Blank Charge

About Zhao Qing, Jin Zhou naturally wouldn’t inform Yang Shiyu, so now he had his own little secret too.

In the middle of the night, lying in bed with Yang Shiyu, Jin Zhou didn’t cuddle him like before. Instead, he lay on his back, gazing at the ceiling, contemplating how to win the case of wrongful retaining.

He went to check the surveillance footage of the Paris Temple with the investigation order. Indeed, as Liu Qian had said, they could only capture the backs of the two of them.

With such insufficient evidence, it was nearly impossible to convict Zhang Rui. They needed to come up with another plan.

“Jin Zhou.” Yang Shiyu’s voice suddenly sounded beside him, interrupting Jin Zhou’s thoughts.

He turned his head and met Yang Shiyu’s gaze. “Hmm?”

Yang Shiyu asked, “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

“I’m thinking about something.” Jin Zhou didn’t hide this fact and after answering, he asked Yang Shiyu in return, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Normally, Yang Shiyu would always face away from Jin Zhou. If they had nothing else to do, he would quickly fall asleep. However, that day he not only lay flat on the bed but had been lying there for a while watching him.

“Not used to it,” Yang Shiyu said lightly.

“What are you not used to?” Jin Zhou asked curiously.

“You, not holding me.”

When Yang Shiyu said this, his tone was as calm as ever, as if he was commenting on something as minor as Jin Zhou not folding the blankets.

But Jin Zhou’s heart felt like it had been pierced by an arrow, pounding rapidly.

Was Yang Shiyu doting him? 

Yang Shiyu was actually acting pouty towards him?

Jin Zhou felt his blood pressure rise, his mouth dry, and his heart about to melt. He immediately turned to his side and hugged his big baby, kissing Yang Shiyu’s cheek like a fool. “Come here, let your husband hold you to sleep.”

Yang Shiyu followed suit, turning to face Jin Zhou, and casually rested his arm on his waist. “What are you thinking about?”

“I…” Jin Zhou had just opened his mouth to answer with a word when he quickly realized something and promptly shut it.

Oh boy, he didn’t use any seductive means to fish for information from Yang Shiyu, but it turned out that Yang Shiyu was the one using it first.

“You’re curious, aren’t you?” Jin Zhou countered instead of answering.

Yang Shiyu seemed to know his tactic had been exposed. He put away his sincere expression and casually said, “No, just asking.”

“You are curious,” Jin Zhou enjoyed the feeling of seeing through Yang Shiyu, “Are you curious why I didn’t inquire further about your ‘old classmate’?”

That day, when Yang Shiyu was brought back to the residential area by the Maybach, faced with Jin Zhou’s questioning, he casually used the excuse of an old classmate to brush it off.

But in theory, Yang Shiyu knew Jin Zhou’s personality and should have known that Jin Zhou wouldn’t be easily dismissed like that.

In fact, Jin Zhou wasn’t fooled. He didn’t continue to press for answers because he already knew who that person was. However, it was precisely because he didn’t continue to inquire that Yang Shiyu became suspicious.

It seemed that having a little secret was not an easy thing. Acting had to be done perfectly.

If one wasn’t careful, Yang Shiyu would see through it.

“So, are you planning to tell me now?” Jin Zhou decided to use the same tactic and continued the topic, “Is that person really your old classmate?”

Yang Shiyu didn’t answer immediately. He stared straight at Jin Zhou as if trying to read his thoughts.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze, turned over, and faced away from Jin Zhou. “Yes.”

Still lying.

Jin Zhou had checked Zhao Qing. He wasn’t the same age as Yang Shiyu, so there was no way they could have been classmates.

But he had long been accustomed to Yang Shiyu acting suspicious with him. Who cared if he investigated or not? Each relied on their own abilities anyway.

The next morning, Jin Zhou solemnly called Sun Yi and Yu He to the repair shop for a meeting. He even set up a whiteboard and placed Zhang Rui’s picture at the center, listing various plans around it.

“Now, our top priority,” Jin Zhou tapped the whiteboard with a marker, “is to find evidence that the watch is in Zhang Rui’s possession and not let him find out.”

Sun Yi, sitting opposite, raised his hand.

Jin Zhou raised his chin. “Go ahead.”

