Jia woke up the next morning and headed down to have her breakfast. As she looked outside, she could see some stubborn reporters and paparazzi still hanging around in hopes to get some viral scoop.
As she was about to exit her wing, she noticed a familiar figure trembling at the reception desk.
"U-Um s-so-so, I have a booking h-here..." a meek voice said.
"Sure sir. Can I get your name please? Also, can you give me your ID?"
Tears pooled in Bojing’s eyes and he fumbled with his wallet.
Shilin smiled at the receptionist. "He is Lu Bojing. I am Shilin. We have rooms booked under Yang Mingshen’s name."
"Oh let me check that for you in a second," and she rapidly tapped her fingers on the keyboard.
Bojing hid his face feeling ashamed.
How embarrassing that my junior has to take charge of doing the talking! I am so useless!
"Bojing."
They turned around and Bojing beamed as soon as Jia’s face came into the view. "Sis!!!"
He ran to hug her as if they had suffered a long and painful separation. "How are you s-sis? I missed you!"
Jia laughed. "It’s hardly been a few days. But what are you two doing here?"
"Boss called us here."
Shilin completed the formalities at the reception desk and politely greeted her too. "Hello, Miss. Song."
"Hey," she smiled back. "It’s such a pleasant surprise to see you here."
Bojing sniffled. "B-Boss just suddenly called us here out of nowhere. He t-took a random quiz for Shilin a-and then said to come here by the next flight. I didn’t even get to properly pack..." he cried.
Shilin curiously asked, "I was watching the news on the way. Is this about the murder of the director of the drama series, Wan Guanting?"
"Indeed. I was there yesterday morning when the attendant came running."
"I thought so. Since you and Boss are staying at the same hotel as the crew, I did feel that you must have gotten involved."
Jia shook her head. "Not really. Not in the official capacity. Tianjin Bureau is handling the case. I am just on the sidelines here."
"But Boss called us."
"And you came at an excellent time~"
Dressed in a crisp beige shirt and black trousers, Mingshen walked with pride and confidence oozing out of his every step.
"B-Boss, you should have given us some time to p-pack..." Bojing muttered his complaint as he wiped his eyes.
He sneered. "I wanted you here the next day, not the next year."
"..."
By then Lei Honghui arrived at the hotel too and he approached Jia’s group. "Miss. Song," he said with a hint of animosity. "What is your purpose for calling me here?"
"Supervisor Lei. Good morning."
"I am extremely occupied with Miss. Chow’s interrogation and I really don’t have the time for pleasantries."
"I called you for a pretty serious reason too which I think is valid."
His eyes narrowed.
"I believe Mingshen’s hypothesis is right. We should do a complete post mortem with all the blood tests."
"And I was very clear to Dr. Yang last night itself that it won’t be necessary. All these tests will only waste my team’s time-"
"That’s why my team is here to do the job that your team is supposed to do~" he waved his hand and pointed it at Bojing and Shilin. "My very able assistants who flew from Beijing just to do your job."
Jia was dumbfounded.
At this point, you are just triggering the volcano to erupt, aren’t you!?
His face contorted in fury. "Excuse me? I know how to do my job! Young brats these days are getting too full of themselves!"
Bojing wanted to hide.
This happens everytime...!
Jia tried to calm down his bubbling sparks of fire. "It’s not like that Supervisor Lei-"
"Then how is it? You both have been poking your noses ever since this case came into being. Did you forget that this is Tianjin’s jurisdiction, not Beijing’s?" He coldly said, "I think you should first focus on your recovery. You are so delicate that you already got such a serious injury. Now I don’t want you jumping around in my case and injuring yourself further which will eventually only put my department in the line of fire."
"Oh my. I hope he is ready~" Mingshen muttered to himself amusingly.
Jia’s eyes squinted. "My injury has nothing to do with this case, Supervisor Lei."
"It has everything to do with it," he glared at her. "I don’t think working in such a dangerous field is cut out for a woman. Look, how you already become invalid."
At that point, Bojing started to pray to the higher entity.
Let th-this man get some wisdom...
Jia let out a cold smile. "Male officers get injured too if I may remind you. A bullet is lethal for a male and a female officer equally. Gender doesn’t make any difference but people with discriminatory thinking like you do. I am physically injured but that doesn’t mean that my mental faculties aren’t in place."
His gaze darkened.
"I called you here because I genuinely feel there is a valid point Mingshen is making. If we get any suspicious traces of any chemical or medicine that shouldn’t be there in his system, then it will only aid the investigation and perhaps get a confession out of Chow Mey which you want but aren’t getting yet."
"I will get it soon, Miss. Song. This is a waste of time and I won’t allow you to unnecessarily interfere with my case. This is my case."
Mingshen raised his brow. "Do you want to look like a hero who gets to successfully solve such a high profile case?"
He grimaced. "I am fifty-three, Dr. Yang. I am not looking for popularity."
"Sadly, you aren’t looking for common sense either~"
"You...!"
Lei Honghui had come across numerous stubborn, arrogant and stone-hearted criminals in the course of his career. But Mingshen simply egged him on differently.
Veins popped on his forehead and he wished he could arrest Mingshen right that instant.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "You suggest there might be some foreign substance mixed with his drink that made him forcibly pass out or get him heavily drunk?"
"Yes," Jia said.
He gave her a hard stare. "Fine. I will allow Dr. Yang’s team to run his tests. But mind you. If your suspicions don’t come true and all this turns out to be a false alarm, then you will be in grave trouble with the Beijing’s Bureau, Miss. Song. I will personally make sure of it."