Mordgemälde

Kapitel 12

Feng Nian'en nodded and was about to leave when Li Zilin called him back: "Remember to eat!"

"Yes, thank you, teacher." He nodded, then suddenly remembered something, "Um..."

"What? Just say it, don't be shy."

"No. But... but do vampires necessarily have to drink human blood?"

This question was clearly unexpected, and she was momentarily stunned.

“What I mean is,” he explained hastily, “is there any way for a vampire to avoid drinking blood if they don’t want to?” He added, “I’m curious because I’ve read the materials my teacher compiled and it didn’t mention this issue.”

“Oh.” Li Zilin pushed up her glasses. “All the data shows that vampires can’t live without blood. In any case, they need to replenish their blood regularly.”

"It really is necessary..." he murmured absentmindedly.

"However, it doesn't necessarily have to be human blood."

His somewhat scattered gaze immediately turned to her, and his pale face seemed to instantly regain some color.

"Animal blood works too. I think that's in the information I compiled. Didn't you see it?"

Feng Nian'en leaned against the tree trunk, rubbing his temples, his mind completely blank: "I can't remember." Didn't he see it? If he did, he shouldn't have missed it, but the teacher said it was in the materials. Could it really have been his oversight?

"Are you really alright?" Li Zilin asked him worriedly.

"It's alright," he shook his head. "I just need to go back and rest for a bit."

"You must tell me if you have any difficulties."

"Okay, thank you, teacher. I'll head back now."

Feng Nian'en returned to his residence and rested for a while. Once the sun's effects on him had subsided, he immediately jumped up, rushed to his desk, and began to peruse the documents compiled by Li Zilin.

Animals, animals...

He flipped through the pages one by one, and saw several places where animals were mentioned, but none of them were what he was looking for. However, on the page about vampires' diet, there were two lines that had been crossed out.

He stared at the stain, lost in thought.

Did the teacher make a mistake, or was this sentence altered?

He thought for a while, shook his head, put the question aside, went to the kitchen to make himself a bowl of noodles, and after eating, immediately took a bus to a children's goods store in the city center to buy a series of "Shin-chan" related items.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Feng Nian'en arrived at the garden wearing a T-shirt with Shin-chan's face printed on it. There, she saw about ten children divided into two teams, playing a war game under the command of the little boy from yesterday.

He took a deep breath, strode over to the children, and imitated the actions from the cartoon: left hand on hip, right hand raised diagonally, laughed three times, then closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, wiggled his hips three times, and began reciting lines from the TV show.

A virgin's tears! He kept reminding himself! If he didn't want to become a ghost, he had to do this!

The children looked up and stared at him in a daze.

"The messenger who will save the earth, the messenger of justice..." he said, his lips twitching uncontrollably.

It's no big deal. Kindergarten teachers do this kind of thing all the time. It's nothing. It helps the children accept him, and as long as the children are willing to accept him, any price is worth paying.

He tried to encourage himself, but his voice grew softer and softer until it finally broke into a muffled murmur.

"Run! He's the madman I was talking about!" A little girl's voice broke the silence, and the garden erupted in chaos. Some called for their mothers, some for their grandmothers, some howled, some cried, as if a wild wolf had run into the garden.

Feng Nian'en stood there stunned for a moment before jumping up and shouting urgently, "I'm not crazy! I'm not crazy!" He caught up with one of the girls, "I won't hit you, don't run away, I won't hit you."

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..."

The girl he was pulling was crying out in a hoarse voice.

"Don't cry, don't cry, I won't hit you. I... I'll buy you candy, okay?" He hurriedly comforted her.

"Mommy, Mommy..."

"Don't cry, please don't cry..."

Just as Feng Nian'en was at a loss, he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder. As he was about to turn around, he felt something cold grab his arm. He looked up and saw two men standing on either side of him, and his right hand was handcuffed.

"Excuse me, sir, you are suspected of child abduction. Please come with us." One of the officers flashed his police badge in front of him.

“Child abduction? No, I didn’t… I just… just wanted to play with them, I didn’t… I didn’t mean anything else…” He released the child, explaining blankly and helplessly.

“Let’s go, we’ll talk at the police station.” The man pushed him into the van parked in the garden.

“I didn’t mean to kidnap them, really, I, I just wanted to play with them, I, I…” He kept explaining in the car, but the three policemen, including the driver, didn’t say anything, they just stared blankly and told him to go to the police station to talk.

After the car entered the main road, Feng Nian'en stopped explaining.

That's it, he failed again.

He wasn't afraid of going to the police station, but he had wasted another day. Only one day left—how could he possibly shed tears with only one day left? How could he possibly turn back like this with only one day left?

He leaned back in his chair in near despair, letting others lead him out of the car and into the police station's office.

"Damn it! What law did I break by drinking? Which law says I can't drink? Show it to me! Show it to me!"

The familiar voice made Feng Nian'en raise her head, and her steps unconsciously became a little lighter.

"It wasn't about drinking," a helpless voice explained.

"What is that? What right do you have to arrest me? Where's the arrest warrant? You dragged me here without any documents. Do you think I'm ignorant of the law?"

"Si Wen!" another voice shouted angrily, "Don't be so presumptuous! We have the right to reissue documents after arresting someone!"

Upon hearing this name, Feng Nian'en's head suddenly felt heavy.

"Outrageous? Where have I been outrageous? Making demands is my right as a citizen! You have an obligation to give me a clear answer!" The girl glared back defiantly.

"I've told you a hundred times! You are suspected of vandalizing public property and damaging public facilities."

