By the time Zhao Shouchuan arrived, Wu Zhicun had already been wheeled into the emergency room.
The old man was sixty-seven, blind, and had several underlying health conditions. The doctor in charge of the rescue effort told Shen Xin to be mentally prepared.
"Everything was fine. Why would he try to kill himself?" Zhao Shouchuan asked, looking completely baffled.
Shen Xin sighed, not knowing how to answer.
'I used to think Wu Zhicun might take the fall for Li Jin or something, but now it seems I was just overthinking it.'
'In Wu Zhicun's heart, Li Jin was probably his last ray of hope.'
'Now that Li Jin had been arrested, that hope was shattered. Just as He Cuimei said, he was starting to lose his mind.'
'An attempted suicide by overdose... it was possible.'
Zhao Shouchuan sat down next to him. "I'll talk to the community administrators later. We should just send him to a nursing home."
Even if they saved him this time, what about the next?
We can't just have someone watching him around the clock.
He was a lonely old man. If he died, he wouldn't be found until he started to stink.
Shen Xin nodded, thinking the same thing. It reminded him of his previous theory about Wu Jiawang's disappearance. "Captain Zhao, back when you were looking for Wu Jiawang, did you ever consider the possibility that he was trapped somewhere?"
"Trapped?"
Zhao Shouchuan paused for a moment, then immediately understood what Shen Xin meant. "Of course we considered it. To be honest, this area was pretty desolate back then, and there were factories nearby. We thought the kid might have been playing around, snuck into a factory, and had an accident."
"So we not only notified all the surrounding factories and warehouses, but we also searched every place we could. We genuinely found nothing, so we pretty much ruled out that possibility."
After a brief pause, Zhao Shouchuan added, "Xiaoshen, I've thought about this case for many years. After all this time, the most likely scenarios are that he was abducted by a gang, or he had an accident—like getting hit and killed by a passing truck, and the driver just hauled the body away."
Shen Xin folded his arms.
Zhao Shouchuan's theory was certainly plausible.
This area used to be a logistics hub, so there were a lot of trucks from out of town.
'Maybe on some quiet road, someone accidentally hit and killed Wu Jiawang. Afraid of the consequences, they just loaded the body into their truck, drove a thousand miles away, and dumped it. You'd never be able to investigate that.'
'It's just like those random, passion-driven murders. 'I'm just passing through, I don't like the look of you, so I kill you for no reason and take off.' With no witnesses and no surveillance, it's impossible to solve.'
"Alright, Xiaoshen, don't overthink it. Everyone has their own fate," Zhao Shouchuan said, patting Shen Xin's shoulder.
There was something else he didn't say out loud.
'He actually thought it might be for the best if Wu Zhicun just died like this.'
'He was all alone in the world. Being alive was just torment and suffering for him.'
Shen Xin nodded and waited for the results.
Over an hour later, the emergency room doctor came out.
"He's lucky. We saved him." The doctor delivered the good news, then added, "Our analysis is that the rat poison he took was probably fake. Otherwise, given the amount he ingested, there's no way we could have saved him."
He'd seen this kind of thing before.
"For example, with roach poison, the seller deliberately mixes in flour to dilute it, so you have to come back and buy more."
Shen Xin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
'So I guess we have the fake-pesticide dealer to thank for this?'
His life was saved, but he still had to be hospitalized.
People from the community administration also arrived to arrange the follow-up procedures.
Wu Zhicun was a "Five Guarantees" household member, so his medical treatment was practically free.
Even the deposit Shen Xin had helped pay was reimbursed on the spot.
Zhao Shouchuan personally drove Shen Xin back to Wu Zhicun's house. They chatted for a bit before Zhao took a call and left.
He Cuimei's family had already disappeared in a flash.
Looking at the empty courtyard, especially the three memorial portraits in the main hall, Shen Xin let out a long sigh. He waited for Da Mei to return with a pitiful-looking tuxedo cat, collected the recorder, and then went home to catch up on sleep.
The case involving Li Jin had finally come to a close.
「A couple of days later,」 Shen Xin's early confirmation report was approved.
He officially pinned on his first stripe and pip.
He was also assigned the service weapon he'd been dreaming of. Although it was locked in a gun safe and he couldn't touch it, at least he knew one of them was his.
