Chapter 826. Reunion After a Long Time

Today.

The surveillance video that Lin Qiupu brought back from the crime scene was repeatedly played in the meeting room. Chen Shi thought to himself, What a beast. He actually had his face transformed to look like Song Lang. This person is most likely Zhou Xiao. It’s been several months since he was last sighted. If it’s plastic surgery, there’s plenty of time.

However, this guy deliberately showed his face on the surveillance. Maybe it was just a simulation mask to mislead, which couldn’t be distinguished by the resolution of the surveillance.

“Chen Shi, what do you think?” After discussing with other police officers for a round, Lin Qiupu asked for his opinion.

“I have no opinion.” Chen Shi replied. “Looking at just a surveillance video, nothing can be figured out. I don’t know why you suddenly called me here. I still need to buy groceries this afternoon. Is this the so-called major clue you mentioned?”

Lin Qiupu was displeased and said, “No one is stopping you. You can leave anytime!”

As a result, in the blink of an eye when Lin Qiupu turned around, Chen Shi was gone. When he asked, someone else said, “Brother Chen left.”

Lin Qiupu showed a toothache-like expression. “Why did we call him here!”

The face that appeared in the surveillance had an indescribable impact on Lin Qiupu. He tossed and turned all night last night and cried many times. Outsiders couldn’t understand this feeling. Whenever he thought of this matter, his heart would tremble. Could it be that the senior had really gone astray!

He clenched his fist and secretly determined that he must catch Song Lang and ask him what happened in these four years.

After leaving the public security bureau, Chen Shi drove alone, with many thoughts. He no longer had the reflex of wanting to smoke when he was excited. He just wanted to do something to ease his mood. He decided to pick up some passengers for a while.

He received a ride-hailing message from an APP and drove the car to the entrance of a certain community. A young married woman got into the car. Chen Shi casually greeted her and suddenly froze. The young woman looked at him through the rearview mirror and said, “Driver, why aren’t you driving?”

“Sorry, I was just in a daze. Let’s go now.”

He took another look at the young woman through the rearview mirror. She was exactly Kao Wei. Her clothes and hairstyle had completely changed, making her look much more mature. The two biggest changes in her were the glasses on her nose and the wedding ring on her finger. If you looked closely, you would find that the tattoo on the back of her hand had also been washed clean.

“I’ll be there soon. Put the things there first. I’ll check when I arrive…” After finishing the call, she put down the phone and looked out of the window.

The past events emerged in Chen Shi’s mind one after another. He started the conversation: “Miss, what do you do?”

“A bartender.”

“One in a bar?”

“Yes.”

“I’m curious. Does the mixed drink really get you drunk more easily?” Chen Shi randomly looked for a topic.

“The alcohol content definitely won’t change. But the drinks mixed with fruit juice and soft drinks don’t taste much like alcohol. You get drunk unconsciously. Two days ago, a young guy brought a girl to the store and told her that this iced tea has a low alcohol content and tastes like a drink. I wanted to laugh. So when I mixed the iced tea, I added more lemon and cola. For the guy’s screwdriver, I added more vodka. As a result, the guy got drunk first.”

“Ha ha, Long Island Iced Tea. I know. It’s a famous drink that makes you lose control. Aren’t you spoiling his plan?”

“Who told that guy to look so unreliable.” Kao Wei made a disdainful expression.

“Why did you think of learning this? I’m not saying anything like girls aren’t suitable for this kind of job. I’m just purely curious.”

“I didn’t know what to do at the beginning. I have no education and no connections. After choosing and choosing, I learned this. At least I don’t hate it… The feeling of being able to earn money by myself is great. Someone told me that in a second-tier city like Long’an, you need to earn more than 5,000 yuan a month to have your own life. How much do you earn a month?”

“Four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.”

“Ha ha, then I’ll send you a one-yuan red envelope later.”

“Thank you in advance. By the way, which bar? I’ll come and support when I have time.”

Kao Wei pointed ahead. “That one. I won’t give you a discount!”

When they arrived at the destination, Kao Wei got out of the car. Chen Shi smiled at her through the windshield. Kao Wei also nodded and smiled, but it was just a friendly smile to a stranger. It could be seen that her personality had become much more mellow. Work can change a person.

She couldn’t possibly recognize him unless he took the initiative to mention it. But Chen Shi felt there was no need for that. Let’s just stop here!

He had said before that if they met again, he would take the initiative to strike up a conversation. In a sense, it was also keeping his promise.

