Be in low spirits

"We are from the Public Security Bureau and would like to find you to find out some information!" Li Li shouted again.

"What?" Grandma leaned in again to hear what Li Li said. Kong Zhixi pulled Grandma's hand and whispered in her ear again.

"From the Public Security Bureau? Did Zhezhe do something wrong?" Grandma turned around and asked her.

"He has done nothing wrong. We want to help him find his biological parents." Kong Zhixi whispered in her ear again.

"His parents? He doesn't have any parents. He grew up in an orphanage." The old lady also leaned over and whispered gossip with Kong Zhixi.

"Zhezhe is a child with a difficult life. He was very skinny and small when he was sent to the orphanage, but he is sensible and educated. Now he is said to be a boss in a large company, but I don't know if he has a wife yet."

"Did he have the best relationship with Li Jing when he was in the orphanage?" Kong Zhixi also lowered her head to discuss with her, and Li Li seemed redundant.

"Oh, Jingjing is a pretty child. Many boys in the orphanage like her." The old lady became excited now.

"Does Jingjing like Zhezhe too?"

"Girl, how old were they at that time? How could they know what they liked and didn't like? But Zhezhe really treated this girl as his sister, and he gave her first any delicious food." The old lady was more energetic now.

"Did he take Jingjing away later?"

"That's right. Zhezhe came back to pick her up after he graduated from college. They even had a fight over this at that time."

"What are you arguing about?" This piqued her curiosity.

"What's there to quarrel about? Jingjing is a kind-hearted child. There are so many children in the orphanage, and she wants to stay in the orphanage and be with everyone else."

"But didn't they say that many kids bullied her at that time?"

"Children don't know what is good and evil. They just played a little too much."

"Have Jingjing's parents looked for her?"

"I came to send her some things later, but since I had left her there, I never thought of taking her back." The old lady was a little thirsty, so she picked up the cup and took a sip of water.

"What about Zhezhe?" Kong Zhixi continued to ask.

"Zhezhe is a child with a hard life. Fortunately, he worked hard and was admitted to university." The old lady repeated.

"Didn't Zhezhe's parents come to the orphanage to look for him?" Kong Zhixi asked again.

"When their parents gave birth to them, they were still children. They couldn't afford to raise them, so they sent them all away."

"They?" Li Li and Kong Zhixi once again emphasized these two words in unison.

"He had a brother, but he was sent away early. Zhezhe was sent to our orphanage later. When he was first brought here, he was very thin and small. I don't know how pitiful he was." The old lady repeated it again.

"Do you know where his brothers were sent?" This time both of them were sure to hear it clearly.

"How would I know? When his parents sent Zhezhe here, they did so quietly, fearing that someone would see them." The old lady remembered this incident clearly.

"How did you know?"

"Oh, there are not many people in the village who can keep such things secret. You don't know, kid, but at that time, we could know what everyone in the village ate." Although the old lady had clumsy teeth, she spoke clearly.

"Can we still find his parents in the village?"

"His parents died a long time ago. Their funeral affairs were handled by the villagers at that time. They were poor people, too." The old lady was also a kind-hearted person.

"Then there is no way to find Zhezhe's brothers?"

"It's hard. After so many years, who can still remember? The old people in the village have died or passed away." The old lady stood up, turned around hunched over, opened the drawer in the room, took out the snacks inside, handed them to Kong Zhixi and said, "Eat."

Kong Zhixi took the snacks, nodded, and replied, "Okay." Then he helped her back to the living room.

"Grandma, doesn't anyone know where Liu Zheqi's brothers were sent?" Li Li started shouting at people again.

This time, the old lady didn't know whether she heard him clearly or not. She rolled her eyes at him and said, "What are you yelling about, kid? I told you I'm not deaf."

"Grandma, does anyone know where Zhezhe's brothers were sent to?" Kong Zhixi helped her sit down and whispered in her ear again.

"Oh, not many people know that he has a brother. How did you know?" The old lady was really confused.

The two of them lost their patience, mainly because there was no way to verify whether the questions they asked were true or false. What if they were false, wouldn’t that be a waste of their time?

