Conseillère militaire et princesse

Chapitre 33

Upon hearing this, the woman clapped her hands happily, thinking she had met a generous customer, and then firmly held up five fingers.

500? 5,000? 50,000?

Wang Xiaofeng didn't guess; she just smiled and nodded, because whether it was 500 or 50,000, it meant nothing to her.

Money means nothing to a dead person.

"Hey!" A car pulled up beside them, the back window rolled down, and it was Ding Yan. "Hey! Your girlfriend? Well done, kid, you did a good job of keeping it a secret!" Ding Yan said sourly as he sized up the woman. "Not bad!"

"No, no... she just came to ask for directions!" Wang Xiaofeng hurriedly waved his hand and said to the woman, "You just need to keep walking along this alley and you'll get there!"

The woman nodded knowingly and walked forward along the alley.

"Hey!" Ding Yan jumped out of the car. "Why haven't you been answering my calls lately?"

"I'm quite busy..."

"Busy my foot!" Ding Yan tapped his forehead with her index finger. "You even took leave from the hospital, what have you been busy with? Murdering or arson?"

"Shh—" Wang Xiaofeng looked back at the alley and found that the woman of the night had not gone far. Especially when she heard Ding Yan say "murder and arson," her shoulders seemed to tremble slightly.

"Shh! What are you shushing me for!" Ding Yan pulled Wang Xiaofeng into the car and said unhappily, "I really don't understand you two. One of you says you're busy and won't even answer my calls, while the other says you're working on an important case and can't answer the phone! What's going on?!"

"Yang Xin? Isn't he answering your calls either?"

“Yeah, he’s been acting weird lately.” Ding Yan pouted, and Wang Xiaofeng affectionately hooked her nose. “Alright, if you keep pouting, you can go to my pigsty and have piglets!”

"You're the pig!" Ding Yan laughed, punching his shoulder.

Old You, shrouded in a black hood, sat in the driver's seat and sighed. Although he didn't like men as gloomy as Wang Xiaofeng, he was safe nonetheless. Birds of a feather flock together; Yang Xin could bring Ding Yan no happiness, only endless danger.

"Let's go to your house for pork?" Ding Yan said to the front without waiting for Wang Xiaofeng's reply, "Old Postman, let's go to Wang Xiaofeng's house."

"Wait!" Wang Xiaofeng hurriedly stopped him. "Home is terrible, it stinks. Let's eat out."

Ding Yan tilted his head and said, "That's true. With your expertise in corpse sculpture, your house must smell like a corpse all the time."

15.

"Hey, why aren't you eating?" Ding Yan asked while chewing on a large piece of steak.

"Oh, I already ate at home."

"You can eat again after you've already eaten. Do you have to feel hungry before you eat?"

Do we have to feel hungry before we eat?

Wang Xiaofeng was taken aback. He lowered his head and cut a piece of steak, as if he had cut off a woman's cheek countless times, with elegant and clean movements, without any hesitation.

"How can you eat so much?" Wang Xiaofeng gently wiped the vegetable bits from the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, I eat a lot when I'm in a bad mood."

Are you in a bad mood right now?

"kindness!"

"Why……"

"have no idea."

"Is it because Yang Xin refuses to see you, refuses to spend time with you, and refuses to answer your calls?" Wang Xiaofeng said sadly.

“Not entirely.” Ding Yan swallowed a mouthful of thick soup and stuck out his tongue. “Actually… it’s because I shut down Very Consulting.”

"It's closed?"

"Hmm... I want... I want to be a good person, someone worthy of Yang Xin." Ding Yan smiled casually, "Isn't that silly?"

"You mean you've rejected your past self, rejected everything you did in the past, and you feel you weren't a good person before, right?"

"Huh?!" Ding Yan lowered her head, nodded, then shook her head, saying with distress, "This is the main reason I'm unhappy..." She took out a Coke cup from her bag, filled with a can of blood—a gift from Wang Xiaofeng. She took a deep drag, "You know what? After closing down Very Consulting, I feel... empty. Look how much I ate today... my stomach's bulging," she patted her stomach, "but I don't feel full at all, I still feel so empty..."