“Why can’t we let Zhang Rui know?” Sun Yi asked, “We can create the illusion that we already have evidence and deceive him into returning it voluntarily, so we won’t have to go to court and avoid trouble.”

“No, we must cause trouble,” Jin Zhou crossed his arms in front of his chest and paced back and forth in front of the whiteboard. “And we need to actually win.”

Just like Luo Xueqing’s case, the reason they were able to raise the settlement money from two thousand to four hundred and eighty thousand was because the result of winning was right in front of them, giving them negotiation leverage.

“But… it will likely be very difficult,” Sun Yi said.

“Indeed, it will be very difficult,” Jin Zhou nodded, “so we can only do our best. If all else fails, we can try to make him voluntarily return the watch.”

Yu He, sitting next to Sun Yi, raised his hand.

Jin Zhou again raised his chin. “Go ahead.”

“The guy who distributed flyers said Zhang Rui tried to bargain with him and wasn’t satisfied with the price of one hundred thousand,” Yu He said.

The market price for the watch was over four hundred thousand, so the second hand shop only paying one hundred thousand was indeed quite stingy.

But the logic behind it wasn’t that simple.

According to the law, pawn shops and second hand shops couldn’t accept valuable items without proper documentation, as it would raise suspicion of handling stolen goods. Customers would need to have complete documentation to prove the source of the items.

Obviously, Zhang Rui didn’t have the necessary documents, so if he wanted to sell through legitimate channels, he would have to forge them, which would increase the risk. That’s why Jin Zhou had arranged for the flyer to include the phrase “cash support,” which was actually implying to Zhang Rui that he didn’t need to involve the bank and didn’t have to worry about being traced.

To put it bluntly, anyone knowledgeable would immediately understand the meaning of the flyer: “We support selling stolen goods here.”

“You can let the guy negotiate again. The maximum is 150,000 yuan. Any higher might raise suspicion,” Jin Zhou said.

Xiao Wu, sitting next to Yu He, raised his hand.

Jin Zhou raised his chin again and said, “Speak.”

“Shouldn’t we let Liu Yongchang handle it?” Xiao Wu said. “He  has a wide network. If he talks to a few more people, he can definitely resolve this.”

Sun Yi and Yu He both looked at Xiao Wu. “You obviously weren’t paying attention!” they said in unison.

Xiao Wu nervously scratched the back of his head. He had been playing with his phone and hadn’t paid much attention.

“You, join the rest of Tiger’s buddies,” Jin Zhou didn’t expect Xiao Wu to contribute anything constructive, “I have other things for you to do.”

Sun Yi and Yu He went back to the law firm and second hand shop, while Xiao Wu went to Tiger’s place.

There was only Jin Zhou left in the auto repair shop, and since there wasn’t much work at the moment, he planned to close the shop early and take a stroll at the Tai Tower.

However, just as he was about to switch off the lights and leave, a man in a black suit and a dark gray coat suddenly appeared at the shop’s entrance.

“Hello, are you Jin Zhou?” the man asked.

The man had handsome features, a clear voice, and a red badge pinned to his left chest. Jin Zhou immediately recognized it as a prosecutor’s badge.

Scattered memories were instantly awakened, and Jin Zhou immediately remembered the person—he was the prosecutor who handled the obstruction of official duties case.

At that time, he had a commanding presence in the courtroom, leaving the defense lawyer speechless, which left a deep impression on Jin Zhou.

During the trial, Jin Zhou had admired the performance of this prosecutor the whole time, which had also made Yang Shi Yu unhappy with him for a long time.

“I am. Who are you?” There was no need for unnecessary connections, and Jin Zhou couldn’t be bothered to mention that they had met before. He directly asked about the man’s identity.

“Xie Yao, a prosecutor at the district prosecutor’s office,” Xie Yao said openly. “I came to see you today to gather some information.”

Gather information?

Jin Zhou felt puzzled, but he had no choice but to reopen the light switch. “Come inside.”

While Jin Zhou was boiling water, Xie Yao neatly arranged his notebook and pen on the small table. He even straightened the line in the middle of the notebook, pulling it tightly.

After a while, Jin Zhou came to the small table with two cups of tea, and Xie Yao picked up the notebook and pen that had just been arranged.

Jin Zhou couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “Was it necessary to arrange them? After all, they will be picked up.”

However, it could be seen that this prosecutor was a thorough  person when it came to work.

