Chapter Fifteen: Eating and Lodging

  Found a restaurant that hadn't closed yet, ordered a fish slice in the middle of the night, a five-color chicken diced, and a large bowl of hot noodle soup. Since someone paid for it, there's no need to be polite.

  Li Nanfang ordered two more small dishes and a bottle of beer, and asked Xing Ye for a bottle of juice.

  Li Nanfang was sipping beer from a small mouth, watching Xing Ye eating big mouthfuls of food under the starry night.

  "Has anyone ever told you that you eat like a cat?" Li Nanfang suddenly said.

  "Is it that you said I'm sexy and cute?" Xing Ye thought of the words used to describe women, like "sexy little wild cat", and puffed out her cheeks.

  "I once raised a cat, and one time I was on a mission for two days without returning home. When I came back to feed it, it ate like you are eating now." Li Nanfang drank the beer in his cup as if he were drinking white wine.

  At midnight, I heard that her eating sounds were like jokes. When people are extremely hungry, they don't care about so many things. After swallowing the food in my mouth, I said: "You're abusing animals, you should go to the Animal Protection Association to sue you, that cat will be starved to death by you sooner or later."

  "I don't know if it's dead or not, it ran away." Li Nanfang said calmly.

  "People like you are not suitable for raising pets, your life is irregular, and safety is not guaranteed. Something like today's incident could lead to someone getting hurt, or even losing their life." After eating seven or eight tenths full, he spent the whole night gobbling wolfishly, picked up a peanut and threw it into his mouth to chew on casually.

  "I knew it since the day I became a cop, but you're right, we're not suitable for raising pets. In fact, we shouldn't even get married, marriage is just harming each other." Li Nanfang thought of his mother who had been worried about his father all her life, and that his father and brother were all police officers, and then regretted saying these things to a girl he didn't know well.

  It won't be his wife asking for a divorce, Xing Ye guessed in her heart, feeling that she wasn't familiar enough with him to share his private life, and quickly changed the subject.

  "Let's find a five-star hotel for a while, I heard that there is one in the provincial capital, and I haven't seen it yet." said Xing Ye.

  "You think it's beautiful, five-star, you really dare to think, I haven't lived in one yet, it's good to have a free place to live." Li Nanfang was grateful for Xingye's tact and spoke very casually.

  "Can't it be reimbursed? Go ahead, go ahead. If not, open two rooms and you can also stay in a five-star hotel for once." The boss was making reckless decisions overnight.

  Li Nanfang gave her a white eye, and Xing Ye immediately knew that she definitely couldn't go.

  Actually didn't go to a five-star hotel, and didn't really want to go at night, so just found a nearby hotel that looked okay.

  Something unexpected happened again when registering.

  "Don't you have an ID?" Li Nanfang unconsciously raised his voice.

  "I'm not even eighteen yet, what's so strange about not having an ID?" Xīng Yè felt that the other person was making a big deal out of nothing.

  "How did you get into that store that afternoon?"

  "As long as you pay, they'll let you move in, they didn't even ask me for my ID."

  "It's no wonder that the Poison King gang would live there, the registration system is too lax. The existence of such shops brings so much unnecessary trouble to our work. Tomorrow, send someone to thoroughly investigate that shop." Li Nanfang said angrily.

  It wasn't until tonight that I finally understood why Li Nanfang was so unexpected. It turned out that he had discovered a loophole.

  But then came new trouble again.

  "Sir, are you also staying at our hotel? Otherwise, we can't register with your ID card, it's a rule." Li Nanfang took out his own ID card to register, and the waiter explained seriously.

  You covered your mouth and laughed secretly at night, but you just spoke so righteously in front of others. Now they're afraid you'll cause trouble, so naturally they won't compromise with you.

  Li Nanfang had no choice but to hand over his police ID, "She is our key witness, we must ensure her safety. Book a room for her, the cost will be reimbursed by our Public Security Bureau."

  The waiter saw that Li Nanfang had already put on a stern face and asked the department manager before giving them a standard room.

  The starry night in his heart teased him, and the manager was on time, afraid he would find fault with him afterwards.

  Li Nanfang sent Xing Ye to his room and took a look around, feeling somewhat satisfied, before preparing to take his leave.

  "Tomorrow afternoon you go to the bureau, I'll give you the knife, you know the way, right?" Li Nanfang instructed before leaving.

