Genius Detective

Lin Dongxue recorded it down. “We can search for the church. There should only be a handful of churches in Long'an City 13 years ago.”

“What is this Ruihua factory where your father worked at?” Chen Shi asked.

“If I remember correctly, it should be a pharmaceutical factory. Every time my father got home, he always had a smell of medicine on him.”

“Ruihua? Ruihua[1]? Huarui? I remember there is a Huarui pharmaceutical factory in Long’an. Is that the one?”

The little monk scratched his head in confusion.

Chen Shi asked, “Did your father have an accent?”

“Yes. There was a person who came by the temple one time who sounded like my father, so I couldn’t help but talk to them. That person was from Henan.”

“That sounds about right. He must have had an accent and misread the name of the factory. We will look for it according to this pronunciation,” Chen Shi said.

“Has Captain Lin given a deadline?” Peng Sijue asked.

“Seven days!”

“Seven days? You may not even be able to find the crime scene. Even you might not be able to solve this case.”

“How will we know if we don’t try our luck?” Chen Shi said as the waiter came towards them holding a plate. “Come here, let's eat!”

The waiter brought the plate to another table. Lin Dongxue tapped the table and complained. “Aiya, aiya. We came here first and they only came five minutes ago. Why do they get to eat first?”

The waiter said stiffly, “I don't know! Ask the kitchen.”

“What kind of attitude is that?” Lin Dongxue took out her mobile phone. “Poor review! Poor review!”

Chen Shi pushed her hand down. “Don’t you have common sense? Give a bad review after eating.”

After a while, the waiter ran back out, rushed to the other table, and smiled before bringing the dish to Chen Shi's table. “Sorry, I brought the wrong dish.”

Lin Dongxue widened her eyes. “People have eaten some already.”

“Beauty, why are you so petty? They didn't eat much!”

“You’re so generous!”

Peng Sijue said, “What if they have an infectious disease?”

“It's impossible. They’re all frequent customers.” The waiter smiled.

“What's their last name?”

“How would I know?!”

“If you don’t even know their surname, how can you be sure they don’t have any infectious diseases?” Peng Sijue said seriously. The customers on the other table heard it and were obviously a little bit unhappy, so they made lots of noise with their dishes.

“Forget it, we won’t eat! Too annoying.” Lin Dongxue stood up and left.

Chen Shi and Peng Sijue also followed behind. The young monk couldn't bear it either, so stood up and walked away as well. The waiter called the manager, who shouted, “Guests, please! We’ll give you a 20% discount! A 30% discount?!”

Lin Dongxue left without looking back. Being able to fight for her point of view, she was very delighted.

The young monk clasped his palms together. “Female donor, you shouldn’t anger yourself for such inconveniences.”

Lin Dongxue's delight dissipated.

Chen Shi asked, “Where shall we eat then?”

“I'm not eating anymore. I'm going back to work!” Peng Sijue bid his farewell.

The young monk said, “If you don't mind, I have some dry food and pickles here.” Then, he began to untie the cloth bag on his body.

Chen Shi rushed to stop him. “No, no, no, I invited you and wanted to treat you to a meal. How can we get you to treat us? We’ll just go and have a bite somewhere else.”

“Then, please excuse me.” The little monk took out a mantao and pickles and began to eat.

Chen Shi said in envy, “Monks are really open-minded. Vulgar people like us always argue for vulgar and superficial things every day. It seems so petty in front of this little master.”

“Who said that? There is also a happiness in vulgar and superficial things. I’m very happy when I buy things! But if I could be as open-minded as the little master when eating, I might not have to be afraid of gaining weight,” Lin Dongxue reasoned.

“Not necessarily,” said the young monk, chewing his mantao. “All of my seniors are fat. Although they are also vegetarians, they are fat and hearty!”

Chen Shi said, “Little Master, you don’t have a place to live right? Do you want to go to my...” Lin Dongxue suddenly twisted the skin on the back of Chen Shi’s hand, making his voice raise in volume and register. Then, he rephrased, “Do you want to go to the hostel near my house?”

“Too kind! Too kind!”

After the three got in the car, Lin Dongxue whispered, “You have Tao Yueyue and me at home. Did you think about how inconvenient it would be to live with a boy?!”

“I didn't think about it properly.” Chen Shi smiled.

They found a hostel and settled the young monk in. The young monk put his palms together and thanked them. “Donors, thank you so much today. You can just do your best in that matter and everything will be left to fate.”

Chen Shi followed up on his words and said, “I believe those above will do justice for you.”

“By the donor's words!”

When they got home, Tao Yueyue was back home reading a book. She had already eaten at her friend's house. Chen Shi borrowed the computer from her bedroom. Tao Yueyue asked, “Is there another case?”

“Yeah, lend me the computer for one night, alright?”

Chen Shi set up the computer in the living room and started to search on Google Maps. He was so immersed in it that he forgot to eat.

Lin Dongxue wanted to remind him, but suddenly thought that it would be better to show off her skills, so she went to the kitchen to open the refrigerator. Chen Shi's refrigerator was always full of ingredients, but her cooking skills were too “amazing” so she couldn’t cook too often.

After much deliberation, it was still the most convenient to make noodles, so she cooked two bowls of Guanmiao Noodles and clumsily fried two eggs. She laid down a few fried meatballs from that morning and put a few washed vegetables on it.

When the noodles were cooked, Lin Dongxue took out her mobile phone and turned on Zhihu[2]. Last night she asked a question on Zhihu, “I live at a friend's house and it feels so good that I don’t want to look for a house. Will my friend think poorly of me?”

Someone answered below. The person said, “This kind of thing should be communicated with your friend. If they think your presence won’t disturb them, then you can all live happily together. The key is asking. Many times, the parties cause too many misunderstandings with implicit words or actions. This will only cause regret. Only through communication can they really solve problems…”

This person’s ID was “Master Soy Sauce” and he said a lot of things that people liked.

Maybe it was the placebo effect but after reading this long paragraph, Lin Dongxue felt a little relieved in her heart and gave this person the optimal answer reward.

She asked again, “That friend is a man and I'm a woman. I like him a little. Is it inappropriate to live together in that scenario?”

The sound of gurgling water passed through her ears. Lin Dongxue came out of her daze and found that the noodles had already boiled and the water was flowing out of the pot. The kitchen was full of steam for a moment as she screamed in shock. Chen Shi rushed in, turned off the fire, and opened the pot’s lid before educating her, “It is best not to cook these types of noodles with the lid on.”

Lin Dongxue pouted, “I just wanted to make you dinner. We agreed that I’d treat you to dinner.”

“Thank you!” Chen Shi stretched out a hand, found it a little inappropriate, and retracted his hand that was extended half the way. “Let me do it!”

“I'll cook next time!”

“Okay, next time you do it.”

Lin Dongxue got to the living room. On the computer desktop, Google Maps and other web pages were opened. She curiously looked through it and found that Zhihu was opened. She opened it and saw that his account ID was “Master Soy Sauce”.

Lin Dongxue almost screamed, but at this moment Chen Shi came in from behind with the bowls...

1. The pinyin is the same, but they are different characters.

2. An app. They’re forums. Kind of like Reddit or Yahoo Answers.