Chapter Ten The Emergence of New Clues

  Lü Cong walked out of the meeting room with a headache after finishing the criminal investigation team's meeting, and outside was already brightly lit. He took out his phone to take a look, and it was already past eight o'clock. His stomach growled loudly, demanding food. After changing out of his police uniform in the locker room, he was thinking about where to go for dinner when he noticed that the lights were still on in the fourth team's office. Lü Cong quietly walked to the door and peeked inside, seeing Xu Nuo intently staring at something under the desk lamp.

  Lü Cong pushed the door open and went in, Xu Nuo still didn't react, he walked to her side, only then did he discover that she was wearing earplugs, the volume of the MP3 player was so loud that someone standing next to her could hear it.

  Lü Cong patted her shoulder, Xu Nuo was startled and subconsciously threw an elbow, hitting Lü Cong's unguarded abdomen, letting out a painful cry of "ah".

  Xu Nuo calmly stood up: "Captain Lü, are you okay?"

  Lv Cong finally straightened up after half a day: "You're just a girl, how can you be so violent?"

  "As a deputy captain of the criminal police team, shouldn't my reaction be called sharp instead of violent?"

  "Did you think there would be an ambush in the criminal police team's office?" Lv Cong retorted with a sneer.

  "Lü Team, I'm really sorry, this is just a conditioned reflex." Xu Nuo finally apologized.

  "Never mind, it's so late and you're still not off work, what are you doing?"

  "The whole case seems to have reached a bottleneck, with a pile of hypotheses and speculations but lacking the most crucial evidence to bring the truth to light. So I want to get rid of all the assumptions and seek inspiration again from the original materials."

  Lü Cōng picked up the notebook spread out on Xú Nuò's desk, saw the messy scribbles drawn by her, and couldn't help but laugh: "Listening to deafening music, doodling in a notebook, can you find inspiration like this? How childish!"

  Xu Nuo shook his head: "This is my thinking habit, it can broaden my mind."

  "What's on your mind?"

  "No, inspiration was suddenly interrupted by you." Xu Nuo said without blushing, "I'll treat you to dinner as compensation for the beating. Maybe we can have a personal discussion and broaden our horizons."

  Twenty minutes later, the two sat opposite each other in a Korean barbecue restaurant. Lü Cong looked at the menu in front of him and felt that it was more pleasing to the eye than the Western restaurant earlier. He said to the waiter: "One plate of signature meat, one plate of bacon, one plate of five-flower pork, one plate of golden needle mushroom, two stone pot fried rice, and two bottles of beer."

  Xu Nuo sat opposite him, looking at him. Lü Cong scratched his head somewhat embarrassed: "What are you looking at me for?"

  "You were a completely different person just now by the Seine. Today I'm treating you, why didn't you take advantage of me?"

  "Never mind, that restaurant is ridiculously expensive. I sat there and didn't know what to do with my hands and feet. It's more comfortable here and not so particular."

  "Suit yourself, anyway it's on you, if I can save money I'm happy." Xu Nu said with a pleased tone, but his expression didn't show any excitement, still as cold and indifferent as ever.

  The two fell silent at the same time, trapped in an awkward silence. The waiter came to serve the dishes and finally broke the deadlock. Xu Nu picked up two slices of beef and put them on the iron plate: "I re-examined the case files today and found that there are two doubts that have been ignored by us."

  "What doubt?" Lü Cong's attention was immediately drawn to the case.

  "The first is the phone number of Antai Maternity Clinic, both Wang Ming and Zhang Wei have dialed that number, so I think I'll go investigate tomorrow." Xu Nuo said while flipping the beef on the iron plate.

  Lü Cong was still somewhat perplexed: "Zhang Wei is pregnant, they went to consult the obstetrics clinic, isn't that normal?"

  "But I carefully checked the phone records, and Wang Ming's first call to the obstetrics clinic was in November last year, at which time Zhang Wei was not even pregnant. Zhang Wei's first call to the obstetrics clinic was three days ago, and I found a half-written letter in her email inbox, I suspect it's also related to that clinic." Xu Nuo handed over a photo from his phone to Lü Cong.

  "It's a bit strange to hear you say that, anyway, since there are no new clues now, let's go take a look tomorrow. What's the second suspicious point?" Lü Cong actively ate his barbecue, as if chewing could help him think, but he didn't notice that Xu Nuo hadn't taken a bite.

