jianhui, and even criticize Zhou Yi for liking Lu Xiaoshuang, implying he's no different from Huang Jianhui. I really don't know what they've touched on. If Lu Xiaoshuang hadn't died in the previous life, when Zhou Yi was 50, Xiaoshuang would have been a 46-year-old woman. Could she possibly be the same person as Tang Xue? Absurd!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)