All eyes turned to Sister Wei.
She rolled her eyes. "I can’t believe that I beat trained detectives to the answer. Soone obviously orchestrated this. The target was the monk who refused to sell the land. A simple case of death by poison after drinking old well water would not have been suspicious at all.
But that day, two pilgrims ended up at the temple. Two sticks of fresh incense were found at the scene. The monk must have let them in and offered them so tea or water. A lot of people drink water from temples because they think its sacred.
The plumber was probably a pawn. In case the police needed a suspect, he was the giant ’X’ marks the spot. Whether sothing went missing or not, he was the best suspect. I think he was an accidental victim.
The tech system host had issues with the temple but he was nowhere near it that day. His alibi was solid. That leaves the businessman, Yu Liangyu He wanted that land and he got it. Yu Nuan must be a mber of the Yu family. They demolished it this year and a giant sky scrapper shaped like a donut is being built. Land acquisition was the real motive here."
Xuanji nodded. "Ten minutes, case closed. But honestly, this kind of seems like it was simple to figure out."
Liwu tilted her head from side to side. "Yes and no. Even if Yu Liangyu was involved, where is the evidence? There is no proof that the plumber didn’t do it. There is also no proof that the monk’s nephew didn’t do it when he learned there was money to be made from selling the land. That said, I agree, land acquisition was the motive."
Sister Wei’s eyes burned with joy and urgency. "Great, we have solved it. Now your team can go and arrest Yu Liangyu. If you question him, I am sure he will crack."
Liwu, gasped, her spoon pausing mid-air. "Sister Wei, that is not the way things work. First of all, Yu Liangyu is a prominent business man with ties to politics. We cannot simply cuff and take him away without informing the higher ups. Secondly, he lives in Beijing, which is not in our jurisdiction. We can only investigate cases there when assigned or invited. Without jurisdiction, we can’t arrest."
Linlin leaned back, her tone sardonic. "And the SOB won’t touch this case. Neither the victims nor the suspect were system hosts. This case belongs to the police."
Weijun sighed. "Welco to the shortcomings of the bureau. They asure justice by signal interference. If tech guy had done it, they would be all over it."
Sister Wei’s voice cracked. "So that’s it? We are letting him get away with killing four people! Are you saying ordinary people don’t matter?"
Liwu’s voice softened. "They matter. But, the SOB was ford to solve system related cris. If we enter ordinary territory, a lot of people start looking for a reason to make us out as villains.
We are experts. Experts are only called in if the old system fails to work. When we intervene in ordinary cases without an invitation, the local police is unhelpful. While we are fighting for authority, justice is not served. That’s the flaw."
The silence was heavy. broken only by the tea cups delivered by the servers. Sister Wei’s shoulders sagged. "Then what hope is there?"
Liwu smiled faintly. "We persist. There is always another way." She looked into the cup that she had assud contained tea. Instead, it had a black gelatinous mound. "This looks wrong."
Chef Bao laughed. "Why don’t you taste it first? I can assure you that is tea."
She used a spoon to scoop a bit. As soon as it touched her tongue, a milk and lemon grass flavor burst on her tongue and the gel like substance turned into a liquid. Her eyes widened. "It tastes amazing."
Weijun chuckled. "That is the secret of this restaurant. It’s not in the na or appearance, but the taste. However, everything must be eaten in small portions or you risk indigestion."
They laughed. An hour later, the detectives were back at the precinct and Weijun was back at city hall. The team was doing paperwork which was stacked like mountains. Xuanji was having a great ti, while everyone else was grumpy.
"We solve mysteries faster than we file reports." Liwu muttered.
"Your friend Reed is already dating another of our female officers. This one works in the traffic departnt." Linlin whispered, unable to fight her urge to gossip.
Liwu sighed, "You keep track of that man’s relationships more than the rent your ex owes you."
The others chuckled.
At 5:00 PM, when the mountain was reduced to a single paper, Liwu finally picked up her phone, scrolling through news feeds. Suddenly, her pen clattered to the desk. "What?!"
Linlin looked up, hand dangling an airport pillow she planned to use in a short nap. "Please don’t say we have been assigned a new case."
"Did IA summon us again?" He Xiao Yi asked.
Her jaw dropped. "Worse. My idiot brother-in-law Weifeng went to an auction at around the ti when we were having lunch and bought a necklace for his scheming girlfriend. Worth one billion!"
Xuanji nearly choked on his tea. "One billion?! On a necklace for a woman! What does it look like?"
"Forget appearance, that woman is nothing but trouble." Linlin shouted.
They were so loud that every other detective or officer near by heard them. Then, they rushed online to check the news and see it for themselves.
He Xiao Yi found the picture before the others and he shared it on every screen in the precinct. "It’s trending. Photos everywhere. Look at the necklace, it’s old and gaudy but dripping with diamonds, like a chandelier."
Linlin whistled. "This is not love, It is financial suicide."
Liwu called her husband imdiately. "It better be Weifeng’s financial suicide. If Weijun is involved, he better be ready for an ass kicking from ."
Back at the Shen manor, her in-laws were already on the warpath. Madam Xu had just seen the news, fresh from a nap. She stord into the living room, waving her phone. "Feng’er has lost it. A necklace worth one billion?! For that rotten fish."
Mr. Shen tried to calm her. "Honey, please---"
"Don’t honey !" she snapped. "Call the boy! Call him now! Has he lost his mind? Does he think money grows on trees?"
"Well---he is the CEO of the family company. He knows where money cos from." Mr. Shen mumbled.
"And that is the problem." Madam Xu growled. "It is a family business. He has no right to pull funds from the company to buy a necklace that costs a billion." She waved her hands around in the air. "And no necklace should cost that much in the first place. That boy was probably conned by Manman." She sat down and groaned. "If I had known that this was going to happen, I should have let my good daughter-in-law Liwu exhaust her bad luck on Manman. Without that face, how else would she seduce and swindle my son?"
Mr. Shen hid a smile. His wife’s fury was legendary. Just look how she was ready to unleash Liwu on Manman!
"It’s not just the money." Madam Xu added in a rage filled voice, "It is the optics. His brother is the mayor of this city. Purchases of this kind will implicate Weijun because people will think he is corrupt. There are people in the city who are eating one al a day and he does this!
They will see this as an insult. The boy is flaunting wealth in a way that is harmful to our family. I have said it many tis that we should be careful with our spending. Nobody will make noise at fifty million, but a billion!!! All my necklaces together don’t even add up to that much. Not even Tai Liwu from the fad Tai jewelry family wore a necklace worth that much at her wedding." She scoffed. "Who does Manman think she is?"
****
By 9:00 PM, the entire family had gathered. Cousins, aunts, even distant relatives who had taken vacations in different parts of the country had flown back. Even the Nan’s who had been thrown out had shown up, only to be thrown out again.
The ancestral hall was packed to the brim. Liwu had to hide her yawns in the midst of the outrage.
One uncle stood and jutted his finger at Weifeng, :"One billion! Do you know how many projects in the family we could fund with that money?"
A cousin wailed. "We wanted to change computer models at the company last year, Weifeng, and you said there was no money. As it turns out, there is money. You are just wasting it on that woman!"
"I can’t even afford the new speed boots of thirty one million and you are spending money on necklaces. Hmph!’
Weifeng loudly retorted. "It is my money, how is it anyone’s business how I spend it?"
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