GRMFBS CH24

Zhan Yan happily set off for the market with his shopping list.

At the entrance of the neighborhood, a slightly plump middle-aged woman was resting on a stone bench, with a suitcase beside her.

“Aunt Bai,” Zhan Yan greeted her.

Bai Linghui, the mother of police officer Zhao Wen. When the Zhan family first moved into this neighborhood, they received a lot of help from them, and their relationship had always been good.

Seeing him holding an empty bag, Bai Linghui smiled and waved: “Xiao Yan, are you going to buy groceries?”

“Yes, are you going home? I can help carry it for you,” Zhan Yan said.

“No, I made some food and was going to take it to your sister Wen Wen,” Bai Linghui waved her hand, displeased. “I see she’s going to work overtime again; it looks like she’ll be coming back late tonight.”

Zhan Yan glanced at the suitcase.

Is she planning to punish Wen Wen for not coming home by stuffing her with food?

“I’ll deliver it for you. It’s on my way anyway,” Zhan Yan offered.

“Okay, okay, thank you!” Bai Linghui was very happy. “Just give her half, and take the rest home for yourself!”

Zhan Yan was also happy: “Alright, I won’t be polite then!”

Bai Linghui’s cooking skills were average, but she was excellent at making Chinese pastries. Zhan Yan had tried her flower cakes before, with a crispy exterior and a sweet, fragrant filling. They were delicious! He’d have breakfast for the next few days!

Zhan Yan took half of it home first, then carried the suitcase straight to the police station.

At the gate, Zhan Yan registered and then looked into the office. A group of police officers was busy inside, and a short-haired female officer, looking capable and poised, was standing sideways. She turned around sharply when she heard the noise near the door.

“Wen Wen,” Zhan Yan smiled and greeted her, “Aunt Bai asked me to bring you some food.”

The busy atmosphere in the office immediately stopped. Zhan Yan heard the sound of someone swallowing secretly, clearly someone who had been fed by Aunt Bai before.

Zhao Wen led him inside: “Why are you the one to bring it?”

She started to say something but paused halfway — she saw the suitcase behind Zhan Yan.

“Thank you for the trouble!” Zhao Wen said solemnly.

“It’s no trouble, it’s only half full,” Zhan Yan opened the suitcase.

Inside the transparent food containers were soft green bean cakes, savory walnut crisps, coconut cakes, date paste yam paste, green dumplings… stacked in layers, with colors of red, yellow, green, and white, and visible textures of either crispy or soft.

“Uh… Captain Zhao, isn’t it mealtime? Everyone hasn’t eaten yet…”

“Come, come, everyone come share, eat first then get back to work,” Zhao Wen called out.

Everyone came over to take some pastries, except for the person sitting at the third desk, who didn’t move. Zhan Yan even heard him hum softly.

Zhao Wen either didn’t hear it or didn’t care, and she placed a box on that person’s desk and handed another one to Zhan Yan: “You eat too.”

After her mom retired, she had no other hobbies except making pastries, and Zhao Wen was almost fed up with them; everyone around her had tried them by now.

“No need, Aunt Bai gave me half.” Zhan Yan handed the box to a newly arrived young police officer.

The officer looked confused: “Thanks.”

“Captain Zhao, another person came to report a stolen electric bike, checked the surveillance, but…”

“Can’t let ordinary people hear about the case, right?” It was the person sitting at the third desk who spoke.

The young officer immediately fell silent, looking awkward.

Zhan Yan blinked and packed the suitcase away: “Wen Wen, you all continue, I’ll head off now.”

Zhao Wen waved at him: “Thanks for making the trip, you can go now.”

There had been a string of electric bike thefts for the past couple of months, but the culprit had not been caught. The main issue was a strange detail: whenever a camera could capture the criminal, the footage would turn to static, as if someone had intentionally interfered with the cameras to cover for the thief.

But if they could hack into the cameras, why still steal electric bikes?

As Zhan Yan passed the hallway, he overheard the reporting person on the phone with their family.

“Don’t worry, jie, I’ve already reported it.”

“It was stolen last night. I checked the neighborhood’s surveillance.”

“The footage got corrupted, part of it was blurry, but I could see the beginning and end. The missing part was when your electric bike disappeared.”

“It’s okay, it’s just an electric bike. If we can’t find it, we’ll buy another one! We’ll even get a pink one!”

No footage? Zhan Yan thought for a moment and opened his “Gossip System.”

[Ghost Hou Liyun guided Wang Guan to steal an electric bike and helped him disrupt the cameras.]

? What does this ghost want?

Flipping through a few more pages, he found the reason:

[Ghost Hou Liyun discovered that Wang Guan was his creditor in his past life, and decided to repay the debt before reincarnating.]

[Ghost Hou Liyun decided to guide Wang Guan in stealing an electric bike to repay the debt.]

Zhan Yan was shocked. What is this?

Debts must be repaid, but by stealing an electric bike?

It’s moral, but not very moral.

After a while, Zhao Wen also came out and saw Zhan Yan still there.

Zhan Yan spoke first: “Wen Wen, I overheard him on the phone. I think I saw the person who stole the pink electric bike last night.”

He went from being a bystander to a witness, staying in the police station.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went for a walk. I saw a big man riding a pink electric bike. It struck me as odd, so I looked at him a bit longer.”

“It was on the path next to the small grove.”

Zhao Wen immediately asked someone to check the surveillance there and then turned to Zhan Yan with a sharp look: “Why did you go for a walk if you couldn’t sleep? Don’t you know it’s dangerous near the small grove where there are few people?”

