CH 23.7

“…he can hold himself calm[1] though, not panicked in the least.”

“Zhi-ya[2].”

The door was quietly opened, a Persian cat holding a flower in its mouth elegantly and calmly, briskly walked into the ward.

Li Ai Guo turned his head to take a look, when he saw that it was Bai Xia Xia, he calmly retracted his gaze, then continued talking about the kidnapping case with Song Bei.

Bai Xia Xia jumped to the top of the bedside table, relaxed her mouth, and a blooming rose entered the flower vase.

Qin Xiao: “Can you stop bringing them?”

“Meow!”

He held the cat’s back of the neck, moved it in front of him, and helped Bai Xia Xia wipe clean the dust on her pads.

Then, Bai Xia Xia curled into a ball, nestled by the side of Qin Xiao’s pillow, and even extended her paws to flip Qin Xiao’s magazine.

“Mm.” Song Bei: “This Old Liao isn’t normal.”

The bureau chief had come back from his official trip, and Li Ai Guo’s spirits had visibly gotten better. The center of public opinion had been transferred from him to the chief, and Li Ai Guo could concentrate on breaking through the kidnapping case.

Bai Xia Xia had just gotten good news, so she was very excited too. Her eyes looked at the magazine, but she was eavesdropping on the case analysis from Song Bei’s side.

Li Ai Guo was truly incredible, Bai Xia Xia thought that their so-called undercover investigation would be having investigators disguised in civilian clothes, looking for the people sneakily in the dark.

But it was entirely different!

The method chosen by Li Ai Guo was completely different from what Bai Xia Xia thought, it was simply acting in a way that defeated one’s purpose.

Li Ai Guo found the parents of the kids that had been kidnapped, then made the investigators pretend that they were their relatives, following the parents to walk around, giving missing person notices all over Tong City.

It was especially so in the blocks that Old Liao had gone to, there was practically one missing person notice every ten meters.

For their children, the parents did not stop walking either, hating that they could not shout with a loudspeaker 24 hours in the streets.

Such big movements, made the matter well-known, becoming the talk of everyone. Alerting their enemies made the kidnappers afraid of acting and being found out[3], afraid of colliding into the searching parents and relatives when they went out now.

After all, there was a whole street of missing person notices ah. Photo portraits were pasted everywhere, and they even launched the neighborhood committee, causing all neighbors to look all around.

With a force of this level, they would naturally be unable to cover all of Tong City, so they only went around the suspicious neighborhoods. However, the traffickers did not know, they could only see the impressive display of power in their vicinities, so they would be afraid for sure and not dare to act on their own initiative.

Bai Xia Xia believed, with Li Ai Guo acting like this, it could guarantee to a certain extent the safety of the kidnapped children.

She secretly respected him: Li Ai Guo could think of this method to make the kidnappers stay. And it won’t drive them to act desperately either, the actions were done just right.

Incredible!

“Cat, get up and call a doctor to come here.”

The dreaming snow-white Persian cat that had shrunk into a ball moved its tiny ears, its body scurried to the bottom of Qin Xiao’s pillow like a hairy insect, then its round head was stuffed below the pillow, leaving only the parts below the neck outside.

“…” Guo Chao Ming raised an eyebrow, his tone was gloomy: “If you don’t get up and work, you won’t get food to eat.”

“Only by working can you get rich, if you don’t work, you won’t have dinner to eat.” Guo Chao Ming leaned on the side of the bed with his legs crossed, threatening the cat very shamelessly.

The kitty impatiently pushed its head below the pillow once again, its paws grabbed the corners of the pillow, wanting to hide its whole body beneath the pillow.

Her pushing almost caused the pillow to run away with the cat.

“Can’t you just go once? Insisting on ordering her.”

Guo Chao Ming argued with strong convictions: “Old Qin, that’s where you’re wrong, we eat what we work for, this cat doesn’t work, so we naturally can’t give it food to eat.”

“Last time, if you still don’t get up, I’ll throw you out.”

The kitty angrily drilled out from below the pillow, its fur was rubbed until it was a mess, flattened in all directions. Its ears were flattened too, sticking to the head unable to stand up.

It looked very cute, then it angrily wielded its claws at Guo Chao Ming: “Bastard!!”

Why do you have to make things difficult for a pitiful cat?

Cat only needs to accept the offerings of humans, isn’t it only right to wait to eat.

The pitiful cat that had to earn its own living indignantly left: “Get up…”

The cat paced in a slow march, then the door of the ward was heavily closed.

Qin Xiao was helpless: “Why do you always bully her?”

“If I don’t bully her, then she’ll win an inch and want a foot and bully me back.” Guo Chao Ming meaningfully said: “Taking advantage of Old Song absence, of course I have to bully her properly.”

This cat has been constantly falsely accusing me these days! A cat using the position of others to bully and still being proud of it, causing me to always be stared at by Old Song with some weird condemning eyes.

It’s almost as if I did something worthy of incurring the wrath of both man and God.

“Man and cat ah, it’s like a tug-of-war, you must exert force to be okay, to overwhelm it! It and I, if it isn’t the east wind prevailing over the west wind, then it is the west wind prevailing over the east wind[4].” Guo Chao Ming spoke seriously, and with his right arm resting lazily on the back of the chair, he lightly said: “Right now, it’s the east wind that’s comparatively more incredible.”

Qin Xiao made an understanding sound, then held up the magazine to watch it again: “I see, I understand.”

“?” Guo Chao Ming: “Tell me.”

Qin Xiao replied sincerely: “I’ve decided to join the west wind.”

Guo Chao Ming: “…” Have you forgotten who is the life brother who followed you through fire and water? Seeing cat and forgetting justice, shameless!

So you are this type of Qin Xiao! I judged you wrong!

“Old Qin, you’ve changed!” Guo Chao Ming was bitter.

“And if it was you who had to choose?” Qin Xiao flipped a page, then asked.

Guo Chao Ming: “Of course it’s the west wind! How could you compare to the cat!”

Qin Xiao: “…”

Translator’s comments:

Cat over bros.

Translator’s notes:

[1] The author wrote ‘hold his breath’, but it means keep himself calm.

[2] Sound of the door opening.

[3] Idiomatic expression ‘投鼠忌器 (tóu shǔ jì qì)’: lit. translation: ‘being concerned about vases while shooting at rats’. It means ‘having scruples about something when doing a certain action’.

[4] This is an idiom that means that if one isn’t overwhelming the other, then the other is overwhelming the other.