Chapter 147: A Big Goose

When a person has a narrow mind, things that ought to be kept safely in the heart tend to crowd into the head instead. With too many worrisome thoughts occupying the brain, headaches naturally follow.

Inside the blue SUV, after hanging up the phone, a deeply troubled Zhang Xiaoman felt a splitting pain in his head. Beads of cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Taking a few deep breaths, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a white plastic medicine bottle, popped open the lid, shook out two pills, and tossed them into his mouth. With a few bobs of his Adam's apple, he forced the pills down his throat.

Sitting right beside him, Huang Xiaoxia unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Zhang Xiaoman, saying softly, "Drink some water, don't choke."

Zhang Xiaoman took the mineral water, took a large gulp, and let out a long sigh of relief. "My brain is just like an old computer; when too much data is loaded, it tends to crash. Just now, the blue screen of death was almost triggered again. I can't afford to drop the ball right now, not with so many things still waiting for me to do..."

"Take a break," Huang Xiaoxia said with a worried look. "With all this rushing around lately, your body has reached its breaking point and is already sounding the alarm. You should let Nie Yi handle some of these things instead of taking everything upon yourself."

While keeping both hands on the steering wheel, Nie Yi turned his head back from the driver's cabin and smiled. "Master, the remaining matters aren't all that complicated. Why don't you properly recuperate and leave these final few moves to Li Jun and me?"

"These final moves are the crucial ones," Zhang Xiaoman shook his head. "You and Li Jun don't know how to deploy many of the hidden pieces. Take that phone call I just received, for instance—it was originally just an idle move I set up long ago, yet it has now yielded unexpected results. Truly, 'flowers planted with intent refuse to bloom, while a willow branch casually stuck in the earth thrives to form shade'!"

"Who is the flower? And who is the willow?" Huang Xiaoxia tilted her head, blinking, and said, "You certainly have a lot of leisure on your hands, planting flowers one moment and sticking willow branches the next, without even worrying about straining your back."

Zhang Xiaoman smiled bitterly in explanation, "Don't get me wrong. The flower is a real flower, scientifically known as a pansy. I didn't plant it either; I just saw someone planting a vast patch of them in a villa and thought about studying them, only to find out that overnight, they replaced the whole lot. Although the newly planted ones were also pansies, they weren't the original pansies. As for the willow, it's the willow from Elm Willow Village. The person who called me just now was a young friend from Elm Willow Village... No, that's not quite right, 'young' doesn't really describe him well. He's rather massive in build, and his name even contains the character for 'large' (*Da*). The harvest he brought me is also remarkably large..."

Huang Xiaoxia and Nie Yi asked in unison, "What harvest?"

"Two black USB flash drives," Zhang Xiaoman held up two fingers. "One was lifted from the safe in the villa's study. Besides the black flash drive, there was also a file envelope in the safe, and both are in his possession. The other black flash drive was found in a jewelry store; it was hidden neither too deeply nor too superficially, right inside the cash register drawer. It must be the private item of the person who liked planting pansies."

Nie Yi pondered for a moment, his eyes widening in shock. "Master, I heard that before Li Jun and I went to Jin Yue's house, two clumsy thieves stole a bag of fake jewelry from there. Could those two clumsy thieves possibly be your idle moves?"

Zhang Xiaoman chuckled softly. "Otherwise, how do you think I managed to find that sewer in the first place? Even the nose of the divine hound (*Xiaotian*) couldn't have smelled the stench of a corpse from that far away. Those two clumsy thieves—one named Hou San, the other Zhu Dachang—both come from impoverished backgrounds and resorted to thievery out of sheer desperation... They are two unusual friends across generations that I met in Elm Willow Village many years ago, and their natures are actually quite simple."

"Elm Willow Village?" Huang Xiaoxia frowned. "It rings a bell. Back then, after the Li Hongxia case was closed, you seemed to have gone to a place like that to investigate some human trafficking case... Since they are your people, I suppose even if those two black USB flash drives and file envelopes contain genuine incriminating evidence, you probably won't even need to use them?"

"We'll use them, we'll use them," Zhang Xiaoman rubbed his nose. "My contact is with Zhu Dachang; Hou San knows nothing about it. Both thefts were Hou San's idea, and taking those two black USB flash drives and file envelopes was completely unintentional. Once we bring them back to the police station, we'll first file two counts of theft, making the black flash drives and file envelopes the stolen goods. Coincidentally, during the routine inspection of the stolen property, the police will discover what's inside... How entirely natural all of this sounds."

Nie Yi was stunned for a moment. His mouth parted slightly as he muttered, "Can you really do that?" Then, rolling his eyes, he added, "And finally, let that Zhu Dachang and Hou San trade their merits against their faults, considering they'd have made a major meritorious contribution, and the value of the stolen goods isn't that high anyway—at most they'll face a few days of detention and a lecture. That way, you preserve both your reputation and your dignity... Master, brilliant move!"

Zhang Xiaoman looked immensely pleased with himself. "A small trick, a small trick, hardly worth calling a brilliant move. If it weren't for 'Yellow Hair', I wouldn't have discovered that those two clumsy thieves turned out to be old acquaintances of mine... By the way, speaking of Yellow Hair, did you find that hair I asked you to look for?"

"We found it..." Nie Yi nodded. "Last night, Li Jun sent me a message saying he had found that hair inside the oral cavity of the decomposed corpse. It was very long and fine. We've already compared the DNA against both corpses, and neither of them matches. Master, how on earth did you know there would be someone else's hair inside those two corpses?"

