Chapter 368: Don't Play Chao Zi to Death...

Li Jianye nodded. “I must have seen it wrong, too.”

“Yeah. We’ve been on this case for too long. I think I’m starting to hallucinate.”

“Sigh. You’re clearly still worked up.”

Wang Chao stood up and leaned over. The medal on his chest dangled down, right in front of Li Jianye.

He patted the other man’s back and said with great emotion.

“Yeah, maybe I’m the one who’s not feeling right,”

Li Jianye replied, his gaze fixed straight ahead.

Wang Chao smacked his lips and turned to look at Zhang Liang.

“Group Leader Zhang, hey, what’s with the pocket on your chest? It looks pretty nice.”

Zhang Liang nodded as well. “It does look nice.”

Then, he buried his head in his food and said nothing more.

Wang Chao was baffled. He thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. “The weather’s been bad these past two days. My body’s a little stiff.”

“And my chest feels a bit tight.”

The medal on his chest swayed back and forth.

With every shrug, the medal dangled precariously.

“It’s probably the cloudy weather. It’ll be better when the sun comes out.”

Su Cheng offered his well-intentioned reply.

Wang Chao held it in for a long time before finally looking at Xu Huo. “Brother Huo…”

“It’s definitely the weather.”

Xu Huo gave his own very serious reply.

“From a medical perspective, cloudy days can affect your body’s hormonal secretions, which can cause phenomena like chest tightness and shortness of breath!”

Wang Chao’s lips twitched for a moment.

Finally, he simply pulled out the red certificate, opened it, and started fanning himself with it.

“It’s pretty hot today.”

“Hot? In January!?”

Xu Huo was astonished.

“Of course it’s hot.”

Wang Chao, wearing his padded jacket, waved the certificate back and forth.

“See? I’m so hot I have to fan myself.”

“If you’re hot, take off your jacket,”

Li Jianye said with a deadpan expression.

“Fine, I’ll take it off!”

Wang Chao stuck out his neck and took off the jacket. A blast of cold air hit him, making him shiver and click his tongue.

“Are you cold?”

Su Cheng asked.

“Not cold!”

Wang Chao shivered, the hairs on his body standing on end, but he insisted,

“Not cold at all.”

“Then why don’t you take off your sweater?” Su Cheng raised an eyebrow, continuing with a mischievous grin.

“I’m not wearing anything under my sweater.”

Wang Chao’s face turned beet red.

“There are female comrades here. I can’t go shirtless.”

Hearing this, Li Jianye looked around, confused.

“Female comrades? Where are there any female comrades?”

“There aren’t many women at the station, and there are none in the cafeteria right now.”

Wang Chao’s face grew even redder. He glanced around before his eyes landed on the food service area.

“The auntie is a female comrade!”

The cafeteria lady saw Wang Chao looking at her and paused, a bit confused.

‘This kid… is he going to pay me back?’

Xu Huo and the others also subconsciously looked over.

The cafeteria lady was a little bewildered.

‘Is this whole group going to pay his debt for him?’

“Captain Li, are you hot?”

“Let me fan you!”

“Group Leader Zhang, are you hot?”

“Su Guo’an, look! Isn’t this thing I’m using as a fan great?”

“Police Chief Sun, a big guy like you must give off a lot of heat. You must be burning up…”

Wang Chao went from one person to the next, pestering them endlessly.

His body was weak, but his mouth was stubborn. The hairs on his arms stood up from the cold, yet he fanned himself with more and more vigor.

Xu Huo really couldn’t take it anymore.

There was only one Chao Zi.

‘We can’t let him be teased to death.’

“Hey, Chao Zi, where’d you get that medal on your chest and the thing in your hand?”

Xu Huo asked, pretending he had just noticed.

Wang Chao’s eyes instantly lit up, and the words he had been holding back for so long came rushing out.

“Oh, this? I got this at the city bureau office.”

Xu Huo played along and continued asking.

“What about the old one?”

“Old one? Oh, the old one I put on the second-hand… Huh? Wait, there is no old one.”

Wang Chao was slightly confused.

But he quickly dismissed it and said excitedly,

“Director Chu awarded it to me!”

“Honorary Consultant of Jiangsan City! It comes with a certificate and a medal. All in all, I’m the Honorary Consultant of the Jiangsan City Public Security Bureau in Haiyun Province, Eastern Country!”

Wang Chao grinned.

“And ten thousand yuan, too.”

“That’s not bad. You’re just like me now,”

Xu Huo said with a smile.

‘I’m an honorary consultant, and he’s an honorary consultant.’

‘Therefore, Xu Huo = Wang Chao.’

‘Yep, makes perfect sense.’

“Nah, I can’t compare.”

Wang Chao shook his head, but he was still grinning from ear to ear.

