Although Bai Ling City wasn't a provincial city, it also had a high speed rail that was connected to it. This was Zhao Yu's first stop, as he was coming here to find out more about Cui Lizhu's origins.
However, as he arrived with Cui Lizhu, it was already two in the morning. So, they naturally had to look for a hotel to rest for a bit.
They found a hotel nearby, but as they were checking in at the reception desk, Cui Lizhu began to argue with Zhao Yu. She was trying to convince him to only get one room for the both of them to share.
Cui Liz said that her reasons for this argument were to save money, and also because she didn't have any identification document with her, so she couldn't get a room of her own. Hence, she concluded that they should get one room...with one bed.
Suddenly, Zhao Yu took a trip down memory lane, as he found this scene familiar. He remembered that, back when he had investigated the case with Miao Ying in Lingyun, he had tried many ways to sleep in the same room with his goddess! Unfortunately, his plans fell through in the end!
Now, here was this beautiful girl with an innocent face and huge boobs welcoming him to share a bed with her! However, in Cui Lizhu's opinion, Zhao Yu didn't have any male hormones and instincts at all! After all, he was now insisting that they get two rooms, one for each of them!
Zhao Yu had his reasons for this decision, of course, which had nothing to do with his male hormones! After all, he was the team leader of the central special investigation group. Hence, he had a reputation to uphold!
However, even though Zhao Yu had ended up getting them their own separate rooms, he had underestimated Cui Lizhu's stubbornness. When he got into his bed after taking a shower, he realized that Cui Lizhu was already in his bed!
"What the heck?" Looking at a girl, who was lying in his bed, Zhao Yu's heart raced. However, his rationality won out, keeping him from leaping on top of her!
"Team Leader, if I told you that I told myself a ghost story earlier and scared myself, so now I dare not go to sleep alone, would you believe me?" Cui Lizhu was lying in his bed, talking to him, while hiding her head beneath the pillow.
Hearing her flimsy excuse, Zhao Yu sighed helplessly and put his hand on Cui Lizhu's smooth calf. He then said sincerely, "Little Zhu, what you need now is comfort, but not this kind of comfort! Do you understand?"
He continued to speak to her in a coaxing tone, "In the past, I experienced similar kinds of feelings. However, your heart knot can only be untied by you. You are the only person that can help you now! Plus, I am a man with principles, so..."
Zhao Yu looked at Cui Lizhu's thighs and said seriously, "So, take off all of your clothes now, and I will go downstairs to get some candles and whipped cr…"
Just then, Cui Lizhu stood up and carried the pillow over as she lowered her head and spat out the words, "Team Leader, you are such a psychopath! Humph…"
Then, she threw the pillow at Zhao Yu's head and turned around to leave.
"Hold on!" Zhao Yu waved at her and clenched his teeth. "You can leave, but leave all of the things with me! After all, Zeng Ke might want to update me with more information later!"
"Alright. Fine…" Cui Lizhu then threw the phone, watch, and wallet at Zhao Yu.
"A thief doesn't leave empty-handed, right? Wow. I'm warning you, this is the last time. Understand? If you were to steal from me a second time…" Zhao Yu had yet to finish his sentence, when Cui Lizhu closed the door behind her.
"That girl is truly trying to wear me out!" Zhao Yu ran to the door and locked it, sweat beaded all over his forehead.
Actually, Zhao Yu knew that Cui Lizhu had thrown herself at him because she really liked him. So, if he had asked her to stay, that night would have gone very differently for them.
But, all the same, Zhao Yu merely felt pity for Cui Lizhu at the moment! The girl looked tough, but she was really on the edge of breaking down.
Zhao Yu knew that the kind of comfort that she really needed would not be found in bed! Thus, if he really wanted to help her, he had to unearth the truth for her!
When the sun rose on the second day, Zhao Yu and Cui Lizhu had breakfast in the hotel, then started their investigation early. The night before, Zeng Ke had worked through the night and investigated Cui Lizhu's family thoroughly.
He had discovered that Cui Lizhu's immediately family members were all dead! This was because Cui's family had only had sons several generations in a row, so Cui Lizhu's mother had been the only daughter for quite some time. Hence, some men remained unmarried and the family lineage died out, along with its name.