  "Tomorrow? Ah, Captain Li, do you know how to get to the Provincial No. 1 Prison from here?" Xing Ye suddenly remembered her plan for tomorrow and hastily asked Li Nanfang.

  "The first prison? You want..."

  "May I go see my brother first and then come back for the sword?" asked Xing Ye cautiously.

  "Is your brother in prison? What's the reason?"

  Li Nanfang didn't think his words carried any negative emotions, but relying on years of experience in criminal investigation, he immediately noticed that Xing Ye's attitude changed significantly after hearing his words. His questioning made the young girl suddenly put up a defensive stance. The casualness in her speech disappeared, and she became exceptionally quiet.

  "Yes, my brother was sentenced to five years for injuring someone." Xing Ye straightened her back, she didn't think her brother had anything to be ashamed of.

  "Bus No. 11 goes straight there, but I don't know which bus can transfer to No. 11."

  "Thank you, I'll go check at the bus stop tomorrow, nothing else, goodbye."

  Xing Ye quickly closed the door, Li Nanfang touched his nose and muttered: "It shouldn't have caused such a big reaction." He turned around and went back to the dormitory.

  The mood adjusted quickly in the starry night, the room was not bad with a small bathroom, and it felt great to take a hot bath. It's been a while since I last took a bath, which was when I sent a scarf to Xiaoxuan at the county public bathhouse before the new year. Everything is good in this small town, except that taking baths is inconvenient during winter.

  Wipe dry hair, look at watch already twelve o'clock, go to bed and sleep.

  Got up early, washed and dressed quickly in the middle of the night, deliberately changed into a clean set of clothes, thought about it and packed my travel bag as well, might as well bring it along, no need to go back to the hotel anymore.

  The sound of knocking on the door came, and he hurriedly went to open the door in the middle of the night.

  Some unexpected things were Li Nanfang standing outside the door, still wearing casual clothes.

  "It just so happens that I'm going to the First Prison to get a prisoner's testimony, and I'll take you along with me." Li Nanfang explained.

  Xīng yè hěn kuài rèn kě le Lǐ Nánfāng de zhè zhǒng shuō fǎ, jiù zì jǐ xiàn zài zhè zhuàng tài, jiù chái huǒ nǚ yī gè, gēn běn bù yòng zì zuò duō qíng de rèn wéi rén jiā huì yǒu suǒ tú móu.

  "That's great, thank you! You haven't had breakfast yet, have you? Let me treat you as a token of gratitude," Xing Ye said happily.

  Li Nanfang saw Xing Ye's slightly exaggerated expression at night and felt a sense of relief in his heart, knowing that Xing Ye had recovered.

  Yesterday, I couldn't put my mind at ease after leaving. The little girl looked cheerful and sensible, but she was actually very sensitive. Thinking about it, she seemed to be at the age of rebellion. Due to my professional habit, I asked one more question, which made her stand up with all her might.

  I still understand what's going on today, so I drove to the hotel.

  The two of them had some breakfast by the roadside. Li Nanfang naturally wouldn't let Xing Ye pay, and he rushed to pay the bill instead.

  The car drove on the road, and after passing the outer ring, there were obviously fewer vehicles. Li Nanfang found that the originally calm starry night became more and more tense as they walked.

  "What did your brother do?" Li Nanfang originally wanted to speak to divert her attention, but as soon as the words came out, she regretted it. "If you don't want to say, then forget it."

  "There's nothing," Xing Ye shook his head and continued, "My brother went to work in the quarry in our county after graduating from high school. He worked for half a year, but at the end of the year, the boss didn't pay him his wages. He got into a conflict with the boss and injured someone, so he was sentenced to five years."

  Li Nanfang listened to her simple words, but with a thick tone of sarcasm. As a public security officer himself, he naturally heard that this matter was not so simple.

  "Did he beat someone severely injured?" Otherwise, it shouldn't be sentenced to five years.

  "It's not clear, five or six people beat up one person, I really don't know how those people were injured" Xīng Yè paused for a moment "But I do know that the factory owner is the big uncle of our county public security bureau chief, his 20-year-old sister married the 50-year-old bureau chief."

  The starry night didn't continue speaking, but the meaning of the words was already very clear.

  Li Nanfang also fell silent. This kind of thing wasn't something he hadn't heard of before, and it had even happened around him, but he himself didn't have a way to change anything.

  The two of them arrived at the prison gate in silence.