"You said it yourself, you're just suspected, but there's no evidence. Which eye of yours saw me damage public property? Which eye saw me destroy public facilities? Tell me, find a witness! Where are the photos? Where is the evidence? None? If you don't have any, then don't release me! Be careful, or I'll sue you for illegal detention and false accusation!" She waved her two thin arms, displaying an imposing manner.

"We're not going to detain you," the helpless voice explained. "We're just waiting for your family to come and take you home."

"Ha, instead of waiting for my family to come, you might as well wait..."

As they were talking, Feng Nian'en and the other two had already entered the hall, temporarily diverting the attention of everyone in the room.

"What, is there really a human trafficker? Xiao Gao, I thought it was just our director's wife being nervous." A young man asked.

"It's uncertain whether he was a human trafficker, but he was holding a little girl at the time."

Si Wen stared at Feng Nian'en, then suddenly shouted, "Idiot? How did you get here?"

Feng Nian'en gave a wry smile.

The girl looked him up and down, then burst into laughter: "Tian Tian Tian Tian... Spare me, how can there be such a person!"

"You know each other?" a policeman asked slyly, as if he had discovered major news.

"I don't know him, I don't know him. I absolutely do not know a twenty-two-year-old who is still wearing a T-shirt with Crayon Shin-chan's face on it, absolutely not!" Si Wen said, slapping the table and stomping his feet while laughing.

A stool, a table, two chairs, and the same two young men who brought him were facing him, formally spreading out their notebooks and starting to ask him his name, date of birth, occupation, and so on.

He took a weary breath, answered a few questions, and then said, "Mr. Zhang Jiru's daughter, Zhang Hanwen, can verify my identity. Could you please call her for me? She will help me hire a lawyer." As he spoke, he recited a number.

The two policemen's expressions immediately changed, and one of them asked cautiously, "Mr. Zhang Jiru's daughter from the Zhang Group?"

He nodded.

The policeman immediately went outside, and the remaining one said, "Please wait a moment."

He nodded again. He knew clearly that he was alright. In this city, Zhang Jiru of the Zhang Group held immense authority.

Sure enough, the policeman returned a few minutes later. As soon as he entered, he smiled and said, "Sorry, sorry, please come with me to another room to rest. Miss Zhang will be here soon."

Less than twenty minutes later, Zhang Hanwen arrived, accompanied by a man in a gray suit. The man was clearly familiar with the place, as he was greeted without needing to hand over his business card: "Attorney Ren."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhang Hanwen politely but firmly asked the police officers who had rushed into the house to leave, and then glared at Feng Nian'en through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong with you?!" She finally couldn't hold back and slammed her purse on the table.

Feng Nian'en lowered her head and remained silent.

"Speak!"

"No, it's nothing, it's just a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? What a misunderstanding! Then why were you brought here? Why were you mistaken for a human trafficker? Misunderstanding? Look at your clothes! Look at your appearance!"

He looked down at his shoes and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, Miss."

Zhang Hanwen closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "Tell me honestly, did something happen to you during those four days? Did someone force you to do this?"

"No," he said in a very low voice, but with absolute certainty. Nobody made him do this! Nobody made him do such a thing!

She stared at him, her deep gaze carrying a probing anger. Feng Nian'en lowered his head even further, his heart filled with indescribable emotions. Frustration, grief—he felt himself sinking into a swamp, desperately trying to climb out, but only sinking deeper…

Just as the room was as silent as still water, there was a light knock on the door, and Lawyer Ren and a bald police officer who was no more than thirty years old walked in one after the other.

“Miss,” Attorney Ren said, “the formalities have been completed, and Mr. Feng can leave at any time.”

"There shouldn't be any lasting effects, right? I hope they won't come looking for trouble again in a couple of days." Zhang Hanwen suppressed his anger and looked at the police officer behind him.

"No, no, of course not," the officer who followed in quickly said. "It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! We didn't know Mr. Feng was Ms. Zhang's driver, otherwise this misunderstanding would never have happened. We're so sorry that Ms. Zhang had to come all this way!"

"Really?" Zhang Hanwen picked up the purse, a slight smile playing on his lips. "But Xiao Feng is partly to blame. He's always liked children, so his actions might have been a bit exaggerated. You can't really blame him."

"We were just too nervous. But now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, we hope Mr. Feng will have some free time to come to our home sometime. Xiao Kong told my wife yesterday that he really likes you."

Feng Nian'en gave a wry smile and followed Zhang Hanwen out. Just as they were about to leave the hall, a sharp voice called out to him: "Hey, you idiot! Feng Nian'en!"

He turned around and saw Si Wen waving at him.

"You know him?" Zhang Hanwen frowned.

"kindness."

"Do me a favor and take me back, you idiot, or I'll have to spend the night in this godforsaken place."

Feng Nian'en hesitated for a moment, then looked at Zhang Hanwen, who glanced at the police officer beside him: "Is it alright, Director Zhou?"

"Of course, of course! Since he's Mr. Feng's friend, there's no problem. Siwen, you can go back now."

"Come on!" Si Wen swaggered over. "Don't think that just because I said that I owe you a favor. I'm perfectly fine. If I weren't too lazy to argue with you guys, I would have stayed here for ten days or half a month and then we'd see who had the headache!"

Director Zhou looked at Zhang Hanwen and smiled awkwardly: "This child drank alcohol in the early hours of the morning and smashed several billboards and streetlights. We originally planned to wait for her family to come and take her home."

Zhang Hanwen nodded and said nothing more: "Let's go."

The group left the lobby together, and Director Zhou escorted them to the parking lot before returning home. Attorney Ren also got into his car.

Chapter Nine