“But at least I have something to show for it when I go home for the New Year.”

“Heh, my mom definitely won’t be able to read this, but it has an official seal. It’ll definitely impress her!”

“Alright, that’s not a bad idea. When you have guests over, I’ll come by and vouch for the authenticity of your certificate,”

Li Jianye said cheerfully.

Chao Zi could always sweep away the trash and bring some laughter and joy.

Sigh.

But then, another question arose.

As for where this so-called “trash” came from… don’t you worry about that.

Just remember, Chao Zi will sweep away the trash and bring happiness, and that’s all that matters!

Xu Huo, Zhang Liang, and Li Jianye only needed to solve cases.

But Wang Chao… he had a lot more to think about.

After dinner, Xu Huo was getting ready to go home, planning to correct a certain dazed person’s worldview a bit.

But he was stopped by Wang Chao.

“What do you want from me?”

The meal was over, and the others had disappeared, leaving only Xu Huo to eye him suspiciously.

“Brother Huo, I want to rent a place for Brother Niu. Can you give me some advice?”

Wang Chao said. He still remembered the promise he’d made to his “grand-niece” a few days ago.

Besides, the police department never said he couldn’t…

‘If they didn’t say no, that means yes!’

“So, you want to find a place for President Zhang to stay?”

Xu Huo asked, puzzled.

“Right.”

Wang Chao nodded.

“My grand-niece’s new place isn’t set up yet, and it can’t fit that many people.”

“The department isn’t reliable either. The neighborhoods they suggest are all from their case files. What kind of good place would have its name in police files?”

“I’m afraid we’ll have another quality issue like last time,”

Wang Chao said.

“Brother Huo, your hometown is Jiangsan City. You must know your way around better than I do!”

Xu Huo nodded, not refuting it.

He had indeed run all over the place when he was renting, so he knew a lot of spots.

In that case…

“Let’s give it a try then.”

“I can rest easy with Brother Huo on the case!”

Wang Chao said happily.

Xu Huo smiled. Between friends, he quite enjoyed such flattery.

Wang Chao immediately used his newly bought car to drive Xu Huo to where Zhang Min was staying.

Zhang Min hadn’t been able to sleep well for the past two days. Things only improved slightly after she had Wang Chao rent her an apartment next door.

But the dark circles under her eyes were still there.

It couldn’t be helped.

‘Lifting your head and seeing a corpse staring back at you… who could stand that?’

Now, hearing that Wang Chao was going to introduce her to another apartment…

Zhang Min stared at him, her face blank with disbelief.

“Are you serious?”

“Don’t you worry, Zhang Min!”

Wang Chao thumped his chest, making a guarantee.

“I’m not the one recommending it this time. The quality is definitely guaranteed.”

“It’s Brother Huo! This is his hometown, so he definitely knows it much better than I do!”

Zhang Min felt numb.

‘I just got to Jiangsan City, and my welcome gift on the first day was a corpse.’

‘Now my own father is coming. It won’t… ‘

“Are you sure?”

“Brother Huo has never encountered a problem he couldn’t solve!”

Wang Chao guaranteed.

‘Solve?’

“So you’re saying… there have been problems?” Zhang Min asked tentatively.

Wang Chao paused, thinking hard for a good while.

Finally, he spoke with a grave expression.

“Zhang Min…”

“Don’t you worry about that!”

Zhang Min: ???

…

…

In the end, Zhang Min couldn’t win against Wang Chao. He was so eager to make amends that she agreed.

Zhang Niu knew nothing about this.

But then, he didn’t need to know.

「January 16th.」

It was less than five days until New Year’s Eve.

A plane from the Capital City landed at the Jiangsan City airport. The passengers disembarked.

In the arrivals hall, Zhang Niu’s eyes lit up when he saw a few familiar figures.

“Hey, daughter! Dad’s over here!”

“I haven’t seen you in a month.”

“How have you been in Jiangsan City? Are you getting used to it?”

Zhang Min suddenly froze.

‘How… have I been?’

She was lost in thought.

‘With such a surprising welcome gift, how could it not be good?’

“Pshh, let’s not talk about it.”

“Let’s go put your luggage away first.”

Wang Chao chatted enthusiastically with his friend from another generation, Zhang Niu. He took the luggage, his face wreathed in smiles.

“Brother Huo has arranged a great place for you, my old friend…”

“We’re just waiting for you to move in!”

…

…

PS:

Please give me your monthly tickets! Please! Today is the first day of the month, so monthly tickets are extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely important!

The book is at a big disadvantage in terms of genre and recommendations, so I can only make up for it with monthly tickets.

I’m desperate for every single ticket!

I’m begging you, please give me a guaranteed ticket at the start of the month QAQ

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