Chapter 1: The Eye-Catching Wedding

  Police Station Morgue.

  Ye Zi stood quietly beside Ye Long's body, bidding a final farewell to her father. She didn't want to hold a funeral or go to the prison to ask for so-called compensation. Ning Fan naturally respected Ye Zi's opinion and had already called the crematorium; soon, someone would come to take the body away for cremation.

  Actually, Ning Fan also thought it was better this way. The sooner this matter ended, the sooner Ye Zi could walk out of the shadow of losing her father.

  The leaves were whispering something in a low voice, as if talking to their father. Ning Fan didn't go disturb her, but instead quietly watched from a distance.

  A curvaceous and charming forensic doctor walked in, still wearing a white coat and mask, but Ning Fan recognized at a glance that this was the new Dr. Su from her enchanting eyes.

  "Dr. Su." Ning Fan greeted her and followed her inside, "Excuse me, Dr. Su, I'm bothering you for a moment, can you help me with something?"

  "What's wrong?" Su Fa's voice was still so gentle and pleasant to listen to, but in a place like this, it seemed a bit eerie.

  "Can you tell me about the autopsy of Bai Min? The high school girl who was murdered." Ning Fan said in a low voice, "I want to know if they found any clues on the body that might lead to suspects."

  "The body was washed away by the heavy rain and had been soaked in water, so there's basically no useful evidence left." Dr. Su shook his head, "Alright, give me an email address and I'll send you a detailed report later."

  "Alright, thank you Dr. Su." Ning Fan hastily nodded and then directly pulled out a business card from his body to hand it over to her. This business card was the one he used when he was a detective before, with his phone number and email address on it.

  "I'll send it to you later." Dr. Su took the business card and immediately changed the subject, "I heard that this case has already been closed?"

  "The police have indeed closed the case." Ning Fan smiled faintly, "However, I am no longer a policeman now."

  Ning Fan glanced at the leaves nearby and continued, "Dr. Su, I won't disturb your work anymore, thank you for helping me out, I'll treat you to dinner sometime."

  "Don't be polite." Dr. Su seemed to smile as well, "If you find the real culprit, remember to tell me."

  "Alright." Ning Fan nodded, "You go ahead and attend to your business first."

  Ning Fan Chao Yezi walked away, and soon after, the crematorium staff arrived. Under Yezi's watchful eyes, Yelóng's body was carried away by them.

  On the way to the crematorium, Yezi held Ning Fan's hand tightly all the way. She fell silent again, but she didn't cry anymore until she was holding the urn, and still, she didn't cry.

  Not far from the crematorium, it was the public cemetery of Qingyun City. Ye Zi held Ning Fan's hand with one hand and held the ashes box with the other, arriving at the grave site, finally stopping in front of a tomb without a tombstone.

  "Uncle, this is my mom's grave," Yezi said in a low voice: "Dad didn't want others to disturb Mom, so he never set up a tombstone for her."

  "Yè zi, put your father's ashes in there." Ning Fan said softly.

  "Uh-huh." Ye nodded and walked to the side of the grave, which was obviously prepared for joint burial a long time ago. There was a place that could be opened, and Ye struggled to open it, but instead of putting the urn in, he reached inside and pulled out another urn.

  "Leaf, what's this?" Ning Fan was somewhat perplexed.

  "Uncle, my dad said that he wants to mix his and mom's ashes together, this way they will be together forever." Yezi said softly, then she opened the two urns and mixed the ashes together.

  Ye Zi was very focused on doing this thing, and Ning Fan didn't go to help her, because he thought it was more suitable for her to do it herself.

  At this time, Ning Fan unconsciously thought of the words Ye Long had asked Mo Feng to bring to him. Since Ye Long had long ago instructed Ye Zi on similar matters, why did he specifically ask Mo Feng to bring the message to him?

  "Leaf." Ning Fan finally couldn't help but speak up.

  "Uncle, what's wrong?" Ye Zi turned her head to ask, and at this time, Ning Fan finally discovered that there were tears in the corner of Ye Zi's eyes.

  "Yèzi, I think your dad might have left something for us here." Ning Fan said in a low voice: "Otherwise, you can look for it in your mom's ashes or where the urn is placed."

  "Uh-huh, uncle, I know." Yezi nodded her head.

  After a while, Yezi murmured: "Uncle, I think I've really found something."

  While speaking, Ye Zi's hand had an extra thing on it, which looked about the size of an adult's thumb. Upon closer inspection, Ning Fan was stunned - it seemed to be a piece of bone?

  "It's strange, how can there still be bones in Mom's ashes? I remember there weren't any." Yezi said to herself.

  Ning Fan's heart skipped a beat as he squatted down: "Ye Zi, let me take a look."

  Ye Zi didn't hesitate and immediately handed the bone over to Ning Fan. As soon as Ning Fan took it, his heart skipped a beat.

  "Leaf, this isn't a bone, it seems to be a special kind of stone, just made to look like a bone." Ning Fan said in a low voice: "This should have been left here by your father on purpose, search again to see if there's anything else."

