Chapter 19: Lunch

Ji Fanyang had thought that, given Lu Hui’s personality, it was impossible for them to just wait until lunch; they would definitely find some illegal activities to engage in. For example, robbing a bank, or blowing the precinct sky high. 

But Lu Hui didn’t. He had an ancient cell phone that probably couldn’t access the Internet, so he went out to the car and brought out a tablet computer, propped it up on the desk in the office, and put on a soap opera. He seemed to be having a good time. 

He even had Ji Fanyang buy two bags of potato chips and a bottle of sparkling water and reclined in his chair, extremely satisfied. 

After watching two episodes chock-full of romantic quarrels, domestic trivialities, and sentimental nonsense, Lu Hui finally noticed that Ji Fanyang was observing him being engrossed in the show and turned to look at him: “Don’t you have anything else to do? Like finding another romantic partner?”

“No.” Ji Fanyang shook his head. He stared at Lu Hui the way a child stares at a new toy or a parakeet. Lu Hui was a mystery that made Ji Fanyang unable to stop probing deeper. He turned his face away to cover up this innate disposition of his and replied with another question, “Aren’t four relationships enough?”

“Of course it’s not.” Lu Hui’s fingertip tapped the screen, “Look at Lisa. The men she’s dated could stretch around the earth if they held hands.”

Ji Fanyang’s lips twitched: “I applaud her efforts.” He clapped a few times perfunctorily. 

“Watch.” In a burst of hard-to-come-by generosity, Lu Hui turned half of the screen toward Ji Fanyang. He gazed at Ji Fanyang earnestly, his dark eyes glimmering like obsidian, “Let’s watch it together. Don’t touch my potato chips.” He stopped for a second, then continued, “Or my drink.”

Ji Fanyang couldn’t help but smile, the corners of his lips lifting brightly: “Okay.” He got a bit closer, squeezing next to Lu Hui to share the same screen and watch the car accidents, incurable diseases, bouts of amnesia, and two-timing dog-blood plot contrivances of the soap opera. 

“He’s definitely about to kneel down.” Lu Hui said, his gaze following the male lead’s movements. He altered his voice and pretended to be a dub actor, “Beloved Lisa, forgive me. Look at our son. Forgive me for him.”

“I think he’s going to slap Lisa.” Ji Fanyang creased his brow so that he looked like a pedantic old man, “And that boy could be her ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-boyfriend’s kid.”

“Wait a second.” Lu Hui paused the video and pushed the bag of potato chips to the middle, “Wanna bet?”

“A bet it is.” Ji Fanyang agreed. 

Lu Hui pushed the start button and the program continued. 

The male lead on the screen knelt down with a thump and said with deep feeling: “Lisa, forgive me. I’m willing to provide for the boy, even if he isn’t mine. I can treat him like he’s my own son.”

At first, Lu Hui raised an eyebrow, extremely pleased with himself. Then he heard the end of the male lead’s speech and he clenched his jaw in resentment. 

“Half and half.” Ji Fanyang laughed lightly and opened the bag of chips, “I can have half.” His fingertips reached into the bag, pulled out some chips, and stuffed them into his mouth. The intermittent sounds of his munching could be heard. 

Lu Hui picked up the sparkling water and downed half of it, then put it down and wiped his lips. He shot a cold look at Ji Fanyang: “Quiet down. It’s like I’m sitting next to a giant rat.”

Ji Fanyang shrugged. Taunts and sarcasm couldn’t dispel his good mood. 

After four episodes of the meandering, old-fashioned drama had been watched, Supervisor Li walked in and knocked on the table to catch the attention of the two rats dressed as police officers: “It’s lunch time.”

Lu Hui turned the tablet off. The empty bottle of sparkling water and the bags of potato chips were spread out over the desk. His expression did not reveal any trace of guilt as he said: “Ji Fanyang is in charge of cleaning up.”

Supervisor Li’s gaze landed on the young man. Ji Fanyang held his hands up, surrendering to his fate: “I’ll clean up.” He crammed the bags of chips into the water bottle, then threw the bottle in the garbage can, “Alright, can we go?”

