Chapter 16 (1/2)
Killer Nights
Chapter 16: Here’s Five Yuan Change
By the time Jiang Zhengkai left Zhang Nan's office, the sun had already moved to the west. The golden rays of the dusk sun's afterglow shone on the entire city. It looked as if someone had sprinkled gold flakes all across the city.
Jiang Zhengkai parked his police cruiser in front of the sub-bureau's barracks. ”Get a good night's rest. Thank you for your hard work today,” Jiang Zhengkai told Wei Xin. ”And remember not to tell any of our colleagues that I had you looking for doc.u.ments related to A-Xiu.”
”Got it, Inspector Jiang.” Wei Xin smiled at him and said softly, ”Inspector Jiang, how about… how about joining me for dinner upstairs?”
”Hehe, sorry, can't today,” Jiang Zhengkai declined. However, when he saw the visible disappointment on Wei Xin's face, he tactfully added, ”But I'll take a raincheck! Look, I've got to go back to the hospital later, and then I have to figure out just what exactly happened to A-Xiu.”
”I understand, Inspector Jiang. Please do take care of yourself, sir,” said Wei Xin as she exited the car. ”And don't forget to eat dinner–”
Jiang Zhengkai waved goodbye to her from inside the car and sped off before Wei Xin could finish her sentence. Shortly thereafter, he arrived in the hospital's parking lot and parked his car. As he got out of the car, he clutched a file folder with his left arm and held in his right hand a bag of fruits he had purchased from a local supermarket. He then proceeded towards the hospital's in-patient wing.
”Welcome back, Officer Jiang!” warmly greeted that night's duty nurse.
”Thank you, nurse,” Jiang Zhengkai politely replied. ”Say, how's my patient doing?”
”Not too bad,” the nurse answered. ”Her recovery is going well. I'm sure she can go back to work before too long.” She gave him a thin smile and quickly walked away.
”Go back to work?” Jiang Zhengkai muttered to himself as he shook his head. The nurse's choice of words was both accurate and interesting. Still, he wasn't that amused, and so he immediately walked into A-Jiao's hospital room.
”Well, will you look at that! Aren't we the industrious worker bee today?” Jiang Zhengkai glanced over at A-Jiao lying on the hospital bed. He saw she had no intention to actively engage him, so all he could do was get in the first word. ”Looks like someone tidied this room up today.”
”Hmph! What, you think I'm a slob like you?” A-Jiao glared at him with a crooked mouth that perfectly expressed her disdain. ”You stay right there! Don't come in here and mess up my room!” she warned. Nevertheless, Jiang Zhengkai was right. After she'd woken up in the afternoon, she had in fact cleaned her room, especially the guest bed where Jiang Zhengkai had slept, which she'd made sure was spotless.
Still, Jiang Zhengkai refused to let her take control of the conversation. Instead, he placed the file folder on the guest bed and took out a bunch of bananas from the fruit bag. ”Sigh, no good deed goes unpunished. And to think, I even bought you bananas.”
”Ha!” A-Jiao glanced at the bananas in his hand and said, ”You can keep those for yourself. I ain't a monkey.”
”Is that so?” Jiang Zhengkai could pick out the barbs in A-Jiao's words, but he didn't get angry. Instead, he launched some barbs of his own. ”I really couldn't tell before, but apparently our busy worker bee paid attention in biology cla.s.s! Although, monkeys aren't the only animals that like bananas. Elephants like them, too, am I right?” He then looked up and down her body.
”You…” A-Jiao knew what Jiang Zhengkai was implying with his eyes, so she swiftly picked up a pillow and threw it at him. ”How dare you call me fat! You're the one that's as big as an elephant!” Having been focused on her recovery for the past month, A-Jiao had spent all of her time at the hospital, where her days revolved around eating and sleeping. She still wasn't well enough to exercise, and she certainly wasn't well enough to go back to work in the alley, so naturally, her body had put on some weight. Therefore, Jiang Zhengkai's taunts were a gentle reminder to her: Baby, you might think you're hot stuff, but right now, you're fatter than a pig, almost the size of an elephant.
”Alright, monkey, are you going to eat this banana or not?” Jiang Zhengkai teased her.