Zhan Yan: “…I know, I won’t go again next time. Don’t tell my sister though.”

What walk? Last night, he stayed up all night watching his brother’s gossip videos at home. He just wanted to find an excuse to pass on the clue. The area had incomplete surveillance, so it was understandable that his figure wasn’t captured.

“Do you remember any characteristics of that person?” Zhao Wen continued to ask.

If it’s still the same thief, it’s likely that the surveillance footage along that road was also hacked, making it impossible to identify anything. So Zhan Yan would be the only witness for now.

“The person was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, with a scar on their calf, around this position, about this long. His eyebrows were quite thick, like a continuous eyebrow. There was also a smell of alcohol on him,” Zhan Yan gestured as he spoke.

After hearing his description, Zhao Wen’s expression deepened. The older police officer beside her immediately gave a sharp look: “Kid, your observation skills are pretty good.”

Zhan Yan proudly lifted his head: “Of course! My vision is 5.3!”

Zhao Wen: …

Was that supposed to be a compliment? That was more like suspicion!

What kind of ordinary person sees someone ride an electric bike past at night and manages to catch so many details and remember them?

Silly kid never thinks things through!

But indeed, it was quite suspicious!

“You also have a good memory,” the older officer commented.

Zhan Yan nodded again: “Yes! My brain works really well! If you don’t believe me, ask Wen Wen, I’ve always been good at my studies since I was little!”

He saw Zhao Wen’s speechless expression and pretended to realize something: “You don’t believe me, right? I’ll prove it to you!”

He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and opened the system to rewind the scene, pretending to recall: “I just went in to deliver food to Wen Wen, and I saw your office.

“There are a total of eight desks in your office, three near the door and five against the wall. The first desk from the wall had a black sports bag hanging from the chair back, with two stacks of papers on the desk. The second desk had a photo frame, but I couldn’t see what photo it was since it was facing away from me. The third desk was the messiest, and there was a novel hidden among the papers…”

He kept describing, and the people around him slowly became stunned.

“Captain Zhao…” someone quietly poked Zhao Wen, whispering, “This kid who delivered the food is a genius!”

Zhan Yan opened his eyes and gave them an approving look.

Zhao Wen: …

She knew Zhan Yan was smart, but she didn’t know his memory was this good!

He had always been sharp-eyed, knowing all the gossip around him, and loved to get the inside scoop, but this was a completely different level!

He had only been in the office for a few minutes, and Zhao Wen was watching him the whole time. Zhan Yan didn’t seem to intentionally observe the office layout—he just glanced around out of normal curiosity when he entered.

And yet he remembered all of this! Is he a human recorder?!

The older officer laughed: “Kid, you’ve got great observation skills! You’d make a great cop! How about it? Ever considered applying to the police academy?”

“Uh… He’s already in college, studying at Beinong University,” Zhao Wen said.

“Oh…” The older officer looked regretful. “Beifnong University is a good school too.”

After recording the testimony, Zhao Wen escorted Zhan Yan out and couldn’t help but give him a light pat: “You really talk too much!”

Zhan Yan wasn’t the type to show off, but his behavior today was clearly intentional.

Zhan Yan played dumb: “Isn’t this helping you with your performance?”

Zhao Wen saw his behavior and didn’t say anything more: “Alright, I’ll take care of it. It’s getting dark, you should head home.”

Zhan Yan had figured out that Shao Jinwen was trying to provoke her and deliberately made a show of it to back her up. When he mentioned the other desks, it was harmless, but when he got to the third desk and mentioned the novel hidden among the files, Shao Jinwen’s face turned green.

“Wen Wen, once you crack the case, get home early. I won’t help you coax Aunt Bai,” Zhan Yan waved and ran off.

Zhao Wen’s expression was complicated.

She was certain that everything just now had been an act!

Zhan Yan… her best friend had always seen her brother through rose-colored glasses, thinking he was the best boy ever. But Zhao Wen always felt the kid was shrewd and clever, obedient yet mischievous. She had once seen Zhan Yan and Zhan Sui Ru sneak out over the wall of their yard when they were little.

Yunjin City was safe now, and Zhao Wen was in a good mood.

Zhan Yan hummed a song as he headed to the market, already planning to brag about this to his sister later! He also planned to ask her about that bottle of essential oil with no label—who’s “connections” was it from and if she could get him more. He wanted to bring a bottle to Gu Jiancheng.

Gu Jiancheng had a headache problem. He didn’t tell anyone and suffered through it secretly, but Zhan Yan had noticed it.

Gu Jiancheng appeared straightforward on the outside, always talking about cute things and acting playful, but in reality, he had a twisted personality. Since he didn’t mention it, Zhan Yan pretended not to know, so it wouldn’t make things awkward.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long, and Lao Zhang’s butcher shop still had the last two ribs.

When Lao Zhang saw Zhan Yan, he smiled: “Hey! Are you here to buy meat for your dad?”

“My dad’s on a business trip. I’m cooking myself,” Zhan Yan replied.

They often came to buy meat and were familiar with each other. Lao Zhang had a great relationship with Zhan Yunkai, and he thought Zhan Yan knew his stuff!

“These two ribs? Alright, I’ll chop them up and pack them for you.” Lao Zhang kept chatting while he worked, mysteriously adding, “Did your dad give you a secret recipe? I’ll tell you, that secret recipe was given to him by me! It’s our family’s traditional recipe for braised meat. I don’t tell anyone else!”

“No wonder! I thought his cooking skills improved after buying meat here!” Zhan Yan was chatting when his phone suddenly rang.

He looked at the screen:

Gu Jiancheng: [I’ve arrived in Yunjin City.]