"Zhu Dachang told me," Zhang Xiaoman stroked his chin. "When he and Hou San went to the villa to steal jewelry the first time, they discovered the corpse in the laundry room—that is, the decomposed corpse of Aunt Cai. At the time, Zhu Dachang pulled out the small knife stuck in the corpse and accidentally left a drop of blood on the floor. He wanted to wipe it away, but Hou San dragged him off. When they were putting the corpse back into its original position, he noticed a hair at the corner of the corpse's mouth that didn't belong to the deceased... Originally, when he saw a bundle of apron fabric scraps in the bag, he assumed the body in the bag was the very same corpse he'd seen in the villa. He even deliberately faked pickling a corpse to search for it once, but unfortunately couldn't find that hair..."

Huang Xiaoxia blinked at Zhang Xiaoman twice, the corners of her mouth curling into an attractive arc as she suddenly interrupted, "The two items I gave you earlier can finally come into play..."

Zhang Xiaoman patted the back of Huang Xiaoxia's hand. "They say there's a woman behind every successful man. I'm about to succeed, and it's all thanks to you." He pulled a delicate strand of hair and a tissue stained with tiny specks of blood from his pocket, handing them to Nie Yi. "As soon as you return to City A, immediately hand these two items to Sun Tiantian. Tell her to run a DNA comparison at top speed. I'll go to the hospital first to retrieve those two black USB flash drives and the file envelope, and then go take a look at that ice sculpture. I'll strive for a single decisive blow to wipe them all out in one net."

Nie Yi took the strand of hair and the blood-stained tissue. Remembering that he would have to go find Sun Tiantian alone once again, his expression inevitably turned somewhat unnatural.

Catching sight of Nie Yi's expression, Huang Xiaoxia gave a light cough. "How about this? Yunxi and the others have already returned to City A by now. Since everyone is around, let's just get together tonight and host a birthday family banquet to liven things up. You can hand the things over to Sun Tiantian along the way then; investigating a case doesn't have to be rushed for a single night."

Nie Yi asked in bewilderment, "Mistress, isn't your birthday still a while away?"

"Just consider it a few days early. As long as life is happy and smooth, every day is a rebirth anniversary and deserves to be celebrated..." Huang Xiaoxia sighed. "People shouldn't wait until tomorrow for everything. Tomorrow and tomorrow there are so many tomorrows—who can possibly say what will happen tomorrow?"

Zhang Xiaoman immediately grasped Huang Xiaoxia's intent and chimed in, "That works too. Once you get back to City A later, deliver Shen Yixia's letter to Zhou Bing at the Procuratorate. Barring any accidents, the suspicions hanging over you and Li Jun will be cleared by seventy or eighty percent, and you won't have to stay in that room anymore. Tonight, taking advantage of your mistress celebrating her birthday early, I'll introduce someone to you. Once the case is wrapped up, you can study under him for a while; it will be of immense benefit to your future case-solving."

"What kind of person?" Nie Yi pouted. "Master, the things you know are already enough for me to study for a lifetime. I don't need to learn any messy stuff from anyone else; that would be neglecting the root to pursue the branches."

"Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. To become a qualified detective, you must pass his test—not just a test of capability, but a tempering of your mindset. If the basic boundary between good and evil in your heart remains blurred, I'll have Li Jun become the president of the *Yi Ming Society*, and you can continue being the puzzle-setter for *Propositions* magazine..." Staring at the familiar scenery outside the car window, Zhang Xiaoman let out a faint sigh. "My original arrangement for Li Jun was to have him spend a few years in the mountains with Sima Bei, never expecting..."

Just as Nie Yi was about to say something more, he suddenly spotted a large goose flying past the windshield. He slammed his foot down on the brake pedal, took a deep breath to steady his racing heart, and complained, "Whose big goose is this, wandering around without anyone watching? How dangerous! If this caused a traffic accident—"

Seeing the mark on the goose's wing, Zhang Xiaoman's eyes lit up. Cutting Nie Yi off, he said excitedly, "Stop the car, stop the car! That's the goose-seller's big goose! If he's here, that person must be around too. Li Jun's opportunity has arrived!"

Nie Yi quickly pulled up the handbrake and muttered under his breath, "What goose-seller..." But when he turned his head, he discovered that Zhang Xiaoman had already pushed the door open and stepped out of the vehicle. Looking perplexedly at Huang Xiaoxia, he asked, "Mistress, who on earth is Master talking about?"

Leaning lazily against the car window and watching Zhang Xiaoman hurrying off in pursuit, Huang Xiaoxia said with a enigmatic smile, "That person? He's one of the very few people who ever managed to outsmart your master, and he conned your master out of a huge sum of money many years ago... I thought he had long since turned into a pile of rotting bones, but I never expected him to still be alive. Come to think of it, he must be ninety-nine by now—practically a centenarian."

A name flashed through Nie Yi's mind, and his eyes instantly lit up. Pressing his lips together, he blurted out in extreme excitement, "It's actually him!"

"Nie Yi..." Huang Xiaoxia raised her eyebrows and said with a grin, "I have a hunch that your master is about to get conned again. Fortunately, I played a higher move and confiscated his bank cards long ago; he doesn't have much money left in his pockets for anyone to swindle..."

"No, no, no..." Nie Yi's face instantly turned pale. "Master has money in his pocket! I was the one who handed it over to him for safekeeping before we came to Luzhu City! That's all the hard-earned commission Li Jun and I saved up over the entire past year!"