“That emptiness…” she looked at Wang Xiaofeng in anguish, “is here…here…” she pointed to her head, “it is the hunger deep in the soul.”

Is it because of a deep-seated hunger in our souls that we seek meaning in life through the deaths of others? Wang Xiaofeng sighed.

“Yesterday,” Ding Yan continued, “Yesterday, I saw a girl on TV who had attempted suicide by poisoning. Looking at her pained expression, at her eyes filled with disgust for the world, she was so helpless, so pitiful. Under the spotlight, amidst the gossipy expressions of the people, and the contemptuous comments of the crowd, she seemed so lost, as if living was her greatest pain…” Ding Yan’s eyes were filled with tears: “How I wish… I could help her, help her truly embark on the path to death.”

"Then go help them..."

"No, I'm a policeman's girlfriend now, I can't do that." Ding Yan buried her head in her hands, shook her head painfully, and then began to eat large mouthfuls of food again.

16.

Wang Xiaofeng watched the old postman speed away, carrying Ding Yan, who was stuffed to the point of stomach pain. He glanced at his watch; it was almost midnight. He sighed, smiled at Ding Yan's taillights, and turned to head home.

The alleyway is a shortcut home.

"Hey! Handsome!" A woman's voice rang out at the end of the alley. It was that woman. "Didn't you tell me to wait for you here?"

"You really can wait..." Wang Xiaofeng frowned. He had never seen such a persistent and patient prostitute.

"For a generous customer like you, waiting any amount of time is worthwhile," the woman said with a flirtatious smile. "So, can we go home now?"

"Go home?" Wang Xiaofeng sneered. "Fine!" He gently put his arm around the woman's shoulder, stroking her arm as they walked towards home.

No, she is not a prostitute.

Wang Xiaofeng pretended to flirt and gently pinched her arm, which had well-defined muscles. A prostitute's arms wouldn't have muscles.

He stopped, glanced at the woman, frowned and pondered for a few seconds, then took out his phone and dialed Yang Xin's number.

"Yang Xin? When you called me this afternoon, my phone was dead. What's wrong? Is something the matter?" Wang Xiaofeng continued to put his arm around the woman's shoulder. When he said the name "Yang Xin," the woman's shoulder muscles trembled slightly.

"Oh, I need to talk to you about something. Can we meet and discuss it?" Yang Xin felt that he had almost figured things out.

"What's the big deal?" Wang Xiaofeng released the woman and saw that she seemed to be holding her breath and listening intently to the contents of his phone call.

"About Ding Yan..." Yang Xin sighed, somewhat uneasy.

“Oh…that must be something very important…” Wang Xiaofeng deliberately spoke ambiguously, glancing at the woman out of the corner of his eye.

"When can we meet?" Yang Xin hurriedly closed his laptop, picked up the phone, and stood up.

"Anytime is fine... This is a big secret of the police station..." Wang Xiaofeng sneered, killing two birds with one stone.

"You...you know...you know I'm investigating Ding Yan?!"

"Hmm. Thank you for your trust, even sharing such confidential information with me." Sure enough, Wang Xiaofeng thought to himself, he was indeed investigating Ding Yan. Humph!

Wang Xiaofeng hung up the phone and smiled apologetically at the woman: "Sorry..."

Wang Xiaofeng hung up the phone and smiled apologetically at the woman: "Sorry, I have to go see a friend right now."

"It's alright. I'll be going now." The woman turned and left without hesitation, showing no displeasure whatsoever.

Wang Xiaofeng watched her retreating figure and smiled, "Go on, go tell your police colleagues that Yang Xin is the leaker."

He glanced at his watch, then hurried home—he needed to get things sorted out there, because Yang Xin would be arriving soon. And of course, the police the woman had brought.

17.

"Hello? Yang Xin, you've arrived?" Wang Xiaofeng answered Yang Xin's call while surveying his perfectly messy home.

"I'll be a little later!" Yang Xin seemed to be tying someone up. "I just ran into Yu Wei in the alley. I'm taking him to the mental hospital! You wait for me!"