「A few days later,」 his commendation came through as well.
Just as Song Liang had predicted, it was a Third-Class Merit.
The Criminal Investigation Squadron also received a collective commendation.
Earning a merit was a big deal for the station.
Song Liang started organizing a celebration, and Wang Shuwei brought in someone from the internal publicity department to interview Shen Xin.
The headline would most likely be something along the lines of: "Probationary Officer Shen Xin Stays True to His Mission, Heroically Saves a Life, and Forges an Extraordinary Path in an Ordinary Position."
"Not bad. I've been a cop for so many years, and even I, your master, never managed to snag a Third-Class Merit. And here you are, you brat, beating me to it." Li Dongsheng was overjoyed as he scrolled through the group chat, looking at a photo Wang Shuwei had posted of Shen Xin in a brand-new uniform, holding his certificate of commendation.
"Lao Li, don't even talk. Out of everyone here at the station, every single one of us, how many have actually earned a Third-Class Merit?"
"Xiaoshen, you have to treat us!"
Everyone present chimed in, egging him on.
The envy was real, but there was no jealousy.
It was a solid achievement; there was nothing to be jealous of.
Besides, Shen Xin had just been confirmed. Even with a merit, he wasn't a threat to anyone's career for the time being.
"That's not right. Xiaoshen shouldn't be the one treating. Zhang Jian should! He's the one Xiaoshen saved."
"Yeah, Zhang Jian should be the one paying! That old rascal has no class. Shen Xin saved his life, and he hasn't even thought to treat him to a proper meal."
Seeing them get more and more out of hand, Shen Xin quickly cut in, "Treat you to what? You all know how busy we've been. But I'll treat everyone. Tonight. Every single one of you, be there."
"Now that's generous, Xiaoshen!"
The crowd cheered again.
Li Dongsheng shot them a look, signaling for everyone to calm down. "What's all the ruckus for?" he yelled. "Xiaoshen, just buy a few cases of Red Bull for the station later. We'll call that sharing in your good fortune."
He knew Shen Xin's family was relatively well-off, but there were over seventy people at the station. Treating all of them would cost a fortune.
"Lao Li, look at you being so stingy."
"What do you mean, stingy? This is called looking out for his boy. It's not every day Lao Li gets such a good apprentice. Of course he's going to be protective."
The group teased him a bit more, then all started clamoring for Shen Xin to buy several cases, complaining they'd been pulling too many all-nighters lately and couldn't take it anymore.
They were just messing around. With so many people, they couldn't actually let Shen Xin take them all out to a hotel for a multi-course dinner.
In similar situations before, the most they ever got was an extra dish in the canteen.
Just as they were talking, someone knocked on the door.
Shen Xin turned his head and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
'It's that girl.'
Zhang Qian!
Lately, watching Da Mei and Evil Bully show off their affection for each other, his mind would occasionally drift back to that night, to that hazy figure.
Zhang Qian was carrying a gift box. She was actually here to see Shen Xin.
Everyone in the room exchanged glances and began to snicker suggestively.
Shen Xin quickly waved his hands, telling them to stop, and hurried out of the office into the hallway.
"Um, about last time... when you took me home. I haven't thanked you for that yet." 'Just as I thought,' Shen Xin mused. 'Shen Shuang's photography skills are totally unreliable. She's much prettier in person than in the photo.'
'Shen Xin still couldn't figure out how a big, burly guy like Zhang Jian could have such a beautiful daughter.'
At the mention of last time, Zhang Qian was also reminded of how Shen Xin had thrown up on her foot. With a wry smile, she asked, "So, do you remember what happened on the way?"
Shen Xin's heart leaped.
'Did I do something else on the way there?'
"I didn't do anything, did I?" Shen Xin asked, feeling a pang of guilt.
Zhang Qian smiled sweetly. "Relax, look how scared you are. Don't worry, you didn't do anything to me. It's just that while I was driving, you insisted that I take off my shoe so you could wash it for me."
She couldn't help but laugh as she recalled the scene from that night.
Shen Xin flushed with embarrassment. 'That was a new level of mortifying.'
"Actually, I'm the one who should be thanking you," Zhang Qian said, her tone shifting as she handed him the gift box. "If it weren't for the station's commendation this time, I never would have known that you saved my dad."