Encountering an old acquaintance by chance, Chen Shi felt a lot. He drove the car to a bank and came to the counter. The teller already knew him and said, “Mr. Chen, are you checking that again?”

“Please.”

The teller tapped on the computer and stared at the screen. “Someone deposited money into this account a month ago.”

“What’s the name?”

“XX.”

“Tell me his ID number.”

“This isn’t very good…”

Chen Shi stuck the consultant certificate on the glass. Seeing the words “Long’an Public Security”, the teller said, “You should have said so earlier. You insisted on making up a reason that it’s your friend. His ID number is…”

After getting this ID number, Chen Shi called the bureau and asked the police to find the person through household registration association query.

For these four years, Chen Shi had been secretly investigating Wang Xi. Unexpectedly, there was finally a clue. He was looking for Wang Xi to uncover the answer to a question.

The next day, inside a large shopping mall, an out-of-date singer was passionately singing an old song on a temporarily built stage. If you observed carefully, you would find that there was a 0.5-second delay between his mouth shape and the sound.

After singing a song, the host said, “OK. Let’s thank Teacher XXX again with applause.”

Amid稀稀落落稀稀落落稀稀落落的 applause, the out-of-date singer bowed and stepped down. He had no agent or assistant. He took off the costume himself and put it into the satchel. After getting the performance payment, he slipped into the staircase to smoke to satisfy his craving.

At this time, someone came in. Afraid of being recognized, he quickly turned his face away. But that person stopped behind him and said, “Teacher XX, can you sign for me?”

“Oh, okay.”

He perfunctorily took the notebook from that person and looked for a pen on his body. That person suddenly said, “You are Wang Xi.”

He didn’t know how many years it had been since someone called him by this name. Hearing it suddenly, he didn’t react for a moment. When he reacted, he suddenly pushed that person away and prepared to run.

As a result, he was forcefully pressed against the wall by that person. The out-of-date singer shouted, “I’m calling the police!”

“Don’t be afraid. I’m a police officer.” Chen Shi said.

“Show me the certificate.”

After getting the certificate, Wang Xi said, “It says consultant. You’re not a real police officer.”

“A consultant is also a police officer.”

“Really?”

“If I were really from Lie Guoxiao, I wouldn’t come to you alone.”

Hearing this name, the out-of-date singer shivered. “How did you find me?”

“You left a card for Kao Wei and deposited money into it from time to time. We’ve been paying attention to this card.” Chen Shi deliberately said “we” to make him think that the entire police force was closely watching him.

“Damn, I was careless!”

“I admire your ‘creativity’. After your face was disfigured by the TV with a bomb in it, you actually transformed your face into that of an out-of-date singer and impersonated him to perform everywhere to earn money. Funny thing is that you even participated in a local imitation show, pretending to be this singer and seriously evaluating several contestants who were imitating ‘yourself’.”

Wang Xi’s cheek twitched. “How do you even know all these?”

“The Internet is very developed, okay? Weren’t you almost sued two years ago?”

“Yes. At that time, I paid a large sum of money to the agent company. I almost vomited blood. This year, the original singer doesn’t come out to perform anymore. Only then do I have the chance to come out and earn a little money. I heard that he was arrested for drug use. The news hasn’t been made public yet. I’m so nervous. I’m afraid that one day when his negative news is exposed, I won’t be able to earn a living with this face anymore.”

“Although you’re a copycat, I just watched your performance. It was quite decent. The stage presence was excellent.”

“Hehe. After performing many times, I unconsciously put myself into it… How is Kao Wei?”

“She changed a job and seems to be married.”

“Which unlucky guy married her?”

“It seems you don’t have a high opinion of her.”

“Ha. She’s a bitch. She has a bad temper, is lazy, often feels sorry for herself, and is very calculating…” Wang Xi enumerated Kao Wei’s shortcomings like treasures. Suddenly, his eyes dimmed. “But I love her the most. She’s like a mirror to me. She is me and I am her. These years without her, I’ve been lost. Even having sex with fans is meaningless.”

“Save the last sentence!”

At this time, a cleaning lady came in to sweep the floor. Wang Xi quickly turned his face away. Seeing the cigarette butts on the ground, the cleaning lady scolded a few words. After she left, Chen Shi suggested: “Let’s change the place to talk!”

They came to a nearby beverage store. The two each ordered lemonade and iced coffee. Chen Shi said: “Tell me about what happened back then. Did you betray the twelve big brothers of your own will?”