  "That fruit knife!"

  "What's wrong with the fruit knife?" Lü Cong raised his head from the plate full of food, looking at Xu Nuo in confusion. She was staring intently at the meat slices on the iron plate, her eyelids half-lowered, her cheeks flushed with a reddish glow due to the heat of the charcoal fire, and tiny beads of sweat were forming on the tip of her nose, making her look like a completely different person, leaving him somewhat stunned.

  "Didn't you hear me speaking? What are you spacing out for?" Xu Nu somewhat discontentedly said to Lü Cong, who was dazing off, and tapped the iron plate with her chopsticks.

  "What? What did you just say?"

  "I said, there are no fingerprints on the fruit knife, that's the biggest doubt." Xu Nuo repeated it word by word.

  Lü Cong slapped his chopsticks on the table and said, "Right! How come I didn't think of that!"

  The next morning, Lü Cong walked into the office and saw Xu Nuo instructing Li Kexin about something. He went over to ask, "What are you two discussing?"

  Li Kexin made a face at him and pulled Liu Ziyu away: "Captain Lü, we're going to carry out a confidential mission, bye!"

  "This damned girl!" Lü Cong shook his head. "You few stay and keep watch, I'll go with Xu Nu to investigate a new lead."

  "Lü team, what new clue? How come I don't know?" Liu He's whole person was like he had taken a stimulant, suddenly becoming spirited upon hearing the new clue.

  Lv Cong hit him on the back of the head with her handbag: "You don't know many things, let's talk about it after we've settled down."

  Lü Cōng and Xú Nuò arrived at the reproductive health clinic just as it was opening. The nurse at the door greeted them warmly: "Hello, are you two here to consult about reproductive issues? Our clinic operates on the principle of serving clients with everything, protecting client privacy, and providing the most professional guidance..."

  Lü Cōng somewhat embarrassedly interrupted the nurse's introduction: "Sorry, we are here to find the person in charge of the clinic."

  "Could I ask you two to register here with me now? We assign doctors based on the client's consultation questions..."

  Xu Nu pulled out his police badge: "Nurse, you've misunderstood. We're from the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Unit. We have some matters to discuss with your person in charge."

  "Oh, please wait a moment." The nurse picked up the phone at the front desk, "Director Li, there are two police officers looking for you. Okay, I'll let them go directly to your office."

  "Please take the elevator to the third floor, President Li's office is the last room on the right."

  Upon arriving upstairs, Dean Li was already standing at the office door waiting for them. After some small talk, the three of them took their seats inside the office.

  Director Li stretched out his hand to adjust his glasses and asked: "I don't know what the two of you have come to understand about?"

  Lü Cōng said: "Director Li, we came today to investigate whether Wang Ming and Zhang Wei are customers of your clinic."

  Director Li said after checking on the computer: "Wang Ming is indeed a customer of our clinic, but there is no customer named Zhang Wei."

  Lv Cong and Xu Nuo exchanged a glance, secretly delighted in their hearts. It seemed that this clue was promising.

  "Can we know what project Wang Ming is consulting you about?" Xu Nuo asked eagerly.

  "Director Li's expression was stern: "This won't do, our clinic is supposed to keep customer confidentiality, unless you have a search warrant, I won't give you the customer's information."

  Xu Nuo was about to speak, but Lü Cong signaled her not to with a glance: "Director Li, it's not that we can't get a search warrant, but if we use one, we'll have to seal all your clinic's electronic and paper documents. Personally, I think this would not only increase the workload of our criminal police team but also unnecessarily affect your business. Of course, if you insist, we'll go back and apply for a search warrant." With that, he stood up as if to leave.

  "Director Li hastily blocked: "Officer Lü, please stay, if I give you the information, can you guarantee it won't be leaked out?"

  "That's natural. All information related to the case is confidential to outsiders, so you can rest assured." A sly smile crept onto Lü Cong's face.

  Director Li reluctantly printed out a medical record and handed it to Lü Cong.

  As soon as Xu Nu walked out of the obstetrics and gynecology clinic, he couldn't wait to open the medical record. "What? Wang Ming has azoospermia? Is it true that the child in Zhang Wei's belly is not Wang Ming's?"

  "Keep your voice down, we're on the road." Lü Cong endured the baptism of various gazes with embarrassment, while Xú Nuó belatedly covered her mouth.