After further investigation, Zeng Ke could only find a few distant relatives. But, even these few people had not kept in contact with one another, so they were all just like complete strangers. Hence, there was no point in visiting them.
In light of those findings, Zhao Yu redirected his attention to the people who were once involved with Cui's family. Among the limited targets, a person named Ma Wenliang, who was Cui Fangyu's underling, popped up.
Apparently, Ma Wenliang was working as the general manager in the company, and after Cui Fangyu was put behind bars, he was sentenced to serve five years in the prison as well.
Hence, as he was a person who shared such a close relationship with Cui Fangyu, he would definitely know something. As long as they found them, they might be able to clarify some details of the situation back then.
Hence, Zhao Yu and Cui Lizhu started to look for him. According to the address that Zeng Ke had found, he had lived in a simple house. However, the house was mortgaged to someone else long ago.
The current house owner said that Ma Wenliang was a person who didn't engage in any honest work and liked to frequent the gambling houses. Five years ago, he had been forced to mortgage the house, and no one to had seen him since then! The house owner didn't even know whether he was still alive!
Zhao Yu asked the house owner about Cui's family too, but the house owner had no idea about any of that. Feeling helpless, Zhao Yu left him his phone number and told him to call him if he heard any news about Ma Wenliang's whereabouts. He also assured him that he would be heavily rewarded.
This beginning wasn't smooth, but it didn't affect Zhao Yu's confidence. He brought Cui Lizhu to visit her old house and a few of the places that Cui Fangyu had once resided.
Unfortunately, all of those place were either completely run-down or had been moved! As such, even though they asked around for a very long time, they still didn't find anyone who knew anything.
The time flew by quickly. Soon, it was already time for lunch. Zhao Yu found an express restaurant and shared a simple lunch with Cui Lizhu.
Cui Lizhu obviously had no appetite after she had found out about her origins. When she was eating, she seemed anxious.
"Team Leader, these seven days seem to be flying past, but…" Cui Lizhu said anxiously, "We still haven't found anything! Plus, what we are investigating has nothing to do with Gem Theft Case. Even if you found out about my origins, what can you do about them?"
Zhao Yu enjoyed his lunch, refusing to become a worry wart Cui Lizhu! He then replied casually, "Forget about the other staff! You were merely a criminal that we arrested! When the deadline arrives, the worst thing that could happen is that we would be dismissed and sent back to our original branches! So, you don't have to worry!"
"How can you speak so carelessly?" Cui Lizhu clenched her teeth and said, "If you solve the case, I can get a reduced sentence! On the other hand, if you don't succeed, my youth will be spent in prison!"
Then, Cui Lizhu's eyes suddenly beamed with joy, as she had just thought of an idea. "Let me get in touch with the local gangster and spread a secret bounty notice for us!"
"Are you going to be paying for it?" Zhao Yu rolled his eyes at her.
"Money is easy to come by for me. Give me some time, and I'll take care of it!" Cui Lizhu patted her chest. "Team Leader, I have a feeling that my biological father might have been on the scene back then! Look, that Ma Wenliang that we found out about, he liked to gamble and was a womanizer. He lived such a bad life, so how would he be given the position of company manager?"
Zhao Yu said straightforwardly, "Your dad and Ma Wenliang were arrested for smuggling. Do you think they were innocent? You didn't read through the information, right? You are unclear of what the real underlying truth is!"
Cui Lizhu sighed, but was still so sure of her instincts. She said, "Fine, but we need to find the gangster that used to be involved with my dad! Then, we will find more clues!"
"Your head is up in the clouds!" Zhao Yu creased his eyebrows and said, "I warn you, I'm a police officer! If you dare to go back to your old stealing and scheming ways, don't blame me when you have to face the consequences!"
"Then… What do we do?" Cui Lizhu panicked, "We can't just wait here, right?"
Zhao Yu gulped down some of his tea and said calmly, "Maybe, I have something that would work..."
"Oh? What?" Cui Lizhu asked quickly.
Zhao Yu smiled and said in all sincerity, "Little Zhu, have you noticed that we have been in this scene for too long, so we are always thinking about the worst case scenarios and the bad sides of everything first? However, we never notice that there's a sunlit avenue right in front of us!"