“I want to ask you about everything that happened the night you went to the tube building,” Xie Yao said as he recorded.

“The tube building?” Jin Zhou was slightly surprised. He thought it was something else and didn’t expect it to be related to that murder case.

“Yes,” Xie Yao said, “I’m investigating the two murder cases that occurred at the tube building and the single apartments.”

So that’s it.

Renyu Wenli had mentioned to Jin Zhou before that a prosecutor had been involved in those two cases in advance, and it turned out to be Xie Yao.

“The single apartments?” It was new information for Jin Zhou. “But didn’t the victim have a daughter?”

“That’s right, but she was a single mother,” Xie Yao said.

Jin Zhou felt a bit strange, but before he could think too much about it, Xie Yao asked, “Did you go to the tube building alone that night?”

“Yes.” Jin Zhou went through the events of that night again, but he omitted all the details related to Yang Shi Yu.

“According to the surveillance video on the roadside,” Xie Yao flipped through the notebook, “you stayed in the tube building for over half an hour. You said you were looking for Wang Da Rong, but he wasn’t at home, and his apartment is only about twenty square meters. How could you spend over half an hour there?”

Before Jin Zhou could answer, Xie Yao asked again, “Did you discover any unexpected situations?”

Xie Yao’s way of questioning was completely different from Renyu Wenli’s, with a certain amount of pressure, just like that courtroom debate.

At that time, when Jin Zhou was sitting in the gallery, he had imagined how he would handle such a dominant prosecutor if he encountered one, but he didn’t expect it to become reality so soon—though not in the courtroom.

“No,” Jin Zhou calmly said, “I went to Wang Da Rong’s place and found nothing, and I felt frustrated, so I stood in the corridor for a while and smoked a cigarette.”

“Do you smoke alone?” Xie Yao asked again.

“Of course,” Jin Zhou said, “Do you think I smoke with ghosts?”

“When the surveillance captured you leaving, there was a man wearing a baseball cap ahead of you. When did he appear?” Xie Yao continued asking.

“Was it when I was going downstairs?” Jin Zhou pretended to recall, “I don’t remember the specifics, I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

Xie Yao nodded thoughtfully. Jin Zhou took the opportunity to counter-question Xie Yao, “I heard that the time of the killer’s crime was after I left, so I shouldn’t be a suspect, right?”

He deliberately didn’t mention any suspicion about Yang Shi Yu because he didn’t want to raise Xie Yao’s suspicions.

As long as it was determined that he had no suspicion, then Yang Shi Yu, who was walking ahead of him, definitely had no suspicion either.

“From the timeline, it does seem that way,” Xie Yao said, “Based on the timeline we have put together, while you were in the corridor smoking, the killer should have been going upstairs. Are you sure you didn’t see anyone suspicious?”

“The killer was going upstairs?” Jin Zhou frowned upon hearing that.

He carefully recalled the events of that night. He remembered hearing footsteps going up and down the stairs behind him, but who would have known it was the killer?

“No, I didn’t see anyone,” Jin Zhou shook his head, feeling a bit regretful. “I was facing the window outside at that time and didn’t pay attention to anyone passing behind me.”

“Alright,” Xie Yao’s expression also showed some regret. He sighed and closed the notebook. “By the way, I heard you almost got killed recently, but now you can relax. The police from another province have already caught Wei Jie, and he has confessed.”

“What?” Jin Zhou was completely stunned.

That news was even more surprising to him than the killer passing by behind him.

Damn it, Yang Shi Yu really kept his mouth shut, huh?

The reason Jin Zhou was not allowed to go out at night was that the murderer was still on the run.

Now that Wei Jie has been caught, why is he still obediently staying at home?

But those were not the main points. Xie Yao said that Wei Jie had confessed, which was obviously the worst-case scenario—he intended to take all the blame.

For such a big matter, Yang Shi Yu didn’t even inform him?

Suddenly, Jin Zhou thought of another scenario. Did Yang Shi Yu start contacting Wang He Tai’s secretary because the lead involving Wei Jie had been blocked, so he took such an aggressive approach?

Damn it, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

It was impossible to remain obedient. Jin Zhou had to speed up his progress.

But before that, he had to deal with another matter—Yang Shi Yu’s informant.

That damn guy arranged a handsome young man to wander around him, thinking he wouldn’t notice?