Supervisor Li nodded: “Let’s go.”

Potatoes chips and sparkling water definitely wouldn’t be filling for hale young men. Lu Hui straightforwardly sat down at a table in the cafeteria while Ji Fanyang turned to go to the serving window just as soon as he stepped into the cafeteria to grab two servings, one for him and one for Lu Hui. 

Onlookers thought that Ji Fanyang was just too pitiful. He was forced to put up with Lu Hui’s venomous mouth and had to do every little thing for Lu Hui; he was simply a top-tier babysitter. But Ji Fanyang took delight in it. In his eyes, Lu Hui was like a stubborn oyster that was slowly opening up to him, revealing a dazzling pearl within. That pearl, with its equal parts toughness and brilliance, made him both absolutely troubling and absolutely glorious. 

Ji Fanyang carried the two servings over and sat across from Lu Hui. He pushed one of the trays over to Lu Hui and smiled a little shyly: “I didn’t know what you liked, so I just randomly picked some.”

Lu Hui grabbed his chopsticks and picked up a piece of braised eggplant. He inspected it with utmost caution, like a private scoping out landmines. He reluctantly took a bite of the braised eggplant, then commented: “It’s edible.”

“Hey! That’s mine!” Ji Fanyang had not picked up his chopsticks in time and could only watch as Lu Hui plucked the biggest chicken nugget off of his tray. 

“First come, first served.” Lu Hui took a bite of the chicken nugget, then swallowed the rest of it quickly. He licked his lips, satisfied. 

Ji Fanyang was not genuinely angry. He just watched his tray a little more closely. 

As everyone was chowing down, Supervisor Li stood at the front of the cafeteria and clapped: “Everyone, the City’s Serious Crimes Squad would like to get a better understanding of things. If anyone knows the whereabouts of dens for hiding stolen goods, go to the squad chief, Lu Hui, to log the location details.”

“Go see him, he’s responsible for collecting the information.” Lu Hui said loudly, pointing at Ji Fanyang. 

Ji Fanyang, who had just become everyone’s focus, nodded helplessly: “Can we start after we finish eating?”

The crowd chuckled with goodwill, and Ji Fanyang hastened his eating speed. 

Lu Hui, on the other hand, was not in a hurry. He leisurely drank a spoonful of soup: “Log it in the cafeteria. There shouldn’t be that many, in any case.”

“Mm.” Ji Fanyang finished off his soup in one gulp, stood, walked over to the dish receptacle, put down the plates and bowls, then walked back over. He pulled a small notebook and pen out of his pocket. 

Four or five officers stood around the table. Ji Fanyang simultaneously asked questions and jotted down notes, and in no time, he had recorded all of the location details. 

“Which one should we go to first?” Ji Fanyang looked at the four locations listed in his notebook. 

Lu Hui took his final sip of the soup and said: “First, we’ll go to the relatively large and popular spots, ones that an impoverished village like Li Family Village would know about.”

“One store’s owner is surnamed Li.” Ji Fanyang said, “Is it someone from Li Family Village?”

“The name?” Lu Hui asked.

“Li Feng.” Ji Fanyang said. 

Lu Hui raked a hand through his hair, making his originally bird’s-nest-like hair even more disheveled, “Go find the population register and see what Li Feng’s relationship with Li Peng is.”

Ji Fanyang hurried off and hurried back soon after: “They’re cousins.”

Lu Hui remained seated. His eyes were like those of a viper taking aim at a piece of prey. He snapped his fingers: “Tomorrow, we should go have a chat with Li Yun. Has he not come of age yet?”

“He will in three months.” Ji Fanyang said. 

Lu Hui nodded: “Remember the date clearly. I’m looking forward to the battles between the lawyers at the trial.”

Istg if any more Li’s show up, imma kill someone. 

On a side note, I wasn’t super sold on LH and JFY before this chapter, but now I am. Tbh, they’re both very strange. I just hope JFY can figure out his weird thing and see LH as more than a project…