Volume 1 Beginning of Summer Chapter 11 Milk Tea
Jiang You took out cups of milk tea from the bag one by one and put them on the table. He glanced at Tang Butian and said, "Brown sugar pearl milk tea, Yakult green tea, which one do you want?"
"Yakult green tea."
Jiang You placed a cup of Yakult green tea and a straw in front of Tang Butian. Then he turned around and locked the door.
Tang Butian inserted the straw into the cup and took a sip. The sweet and cold liquid slid down her esophagus and into her stomach. "You knew I was going to come?" she asked.
"How should I know?" Jiang You sat on the chair and inserted another straw into the cup. "I ordered two cups and planned to sit and drink them slowly. I was exhausted from working in the yard. Why did it take so long to close the case? I saw online that netizens imagined countless criminal investigation dramas because of the slow closing of the case."
"What else did you see?"
Jiang You bit his pearls, "There are a lot, but now any hot event will be chopped up, and they will use a magnifying glass to find the point that can detonate it, pushing the heat even higher, and in the end it will be a mess, leaving only a mess."
"You hate this?"
"I can't say I hate it, I just feel that," Jiang You chewed the pearls, his voice becoming a little unclear, "The truth is unknowable, but beautiful bodies are knowable. Have you seen the recent girl group variety show? I think they should appear on more shows like this. Beautiful legs are justice."
His gaze lingered on Tang Butian's collarbone for a moment, then moved away.
“Objectification of women.”
Jiang You raised his eyebrows and said, "Officer Tang, you came here today just to tell me about the case, didn't you?"
Tang Butian raised her head, "It was not a coincidence that you bought this shop."
"Of course not. I bought it at the lowest price. I did a lot of research."
"Five years ago, this shop was owned by a couple who sold Chinese pastries and tea. The wife cheated on him, and the husband hacked her to death with a knife before committing suicide in this shop. Soon after this happened, rumors of a haunted house spread on the street, and the price of the shop was slashed in half. You approached their son and bought the shop at a very low price."
"He was in a hurry to sell. Besides, the halving was not caused by the haunting. The entire market was falling at that time. The haunting was at best a catalyst, causing the stock to fall a few more points."
"You have clairvoyance."
"So I'm a criminal suspect again?" Jiang You used a straw to make a hole in the cup and stirred the pearls. "I've already sold the qualification to buy a house."
"The dead person was your tenant."
"I'm also having a headache, Officer Tang. I have to pay several months' rent." He picked up the pearls with a straw and bit them. "Do you still want me to go to that press conference? On a Saturday night, watching a greasy middle-aged man talking nonsense on the stage..."
"Do you still distinguish between weekends and not weekends?"
"Of course, there's a live performance on Saturday night," Jiang You threw the empty cup of milk tea into the trash can, "Anything else?"
At this moment, Jiang You's phone vibrated and a text message came in. Jiang You clicked on it and said, "Liang Hao's parents will be back tomorrow."
"The text messages they sent you?" Tang Butian asked.
Jiang You nodded and handed the phone to Tang Butian. "Let me ask you a question. If the murderer is caught, will the victim's family be informed? Or, will the murderer compensate the victim for the unjust gain?"
Tang Butian read the text message and said, "I won't tell you. We will make adjustments based on the regulations and actual conditions and formulate a compensation plan. For individuals, it may be a 'tailor-made' subsidy. For companies, they may get investment from the government."
"That's good," Jiang You stood up and glanced at the time. "I'm going to visit Liang Hao's parents tonight. Do you want to come with me?"
Tang Butian hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Let's go have dinner first. The Cantonese restaurant on the street is pretty good. If you go any later, you'll have to wait for a seat."
After dinner, Jiang You and Tang Butian took a taxi to Lanxinyuan.
After opening the door with the key, they saw Liang's father and mother, one dragging a suitcase and the other carrying a bag, as if they were about to leave.
The living room was cleaned very well and the tables and chairs were neatly arranged.
Seeing Jiang You and Tang Butian coming in, Liang's father and mother looked at each other, then Liang's father picked up the envelope on the table and walked up to Jiang You, "Xiao Jiang, last time you came, we didn't count and gave you too much."
He stuffed the envelope into Jiang You's hand and said, "Haozi is gone, but we can't take advantage of you. I wanted to stay in the house, but I didn't expect you to come..."
"Why are you being so polite to me?" Jiang You pushed back. "Liang Hao and I, it's fate that he can rent my house. Take it."
Father Liang shook his head. "Liang Hao is my son. How could we..." He raised his hand and wiped his eyes. "We don't want money. If he can live and exchange our lives for his, we will definitely..."
"Okay, okay, I'll take it." Jiang You took the envelope. He didn't open it. He folded it and put it in his trouser pocket. "You cleaned my room so cleanly. You don't have to be so polite."
Liang's mother noticed Tang Butian and asked, "This lady is..."
"My friend's child is coming to Tangjiang City to attend university this year, so he asked me to take care of him."
Tang Butian glanced at Jiang You and did not deny it.
Jiang You continued to make up stories: "She knew I was coming over during dinner, and she read about Liang Hao's affairs on the Internet..."
"That Xiao Chen! She, she is not a good person!" After hearing the words "online", Liang's father's expression suddenly became angry. He interrupted Jiang You's words, his lips trembling, "She, she bullied us because we don't know the Internet..."
"She said she wanted to seek justice for Haozi, but the man she brought with her said he was a lawyer. I told him, no, no, we don't want money. Haozi told us that his company and his leader had been very kind to him. How could we do it for money ..." Liang's mother burst into tears, "They even calculated the money of a dead person. After I said no, she asked us for lawyer fees. I don't know how much money was donated online by kind people, but it all became lawyer fees. Haozi's father wanted to argue with her, but I said, no, no, we can't win. We are going back. We want to take Haozi home. Haozi is going home."
Tang Butian showed a look of pity on his face.
"What time is the train? I'll call a taxi to take you to the train station. Don't be late."
Liang's mother took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her eyes. "No need, we know how to get there. Sorry to trouble you again."
"It's on the way, too. After I send you off, I can also send her back." Jiang You pointed at Tang Butian, and then he said, " Let me send Haozi for a while, too."
Hearing what Jiang You said, Liang's father and mother looked at each other, and Liang's father said, "Okay, but we'll pay for the fare."
"OK."
