Genius Detective

After Miss Dong left, Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong went to find Luo Haifeng. Luo Haifeng said, “You got the key? Let's go in.”

Xu Xiaodong said, “Officer Luo, after we enter, I’ll hold the man down while you two save the cat.”

Luo Haifeng said helplessly, “We are here to mediate the dispute. He’s not a criminal so you can’t be rough.”

The three were going to enter the unit building when the reporter ran over and asked, “Officer Luo, what are you doing?”

Luo Haifeng showed the key to explain the situation.

The reporter said, “No, no. We are still interviewing Miss Dong's father. After the interview is over, we will interview Mr. Ma before entering the room together.”

Luo Haifeng said, “It's 9:00 right now and I want to get things done early to get off work.”

“I apologize for any inconvenience.” The reporter said without sounding apologetic. “I promise to finish everything up in an hour. You should figure out what you’re going to say while you wait since we can’t do a retake when you enter the room.”

“Can you stop filming?” Lin Dongxue asked impatiently.

“Please be considerate. This is news material that needs to be collected by the TV station, and I’ve been ordered to do so. Besides, you haven’t had smooth sailing with the negotiations so far. A photographer and a reporter will follow you so the man won’t act as arrogant, which would be beneficial for you.”

The three had no choice but to wait. Luo Haifeng laughed, “Our local police often go on TV and are used to it. On the contrary, the criminal police are more mysterious and no case can be leaked out to the public.”

“Probably because the local police are more grounded!” Xu Xiaodong took out his cell phone and squatted on the ground to play the Glory of the King.

“Get up. Look a little like criminal police, okay?!” Lin Dongxue kicked him.

“This is your boyfriend?” Luo Haifeng asked.

“No, no, I have a girlfriend. She is a single dog.” Xu Xiaodong clarified the misunderstanding.

“You're the dog!”

Luo Haifeng was excited for a moment as he glanced towards Lin Dongxue's face.

After the reporter interviewed Ms. Dong's father, the cameraman and sound engineer followed, and the group was ready to interview Mr. Ma. At this time, another interview car came in, and the logo on the body was from a well-known Internet news station. The whole group was standing still.

A balding uncle wearing a red jacket jumped off the car, followed by the cameraman. The uncle held a microphone and said, “Dear viewers, this is Uncle Geng from xx News to help you find out about a case. Today, we received many enthusiastic audiences’ phone calls about a man claiming that the girlfriend had cheated, so he’s occupying her house and threatening to kill his girlfriend’s cat if she doesn’t contact him by 12:00. Uncle Geng has come to the scene to find out more about the situation.”

“What’s happening?” Xu Xiaodong was shocked.

The TV reporter came over and protested, “What are you doing? We came first!”

Uncle Geng said, “What's the point of coming here first? The community isn't part of your TV station or anything.”

“You’re just a small-time online news outlet! How can you be so arrogant?”

“Our ratings are high. So what if we’re arrogant? Who still watches proper news channels nowadays?”

Lin Dongxue was stunned for a while. She had seen both these reporters before, but she didn't know they were like this in private.

Luo Haifeng said, “The two news stations seem to be competitors.”

The two sides became noisier and fiercer with each other as time went on, and it looked like they were going to get physical. The two staff members pushed their bodies against each other like they were about to start a fight. Luo Haifeng said, “It's awful! Let’s hurry and mediate.”

Uncle Geng's eyes lit up when he saw him. “Officer? Can you tell us about the situation right now?” Then, he passed him the microphone.

“Hey!” The other TV reporter stood in front of the microphone. “We have already interviewed this police officer. If you want to interview someone, you can find another one yourself.”

“Get lost!” Uncle Geng yelled.

“I won’t!”

“I’m warning you that the cameras are on. I have recorded your ugly face and will expose you tomorrow.”

“Who’s scared of that? We have our cameras on too.”

“Haha, would anyone care if you exposed us? Nobody watches cable TV anymore. Our daily viewing rate is higher than your weekly ratings.”

“So what? We are a serious TV station. Unlike some private grass-root Internet programs, we have credibility.”

Lin Dongxue, who wasn’t too far away from them, complained, “When can I go home?!”

Luo Haifeng saw the two sides becoming noisier and mediated, “Everyone is after the same goal, there is no need to argue over it. You are an online news outlet and you are a television station. The audience on both sides are different. I think it’s best to do the interview together.”

“That makes sense!” Uncle Geng stretched out his hand towards the other reporter. “Give me the materials from your interview.”

“What kind of attitude is that? You damn uncle!” The reporter frowned before gesturing to the others. “Let’s go. Ignore them, let's interview the parties.”

The TV station’s group aggressively left and went outside the window of the apartment. The reporter was about to knock on the window when suddenly someone shouted, “Someone broke the recorder in the car!”

The reporter tapped on the microphone and found that there was no sound. After investigating with his own people, it turned out that someone had poured water into the recorder and short-circuited it.

The reporter angrily accused Uncle Geng and Uncle Geng sneered. “Maybe God isn’t helping you!”

“Bastards, competition is competition, but using such low methods is just too despicable.”

“Who are you saying is despicable? We never even went over. How can you say that we were the ones who did it? The police are at the scene right now, so why don’t you come up with some evidence?!”

The two sides quarrelled again and Luo Haifeng started to mediate the situation. Lin Dongxue looked at the scene in front of her and couldn’t help but laugh. 

While the television station’s crew was repairing the equipment, Uncle Geng began interviewing the residents on the scene, Police Officer Luo and Miss Dong's father. This chaos lasted till about 11:00. Lin Dongxue couldn't wait any longer. She went to urge Luo Haifeng, “It’s almost 12. Quickly go and mediate!”

Lin Dongxue turned around and found that the camera was facing her. Uncle Geng handed the microphone over. “Beauty, are you also a police officer?”

Lin Dongxue was at a loss for a while until Luo Haifeng immediately helped her out. “Everyone, it's 11:00. Both of you will put down your disputes and hurry up with me to mediate!”

“Again. Say that again!” Uncle Geng said, “Remove the words of 'put down your disputes'.”

Luo Haifeng reluctantly said to the camera again, “It will be 11:00 soon. Let’s head in and mediate.”

The two reporters’ crews walked together towards the apartment, but they took their own footage. When they got to the window, they shouted towards the window loudly.

They shouted many times before Mr. Ma opened the sliding window and showed an impatient face behind the internal railing. “Get out. This is my personal business. I don't need you outsiders to interfere.”

Uncle Geng said, “Sir, why don’t you calm down first and talk about your grievances!”

“My grievances? I have no grievances. Tell that slut to contact me! Otherwise, it would be useless even if there were 10,000 reporters!”

“Sir, this attitude is wrong...”

“I hate the whole, ‘Uncle Geng will help you’ attitude without fucking proper opinions. Whenever there is a female victim of a domestic violence case, you run over and persuade them. Once you’re done, the female is beaten again. What have you solved? How have you fucking helped? Help people? Why don’t you help yourself! Isn’t it being circulated online that you’re in the middle of a divorce and you won’t get your two children? Why don’t you look at yourself instead of trying to mediate other people’s problems. You’ll make people laugh until their teeth fall out.”

“We are kind-hearted...”

“Kind my arse!”

“Mr. Ma...”

“Mr. Arse!”