Wang Xi warily frowned. “Why did the police suddenly investigate these?”

“It’s not a sudden investigation. It’s been an ongoing investigation. If you don’t want to say…”

“Alright, alright. Don’t do that. I’m a star now. I can’t go to the bureau for questioning casually. Actually, this matter started from the 1990s.”

“I’m all ears.”

“The public security in Long’an was very chaotic in the 1990s. There were at least seven or eight well-known criminal organizations. Later, there was a crackdown. The leaders of the criminal organizations one after another fell. The remaining scoundrels got together to form a new gang to make a living.”

“And then?”

“After all, they were a bunch of rabble. People’s hearts were scattered. Everyone was on their own. They were constantly intriguing against each other, just like in a palace drama. I joined during this time. I followed Big Brother A. Big Brother A thought I was cowardly and not good at handling things. He wanted to find a reason to fire me. Later, I heard that I was a classmate with one of Big Brother B’s subordinates. So he sent me to Big Brother B as an undercover agent. But my identity was exposed in a few days. Big Brother B gave me a choice. Either cut off my finger or be a double agent… I’m really a person with no backbone. Whenever I encounter trouble, I immediately betray the original big brother. After all this, I became a six-sided agent, exchanging intelligence among several big brothers. But I was quite comfortable.”

“Later, because of showing off once, I was regarded as an undercover agent by the people in the gang and suddenly became a person hated by both sides. At this time, someone found me…”

“Lie Guoxiao?”

“Since you have found out, I won’t hide it. Yes, it was Lie Guoxiao who asked me to betray them to the police. He also gave me a lot of evidence by the way. So I betrayed twelve big brothers in one breath. There were a total of thirteen big brothers in the gang at that time. Lie Guoxiao was the one with the smallest influence. But his business was the cleanest. He didn’t touch pornography, gambling, or drugs. The police wiped out twelve big brothers in one fell swoop, leaving only him. Now he was the dominant one.”

“So Lie Guoxiao was the Judas.”

“That’s right. And I was just the one taking the blame.” Wang Xi took a sip of the drink. “After I got out, I suffered a lot. The original subordinates of those twelve big brothers were all waiting to take revenge on me. I was hiding everywhere. Actually, your police were also bad. Knowing that I would be retaliated against when I got out, you deliberately let it happen so that you could have evidence to crack down on these people. After being an undercover agent for so long, I also kept a hand. I kept something that was particularly unfavorable to Lie Guoxiao. I made a deal with him with this and was able to retreat unscathed. He didn’t dare to kill me to silence me.”

“Actually, I’m looking for you for this thing. That thing can definitely bring down Lie Guoxiao. If you hand it over to the police and Lie Guoxiao is overthrown, you won’t have to hide anymore.”

Wang Xi chuckled. “Impossible. Lie Guoxiao isn’t so easy to be overthrown. This thing is my life-saving charm. If I give it to you, Kao Wei and I will be finished. Your police only pursue solving cases and don’t care about the lives of people like us. We can only earn a way out for ourselves. I’m sorry I can’t cooperate.”

“Can you disclose how much damage this thing can do to Lie Guoxiao? Is it enough to sentence him to death?”

Wang Xi shook his finger. “Don’t test. I won’t say.”

“If one day, Lie Guoxiao faces trial, can you hand it over then?”

“Can be considered… But I sincerely advise you not to deal with Lie Guoxiao.”

“Why?”

“Because when you take down one tumor, a bunch of new tumors will pop up. You know better than me what kind of place Long’an is. There have been criminal organizations here since the Qing Dynasty. You can’t clean them up. It’s like acne on the face. You see one and squeeze one. What’s left in the end? A face that no one dares to look at. Squeezing acne is for looking good. But can this face look good in the end? Instead of dealing with the criminal bosses all day, it’s better to cure the root of this city!”

“Everyone has their own responsibilities. Our responsibility is to punish the existing evil!”

Wang Xi spread his hands. “My responsibility is to survive. So I can’t help you. I’ve been a traitor for too long. It’s not easy to stabilize. Do you still want me to be a traitor? Give me a way out, sir!”

Chen Shi shook his head and smiled wryly. “Alright. See you later.”

When walking outside, Wang Xi waved through the glass. Chen Shi suddenly came back and said, “You can go to XX bar for a drink when you have time. There will be a surprise.”

“Kao Wei works there?” Wang Xi immediately realized.

“Meeting an old acquaintance wearing a fake mask. That feeling is quite subtle. Experience it yourself! Good luck to you.”