Animal Detective

Chapter 173: Monkey

The surroundings fell silent.

The child’s mother was also startled.

Perhaps feeling the atmosphere was too oppressive, she quickly raised her hands and said, "I... I didn’t do anything. What she said about murder and all that, I don’t know anything about it."

She looked nervously at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin came back to his senses and said hurriedly, "Alright, alright, everyone please disperse."

Waving for the onlookers to leave, Shen Xin first had Yang Daoqiang take the parents to get their child’s scratches treated.

"Sister Yang, please don’t get so worked up."

Shen Xin squatted down in front of Yang Huixia again.

Tears welled in her red eyes, filled with grievance.

Adults don’t cry easily, but when they do, it’s because they’ve been wronged to their very core.

Shen Xin continued, "I know that during the investigation the year before last, we questioned and investigated you many times. For that, I’d like to apologize."

Back then, after his investigation, Zhou Zhongyi had listed Yang Huixia as a person of interest based on numerous suspicious points.

So, during the investigation phase, Yang Huixia was asked to come to the precinct for questioning multiple times.

Perhaps for this reason, Gou Jinlan and the people around Yang Huixia all came to believe she was the one who murdered Zhu Guishen.

From an outsider’s perspective, if you weren’t a suspect, why would the police keep bringing you in for questioning?

Gossip can be devastating. Yang Huixia must have been under immense psychological pressure these past two years.

But what could be done about it?

From the police’s point of view, if you’re a suspect, you have to be investigated.

They couldn’t very well investigate her while simultaneously telling everyone that Yang Huixia wasn’t a suspect and they were just looking into things.

No one would have listened.

"And even now, we’re just..." Shen Xin didn’t get to finish his sentence before Yang Huixia cut him off with a raised hand.

She wiped her nose, stood up, and walked past Shen Xin, her feet dragging on the ground. She slowly made her way to the amusement park’s back gate, opened it, and walked out.

Startled, Shen Xin quickly followed her.

Once outside, he saw that Yang Huixia was already heading up the mountain, following the small path that started right outside the back gate.

"Sister Yang, where are you going?"

Shen Xin hurried to catch up.

’She isn’t planning on doing something foolish, is she?’

Yang Huixia didn’t say a word, just silently forged ahead up the mountain.

Shen Xin reached out to grab her, but she shook his arm off. Wiping her tears again, she said, "I’m fine. You don’t need to follow me."

"Sister Yang, we can talk things through. I know what that woman said was awful, but don’t let it get to you," Shen Xin pleaded.

Yang Huixia paid him no mind and continued her slow walk up the mountain.

What could Shen Xin do? He had no choice but to follow.

In her current mental state, something bad was bound to happen.

Yang Huixia walked in front, Shen Xin followed behind.

It truly was a narrow, winding path, snaking its way to the summit.

Yang Huixia seemed to walk it often; her steps were light and nimble.

As Shen Xin followed slowly, he suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him.

He turned toward the sound and saw a monkey squatting on a branch of a nearby chestnut tree.

It moved along the branch and leaped gracefully to another tree.

’It looks like the monkey from the amusement park. I wonder how it followed us up here.’

Shen Xin couldn’t worry about it for now; he kept following Yang Huixia up the mountain.

Dingshan wasn’t a tall mountain. The area by Dingshan Temple was 228 meters above sea level, and Lotus Peak was even lower, probably less than two hundred meters.

They climbed the path for nearly half an hour before reaching the summit.

Previously, Zhou Zhongyi had timed the route. It took only 40 minutes to go up from Dingshan Temple, cross the ridgeline, and reach the farm.

There was a time discrepancy.

The Dingshan Temple side probably had stairs, making the ascent easier. Then, coming down this way—the more difficult section—would be much faster.

Yang Huixia reached the top of the mountain.

This was Lotus Peak.

There wasn’t much of a view, really. In a clearing at the summit sat a car-sized boulder engraved with the two large words ’Lotus Peak.’ A cluster of smaller rocks was arranged around it, vaguely resembling a lotus flower.

The boulder was covered in graffiti, things like "I was here" and "So-and-so loves So-and-so."

One side was open, offering a panoramic view of the scenery below.

Not far from the boulder, facing the open view, was a stone bench.

Next to it was a trash can and a sign promoting forest fire prevention.