"Grandma, do you still remember Jingjing? Does she like Zhezhe?" Kong Zhixi still wanted to ask clearly.

"Jingjing is a good child. Although she is always bullied, she is very kind and pretty. Next time you see her, remember to tell her that her teacher Zhou misses her very much." The old lady was probably really confused now.

Kong Zhixi didn't want to ask any more questions, so the two of them cleaned up the house for the old lady and said goodbye.

On the way back, Kong Zhixi couldn't help but asked about the charred corpse case.

"Let's wait and see if Lao Sui and Xiao Zhao can find their identity information." He said lazily while lying on the passenger seat.

Kong Zhixi felt that for Li Li, investigating the case was nothing more than checking the identity first, then the interpersonal relationships, and finally finding the murderer from the interpersonal relationships. This was not difficult, but why did he need help?

"How do we find this brother?" Kong Zhixi asked him what his next move would be.

"Hey... let's see if we can get any useful information from Li Jing first." This Li Li seemed to be having a headache because of the case of the charred corpse.

"How about I talk to Li Jing alone, and you investigate the charred corpse case first?" Kong Zhixi put forward her idea.

"...Let's go back to the bureau and discuss it carefully." Li Li seemed really tired.

After returning to the bureau, Li Li became more energetic. He was flipping through the documents on the table, as if he was checking something.

Kong Zhixi went to the forensic room to check the charred body. The whole forensic room was filled with a foul smell because of the charred body. Old Sui was not there, so she couldn't figure out anything. She just walked around and left.

Li Li didn't pay much attention to her, so she had to sit in the office and drink tea.

I drank tea until I got off work, bought some groceries and cooked dinner, and sent some to Li Li on the way. After I went home and washed up, I lay down in my cubicle. Maybe it was because of the tea I had drunk, I tossed and turned but couldn't fall asleep.

She heard Li Li go home, wash up and lie down on the bed. Seeing how haggard he looked during the day, she didn't dare to get up to check on him. By the time he turned off the lights and fell asleep, it was already past two in the morning.

Kong Zhixi really couldn't sleep, so she went to Li Li's room in the dark, sat cross-legged at the head of the bed, and watched him sleep.

Li Li had a nightmare at night, and he kept shouting, "Xixi, don't go, don't go, I beg you." Cold sweat kept coming out of his forehead. The spring weather was a little cool and moist, and his clothes were soaked.

Kong Zhixi took a dry towel to wipe his sweat, but he grabbed her and shouted, "What do you want to do?" Then he opened his eyes. This really scared her. She frowned, her wrist was hurt by being grabbed, and asked back, "What do you want to do?"

Li Li was also startled, not knowing when she sat next to him. He let go of her hand, picked up the towel in her hand, sighed, wiped the sweat off his body, handed it to her, and asked, "Why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night?"

"Xixi, are you calling me?" Kong Zhixi was curious. She wrung the towel and placed it on the bedside table.

"I asked you, what are you doing here?" Li Li was a little angry. What did this woman mean by lying on his bedside at night? Did she remember something?

"I can't sleep. How about we talk about the case?" She tilted her head again, blinking her big eyes and looking at Li Li with an innocent and flattering look.

Li Li was a 30-something, hot-blooded man. Facing a woman who hadn't thought of anything at all in such a night, he was a little overwhelmed. He swallowed his saliva and asked her in a hoarse voice: "You... lie on the head of my bed just to ask me about the case?"

Kong Zhixi turned on the bedside lamp, poured him a glass of water and handed it to him, saying, "I noticed that you looked very tired recently, and I thought it might be because of the case. I want to help you, too."

Li Li looked at the water she handed him, cleared his throat, and said in a low voice: "I'm not thirsty, you should go back to sleep!" He didn't dare to look at her any longer, covered his head and urged her to go back to sleep.

Kong Zhixi frowned, put down the cup, pouted, and returned to her cubicle. Then, Li Lishen went to the bathroom to take a cold shower. Kong Zhixi listened to the sound of water and gradually fell asleep.