  Ye Zi continued searching, first carefully searching in the ashes, then rummaging through the small space where the urn was placed for half a day, but ultimately didn't find anything else.

  "Uncle, it seems like there's nothing else," Yezi said.

  "Alright, stop looking." Ning Fan nodded lightly, "Settle your parents down first."

  Two urns were placed inside, and then the tomb was restored to its original state. Ye stood in front of the tomb, but at this moment he had already burst into tears.

  "Dad, Mom, you must be good over there." Yezi's voice was choked with sobs.

  Ning Fan took out a tissue and was about to hand it to Ye Zi, but instead, he gently wiped away her tears with the tissue.

  "Don't cry, they'll be fine." Ning Fang said softly.

  The leaves turned their heads and looked at Ning Fan, suddenly bursting into tears and laughing: "Uncle, we will be fine here too, right?"

  "Right, we will be fine." Ning Fan nodded affirmatively.

  "Uncle, shall we go to the supermarket to buy vegetables now?" Yezi asked again.

  Ning Fan was taken aback for a moment. Ye Zi's train of thought was indeed somewhat elusive, but he quickly nodded: "Alright."

  At five o'clock in the afternoon, at Jiajiale Supermarket, Yezi was pushing a shopping cart and occasionally picked up an item from the shelf and threw it in, looking particularly happy.

  At six o'clock in the evening, in the villa, Yezi stretched out her long legs and shouted towards the kitchen in a coquettish voice: "Uncle, I'm hungry!"

  At six thirty, at the dinner table, Yezi was eating very unladylike, and from time to time she would say in a somewhat unclear voice: "Uncle, your cooking is really delicious!"

  At seven o'clock, Yezi shouted towards the kitchen again: "Uncle, hurry up, come and watch TV with me."

  At ten o'clock, Ye Zi yawned and walked towards the second floor: "Uncle, I'm so sleepy, I'll go to sleep first."

  It wasn't until now that Ning Fan finally let out a sigh of relief. This girl was really troublesome.

  Ning Fan got up and went to the bathroom, washed his bath, and then came upstairs to his bedroom. Until now, he took out the strange stone he had obtained in the cemetery and began to study it carefully.

  "What is this after all?" Ning Fan couldn't figure it out no matter what. He had thought that Ye Long would have left some evidence of other people's crimes, and he had also considered the possibility that Ye Long might leave behind a storage card or something like that. However, this stone that looked like a bone at first glance seemed to be a single entity, and it didn't look like there was anything hidden inside.

  "Is it just a more expensive stone?" Ning Fan muttered to himself, he had thought about smashing the stone to see if there was anything inside, but he was also worried that he would destroy the stone, and if this really was just a stone, then he would have destroyed the last thing Ye Long left for Ye Zi.

  "Let's find someone to help check with the instrument tomorrow." Ning Fan finally made a decision, and then put this piece in his metal password box. After that, he sat down cross-legged and started practicing.

  It was unknown how long had passed when Ning Fang suddenly opened his eyes from the darkness, got up and walked out of the bedroom to the door next door.

  A low sobbing sound came from inside, the bedroom door was ajar, Ning Fan stood at the entrance for a moment, but ultimately turned back to his own room.

  Ye Zi was still just a girl under the age of sixteen, her father's departure was a huge blow to her. Although she had been in high spirits for several hours before, at this moment when it was late and quiet, she couldn't help but sob alone.

  Ye Zi's crying lasted for nearly an hour, and after she stopped crying, Ning Fan re-entered meditation, continuing to practice his skills, this time until dawn.

  It was just past six o'clock, and Ning Fan got out of bed. This was a habit he had formed over the years. Next door, Ye Zi was still sleeping soundly, and Ning Fan didn't disturb her. He went downstairs to wash up, then came to the courtyard, where he liked to take in the fresh morning air.

  He was slightly stunned because he saw Ye Rou practicing Tai Chi in the courtyard of the villa directly opposite.

  At this moment, Ye Rou was wearing a white martial arts uniform, which gave Ning Fang a fresh and new feeling. Her slow movements looked exceptionally elegant.

  "Rascal!" Just then, Ye Rou discovered Ning Fan, coldly spat out two words, stood up straight, turned around and walked into the house.

  Ning Fan's originally good mood suddenly turned bad again, what a freak!

  But Ning Fan soon discovered that he was destined to be in a bad mood this morning, because he suddenly saw two police cars driving over and stopping at the entrance of the villa.

  The police car opened and five or six policemen came down. The one walking in the front was none other than Gao Peng, the captain of the municipal bureau's criminal police team.

  Ning Fan opened the villa's gate and walked out: "Captain Gao, you guys are really early."

  "Ning Fan, you are suspected of being involved in a murder case. We need to take you back to the police station for investigation. Also, we will be searching this villa. Here is the search warrant, please cooperate." Gao Peng showed him the search warrant, with a professional and serious expression.