The property management from Dingshan Temple probably came to clean it regularly.

In any case, plenty of people from the area often came here to hike and take pictures.

Shen Xin had never been here, but he knew of the place and had seen photos posted online by visitors on his phone’s map app.

Yang Huixia didn’t walk to the edge of the mountain and jump off. Instead, she went to the stone bench, sat down, and stared blankly at the view below.

’She probably just came up here to cool down.’

Shen Xin tried to talk to her, but she ignored him.

’Well, there’s nothing I can do then. I just have to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t do anything reckless.’

He considered whether he should call her parents.

She was an only child, and her parents lived in Pingyu, which was quite a distance away.

Just then, the monkey caught up to them. It looked at Shen Xin, then went over to Yang Huixia’s feet, stared at her for a moment, and ran off to rummage through the trash can.

It didn’t find anything to eat.

Shen Xin watched it, then beckoned to it and pulled a beef stick from his pocket.

He had bought them for Dou Dou and Black Panther, but now they’d practically become a staple side dish for instant noodles at the Criminal Investigation Division. Shen Xin often stuffed a couple in his pockets.

The monkey immediately jumped over, warily snatched it, and skillfully tore open the wrapper to stuff it in its mouth.

Judging by its features, it was probably a male.

As the beef stick went down, his ability—triggered by the delicious food—activated, and an icon immediately appeared above the monkey’s head.

Shen Xin wasn’t actually a big fan of monkeys; they had a bad reputation, after all.

But this one seemed pretty well-behaved.

After finishing, it didn’t cheekily come over to pick his pockets.

Of course, it was also possible that the favorability rating was having an effect.

It just squatted there, staring intently at Shen Xin.

Since he had nothing better to do, Shen Xin decided to play with it. He took out his last beef stick, tore off a small piece, put it in his right hand, and showed it to the monkey.

Then he put his hands behind his back before bringing them out in front of it again.

It was a classic shell game.

It slowly walked over and tried to pry open Shen Xin’s right hand.

As expected, it was empty.

The monkey froze, and the single bar of favorability it had just gained immediately vanished.

Shen Xin broke into a cold sweat. He stopped the monkey from prying at his left hand, hid his hands behind his back again, then brought them out for another guess.

It stared at his two fists with a thoughtful expression, then went for the left one.

Empty!

It froze again, then started jumping up and down in anger, screeching wildly.

Shen Xin opened his right hand to show it the piece of beef. Then, right in front of it, he quickly shuffled his hands, closed them into fists, and gestured for it to guess.

It looked left, then right, and decisively chose the right hand.

Without a doubt, it was wrong again.

Frustrated, it was about to lunge and snatch it.

Shen Xin quickly stood up to dodge. Not giving up, it tried to leap onto him.

"Bubu, stop!"

Yang Huixia, sitting nearby, suddenly scolded.

’So the monkey’s name is Bubu.’

It was very obedient and didn’t leap again, but it was so anxious it just jumped in place.

"Alright, guess again."

Shen Xin put his hands behind his back and then held out his two fists again.

Bubu had clearly learned its lesson. It didn’t simply go for the left hand this time, but chose the right hand again.

’He seems pretty smart.’

He opened his right hand. It was there.

It let out an excited chirp and quickly stuffed the treat into its mouth.

"What about this one?"

Shen Xin wiggled his left hand.

It quickly pried it open. There was another piece.

As it popped the piece into its mouth, the favorability icon above its head surprisingly jumped up by two bars in one go.

It jumped around, wanting more.

Shen Xin put his hands behind his back and held them out again.

It decisively pried open the right hand.

Empty.

It froze, then pried open the left hand. Still empty.

Instantly, the two bars of favorability vanished. It was so angry it started screeching and jumping in place.

It was furious.

Shen Xin couldn’t help but chuckle. A short distance away, Yang Huixia let out a "pfft" and couldn’t stop herself from laughing out loud.

Seeing Shen Xin look over, she quickly stifled her smile. Watching Bubu circle around Shen Xin’s pant leg, she pursed her lips and said suddenly, "Bubu used to be very close with Old Zhu. Old Zhu loved playing with him, too. He said it was like raising a child."

She gazed at Bubu, her eyes softening as she seemed to drift into a memory.