Yu Wei? Wang Xiaofeng frowned. That man with paranoia, oh, it's him! He suddenly remembered the man who bumped into him in the alley. This mentally ill man had been on the run for so long, escaping those non-existent pursuers.

"Conspiracy! It's all a conspiracy! You cops have been bribed long ago!" Yu Wei struggled, "Let me go! You corrupt and bribe-taking bad cops!"

Yang Xin was too lazy to waste any more words on this lunatic, so he quickly handcuffed him.

"I'm going to call Ding Yan! She's the only one who believes me!" Yu Wei roared. "I have her business card!"

Ding Yan? Business card?

Yang Xin frowned. He had never heard of Ding Yan having any business cards. "Where are they?"

Yu Wei pointed to his pocket.

Yang Xin pulled a worn-out business card with frayed edges from his pocket. He took a look at it under the light of his phone and couldn't help but gasp – the red business card had the words "Very Consulting Company" printed on it.

"Where did you come from?" Yang Xin asked sternly.

"Ding Yan gave it to me!" Yu Wei said matter-of-factly, his expression even showing a hint of pride.

Yang Xin frowned even more. He paused for a few seconds, then suddenly unlocked the handcuffs: "You can go now."

"Haha! I knew it, Ding Yan is a very capable person!" Yu Wei shook off Yang Xin's hand and quickly disappeared into the night.

"Ding Yan..." Yang Xin murmured, "So...it really is you?"

18.

Wang Xiaofeng stared at Yang Xin, this fellow villager, this friend, this brother, this rival in love, this man who posed a threat to the woman he loved.

Yang Xin's eyelids were heavy, as if weighed down by a thousand-pound boulder, as if he didn't want to see the truth of the world. Grayish dark circles under his eyes, chapped lips, and slightly raised blackheads on his nose all seemed to testify to his inner struggle.

"What happened to Ding Yan?" Wang Xiaofeng poured Yang Xin a cup of tea, asking the question knowing the answer already, with an innocent look on his face.

“She…” Yang Xin suddenly realized that he didn’t know where to begin. “Don’t you think she… is strange?”

“She was never an ordinary girl.” Wang Xiaofeng smiled, glanced out the window, and continued, “From childhood, she always has been…”

“I know that.” Yang Xin finished his tea in one gulp, then poured himself another cup. “I know she’s special, I know she’s bloodthirsty, I know she’s different from others, and I like those special qualities of hers, but that’s not what I meant…”

"Then what are you saying?"

“She…I suspect she…she might be doing something illegal, or rather, something immoral…”

"Immoral?" Wang Xiaofeng stared into Yang Xin's eyes, his face almost touching Yang Xin's nose. "What is immoral? And what do you think morality is?"

“This…” Yang Xin leaned back, speechless, unsure how to answer his question.

“Morality is this!” Wang Xiaofeng pulled a rope from the drawer. “It’s a constraint. Although we do need all sorts of constraints to live—laws, rules, unspoken rules, conscience, habits, and morality—not all constraints are right, just, or necessary…”

“What you’re saying is very profound… I roughly understand. But…” Yang Xin bit his lip, “Ding Yan may very well be doing something that hurts others. If she continues like this, she might end up hurting herself…”

"What exactly are you trying to say?!" Wang Xiaofeng raised his voice.

"I..." Yang Xin hesitated for a moment, deciding not to tell him his speculation for the time being, after all, it was a secret. "I just want to ask, since you met Ding Yan, have you found anything suspicious about her, or rather, do you have any unspeakable secrets?"

“Everyone has secrets.” Wang Xiaofeng smiled, listening to the police sirens getting closer in the distance. “I respect other people’s secrets, so I have absolutely no interest in them. I can tell you for sure that Ding Yan, apart from his peculiar personality and his fondness for drinking blood, has no secrets to hide. On the contrary, I think you seem to have some secrets.”

The sirens stopped downstairs, and a small commotion and disturbance began to break out in the building. Yang Xin frowned, stood by the window, and watched the fully armed police officers rush out of their vehicles. He muttered to himself, "What happened?"

19.