Breaking Through The Clouds

Chapter 27

The life-threatening distress signal.

"Ding Dang?"

The young woman raised her head, giving Yan Xie a vacant stare. Though still tainted with traces of panic, her face looked as if it had been exquisitely carved from unblemished jade. One had to admit, she was the epitome of a natural-born beauty.

Yan Xie gave Jiang Ting a meaningful glance, as if to say: see, I didn't get the person wrong.

"I'm with the city bureau's Criminal Investigation Unit; my name is Yan Xie. You've spoken with my colleague Ma Xiang at the bureau." Yan Xie hinted for Han Xiaomei, the only female field officer on duty, to follow, and then promptly went forward to shake hands with Ding Dang. "There's a couple of things we might like to ask you again, if you could step over here for a minute, please."

The wounded night-watch employee in the control room's office had already been taken away by the biochemical analysts in order to extract any trace DNA left behind on his head injury. A few chairs had been temporarily set up in the clearing outside the office.

Yan Xie had a cigarette pinched in between his fingers, but didn't light it. He asked her while fiddling with his lighter, "Just now you were telling your daddy how 'it's not possible'. What exactly isn't possible?"

"..." Ding Dang bit her lip, but didn't directly answer. Instead, she asked, "Officer Yan, did Chu Ci really... steal controlled chemical substances?"

Ding Dang was wearing a cropped white lace vest paired with a floral-print dress, her face lightly made-up, and her soft, pale hands placed demurely atop her thighs. Girls who could get accepted into drama school indeed had the assets to boast - young, delicate features, lustrous raven hair. Put her side by side with the grime-faced female trainee officer standing beside Yan Xie, and it was visibly the difference between a cloud in heaven and the dirt on earth. Han Xiaomei couldn't help but touch her own face, unwashed after an all-nighter, feeling somewhat inferior.

Although what did give her some consolation was the fact that, blockheaded-straight-male-Yan's attitude towards a beautiful woman was no better than his attitude towards herself, his tone when speaking maybe even a touch cooler. "Well, that's still under investigation. We're not at liberty to reveal too much."

Ignoring her father's apprehensive looks, Ding Dang insisted urgently, "But Chu Ci isn't that type of person, really! He's very motivated, and very serious and diligent about his academics, if you don't believe me you can ask my dad!"

Ding Jiawang rushed to stop her, "Ai, why are you bothering the police with this sort of nonsense!"

Yan Xie huffed a laugh.

"His family doesn't have much money, but he really is a very good person. When Feng Yuguang's parents came to Jianning after what happened, Chu Ci helped them sort out his things. He was rushing about all over the place for them, doing all he could to comfort them." Ding Dang got more and more dejected as she spoke. "Just because of that, even the progress of his own experiment got held up, but he still..."

Jiang Ting, who had been silent this whole time, suddenly interrupted her, "You attend drama school, if I recall?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then how do you know about Chu Ci's progress in his experiments? Your dad mentioned it at home?"

Under the scrutinizing looks the police started casting him, Ding Jiawang scrambled to deny the allegation. "Why would I ever mention that sort of thing? She wouldn't understand any of it even if I did!"

"He... he told me about it himself." Ding Dang's voice grew smaller and smaller. "I come visit my dad at the company sometimes, and I'd go see them in the lab.... After Feng Yuguang passed away, I went to find Chu Ci a few times. He was really upset, and kept messing up during his experiments."