Chapter 4 Car Accident 04

  The man walking in front had a noticeable stubble on his chin, looking unkempt, but his eyes were particularly sharp. He was leaning on a metal cane with one hand, limping as he walked, yet not slowly. The young man behind him wasn't short, but unfortunately had too much fat on his body, so despite having an average height, the whole person still looked somewhat rounded.

  "Lao Zhou, Song Pàngzi?" Qin Fei had just put the bottle of coffee beans back on the cabinet and turned his head to see the two people coming in, so he smiled and greeted them.

  These two were Zhou Jun and Song Meng, one a former criminal police officer who had left his job due to injury, the other an enthusiast of reasoning, and somehow they got to know each other through some coincidence or chance encounter, then mixed together, rented the second floor of Weichen Book Bar, and opened a private detective agency.

  "Xiao Weiwei, get me a cup of milk tea." Song Meng walked up to the counter and, as usual, leaned against it with one arm, calling out to Shen Wei.

  Shen Wei glared at Song Meng and said, "With a figure like yours, you're still acting cute and spoiled? You'll be fat to death!"

  Shen Wei said with a tone of disgust, but still poured a cup of milk tea for Song Meng and a cup of oat tea for Zhou Jun.

  "By the way, Old Zhou, Wenkai came looking for you yesterday and said your phone was unreachable. Have you returned his call?" Qin Fei saw Zhou Jun and remembered that Gu Wenkai had come looking for him yesterday, so he asked casually.

  "Little Kai? Why didn't he call me?" Zhou Jun said, taking out his own somewhat outdated mobile phone, pressing a few keys, but the screen didn't light up. "Ah! Out of battery! Fatty, lend me your phone!"

  Song Meng responded with a sound, took out his own mobile phone, but unfortunately, his mobile phone had also been out of power for a long time. In the end, Qin Fei lent his mobile phone to Zhou Jun.

  Zhou Jun took Qin Fei's mobile phone and walked to the reading area in front, which was still empty, and called Gu Wenkai. Qin Fei was curious about the case that Song Meng and others had received, so he asked Song Meng.

  "That case...," Song Meng's eyebrows furrowed, "is a missing person case. It says that if the person is found alive, there will be a reward of 100,000 yuan. If the person is dead and there is conclusive evidence of death, then the reward is 50,000 yuan."

  The reward for finding someone like this was already quite high compared to the cases that Song Meng and Zhou Jun had received before, but Song Meng didn't look very happy.

  "Is this case tricky?" Qin Fei asked.

  "It's okay, I guess..." Song Meng took a sip of milk tea before continuing, "The woman is looking for her five-year-old daughter who went missing a month ago. Actually, she and her husband reported it to the police on the day she disappeared, and the police have been searching for a long time, but so far there's no lead. The woman had almost given up hope, but I suppose she still hasn't completely let go. She said that recently she keeps dreaming of her daughter crying and saying she wants to come home..."

  "The chances of finding her aren't that high, are they?" Qin Fei understood why Song Meng wasn't overjoyed about the substantial reward. The police had been searching for the missing girl for so long without any results, and now it was just the two of them, making the hope of finding her even slimmer. Even with such a generous reward, it was likely that they wouldn't be able to get it.

  The chances are slim, and the reward is so high... but Old Zhou and I still think it's worth taking on. Song Meng's face showed a daydreaming expression, "If by any chance we find that miracle, then our law firm's rent for next year will be taken care of. And that woman looks like she's about to collapse, it's really pitiful. Anyway, Old Zhou and I have nothing better to do, so we might as well help her look."

  "Did you go out to find someone yesterday?" Qin Fei asked.

  "No, I went to find the kid's mom and asked about the girl's situation, then tried to look for some clues. It just so happens that this girl went missing in our neighborhood, so Old Zhou and I went around asking questions at all the shops nearby. Even if we do have a lead, the police probably would've already used it." Song Meng said as he pulled out a photo from his pocket and placed it on the bar counter, "Here's the girl, her name is Jiajia. Looks pretty cute, huh? Unfortunately, she's now missing with an unknown fate."

  Qin Fei picked up the photo, on which a girl named Jiajia was hugging a tabby cat, showing a slightly shy smile in front of the camera. She was an ordinary five-year-old girl, nothing special about her, but after Qin Fei clearly saw the girl's face in the photo, he was stunned. The girl named Jiajia looked exactly like the girl he had seen at the car accident scene yesterday, sitting in the back seat with Chen Ping, covered in blood and leaning against the car door, who might be a ghost.

  "What's wrong?" Song Meng saw Qin Fei staring at the photo in a daze, his eyes circled around Qin Fei's face and asked, "Have you seen this girl?"

  Qin Fei's memory had always been good, and although he had only seen the girl once at the scene of the car accident, and her face was covered in blood, after carefully examining the photo in his hand, Qin Fei could almost be certain that the girl he saw at the scene was indeed Jiajia in the photo. But when it came to Song Meng's question, Qin Fei didn't know how to respond, even if he told the truth, Song Meng would probably think he was talking nonsense.

  Qin Fei shook his head and said, "I haven't seen it."

  Qin Fei is actually not good at lying, and if Song Meng was a bit more careful, he would probably be able to tell that Qin Fei was telling a lie. But Song Meng didn't think deeply about it, and after putting away the photo, he saw Zhou Jun coming over with his phone, limping along.

  "Xiao Kai has something to say to you." Zhou Jun handed his mobile phone to Qin Fei.

  Qin Fei took the phone from Zhou Jun's hand, and the phone was still on a call. Qin Fei shouted "Gu Wenkai" into the phone, and Gu Wenkai's somewhat serious voice came out of the receiver.

  "Qin Xiaofei, come to my apartment this afternoon, I want you to meet someone."

  "See someone? Who is it?" Qin Fei was puzzled, who could make Gu Wenkai speak to him in such a serious tone.

  "I'll tell you more when you get here, just remember - come to my apartment at 2 pm this afternoon, you must definitely come."

  Gu Wenkai wanted to see someone by himself, Qin Fei had no clue at all. He simply didn't think about it anymore, ate lunch, and when the time was almost right, he hailed a taxi at the entrance of the book bar and went straight to Gu Wenkai's apartment.

  When Qin Fei arrived at the foot of Gu Wenkai's apartment building, he saw Gu Wenkai standing outside the gate in casual clothes waiting for him. After paying the fare and getting out of the taxi, Qin Fei was pulled by Gu Wenkai towards the apartment.

  "Who exactly are you trying to get me to see?" Qin Fei was pulled by Gu Wenkai, and while being forced to quicken his pace, he helplessly asked.

  "It's my brother, he happened to come over from H city today for some business, so I thought I'd let him take a look at you."

  Qin Fei: "......" Why does this sound so strange?